(More or less) Finished edit - there's still time

Here is my film with the editing changes made. Note there is still no soundtrack and no voice over but these will be added.

I have implemented certain changes in accordance with my audience feedback, there are as follows:

Chronological scenes

The scenes are now in chronological order as if the male character was imagining a whole day rather that individual scenarios. I think this makes much more sense and it was something several people were really keen on this whereas other people didn't mind. No one thought it would be a terrible thing to do. Keeping this in mind it makes sense to me to change the order.  

Sped up car

Unfortunately I haven't been able to re-film this scene. This is due to several reasons:
The weather hasn't been the same at any time I could film so the action of the spinning into the car shot wouldn't look continuous. Availability of both the actor Jacob and the car along with someone who can drive the car has been tricky. I haven't had access to all three at once at a suitable time, even though it wouldn't take too long to do.
For these reasons I have had to make-do with the original footage. I have sped it up as much as possible with out it skipping any frames. For comedic effect having the car faster is more appropriate (if being hit by a car is ever appropriate) as the slow motion leaves time for the audience to react in horror.

Scene removal

I have removed the duck scene as it was ranked lowest by my audience. It really was a weak scene so I have no real problem about taking it out. Removing it serves the purpose of shortening the duration of my short film. 

Scene shortening 

During the dinner scene I removed the medium shot of the couple removing the chips from the bucket and emptying them on their plates. This shot had no other purpose than for continuity but I have since learned that you don't need to show every piece of action, the audience can assume what happened and the scene will still make sense. That shot was quite long and boring, so I removed it to shorten the duration and keep the scene interesting. 

After adding the music and voice over my short film will be done!

Music developments

As I have said I am getting one of my friends (Arabella) to help me compose the soundtrack for One Fine Coffee Break as I am in no way musically inclined. We had a chat about the sort of thing I am after, and after watching the first edit of my short film (with my attempt at music) she went away and put together a little composition.

We took inspiration form several sources. Firstly looking at the soundtracks from existing rom-coms.

I like this but I think my film's music has to be more upbeat, the use of the piano compliments the genre perfectly though. 

The chords in the above video are wonderful. From this I deduced that I definitely wanted a simple soundtrack. 

This is also a personal favourite of mine. Again, I love the chords in this but similarly to the other two it seems a bit depressed. 

I think Piano was also going to be a staple part of my soundtrack. It is conventional to the romance genre and is able to produce fabulously subtle tones as well as prominent emotions. However I'd like to include some guitar/strings. Something along the lines of this:

Here is what Arabella has come up with. I do really like it, with a bit of work and tailoring to fit the visuals it should work really well. Sound production is very important to any film but I feel it is especially important for my production due to the lack of dialogue. Without the characters talking the audience will rely more heavily on audio to derive meaning from the visuals.

Film review - Let's start this thing

The other part of the ancillary tasks is to create a film review. It needs to follow conventions and not look out of place in a real film magazine. To create my review I am using the program In Design. I am basing my layout of those of the reviews featured in Empire Magazine. 

My proposed layout and that of Empire reviews.

In Design is a really good program in terms of formatting, it produces a professional looking finish.The program allows you to position text in columns with ease (among other things). I haven't used the program before but it didn't take too long for me to familiarise myself with it.  

The first thing I did was insert and place the images. Just like in the Empire review I have a larger main image heading the page with a small picture underneath to the side. The pictures I have chosen are stills from the film. The larger because it sets the scene nicely, showing the main location. Jacobs facial expressions in this image also show a cheeky side to his character and thus, to the short film as a whole as well. However, the quality of the picture isn't very good as it appears pixilated. So I will need to return to So Bar and take a new picture, hopefully I will be able to take a similar photo the the one above. The second photo is of good quality and again it shows the fun side to the film so I will use that one on the final version. 

The purple columns in the above photo act as guide lines within the program. They will allow me to position the text equally across the page giving a professional finish. The title was the first text I added. I have used a similar font, text size and position to Empire to keep to the conventions of the publication. 

I also decided to flip the picture horizontally so the book wasn't covered by the text box. But as it turns out it is now covered by the other image. But, as I am taking a new picture it doesn't matter for now. 

I added a white box overlapping the main photo to place in the information about the film. I have decided to use the same yellow and blue colour scheme as the review in Empire as it's bright and light hearted and generally just looks pleasing. The font size, colour and weight varies to distinguish between the importance of the subjects. Similarly, the information font differs from the title. The headings I have decided to use are as follows:

• Released (release date)
• Certificate
• Director
• Cast
•  Plot

The only one I have not included is 'Running time' as I don't feel it as a relevant for a short film compared to a feature length film. 

That is about as far as I have got but it's a good start. It shouldn't take as long to progress as I now have a bit of experience with the program. 

 

First edit feedback

I have received some feedback on my first edit. This is really helpful as it may bring to my attention features, inconsistencies and general points to improve that I myself may not have noticed. I was generally please with the feedback. It may seem like a lot of points to change but they are minor changes in editing and a lot in the sound production that should improve the quality of my film.

Positive comments:

"some really impressive shot compositions, such as when Jacob falls and looses his glasses."
"I like the placement and font of the title"
"Well edited"

And then there were some points for improvement. 

(If you click on the pictures they appear larger and easier to read)

I will start to implement these changes today. I have also conducted and filmed some research from my target audience that you can look forward to seeing in the future.

The First Edit

Here is the first edit of One Fine Coffee Break.

There are several things that I know I need to change:

Scenes

As I explained I have included all of my filmed scenes. Now my short film is too long as it currently falls at 6 minutes long. To make it fit within the time limit I need to remove one or two of the dream scenes. In order to determine which ones I will conduct some audience research. It will depend on which ones the audience thinks are funnier or simply which the audience prefers. 

Editing

If the removal of the dream scenes doesn't trim the duration enough I can trim some of the shots within the scenes. For example the dinner date scene is really long, I could take out some of the shots that establish what they are doing to speed up the pace of the scene. 

The car crash

I have yet to decide if I am going to re-film the car crash. I still think it looks good in slow motion. Again, I will ask my target audience what they think.

Music

The music on this edit is temporary so I need to get the real music from my composer and work with her to  tailor it to the film. 

Sound

The ambience in the coffee shop is very jumpy. I need to record some ambience sound to relay over the visuals. This should be easy enough, I just need to visit a coffee shop at a time that its not too busy so the ambience fits the visuals. When filming So Bar wasn't very busy, so the sound needs to match that.

Voice over
Jacobs dialogue is a bit quiet. I need to re-record it with a proper microphone. Also, if re-recorded I can do so with Jacob watching the film as he does it. This will ensure that the inner monologue fits the visuals perfectly.

Next week I will conduct my audience research. I will also start making the changes that I have outlined to my short film

Yet more editing - the to do list

At the end of my previous post I produced a list of what I needed to do next. It consisted of:

1. Edit extra footage
2. Sound and Music
3. Titles and Credits
4. Duration

I can proudly say that today I completed items 1 and 3. I have edited the extra scenes and added the titles & credits. 

Part of the dog scene in the program final cut. 

Action shot of a rather convincing Wii tennis match. 

The extra scenes I added today consist of the dog walking scene, the feeding the ducks scene and the Wii scene. I think the dog scene was most successful, it flows smoothly, looks genuine and most importantly, it's quite funny. The key to this in my opinion is the acting. They manner in which Jacob runs after the dog is brilliant he flails his arms and legs conveying a sense of hopelessness; he knows he's not going to catch this dog. Another key aspect to this scene was the co-operation of the dog. He's called Dylan an is a 2 1/3 year old Labradoodle. I knew he would be good on screen as he is very obedient an to no surprise did exactly as he was told. This could have been a tricky part of filming, for example he could have run off. But no such problems arose. 

The Wii scene however doesn't come across in the same way. It appears rushed and like an after thought. I say this because it only consists of three shots and also, as Jacob is hit in the final shot, Olivia breaks character. She doesn't do this to a notable degree but it is evident to me, and I think it will be to my peers as well  that she obviously made a mistake. For this reason I am sceptical of the scene. However to some one who doesn't study media they probably won't notice. It's only from the experience of filming someone might realise she looks beyond the camera. If my target audience like it, it seems rather counter intuitive to remove it. 

I have added in my Title and Credits. The main title "One Fine Coffee Break" is in the font Kenyan Coffee and placed over one of the earlier shots in my short film. 

To do this I used the program Live Type. I have used it in previous projects to add text to images. It is a simple program that I have confidence in using and didn't take me long to re-familiarise myself with it. After typing the title in the program the file is added to Final cut and placed over the desired shot.

The text is the top blue boxes over the video clip.

 I may change the placement of my titles in the near future depending on audience feedback. 

I also produced the credits to my film. They are the same as my example on the previous post. I have yet to add the 'jaunty tune'. 

What's next?

I now need to do the audio. For my first edit I am using the music and voice over from my animatic due to tome constraints. I need to change the timings in order for it to fit with the new visuals of my short film rather than the animatic.

Editing session 4 - The ending

At this point I have edited up to around 4 1/2 minutes of my film. As you may have guessed I still have scenes I haven't included. I haven't managed to include the dog walking scene, the Wii scene or the feeding the ducks scene. This is a real shame as some of the footage is really funny. What I might do is edit the scenes together anyway to see how they look and then ask my target audience along with my peers of which to include. But, a deadline is looming so for now I think it's important for me to put in the ending which will definitely be included rather then experiment with scenes that might not.

The transition out of dream sequence to reality is the same as the transition into it but reversed. A fade to white transition follows the end shot from the dream into a shot of Jacobs character. He looks downwards as the camera follows his movement via panning.

He then proceeds to walk over to the table where Olivias character is sitting. A medium shot shows a new character, played by Harry, come into the coffee shop and immediately starts talking to her. This was important to me as it reflects the message of my film: seize the day/life is short. The fact that this new character comes in, out of nowhere whilst Jacobs character has been dreaming and wasting time implies if he'd have acted straight away he wouldn't have been beaten to her by this guy.

The next shot shows Jacobs reaction, he looks from one to the other as if he can't believe what has happened. This will be accompanied by Jacobs inner monologue much like the start of the film. A point of view shot sees Olivia turn to Jacob and ask "Is there a problem?".

His face falters (shown through a medium shot) then he looks once more at each of them (shown through a point of view shot). This shot then shows him leaving the coffee ship and quickly cuts to another level angle as he leaves and then to another when he is outside. This quick cutting helps create a feeling of fast pace and conveys to the audience that he is leaving quickly, possibly out of embarrassment or shame.

The film ends with another point of view shot of his feet as he walks away, kicking a coffee cup out of frustration as he does so.

And that's the end of my short film!

What's next?

1. Extra footage. As I said I still have footage for scenes I didn't have time to include. So I will edit them to see how they look and if I want to substitute any existing scenes for them.
2. Sound and music. I have edited my film with the sound muted as I knew I was adding a soundtrack over the top. It's now time to start making the music and adding the other audio (voice over and coffee shop ambience). I spoke to my friend Arabella who is composing my music and she has already started producing it!
3. Titles and credits. I want to add titles and credits so I need to play around with them to see what looks right. 
4. Duration. My film stands at 5 minutes and 20 seconds; the limit is 5 minutes. I need to trim some shots in order to make it the right length. 

Editing session 4 - The train station

Editing continues after the hiatus. Unfortunately I only have access to the editing software at school which proves awkward. I would have loved to edit (honestly) over the weekend. But this is just one constraint I have to deal with. Today I moved on to the train station scene.

I have opened with a panning shot that shows the location off to the audience; this works as an establishing shot as it establishes to the audience where the characters are. I am really please with the smooth panning motion I managed to produce. Other camera movement I tried hasn't been so effective despite me preforming it in the same way with the same equipment (specifically the tripod).

Opening train station shot. 

The proceeding shot shows her initial reaction to seeing the male character on the other side. This scene, of course, as I have mentioned numerous times is a take on a scene from the film Love Actually (2003, Richard Curtis).

Having just seen him across the tracks. 

The shots continue in a back and fourth between him changing the sign to reveal more of the message to her reaction. I aimed to have a shot of the male ending with the same sign the next shot of him would start with. So for example the first shot of him his sign says 'Hello', then the film cuts to her reaction then the next shot is him still holding the 'Hello' sign before changing it. I wanted to do this to help with continuity, I thought it just makes it easier for the audience to follow the narrative of the scene.

Tricky sign turning. 

However, this wasn't always possible due to weather conditions and props. When filming we ran into some trouble, it was a fairly windy day and removing the signs smoothly was a challenge. This resulted in several takes; no one-take goes from start to finish through all the signs. We changed method for removal after the first two signs. Because of this I have no shot of the second sign ('I have a question') moving to reveal the third sign ('Would you').

This isn't a massive problem, it's more me being picky.

Editing session 3

The editing continues!

The dinner date

For this scene I wanted The female character to eat really sloppily and vast quantities. Again, this is a case of role reversal between the characters, playing on audience expectations for comedic effect. To show that she had eaten a lot of food I am using a kind of stop motion. Usually this technique would involve using lots of still images edited together to create a coherent sequence. Instead, I filmed one continuous shot, removing/adding food to the plate at intervals. During editing I trimmed the shot removing sections leaving only food being present and not present. I decided to using film rather that still images simply as a stylistic feature. The candle is flickering at the top right of the shot and in every few shots there is a bit of movement from the chicken bones, hinting they have been thrown onto the plate with little care. This continues the idea that she is eating with no table manners and in an animalistic fashion.

Each stage of the food removal (chips) and additions (chicken bones).

The technique is not so much stop motion, but quick cutting inspired by the stop motion technique.

Comedy

Hilarious, I don't think anyone has every been that happy to
have a bucket of KFC. 

Quite a sizeable aspect of my video is that it has to be funny. This is not always easy. Much of the most successful humour (in my opinion) is spontaneous. A lot of the humour in my short film stems from playing on audience expectations. For example in this scene the male eats with pristine table manners and the female doesn't care at all. In fact she flouts table manners so greatly she even drinks gravy straight from the jug. Most unladylike. Similarly in the film scene he is the one scared of the horror film rather than her.  

Clear expression. 

I have also relied on physical comedy. I have only realised how violent my film actually is whilst editing. Jacobs character falls over, gets hit in the face AND gets hit by a car. But, however immoral it may seem, people getting hurt is funny. 

I have been so lucky with having such talented actors. Jacob's facial expressions are priceless. He is so capable at creating and conveying emotions to the audience just by his facial expressions. This is perfect as a large proportion of my short film doesn't contain dialogue. His voice over he produced for the animatic was also really funny, a lot of it was improvised or he put his own twist on it. I think I will re-record the dialogue so it fits with his facial expressions in the film for maximum comic effect. Other wise it may seem disjointed.  

Editing session 2

Today I continued editing my short film. It's really starting to come together. I am now well into the dream sequence having editing the running scene, film scene and spinning/car scene.

The running scene

Continuity

This scene was fun to edit as it is the first of the dream sequence I am starting to see the initial premise of my film (a spoof rom-com) come to life. This scene is a take on the classic "running towards each other in a field" scene that is so commonly associated with the romantic comedy genre. To add a humorous take on it I have done two things. The running lasts a lot longer than in normally would, making it seem like they are running a ludicrously long distance. I have created this effect by cutting between the female and male characters as they run towards each other. A very long shot then reveals that they were actually not that  far and it shouldn't take them that long to reach each other. Secondly, the running is really over emphasised. Jacob was really good at this and it's transferred to the screen brilliantly.

Cutting between Olivia running and Jacob to show it is a simultaneous action. 

At the end of this scene Jacob falls over, this was a bit harder to film to make it look natural. But luckily, Jacob was really willing and gave it several goes until it looked right. (During this time we gathered some spectators.)

To make the action of him falling look alarming to the audience I used shots from two angles, one in front and one from the very long shot position to show where the characters are in relation to each other.

Him falling.                                                                                       On the floor.

After falling my favourite shot so far is featured. I starts with his glasses in focus (in a level angle shot) and close the the camera amongst the grass. He then proceeds to pick them up and place them back on his face as the camera pans upwards changing it to a low angle shot.

The film scene

During this scene the couple are watching a horror film, the female is calm but the male character is scared witless.  This is a case of role reversal, it challenges the audiences expectations of typical character types/conventions.

The first shot is of a DVD cover insinuating what the couple are watching. I chose the film 28 Days Later because it is a well known zombie film that my target audience will probably of heard of if not seen. The camera tracks from right to left. Originally the shot tracked the other way, however the following shot of the couple pans right to left. I wanted the two shots to move in the same direction to help with continuity , making it less disorientating for the audience. It also just looks smoother. I was reluctant to reverse the shot of the couple as it's important to me for the audience to see Olivias character first, I think this make Jacobs characters reaction funnier as it has already been established to the audience she was fine with the film. This plays on the expectation that women are less into horror films than men and that men should be comforting the women hiding behind a pillow, not the other way round.

Editing the film scene.

The spinning/car scene

As I said in an earlier post the footage of the male getting hit by a car didn't look right when sped up, hence I decided to put it in at normal speed. This way it looks like slow motion. I will keep it this way in my first edit to get some peer feedback.

Before he gets hit by the car the couple spin. This footage turned out really well and the actors facial expressions (especially Jacobs) are really funny. I have cut between Jacob spinning and Olivia spinning to again like the running signify that they are doing it simultaneously. I then added in the footage I edited when testing this scene on the end.



Transitions
As I stated in my previous post I am using fade to white transitions between each scene during the dream sequence to remind the audience that it is a dream and not reality.

What's next?

More editing! This process takes a while but it is well worth devoting the time to it.

Editing session 1

Today I started editing properly after my tests yesterday. I am going to edit the scenes chronologically as it will ensure my short film flows and makes sense. So I have started with the first scene in the coffee shop.

Scene 1 - Shots 1-20

Continuity and footage problems

I thought this would be straight forward but I had overlooked certain aspects of continuity. I took pride in the fact that when filming I filmed more footage than I needed and did a couple of takes of each shot. This way I should, in theory, have more than enough to play around with whilst editing. However, it doesn't appear this way. Continuity is very important to create a coherent scene. When filming it is hard to keep track of actor positions to make sure they are the same when changing camera position.

During the first 15 or so shots I think I have edited successfully and it flows as though it were one continuous action. This is an example of match on action, when one action take part over several shots.  Some shots were not as good as I'd have hoped, for example Jacobs head is slightly out of frame or the camera isn't overly steady. Finding out the shots aren't steady is incredibly infuriating as I took all the necessary steps to ensure that they were. I can only account it to the quality of my tripod and possibly if I was holding the camera whilst filming the shot, although I don't think I was. The tripod is now broken thanks to Jacob. To his credit he tried to fix it but one of the legs no longer stays in place.

Here is an example of one of my shots that didn't turn out perfectly. The lighting of the above shot of the coffee cup is very dark and low key. However through the magic of Final Cut I can change this. I used the colour correction effect on the shot. Editing the white and black setting allowed me to change the lighting of the shot making it more visible and matching the lighting of the other shots in the scene.

Before (left) and after (right)

Transitions

Between each shot I am just using a straight cut. This doesn't detract from the action and presents clearly to the audience that the scene is uninterrupted.
 
Between this scene and the next (the first of the dream sequence) I am using a fade transition. This signifies the change from reality to imagination to the audience. This is coupled with the camera panning upwards, connoting that Jacobs character is looking  to where a thought bubble would be (were they real).

I am also using the same transitions between scene during the dream sequence. For example between the two characters having the dinner date to the train station scene. This will remind the audience that the images on the screen are figments of the male characters imagination.


 The effect is implemented by a simply applying a pre-set effect in-between two shots.









This is as far as I got today. I am pleased with how it's looking so far. I will continue editing tomorrow.

Editing tests

After uploading my footage onto the Apple Macs at school I was anxious to test out one scene in particular. The spinning/car scene. As I need to speed up the footage for it to work it could look strange on screen. But there's no way of knowing without trying it. So after reversing and speeding up the footage this is how it looked.

I was right. The end when Jacob is hit by the car looks really artificial. The footage is sped up to much so frames are missing making to shot look incoherent and jumpy. However, when not sped up the car doesn't move fast enough in shot to look like he is really getting hit by it. This is a dilemma. I need him to get hit at speed but I also need it to look realistic.

I thought I'd look at the footage at normal speed to see how I could improve it. This is how it looked.

I think this looks really cool. I appears as it's slow motion footage of his character being mowed down by a fast moving Peugeot. If I slow down the pace of music at this point and perhaps add in a slow motion 'argh' at the moment of impact  it will look as if it is real footage of and accident slowed down.

I'm going to ask some of my peers from my media studies class what they think before I decide what to do about the matter.

Filming Day 2: Success!

Today I got all of the remaining filming done plus some extra scenes for good measure.

Scenes filmed today:
The coffee shop - (shots 1-20 and 82-94)
The signs - (shots 67-80)
Watching the film - (shots 37&38)
The dinner date - (shots 59-66)
The spinning shots - (shots 39-58) minus the car shot which was filmed on Monday.

PLUS

-Feeding the ducks - During this scene the couple are feeding ducks when one begins to pursue Jacob, he runs in terror. Shown using a point of view shot from the ducks point of view.
-Walking the dog - the couple are walking their dog (shown via a very long shot) when it runs from them as Jacob loses grip on the lead. He runs hopelessly after the dog.
-Playing Wii tennis - The couple are playing Wii tennis when Olivias character accidentally smashes Jacobs character in the face with the remote.

I may not include these extra scenes but I find it is better to have too much footage than too little.

The Signs

Location - I was a bit apprehensive about this as I was not sure if I needed to obtain permission to film there.  But I was aware that people I know have filmed there before without any trouble. My worrying was a waste of time as the location was excellent, we had access to it and weren't questioned at all. The backdrops of the shots were good, we managed to get a place on the platform with brick wall behind it and the characters stand out well. 

Filming - This went well. As soon as we arrived a train passed so this allowed me to capture the opening shot of the scene during which a train passes revealing Olivias character on the platform. 

Problems - It was a windy day so the signs kept being caught by the wind. We overcame this through perseverance and the props performed well in the end. . It was a bit of an inconvenience that the platforms were far apart a I had to switch between the two. I refused to hop over the tracks as that is dangerous let alone stupid, I just had to go up and down the stairs more times than I would have liked. 

Signs at the station

The Ducks

Location - This was filmed in a local park in the town so it wasn't far for us to walk and not really out of our way. 

Filming - As this was an extra scene that I hadn't storyboarded I wasn't sure how to position the camera at first. But in the end I got a good range of shot types including a low angle point of view shot from the ducks point of view. 

Problems - Apparently ducks are no longer scared of people. The idea was Olivias character would be feeding them and Jacobs character would charge through them, causing them to fly off. However they didn't fly off, they were intent gaining possession of the bread in Olivias hands. In the end I just changed the scene so Jacob was chased by a rouge duck. I feel this mocks the genre perfectly as it take a romantic, sweet situation and makes it ridiculous. 

A very scary duck

The Coffee Shop

Location - This section was filmed at a cafe/bar called The So Bar. The management were very kind in letting me film there. Luckily it wasn't very busy at the time we went, this meant there were less issues regarding continuity as there were no members of the public walking around the cafe.

Filming - All the shots were easy to obtain and came out looking really good. The manager let me go behind the bar in order to film at my storyboarded high angles. My actors performed brilliantly. After the disappointment of this location on Monday I am thrilled with how it went today.

Problems - None at all.

Jacob in So Bar

Spinning Shots

Location - This was filmed on the stretch of grass outside my house to co-inside with the shot of Jacob being hit by the car I filmed on Monday. 

Filming - To get the shots I wanted I used a technique that I'm not sure has a name. The camera was hand held by the actors in order for it to track on their faces whilst spinning. This worked really well and the footage looks really good. 

Problems - The different actors span at different rates. This might look odd of screen. However when editing I will be able to change the pace of the footage so they match each other. 

One of the spinning shots

The Dinner Date

Location - Filmed in my kitchen. I dressed the set appropriately so it looked like Olivias character was expecting a romantic dinner. I put nice plates on the table along with candles, napkins and wine glasses to achieve the desired effect. 

Filming - Again this went well. To make it look like Olivias character is eating the majority of the food quickly I used a stop motion technique. I filmed chicken bones appearing on her plate one by one, I did this in one continuous shot. However, when editing I will use quick cuts creating almost a stop motion effect. 

Problems - None of us overly enjoyed eating that much KFC, not really a problem, just an inconvenience. 

The couple sitting down to dinner

Watching the Film

Location - My living room was the set for this scene. 

Filming - Getting the shots I wanted was a bit tricky. I had storyboarded two tracking shots without thinking how I was going to achieve this. Ideally I would have benefited from having a professional camera track. Instead I used panning shots which I could achieve by using my tripod. 

Problems - Apart from not being able to efficiently track the camera, none. 

Establishing shot of the film the characters are watching

Playing Wii Tennis

Location - Still in my living room. One of the major benefits of filming in your own home is that you can take as long as you want. It also doesn't matter if you need to move anything to get the shot you want. 

Filming - I'm not too convinced of the shots I got as they were all from one angle. I don't think it will feel like a scene, more like a shot that was thrown in. To overcome this I may get some extra footage of the game play.

Problems - I couldn't actually get the Wii to work. This would have been helpful if it was working then the actors could play ensuring the timing of their swings was realistic. Instead I resorted the saying 'tennis' from behind the camera when I wanted them to swing. 

Impact in 3...2....1...

Walking the dog

Location - A stretch of river/grass near my house. This wide open space allowed me to get creative with shot types. For example A very long shot is the staple component of the scene. 

Filming - More experimenting here as like the ducks and Wii tennis it was un-storyboarded. The dog featured was my Labradoodle called Dylan. He was a star and preformed exactly as I wanted him too.  

Problems - I experimented with moving camera shots and I don't know how successful this was. We had to stop once or twice to let the public pass so they didn't interrupt the shots. 

The couple walking the dog.

What's next?

It is a good feeling having all my filming done. The next task is editing. However I can't start this until at least Monday as I don't have access to the software until then. 

Filming Day 1: Disaster

I have just returned home from my first 'day' of filming. It wasn't a day, it was around 2 hours. First of all we went to film the split screen scene. I had planned to film this on Thursday but we had time until we could get into the location for the opening and closing scenes in the cafe.

This was a challenge, we couldn't get the split screen to stand up. We fixed this by having Harry (who isn't in this scene) hold the top of it steady out of shot. The idea of the scene was the characters were doing things in synchronised while it looks like they are in separate locations but it is revealed they are at the same place. Getting them to perform tasks at the same time took some practise but we got it to work. Then, another character was meant to remove the split screen, breaking the fourth wall. This didn't look right as their head was out of shot. Instead the partition falls down.

Then we filmed shots 21-36, the running scene. This worked well and I didn't need to change anything.

Here's a taster.

 Then the time came to go to the cafe. We arrived at 11.30 and it was meant to be open at 1, but it was shut. I rang the number to the establishment and there was no answer. We hung around for a while and came back but still approaching 12.30 it wasn't open and their was still no answer on the phone. This messed up my days plans. We looked around town for another cafe we could film in. It needed to be independently owned as big corporations tend not to let you film. We found one and got permission, but it wasn't right. The layout didn't allow for the shots I had storyboarded. In the end I decided not to film their but wait until I could get in contact with the owners of my original location.

The bad news didn't end there. One of my actors had to leave to be somewhere else. This prevented me getting any other filming done.

So, overall a bad day. It's just a good thing I had scheduled to film another day as well. I will get in contact with So Bar before then to clarify they will be open. I have also spoken to my actors to make sure they are free all day.

Prop Preperation

During shots 67 - 80 the characters are at a train station. The guy uses signs to communicate with the girl from across the tracks. This is my take on the scene from Love Actually (2003, Richard Curtis). For this I need to make the signs for the main character to use.

The message will be split up into several parts so he can reveal it bit by bit. This way, what he is saying will be clear and it also add an element of humour. For example it builds a certain suspense when the audience and the girls is expecting a marriage proposal only to be asked for money.  I am referencing to him asking for money not only to get home, but a chocolate bar simply because he fancies one.

The signs will say...
Hello
I have a question
Would you
Make me
The happiest man alive...
Will you...
Lend me £6?
I need it for a taxi.
And maybe a Twix.

To make these I am simply using a cartridge paper sketch pad. This was the paper is thick and will keep flat in the pad so it doesn't get ruined.

 I originally planned to write the letters in lower case but after testing it I think that they look clearer in all upper case. To make sure it looked ok I wrote each sign with pencil then went over it with a thick black pen. That way each sign would be a good fit to the page.


And and an hour and a half later I'm done.

I should be filming this scene on Monday. 

Filming: Equipment

I will be using several different pieces of equipment when filming to ensure my footage is of the highest quality possible for me to achieve.

Camera

I will be using my own video camera to capture the footage. It is a Sony Handycam. I have unlimited access to it and don't need to worry about returning it to anyone. Equally it doesn't matter as much if I scratch it or damage it in anyway (not that I plan to). I also have experience with this camera, I know how to work it (which is definitely a bonus). Unfortunately is doesn't record in high definition but overall it isn't a bad camera. 

Tripod 

My tripod is really basic but it serves its purpose. The tripod allows me to create steady shots with no unintentional camera movement. Similarly this will help me create smooth (intentional) movements during panning shots.  Nearly all of my fillming will be done using a tripod. The only exceptions are the spinning shots during which the actors will holding the camera to ensure it is tracked onto their faces whilst spinning. The other exception is during the tracking shot. Ideally I would to use a proper track for these shots but a major constraint on my film is budget and I can't afford such equipment. So, instead I will use my steadycam.  

Steadycam

I think this device is really clever. The one I will be using is a Lensse Steadycam. To use it I just screw the camera into place, similar to the foot that attaches to a tripod. The weight of the camera is counterbalanced by the weights on the bottom. The handle rotates freely at its join which allows the users hand to move but the camera stays still. I invested in this earlier in the year and it's proved to be excellent so far.