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. 

P1. Misfits

Purpose of Dialogue and its Effect

The purpose of dialogue in misfits is to inform the audience of what is taking place in the scene, the characters personalities, accents, tone, Volume and intentions. The dialogue is extremely important at this point, as it is the first scene, which should inform the audience about what the show is about, set the scene, begin the narrative and also grip them so they continue watching.

From this first scene, we can already tell that the show is aimed at a younger audience, as most of the characters are young offenders, and have stereotypes that can relate to a younger age and our current generation. We can also tell that the show is comedic, as a lot of the dialogue is humorous in ways we can relate to.

The first character I'm going to be analyzing is Nathan.

The first thing we notice about Nathan when he first speak is his accent, which is Irish; this is effective as we now know that he's not based in the UK and is away from home, which makes us realize that the group is made up of a range of different characters from separate background, class and ethnicity's. Nathan speaks in a confident, acerbic, playful and sarcastic tone and in a loud and clear volume; this already tells us a lot about the character, and that his personality  is indeed sarcastic and careless. Through out the scene Nathan is the character who talks the most, and Nathan's first line of dialogue is "Yeah but what if they're right" answering back to their instructor about people thinking they're 'scum' this already tells us that the character is free-willed, insensitive and confident, as he was the first person willing to speak up, and interrupts the man. Lastly Nathan is shown to be humorous, making sarcastic jokes through out the sequence; his stereotype could be the joker of the group.His need for attention could tell us that he came from a background where he lacked it, and maybe this also links in with why he left home. 

Simon is the complete opposite to Nathan when it comes to confidence, as although he doesn't speak a word in the entire scene, this tells us a lot about his personality. It tells us that he is either shy and instead of being an attention seeker like Nathan, he is trying to avoid the spot light, or it tells us he's not bothered, obnoxious or in a bad position to be making the effort to chat to others. This character could have the stereotype of being the shy/reserved guy in the group, and a social outcast. 

Gary is also extremely blunt and insensitive. His first line is "You lookin' to get stabbed?" this tells us that the character considers himself to be 'hard' and intimidating, and isn't afraid to come across this way. It also shows us that the character speaks his mind, and takes offence easily. Although the character has unapproachable characteristics, the tone of his voice is quite calm and he speaks relatively quietly, although speaks in a threatening manor. The only time he speaks is when he feels the need too, so in this case to defend himself, otherwise he seems similar to Simon in the fact he cant be bothered. He could have the stereotype of being the 'gangster' of the group.

Alisha is firstly shown to be rude and careless, as her first line is "Hey, doing my community service, boring as fuck"  when she interrupts the instructor to answer her phone, knowingly insulting him. Later on, she then goes on to saying "My probation worker... don't be disgusting" and although we cant hear the other end of the phone call, we can guess what the friend implied, and by this can tell she has a bit of a tarty reputation. The tone of her voice is also quite sarcastic at points, similar to Nathan, although it isn't as constant. Alisha could be stereotyped as the typical 'slut' of the group. 

Curtis is also quite quiet compared to the others although not as much as Simon. He is shown to be honest, and thinks he is better then the group by saying "Can I move to a different group, dis isn't gunna work for me." this shows that he doesn't think he should be there, and is trying not to come across as bad the other group members. He is shown to speak in a very mono-toned voice, which is quite soft in comparison to the other characters, maybe this is also a sign that he isn't as intimidating as them.

Kelly is shown to take offence easily, and will confidently share her  opinions  and views on things. This is shown when she says "Erm, what makes ya think you're betta then ous?" Kelly has the stereotype of being a typical chav, which is shown in her accent, the way she speaks, and as well as dialogue empathized by her side pony tail and large hooped earrings. She has the loudest voice in the group, and speaks in a very sharp and assertive tone. 

The one thing the characters all have in common, is that they're all in the same situation (having to do community service to gain redemption from their crimes) and this is empathized by the orange jumpsuits they're all wearing, and despite there differences they have the same problem. 

P1. Misfits

List of Visual Effects found in Misfits Season 1 Episode 1:

Sped up cloud: 4:30
Rocks falling from sky: 5:30
Lightning: 6:10
Green screen: 6:10
Slow motion 6:10
Lightning in eye: 6:32
Head shaking: 17:30
Chair smashing?: 19:11
Sped up shaking: 21:56
Slow motion: 30:06
Flash back projected in eye, (masking?): 30:12

P1. Industrial Light and Magic

Industrial Light and Magic

Industrial light and magic was first founded in 1975 by George Lucas, and was especially set up to create visual effects for his successful film Star Wars. At the time it was the first facility which focused only on visual effects, but afterwards many other post-production and special effect warehouses were set up. Now ILM houses are set up in San Francisco and Singapore, and concentrates on helping motion picture, commercial production and attraction industry; and have done visual effects for around 300 feature films, helping out on 10 of the top 15 box office films.


ILM focuses on:

- traditional arts of blue screen photography
- matte painting
- model construction
- motion controlled cameras
- computer graphics
-  digital imaging
- digital compositing
- morphing
- simulations
- enveloping
- film input scanning
-wire removal
- motion control
- imo cap
- EXR file format

ILM has done visual effects for large box office films such as:

- Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man's Chest
- Jurassic Park
- Star wars: Episode 1 The Phantom Menace
- The Abyss
- Terminator 2: Judgement Day
- Death Becomes Her
- The Mask
- Twister
- The Perfect Storm

Projects at ILM are a combination of concept design, computer graphics effects, models and miniatures, digital environments and state-of-the-art animation. For 30 years the ILM has been running, and the workers there have PhDs specialising in things such as software engineering, traditional animation, expert model making and texture art.   

P1. Adobe Premiere Pro

Adobe Premiere Pro

In Adobe Premiere Pro when you want to adjust the saturation or brightness of a clip you can use the Vector scope. This tool allows you to see the chrominance levels of your film. The saturation of your clip is measured from the centre of the circle outward. If you want a black and white image to be produced, the wheel will only have a dot in the centre of the circle, where as if the colour is away from the centre, the further it is the more vibrant the colours are. If you want a particular colour or hue for your film clip, you can adjust the direction/angle of the pattern.


 The YC waveform is a graph displaying signal intensity in the film. The vertical axis is the signal intensity in units and the horizontal axis is the video image. With the YC wave form you can adjust the brightness of the clip and displays both chrominance and luminance. The luminance information appears as a green wave form and the brighter something is the brighter/stronger the green wave forms are. These brighter wave forms appear close to the top, where as darker wave forms appear near the bottom.

RGB Parade is a graph which also display wave forms, but specific waveforms representing the colours red, blue and green, which are the channels. The purpose of this graph is so you can see the colours that are showing most in your clip, and helps you to change and play around with them. The levels of the colours are measured proportionately to each other from a scale of 0 to 100.

In Adobe Premiere Pro, we experimented with editing a clip, by using Jarle's Pre-sets, the three images here are examples of some of the pre-sets that where available to use. The first one is Summer Sepia, the second is Bleach and the third is Bypass 1. 

P1. Sequence

Napoleon Dynamite Sequence

The challenge of this project was to recreate a sequence from the film Napoleon Dynamite, mirroring Munn Powell's cinematography but using our own resources.

Firstly, we watched the clip, and copied each shot onto a storyboard, naming the shots and writing any relevant information about them underneath. 

If given extra time I would have added more detail to each of the shots, including shading so it's made more clear where the lighting is. I should have also gone over each image with darker lines so they are clearer to see when scanned in. What worked well where the proportions, as the shots I drew on my story board matched the stills from the original footage. 

                                          

Once the story board was done, I then began making the shot list, which is where I wrote down each shot and their properties, including the location of the shots, what props would be needed, the shot types, any movement of the characters or shots, and what happens in each shot.  After I had complete these two tasks, we split of into groups of 4 and used our shot lists and story boards as a references to help us frame and produce each shot. 

Working in a team was handy, as when deciding on the location of each shot we shared and considered each other's points, and also shared the responsibilities. We used my documentation as our group decided it was the most finished and descriptive. We faced a few problems during the filming process, firstly, in the locker scenes, the long shot was extremely hard to copy, as the corridors where extremely small so we couldn't move the camera further enough away. Also in some locations -such as the corridors-, students would constantly be walking past, so we had to keep on re-shooting the scene. The locations and props were extremely hard to copy, as some things we didn't have assess too, or weren't positioned in a similar way (such as the office next to the lockers). One last problem we faced was that the tripod we picked was slightly broken, so this made the camera and our frames wonky. 

If we could re-do it, I would have made sure we used a better tripod, as this had a large effect on our cinematography/framing. Also, there were several shots we missed out, so if we had more time, we could have included these. Lastly, we could have paid more attention to the script, as we missed out lots of dialogue, and had the wrong dialogue in some shots. 

When editing our sequence on Adobe Premiere Pro, I named each shot according to its order and take. I also added a description of each shot so I could quickly read what happens in it without having to click on the shot and watch it. Also, on the successful clips I planned to use, I wrote 'best' before them, so I could see or search this word to save the trouble of finding them individually. 

(add footage here)