Planning OTS: Health and Safety Checks (Expanded)

Whilst filming health and safety checks we made were:

• Ensuring Emily was safe whilst running on the cobbled ground as she was wearing heels and it had been/was raining
• Due to it raining I ensured the equipment we were using was safe and that someone held an umbrella over me whilst filming
• We were going to have the Femme Fatale without a coat on but due to the weather we found a coat suitable so she wore that. If she hadn't we would of ensured between takes she was warm so she wouldn't get a cold etc.
• As we were filming on a street were cars have access we made sure no cars were coming prior to pressing record, we did this by somebody being on a look out at all times and warning us with plenty of time so if we had to we could move out of the way safely. 

My first post on Health and Safety: Click Here
The Risk Assessment post: Click Here

Editing OTS: Transitions & Titles

• I have started to add in transitions and will continue to do this when next editing as I haven't completely finished adding where necessary.
• We started the lesson but looking at various fonts and after picking the ideal three:
  
• We had a little problem that the title that we had picked wouldn't allow us to change the font so we had to look for another candidate. Once we found another suitable one we asked peers which font they preferred so we have chosen the one in the middle (Zipfino). We then started to create the titles we needed:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  Here you can see the transitions and titles which we added.

  Whilst we had issues with changing the font on our ideal title we searched on the internet too look for a solution: 
  

Editing OTS: Editing Raw Footage & First Cut

• Today we started to edit together our raw footage and have made all the correct cuts: 

  

  Here's a picture Emily took just before we started to edit the clips together.

• We are now beginning to think of whether to follow the B&W scheme throughout - we most likely will. We are going to do some research on whether to. Update: We have decided to use B&W throughout. It will look like: 
  
• We're on our way to the first cut which we will later get a focus group to watch and give feedback etc
• Due to previously editing, it is more of a strong point of mine than Emily's therefore I have taken more of a main role within editing.

Filming OTS: Final Day of Filming Prep & How It Went

23/01/14 - Final day of filming preparation:

• Tomorrow we are filming the final clips we have to film for our OTS and then next lesson we will start to edit our piece. 
• In preparation I decided to write a list of all the clips we have to film with the shot/angle etc noted. I did this so we can be as organised as possible 
  
• After I did this I confirmed with Emily that what I had written was okay and then the next day we checked over it to ensure it was all fine. 
  
• We are planning on going there at 4.45pm and Emily has told Danny and Zach this so therefore I couldn't get a picture of it to go onto my blog.
  

24/01/14 - How it went:

• Filming went good. We made a couple of little changes to what I had written the sheet of paper the night before due to not having a shop keepers shoulder and it improving the overall OTS.
• For Emily's outfit it remained the same apart from the blouse was changed to:
  
  For Emily's make up she wore red lipstick to make her more Femme Fatale:
  
  For Emily's make up I looked around on YouTube for a tutorial to find inspiration:
• Danny and Zach wore the same suit as it wasn't necessary for them to have to wear a different suit as from the way we've filmed it, you can't really notice the fact that they are wearing the same suit. Look here for picture of them in their outfits -click here-

Filming OTS: Final Outfits

Today we filmed at Elm Hill. Next lessons we can start editing the footage we have and then continue from there.
These where the final outfits of each character:

To the left on this photo is the Anti-Hero and his outfit and to the right is the Killer.

 On this side is the Femme Fatales outfit. I thought the coat was appropriate so therefore we added the coat due to the weather being so cold as it did luckily did go with the Film Noir theme.

Planning OTS: Final Prop & Filming Update

Filming: After organising to film on the 25/01/14 we are now filming tomorrow (22/01/14). We have changed our date again due to one of our actors now being able to film on the date we had wanted previously. So tomorrow we are going to film the outside clips and then on Friday (24/01/14) we are filming the inside clips in Emily's Aunties wedding dress shop.

Props: 

• Tomorrow morning whilst at school before we go to film we are going to ask the drama department for a hat to use, if they do say no then it will still be okay to film as the hats are vital. Update: After much deliberation we have decided to not use a hat.
• After finding out the pistol Emily was going to sort out for us couldn't be used.  I figured out a way to alter the way I am are filming in order for the gun not to have to be shown but still make it clear that a gun is 'used' by adding the gun shot noise. 
  
• For the skirt on our Femme Fatale we are now borrowing another friend's as the one we originally were going to borrow now can't led it to us 
  
• For the top the Femme Fatale will be wearing I found several blouses and we chose the most appropriate. 

  

  1st possible option

  

  2nd option

  

  3rd option

  
  
  
  
   After discussing each option we decided the third one would be most suitable.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Planning OTS: Researching Directing

Due to being one of the designated Directors of our OTS I thought I should look more into the role of an Director.

A director is: a person who is in charge of an activity, department, or organisation.

 

Above is a video I watched on YouTube which made directing clear and I am now more confident to film my role as one of the directors.

Planning OTS: Arranging When To Film & Props

Arranging to film: I have started a group chat between me, Emily, Danny and Zach to arrange when to film and anything else that we will have to sort out. Here's the chat:

Today we double checked with them that it is still okay for them to be in our OTS and as soon as they said yes we got to finalising dates of when to film. After trying to film on a certain date one of them couldn't make it therefore we have arranged another date which we can all do (25/01/14). When it gets closer to it we will arrange times etc.

Props: When discussing the Femme Fatale's (who will be played by Emily) outfit we needed to borrow an appropriate skirt and knew our friend had one so I texted her to ask her if it would be okay to use and she said yes it would be fine.

Planning OTS: Lighting Research

For the lighting in our OTS we are quite restricted due to filming outside therefore not being able to use lighting considerably. In the wedding dress shop we may have an opportunity to play around with the lighting more though.
Here is the video I watched to gain some insight on lighting in a Film Noir piece:


After watching this I feel more confident about lighting for Film Noir and will be able to do a decent job.

Planning OTS: Cinematographer Research

What is a Cinematographer?
A cinematographer is in charge over the camera and lighting whilst working on a film, television production or other live action piece and is responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image.

Do we need one?
Advantages: Possible chance of better shots, improved lighting etc
Disadvantages: With the size of our group being small with only the two of us it would be hard to recruit another member to help with this, as I am already being both the camera women and the director and Emily featured in it and was the co-director. Another disadvantage is that me and Emily are neither blessed artistically so wouldn't be best suited for the job. 

Verdict?
We have decided for our OTS a cinematographer wouldn't be necessary.

Update: We have shown our first cut to a focus a group and one of the comments was the the lighting and filming was impressive. I am happy that the decision not to have a cinematographer didn't effect our OTS in a negative way.

Planning OTS: Copyright, Film Classifications & Ethics

For this I created a Prezi:

Copyright website: Click Here
BBFC website: Click Here

Planning OTS: Detailed Timeline

Done  / To Do / Currently Doing

• Week beginning 6th January -  filming / Planning shoots / capture of photo images for phot storyboards / Uploads of footage / evidence of this added to blog
• Week beginning 13th January - final week for getting all footage shot and uploaded / editing and creation of raw footage / editing to complete the first' Cut'/ creating studio & production idents/screens
• Week beginning 20th January - editing images - to produce first cuts ready for feedback
• Week beginning 27th January -first  focus group work (collect feedback from within the group & HY/MO) / re-editing / planning and completion of any reshoots / planning construction of sound
• Week beginning 3rd February - construction of sound / titles / final edits of film OTS
• Week beginning 10th February - exhibition and distribution of 'first cut' of final films shared on digital/social networks for the purpose of focus group feedback - use surveys/ questionnaires and allow time for feedback / work on Blogs to ensure all the above is evidenced: talking head, reflective note, production plans, slideshares.....
• Week beginning 17th February = Half term - complete focus group research / complete Blogs / plan final improvements to productions in response to the feedback
• Deadline for completed Research & Planning Blogs and First Drafts of Productions is the 28th February (Friday after half term)

Planning OTS: Our Target Audience & Different Types of Audiences

Different types of audiences:

Mine and Emily's target audience: We've decided that the most suitable target audience for our Opening Title Sequence would be Film Fanatics. Film Fanatics are mostly male, age range 25-44 and they pre-plan their trip which would be most likely review led. We chose them because we think that, that age range is appropriate to our genre (Film Noir) as it is a more mature genre compared to others.

Planning OTS: Risk Assessment

Although me and Emily aren't a massive production company like ITV etc we still looked into and discussed risk assessments. For this we managed to find some copies of a risk assessment for studios (Riverside Studios) and did our own risk assessment using their structure.

• Here is some pictures of the risk assessment we used:

Planning OTS: Final decision on our Production Company name

• Non-linear Productions 

We chose this one as it represents our company being alternative therefore is suitable.
Here is our logo for our production name that Emily made for us:

This is our rough copy that Emily created for us. We are going to alter it slightly when we make the final one. For example, we are going to remove a line to make it flow more which will make it look more appealing. 

Planning OTS: Filming

We have borrowed a tripod and camera from the school to be able to film our OTS over the next couple of weeks.
Me and Emily have planned to film the night clips on Thursday 2nd January. Whilst planning this I realised we have a complication of props; we don't have a pistol available which we need for the 2nd and we resolved this as Emily remembered that she her Grandad possibly has a suitable gun we could use. We also struggled to find suitable hats therefore they may not be possible to obtain for our OTS.
-I print screened this conversation for evidence but it can't be found anywhere.
We have planned to film the daytime clips sometime in after the week beginning 13th January due to me going on holiday which means we won't be able to film.
Whilst deciding when to film we made our plans also around the other actors who will be in the OTS; Danny and Zach.

• Update: After discussing it with Emily we have decided to wait to film the night shots to also the week beginning 13th Jan so we can prepare better (props etc) so our overall OTS will be more authentic and overall, better.
• Whilst I am away Emily was going to ensure we were prepared ready to film for when I got back.
• 15/01/14 today we arranged to film on the 25th of January as that date works best for us all. For a more updated post on filming go to: this post