Recording our soundtrack

One of the members of our group, Emily, already writes songs and has her own YouTube Channel Emily Lawson Official. We didn't have much luck finding a suitable soundtrack on royalty free websites, so we decided to use one of Emily's own compositions, 'Train to anywhere':

We decided that the lyrics and name of this song best fit the themes of travel, youth and love that we were trying to express in our opening, as well as the acoustic guitar conforming to the conventions of the coming of age drama. We thought that this sort of music would also appeal to our target audience and reflect our character's youth and vitality.

Here is a video of Emily practicing before we re-recorded the song in school.

 

By using one of Emily's own composition we didn't have any copyright issues or royalty fees.

Possible Fonts for Titles

We researched different fonts to use for our titles, eventually deciding on 'Brainflower'. These fonts are all typical of the indie genre, with their handwritten style and thin letters reflecting the education and journeys that protagonists go on in Coming of age dramas.

Fonts:

Our Favourites	Other possible fonts
Brain Flower	Always Forever
DK Wayang	PW Quick Write
DK Vermilion	Cutie Patootie
Turkeyface	Throw My Hands Up In The Air
	DK Petit Oiseau
	Windsor Hand
	In the know

 

This is the font we used in our film:

 

 

We chose this font as it helped emphasise the youth and fun in our film, as well as reflecting the handwritten bucket list.

Techniques We Used When Edting

This is a ruond-up of some of the techniques we used during the editing process:

We were inspired by this video to try to use sound bridges in order to make our opening seem more professional and to reduce the abruptness of the cuts.

We tried a few sound bridges, but it was hard to find clips where the acting continued being of good quality for a longer period. We tried to have a sound bridge between th Ftont MLS master shot of Noah reading from the list and the canted angle MCU but found that the actor sniffed very loudly which detracted from the seriousness of what was being said.

However, we do have one on the cut where Jess says 'Noah, even I could get with more girls than you', and while Noah is saying 'Kiss as many girls as possible in one hour, I'm OK with that we tried cutting to a reaction shot of Jess.

28.2.2013 Editing To Do List

After watching the cut of our opening sequence several times, we discovered some things we need to fix that will improve the look and feel of our opening sequence, and will also make it look more professional:

• Fix the panning speed of the first shot
• Make the first shot slighter longer in duration
• Fix the bird sfx at the beginning - Perhaps razor the clips to create small gaps in the birdsong
• Get rid of the background noise on shot 14 (pan up from bucket list to sunrise)
• Add some background noise to the shot of Lil pulling away
• Make sure there is a match on action on the cut from the back master to the camera POV

Re-Shoot - 18/2/13

In this post, we talk about how effective and efficient our re-shoot was:

Bright and early, we made our way up to Primrose Hill for our re-shoot. Based on our feedback, our re-shoot was more like another real-shoot as we re-shot our whole opening sequence. This time, we planned our shoot even more than our previous shoot so that we could get everything done in the most efficient way.

When we arrived on the hill, the sunrise wasn't as amazing as it had previously been on the other shoots, but the lighting was still similar to that of our real shoot, and so it will be possible to use footage from both that shoot and the re-shoot without it looking odd continuity-wise. We asked for our actors (Torin and Jess) to come a little later so that we could get the initial vlogging bits done with minimal interruptions. This was quite easy to do and we weren't too concerned about this aspect of the opening sequence because the footage we already had looked really good and so we will probably use that.

When the two actors arrived, Jess was wearing a different costume, based on the feedback we received from our rough edit. We were told that her clothing was too dark and void of character, so she wore a khaki coat instead of a black coat. Because we had better set-ups in place, we were able to film the conversational shots very quickly and the shots still looked really good.

Again, a downside of this shoot was the sunrise and the fact that the visibility was rather poor. We know that we are going to use the sunrise shots from our previous shoots because they looked beautiful, but in some of the shots in our re-shoot, you can see the sunrise in the background, and it is not as impressive as our previous sunrise shots. Hopefully we will be able to improve the look of these shots in the post-production, grading process. 

Overall, we have had lots of fun shooting, and I think we have put a lot of effort into the production process (for example, getting up at half 5 for 4 weekends in a row). Because of this, however, we have managed to get lots of lovely shots which will hopefully make for a beautiful opening sequence. 

Feedback from rough cut

Having edited the footage from the shoot into a rough cut, we received the following feedback from our teacher:

• We have to work on the consistency, duration and the speed of the sunrise shots at the beginning
• We could add an extra sunrise shot to improve the chronology
• We may have to sort out the chronology of the sunrise shots through grading in post-production
• Rather than cutting the vlog shots from different angles, we could use the whole vlog shot, because we prefer the angle as well as the acting
• The cut to the back master is quite disorientating because the audience cannot see what she is doing
• The reaction shot to the photograph of Lila and her brother could show more emotion
• The audience's view of the photograph isn't quite clear, as the slight over-the-shoulder and 'stroking' action prevent us from seeing his face clearly. We could use a shot that matches her eyeline
• When panning up to the sunrise after she ticks the bucket list off, we should try to get more of her face in- at the moment, Lila's hair covers her face a lot of the time. We could also try a rotating arc from behind
• When Noah and Jess come in, we see Noah clearly but cut before Jess has even sat down, so we do not introduce the character properly.
• We may need a costume change for Jess- rather than being predominantly dressed in black, we could give her an iconic accessory such as a scarf or beanie.
• The match-on-action with Jess shoving Noah doesn't quite work because it doesn't look natural- therefore, we may have to rewrite the script

From this feedback, we found out that we definitely need to go on another shoot. The feedback meant that we knew exactly what we needed to capture before going on location, allowing us to be far more efficient.

Real Shoot - 9/01/13

Doing make-up

Here is the round-up of our real shoot, where we discuss how efficient we were, what we managed to capture and what we may still need to shoot:

Yet again we went to Primrose Hill to catch the dawn. This Saturday it was at 7.25, and although it was a very beautiful sunrise it didn't last very long. This meant that we didn't get the sunrise mise-en-scene in the background of the shots and the lighting that we had hoped for. This may also mean that it will not connote Lila's new beginning and the hope that would run throughout the film, instead focusing on Lila's grief. However, our test shoot footage from last week was shot during a clear and colourful sunrise so we could use it. There are problems with our test footage though, including script changes, and the production crew's shadows being seen in shot.

Also, one of our actors was unhappy with the early hours, and may not come againi if we have a re-shoot. Our footage has nice framing and quite good performances from our actor's so we hope that this will not be necessary.

Catching the sunrise 

There were not as many disruptive people on the top of the hill this week, apart from a group of young people taking photos, and some girls having a picnic on a bench. Sharlene and I let the people around us know we were shooting, and before every shot we made sure that we said 'Camera rolling? Silence on Set. Action'. This meant that fewer people walked into shot or talked loudly in the background, however the frequent and sudden arrival of a number of both small and very large dogs was often very offputting for our actors.

We tried to use the same costumes and mise en scene from last week's test shoot to ensure continuity, but we had to replace the bucket list, because we had initially written on both sides of the paper, which made the writing look less clear in the shot. Our newer bucket list was only written on one side of the piece of paper.

The actors practicing lines

We were far more prepared for our real shoot than the test shoot. This time, we thought more about our shoot schedule and how to shoot so that our actors could leave as soon as possible (due to the cold conditions). We were all also more prepared for the cold this time and we wore thermals and multiple layers, which allowed us to concentrate more on the filming rather than our shaking hands.
Throughout the shoot, we remained more focused and tried to shoot everything more efficiently.

We still need to go over our footage, but we think that we will have a back-up shoot at some point in half term because:
- we had a script change from our test shoot, and we might need to do the conversation shots again
- if we can't use the sunrise shots from our test shoot, we may have to redo some

Actor's Shoot Plans

To aid our efficiency and to help our actor's organise their day's around our shoots we made them shoot plans:

Emily’s Excellent Shoot Schedule!

Travel:

·         Depends on house crew is staying at

·         From your house: 299 change to the 134

·         From Sharlene’s house: Get Piccadilly line to King’s cross, then change to the Northern Line

·         From Anna’s house: Lift from Anna’s dad or same route as Sharlene’s house

Arrival Time: 7.30-40

Location: Top of Primrose Hill by the benches

Costume: Warm hipster jumper, boots, jeans/brown trousers, Rhiannon’s rucksack/satchel

Finish Time: Approximately 9.30

Character: Sad after brother’s death, hopeful, loves life, witty, likeable, strong, hipster, naïve

Jess’s Jumping Shoot Schedule!

Travel:

·         Possibly with Sharlene from Turnpike Lane Station, but this will mean an earlier start

·         Otherwise alone or possibly with other cast/crew members

·         Get the Picadilly Line from Turnpike Lane Station to King’s Cross St Pancras. From there change to the Northern line, and get off at Camden Town Tube Station or Chalk Farm Tube station

Location: Top of Primrose Hill by the benches

Costume: Doc Martens, dark (probably warm because it gets a bit chilly) clothes to contrast with Emily’s costume (basically your normal clothes), please wear clothes that you could re-wear in following shoots

Finish Time: Approximately 9.30

Character: Sarcastic, has friendly rivalry with Atticus (Torin), practical, holds the group together, VERY pretty, down to earth, loyal

Torin’s Terrific Shoot Schedule!

Travel:

• With Rhiannon by bus: 299 then 134
• Alternatively by the tube from Southgate station or Arnos Grove Station

Arrival Time: Approximately 8.10

Location: Top of Primrose Hill by the benches

Costume: Coat (and any other warm layers required), jeans, shirt, boots, please wear clothes that you could re-wear in following shoots

Finish Time: Approximately 9.30

Character: Lila’s love interest, friendly rivalry with Jess, a bit strange, thoughtful, witty

3rd Draft of Shot List

This is the 3rd shot list we made, as we changed our script and came up with new ideas for shots.

1-4. VLS pans of sunrise and scenery
5. Static VLS/ turn around to MS (pan?) - shakey - Lila starts vlogging
6. MS/CU front-on - see vlogging from behind the phone
7. MCU side-on
8. MS shakey - finishes vlog
9. MS/CU front-on - stops recording, starts putting it in her pocket
10. Canted angle MS - puts camera in her pocket
11. MLS - Lila on bench, takes out notebook from rucksack (pan)
12. OTS HA - bringing notebook towards herself and flicks through it, stops on photo (pan)
13. CU - Lila's reaction
14. ECU of photo - Lila strokes it
15. VLS (from bottom of hill)
16. Straight on MS of Lila looking down photo, then flicks to list, friends walking towards her in background call out and she turns round
17. OTS/side on MCU of her opening list/ticking off then pans up to look at the sunrise
18. Side on LS of Atticus and Jess walking towards Lila, with her sitting on the bench
19. Tracking MS of them sitting down next to her on bench
20. 2 shot of Jess showing Lila her camera
21. LS from behind - all 3 silhouetted against the sunrise
22. CU of Atticus as he says things
23. MCU of Lila and a bit of Jess
24. CU of Atticus
25. MCU of Lila and a bit of Jess
26. CU of Jess
27. CU of Atticus
28. CU of Jess
29. MS 3 shot from front/canted angle (pan?) .... Lila starts to get up
30. MS from back of bench facing sunrise... Lila finishes getting up and turns around. Starts to take out camera from pocket
31. CU canted angle of Lila finishing to put camera on bench
32. POV from camera (CU) Lila adjusting camera - "come on guys"
33. MS of camera on bench
34. POV from camera LS running to the edge of hill thing- "1, 2, 3, jump!" - freeze - title appears- come down - Lila runs towards it (Jess and Atticus giggling in the back) - Lila covers camera with her palm



 

Second Test Shoot/ First Practice Shoot 02.02.13

On February 2nd, we went for our second test shoot/ first practice shoot. Whereas our first test shoot was more to figure out the issues with our proposed script and also to rehearse the sequence at Primrose Hill, the second test shoot was more about pinning down the technical details of the sequence, such as how framing would work and how we would ensure continuity.

 

What we improved on from the previous shoot:

- On the day of our first test shoot, we reached the top of the hill at 8am and luckily caught the end of the sunrise. For our second test shoot, however, we made sure we got to Primrose Hill for before the scheduled time of the sunrise (7.38); we were therefore able to get 13 minutes of footage of the sun rising above the London skyline, which we may use in our actual sequence.

- We had rewritten our shot list between the two shoots so that Lila no longer walks to where her friends, Atticus and Jess, are standing. In our rewritten shot list, the two friends walk over to the bench where Lila is sitting, and exchange a few lines of dialogue. This keeps up the pace of the sequence, as before, the proposed 'walking' section was quite long and tedious.

- We also rewrote our script, adding lines which had a comic undertone and therefore setting the mood for the film as lighthearted. Our feedback suggested that we had not thought much about how 'life after cancer' appeals to our target audience of 16-24 year old girls, and so we changed the script to add an element of comedy to an otherwise serious theme.

- We had planned to use continuity techniques such as shot-reverse-shot, and we did this by shooting whole conversations from various angles, so that we could later cut them into a sensible order.

 

 

Some problems we encountered:

- There were other people shooting the sunrise on the hill and so we had to make sure we did not obstruct their filming whilst trying to get our own footage of the sunrise.

- Primrose Hill is a popular spot for joggers, and particularly around 9am, we found that many people were jogging up the hill; we therefore had to ensure that we shot when there were fewer people around, in order to maintain continuity.

- It was much colder than we had planned for, and we found that, at various points, both the cast and the crew were too cold to film/act. This meant that the whole shoot took slightly longer than planned, but we know now to prepare beforehand.

 

 

Second Draft Of Script

Here is one of the first drafts of our script, where we tried to establish a sense of the 3 protagonists' characters and the basic storyline through the dialogue:

Alternative Opening Script:

Pans of the sunrise and scenery from Primrose Hill. Lila turns the camera around and starts vlogging.

Lila: So that’s number 1 done, only 34 more to go, although I have no idea how I’m going to skydive into the Olympic park dressed as the queen. I really miss you big brother. And I hope I’ll have as much fun as you probably are up there. Over and out.

Lila puts phone/ camera away, and gets out notebook. She flicks through notebook, ticks ‘Watch the sunrise from Primrose Hill’ off the list, and sighs while looking at a picture of her brother.

Atticus: (Shouts) Lila, hey (Atticus and Jess walk towards them)

Lila: (turning round)Hello

Atticus: (Atticus sits down next to Lila on the bench) So you’ve ticked it off? What’s next on the list then? (Jess gives Lila a quick hug then starts taking lot of hipster pictures)

Lila: Um, well I think it is… See how many girls I can get off with in an hour.

Atticus: (Laughs) That should be no problem for me, my milkshake brings all the girls to the yard.

Jess: Atticus, you’re lactose intolerant.

Lila: Right picture time, get up you two.

Lila puts camera on bench, and pushes Jess and Atticus toward the edge of the hill

Lila: Wait a second (fiddles with camera), okay, get ready to jump

Lila runs over to where Atticus and Jess are standing.

Lila: 1, 2 ,3 jump!

The camera goes off while they are jumping in mid-air in front of the sunrise. The title appears.

Costume and Prop list

In order to be more organised for the shoots, we wrote a list of the costume and props we'd need - this also helped us to see whether there was anything we needed to buy or get prepared for the shoot

COSTUME
Lila:
Lila's outfit is quite mis-matched and randomly put together, heightening her quirky character...

• Hipster, patterned jumper
• Tan trousers (for contrast)
• Over sized denim jacket
• Black boots
• A necklace
• A scarf 

Noah:

Noah's outfit is quite masculine, but also shows that he is a little unusual...

• Great coat
• Jeans
• Scarf

Jess:

Jess' outfit is a little unusual, but we wanted Jess and Lila to look quite different so her clothes are a little subtler...

• Dark jeans
• Black coat
• Patterned scarf
• Red boots

PROPS:

• A camera (which Lila uses to vlog her journey as she completes the bucket list)
• A backpack (typical for Indie films, connoting the theme of education and youth and hinting at the idea of a journey)
• A notebook (again connoting themes of education, youth and travel)
• A picture of Lila and her brother (anchoring the storyline - connoting themes of loss and sadness)
• The bucket list (anchoring the story - emphasising the idea of new beginnings)

Mise En Scene Inspiration

This post shows some of the inspiration for the mise-en-scene in our opening sequence, which was mostly from films of the same coming-of-age genre, some with an indie style.

We researched similar characters in films targeted at and aimed at young people, and used them as inspiration for our 3 main character's costume, hair and make up. We also researched props from other indie and coming of age films to inspire our mise en scene.

LILA
Our Hair and Make Up Inspiration:

Costume Inspiration:

JESS:

NOAH/ATTICUS:

 

PROPS:

 

 

Our Animatic

After completing our storyboard we made an animatic which allowed us to refine our shots even further. We took most of the pictures on our school field, with Sharlene and Anna filling in for the missing actors.

Doing the animatic also helped us with our script development, as saying the script out loud pointed out parts that sounded unrealistic, and we could work out the timing of the shots and adjust the script's length accordingly.

Costume Ideas

Here is a collage of photos of possible outfits for our main character, Lila:

We want Lila to have quite a quirky fashion sense, matching her character, and so the costume she wears in the opening is essential in helping to establish character. Here are a few of our costume ideas:

After pondering over the photos, we have decided to combine the jumper in the bottom left photo with the tan trousers in the bottom right and the scarf in the top right, complimented with an over-sized denim jacket to heighten her quirkiness, and make her look more individual. 

Possible Problems with Shoot

Our group got together and discussed the possible problems that could occur on the shoot so that we could plan for these problems and hopefully avoid them on the day


ORGANISATION

• Because Primrose Hill is a popular jogging sport, there may be quite a few unwanted people and sounds in the background of our shots - we will advert this by going very early (at sunrise)
• We have organised a group meeting at lunch time where we will get our kit release - and we will ensure that we'll all bring the kit we are looking after to the shoot by constantly communicating via our Facebook group or text
• We will also stay in communication on Sunday evening and Monday morning to ensure that we all know that we must bring in our kit
• We know who is doing what in our group, but we will make a list of our roles just to make sure we all know what tasks we have to do on the shoot
• We are in the process of making a shoot schedule, and in doing this we can make sure that our actors know when to turn up and where
• If one of our group members is absent from school, we'll remain in contact with them throughout the day, and update them on everything that they missed
• As we are planning to shoot some of the sunrise, timing is very essential as we do not ant any continuity errors - therefore, to minimise time wasting, before going to the location we will plan every last detail of the shoot so we know what we're doing when we get there and we are focused
• Again, as we are shooting outside, we have to pay attention to the weather - we have checked the weather for this weekend, and fortunately the sun will be shining, there'll be no rain, and good visibility
• Taking into account possible transport problems, we will leave early so that we get to location earlier rather than later (especially as we do not wish to miss the sunrise)

COMMUNICATION 

• Our group dynamics are very good, and so if one of us has trouble explaining ourselves, we will take time to listen and try to understand what the person wishes to say
• So far, we have had no disagreements, but we did agree that if ever we had a problem, we'd talk about it and try to sort it out
• We will make each actor and cast member an individual shoot schedule (with the scripts printed at the bottom for the actors) so that they know where to be and when, and how long they'll need to be on shoot
• If one of us has an idea that the others don't particularly agree with (for example, a certain shot they wish to use), then we will shoot both shots, and then reconsider them in post-production
• One of our friends has offered to be our caterer and general helper - she will bring food and extra layers, gloves and hats to ensure that our group and the actors don't go hungry or get cold

TECHNICAL  

• We will check if the batteries are charged, and be reminded how to use all of the equipment when we get our equipment release with Chris.
• We will remove any unwanted background sounds in post production
• We have practiced many of our shots both at location, and at a similar location, to ensure that lighting and framing is perfect in our shots
• We plan to have a variety of different types of shots in our opening, which feature in our shot list and animatic
• To ensure that we avoid continuity errors, we will shoot most of the events from one angle at a time, and then cut them together in post production.

GROUP DYNAMICS

• Our group get on very well, and we share out all of the jobs equally, all having the opportunity to do the exciting jobs as well as the slightly more boring jobs