Taking photos

We arranged a time with the cast members to meet up and take pictures. Due to one of our friends taking photography, we asked if we could borrow the camera. This worked to our advantage as the pictures were very clear, good quality and look professional. We met up with the cast on Thursday lunchtime. Previously me and Mimoza had taken test shots in places within the school where we thought the lighting and background was good so when it came to the time when the cast was in front of the camera we wouldn't waste any time looking for  location. The test shots will soon be uploaded onto the blog.
So when the cast arrived at lunchtime we knew exactly where to go and what to tell the to do as we had the draft of the poster with us. Taking the pictures went smoothly, we even put the flash on from the camera to make the lighting in the pictures a bit better.  The only problem that I would say that we had while taking the pictures is that people were constantly walking up and down through the corridor which distracted us and made us take more time when taking the pictures. But we got there in the end with what we think are good shots and hopefully we will receive good feedback for them as well.

Draft of the Film Poster

Here is the draft of our film poster and what we would like to include in terms of framing and the right taken photos (close-ups) of the cast. We already arranged a time to take their photos tomorrow. I have been spending quality amount of time drawing the draft, because i wanted it to feel real and look interesting. After hard work, I am happy so far with the results and after receiving very useful feedback from our teachers, we decided to not leave many space between titles and to make sure Once and Again title stands out. In addition to adding, for example. 5 stars next to the title to take up some space.

Poster influences

Poster influences on Prezi

This is our prezi on poster influences. Where we included our thoughts on the individual posters we looked at and how this helped or will help us.

Trailer Final look :)

Here is our trailer :

Deadline for our trailer

 Today is the deadline for our trailer. We were able to finish our trailer at lunchtime today without too much manic and we don't have to come back after school. As we came both at lunchtime and break time we
we then able to include some last minute things such as, the sound onto to the scene when Alex and Claire bump into each other, and in the end this went smoothly. Here is the link of the song that we used in this scene, which was already previously posted onto the blog as one of the options of sound that we would use in this scene. http://www.unsigned.com/xe_latheufoacidgodz  After school yesterday I was also able to include the sound of the switch coming on just before the production logo. In the end watching our trailer through we thought it was a very good final piece to give in and we hope that we get a good overall mark in the end for our trailer. We will hopefully upload our finished trailer on the blog next week.

Progress with our trailer

We are aware that tomorrow at five o'clock is the deadline for our trailer. As we got a lot done in our double lesson today in addition to staying back at lunch time, tomorrow shouldn't be a rush or stressful day for us as we are nearly finished and have very little to do. In today's lesson, we managed to add the audio effect onto our production logo that we found. To us this made our trailer seem even more like a trailer as well as giving it a nice touch. Again asking our teacher in the lesson for feedback he watched the trailer through and suggested that we still delete a bit more from the arguing scene, with Alex and Stella, to make it seem more quick and sharp. He also suggested that we remove all of the voice overs that we had reading the titles out as it is not something that is really necessary to have and our titles just appearing up on the screen by itself was all that we really needed to have.
He suggested making the title of our film 'Once and Again' in bigger font or doing something to make it stand out rather than having the most important title of our trailer to look the same as the other titles.It was also suggested that we maybe include a dramatic piece of music over the scene when Stella first finds the book as we want this part to stand out as it is towards the end of the trailer now. During the lesson our teacher helped us to find a piece of dramatic audio on you tube that would possibly go with the arguing scene in our trailer. We were not able to do this in the lesson as there were complications with the internet, we decided to go on imovie and look at dramatic pieces of sound that they have that may possibly go with our trailer. We found a heartbeat audio that we put onto our trailer and thought matched the scene quite nicely but we still want to try and find other pieces of sound such as, the one that was on you tube. Here is the the video of the piece of music that we want to get the audio from:

We hope to stay behind at break time tomorrow and if necessary lunchtime to finish this and  then export it as our final trailer to be marked.

Additional things for our trailer

After today's lesson we felt that we had done a lot to improve our trailer. In the lesson me and Mimoza discussed the pieces of sound we would want to include and we came to the decision that we will not include the sound of the children laughing or the car crash noise in the end as this ,we think, would not really go with our trailer like we imagined it to. After asking our teacher for feedback twice we changed quite a bit for the better and we think our trailer has  improved since last lesson, although, we know that we still need to do quite a bit more. The first time we received feedback after showing our trailer to him very briefly we changed the font of our titles as they were quite plain, even though, they did not need to be extravagant. We also ended up cutting part of the argument scene as it wasn't needed and was just adding time to our trailer which we did not want and were already trying to lower. Previously, we had put on pieces of voice overs over the tiles in our trailer and we noticed that it didn't flow or go to well in for certain titles in our trailer so we had to delete it as, for example, the title 'Based on a true story' comes up straight away as the music piece ends and then the voice over would come into it and this did not flow so consequently we had to delete it.

Yesterday we added the characters names to our trailer so today we decided to add the characters names in more different points in our trailer and add a last name to the characters names, for example, 'Stella Henderson'. After watching the trailer though as we showed our teacher we realised that the very beginning of our trailer ( the children's scene) didn't seem to much like a trailer but more like an opening sequence, so we decided to add another music piece just after the production logo gets of the screen. We also thought of including a quote from Shakespeare about love just before the children's scene comes on to make that scene flow better. Looking at the production logo itself, we thought that it was missing something so we decided to look at some trailers that we had put as influences already on the blog and look at their production logos.

We also thought of possibly using the sound of a light switch turning on then use this audio. Here is the link for this sound: http://www.soundjay.com/switch-sounds-1.html

 The second time we received feedback we had made the necessary changes pointed out by our teacher and the changes we thought we needed to make. After our teacher had watched our trailer he thought it was good but we could possibly add another piece of melodious sound onto the scene where Stella and Alex are arguing but lower this sound so that we can actually hear the dialogue as well .We looked at a couple pieces of acoustic music and here are the links:

 http://www.unsigned.com/xe_latheufoacidgodz
http://www.unsigned.com/adamlambert

http://www.unsigned.com/antonbrello

When a music piece finishes in our trailer you can hear when and where we have cut it and this doesn't sound good, so with help in tomorrows lesson we want to fade out the music so you cant tell that we are cutting it but it fades into the background with the next scene. 

Extra stuff for our trailer

We were not able to include some sound in our trailer as we ran out of time in the lesson such as, the sound of the car crash. Although, we both said that we would look at possible sounds that we can use and tell each other about it in tomorrows lesson. I found some possible car noises that we can use for the scene when Stella gets hit. I found these sounds on SoundFX.

Here is the link: http://soundfxcenter.com/sound_effect/search.php?sfx=Car

Though, I wasn't too sure if the sounds of a car crash sounds a bit too dramatic and in this sense a bit fake, but nevertheless I will share this with Mimoza tomorrow. We also wanted to look at sounds of children laughing to include in one of the beginning scenes. This is quite difficult to search for as I keep on finding sound of very young children between the ages of 3-5 laughing but we are looking for sound of children between the ages of 8-10 laughing.Lastly, we thought that we would include another soundtrack at the beginning of our trailer as it would seem quite boring. One of the unsigned artists that I found earlier and posted on the blog By Carl Hauck; we thought that we could possibly include one of these songs, in particular the songs we liked were: 'Marital Riesling' and 'Windjammer'. As we also wanted to include the sound of children laughing at the beginning of our trailer we thought about including a pice of sound at the beginning and when it comes to the part where the children are laughing we would lower the sound of the music and increase with the sound of the kids laughing.

We were struggling to find a green screen to go before our film that was in good quality. Here is the green screen that we found in better quality:

Our progression with our trailer

As we finished filming last week, which took a weight of our shoulders, we now have a lot of time to put in towards making our trailer the best we possibly can. In today's lesson we managed to get a lot done in terms of titles, sound (the voice over) and cutting down our footage. After we had done this we asked our teacher for feedback on our titles etc. we realised that our design of our titles didn't exactly fit in with our trailer as it is a love story but not a typical one as someone dies at the end; so we changed this. We also realised that some clips were still too long after we had cut them down. For a trailer the scenes should only be seconds long to not give too much away of the story and still attract the audience at the end of the day. We found that  the longer our clips are the more it seems like an opening sequence rather than a trailer which we do not want. 

Furthermore to include our actor/actresses names in our trailer we decided to use our title format again but this time instead we will just include the actor/actresses names itself so the names appearing on the screen doesn't neccesarily need to follow any particular sequence as you would with an opening sequence. The first time we went about including the actors names we also included their real names which we realised we should not do as it is a trailer and you don't see the actor/actresses real names in a trailer; again this will make our trailer  seem more like an opening sequence which we do not want.  We also ended  up moving our production logo to the very beginning of our trailer, after the green screen as after getting feedback we realised that it made more sense to be there. Watching our trailer from the beginning at the end of the lesson it seemed more like a trailer rather than an opening sequence to us, which was one of our struggles. We hope that when we show our teacher our trailer again to get more feedback he will also see our progress.

Receiving Feedback

In yesterdays lesson we had to screen what we had so far of our trailer and watch others in the class. We were allowed twenty minutes at the beginning of the lesson to include more editing to our trailer. We recieved feedback after the screening of our trailer in addition to giving feedback after the screening  of other groups works. The feedback that we recieved for our trailer was very helpful, we were also aware of some of the criticisms given but did not exactly know how to go about it.
The main criticism that we were given was that our trailer was too long and this makes it not seem like a trailer anymore. We are currently working on this by trying to cut down as much as we can from our trailer to the point where we dont know what else to cut down so we will ask for our teacher to look at it and give us his response of what he thinks does not need to be there.
As we stayed in the media room throughout lunch and after school we managed to get quite a lot done including, titles, sound and cutting down our scenes. At the moment our trailer is 2.34 as we cut it down from 3.36. For us this is a big improvement as from the beginning we did not know what to cut down as for us everything that we had was relevant and cutting it down might make the storyline not flow as well. After talking to our teacher we managed to cut it down and realised that we don't need all those parts and without, our trailer seems to flow better. We still would like to cut it down more as we still have to film one more scene of Stella lying on the floor.

Filming: Day 8

Today after school we filmed the last scene of our trailer; this was the scene of Stella lying on the floor after she got hit by a car which would not be shown in the trailer but you will only hear a car noise. Filming today was good as it went smoothly and was pretty straightforward as we all knew what to do as we had previously filmed this scene when it was dark and this was very difficult so we decided to re-film during the daytime when it was light out.
 The only problem while filming was that cars kept on going up and down so we had to keep on moving the equipment and the actress had to constantly move out of the way as it was around home time for schools so parents are going up and down. We filmed several shots of the actress on the floor to see which angle is best and hopefully later on when we upload the footage at school we will be able to choose the best scene with the help of teachers feedback.
Moreover, when we add this scene to the trailer hopefully we will still be able to keep the maximum time of our trailer at 2 minutes 30 seconds or even less.
Previously we decided that Fiona, who plays Stella in our film, would do the voice over for our film. So after we finished filming we decided to record Fiona saying the titles in our trailer on Mimoza's iPhone.

Uploading the Footage and Editing

Due to the fact that we chose to film before period one and we did not have that much time to actually upload our footage on imovie and edit the parts that we do not need. As a result, we then decided to stay back during break and lunchtime today uploading the rest of our footage and editing/cutting the parts out that we do not need. We still have not completely finished this as we ran out of time and had variety of footage to upload and edit. 

Though, we have got two final music pieces, a voiceover and titles to include but we have not been able to do this as we are focusing on filming the footage and getting it to be the best that it's possible so that we do not have to re-film any scenes. We hope to use every opportunity of using the computers whether in school  or outside the school time. As we are aware that we have a rough screening of our trailer on thursday in the morning we will give our best to include more pieces of shots cut before thursday. Even though, throughout tomorrow we are off timetable we will do our best during break and lunchtime to do more to our trailer to improve in all areas.

Filming: Day 7

Filming today went very smooth and well. We ended up with exact shots that we would like to film. Today, we filmed the scene of manual focus where Alex and Claire find Stella's unconscious body on the floor. Previously, we struggled to film the focus as the touchscreen did not help. However, after experiencing with the camera many times, we managed to film the focus in one take. We hope the feedback given by teachers will be sufficiently good therefore, we won't have to re-film. Only problem we had was that there were disruptions of the children and parents going into the near primary school. We will soon be posting the pictures of today's filming.

Filming: Day 6

Today, we filmed the scenes when Alex and Claire bumped into each other  We also wanted to film the scene where we have a shallow focus of Alex and Claire but due to the fact that our camera had a very low battery we could not do this. As a result, we re-scheduled with the actor and actress to film before school and during period one this Tuesday. Filming this scene was rather straightforward but a problem we had while filming the scene with Alex and Claire is the same shot was the fact that we kept on getting disturbed by cars as we had to film this scene in the road to get a good shot. The last shot we filmed where we get Alex and Claire reaction in a shot/reverse shot was quite difficult for the actor. This was difficult for the actor as he found it hard to give a happy but shocked facial expression without laughing or smiling too much. We found that the actor is more natural and relaxed when he doesn't know that we are filming rather than when he does. Overall, filming went good and did not take long to film as we knew the camera battery was low so we couldn't was time in addition to the fact that we had spoken earlier and devised a plan for the day.

Filming: Day 5

As I was not able to make filming yesterday because I had to go to a  university open day Mimoza filmed. Though,it was easy for her to just re-film a close up of the book that Claire hands Alex when they were children because the children are Mimoza's neighbours. After we filmed this the first time and received feedback we realised that the shot was too quick and the zoom was to sharp, this needed to be filmed correctly as we want the audience to concentrate on the book as the the book is a very significant prop in our trailer.She filmed this far away and a separate shot as an extreme close up of the book so that we can use an insert at this point. Furthermore, after speaking to Mimoza this went very smoothly and was quite quick as the children and Mimoza both knew what to do. If we again need to re-film this scene or other parts with the children for some reason this will be quite easy to do as I said before the children are Mimoza's neighbours so we could ask them according to our schedule most of the time.

Filming: Day 4

After school on Friday, we managed to film two scenes. These were the scenes with Alex and Stella arguing in the house in addition to the scene where Stella gets hit by a car. We previously filmed the scene with Alex and Claire but this did not go well as we had problems with the mise en scene because we had to film in the common room as a last resort. Although, filming after school on Friday was quite smooth as the mise en scene was good and already set as this time we actually filmed in a house, the characters knew what to do and what to say as they have already filmed this scene before but just needed a brief reminder. While filming theses scenes we realised that we didn't need the scene where Stella breaks down and starts crying as the first time we filmed this it was difficult to make the actress cry as well as without this scene our trailer still flows. The only problem that I would say that we had was when we filmed the last scene of the day when Stella was on the floor and we had to get a very high overhead shot of Stella, this was hard because we couldn't actually see properly whether we were getting a good shot. Furthermore, it was quite dark so the lighting for us at this point was a problem but we did our best to overcome and hopefully the audience will think so when they watch this scene in our trailer.

Discussion in lesson

Both yesterday and today, we talked about several things in the lesson such as, the voice over,which final music pieces we will use for different scenes as well as our schedule for filming or re-filming if we need to do so. Though, we did not have too long in yesterdays lesson as in half of lesson we were uploading footage and editing/cutting parts that we didn't need. We did manage to discuss/look at a few music pieces of Eric Baker, we chose one of his songs to definately include in our film which is called   'Not Enough' we also wanted to include his other song ' Two left feet' but there was a problem with the video on youtube that was not allowing us to hear the music piece. Today, we listened to this music piece in the lesson and decided to make it a definate music piece to include in our trailer.
We were also able to add these pieces of music to the footage that we have so far so we can see how well the music fits in with particular scenes. So overall, we will have three pieces of sound in our film including the voiceover. We also spoke about our filming schedule but we couldn't really make any big decisions as we were waiting for our actor/actresses to tell us when they are free to film. This is why we filmed the childrens scene first as they are Mimoza's neighbours so it would be easy to film them according to our schedule but with the other actor/actresses it would be and is harder as their schedule may clash when we would like to film. We are aware of these difficulties ,that is why we filmed in this order. We want our voiceover to be done by one of the characters in our film such as, Alex as he is the main character in our film. After talking more about this in todays lesson we are not too sure about doing this as it doesn't seem professional to have one of the characters in our film doing the voiceover of the titles etc. rather than another person. We are still currently thinking about asking someone else to the voiceover for our trailer, maybe one of our friends.

Footage from Filming

The footage above includes different scenes within our trailer that we filmed but didn't go too well, for example, in one of the scenes we were trying to do a shallow focus with the characters before we actually did the shot again so we wouldn't waste time. In the second part of the clip we realised that at this point there would be a costume change so consequently, we cannot use this though looking through the clip there are some good parts. This clip highlights our attempts, what obviously did not go well , some of the difficulties the characters experienced as well as some funny bits while filming. (bloopers)

Feedback

We are very happy to get such a nice and detailed feedback from our teacher.
We are very excited to give our best shot and continue to improve. The feedback above, motivated us to achieve our full potential.

Filming: Day 3

During filming yesterday after school, we had some difficulties and good shots. The fact that it got dark at 5:30 pm made filming more challenging for us but we used our second option to film. We were going to film in Kelsey Park and when we realised that the lighting was going to be a problem, we instantly moved to film outside the Langley Park Estates bridge. We tried our best to  overcome this difficulty and as well as getting the manual focus right. If it does not work, me may move to film with deep focus. Our greatest worry is  that the audience won't be able to see the screening and the characters clearly. We will hopefully improve and give our best shot by filming more and more, if any disruption occur.

Poster ideas

Even though, we planned to be filming for a few days this week, this did not go to plan so instead of wasting our time waiting to film, we decided to think about some ideas for the poster of our trailer. While watching a film in the cinema recently, I came across a nice image used within the film that I thought we could use in our trailer poster and I later shared this idea with Mimoza . We then thought of bringing in the significant prop of the book in this image on the poster, so that  in a way the book will act as an aspect to our trailer poster that foreshadows what is actually going to happen in the film or at least hinting at this. The image to the left is an exemplar picture to illustrate this idea. Although, obviously the children will be further in the image maybe we could get the effect of the sunset through editing, this is something that we could possibly try before it comes to actually making the poster so this would not waste any time.