Test shoot plan

We worked together as a group to create a plan for the test shoot we’re doing on Thursday, this allows us to keep organised and time efficient within the hour we’re given to “block out” our opening sequence.

Our plot is that two people meet in a lift, and one has gone there to kill the other. Suddenly a fight breaks out and the target is killed, leaving the other with the predicament of disposing the body.

Locations needed: lift, however if we cannot use this we will shoot our sequence in the canteen. 

Characters needed: both man and woman character

Props needed: no specific props needed for our test shoot.

At 9:00 am tomorrow morning during our Media Lesson, we’re going to block out our Opening Title Sequence in the canteen, and the elevator if it’s available. 

We plan to bring tape and block out our scene, using our shot list, and storyboard to organise out filming within the hour. 

Adrianna will edit using iMovie, in order for the group to visualize the timing and order of the shots all edited together.

Because of the close proxemics, actors will be wearing masks to keep in line with COVID-19 guidelines, and this will not happen on the actual filming day.

Roles:

Adrianna- Editor/actress

Tegan- Camera Operator

Anna- Actress

shooting schedule

 This is a shooting schedule that my group planned together:

Shooting Schedule for The Elevator scene- Adrianna, Tegan and Anna

Date	Time	Set/location	Description	Crew needed	Cast needed	Any notes
14.05.21	8:30	Filming studio	Rehearsal and Set-Up	Full crew (Tegan Adrianna, Anna)	Full Cast (Jake and Liv)	Elevator not available
14.05.21	10:00	On set- Elevator in school	Starting to film, order is the same as in the shot list	Full crew (Tegan Adrianna, Anna)	Full Cast (Jake and Liv)	Film everything possible except Liv’s scenes alone at the beginning
14.05.21	12:30	Lunch (?)	Hour or so break to eat	Full crew (Tegan Adrianna, Anna)	Full Cast (Jake and Liv)	The kitchen staff use the elevator for lunch
14.05.21	2:00-4:00	On set- Elevator in school	Continue shooting whatever remaining scenes we may have	Full crew (Tegan Adrianna, Anna)	Full Cast (Jake and Liv)	We only have distinct hours we are allied to use the elevator
14.05.21	4:00- 5:00	On set- Outside the Elevator	Only filming inserts which come before/after main scene	Full crew (Tegan Adrianna, Anna)	Just Liv	These will be filmed outside

editing workshop 1

We used the editing software adobe premiere pro to edit our clips and we will use it to eventually edit our opening sequence.

If you want to save something on adobe premiere pro, you press ‘Ctrl S.’ It is important to constantly save to make sure you edit is as up to date as possible, so when you delete something, it is not re-added after you close the software. Also, in case the software crashes for some reason, your work is saved. we use various technical terms in editing to describe what kind of clip we have recorded. The first is Footage. Footage is referring to the film/ video. We also use the term Daily’s and rushes to describe the raw footage that we have recorded during the day. They are the same thing, it just depends on where you are in the world which will determine which phrase the film makers will use.

A key element of editing is being able to cut the clips and put them next to another clip so that all of the footage is together and flows smoothly. In order to do this, you need to use the cutting tool. The cutting tool is used to cut clips by shortening them/ getting rid of the parts that the editor doesn’t want. You shorten a shot by dragging the end or beginning of each shot until you are satisfied with the length. When wanting to import certain clips onto the timeline for cutting and editing you can use the input and output to help shorten a clip before adding it to the timeline.

 You press the ‘I’ key when wanting to choose where to start the clip, and ‘o’ where you want the footage to stop. You may use this if you have too much time at the beginning where nothing is happening and it needs to be shortened. This makes editing a lot slicker as you are able to refine the clip before even adding it to the timeline. Also, when wanting to zoom in or zoom out, you can take a short cut. For example, if you want to zoom out, you can press the ‘-,’ key on your keyboard and to zoom in, you press the ‘+,’ key. There is also shortcut for undo on adobe premiere pro and it is CtrlZ.

Like mentioned earlier, the footage which you have shortened with the input and output gets put onto the timeline. The timeline is the box in which you drag clips and audio into, it shows you the order that the clips are being placed in and how much time each clip is. On the timeline there are four sections, the time ruler which shows the time, and it goes from left to right. 

There is the timeline header which is a column to the left, which displays which video is which e.g v1 means video 1, and which audio the audio is e.g a1 is audio 1. 

The third part of the timeline is the place in which the clips are added, and it shows them next to the timeline to show how long they are. Finally the fourth area is the timeline panel menu, which offers many configuration options for the timeline that the clips are on. 

Here is the video that me and one of my classmates shot and edited:

Shot list

Camera workshop 2

The order you shoot in is wide, mid, close and then any other shots you want, like a tracking shot for example. This is so that you get your wide shot first, meaning that if something goes wrong, you still have the safety shot, meaning u still have a final product. The other shots, like mid shot and close up are there to add some diversity in the angles however they aren’t crucial like the wide shot is.

The literal definition of continuity in a film sense is ‘A detailed script or scenario consulted to avoid discrepancies from shot to shot in a film, allowing the various scenes to be shot out of order.’ It is essentially paying attention to certain details in a film script i.e picking up a cup with the right hand and not the left hand, so that the film can be shot multiple times and in a different order which makes the filming time much more effective.

It is important to use these rather than saying something like, ‘are you ready?’ as it makes the working environment more professional and also to make it more efficient in timing. For example, by using these you are informed that you need to be ready, that you need to be rolling the camera and that the actor needs to start the scene all within less than ten seconds, and in the real industry, time is crucial and it can be damaging financially for the filmmakers if they waste time by simply getting ready to shoot a scene.

The actor may use a mark so they know where to stand in a scene. This could be a small object or it is usually a piece of tape that you stick to the floor. This is important as it is vital that the actor doesn’t go out of shot when doing things such as close ups.

Before saying action it is always important to be rolling as if we recorded after saying action, we may miss the beginning second of the actor entering the screen, it is also important to keep the camera rolling after the scene so that we have a few seconds in which we are certain the actor has left the scene, and so that when we are editing the clip, it makes it easier, as we have plenty of room to cut the clip in

We don’t watch the footage back on set, as this may create a dependency on needing to watch the clip back/ the actor may create a habit of watching themselves back on set, and if they don’t like what they see they may get discouraged leading them to not act as well. Overall is saves time.

The 180 degree rule is when you have two points that equate to a straight line and you draw an imaginary circle from one point to the other. You then film either side of that line, and you can film anywhere in that semi-circle. This is important because, let’s say you have two actors facing each other and there is dialogue, the 180 degree rule helps us figure out which way the people are facing, and if we didn’t have this rule, the actors would look like they are talking to a wall, or to no one in particular as we can’t get a clear sense of direction.

When filming our sequences, we are also encouraged to incorporate the rule of thirds, which is where we divide our screen into nine segments. It is key to have your point of focus where two lines intersect as we are naturally drawn to these areas for example a person’s face. This is one of the three things when considering camera, as we also have depth of field, which is about what is focused, the foreground or the background, or the composition, where characters and objects are placed in relation to each other in the frame. This may include symmetrical shots and asymmetrical shots.

Camera workshop 1

The camera that we worked with today was the Black magic 4k mini USRA. We were also shown how to attach this to a tripod and attach a battery to the camera.

 

When passing the camera, we used a rule called the yours, mine rule. We use this when passing the camera and to notify the other person that we have the weight of it. This is to make sure that we do not drop the camera when exchanging it. 

On the tripod there was a spirit level to make sure that the camera is balanced and not lopsided otherwise this would make our shot look unprofessional. We do something called bubbling the camera once it is on the tripod, where we unscrew the underneath a quarter of a turn, and then adjust the camera so the bubble is in the middle of the circle.

Before bubbling we need to set up the tripod, and this is how we do so:

-undo the locks on the bottom legs before the top ones as it is easier to adjust once the camera is on the tripod.

- screw on the tripod handle on the right side of the tripod before placing the camera on.

When attaching the camera, you have to make sure that you are facing the bubble when pushing it in place, and you have to push down the button on the left side in order to slide the bottom of the camera onto the tripod. 

Once you have done this you have to turn the dial on the right side towards you to lock the camera in place, to make sure that it doesn’t move when filming. 

You have to make sure this dial is on the unlocked side when attaching the camera so that it can fit onto the tripod, otherwise it won’t work.

Next, we have to set up the shot by focusing it and zooming it on the camera. There is a lens at the front of the camera, and you can twist it either right or left further down the neck of the lens which can un-focus and focus the lens, and another can zoom in and zoom out.

You may need to alternate between the two in order to focus the camera properly. It is important to zoom in as much as you can and then focus the shot and zoom out again, as this completely focuses the lens on the subject matter for example a person, and makes the shot look higher quality.

Once we have focused the camera we will need to make sure the exposure and white balancing is right. White balancing is when you make sure that the hue and colour of the shot matches the location that it is in. For example, if you are outside, but have the inside setting on, your image will have a colder hue and the colour on the film will not match what the outside actually looks like. Similarly, if you shoot inside with the outside setting, the colour will be too warm.

You change the white balance by pressing an icon on the top right of the screen, and then you select the icon appropriate for what scene you are shooting. 

Exposure is how much light is being let into the lens, e.g low exposure is little light and high exposure is a lot of light. When something is overexposed, it means it has too much light in it, which may mean that you have to turn down the exposure. You do this by moving a blue bump on the side of the lens next to the base of where the camera meets the lens.

Casting (organising our cast)

 

costume and props list

 

This is a joint props and costume list that my group and I made.

Costumes:	Props:
Girl: Business Casual- black trousers fitted blouse pumps/ slip on shoes. Girl can bring her own clothes bc theres going to be no blood. Guy: Collared shirt trousers black White shirt  Shoes black	1 Letter    2 Lanyards  Fake blood can be made out of cornstarch and other things, so we need to buy the ingredients. We could also get the blood pill things Fake blood ingredients: 3/4 cup corn syrup. 1/4 cup water. 1/2 teaspoon red food coloring. 5 drops blue food coloring. 2 drops green food coloring. 1 tablespoon corn starch.

location

For location we need an elevator to film in that preferably works, so that we can open and close the doors. We don’t need too many other things as the whole opening sequence is filmed in one lift.

 We have done some research into our school grounds and whether there are any lifts in the vicinity which there is. There is one in the dinning hall and one in Hurtwood boarding house. It is just a matter of which one would be best for filming in. We don’t want a lift that has mirrors, as we may accidentally film our reflection which would make the sequence look tacky and unprofessional. We would also need an elevator that has enough room to fit the cast and film crew in and is fairly easy to move around in, as the sequence is packed with action shots that require room.

We will visit both lifts outside of class time to figure out if they are suitable for what our opening sequence needs, and if they fit the genre of our film and would look like realistic lifts used in a university apartment complex.

Costume

This is what we envisage our two characters to wear:

Girl:

Business Casual- black trousers

fitted blouse

maybe a cardigan

business casual shoes like ballet pumps.

The actress can bring her own clothes because there is going to be no blood on her clothes, mainly just her face e.g nose bleed. Therefore, we will not need to online shop for the girl’s clothes. However these images are what we would imagine some of the items of clothing would look like.

We have decided to dress her in this way to not make her stand out too much, and to get the idea that she is at university and has to dress smart casual for this reason. We don’t want her to stand out, as that may ruin the plot twist, and not make it as effective.

 

Guy:

Business casual:

Collared white shirt  

trousers

Neutral colours (black, dark navy)

Shoes black 

For the guy however, we would need to buy his outfit, as it will inevitably get blood on it and the actor may not want to ruin his own clothes. Therefore, we shopped online, and found some ideal clothes. However we think that the actor can bring his own shoes, as we doubt blood will get

on there.

 We chose this outfit, as we wanted to make the guy also look fairly normal, and around the same age as the girl and also in the same situation (being at university.) These factors also make the girl look less suspicious.

 

 

 

Props

We do not need many props in our opening sequence, as the scene focuses purely on two people fighting so having too many props would be ineffective. However, we are going to need three props:

A Letter-

The letter that our group imagines is in a brown tinted envelope, to make it seem more important, and seeing as most common envelopes are white, so we decided to look online at some. Here is one example, however the minimum order is 2. This could be beneficial though, as if one gets damaged, we have a second envelope. We can fill the inside with paper to make it more full and as if something were inside.

The woman is carrying the letter in the lift and the contents is unknown however it is assumed that she is delivering the contents to one of the people in the apartment complex or that she is bringing it back to her apartment.

Lanyards -

In order to get effective looking lanyards, I have decided to look online and see if the group can buy some. Below is the following best lanyard I found off amazon and should arrive in around 5-6 days from when we order it. I figured that going for a black/ neutral colour would look best. We can make the ID cards ourselves by photographing our cast and finding a picture of what an ID for a lanyard may look like and photoshop it.

My group decided to use lanyards as lanyards are used as identification and will be needed in order to access the apartment complex to indicate that it is a university/ school of some sorts. It also makes the woman look less suspicious, as it indicates that she is not out of place and lives in the building, making the twist even more shocking.

Fake blood- 

We can actually make fake blood which might be more effective than buying some, as it means we can have as much or as little as we want. But in the case that we don’t have access to the ingredients we need, we can also buy some online. Depending on how much we need, we could buy a big bottle, or a smaller tube. However, like I mentioned earlier, we can make it.

We would need:

• 3/4 cup corn syrup.
• 1/4 cup water.
• 1/2 teaspoon red food colouring.
• 5 drops blue food colouring.
• 2 drops green food colouring.
• 1 tablespoon corn starch.

We will need to have fake blood, as the fight scene will inevitably have scenes of blood in it especially if we want to make the fight scenes look naturalistic.