Dolly Zoom
Whilst filming my coursework i tried to incorporate as many techniques as possible including a dolly zoom like the examples below.
Here is a video of my attempts at producing a dolly zoom.
As can be seen, the effect works in parts but not as successfully as I would have liked.
Location location location.
Here is a presentation explaining about the change of filming location of my film.
CHANGE OF PLAN
Instead of a girl and a boy i have decided to use two boys.
I was writing my film review for my first ancillary task and as i was writing about the similarities between reversal and hangman and realised that the story in both are quite similar in that they both focus on a boy capturing a girl. I decided it is a bit of a cliché not only in the media’s today but dating back to silent films where a man with a twitchy moustache capture innocent girls.
After much deliberation i’ve decided that i will use two boys because i think it will be something different and a lot less similar to my first film but also it could be interpreted in a number of ways. they could be seen as friends, strangers or partners.
Although i have already completed my research and the majority of my planning i still think i will change one of the characters and as i am only changing the actor i am going to leave up all my research that is already on my blog featuring a girl but im going to re-do my animatic storyboard and re-draw my photo shoot sketches – i will also amend my shot scripts.
These are the two boys I will now be using in my film.
Kid Conventional
I went to a gig on the 4th October and saw Kid Conventional play, I thought that his song “Dodgems” would be perfect for the second half of my film with lyrics like:
“one last kiss before the skeletons come out…”
“each time we collide, sparks will fall around…”
I couldnt help but think that this would fit perfectly with my story. The next day I messaged him on Facebook to ask for his permition to use the song. He agreed but explained that the song I was wanting to use had not been recorded yet as it was only a song he performed on stage. He offered to record it for me although it would only be a rough copy. He sent it to me to see what i thought and i decided it was good enough quality to use in my film.
Here is the song that i plan on using.
Music
I have made the first 3.06 minutes of the soundtrack to my film (and in turn backing music to my radio advert) it is only the first draft and there are still changes to be made. As can be heard I have used a lot of strings to emphasise the genre (as mentioned in my “Radio Advert Research” Powerpoint on the Ancillary Task 2 page.
Obviously it needs to be altered in parts primarily because it’s too short at the moment. I tried to include the crescendos and diminuendos in the right places but this can be altered during the editing of the film.
I wanted the beginning of the music to alter very quickly from quite cheerful to sinister. I chose the string motif with the stutter in it because I thought it sounds quite cheerful but then that slip gives it the edge that lets the listener know that maybe it isnt what it seems, much like a lot of my film.
There are quite a few changes that I’ll make to the music before I put it with the film. I think that I will put another bridge in near the beginning of the music to coincide with the girl walking around to break the music up, something a bit more cheerful.
I tried to keep the ending of the piece similar to the beginning because it will show the girl on her own again in the focus. I put in the effect near the end because i thought it would sound final and this would tie in with fact that the girl is about to win but after hearing it more I think that it sounds too sci-fi so when I come to finishing the music I will change that. I also kept the ending as just the one type of drum as I think it wont draw away from what’s happening on the screen, the story will be at its climax so doesnt need any help in terms of suspense or atmosphere from the music.
Wes Craven is well known for using a lot of very effective atmospheric music in his films. During this clip form the ending of his film “Red Eye”, most noticably from 1.07 – 3.10 and from 3.19 – 6.22 there is no diologue but the music has been used very well to replace the speaking. this is the style that i would hope my film could follow.
Filming Preparation
I have started to prepare for filming as I hope to start next week. Here is the to do/shot list for the first day I think this will make it easier as I can print off each list when I need it. I think it will be more efficient to be able to follow a list, there will be less wasted time and I will know exactly what I need to do. Each page is colour coded to match my storyboard, so it will be easy for me to match them up whilst filming.
I have ammended the shot list since I changed the characters
Risk Assessment
I’ve done my risk assessment as a podcast because I thought it would be a long and quite boring thing to have to read. I’ve tried to cover the points that seemed most prominent to me.
***EVERYTHING SAID IN MY RISK ASSESSMENT STILL APPLIES AS THERE IS STILL A DEFINATE AND DELIBERATE SIZE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO ACTORS***
This is the gun that I will be using in my film (as mentioned in my podcast).
Animatic Storyboard
I have produced an animatic storyboard although as explained in my voiceover, for the majority of pictures i had to use screen shots. Below if a copy of the transcript of the voiceover and then below that is the copy of the actual animatic.
Storyboard part 1
So my plan is to make an animatic storyboard but due to some of the detailed shots I plan on putting in there it’s a bit difficult to do right away, not to mention i’ve only just cast the girl for my film so i’ve drawn a storyboard and then i’ll take the pictures for the animatic storyboard whilst i’m filming and then add my dialogue to it afterwards. But for the time being i’ve taken pictures of my roughly drawn storyboard that i’m using to personally keep me on track (and that was never really intended to be seen by anybody else) and stuck them on slideshare to keep you up to date. 
(the coloured dots are explained in my post about filming preparation.)
***PLEASE NOTE THAT THE GIRL HAS NOW BEEN REPLACED BY ANOTHER BOY***
Research
This post is my primary and secondary research. I did them both together on the same powerpoint.
**PLEASE NOTE THAT THE SYNOPSIS HAS CHANGED TO BE ABOUT A MAN***
This will be the only change that applies after i have changed the characters of my film.
