P1. Scene Breakdown Sheets

P1. Photo Analysis

 Photos that need improving: 

This shot should be improved as it is disobeying the rule of thirds unintentionally. To improve this shot we could frame it so Ben is less central and more to the right. Charlie (on the left) needs to be more out of focus so we only concentrate on Ben.




The problem with this image is similar to the image above, although this time charlie needs to be positioned to the left. Also we need to make sure the flash isn't on as there's too much light on Ben, drawing the attention away from Charlie.

This shot also disobeys the rule of thirds, and when re-taking this shot the characters should either be positioned to the left or right of the frame. In this particular shot it would be best to position the characters to the left, so it gives the viewer a chance to see down the hall, giving depth to the image but also showing the amount of students there are at the college.

This shot firstly needs to be a close up shot of Ben's face, so we can concentrate on his expression and not be distracted by anything else in the background. Ben's face should also be looking left out of frame, and not directly at the camera. This means he should be positioned to the right of the frame as they're standing to the left.


This image should have been a low angle shot, therefore the audience can see it hitting the ground more clearly, and if we do leave it as a high angle shot it should be a point of view shot from Charlie. The framing could also be closer to the bag (maybe a close up shot).

First of all this shot should have been thought about more carefully as someones arm is in frame. All of the locations colours are very neutral making Ben and Charlie stand out, although the back arm ruins this as its a dark and distracting colour.








Photos that worked well:

The composition of this shot is effective. This is due to Ben being positioned in the right of the frame, which allows us to see he is looking left of screen, automatically telling the audience he is looking at something/someone. We also get to see the hallway behind him, showing how far the two boys have walked.

Although this shot disobeys the rule of thirds, it works effectively, as having Ben being framed in the middle, he is the center of attention. In this shot he is also using his power, so by everything in the frame being almost symmetrical, it gives the audience a sense of stability when Jay's in control of  his power. There are also leading lines in this shot which emphasis how far Jays power reaches (shows how far away he is from the target/camera).

By having Charlie to the left of the frame and Ben to the right, we can focus more on the bag in the middle.To make this image better, we could have framed the shot so the bag is more visible, or used a brighter coloured bag so it stands out from the dark costumes the characters are wearing.

This shot worked well, as having the character Jay being positioned to the right of the screen, we not only obey the rule of thirds, but show the audience by his positioning that he is looking at something to the left of the room. This shot also allows the door to be in frame, and as we hear the footsteps getting further away, we can tell where the invisible student is heading.

By having more of Jays hand in frame, it shows he is the main protagonist and the receptionist is less important than him. By having the paperwork to the right of the shot, this also means less of Jays arm gets in the way and obeys the rule of thirds. What worked well was that the desk was lite up, otherwise the white paperwork could have stood out less if the whites were similar.


Lastly this shot works well as the positioning of the receptionist shows us she is less significant due to her being slightly cut of from the frame. The angle is also canted, showing us there's something strange and possible sinister about the character.

P1. Improved Animatic Photos

 We made an improvement to this image by framing Charlie so he was on the far left and Ben so he was on the right. The reason this is an improvement as it is obeying the rule of thirds, where as the previous image positioned them more central in the frame. In this image we also cut out more of Charlie out, so it was obvious what the main focus was. Theres also an eye line match, as by showing the angle of Charlie's head we can see he is looking back at ben.


We did a similar change to this image as the previous one, but in this image Charlie is positioned slightly lower angled as in the situation Ben's character is remaining slightly stubborn. We also made sure the focus was out on the two right figures as they're not as significant in the shot.

This image has been improved as Ben's head was positioned in the middle of the frame rather then the side which unintentionally disobeys the rule of thirds. Also this shot is a closer shot giving greater enthisis on his face.This image could still be improved by removing the black wire from the right corner, as this distracts from the main composition.


This image is effective as it includes leading lines towards the two main protagonists. The image we previously took centred the characters which disobeyed the rule of thirds, so this time round we positioned them slightly to the left, allowing more of the wall to be shown, which adds greater depth.

 Similar to the image above, this photo was previously framed so the characters where central; so to improve it we brought them to the left. This then allows (when shooting) us to see the depth of the locker corridor and also the amount of pupils attending Merriweather Academy.


This shot is the one we've changed the most, as previously it was a high angled shot looking down on the bag, but we found it more appropriate to change it to a low angled shot so we can see more clearly the back drop to the ground. Although the feet are positioned in the middle, the bag is to the right; to make this better we could have framed the feet so they were more to the left, although we have made a slight improvement as previously both the feet and the bag were central.

P1. Rule of thirds & Image Analysis

P1. Photo Animatic

This photo animatic was done to test what the finished VFX sequence will look like - despite the poor sound recordings used throughout, it gave us a good idea.  For the final film, we will consider making the following improvements: 

- When recording the sound of people in the canteen, don't stand too close to a talkative group (as the dialogue stands out louder then the rest) 

-When recording the sound of people in the canteen, make sure we get a long enough recording so we don't have to keep on placing it on loop (this also applies for all wild tracks). 

- When filming the actual opening sequence, add more students/extras standing in the locker corridor

- Hold some shots on for longer when editing (such as the close ups of Ben and Charlie making eye contact towards the end) 

P1. Screen Shot of Photos for Animatic

P1. Properties / Set Dressing

(Production design sheets here)

P1. Researching and understanding Matte Painting

Definition:

Matte Painting is where an image is produced either by painting or photo manipulating and can be done in a digital media or a traditional one. It is used to create an image, animation or set extension which is then used in film as a background. It is used if getting to the desired location is impractical, due to the cost or schedule and if the location doesn't exist (sci-fi movies). The purpose of a Matte painting is to trick the audience into thinking they are looking at a real location; if this works then it is a successful painting.
To produce a Matte Painting you firstly make a base plate, which can either be a photograph or moving footage. You then composite images or animation on top of it to create a moving and 3D effect.


History:
In 1905 a man named Norman Dawn invented Matte painting by taking photos and paintings and collaborating them by placing them on a large sheet of glass. He placed black tape over the parts of the camera where the painting would be. This then combined live action with painting and is now known as Matte Painting. 80 years later when computers where invented, Matte Paintings started to become digitally drawn, which is a lot more common nowadays.

Matte Painting used in Sound of Music:
Here is a Matte Painting which was used in Sound of Music. In my opinion this painting blends in, as the  blues and greens in the image match her outfit. The painting is also extremely detailed, and looks as if it is a still image, which is what they wanted. This was done traditionally, as at that time there were no computers, so digital wasn't an option. The bottom image is the painting with out the moving footage included. To combine them, they green screened the background of Julia Andrews and added in the Matte Painting. The lighting was also carefully matched to the painting, and they must have had light surrounding her in the studio to give the footage a day light effect (to remove any shadows).

P1. Green Screen

What a green screen does:
A film technique / special effect which involves actors or objects in front of a block green background. This then gets edited on a software such as Adobe After Effects, where computerized graphics can be added,  such as backgrounds which aren't actually there.  This is used to create artificial backgrounds so they can film in the studio, which is more efficient as they don't have to travel saving time and money. It can also be know as a way to combine different shots and elements into one image.

The History
The first film to ever use green screen/chroma key technology was 'Four Heads are better than one' in 1898, directed by Georges Méliès. The most common colour used in chroma key technology was previously blue, but as the years went on, they realized the colour green was a better. Some of the reasons for the colour change was because digital cameras came out and where more commonly used and the green channel is the cleanest in most digital cameras today and has the most luminance, resulting in the least noise. Another reason was because blue is more commonly worn as costume, and green screens permit much less light.. In 1970 they finally decided to change the screens from blue to green, which then became widely used and famous for video editing as well as photography. 

Green Screen used in Avengers

In this scene, they green screened the background in, which worked  well and is extremely convincing as the separate footage was carefully matched.
The reason they did it was because in the scene there had to be broken skyscrapers, cars, buildings, fire and smoke, which would have cost a lot of money to build on set and wouldn't of been practical.  Also, because it was located in a city, they couldn't film on location, therefore green screen was the only option.
They did this by using a green screen in the background and later on adding in an image/painting where the screen was. This also allowed them to add smoke and fire over the top.
The reason I find the green screening effective is because the character actually looks as if he's there, due to the lighting match, colour match and realism of the painting/photo.

P1. Jay's Character Background Sheet

P1. Mike and the Receptionist's Character Background Sheet

Mikes Character Background Sheet by Robyn Wilson:

The Receptionists Background Sheet by Dayna Crawford:

Receptionist character file from dayna_crawford

P1. Location Recce Part 2

Hallway from hannahgautrey

Birds eye view from Robyn182

Reception birds eye view from dayna_crawford

P1. Location Recce

P1. Jay's Mood Board

P1. Animatic Review

My average shot length for my animatic is 3:13 seconds, meaning I have to add around 5 more shots as the maximum is 3 seconds per shot. (Hollywood's average shot length is currently 2.5 seconds.)

From watching my finished animatic, I think that we should add more camera movement in the cinematography to add more visual interest, as only 3 of the shots have movement. 

The background noise could be lowered so the audience can concentrate more on the dialogue, although there isn't any points when you can't hear the dialogue; as through out the clip the background noise (from the locker room) gets quieter. We will need to find better actors/actresses when we come to filming, as the dialogue doesn't sound convincing enough, and it needs to be more clear when the actors are using sarcasm. 

Lastly, I need to make it more clear when the visual effects occur, as this is hard to do without motion picture.

Peer feed back:

P1. Animatic

P1. File Structure

P1. Production Meeting 3

Thursday the 28th  of November 

During the editing, we all discovered that our arm stretching after effect was more complicated then we thought, and decided we only needed to pick up the books using telekinesis as the stretching might not look convincing enough.

When we were filming the telekinesis (which was done by someone dropping a purse), it went wrong as when the purse dropped it bounced on the ground, which looked a little odd when we reversed it. We decided instead we would move it using a meter ruler or something strong enough to lift up a book and then in After Effects mask out the ruler so it looks as if its floating
.
We need to practise the masking effect in After Effects first and re-shoot the scene using our new technique to practise it. We also need to practise the lightning bolt and teleporting, as we never got round to testing that.
So far we've tested the face changing colour by adjusting the hue and saturation, which we found successful, the arm stretching which was unsuccessful and lastly the telekinesis, which we found a way of improving.

Things we still need to test:
Electric bolt
Teleporting
New Telekinesis
Invisible student (maybe)

Assets needed for shooting:
Props: metre ruler, paperwork (with Jays room number on), key, books, backpack
Make up/costume: backpack, receptionists white shirt, black skirt and black blazer (boys in casual clothes)
CGI: Masking, Editing the opacity, changing the hue and saturation (colour), and adding an electric bolt

P1. VFX Asset Sheets

Vfx asset sheet 1 from hannahgautrey

Vfx asset sheet 2 from hannahgautrey

Vfx asset sheet 3 from hannahgautrey

Vfx asset sheet 4 from hannahgautrey

Vfx asset sheet 5 from hannahgautrey

Vfx asset sheet 6 from hannahgautrey

P1. Visual Effects Research

Occurrence of Visual effects that will occur in our film sequence:

Scene 1, Shot 5: A girls face turns an unnatural colour (already tried this out by adjusting hue & saturation)
Scene 1, Shot 6: A girls arm stretches to a supernatural extent (liquify), and a boy uses telekinesis to pick up some books (reverse edit)
Scene 2, Shot 7: An invisible boy walking off (film tutorial bellow)
Scene 3, Shot 5: Mike teleports  (film tutorial bellow)
Scene 3, Shot 6: Jay shoots lightning from his hand (film tutorial bellow)

Films & tutorials that will help:

Lightning:

Teleportation: 

Invisibility: 

P1. Team Production Meeting 2

 Tuesday, 19 November 2013
In today's lesson, we came to the decision to use my script and individually annotated our own copy of it. We labelled the shots we think should be used in each scene, and then began discussing and observing each others ideas to decide which shots would be best to use.
We all came to the conclusion that when showing a large amount of students in a frame, we will use long shots to capture and exaggerate the business of the frame. Then when two characters are speaking, we will use over the shoulder shots to establish the two characters that are speaking, and also show their reactions. We also all decided it would work well to use a still long shot when the two boys are walking down the hallway, this will show how long and far the hallway is, and to let the audience establish the characters distance and isolation. In this lesson we came to the conclusion that we were going to collaborate and use all of our ideas, and choose the most effective shots from each of our plans.

P1. 180 Degree Rule

Here is a diagram we had to make, displaying the correct shots/outcomes you get when following the 180 degree rule, and an incorrect shot when you disobey it. The 180 degree rule consists of an axis, which is an imaginary line connecting and passing directly through the characters. The camera should stay on one side of this line, unless the footage shows the camera crossing it; so you don't confuse the audience. For example say the blue character is on the left of the screen and the green is on the right, if the camera crosses this axis, the characters will then swap sides, the blue being on the right and the green being on the left; this is why it is important to maintain this rule so you don't confuse the audience. 

P1. Team Production Meeting

Date: Monday 18th November.

Who is Present: Hannah, Dayna and Robyn. No one was absent. 

Agenda: Script assessment: We came to a group decision of choosing my film as according to my group members it was easier to create, included more visual effects for editing, and a better overall story line.

Script choice: We chose as a group to choose my script.

Ideas for redrafting: We could remove and shorten some of the dialogue which isn't needed and also add in one more super power (visual effect). However, apart from this there is not much we need to improve in the script.

P1. Revised Short Opening Sequence

Short Sequence Revised from hannahgautrey

P1. Character Biography's

JAY

When Jay first starts at Merriweather Academy, his goal is to learn as much as possible about his power, and how he can control it. He wants to befriend pupils similar to himself, and finally feel normal in his new environment.

Later on in the story, Jay's goals and motifs begin to change. Firstly when the students start to disappear, his goal is to find out what is happening to them without being caught, and avoid all obstacles. When he discovers what has happened to them, his goal is to recruit a team, rescue them and escape from the island.

The reason Jay wants to come to Merriweather academy, is because it’s what his step mother wants for him. He also knows he'll have a better chance of fitting in here, as although Jay was never picked on in his old college, he knew people with powers who were, and decided not to tell anyone about his gift. His motivation to find out what happens to the students who go missing finally kicks in when his roommate Mike and his friend Sarah disappear. This motif is then enhanced when he finds out what exactly is happening to them, and gets the motivation to form a rescue team.

Although Jay is courageous, he is also fairly shy and reserved, making it hard for him to communicate with people and make new friends. This is an obstacle for him, as Sarah and Mike are his only friends, and once they go missing, he needs to not only make new friends to form his team, but convince them of the dangers that are taking place.

As well as Jay being shy and reserved, he is an extremely curious character, and when one question arises in his mind, he can't get it out. Most of the time Jay jumps to conclusions, but unfortunately not this time.

Jay is 16 years old and raised in Cambridge England. His mother died in labour and his father died 2 years ago, leaving him in the care of his step mother. Jay tries to respect his step mother’s wishes, although he doesn't think she cares about him much and thinks of him as a burden. All the deaths in Jay’s life have contributed to him being cautious of coming to close to people, and made him more reserved. Jay is fairly tall and skinny with brown hair and eyes.

RECEPTIONIST  

We don't find out much about the receptionist, but she is fully aware of the experimentation that is going on under the college grounds. This is why her tone of dialogue is sometimes described as 'insincere', as to the students of the college; she attempts to put on a happy and welcoming tone, although she couldn't care less about their well-being. Although she is aware of the disturbing actions taking place, she doesn't take any part in it, and her goal is to simply watch over the children and appear as a typical college receptionist.

The reason she is pursuing these goals, is too earn some extra money, witness the science and experimentation taking place and impress her father, who works in the labs and takes part in the experimentation.

Her weakness is her need to impress her father, as he is the main thing keeping her there, and no good comes from her job as a receptionist.

The receptionist is 27, and she only has one living parent, as her mother died when she was a child. She was born to a wealthy family, and raised in Oxford, England. She's never had many friends, as back in her college days; her number one goal was to study hard (to impress her father) and therefore was bullied for it. The receptionist is tall skinny, with brown tightly combed back hair placed in a bun and bright blue eyes. The majority of the time she wears a black blazer and long black skirt  

MIKE

Mike's goal when he first joins Merriweather Academy is to expand his popularity. When he first encounters Jay, he is aware that he is his roommate, and can automatically tell Jay isn't the most approachable characters. Mikes goal is to befriend his new roommate and also similar to Jay, grow in his gift and learn to control it. As the story continues, mike is taken for experimentation. Whiles he is in the lab, his goal is to escape, although he is very much helpless in this situation.

His motivation to befriend Jay is from the fact they're going to be sharing the same room for 2 years, and wants to get along with his roommate. When Mike is first taken, he has a strong motivation to escape, but the longer he is trapped there the less hope he has.

Mike's flaw can sometimes be his sarcasm and his habit of teasing people, as although this attracts a lot of friends to him, it also encourages certain people who take offence easily to dislike him. Another flaw Mike has is that he never thinks before he acts.

Mike is 16 years old. He is spoilt by his two parents, although their love isn't enough, as Mike strives to make as many friends as possible; this is because he got bullied as a young child. He is an extremely confident character, and will talk to anyone without hesitating. Mike's way to make friends is to tease them, and often speaks in a sarcastic tone. He gets this personality from his father. Mike is also from Cambridge, England, although he and Jay have never met each other before coming to Merriweather. Mike has dark blond hair and blue eyes, he is a similar weight to Jay although is slightly taller. 

P1. Screenplay First Draft

Hannah Gautrey First Draft from hannahgautrey

P1. X-men

Sound Analysis 

Music: 

00:00 - 01:32

Dialogue:

00:04 - 00:05 - Logan

00:06 - 00:15 - Boy playing basketball

01:06 - 01:06 - Storm

01:06 - 01:07 - John

01:12 - 01:13 - Bobby 

01:14 - 01:15 - Bobby

01:16 - 01:16 - Rough

01:28 - 01:29 - Bobby

Voice over: (Professor Xavier)

00:07 - 00:11 

00:15 - 00:18

00:19 - 00:22

00:23 - 00:30

00:31 - 00:40

00:41 - 00:53

01:18 - 01:28

Sound Effects:

00:05 - 00:15 - kids running and jumping, basketball bouncing, teleporting (wind), ball hitting goal

00:22 - 00:29 - clay pigeons flying though air (wind),  ray hitting them, clay pigeons smashing

00:49 - 00:51 - lighter flicking on, fire sparking,  

00:57 - 01:03 - frost (high pitched whistling sound, subtle sparkling sound, and ice smashing

01:04 - 01:05 - gasp

01:05 - 01:05 - subtle laugh

01:29 - 01:30 - clothes moving

Music is constant through out this clip. The music helps to set the mood of the scene, in this case creating a happy and peaceful atmosphere, displaying the school positively. If it wasn't constant, the areas where the music stopped would be significant, but the entire scene is significant, therefore the music runs through all the time. The music links the sequence together, as the music starts at the beginning of the scene, and when it stops, its a change of scene. Although the duration of the music remains constant until the end of the sequence, the volume and pitch changes; for example, when Professor Xavier introduces the name for the mutants 'X-men' the pitch changes from high to low, making the word stand out.

The reason the voice over doesn't over lap the dialogue, is so we can concentrate on what the individuals say, meaning the characters talking doesn't  distract from the narration. There is very little dialogue in this sequence, and the dialogue that is used is used to introduce the characters names and personality, for example, we first meet Bobby in this sequence, and he has cleverly introduced himself to the audience by in the clip introducing himself to Rogue.

The sound effects, such as the basket balls bouncing, and children running, make the sequence seem more realistic, drawing you into the college atmosphere. They also exaggerate and bring more attention to the visual aspects of the clip. For example, when the frozen fire falls to the ground, this shocks and has a larger impact on the audience because of the sound effects.

P1. Visual Effects

Test: Visual effects on Adobe After Effects

P1. Story Pitch

Film Idea based on a short opening

In a world where 1/20th of the population has supernatural abilities a young boy is finally old enough to go to a school dedicated to teaching youth how to use and control their abilities. Only students with the most powerful gifts get accepted, so although Jay’s step mother pressurised him into applying and it’s located far away on an isolated island, he accepts the offer.

Once he arrives, everything seems to be going perfectly, he's made friends who can relate to him, and the lessons are exiting and productive. The school is huge, and takes up almost the entire island, although the boy has only explored a fraction of it.

Once settled in, Jay makes a friend with a similar power to his, although this girl is far more experienced  then him. Sarah agrees to teach him what she knows outside of lesson hours.

Questions start to arise, when his roommate doesn't turn up to lesson one evening, and never returns back to the dorm. He doesn't think into it,assuming he dropped out of college, but when more students disappear including Sarah,  he begins to get suspicious.   

The boy decides not to turn up to lesson one evening, and instead decides to go snooping around the college grounds, entering the restricted half. The truth is revealed to Jay, when he discovers the students are being experimented on underneath the college grounds, and the school is just the waiting room.

Jay rushes back to the dorms, quietly gathering a group of students who combine their powers to save their friends and diverse an escape plan.

#TWEETPITCH 
A boys step mother persuades him into attending a school which is aimed at youth with supernatural ability's on an isolated island. Slowly the students start to go missing, and the boy begins to ask questions, and eventually seeks answers. The boy discovers that the missing students are being experimented on due to their powers, so secretly begins to round up a group of students with different ability's to help him rescue the others and escape from the island.

P1. Top Trumps

Personal Top Trumps Card

P1. DRIVE

Analysis of Sound Effects 

The sound effects used in this clip are extremely effective, as they add to the tension of the clip, to inform the audience of information they haven’t picked up visually and to emphasise the content of the scene.

In this scene, a get away driver (Ryan Gosling) is waiting to pick up 2 burglars, although  he only gives them 5 minutes do to the job, otherwise he'll drive away.

The first diegetic sound we hear are the police sirens, this automatically tells us that there is a crime taking place, and that the police are on the look out. This is effectively told though sound, as the sound effect over laps the shot through an L – edit, meaning it wasn’t necessary for the cinematographer to film the actual car passing by. This sound effect is used purely to inform the audience of what is taking place and add to the action.  The sirens are repetitive and irritating, although fairly quiet and faded into the background, this tells us that they are still relatively far away.

We then hear the radio, when we see the main character (driver) in the car; this is effective, as with out actually having to see the police (which creates more tension and fear) we can hear about their whereabouts and movements and later on in the sequence, that they suspect the characters car.  We can also hear the basket ball game in the background, which foretells where the characters go in the end of the scene, but also shows that the driver is calm and relaxed enough to listen to the game, showing he is probably experienced in what he does.

The sound effects we here such as the crickets in the back ground, and the traffic, add to the atmosphere and surroundings and also re-enforce the fact that its night time and still busy.  The environmental sounds of the car engine and the tires moving also help the audience to focus on the movement of the car.

In this sequence one of the most important sounds effects are the ones coming from the watch, we firstly hear the driver fiddling with the watch, which draws our attention to it.  We then hear him adjusting the time; this then reminds us of the rule that he follows, which is to stick to 5 minutes of waiting for the burglars or else he drives away. Lastly, we hear an over exaggerated noise of the watch ticking, this tells us that time is running out and creates even more tension for the audience. 

The alarm which goes of in the building that the burglary is taking place in, tells the audience that the characters are in trouble, and the police are soon to be on their way. This is a constant, high pitch and repetitive noise, which irritates the audience’s ears, causing them to be tenser. The sound gets louder when the driver opens the door, making it more noticeable and realistic.

Other sounds, such as the car driving in and coming to a stop, the gate opening, doors opening, and the door open alarm, emphasise the actions that are taking place, so the audiences attention is specifically drawn to those actions and not distracted by anything else on the screen.  These sounds as well as the breathing, tires moving and car engine, are also used to bring a more realistic feel to the clip. 

Lastly, the sounds blend together to create an effective sound mix. It's effective as the scene starts of with a large and loud variety of sounds, this then grips the audience making them pay more attention to the scene. While the driver is waiting for the burglars, there is a lot less sound, and it is much quieter, this works well, as we can feel the awkwardness of the driver waiting, creating tension and also allows us to concentrate on specific sounds, such as the watch with out being distracted by other noises.