Mark Casey

For this project we had to plan and film an extract from a movie, the extract had to be a recognisable part of the film and be iconic of the type of genre we chose.
In our group we chose to do a romantic film or Rom-Com and the scene we extracted was the chase scene seen in most films from this genre in which one character would give chase to catch up to another character to declare his/her love.
I personally believe this is very representative of the genre and most watches can tell this is apart of the climax leading into the resolution which means it’s towards the end of the film.

When making the film everyone in our group was self-assigned a microelement of the film to be in charge of, e.g. editing, sound, cinematography and Directing.
My initial microelement was directing but when one of our group members dropped out I took over as cinematography.

As director my role was to arrange and direct the filming stage of the project and to manage the artistically and technical aspects of the project.

In the planning stage of the production we had many ideas, the reason why we chose this extract was because of the simplicity of it and how it was stereotypical of the genre it represents.

Inspirations for this scene were quirky chic-flick romantic comedy films such as; Bridget Jones Diary (Sharon Maguire, 2001), Love actually (Richard Curtis, 2003) and Notting Hill (Roger Michell, 1999).




The scene will start off set in a market square, two characters will walk down one of the market aisles and walk up to the fountain then they will sit on the fountain, we wanted this to be as naturalistic as possible, the camera slowly pans to follow the characters the camera is not moving fast which shows that it is the start of the scene and the start of the climax.

Then the characters will start their dialogue, the camera then moves to medium shots and close-ups to document the conversation.

After the dialogue the Main character played by Hayden starts the chasing sequence after being convinced he needs to chase after his loved one.
This is when the scene starts to pick up, music is played as he runs through the market and into the streets, the majority of these shots are panning, we chose to do this to show he is making progress, if it looks like the camera is moving or travelling he would be travelling, there are also quick cuts through-out this section.

This was our first plan for the project.

Initially my plan was to document everything that I had to do on the blog and make it very clear what I was going to do. I started this by explaining storyboards, roles of characters and writing the script. I wanted to go more in-depth into the planning stage but I didn’t because most of my thoughts and wants for the project where from an artist perspective. If I could of redone the planning stages I would have documented the process a lot more and made it clearer what we where doing but at the time I felt that my artist input was more important than the technical part of it.

My second Microelement I managed was cinematography in which I would film the scenes and manage the direction of our extract by working in partnership with the editor to place clips and to provide an over view of the story.

This is the part of directing and filming I found the hardest, we needed to get more than one shot of each line so we could edit it effectively. I think I did this to the best of my ability but we still lacked shots to edit together.

This also caused a big problem with the editing as we didn’t have enough shots to edit effectively so
we had to work really hard on the editing side of the project.
To do this I worked with the editor and sound editor, we spent along time trying to make the clips that didn’t really fit together somehow flow smoothly.
The main evidence of this in the final extract is a shot reverse shot which we used to cover up the lack of footage.


The setting for this extract was also planned very carefully, we wanted a location that had natural lighting and a busy atmosphere, we didn’t want the location to feel dull or dark, we wanted the sun and the ‘morning light’, where the area, characters and atmosphere is bright.

To get this we looked at weather reports mainly and timed our filming schedule around this. I think the location and the other uncontrollable variables like other non-actors in the scene in the background worked well, even though this is a risk and we could of tried to use extras I think that the public helped the mood of the extract and the authenticity of the scene.


The main problem that occurred while we where filming was our schedule, we expected to be done with the first scene a lot faster and we actually had another scene planned where the couple finally met up but we didn’t get to film this scene due to time problems and a lack of actors.

However I do think the scene as it is works, it looks more of an extract of a movie than a short movie which could have happened if we had filmed the other scene. Also if we had filmed the other scene we would have transferred from the climax to the beginning of the resolution which would have made the extract look uncompleted, the audience would want to know the end of the second scene.

So in conclusion I think that our scene works very well and that I played my roles in making the extract.
I am very happy with the work I put into making the film and I am also with how the group worked together, everyone took responsibility for their own microelements but also put in the effort to work together.

Evaluation

Titanic (1997), and ‘The Notebook’ (2004), influenced our two minute sequence by their narrative conventions demonstrating their genre romance. The films all share love, drama, and something keeping the two lovers apart- ranging from social class to distance. Keeping this in mind we used the ideas and techniques of the latter films within our two minute film sequences.

As a group we needed to think how we could incorporate conventions into our film and make the sequence look professional. We made the narrative as simple as possible and scripted a diegetic conversation explaining to the audience why the two lovers couldn’t be together, as well as using a classic chasing scene. As editor I needed some long, smooth, continuing shots of (Hyden) the lover running ‘to get his girl’. However when editing I discovered that we hadn’t filmed enough footage and it was very difficult for me to try and make the sequence have pace, make sense and continuity. I found the walk leading up to the conversation between the two characters hard as there were no shots of them actually sitting down. Also there was no footage of them walking all the way to the steps, there was record of them walking half way to a bin, but this was 5 feet away from the steps. The next shot was of them walking up the steps, but no footage showing them walking the 5 feet between the bin and the steps. I now had to try and create an authentic conversation so I used reverse shots. This took many lessons cutting so that they didn’t jump and the background looked the same. I also used some fast close ups to break up the sequence to try and hide the fact we hadn’t got enough fluid shots. On top of this there were many shots when the actors had said a line from the script, made a mistake, moved around and changed their position and then continued to start speaking again. Unfortunately for me the conversation was only filmed twice and each time the positions of the characters were very different. If we had got some different angle shots for example low, high angles or from the side perhaps the break a ways would be less obvious…as well as looking visually better. This is why the conversation looks rather choppy and has lots of quick cut a ways; however it was the only way the script would make sense to the audiences.

The soundtrack produced by Rebecca helped tidy up the sequence and finish it nicely. The music had a fast tempo and an up beat tone and rhythm; she used the guitar and piano to create this. As editor I used close ups to show the reactions of the characters, to make the conversation feel more intimate and to engage the audience. If I were to use many long shots it would detract the focus off the main characters and make their surroundings more important and possibly provoke the audience to wonder why have they shot such a long shot of the location? To give the film our own touch we used costume, one of the micro elements. Like the ‘The Notebook’ set in the 1940’s with their beautiful outfits we made a statement but chose the 1980’s. We wanted our film to look different to other groups so instead of having a specific style of filming we chose to focus our ‘group style’ on the costume side and wore heavy boots and clashing patterned shirts to make it apparent that it wasn’t set nowadays. Our location didn’t scream out any time period and the market square is timeless as opposed to the Grand Arcade which is very modern.

We had many difficulties and problems however our first general idea was that we would film from the market square to Cambridge railway station but this was not possible as we weren’t allowed. We wasted time drawing up storyboards on how we would film it when we could have been using this time too actually film. On top of this a member of the group decided to drop out of AS film which meant the remaining members and I had to work extra hard. As individuals we watched other films to see how a climax where the lover realizes they’re making a huge mistake is made. We then brought these ideas to college and incorporated them into our final narratives.

The feedback was good and we asked the viewers if our characters, genre and narrative was believable and of good enough quality. We got some good tips on how to improve the continuity of the editing, flow of the sound effects and improving our dubbing as sometimes it was out of sync. They mentioned how some of the camera didn’t follow the rules of camera work but were nice and steady. The comments were useful, constructive and will help future projects.

In conclusion as editor I worked with the Mac and the Final cut express program most of the time. At first I found all the equipment difficult to use but as the weeks went by I became more familiar with it all. Overall I feel this project went well, we worked together as a group and helped each other when need so. I definitely leant a lot and my editing abilities have improved too.

Evaluation

The two to four minute section of our film that we have produced and made is from the ending of the film, or the climax, as we see our character Hayden running through the market and town to get to the train station in order to stop the ‘love of his life’ leaving. This would be where I incorporated the music and soundtrack.We wanted to capture the urgency of which would give the sequence pace and excitement, an effect that that we saw in many film that influenced us

The influences for this our sequence was very important and was used hugely for the running scene. We looked at filming such as Bridget Jones Diary (2001- Sharon Maguire), Notting Hill (1999- Roger Michell) and 27 Dresses (2008- Anne Fletcher). The running scenes from filming such as these consisted of many different locations but made to flow using camera angles, shots and sound that would fit to one another as he runs.

The mise-en-scene such as props and costumes was originally influenced from the Notebook, with the idea that Rosa (who did not appear in it in the end) and Hayden would be wearing an outfit inspired from the 1950’s idea that we saw in 500 Days Of Summer (Marc Webb- 2009), showing that, even though surrounded by modern day and technology (for example the train) they had their own world and opinions that brought them together. The props too were influenced from the Notebook, for example we were going to have her holding an old fashioned suitcase, just to give the feel of a different time. As we could not film the train station scene, due to lack of commitment from actors of whom we asked, we could not film this and show what we thought was a very good idea. One prop that was very prominent through the running scene was the bunch of flowers that we caught Hayden grabbing using a close up as he ran. By getting this shot we felt it would add a bit of humour.

Another aspect of mise-en-scene was how we portrayed the sound. On Garage Band I designed and made a soundtrack of which we wanted to have playing as Hayden performed the running scene that would be the main part of the sequence. The inspiration for the soundtrack was chosen from the idea of uplifting music seen in many romantic films. I started off looking at memorable clips and scenes, then analysing the type of mood and tempo and how they’d fit over the different angle shots ect. This helped me decide to start the lower beat of my soundtrack where I chose to put it. Adding this soundtrack was to make the audience feel the passion and excitement that we wanted them to feel, using an upbeat and positive tone, but with a deep bass playing softly under it all to make the audience question Hayden’s success. The beat starts just after Rebecca has convinced Hayden to go after her, making the audience realise the agency. I feel that to have improved the sound over all I could have made the soundtrack fit better, as there is a part where Rebecca talk’s over the beat, which could make the audience distracted from what she is saying, or vice versa.

The location of the market was chosen partly because of the vibe that we new we would get from it and new it would look and sound good in our sequence. I, having the role to do the sound, incorporated that vibe into the sound, capturing our teacher bantering and bringing in customers to buy his flowers, and a friend doing the same, but with fruit. I also added in noises of footsteps, overlapping the footage of Rebecca and Hayden walking, and the noise of talking and laughter in the background. This was all to make it feel vibrant and realistic.

The main aspect of which I found difficult and that perhaps didn’t work out the most was the voice-overs. Originally I, with Hayden, filmed the both of us re-recorded our lines and then attempted overlapping/dubbing the recordings over the footage of our conversation, however this not all of them fitted and so I didn’t work at. I then, on Final Cut Express, did a proper voice over again with Hayden and myself, where most of our recordings dubbed better. Although they fitted the lip movement a lot more in sink, some off them still didn’t look perfect and I feel that if we had attempt a few of the lines again we would have got it spot on.

The target audience for our film would be mainly women as we are aware that it mainly women who watch films such as the ones that had influenced us. The age would probably be between eleven upwards, as it would have a slight bit of classy humour and romance. We had to make sure, however we did not want to make it appear to be a romcom (romantic comedy), however I feel the seriously conversation between Hayden and Rebecca made it seem that bit more serious.

Screen shots

Sound Planning;

Our sound editor will use a mix of pre-recorded sounds from a disc and sound recorded separately in isolation.

The sounds we will be recording separately are:
Running
Crunching of flowers
General Market Sounds
Market Stall Holders promotions

We also plan to dub the conversation.

Planning editing;

Our editor will edit our shots to form a film on final cut express.
She will work in co-operation with our sound editor to complete the film in this final stage of production.
we plan to edit over 4 sessions.
She will work with our camera work to get a more professional look and try to get around any problems when filming.

Genre and Target Audience.

Our film is a romantic film, we will represent this by filming an iconic scene from a romantic film which is the chace film, the only thing we need to be careful about is getting the film confused with a rom com because both feature simular scenes in typical films.

Our Target audience is young females (teenage) to females aged 35. This is because females of this age range are looking for love and are more likely to be single as they haven't settled down with a patner so they can identify with trying to make a relationship work.

We are aiming for a slightly younger range of the audience by having young actors who are also teenagers, even though they could represent an older generation of people (20 - 25).