Today we came in at 9 to do more filming and this got us some more footage. we filmed more establishing shots of the college and me in a lab coat from different angles that we can use. The problem is that it is only 1 minute long so far and it needs to be 2. What we have is really good and i think that our footage is great but we will lose marks for the length. Hopefully we can get more done as we have mafe good progress with all the editing.

23/02/09 sooting and editing + tuesday work shop

On Mondays lesson me, Claudio and Daniel went out with a camera and shot varies close ups of facial features. We did because we wanted to carry on with the sense of a hidden identity and also to create more tension and uncertainty amongst the audience. These shots were quiet successful, so we thought. When we went on to upload the carried on with our editing we found that firstly the clips where to bright comparing it to the actual scene were the lights are dimmed. Also in some of the clips we can c the back ground which does not correspond to the other footages. On the other hand we did have some successful close ups of the eyes and the lips, which I feel will be useful in our final thriller. When we went back to the editing room we got the idea to get more close ups but on objects that relater electronics. Daniel had his electronic book so we had close ups of varies diagrams of circuits, etc. I also had my biology book and so we also used close ups on images of biological features some of which looked very gruesome. After this we carried on with editing by uploading these clips and deciding was to place them in the sequence of shots.
Today we all turned up to the media work shop during sacrificing our lunch break. During this time we made the scenes we have already put together flow fully and added cross fades and effects to make it look more professional and effective. We then stated rearranging certain clips so that they made more sense to the audience.

This Week

Hey,
Um yesterday I told the crew about my idea and the understood. I also talked to Nimrol and we more and less sorted out our differences. Nimrol, Daniel and Claudio went off to shot the footage of Claudio's eye while I started re-arranging the shots to fit the new story. They took long but they completed the task. When they came back I added the eye footage. Nimrol and Danielhad some science books so and we got some shots fromthem to. All in all it was an successful day and I'm really proud of my boys.
Today I came in early and the rest of the group join me at lunch time. It's not completed but We can all see that its coming together. But I HATE using Apple. Its impossible. Tomorrow We hope to get allot done and the film to its finishing stages.

So we have finally finished all the filming for the project. Everything went well although there were some difficulties. Such as costume. Little things like if I was wearing a coat one day and not the next came out very badly in the editing which meant we had to re film certain scenes. Also the lighting was hard to get right because as we were filming at different times of the day the lighting was always slightly different. However we are finally happy with what we have and are well on the way to finishing the editing and have started on the soundtrack meaning that this thriller looks like it will be a success.

Idea Spark

Had an Idea, so I'm going to write it down so I dont forget

We Should Scap the School Idea It doesnt Work

Ive put down the all the clips I can remember and arranged them in away that story make sense. Ok, so the story is about a obsessive scientist that uses his technical equipment to see things in the past.

This is the shot List

End Shot
Crocodile Clips
End Shot (speeded up)
Zoom Flash Transition to Past
Science place through bars /eye/ Pan of electrical buttons (fish eye)
Zoom Flash
Pass/ Reflection in Glass/eye/ Follow of circuit Map (fish eye)
Zoom Flash
Reflection in puddle eye/
Zoom Flash
Entrance CCTV/ eye/
Zoom Flash
Lift CCTV and Push Button/ eye/
Zoom Flash
Walk out and Open Door/eye/Chemicals
Zoom Flash
Laugh/eye/Turn and plug in of thing/Turning of knob
Zoom Flash Back to the Future
Crocodile Clips
(Whole) End Shot

This week/ My Major Rant!

I'm afraid that most of this blog is going 80% Rant because this has been a hard and frustrating week.
This week we uploaded all we had on to the compters. After Log and capturing and looking at all the clips i realised there weren't enough to link to gether. We needed more clips to fill in the the gaps of the shot where Claudio comes in. And more clips in the the bit with where Claudio is doing electronic things. Everyone was say take out this andtake out that, but whatthy couldsee is we didnt have enogh to take out in the first place!
I said I would put the clips in order and match them up. Because the est of the team did not know how to edit i sent them to try and film some more shots. I dont think (after about an hour) they got much shots if many done.
I also tried out the music for the film, it was ok I will finish it of when everything is compledted. It has electical sound withinit to go with the theme.
Nimrol is really mmmm getting of my nerves because he actually has not part in this but fixing the tripod. Therefore I cannot understand how it is possible for him to have anything to say in his blog.
Daniel does try do what he can, and Claudio does what you tell him to in filmin and doesn't moan. But Nimol doesn't do nothing the moans his head off. The idea for the film was his and Daniel its like there just counting on me to make it happen and every one gets the same mark. Its not fair!!! *stomps feet*
Any Way because we missed a Monday I think we were given the option tio come in next Monday, in the half term. If so I will come in, Claudio, needs to come in and only one of the other two need to come in. They shouldn't come if they are not going to do any thing but complain.
I'm not sure if it is wise for me to slag of some members of my own team.However I'm sure it happens in the industry, and like them I'm sure we will do the best we can and get through this before i loose my composure.

uploading clips

In today’s lesson we went on to uploading our film onto final cut pro carrying on from the previous lesson. Before that we re-shot the entrance of the character into the classroom.

Our uploading was delayed as the first 3 Mac computers we used were not functioning properly so time was wasted, more time was further wasted as the camera, were not connecting properly with the Mac computers so we had to use a video tape adaptor to transfer our files from the tape onto final cut pro. But after all the technical difficulties we managed to upload our clips and have started to put the clips together to form our final thriller opening.

shooting- 04/02/09

In Wednesday’s lesson we again continued our shooting of our thriller. This time we went on to shoot the main character (Claudio) adjusting and putting together some electrical apparatus. So to start off the lesson I had to go down to the physics and chemistry labs to go and get the props we had borrowed in the previous lesson including the lab coat and amp metre.
We were then struck with a difficulty as the class room we had used in the previous lesson for shooting was now in use to we were not able to use the same classroom.

This did cause a dilemma as now we were faced with a sudden change in setting. After some serious thought we concluded that we will have to make do with another classroom but when we want to shoot we had to ensure that the camera focuses on the computer desk and the desk for the electronics equipment as when we filmed in the other class we did not have a shot of the entire classroom. So we went on to shooting using more closer up shots to ensure that the class room change was not identifiable.

But then again we were hit with another problem and that is that when we reveal our hostage we would have to show a larger section of the classroom so that we can fit in the main character and the hostage. For this we had no idea on how to cover it up, so in the end we decided to call it a day and re-shoot the character coming into the classroom for next lesson. We could not do the shot in this lesson as I had not bought the jacket that the character wares in the film. But the re-shoot was justified when we came onto uploading our clips on to final cut pro. This is because when we did record the coming into the class room Claudio did not have a bag on. This would of looked stupid as we did a match cut of when he comes in and it would look obvious and unprofessional if he goes towards the door with a bag and enters without one.

Filming Day 4

On Wednesday we more or lees completed our filming… Or so we thought. We had to work in the darkroom because the classroom that we were in previously was occupied. But I think that we successfully re-built our set. The filming went ok. We also did the shot of Claudio’s character walking out the lift.After this we went into the media computer lab and uploaded our we uploaded half. We noticed that we needed to redo some stuff.On Monday we must redo the part were Claudio’s character walks into the classroom

2nd session of filming

On last Wednesday’s lesson we carried on with our shooting of our thriller. From last lesson we left off from when he is about to enter his room. We carried on the filming on Wednesday with a match cut of him entering room. But before any of this happened we spent the first half-an-hour preparing props for out class room scene. Due to the electronics and science labs being in constant use on the times when we have media we where unable to use on of those classes. Instead we had to venture out to find props that will correspond and match out story board and at the same time give the impression that we is a electronics teacher. So instead of going to the rooms we bought the room to us. We did this my taking electronic apparatuses (such as clips and an amp metre) from the physics stock room (with permission) and also a couple of test tubes, conical flasks and a lab coat from the chemistry department. Furthermore me and Daniel went out to the local stores and purchased some different coloured food colouring to use as “chemicals” in the test tubes, etc. after all our preparations were finished, we began with out match cut of Claudio entering the room.

We then went onto taking multiple shots/angels of Claudio walking up to his computer desk and putting on a lab coat. We then took over the shoulder shots of Claudio typing up the report on the computer accompanied by perspective shots and birds eye view shot of this action to build more footage for editing and also to create more tension as at this point Claudio’s identity is still hidden.

After that we took further shots of another teacher (Suzie) asking our central character (Claudio) for the reports. We did this to further familiarise the audience that he is not trespassing and also to show normality in the perspective to other people that could be in the location of the action. We also did multiple shots fro this from the over the shoulder shots of both Claudio and Suzie and other shot types on both sides (inside and outside the class room).

After all these shots we had very little time to shoot the scenes of the character producing something from the electronics and chemistry props. So for this we did only a couple of shots of the same things but in different angles and when we returned the props we notified the certain teacher that we will be requiring the props again.

We did not have a lesson on the 2nd of February due to the weather condition (snow) that the college was closed down so all lessons were cancelled.

Filming Day 2

Last Wednesday we continued filming. This time we filmed the second half of the opening. This part was supposed to be located in an electronics room. A electronics room was not available so we used an English room. This wasn't too bad because we only need to film the teachers desk mainly.
The first thing we filmed was the teachers entrance. We filmed this from different angles so that when it comes to editing we would get lost of match cuts.
In the classroom we turned off the lights, the only light was the light coming through the blinds which we closed. We had a spotlight which we put at the desk, and all this created a spooky looking atmosphere.
I think that the team worked well with what we had; Claudio was a very cooperative actor; Nimrol and Daniel were the props management which kept them very busy. The got allot of science equipment to make the room look like a science room and the also did all the heavy lifting.

Unfortunately due to the snow on Monday College was cancelled. Because of this we will have to work harder tomorrow.