Evaluation of Rough Cut

Holiday work - Task 2 - SWOT

Holiday work - Task 1 AUDIT

Evaluating the rough cut

Evaluation the Rough Cut

Strengths and Weaknesses of my blog

This is my analysis of the weaknesses and strengths of my blog.

Evidence AUDIT

From my evidence audit its clear that I need to post more blog posts on shot-lists, layouts, drafting etc. From now I will try to maintain a balance of blog posts

Evaluation of rough cut

SMART Targets

Based on the SWOT analysis and the AUDIT table I have set myself SMART targets in order to develop my media skills:

SWOT Analysis

AUDIT Table

My SMART Targets

I made these smart targets based on my audit, and my blogging Health Check

Holiday Work - Task 2: SWOT

These are my SWOT Tasks based on how I feel my coursework is going, and how the blog is generally going.

Holiday Work - Task 1: Audit

This is my Audit Table for the Holiday Work. 

I have based this from work throughout the Unit, and compared my blogging health checks too

Blogging Healthcheck Number 3

Editing of Rough Cut - Lola, Ellie, Natalya, Niamh

A camtasia of our editing.

Rough Cut - Lola, Ellie, Natalya, Niamh

This is our Rough Cut for the Mock Week

Proof of Editing - Niamh

This is us editing some of our shots, and deciding which shot looked best

Evidence of us Working - Natalya

<a data-flickr-embed="true" data-header="true"  href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/137193288@N02/albums/72157663807427392" title="Evidence of us Working"><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1532/23925267969_1d461fb706_t.jpg" width="100" height="67" alt="Evidence of us Working"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

voiceover speech

To add some sound into our title sequence we will be doing some voiceover speech.

The first shot to include it is when the phone falls on the floor and when picked up the screen is shattered. Prada will say "oh my god, my phone!"

The next shot to include voiceover is when the three girls are walking to the shop, the will be some general conversation about the phone or something. 

Final decisions , editing - Lola

Due to changes not being able to film in an opticians we have decided to change the name from Like a star to Head in the clouds this is because the scene in the gift shop the main character is actually day dreaming which is why we have changed the name to fit the film. During filming we are going to edit so it looks like  she is day dreaming about the boy she has just met , then it cuts back at the end to the gift shop. We had a range of different names but we all felt that Head in the clouds best fit with the film. In today's lesson we are working on how to make the day dreaming scene look effective.

Plan of what we are going to do on the 10/12/15 - Natalya

By this lesson our rough cut will be complete and ready to note down further improvements that need to made. We may need to include small changes to perfect our piece, such as, editing the colours using 'Premier Pro' to make the production flow throughout.  Also we will appropriately add the sound affects and voice overs into our film.

Plan of what we are going to do on the 7/12/15 - Natalya

In this lesson we are going to continue editing our opening of the title sequence. This will help us have an overall look at any shots we need to remake/ film. We will put all the shots together and note down any improvements made during editing that may not follow the storyboard, in order to make the opening make sense to our target audience. We will also develop the previous script and sound affects and later record them, using the microphone.

Editing the Teen Drama - Niamh

Alex - Lola

This is Alex who we used as plan B, he goes to our college and did not have
lessons so agreed to helping us film. We used him for the romance scene which
went really well because he fits the whole typical teen drama stereotype. 

Otis - Lola

This is Otis who we originally planned to use as the boy for the romance scene.
Due to him having lessons our plan of using him did not work out , however
we did find a boy who was willing to film with us as he did not have any lessons. 

Today's Filming - Lola

This is Ellie and Alex on set today filming
the final scene for our film.

This is Ellie filming in Owens field outside the college. 

Proof of us blogging Camtasia - Lola & Niamh

This is a video of Lola and myself writing a blog post and editing, and updating it.

How We Felt Our Filming Went - Lola & Niamh

Our filming started off really well , everyone was concentrating and focused. With practice we were able to synchronise the actresses steps into the beat of Hollaback girl which is the song we used in or film. We have thought a lot about how we will conduct our framing and out shot types. However half way through filming in Owens field the fire alarm went off which delayed our filming because the whole college had to evacuate the building into Owens field. This made us lose a bit of focus as we were all separated and some of us got distracted by our friends. We did take advantage of people leaving the building because we thought it would be a good opportunity to film them which would fit well with out film. We soon got back on track and filmed at Camden Passage which is a 10 minuet walk form college. Whilst filming in public it is hard to judge what will happen , for example when we was filming our location shots someone got in the camera and was messing about, this meant we has to refill the shot and ensure that no one will ruin it. We are still yet to continue to film as we are waiting on a student to turn up for filming.

Today's lesson - Lola

In today's lesson we are editing our footage what we have so far so that we can see if we are missing any shots which will give us the chance to re shoot and add to our film in Thursdays lesson. When we filmed last week we got the majority done , however we could not film the ending of the film because the boy who we planned to used for the romance scene did not turn up.
Before Thursday's lesson we will have a contract of the boy just as evidence that he will be reliable to use, we have spoken to him and he has agreed to come in on Thursday  to allow us to do the ending of the film in the gift shop. However if he does not turn up again then we will need to find someone which will not be ideal because it is very last minute. We did try to avoid this problem but it is unpredictable whether someone will turn up or not, especially were he is not in our class.
For the editing we have spilt our group of 4 into 2 and Ellie and Natasha are doing the first 45 minuets editing while me and Niamh are blogging then we will swap over to ensure we have all had the chance to develop our skills.

Evidence of us filming. -Lola

Filming. 

Us setting up the camera on the Tripod.

Our Character costumes on set filming.  

Plot change - Ellie

Due to problems with being allowed to film in local opticians we opted to change the plot slightly and chose to film in a local gift shop, which Lola and her mum work in. N1 centre didn't get back to us so we couldn't film there, we chose to film in camden passage instead.
 We changed the plot to Prada's phone getting knocked out her hand and cracking so she has to get it fixed by someone who works in the shop, who she then falls in love with.

These are the numbers of the opticians we contacted:
02072781212 - Insight opticians
02073549277 - Eye level opticians
02072783535 - Angel Eye centre
02073540057 - Vision express
02075201770 - Specsavers
02077040010 - David Clulow

N1 centre:
02073592674

Pitch Feedback - Niamh

Reflecting on the feedback from our class, and teacher, it is a relief to know that most people thought the initial idea of our film was good, and achievable, and we explained each idea relating to the film positively, and that we presented it with lots of detail, however one of the the main issues that came up was that we should project our voices more to seem more confident.

Another thing that we pride ourselves on is the amount of research we done as a group into our genre, and the conventions of the Teen Drama Genre, i.e.. music, outfits, locations, etc....
We could have improved our pitch by collating all of our ideas into one prezzi; which would have made it more organised and less embarrassing, and maybe keep our audience engaged.

One important point that was raised is that we will not allowed to use the original of Gwen Steffani's "Hollaback Girl" due to copyright issues. To solve this we will use a copy of "Hollaback Girl", from soundcloud/other music sharing forums. This might be one of the copies we use; Another point that was raised was that we needed proof of permission to film at the N1 Centre, and the opticians. If the optician will not let us film, we have a back up of a gift shop - courtesy of Lola, and her family. If this does happen we will just have to tweak our storyboard slightly.

We also need proof that we had thought, and planned who the boy will be.

Pitch feedback review - Ellie

On looking back at the feedback from our pitch its clear that most people thought the initial idea of our film was good and we explained each idea relating to the film positively. Most people agreed that our idea of a teen drama is a good one and we will be able to create a title sequence that represents that genre of film. We thoroughly explained how the music, outfits, location etc. are directly linked to the genre and how we will be using each of those factors.
We could have improved our pitch by collating all of our ideas into one prezzi; which would have made it more organised and shown a wider variety of ICT skills. Some people also said we should have had more confidence when we were presenting, this could have had a positive impact on our pitch as we would have portrayed an optimistic attitude to our idea.

Here is a GIF of the feedback we got:
via GIPHY

Music for title sequence - Ellie

Due to copyright issues we had to find a Copyright free version of Gwen Steffani Hollaback Girl on soundcloud. This is the song we will use in our title sequence when the three main characters are walking into Owens Field. We chose it because its upbeat and will match the action of what will be happening in the scene. 

Feedback from the Pitch

On summary, the feedback given was that the pitch was in great detail and clear. The students explained the context was good; they liked the unique optician setting, however we still need to ring the optician to check if it's alright to film there. Two students' feedback which was positive was that they were instantly engaged by the way we targeted the audience and knew our target audience by using social apps like Facebook.
The improvements that were suggested, were to make the presentation on one big Prezi rather than on separate ones for each subject. Another improvement we could make is to plan a voice-over scrip in preparation for the production. Lastly, to find a copy right free version of the song 'Hollaback girl', which we were planning to use. This could be found on Soundcloud, where every music piece is copy right free. We forgot to include it in our pitch, but we found an actor who is willing to be in the film and we have coordinate time management with him.

Content from Feedback

Production Schedule - Ellie

Feedback Video from Pitch - Niamh

This was feedback after we presented our pitch to the class, from the class and Louisa.
I think the class and Louisa have made very valid points that we didn't think about, or consider beforehand.

Task 28: Analysing sound in previous students work Part 3

In the beginning, the title moves with the sound when the pitch changes. The ambient sound gradually fades in and out, which is eerie, and sets the tone. We then hear the boy crying.
The ambient sound slowly gets higher in pitch which is scary, and leads the audience to believe it is a horror. The shouting is distant, and far away which creates the sense it is a dream/unreal.
The knock on the head is echoed, which emphasises the violence, ad makes it seem like it goes on longer than it does.

What is the role of social media in marketing and advertising products? - Ellie & Natalya

Task 28: Analysing Sound in previous Students Work Part 2

The sound in this again, is ambient. This creates suspicion in the audience.
There is diegetic sound, like birds chirping, and the camera shutter. There was also the sound of the door slamming.
There is also somebody talking on a walkie talkie, and it sounds distorted.
Overall, the sound is mainly diegetic with the exception of ambient sound which is non-dietetic. This really sets the atmosphere of the whole title sequence.

Task 28: Analysing sound in previous student work. part 1

This is the first students work I analysed. At the beginning, we hear ambient sound, which immediately indicates to the audience that something isn't right.
When the fire comes on screen, we can hear the logs crackling quite clearly, which gets quieter as the camera moves away. This is effective as it feels like the audience are in the  scene, and depends disbelief.
We also hear something that sounds like a heartbeat, which creates tension, then we hear crying, and hyperventilating. When we see the tea dripping, the sound is very loud, and as everything else is silent, it makes it eerie.
overall, I think sound was effective.

Analysing the use of sound in previous student title sequences.

The use of sound in this film is very important because to creates an atmosphere that causes tension. Lots of ambianse sound is used which is good because it indicates to the audience that something is not right. Also the sound is very dull and creepy which helps set the mood of the film which is horror. Without sound this film would not be as successful because it is the sound that plays the main part.





This  film also uses a good range of sound to create an atmosphere. The opening sound engages the audience straight away, throughout the film there is a suspicious droning sound which tells the audience that something is not right. Also the sound goes well with the environment it is filmed in. This is because in a forest there is a creepy feel where people expect the unexpected.

Character Costumes - Lola

This is the three characters in the film , Gucci, Prada and Channel.
We have chosen these casual outfits which are quite similar but affective.
We are all wearing trainers and skirts so we all look like we belong as a group
 of friends.

This is Natasha who plays Channel. 

This is Lola who plays Gucci.

This is Ellie who plays Prada. 

Pitch Task - Natalya & Niamh

Pitch Tasks
1 - The Film / Early Planing
2 - Type of Title Seq.
3 - Genre of Film
4 - Representation
5 - Institutional Details (Finding one)
6 - Audience Details (Research) (Target Audience) (Attracting)
7 - Mise - En - Scene; Location, and Settings
8 - Mise - En - Scene; Props, Costumes, and Make-up
9 - Sound Design
10 - Title Credits
11 - Cinematic Details (Storyboard) (Script: 1, 2)
12 -  Production Schedule
13 - Risk Assessment

Camtasia of editing the blog - Niamh

We edited our blog to make it reflect a Teen Drama. We used Hexadecimal colours to pick our perfect colours, which are lots of pink, and purple.
We also wanted to use a "girly" font, which was cursive, and bubbly, but also not too difficult to look at.

This is the final product of the blog;

We chose a colour complimentary colours, like blue, purple, and pink. We used a cursive font, and different fonts to differentiate between the Headers, the body of the text, and the titles. 

Blogging Health Check 2

Weaknesses:

My weaknesses were that I rely mostly on text and screenshots or embedded images to present my work and in future I will use different methods of presenting my work to achieve a better grade. I could use more creative ways of presenting my work, such as :Prezi, Emaze, Kizoa, Slidely, Padlet, Mindmeister and Camtasia. I have done many posts, however, I am missing tasks 28, 35 and 37. To improve, I will make sure I'm up to date with the blogging posts by completing the tasks.

Strengths:

- some very strong, in places excellent, evidence of research and planning
- mostly good time management and frequency of posting
- posts tend of have lots of detail with context and some evaluation
- nice balance between group and individual posts
- mostly up to date

Lola Blogging health check 2

Blogging Healthcheck 2 - 18/11/15

Blogging Heathcheck and Progress Grade

Pitch Task 8: Mise-En-Scene: Props, Costumes, Make-up - Niamh

Profile of a Target Audience - Natalya

This is Sarah Simpson. She is an average 16 year old and identifies herself as a female. Her current occupation is college; she studies media, art, photography and geography. She doesn't have a job but is planning to apply to have a weekend job as a lifeguard which will pay her approximately seven pounds per an hour. She enjoys watching all types of film but in particular films from the teen-drama genre. She's watched many films from this genre including Mean Girls and Easy A. Sarah is engaged with social media apps like Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and Twitter. She has already followed the @lennptoductions_ on Instagram. (https://www.instagram.com/lennproductions_/) She found out about this page from her friend Natalya, who invited her to follow the page. She has liked every Instagram post to support the page and to promote it.

In her spare time she goes shopping and buys similar clothing to inspirational costumes used in films she's watched. For example, in Clueless she noted down a fluffy jumper, so then later that day she went out to buy one from H&M and then after brought matching high-heeled shoes from TopShop. She also enjoys hanging out with her friends from school. They normally would meet up after school and go to the cinema or just hang at someone's house.  

As Sarah has already liked our Instagram  page, she will be informed of our film which will include the link directing her to watch it in a post. We also would recommend Sarah to follow our other social media pages so that she will be able to stay fully updated on further information. For other people who haven't followed our social media pages, the film would be distributed by friends verbally and would then pass on to other people, like how rumours spread. We will also hand out leaflets to college students requesting them to watch it.

I believe Sarah is going to really enjoy the film as it's a teen-drama and that's her favourite genre! She's most likely going to enjoy the romantic ending because the film's intention is to target people like her - young and passionate (maybe this will relate to her own life).

Pitch Task 7: Location & Setting - Niamh

Pitch Task 2: Title Sequence - Niamh

Pitch Task 1 The Film - Niamh

Skript (part 2) - Natalya

Shots 20-24: In the Opticians

(Prada is asking the shop assistant to fix her glasses)

Prada: Excuse me; can you help me fix my glasses? – they are broken. *Prada passes the broken glasses to the shop assistant*

Shop assistant: Of course sugar, *shop assistant passes a fixed pair of glasses* here you go sweetie.  

Prada: *Prada puts on the glasses* Wow thank you very much, I can see again!

Shop assistant: No problem dear, and one more thing… *the shop assistant leans in for a kiss*

Script (part 1) - Natalya

Shots 14-18: In Owens Park

(Prada is angry because Chanel stepped on her glasses and broke them)

Prada: *Angry shocked face*

Chanel: OMG I am like so sorry Prada, I promise it won’t happen again..

Prada: Don’t worry Chanel – you are forgiven. At least we can go to the shopping mall to see that cute guy at the opticians to get my glasses fixed.

Chanel: OK let’s go girlies!

Title Credits for pitch task 10 - Ellie

The type of font we will use is going to be italic writing similar to handwriting, the font will be white with a bold pink outline it will use a letter by letter animation to fit with the slow motion walking shot. It will integrate with the action in the shot because it will be in time with music and the walking speed.

Storyboard - Natalya

Our Film Genre - Lola

The Genre we have chosen is Teen Drama. We have chosen this genre because being 16/17 year old girls we feel we can relate to it more than other genres. We have also seen many teen dramas which gave us lots of ideas of what we need to do and what is expected in a conventional teen drama. We also found that it is the most realistic genre meaning it will be easy to film for our low budget film.

Title sequences we looked at the get ideas was , Mean Girls, Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging and Easy A. This is because these films fill the typical convention of a teen movie which is what we are doing.

Follow our social media accounts! - Natalya

I have linked our social media accounts to our blog so it is quickly accessible and will hopefully increase the amount of people supporting our production. This is part of the target distribution scheme.

Representation of Characters in the Title Sequence - Natalya

Just a summary of how the characters are going to be introduced in the title sequence. I forgot to mention the characters costumes, which are going to be fit to the stereotypical popular girl clique, e.g. skirts, blonde hair. When I talked about the clique characters from Mean Girls and other similar films I meant to say they are made to appear dumb rather than they are dumb. Also, when I talked about the central character, Prada, I meant to say she bosses people around, not they boss her around.    

Storyboard Draft - Natalya

Social Media Accounts - Ellie & Lola

To help with the promotion of our title sequence we have made social media accounts to broadcast what we are doing and when people can expect to see the final product. This is useful because most of the people who will watch our title sequence are teenagers and teenagers use social media, therefore we can accumulate enough attention to receive positive feedback. We made Instagram, Twitter and Facebook accounts as they are most commonly used.

Sound Design. Lola

This is the song we have chosen for the opening to our film , this is because it relates to our teen drama genre, also the tempo of the song fits in with the opening scene.
This will be non- digits as only the audience can hear it at the start of the film. We will add the soundtrack on when editing, as a group we have decided to do this because we think it works the most effectively.  

During the film we will also have sounds to create effects , for example the scene when the glasses get broken we will have a sound effect to make the scene have more tension.
Also when the characters are walking and rushing about we will have footsteps.
A title sequence that has given us lots of ideas for our film is Mean Girls because Mean Girls is a typical chic flick which is what genre we have chosen to follow. 

How will we attract our audience. Lola

To reach out to our target audience which is age 18-24 we will make social media accounts which will appeal to our genre because in today's society young people spend a lot of time on the internet. Also using the internets a quick and cheap progress which is in out range budget for our independent film.

Audience detail - Lola

Our core target audience is mainly young females. We know this because we  researched our target audience for our genre on Yougov.co.uk. We found that that the main gender for teen drama is Female , aged between 18-24 with a social grade of a semi skilled unemployed lowest grade occupation. We also found that their hobbies are going to the cinema , buying and selling online and writing fiction. Their favourite sports are swimming and football. These type of people would describe themselves as funny, understanding and individualistic. They are very into social media  such as , Twitter and Instagram. They tend to watch comedy teen movies and romance films , for example the notebook and Bridesmaids. Also up to date r&b music like Beyonce, and Calvin Harris.

The Characters. Lola

These are the three characters in the film , Lola, Ellie and Natalya who play Gucci,Prada and Channel.

LENN Ident Complete - Niamh

Using After Effects, we created a logo ident with a background. We decided not to include music as in our title sequence we will have music playing underneath to set the tone.

This is our finished project. Overall we think it is very colour complementary, and the colours appeal to a pre-teen/teen audience. The writing is clear, and decorative, but still readable, again, this is to appeal to our audience. 

Natalya character profile. Lola

This is Natalya who will play the character Channel. She is also bossed around by Prada (Ellie) as she is best friends with Gucci and they are both scared of Prada. She is stereotypically a du,b blonde who is very forgetful and dipsty.

Lola character profile. Lola

This is me , Lola who will play the character Gucci , she is very quite , shy and does not have much character. She is bossed around by the main character Prada who is Ellie.  She is very sweet and does not like any trouble so avoids any bad situations.

Ellie Character profile. Lola

This is Ellie who will play the role of Prada the main character. Her personality is very bossy and big headed, she plays a role of a mean girl who is in control of everything and everyone. She is the character that breaks her glasses and falls in love in the opticians.

Final Costume Decision -Natalya

Lola:
- fluffy black coat
-black long sleeve crop top
-Ralf Lauren hand bag
-tights
-black shoes

Ellie:
- black &white striped top
- black bomber jacket
-burgundy skirt
- black knee high socks
- new balance black shoes

Natalya:
- black long top
- jean/bomer jacket
- purple skirt
nike black trainers

Recreating Sound - Group

For our film, we had to think of some sounds that we could use in our title sequence.
Due to our public locations; i.e. the canal, outdoors centre, etc.. We want to make it as realistic as possible. 

• This is the Canal water running. To recreate this sound we gently shook a bottle of water. Running water is very atmospheric, and relaxing. As we're doing a teen drama we don't want to overwhelm our audience within the first few minutes of the film; 

• This is an automatic door opening, using two pieces of paper. Lots of doors around Central London are automatic, and we want to make it as realistic as possible.

• This is the sound of the glasses breaking as the beginning of the film. This is the plot device which sets up the rest of the title sequence. We used a hole punch and pressed it together to create the piece. 

Production Logo - Natalya

We decided to create this logo for our production. LENN stands for Lola, Ellie, Natalya, Niamh. We chose the colours purple and blue because it is recognisable yet it's not in your face. The font is bold in black so it's clear what it says. It is a unique symbol that hopefully is also memorable for the audience.

Finding a Distribution Company - Natalya

A distribution company is responsible for the following things:
1) Buying the rights of the film
2) Selling as many prints as possible of the film tho cinemas for for 'exhibition'
3)Creating a successful marketing campaign to attract the target and wider audience into seeing the film

Some examples of low budget companies that distribute films are:
Willis News
MarketForce UK Ltd
ASA Distribution

For our film we need a low budget distributor because our film is low budget.

Task 1 Distribution 9/11/15 - Angus Thongs Perfect Snogging - Niamh

Who distributes the films? Name and who are they owned by?
Marketing Tools used to distribute the film (social media, TV, radio, etc...)


Film 1: Angus, Thongs, and Perfect Snogging

This is a coming of age film directed by Gurinda Chadha.

It was distributed by Paramount Pictures. It relates to our film as it is a Teen Drama, and we are familiar with this film as it came out when we was pre-teen, or coming of age. 

Paramount Pictures;

Marketing Tools; 

The centrepiece of the campaign was a Bebo profile for Georgia. Users could become friends with Georgia and get to know her, and the other characters long before the film was released. As the film was still in production, Paramount had the opportunity to film and produce original content, and "behind the scenes" footage.

They scripted, produced, filmed, and edited 21 original "webisodes". These were launched weekly in the run-up to the films release through the Bebo profile, and were also pushed through the widget.

The profile included regular blog posts, a synopsis of the film, a trailer, a gallery of pictures, as well as interactive elements such as being able to download fan kit banners, and email signatures.  The main site also had access to an interactive corkboard which was accessed through Georgias room, with flyers and posters advertising the film.

Fans could write messages to their best friends, email the link, upload photos. There was a competition of videoing them and their "Ace Gang"mimicking the films Ace Gang.

There were links to widgets, a Stiff Dylan Myspace Page (a band within the film), and a UGC competition.

The Bebo profile was visited by 199,633 people, and by the time the film was released, Georgia had 20,915 friends. The most popular "webisode" was viewed 8.9million times, and the widget received 592,670 impressions.