script

here is an extract of the script for our film

oops

sorry about the 2 second clip. here is the real first draft.

Music

we chose the song cool for katz as it had an appropriately fast pace but also was deep enough to not seem peppy and childlike. we chose to only include one song in the final draft rather than two in the first draft as while where we were putting them was appropriate,but, most films only contain the very start with a song or the second scene with a song.

first draft

this is our first draft of the film. it taught us a lot about how to make a film and showed us our errors in film making which in turn helped us make the final piece better.

Austin powers

this film was very helpful as it was a parody of a spy film, which in essence captures the same thing as an action comedy. it was also very helpful as the opening sequence was a film within a film which was very similar to a dream sequence.

Kung Fu panda

we used this films opening as inspiration for our plot and especially the dream sequence

first two minutes of train spotting

we used this opening as inspiration for the chase scene in our film

train spotting intro

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPW0agrlq5g

Titles

editing in titles is probably the most difficult process in editing. we managed to do some interesting things. first of all we managed to create freeze frames of the actors during mid jump and we placed the titles under there feet. this looks impressive while not itself being an overly difficult thing to do. also it is reminiscent of many chase scenes where a pause is used to introduce a character. this is particularly often used by British film makers. for the actual title itself "the nerd who loved me" it was slightly more difficult. first of all we wanted to do something original. we discovered in our first draft that it was possible to make the words move across the screen and leave an imprint. this looks very flashy and unusual. it was however difficult as two different titles needed to be made and had to overlap on each other. also they needed to be perfectly level with each other. there were some problems with the titles in that sometimes they included a fade in fade out animation without us instructing it but this was all fixed.

Who is this marketed towards

this particular genre has a very wide range of audiences. it is easily marketable towards anyone from the age of 8 to 50 and thanks to our challenging of standard conventions we also are able to market it towards feminists through use of an actress rather than a actor to play the lead role. it encompasses two different genres and so can be marketed towards people who enjoy either genre on its own. the fact that it is aimed at both genders and uses two genres (comedy and action individually already having one of the largest audiences in the world).

Health and safety

this was not a huge issue in our final production as the only real thing to be noted was that we made sure to keep the food used for filming in safe conditions where it would not go bad. in our first draft we made multiple safety errors. first of all we filmed on a road were cars were going by. we took some precautions by having someone look out for cars but ultimately it was just a bad idea. secondly we had one actor tackle the other to the ground. we did this without a safety mat or any kind of padding to protect them. these are all things we fixed in the final draft. also the dog was well trained and despite its size presented no threat to actors or crew.

Location

Location location location. its a huge issue in film making. especially in a film such as ours which required good lighting and so needed to be shot around mid day and also required relatively empty locations. this being difficult in one of the most crowded cities in the world. a huge mistake we made in our first draft was that we chose a location that was close rather than one that was actually good. during filming we had to constantly cut due to passers by and drivers were a big hazard throughout filming. also it did not give us great opportunity to work with as it was simple roads.

we eventually found a relatively empty place. we found a series of council flats with extremely interesting architecture. filled with twists and turns perfect for a chase scene and also the paths were wide enough for the crew to manege all the equipment easily. also it was all made of grey concrete which simultaneously added to the atmosphere of the shot but did not attract any attention away from the cast.

first draft

we did a first draft of the film for multiple reasons. first of all we were eager to do more filming than the simple preliminary task we made which took all of five minutes to create. even more importantly it gave us the opportunity to observe the rookie mistake we would inevitably make. this was extremely helpful. we noticed that we made mistakes with almost everything. for instance we did not use proper costuming and it was difficult for an audience to assume why the actor was belong chased. we fixed this through using proper costuming an showing the audience that he is a thug. the camera is shaky throughout the entire production. the lighting gets quickly and progressively darker and darker. we only used one angle throughout the entire chase scene from different distances which made it look dull. just about the only thing we did not break was the 180 degree rule.

all this being said it also taught us a lot about editing techniques and how to modify sound. also we learnt how not to make a film. this overall made it a very positive experience and a very helpful one as well.

Mis en sen

we made sure to achieve this as best we could. all scenes were carefully shot with this rule in mind. likewise with all props. we made sure that most all details were covered to help better convey what we wanted to the audience. for instance we got junk food and spread it around the seemingly sleeping lead actress. this make the audience view her as someone who is lazy and unhealthy.

dubbing

during the film we needed to dub in words for a brief moment. this is because we were using silent footage when both people's faces were too dark to see. therefore the dubbbing is seemless. we used an echo effect to emphasise the fact that the person (this is a first person shot) is hurt and is dazed. we did this by simply filming two people saying the lines then uploading it onto the computer. we then deleted the visual elements of the shot and simply put the sound in place of the sound (or rather lack of it) which was under the footage in editing. this was fun to do as it allowed us to do something that was simoultaniosly easy and unusual.

difficulty in filming

there were many problems faced in filming and these were de to many different things

1. conditions. there were many days when we were unable to film due to poor weather conditions. also the amount of time with the same amount of light in a day is relativley short and if using natural lighting in a movie you must make sure that you keep trak of it. this was a big problem in the first draft of our film when we filmed in the afternoon and it got progresivley darker.

2. equipment. there were many problems with the equipment. this was the most problematic subject of the entire production. this was not explicitaly something wrong with the equipment themsleves but rather there were times that we were unable to use it due to our own lack of knowlegde though these particular problems only daunted us towards the beggining of the project. lac of a dolly made the chase scene difficult to achieve and camera's themselves must be kept in good conditions and handled carefully.

3. crew and cast. it is difficult to schedule people at the best of times and when they already have schedules for school (all of which ar different timetables) it becomes extremely unweildy. furthermore there are certain natural human reactions that made filming somewhat diffucult. in a shot where our lead actress runs down some stairs she naturaly reaches for the banister which takes away from the extreme and rushed look we were trying to achieve, though this was remedied by the "try and try again" method.

4. editing. the fact that we need to transfer the film from one computer to another as one solid clip rather than as numerous small clips that form the movie makes it not so much difficult as it is leignthy to edit the film should we realise during sound editing that there is a poblem we must go back to the original computer to edit it.

5. filming. the problems with filming were realy a compilation of weater conditions and equipment problems. if one piece of equipment is missing or not working properly it is very hazardous to the film. on one occasion we were unable to secure a tripod and it was clear when uploading the footage just how shaky the camera was.

6. planning. i have already mentioned the problems of planing with the crew and difficultys with the weather and light but also there were problems with the amount of time allowed access to the schools camera and tripod as well as he computers we required for editing. also storyboards with lackluster imagination were sometimes hacked apart during filming. this it must be admitted actualy lead us to have a better film but that was blind luck more so than anythign else.

inspiration

there were several films we took inspiraion from for our oppening sequence. two of these were kung fu panda and train spotting. kung fu panda for its serious opening which is soon twisted into something unexpected (this being the essence of good comedy) and train spotting for its incredible chase scene in the opening.both of these i am going to post the openings of as soon as possible.

Props

there were many props used. computer,dorito's keys ect were all vital to making the scnes appear realistic. for instance when the actress appears to wake up she is on an old sofa. furthermore we placed a computer directly by her side to make her appear as though she may well have been using it till she fell asleep. furthermore we made sure to get a bag of junk food and spread it around her so she appeared to have fallen asleep gorging herself on cheap snacks. this all added to the sense of patheticness which helped to make it clash and contrast with the dram sequence and better define them as two different realitys as well as setting up the basis of the charecter nicely.

Costume

the costume used by the actor and actress played a big part in the way we presented these charecters and more importantly made the audience view them in a certain way. in the oppening scene the hero (or heroine as it were) wears tight, sleeck black clothing. this makes the audience percive her as being someone who is in control and better ties with her chasing the villian who is dressed in normal dirty and dull clothes. he wears a hoodie and baggy pants. this nicely achieves a cross between someone who appears to possibly be a criminal (which is backed up by him being chased) and someone who looks distincly un-amazing. careful consideration was used when choosing the costume for the out of dream sequence. dirty worn and baggy sweat pants were chosen along with a loose fitting and cheap looking T shirt. this was used to contrast from the sleeck cool look in the dream sequence to the charecters pathtic reality. this achieved a clear break between the two realitys without it needing to be explicitaly stated. i do regret not making the actress remove her piercings for the post dream sequence as it did not fit in very well with the way we were attempting to portray the charecter, though i do belive that save the close up on her eyes they are barely visible and for the most part ignorable.