Our Thankyou's!

In order to show our appreciation to all of the people that have helped us complete our final media product we brought them a packet of  chocolates each as we could not have completed our film opening without them. Me and my partner felt very privileged to be able to work with them! The chocolates were handed out to:

Jon- For being the driver of our film as neither me or my partner know how to drive.

Arman- For playing the role of Spencer which meant he had to learn dialogue and give up a lot of free time.

Alina- For playing her part so well, and being so co-operative despite her young age.

ACTION PLAN

These are the tasks that should be completed by the end of the week.
Week Commencing Monday 31st December 2012

• Evaluation Questions 

Editing Process- FINISHED.

This was the last day that we had to finish editing our film before we broke up for our Christmas break. This meant that we would not have access to the Mac's or any other software which meant that it was vital we finished the final media product.

Today we used our time to fix up the following before distributing our final media product

• Any splits that need to be joined
• Change some of the title credits that we were unhappy about 
• Ensure that the music fitted and matched the clips 
• Ensure all transitions/filters were how we wanted to 
• Render all of the final product.

In today's lesson we wanted to finish our media film as we felt that this was capable as we had spent a lot of time on working on this. We watched the final product over and over again to ensure that there was not gaps that needed filling and joined shots that were not connected. After watching the clip so many times, me and my partner was unhappy about some of the credits in the blackout so we decided to change them in order to make them look better. We felt that some of the audio was out of place so we spend some time trying to accurately make the music fade in and out in the correct place.

Once all we had done all of this we had used up our final lesson time so we had to stay behind to export our final product to distribute to YouTube and gain feedback. I am very happy with what we have produced despite the apparent flaws in the video. I believe me and my partner have created something that we never thought we would finish and Its great to see something that we planned so earlier on into the school year finally created into a visual piece of media.
I am proud to present- 'Round The Bend'.

Music Choices

The following are the music choices that we have used in our film opening. We have used these because as you can see the title itself connotes the creepy/eerie music genre's that they are. We used the following as they was exactly what we wanted. We used software such as garageband in order to lower the pitch and edit the songs slightly to make them our own and this will help to ensure that the music doesn't over power the film opening as a whole.

Eerie background music 

Tension build up music 

Pier to nowhere- charlie song 

All of these songs are used specifically at a certain time in the opening.  

Editing process 3- 20/12/12

In today's editing process we wanted to add the final touches and add the music and audio affects that we needed to. This is what we have completed in today's lesson:

AIM- Add the music and audio effects effectively 

• Watched through the video and fix any errors
• Download potential music that we intend to use
• Use the music software called 'garageband' to edit the music
• Add in sound effects into the film opening at suitable times
• Add suitable music transitions 

In today's lesson our main aim was to ensure that we had completed the music and sound affects as we wanted to make sure that we used the most appropriate and suitable music in our film opening. Firstly we looked on YouTube for some music that we can use in the background. We search the tags 'eerie music' as this is what our audiences have stated what type of music they expect to see. After picking out the most suitable instrumentals we added them to garageband and lowered the pitch/speed in order to make it more appropriate for the clips that we wanted to use them for. Once we have placed our music onto the final cut software we then had to use suitable audio transitions/filters to fade the music in well and stop it abruptly playing out aloud. I think that we done this well and I am proud of how effective me and my partner completed them. 

We also added in some sound effects into our film opening. Basic sound effects that we had to adapt to our opening included simple things such as the phone noise which we had to film again via a microphone as this was too quiet to be heard in the original audio clip. Furthermore, we also used the sound effect of a door slamming as this was used dubbed out due to the sped up clip. We did this by filming my partner shutting another door via a site on the macs and then adding the audio clip to the door shutting when Lily is leaving the house. So far this has been a really good task completed and have enjoyed this very much. 

Editing process 2- 19/12/12

This is our second lesson to continue our editing. In this lesson we completed the following:

AIM- To create the finished product (except audio/effects)

• Finished completing the basic cuts, transitions and looping throughout the opening.
• Fixed all of the original audio that were attached with the clips by looping and deleting audio that we did no longer want/need. 
• Added the 'Summit Entertainment' to the beginning of the film clip 
• Added the film title, blackouts and title credits using a specialism software. 
• Watch the final product over and fix any further problems e.g. a split, audio malfunction. 

As you can see we hoped to complete a large amount of editing which in fact took us a lot more that just time available in lesson. Me and my partner worked hard in order to ensure that we was able to complete what we wanted to achieve. We used more new technology during this process for example the software used to create title credits. With this we was able to create our title credits just the way we wanted to and locate them anywhere in the shot which gave us a chance to experiment with this to find the most suitable place. We also learnt how to delete audio which we did not need by looping the audio, this was useful as it got rid of certain noises such as footsteps, breathing which were an inconvenient to and drawed the attention away. 

We also added the 'Summit Entertainment' at the very start of the video as this was the very first thing that we wanted our target audience to see. This meant that another further 20 seconds had to be added on film opening despite the fact that we had shortened it anyways but we knew that we had to have this in the opening. Once we downloaded and added the sequence at the beginning to our film opening and added all the credits we really felt that our opening was beginning to look like an actual film opening which was really good as we have already put a lot of time and effort into what we have done so far.

CHANGES!

We have had to make many different changes to our original planning of our film. The following outlines the changes that we have had to make in order to make our final product more efficient and professional. 

The main problem that me and my partner had was that the whole length of the film in total was far to long to fit into the 2 minute opening we was expected to make. This meant that we had to change and cut some of the shots that we have included in our planning and storyboarding in order to shorten the overall time. The shots that were taken out as a result were:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 12, 13, 17, 18, 24, 28, 30, 34 and 37. All of these shots were filmed, but when it came to editing we then decided what we should cut and what we should keep. 

Because some of the shots were cut, it also meant that some of the dialogue also had to be cut as the shot was no longer relevant, this was partly due to camera faults (not picking up sound). We also had to use our class member's camera at one stage as our camera ran out of battery life as we was filming as we did'nt have access to a plug point. This was not good as when we went to adapt it into our filming stage during editing the screen size was different and the colour balance had changed meaning that we could'nt use those shots either. 

Editing Process- 17/12/12

This is our first editing process in which we completed the following:

AIM- To ensure the visual is correct 

• Picking out the most suitable clips from the shots that we have recorded and deleting the ones that we do not need. E.G. shots that we have filmed multiple times or have made a mistake on. 
• Using the converter program 'Toast' on macs to convert the video files so that it is compatible with the Final cut software.
• Creating a new project and beginning to edit our film.
• Adding all of the clips into one big piece and noticing that exceeded the time limit that we have for the opening. 
• Cutting the clips that we did not use, and shortening irrelevant shots in order to reduce the overall time. 
• Editing each shot individually and beginning to become more aware of the different tools on the program including 'cutting', transitions and modifying effects such as speed.

   

This was our very first time editing our film and it did not go as expected. The converting of files and uploading the content onto final cut was easy but once we realized that we had exceeded our time limit we were unsure about what to cut. This was a long process as we didn't want to get of the really good shots, and affect the plot of the opening so we found it difficult to decide which shots to cut. However after we managed reduce our overall time we were able to effectively start to editing the clips involved using tools such as the split button, cut button and implementing appropriate transition.

Because we have never used a program like this before it took some time for me and my partner to learn how to use the tools as effective as we could so after some tries we managed to use the tools how we wanted to use them. After some periods of time we were able to cut the shots into how we wanted them to be, although very few shots did not turn out well, the majority of them looked really good. We spent a lot of time during our two hour lesson completing this, and we are going to spend more time during our free periods tommorow in order to continue fixing up certain parts. 

ACTION PLAN

These are the tasks that should be completed by the end of the week.
Week Commencing Monday 17th December 2012

• Editing progress updates throughout the week
• Any changes

Filming Session 3

Here is an update on our final filming session:

Filming Session 2

An update on how our filming was today:

Filming Session 1

Here is our how our first filming session went:

ACTION PLAN

These are the tasks that should be completed by the end of the week.
Week Commencing Monday 10th December 2012

• Review of filming session 1
• Review of filming session 2
• Review of filming session 3

Camera Experiments

In today's lesson we experimented with two types of Camera in order to choose the most suitable one. The two camera that we had the option out of is:

Canon Legria FS200

Sony Xacti HD 

In order to choose the most suitable camera to use, me and my team member decided to test the different camera's out. Whilst using the different cameras we took into consideration the effectivness of both settings. For instance, we tested the white balance, colour settings, focus settings, zoom in/out and general sharpen of both camera's. 

After testing me and my partner believed that the Canon Legria FS200 was the most suitable camera. This is due to the ease of filming, the effective white balance and also because we have had experience with this camera previously. This camera was also chosen as it has the light at the front of the camera which we thought was useful, especially since we filmed in dark settings. However, although we have chosen this camera, the Sony Xacti did have further benefits that our chosen camera does not have, for example the picture quality is better and also the size of the camera is more suitable. This does not outweigh our opinion on our the Canon Legria FS200 as we know that during the editing process we are able to adjust and edit sections that we feel unsure about. 

Media Intern Task

What similar films did you research before starting this coursework piece and why?
For our film opening we analysed three other films who have the same 'crime thriller' genre.The reason why we decided to do this was to see what other codes and conventions crime thriller films should have so that we could ensure that we included this. For instance one of the major conventions included high key lighting in at least 2-3 shots and this was demonstrated in all films that I have analysed accentuating for us to include this. Furthermore, other conventions that we were often demonstrated included dull and dim colours, quick shots and a lot of close ups all of which we included into our planning. 

Who are your primary audience and how will you attract the to your film? (age rating, psychographic profile, uses and gratifications)
We have agreed on the age certificate of 15 as the plot of the thriller film may be sensitive to viewers emotionally. Also, due to previous research into the thriller films they had the age certificate of either '12' or '15' which accentuates that this is the most common age for this genre of film. Knowing this, it allowed us to look into research about what our age range, for instance how often they attend the cinema. By looking at cinema websites we found this age was most likely to attend the cinema as they has more time to persue social activities such as going to the cinema.

What were the main reasons behind the choices of location, actors. costumes and props for your movie?




Name the film company and explain the roles you have been undertaking over the past 6 weeks and what has been your biggest challenge? (time management, use of technology and organisation)



What did I learn from completing the preliminary task?
The preliminary task was very useful as it made us more aware of how important it was to follow a strict plan. For instance we had to follow our storyboards closely making sure that every step was shot accordingly and that the correct camera shot was used at the correct time. For me, the task showed me the importance of following a plan. 

How many shots (inc. insitutional logos) are included in your two minute opening and which are most relevant?

Reflect on your skills in using video camera and editing software and what further editing choices I intend to use in the next 3 weeks (e.g. music)?

Is the narrative, dialogue, mis-en-scene I've used typical to the thriller genre?

How have I considered lighting effectively in the film opening?


How many credits are to appear in your production?
(In order) 

1. Arman Khan as Spencer Fox
2. Alina Hussain as Lily Fox
3. Ted Hazell and Joseph Hawke 
4. Written by Ted Hazell
5. In association with Summit Entertainment 
6. Directed by Kiran Saghir and Ted Hazell
7. Filmed by Kiran Saghir 
8. Inspired by a true story 

How do I intend to receive feedback and distribute my film opening?

ACTION PLAN

These are the tasks that should be completed by the end of the week.
Week Commencing Monday 3rd December 2012

• Media intern task 
• Camera choices

Shooting Schedule

Finally, this is what we intend to film and when:

Date	Time	Cast	Location	Action
Monday 10thDecember	6:30pm	Arman, Alina (acting) Ted, Kiran (filming/directing)	Inside House, dining room, front door, driveway, side path next to house.	Setting the table, receiving text, sending Lily off, lily leaving, Lily approaching the bend.
Tuesday 11thDecember	9:00am	Arman, Alina (acting) Ted, Kiran (filming/directing) Jon (Stuntman)	Cupid Green Lane, Outside House.	Driving past Josephs house, and parking up to go inside the house.
Wednesday 12th December	6:00pm	Ted, Alina (acting) Ted, Kiran (directing/filming) Arman’s Uncle (Stuntman)	Cupid Green Lane	Lily walking to Joseph’s, Kidnapper arriving and kidnapping Lily.

Risk Assessment

The following is our risk assessment:

RISK ASSESMENT
	CUPID GREEN LANE	ST. AGNELLS ROAD.	HOUSE/DRIVEWAY
Weather	The weather may be wet and windy so crew and the cast need to ensure that they do not film during unconditional weather periods. Furthermore, this lane is also very narrow so puddles can appear which also act as a risk. Appropriate clothing should also be considered for both cast and crew to prevent injury.	Similar to Cupid Green Lane, if weather is inappropriate the ideal action is to resist filming in these conditions. This road however is a main road so cars may splash onto the cast and flooring may be slippery so cast should be wearing the suitable clothing. The electrical’s e.g. the camera should not have contact with wet weather.	- -
Cars	Both cast and crew should be aware of the cars approaching the bend, as there is a risk of a car hitting people. As this lane is very narrow, the path is very small and parts do not have a path so crew will have to wear a visible clothing to make driver aware of the filming.	As a main road there is a large wide path which makes it safer for our crew and cast to film on. However risks such as the cars swerving on the path will be prevented by the crew wearing visible clothing in order for drivers to see them.	A car will be driving into the driveway of the house so there is a risk of the car hitting a pedestrian or cast member so clear indication must be given during the duration of filming this.
Flooring	The flooring will be checked for any dips, cracks or any obstacles which could cause a trip hazard or injure a individual. Flooring should also be checked to see if it is slippery as this could cause cast and crew to slip up and severely hurt themselves.	Similar to Cupid green lane, flooring should be checked to ensure that there is no dips, cracks or trip hazards which can cause a person to injure themselves. They should be fixed or an alternative place to location should be used so that no members of crew and cast are at risk.	Looking out for any spillages, cracks or holes should be considered so that  this can be dealt with and prevent injury for the service users .  flooring should also be appropriate, for instance laminate flooring is hard so ensuring that a cast member doesn’t injure themselves by hitting against it.
Lighting	Dark lighting will act as a large risk In this location due to the lack of streetlamps in this location. This underlines the risk of cars and pedestrians not being seen. Crew will wear visible clothing in order to make others aware of our presence.	Again when we film at night it can be difficult for others to see us so we will be wearing visible clothing to warn others of our presence. This location has more lighting compared to Cupid Green lane.	--
Positioning	Our positioning in this location will be on the edge and middle. We intend to film in the middle of the location as this will give drivers the opportunity to see that we are filming. Also we will use the edge of the road so we do not get in the way of traffic.	We will film in the direction facing traffic so that they will be able to see us filming. Because the path is wide it will allow them to use the road room as they need to.	We will film on a safe and stable surface. For example we will refrain from filming near stairs or a cracked flooring in order to prevent injuries and further damage to the property.

Props List

Here is a list of props and things we will use in our two minute opening: 

Car - For when Spencer drives past Josephs house and parks up.

The Car Key - To lock the car and to open/close the boot.

Rucksacks (x2) - To show they have been on holiday (one for Lily, one for Joseph), and to use when looking for present. 

Gym bag - To add to the collection of bags (rucksacks).

Plates (x2) - For when Spencer is setting the table.

Cutlery - Also for when Spencer is setting the table.

Mobile Phone - To receive the text from Joseph.

Box wrapped up in wrapping paper -  The item used for the gift that Joseph requires and that Lily goes to take to him.

TV Control - For Lily to use when turning the television off when Spencer calls her.

Teddy Bear - For Lily to hold and use to show her innocence and as scripted.

Van - For the Kidnappers use, and to drag Lily into and drive off. 

The Crew

There are two people who are apart of the crew.This is Ted Hazell and me (Kiran Saghir). Our responsibilities include:

• Filming. 
• Making sure that all props and costume is addressed. 
• Determining that the setting is safe and suitable to shoot in. (e.g. weather, obstacles) 
• Ensuring that all required shots are used.
• Suitably using the camera equipment well. (e.g. tripod)
• Experimenting with camera effects to use the most effective.
• Editing. 

Cast and Costume

Cast List 

Lily Fox 
Played by a young girl called Alina Hussain. She is 11 years old and has the innocent look we wanted our character to have.

Costume: Pink dress, cardigan, black shoes, hair bobble, scarf/hat/gloves and coat.

This is the shoes that Lily will be wearing
 as they are generic school shoes that a
young girl will wear. 

Because it is at night and the weather is colder,  Lily will wear this to help emphasis her innocence. 

This is the dress Lily will be wearing
as young girls are stereotyped to wear
dresses. The colour will be pink as this
is a common colour that young
girls are associated with. 

This electric blue coat will
make Lily stand out and visible
when walking on the streets. The
blue also symbolises high emotion
which this section of the opening
has a lot of.


                                        

This is the jumper that Lily will be

wearing. The colour again is another colour that is associated with younggirls. 

Spencer Fox 
This character is played by Arman Khan a member of our AS media  group who suits the role of a father figure. We have chosen him because her has a mature personality and suits the role of our character.

Costume: black tie, white shirt, jeans, shoes and reading glasses.

We have given Spencer glasses so
that he can be portrayed as a geeky/nerdy
type father. 

   

This black tie will show the formality
of Spencer highlighting his professional
personality.





  

The pair of jeans that Spencer will be wearing
show the audience his causal ensemble.

     

This white shirt again shows the professional

and formal characteristics of Spencer.  

We have chosen these boots to symbolise
that Spencer has just returned from a 'camping'
trip, so this will underline this to the audience.

Joseph Hawke 
The person we have chosen to play this character is Ted Hazell because he has an different perception and interpretations of thing which our character has.

Costume: White shirt, grey trousers, black shoes, maroon tie, blazer and ski mask/gloves.

Our Pitch

This is our film pitch that we presented to our AS media class.

Film pitch from kiransaghir95

These are the youtube links that are within the Pitch!

Example of Cupid Green Lane

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pitch Notes

Slide One-

Title page

Slide Two-

Voki (Spawn of taken)

Slide Three-

-

Slide Four-

Expectations: Our audience will be able to expect the original code and conventions of a thriller film. For example, low key lighting, fast paced cuts and eerie slow/fast music.

Connotations- Objects placed in the mis-en-scene of a shot will have a meaning and help to the audience to build a view on the characters.

Slide Five-

We decided that out company specialises in thriller films, especially the sub-genres of crime, mystery and psychological thrillers. Out company is also known for the shock factor and big twists, for example out recent film ‘Round The Bend’ has a interesting twist in it.

The name of the logo is placed on a black strip connoting to the audience the dark and mysterious films our film studio creates. This therefore highlights the genre of thrillers and horrors. The font we used for the text on the film strip is a ‘typewriter’ font which helps the emphasis the detective/police convention of crime thriller films allowing the audience to see this immediately.

·      Its headquarters office is situated in London- Local.

·      It currently distributes for Lions Gate Entertainment, but has previously been a distributor for Momentum pictures and eOne films.

·      And since we specialise in thrillers, this distributing company would be perfect for us (or we’d be perfect for them).

·      In their top 25 grossing films, nine of them are thriller films.

·      I believe that no other distributing company compares to this one when looking for a distributing company for a thriller film.

Slide six

-  Sound cloud of the opening sequence.
(•Spencer and Joseph are best friends - been best friends for years. Spencer is happily married and has a young girl (Lily). Joseph and his fiancée have been trying for a child and have finally succeeded but when it comes to the birth, the child is still-born. When Joseph needs Spencer most, he is too busy spending the day week with his daughter on a camping trip. Joseph is enraged but hides his feelings for the sake of his relationship.One night Spencer asks Lily to run ROUND THE BEND to drop something off at Josephs house. But she doesn’t come back. Detectives can’t find any traces and are at a dead end. Spencer takes it upon himself to find his daughter, and Joseph offers to help. Clues appear and all the clues point to someone close to the family. Someone close to Spencer. But Spencer and Joseph just can’t put their finger on it. But Spencer does.There is a confrontation between Joseph and Spencer and Joseph reveals the pain of losing his baby and not having any comfort from his best friend and his jealous of his daughter and anger caused him to make his friend feel the pain he feels. But Joseph no longer has Lily, she moved to another location as Spencer's clues where leading straight to him.But where is she? Will Joseph tell him? Will Spencer find her? Is she even still alive?)

Slide seven

-

Slide Eight

As the character is a ten year old girl, we found it hard to find a female child actor that could play this part as most were either not cute enough or looked too old. But when I saw the advert for the new Twilight film I saw the young girl in the film and she fitted the part. The actors name is Mackenzie Foy. She hasn’t had many movie roles but she has been casted in the Twilight film, which is a huge deal, and she must have some talent. She is eleven years old and has experience of playing someone who is innocent and seems to have been a victim, as seen in Hawaii 5-0.

Slide nine

-

Slide ten

You can see his acting skills and why he would be perfect if you have seen the Watchmen. He plays Night Owl who is a superhero that is very good in hand-to-hand combat. He is also a genius who can create this and use his smarts instead of violence and all superheroes are detectives too in some way.  He is also very compassionate and cares a lot for his friends. Also when not a superhero and disguising himself as a regular guy he seems geeky and awkward which is what a stereotypical dad is seen as to their son/daughter.

Slide eleven

-

Slide twelve

The villain of this film would be the kidnapper who turns out to be the hero’s best friend. My initial idea for the character was that his depression through losing his child would send him crazy and cause him to do what he does. I also wanted an actor who has played a character like that before (someone a bit psychotic).

Slide thirteen

-

Slide fourteen

These are the additional characters that will not be in the opening of the film, but is relevant to the rest of the film.

Slide Fifteen

We have chosen this lane because it is a quiet area. There is not a lot of people around usually, and at night it is a very dark place. This is suitable for us as this will help us to create a mysterious and unease feeling for our character.

Slide sixteen

This location for filming was a suitable area because even though it is a main road it is not entirely busy. This will retain the unsettling atmosphere amongst the audience, as the shot again will focus on the young child.

Slide seventeen

This setting will be shown through a range of different shots to show the significance of different objects in the mis-en-scene. For instance the framed pictures on the wall be of the young girl symbolising the relationship between the child and the father.

Slide eighteen

-

Slide nineteen

-

Slide twenty

-