Weekly Production Log (Work completed with Danielle Fletcher 9627)

28/10/14 - Today I went out and filmed the assortment of different shot types and merged them together as a video which I then posted on my blog. I tested out these shot types to see if any would accelerate into my film opening. These shot types consist of: Pan, Establishing shot, Tracking shot, Two shot, Close up, Extreme close up, Tilt, Medium shot and the Lock down shot. I then created a powerpoint on genre conventions and important of genre by evaluation existing romance movies and the kind of techniques and features that should be included in my film opening. Additionally, I created another PowerPoint on production and distribution companies. 

05/11/14 - This lesson I created a short list of the kind of shots that we're going to be including in our film opening. I then tried these out the following lesson as a short video. 

07/11/14 - This lesson we were able to go out and film some practise shots that we may be including in our film opening. We constructed a video on Premier Pro showing all of our shots with still frames and titles. This allowed us to see which type of shots could perhaps work in our film opening e.g. I filmed a panning shot of some objects on a table from afar and close up. This meant that I was able to choose if I preferred the close up one or not.

08/11/14 - I then put up my 2 Prezis onto my blog, one of my initial story ideas and the other on a collection of mine and Danielle's story ideas. We then both set up a Twitter and Facebook account so that we were able connect with our audience to receive their input. We spent a day at the weekend creating a blog post on feedback for our movie ideas along with our film opening. We finalised our decision on which film opening to go with and then formed a mind map on film title ideas. For this, we created a poll and sent this to our audience who gave their input into what film opening we should film. All of this data has been screenshot as pictures onto this blog post as evidence as to why we're going with story idea 3 and why we're calling it 'Our Last Christmas'.

19/11/14 - This lesson we researched film classifications and why certain movies are rated specific age ranges. We then also created an additional blog post on current romance movies out there that are rated the age we've rated ours and why. 

21/11/14 - This lesson we created a blog post on our emails sent to ice skating rinks along with the replies that we received, both good and bad. 

26/11/14 - This lesson we produced our two location release forms and our two talent release forms.

03/12/14 - This lesson we posted a blog post of a screen shot of our location and talent release forms along with beginning our location scouting sheet. We also developed our company logo and looked at existing ones by analysing them to finalise our final production company logo.

09/12/14 - This lesson we constructed an email that we would be able to send to a person regarding permission to use their music. Down to us still being unsure of the music that we would like to use we were unable to actually send this message and so just created one for when we would be ready. We also formed our Risk Assessment discussing the hazards and precautions presented in a table.

10/12/14 - This lesson we put together a blog spot which engages the audience. This included a description of the main character, the crisis occurring in the film, the enigma code and the everyday life established in the first two minutes. Having spare time this lesson we put together a classification screen and our company logo on Premiere Pro as a short little video uploaded on YouTube. This allowed us to put our film footage onto the Premiere Pro which we put our classification screen and our logo on. 

17/12/14 - After our meeting on the change of location, we put together a blog post concluding our notes. Then throughout the lesson we constructed a blog post on our plans for shooting. This included the characters costumes, hair and make up, lighting, props, shot types and location. This allows us to know exactly what we will be doing on the days of shooting. Also during this lesson we put together our call sheets which meant that the actors knew what time and day they would be required to be at our filming locations along with what they should be wearing. 

19/12/14 - During this Media session, we formed a shot list for our future shoot which enabled us to be informed of the shots we will be filming in what particular order. This is an organised method which made each shooting day simpler and quicker. 

22/12/14 - Today we decided to meet up outside of our media lesson to create our Anamatic for our film. We created this on Windows ovie maker.

07/01/15 - First day back from the Christmas period, we uploaded all the footage onto our mac's of what we filmed over the Christmas holidays. We began to look through the clips and to decide on the ones we will be using, along with the ones we won't be using. We constructed a grid on word called 'Edit Decision List'. This included the quality of the shot and why we are not/ are using it.

09/01/15 - We needed to reshoot some clips for Media so used this day to improve the quality of clips that were originally bad. 

14/01/15 - This lesson we began to import our clips into Premiere Pro and start some editing. We decided to create a rough cut first to give us a general idea of the clips we'd be using and the order they will be going in.

16/01/15 - This lesson we started our real copy, and began editing the clips precisely together. We experimented a vast amount on how we would create the diary shot which we practically spent a whole lesson on. 

21/01/15 - This lesson was when we uploaded the rough cut onto our blog. From this, we began editing the real thing.

23/01/15 - 04/02/15 - The lessons during these two dates were filled with editing our film opening. It took awhile playing around with different video effects in order to create an effective flashback. We also began planning the script that the narrator will be speaking. 

06/02/14 - This lesson we began adding titles onto our film opening. We will be continuing this next lesson so hopefully all our titles will be completed then.

Choosing our ice skating location (Work completed with Danielle Fletcher 9627)

Me and Danielle originally contacted a variety of different ice skating rinks that we could possibly film at and awaited a response. Below I have inserted my email to a few different ice skating rinks and only one of them emailed me back. I have also inserted their reply. Unfortunately they wasn't going to allow us to film at their rink for a range of reasons, so we then decided to contact Van Hages individually which is a closer ice skating rink and they happily agreed to us wanting to film there.

Below is the email that I sent to Van Hages. We thoroughly covered what it was that we wanted to do and they responded back to us within a couple of days which was amazing. Since then we have had no more responses from other ice skating rinks so decided that this would be the one we'd be filming at when it comes to filming this ice skating scene.

Meeting 5

In order to classify our films content, we had to do some research on current successful romance movies that are out there. We both explored the themes they contained and compared them with what we intended to include in our film opening. We both done research on all of the classification bands and what would be appropriate for those particular ages, just to cover the kind of content found in each band. After researching the 12 band, we went into researching the romance movies under it. Ellie suggested that our film will most likely include a brief/discrete sexual scene, a terminal illness theme and moderate violence. Danielle agreed and proposed that the terminal illness will include medication and injections being briefly shown, a brief sight of bloody/injury during these medical drama scenes will also be present, and also strong language (bitch, sh*t and f*ck). Films such as The Vow, The Notebook and The Fault In Our Stars contain the listed above and are all classified as a 12, which is what influenced our choice on classifying our film as a 12. 

My Film Classification

After researching the different film classifications and what comes under them, along with romance movies currently out there that have a rating of 12, we have come to the conclusion that our film is going to be rated a 12 also. 

Below I have inserted an assortment of romance movies that are rated a 12, as their genre is the same as ours and will most likely include most of the content that ours is going to.

Our film will include:

• Brief and discrete sexual references and nature
• Strong language such as f***, sh*t, b*tch.
• Occasional gory moments (brief sight of blood/injury during a medical drama)
• Medication briefly shown
• A terminal Illness theme
• Moderate violence

Our film classification screen 

Classification of Films

U-Rated Films

The U symbol stands for Universal. A U film should be suitable for audiences aged four years and above. However, it is impossible to predict what might upset a particular child, especially at this lower end of the category range. At U there will not normally be references to illegal drugs or drugs misuse unless there is a very clear anti-drugs or educational message which will be understood by a younger audience. U films are unlikely to contain discriminatory language or behaviour unless it is clearly disapproved of. ‘Baddie’ characters may carry or use weapons, but there will be no emphasis on these. Child or ‘hero’ characters are unlikely to use any kind of weapon outside, for example, historical settings. Characters may be seen kissing or cuddling and there may be references to sexual behaviour. However, there will be no overt focus on sexual behaviour, language or innuendo.

PG Rated Films

PG stands for Parental Guidance. This means that a film is suitable for general viewing, but the content may include scenes of unsettling nature for the child, and therefore must be viewed with a parent or guardian. A child around the age of eight and above must not experience anything in a film that has the possibility of upsetting them. Parents decide whether or not what occurs in a movie is appropriate for their child as they could be sensitive or emotional to certain footage. Although some films are given a PG certificate, they have not always been made with a younger audience in mind. A PG film may include mild bad language (such as ‘shit’ or ‘son of a bitch’), undetailed and infrequent sex reference and violence will usually be mild. While there might be some blood, we would not see how the injury was inflicted in strong detail as PG films do not want children to inherit bad behaviour.

12A and 12 Rated Film

Films classified 12A and video works classified 12 contain material that is not generally suitable for children aged under 12.  No one younger than 12 years old may see a 12A film in a cinema unless accompanied by an adult. The BBFC's Guidelines state that strong language (e.g. 'f***') may be passed at 12 or 12A, depending on the manner in which it is used, who is using the language, its frequency and any special contextual justification. Strong language being used aggressively may result in a film or DVD being placed at the 15 category. Sex may be briefly and discreetly portrayed at a 12A or 12. There should be no emphasis on injuries or blood, but occasional gory moments may be permitted if they can be justified by their context (for example a brief sight of bloody injury in a medical drama). Some horror films are passed at this category. Moderate physical and psychological threat is permitted at 12A or 12A as long as horror sequences are not too frequent or sustained and the overall tone is not disturbing.

15 Rated Films

 

No-one under 15 is allowed to see a 15 film at the cinema or buy/rent a 15 rated video. 15 rated works are not suitable for children under 15 years of age. No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate for 15 year olds. Any of the following can be expected to be found in a 15 rated film: strong violence, frequent strong language (e.g. 'f***'), portrayals of sexual activity, strong verbal references to sex, sexual nudity, brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence, discriminatory language or behaviour and drug taking. At 15 there is no upper limit on the number of uses of strong language (e.g. ‘f***’). Occasionally there may be uses of the strongest terms (e.g. 'c***'). There may be racist, homophobic or other discriminatory language, and the work could explore themes relating to this. At 15 sexual activity can be portrayed, but usually without strong detail. Some sex scenes can be quite long at this category. At 15 there can be strong threat and horror as long as there is no sustained focus on sadistic or sexualised threat.

18 Rated Films

Films rated 18 are for adults. No-one under 18 is allowed to see an 18 film at the cinema or buy / rent an 18 rated video. No 18 rated works are suitable for children. 18 works are for adults and can contain strong issues such as very strong violence, frequent strong language (e.g. 'f***') and / or very strong language (e.g. ‘c***’) strong portrayals of sexual activity, scenes of sexual violence, strong horror, strong blood and gore, real sex (in some circumstances) and discriminatory language and behaviour. There is no limit on the number of uses of strong (e.g. 'f***') or even very strong language (e.g. ‘c***’) which can be passed at 18. Uses could be aggressive, directed, frequent or accompanied by strong violence. There may be racist, homophobic or other discriminatory language at 18, and the work could explore themes relating to discrimination. There can be strong and detailed portrayals of sex at 18, including full nudity. There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context. Where sex material genuinely seeks to inform and educate in matters such as human sexuality or safer sex and health, explicit images of sexual activity may be permitted. At 18, horror films may contain very strong horror, gore or sustained threat.

Primary Research - Movie Title Ideas (Work completed with Danielle Fletcher 9627)

Below I have created a mindmap of all the possible movie title ideas that I believe suit Story Idea Three. As this was the idea that was the most popular with those we asked, we decided that this would be the story idea we'll be going with.

Our Poll

We then decided to create a poll of nine of the above title ideas to ask the public, and have also recorded the results below. The audience are who we want to attract when it comes to creating our movie opening, so their opinions are a key feature in creating a successful movie. Their choices will influence our final decision. We put our poll up for a couple of hours awaiting responses from those that we asked. We targeted the poll at females around the age of 13 - 20 years old as this is the age range that our teenage romance movie will attract. 

After a couple of hours we'd gathered an obvious assumption of the title ideas heading for first, second and third place and so then decided to create a poll for these three movie title ideas, again leaving the poll up for a couple of hours.

Our Poll For the Top Three Movie Titles

Considering the theme of the movie is based around Christmas time, we were delighted with the fact that "Our Last Christmas" came out on top because we feel that this could be the next best selling Christmas movie if made professionally. We will happily be moving forward in our project with this as our movie title. We also thought from the previous poll that the results would be similar, but wanted to make sure that the right title was being chosen, hence our decision to do a top three poll.

Our film title is officially Our Last Christmas.

Primary Research - People's Reponse to Our Film Ideas on Social Media

Facebook:

Twitter:

Our Twitter Account and Facebook Page (Work completed with Danielle Fletcher 9627)

We have created a Twitter account and a Facebook fanpage to enable us to contact our target audience. The age range for our movie would be 13 - 23 year olds, and these all have at least one of the social networking accounts. We put out our joint prezi with our three story ideas on both Twitter and Facebook and awaited people's feedback. Those who responded with their favourite story idea have been presented in a separate post.

https://twitter.com/DeliProduction_

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Our-Last-Christmas/1501171833486128?fref=ts

Meeting 3

Individually, we came up with three initial story ideas each for our chosen genre. We decided that this would be the best way to narrow down a final idea for our film. We asked the class to look at all 6 of the ideas and they chose three that we put into a Prezi. 

In order to receive feedback from our target audience, we decided that our film production company should have it's own social media accounts. Danielle suggested that Twitter is perfect to reach female teenagers who would enjoy the genre of our film, as a romance. Ellie proposed that also having a Facebook account would boost the awareness of our movie because we have a vast range of students of our age on our Facebook accounts. These will be participating in any polls, surveys and any questions that we will be creating. 

Mine and Danielle's Initial Story Ideas (Work completed with Danielle Fletcher 9627)

My Initial Story Ideas

Shot Types for My Film Opening (Work completed with Danielle Fletcher 9627)

Shot Types

1) Tilt Shot: Christmas tree

2) Panning Shot: Candles and Christmas decorations

3) Close up: Feet in slippers, diary, coming down the stairs, tea cup

4) Establishing Shot: Diary

5) Extreme close up: Christmas card