Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Week Eighteen
It's the last week before my film is due!
I started editing , and because my brother is a professional film editor it helps that we have an extremely high quality editing computer at home.
I've done a fairly rough edit of 2:40 of the 3:48 song, and so far it's looking good!
I found a few things I filmed actually fitted better in places other than I had originally planned to put them, so it's been interesting seeing how I can rearrange what I filmed so it can be used differently, despite the fact that I filmed it with another purpose in mind.
For example a wide shot of the city from inside the cemetery turned out to be the perfect shot to put over the lyrics "The city is dead".
I will hopefully be able to finish the whole film tonight or tomorrow night, because with eams drawing near my time is running out for all of my school work, and I really want to make sure this film is as good as it possibly can be!
After a few nights of editing, my film is almost done! I got my brother to show me how to add effects, such as changing the colour of the sky, and making the mushroom cloud move.
Now all I have left to do is finalise the editing and film the city skyline shot from Doncaster Shopping Town.
I started editing , and because my brother is a professional film editor it helps that we have an extremely high quality editing computer at home.
I've done a fairly rough edit of 2:40 of the 3:48 song, and so far it's looking good!
I found a few things I filmed actually fitted better in places other than I had originally planned to put them, so it's been interesting seeing how I can rearrange what I filmed so it can be used differently, despite the fact that I filmed it with another purpose in mind.
For example a wide shot of the city from inside the cemetery turned out to be the perfect shot to put over the lyrics "The city is dead".
I will hopefully be able to finish the whole film tonight or tomorrow night, because with eams drawing near my time is running out for all of my school work, and I really want to make sure this film is as good as it possibly can be!
After a few nights of editing, my film is almost done! I got my brother to show me how to add effects, such as changing the colour of the sky, and making the mushroom cloud move.
Now all I have left to do is finalise the editing and film the city skyline shot from Doncaster Shopping Town.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Week Seventeen
Back to school! I still haven't had time to edit, so I will hopefully start this weekend.
I ended up having a history sac this week, so no time for editing unfortunately.
Next week I will get it all done!
Seventeen down, TWO to go!!
I ended up having a history sac this week, so no time for editing unfortunately.
Next week I will get it all done!
Seventeen down, TWO to go!!
Friday, October 5, 2012
Week Sixteen
After filming for four days, I was super tired. So I spent the rest of the holidays relaxing and socialising, and doing work for other subjects.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Filming: Day Four
My extras came to my house around 11:15. Erin, Aiden, Zoe, Matt, Kellie, Kim and I walked from my house to the park, and my mum drove all the equipment down to the location.
We spent about an hour setting up tents, props and the camera and then finally began shooting.
It was a little difficult to make the extras act, most of them were put off by the fact that there wouldn't be any audio and so started miming bizarrely. It took a bit of directing to get what I wanted, but I got the shots in the end.
I shot the scenes of the arguments between the volunteer (Erin) and a refugee (Aiden) and the parts where the whole group argues with Erin before escaping.
After we finished the camp scenes, we packed up and I filmed a shot of Matt running in front of a wall covered in graffiti just beside the park.
We finished the filming at about 3pm, and then went back to my house for lunch and to relax after four solid days of filming.
We spent about an hour setting up tents, props and the camera and then finally began shooting.
It was a little difficult to make the extras act, most of them were put off by the fact that there wouldn't be any audio and so started miming bizarrely. It took a bit of directing to get what I wanted, but I got the shots in the end.
I shot the scenes of the arguments between the volunteer (Erin) and a refugee (Aiden) and the parts where the whole group argues with Erin before escaping.
After we finished the camp scenes, we packed up and I filmed a shot of Matt running in front of a wall covered in graffiti just beside the park.
We finished the filming at about 3pm, and then went back to my house for lunch and to relax after four solid days of filming.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Filming: Day Three
I tried to organise to get extras, but in the end only two came, Erin and Ryan.
Matt and Kate came, but I already knew that they would.
We all met at Box Hill and caught a train to the city. We walked to the location I had originally chosen for the photo memorial scene, and a security guy came and told us to leave. So unfortunately, we had to leave, and I had no idea where to go!
We decided to head to a park and look for some kind of wall that we could use. We eventually went to Birrarung Marr, and used a metal wall near the water. We stuck the photos and fake flowers to the wall, with the words "In memoriam" written above it. I used those words after I found a plaque for a bombing during world war two which began with "In Memoriam" and ended with "Serling remembers" (or whatever the town was called).
I framed the shots so that it wouldn't be obvious that it was near a river, and got all the footage I needed, Kate looking at the pictures, and then her and Matt being reunited and hugging (after several practise runs in which Matt almost ran Kate into the river).
After we finished that we had a lunch break, then we went to Godfrey Street to shoot the looting scene.
I stuck up the propaganda posters that I'd made on the walls, gave Erin and Ryan empty food containers to run with and Matt an umbrella to hold above the camera because it was spitting a tiny bit. we shot there, between cars and pedestrians going past and then let Ryan go home before going back to Finlay Lane to shoot some more running shots of Kate and Matt separately.
Then I realised a piece of my tripod had fallen off, so after finishing filming, we went back to Godfrey Street to look for it, but I never did.
Luckily, my dad said it was okay, and it would still work properly.
Only one day of Filming left!
Matt and Kate came, but I already knew that they would.
We all met at Box Hill and caught a train to the city. We walked to the location I had originally chosen for the photo memorial scene, and a security guy came and told us to leave. So unfortunately, we had to leave, and I had no idea where to go!
We decided to head to a park and look for some kind of wall that we could use. We eventually went to Birrarung Marr, and used a metal wall near the water. We stuck the photos and fake flowers to the wall, with the words "In memoriam" written above it. I used those words after I found a plaque for a bombing during world war two which began with "In Memoriam" and ended with "Serling remembers" (or whatever the town was called).
I framed the shots so that it wouldn't be obvious that it was near a river, and got all the footage I needed, Kate looking at the pictures, and then her and Matt being reunited and hugging (after several practise runs in which Matt almost ran Kate into the river).
After we finished that we had a lunch break, then we went to Godfrey Street to shoot the looting scene.
I stuck up the propaganda posters that I'd made on the walls, gave Erin and Ryan empty food containers to run with and Matt an umbrella to hold above the camera because it was spitting a tiny bit. we shot there, between cars and pedestrians going past and then let Ryan go home before going back to Finlay Lane to shoot some more running shots of Kate and Matt separately.
Then I realised a piece of my tripod had fallen off, so after finishing filming, we went back to Godfrey Street to look for it, but I never did.
Luckily, my dad said it was okay, and it would still work properly.
Only one day of Filming left!
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Filming: Day Two
At about 11am my mum picked up Kate then drove us to Melbourne Cemetery. We spoke with a woman in the office and I gave her my permission letter from Leask and my phone number.
Then we walked around until we found the kind of thing I was looking for, a set of about 50 graves all with the same head stones. I set up the camera and tripod and filmed a few different angles and shots of Kate walking up to her parents grave and everything I needed for that scene.
That filming took about an hour and then we left and went to Finlay Lane.
Fortunately the construction workers were gone! Kate and I stuck up the radiation posters and put some paper and plastic stuff on the ground. I set up the camera and then stepped off screen to drop newspaper to blow across the screen. This ended up causing problems because we had to wait for the wind to pick up to be able to shoot properly.
We also had a problem when a car came to drive through the alley and we had to quickly grab our stuff and get out of the way.
After that we got lunch, and sat in the fake garden at Melbourne Central, it was really nice and relaxing there, and Kate and I are really tired, so we just stayed there for about two hours instead of filming one more scene like I had planned.
We still got plenty done though, so all that's left are the extra's scenes with Kate tomorrow, and the refugee camp on Tuesday!
Then we walked around until we found the kind of thing I was looking for, a set of about 50 graves all with the same head stones. I set up the camera and tripod and filmed a few different angles and shots of Kate walking up to her parents grave and everything I needed for that scene.
That filming took about an hour and then we left and went to Finlay Lane.
Fortunately the construction workers were gone! Kate and I stuck up the radiation posters and put some paper and plastic stuff on the ground. I set up the camera and then stepped off screen to drop newspaper to blow across the screen. This ended up causing problems because we had to wait for the wind to pick up to be able to shoot properly.
We also had a problem when a car came to drive through the alley and we had to quickly grab our stuff and get out of the way.
After that we got lunch, and sat in the fake garden at Melbourne Central, it was really nice and relaxing there, and Kate and I are really tired, so we just stayed there for about two hours instead of filming one more scene like I had planned.
We still got plenty done though, so all that's left are the extra's scenes with Kate tomorrow, and the refugee camp on Tuesday!
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Filming: Day One
Kate
slept over at my house, and after getting up at 7:30 (ON A SATURDAY) we got
ready to go. We got to the city at 9:30, and walked to the location on the
Yarra River, for the “river’s a bed now” scene. We had difficulty
filming, because there were pedestrians and joggers along the bank in the
background of our shot, and rowing boats on the river. We had to keep waiting
for a clear way to shoot, it was a bit frustrating, especially because if we had
filmed on another day there wouldn’t have been many (if any) boats.
After
filming for about half an hour, we packed up and walked across to the Royal
Botanical Gardens. Behind the Sidney Myer Music Bowl was a gazebo, and that was
the next location for the “none of the sunlight is safe” scene. There weren’t
many people around, so after setting up a wrecked picnic rug and some rubbish
we filmed for about 40 minutes.
After
that we caught a tram to Melbourne Central for lunch.
Once
we had finished eating, I checked Google maps to make sure we knew where Finlay
Lane was, it was only a 5 minute walk away, so we went over there. Once we got
there we discovered there was some kind of construction or road works going on
right where we had intended to film. A construction worker saw us and told us
we could wait an hour or two and they would be finished, but I wasn’t sure if
he was right or not and I didn’t want to waste time, so I decided we should
just come home and shoot the hospital scene instead.
We
caught the train home and then began setting up. We moved all the furniture around
in my lounge room, deconstructed my bed, carried the parts downstairs and reconstructed
it. Then we used some blue curtains and hung them up next to the bed, we had a
bit of trouble with that, we needed to take the curtains off the rail because
they kept slipping off the nails in the wall, so we threaded string through
them and tied it up. I printed out the family photos that I’d taken the day
before and put the fake flowers with them on a table next to the bed.
The
hospital scene probably took about 2 hours all up, because there was so much
setting up (and then unpacking) to do.
But
overall today went well, and I think I am on track to get all the filming done
by the end of Tuesday.
Monday, September 17, 2012
Week Fourteen
Wow, week fourteen! It's been such a long time making this film, but I'm finally about to start filming.
This week I will record the parts for the newsreader (Eliza) after school, and then on Saturday when the holidays start, the film shoot will fully begin!
The monday of this week is a day off, so I'm going to organise all of my props. I'll buy bottled water for the refugee camp scene, buy fabric to make Kate's dress, and anything else I may need.
I'm also planning to get my posters printed:
This week I will record the parts for the newsreader (Eliza) after school, and then on Saturday when the holidays start, the film shoot will fully begin!
The monday of this week is a day off, so I'm going to organise all of my props. I'll buy bottled water for the refugee camp scene, buy fabric to make Kate's dress, and anything else I may need.
I'm also planning to get my posters printed:
The red and yellow one is a propaganda poster that I will stick up on the wall during one of the scenes where Kate is walking down a street and she sees some looters, and the danger sign will be in the street when Kate is alone.
I made these posters in photoshop, the propaganda one I made by drawing the striped background, then with reference to a photo of an atomic bomb from an old war photo I drew the bomb, and the font I downloaded from dafont.
I'm going to use this pattern to make Kate's dress, although I will probably alter it to make sure it will look good and fit Kate well (and not be open at the back, as is sometimes the case with hospital gowns).
I think the only other major prop I need to organise is the photo montage which I will stick to a building.
This is the montage, so I'll get it printed a few times, and hopefully it'll look good even though I've only made one page. I'll also add some text with it saying "lest we forget" or something similar.
All photos came from stock.xchng
I filmed the news reporters parts with Eliza after school on Thursday and put the footage onto my computer.
On Friday night I took the family photo and made Kate's dress ready for filming to begin the next day, charged the camera and made sure everything was in order for filming to finally begin!
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Week Thirteen
This week is crunch time.
I'm going to do my full cast list, plan my locations and my full shoot.
I have finished my final write up of the script, written out all the roles I need to fill, listed which locations I will use for each scene, and made a list of props.
I also made a facebook event to help find people who are available and want to be in my film as extras or whatever roles.
I've added a page to the blog, listing the cast so far, and I'll upload my final script now.
I'm feeling much better about this film now than I was last week, I'm really pulling everything together now!
Thirteen down, six to go!
I'm going to do my full cast list, plan my locations and my full shoot.
I have finished my final write up of the script, written out all the roles I need to fill, listed which locations I will use for each scene, and made a list of props.
I also made a facebook event to help find people who are available and want to be in my film as extras or whatever roles.
I've added a page to the blog, listing the cast so far, and I'll upload my final script now.
I'm feeling much better about this film now than I was last week, I'm really pulling everything together now!
Thirteen down, six to go!
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Week Eleven and Twelve
Both in week eleven and twelve I didn't have much time to work on my production, so unfortunately I had to abandon my last part of my storyboard.
With only seven weeks left, I'm starting to really feel the pressure. I need to work on this a lot more if I want to get it done!
Twelve weeks down, seven to go!!
With only seven weeks left, I'm starting to really feel the pressure. I need to work on this a lot more if I want to get it done!
Twelve weeks down, seven to go!!
Friday, August 24, 2012
Week Ten
This week I worked more on my storyboard and it is almost finished! I only have about 30 seconds more to do. Although I know it isn't necessary for this task for me to storyboard my whole film, I think especially because I haven't got a clear idea for this last part in my head yet that it's really important for me to storyboard it, so that I think about it and am ready for when I need to film it.
I ran into a few problems this week, my brother isn't going to be available for when I had originally planned to film (in the first week of the school holidays) and I don't know whether I should try to move the dates or not. If I make it the week after, then I'll have his expertise on set to help everything go more smoothly (he has studied film and tv at uni and been on several film shoots) but it will only give me about two weeks to edit. But if I don't move the dates then I might end up with errors and a much less professional looking film.
I think I will either need to find another person to supervise my shoot, or move the date.
Another problem I've had is the actor I originally had to play Kate's brother is no longer an option, but I haven't found many of my actors yet anyway, so that should be easy enough to solve.
I have also sent an email to Melbourne Cemetery to see if I will be able to film there.
I received a response from the cemetery, and if Leask emails them they'll let me film there!
I'm also going to contact Box Hill Cemetery, even though it's not open on weekends, it's closer and might be easier to film at.
Ten weeks down, nine to go!
I ran into a few problems this week, my brother isn't going to be available for when I had originally planned to film (in the first week of the school holidays) and I don't know whether I should try to move the dates or not. If I make it the week after, then I'll have his expertise on set to help everything go more smoothly (he has studied film and tv at uni and been on several film shoots) but it will only give me about two weeks to edit. But if I don't move the dates then I might end up with errors and a much less professional looking film.
I think I will either need to find another person to supervise my shoot, or move the date.
Another problem I've had is the actor I originally had to play Kate's brother is no longer an option, but I haven't found many of my actors yet anyway, so that should be easy enough to solve.
I have also sent an email to Melbourne Cemetery to see if I will be able to film there.
I received a response from the cemetery, and if Leask emails them they'll let me film there!
I'm also going to contact Box Hill Cemetery, even though it's not open on weekends, it's closer and might be easier to film at.
Ten weeks down, nine to go!
Monday, August 13, 2012
Week Nine
This week I am going to go location scouting.
Josephine showed me this website today, Melbourne Film Locations, which shows images of locations in Melbourne including alleys, streets and parks. I'm going to look around on here first to help me figure out where I need to go when I actually go to the city.
On my day off on Wednesday I went into the city and looked at several alleys and areas around Southern cross station.
I found good locations at:
Josephine showed me this website today, Melbourne Film Locations, which shows images of locations in Melbourne including alleys, streets and parks. I'm going to look around on here first to help me figure out where I need to go when I actually go to the city.
On my day off on Wednesday I went into the city and looked at several alleys and areas around Southern cross station.
I found good locations at:
- Godfrey Street
- Finlay Lane
- An area outside a building near Briscoe Lane
- Penfold Place
- Gurners Lane
It took me quite a while to scout all of these locations, although they're not too far apart, so if I plan my shoot well enough I should be able to minimise travelling and going back and forth between places. I also found some of the locations which had looked good on the website weren't what I wanted when I got there.
I tried to work more on my story board but I found the last scene where the lyrics are just "the sky is green" repeated several times quite difficult to do, because of the timing of the music and the amount of cuts and shots I want to use in that part.
Nine weeks down, ten to go!
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Week Eight
I still haven't had time to finish my story board or go to the city for location scouting, but I have completed more frames of my story board, I've done about five of them now.
I have also made some more slight revisions to my script.
But I'm still not progressing as quickly as I would like to, I think I need to start planning my shoot really soon! And make sure I have all my props/extras.
Eight weeks down, eleven to go.
I have also made some more slight revisions to my script.
But I'm still not progressing as quickly as I would like to, I think I need to start planning my shoot really soon! And make sure I have all my props/extras.
Eight weeks down, eleven to go.
Monday, July 30, 2012
Week Seven
This week I'll try to do my story board and go into the city to scout locations.
I ran into problems this week, as we had to move on and do a new task. While we were studying roles we had to make an infographic about a role, so I spent more time on that than my film.
So I still haven't finished my story board, but I have started the first three frames.
Seven weeks down, twelve to go.
I ran into problems this week, as we had to move on and do a new task. While we were studying roles we had to make an infographic about a role, so I spent more time on that than my film.
So I still haven't finished my story board, but I have started the first three frames.
Seven weeks down, twelve to go.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Week Six
This week I want to start my story board, and I think I need to go location scouting soon too, so I can do my storyboard more accurately.
But I'm not 100% happy with my script yet, so I think I need to revise it a few times, and get some input form other people so that I can make it as good as I possibly can. And after that I'll start story boarding and finalising my plans for the shoot (which will hopefully be in the first week of the holidays or possibly a few shots I can do on a few weekends before this term ends).
Got advice from Leask, so now I'm going to include more details earlier in the film to make it more clear that Nick is Kate's brother and not her boyfriend. Which I think will be good, it will make the film feel less cheesy and more realistic/relatable if it's about family relationships than romantic relationships.
Next thing to do will be my storyboard and location scouting.
Six weeks down, thirteen to go.
But I'm not 100% happy with my script yet, so I think I need to revise it a few times, and get some input form other people so that I can make it as good as I possibly can. And after that I'll start story boarding and finalising my plans for the shoot (which will hopefully be in the first week of the holidays or possibly a few shots I can do on a few weekends before this term ends).
Got advice from Leask, so now I'm going to include more details earlier in the film to make it more clear that Nick is Kate's brother and not her boyfriend. Which I think will be good, it will make the film feel less cheesy and more realistic/relatable if it's about family relationships than romantic relationships.
Next thing to do will be my storyboard and location scouting.
Six weeks down, thirteen to go.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Week Five
I'm not sure how much I want to make it connect with the audience, whether to just tell a relatively simple story, or to try to make it really relatable and emotional.
I came up with the idea today to tell the story from the perspective of a girl who survived the bomb. I came to this idea by investigating what the lyric "the hair on my head came out, and fell on the ground."
I discovered that this is a side effect to radiation poisoning common after atomic bombs explode. This has made me think that I should research more about the fallout after nuclear weapons, it might help add some realism, and make the film more believable and relatable.
After researching the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (which appear to be the only times an atomic bomb has been dropped on a city) I've found out that 90% of the buildings were destroyed and between 70,000-90,000 people died (at least). But the lyric "I heard about sixty-nine hundred people have died." suggests that this bomb would be at least 10 times smaller. Which probably means a lot less rubble, so I think that means that I can still film deserted city streets without it looking too out of place.
I've finished the synopsis and script, but I only really consider then drafts because I'm not 100% happy with them. The synopsis was quite hard to write because I've never really read any before and I don't know how to write one, but also because I only planned the entire story line of my film very recently.
The script has been difficult to write too because of how long it took to think of ideas too, but I'm quite happy with how it has turned out (though I will most likely revise a lot of it).
Five weeks down, fourteen to go.
Monday, July 16, 2012
Week Four
Second week of holidays, and still not a lot of progress on my film.
Sorry Leask.
Four weeks down, fifteen to go.
Sorry Leask.
Four weeks down, fifteen to go.
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Week Three
This week was the holidays! Lots of fun, and not much work!
But I did watch a video today that made me rethink my video a little bit.
This video is more of a fan video about Harry Potter than a music video, but the lyrics in the song are relevant to the story line of the series, and the images were used really well to correspond with them and the timing of the music itself.
It made me think that my initial plans have been too shallowly based around the lyrics, and I need to come up with a deeper and potentially more complex story line for my video, and although perhaps not audible, I may include some more dialogue than I had wanted originally.
I want to make this film connect with people on an emotional level, but I'm not sure how.
No real progress other than that so far...
I think I really need to get to work on this, sixteen weeks sounds like a lot more than it is!
Three weeks down, sixteen to go!
But I did watch a video today that made me rethink my video a little bit.
This video is more of a fan video about Harry Potter than a music video, but the lyrics in the song are relevant to the story line of the series, and the images were used really well to correspond with them and the timing of the music itself.
It made me think that my initial plans have been too shallowly based around the lyrics, and I need to come up with a deeper and potentially more complex story line for my video, and although perhaps not audible, I may include some more dialogue than I had wanted originally.
I want to make this film connect with people on an emotional level, but I'm not sure how.
No real progress other than that so far...
I think I really need to get to work on this, sixteen weeks sounds like a lot more than it is!
Three weeks down, sixteen to go!
Friday, June 29, 2012
Week Two
The second week was a really busy one in terms of general school work, so I couldn't give as much time to my initial planning of my film as I had wanted to. But I did begin my script!
I downloaded Celtx and managed to do a very rough draft for the full film in one period.
This proved slightly difficult because of my film being a music video, and therefore not having any dialogue.
It's also hard because my ideas keep changing all the time, depending on what I want to do and what I can actually do in reality.
But other than that, not really any progress.
Two weeks down, seventeen to go.
I downloaded Celtx and managed to do a very rough draft for the full film in one period.
This proved slightly difficult because of my film being a music video, and therefore not having any dialogue.
It's also hard because my ideas keep changing all the time, depending on what I want to do and what I can actually do in reality.
But other than that, not really any progress.
Two weeks down, seventeen to go.
Friday, June 22, 2012
Week One
To be perfectly honest I feel slightly like I'm cheating on this project, because I've had this idea rolling about in my head for about 2 years. Which I expect is quite a bit longer than everyone else in my class' ideas, but never mind.
In the first week that we were given the assignment, basically all I did was ask Leask if my existing idea would suit the theme of "Freedom". And he said yes, so all was well.
I did face the problem of whether or not I wanted to work with other people though. And the more I thought about "sharing" my film with others, the less I liked it. I'm a control freak, I don't want to end up potentially either letting someone "work" but not actually do anything, or have someone else want to input and then try to argue whether it fits with my original plan or not. Just much more simple to work alone I decided.
One week down, eighteen to go!
In the first week that we were given the assignment, basically all I did was ask Leask if my existing idea would suit the theme of "Freedom". And he said yes, so all was well.
I did face the problem of whether or not I wanted to work with other people though. And the more I thought about "sharing" my film with others, the less I liked it. I'm a control freak, I don't want to end up potentially either letting someone "work" but not actually do anything, or have someone else want to input and then try to argue whether it fits with my original plan or not. Just much more simple to work alone I decided.
One week down, eighteen to go!
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