Props

So having done a prop list, I went out and took some photos of some of the things we needed, which would be the main essentials in the shooting. These were just photo's that I took for personal use so I knew what we would be using and I could later reference back to them if I needed them.

As you can see, below are the glasses that we are planning on using, I think that using these will work really well because linking in with the actual Harry Potter he has circular glasses and making these a prop really fits in with the theme. As we borrowed these from our teacher, I am grateful he was able to lend us these to use for our shooting.

Not only that, but we also needed a wand for the shoot, this was the main prop in the entire piece and luckily I am a Harry Potter fan and I have the Elder Wand. So I brought this in from home and I used this. I think the fact we are using a replica wand really emphasises the fact that this relates to Harry Potter and we can use this and the box works well to add some character in our short instead of just having the wand out of the box.

Finally, we needed some sort of book for our main character to read as this was where he would find the spells. As for finding a wizardry book for dummies there was one online but we didn't buy it as there was no budget for this shoot and therefore we compensated by creating a book cover instead. We found another dummy book that was in the college and created a title that said 'Wizardry' this was then covered over the original title and the 'for Dummies' was left in place. This worked well as just a cover to be seen and read by our audience when they watch the short. Not only that but we created a spells page so that when we wanted to have an extreme close-up of the wand going down the page looking at the spells there would be a list of possibility's. This page that was created was then placed on the inside of the page and I think that it works well as it looks old and the spells are large so can be read easily.


I think that all of these props will work really well in our shooting. I feel that these props really work well because they represent what we are trying to perceive in out short.

Props and Costumes List

This was the props and costumes list that we made, though there weren't many props I think that all of the props we do need are just as important instead of having loads. These were the main essentials that we needed and I think that having this really helps in prepration for when we go to shoot.

Props

- Glasses

- Glasses Case

- Wand

- Wand Box

- Digital SLR Videography for Dummies Book

- Assortment of Fantasy & History books

- Spells page (that we had created)

- Wizardry title (for Wizardry for Dummies Book)

Costumes

- Fluffy Leopard print hat

- Karate Jacket

- 3D Glasses

- Casual clothes (that were already being worn)

Risk Assesment

So having done our location scouting and searching for props and everything, as a final pre-production point we made a risk assesment. This consisted of various things that could be a risk whilst we were shooting.

Finally we had this signed at checked through to make sure that our risks were low. Even though there aren't many risks, we tried to think of everything possible. I think this covers all of the ideas and things that we hope to film and the problems that may occur.

Talent Releases

So after having everything planned we had to do the talent release forms and as we only had two people in our short it was quite simple to do. Having the sheets back we made sure that both of our talents had filled the form out and signed it.

The one below is of the friend that we wanted to cast, this was an adult release form as he was classed an adult, it was a form that was filled out easily and he was pleased to par-take in the shooting of our short.



After this one, we cast the main guy who was a friend of Jack's, this made it easier to do as he knew that he would be responsible enough to take on the main part. I was looking forward to shooting after we had cast both talents. Below is the minor form that our main character had to fill out, it was signed by his parent as he was under the age of eighteen.

Having to use both of the release forms was interesting to do and we got to see the range of forms that our used for different circumstances. I am totally prepared to shoot and this should go down well with our talents!

Location Release

After deciding that the library was the place we wanted we went back and we had a location release form filled in by the librarian, this allowed us permission too shoot on the allocated day and also at the time and had been agreed so that it was eligible for us to shoot.

This works well as this allows us to shoot and I look forward to shooting!

Location Recce

Alongside the photos below we had the Location Recce where we went to the college Library as the place that we wanted to shoot, we then filled out this sheet to make sure it would be the right place and check it out, the pictures that we took were really handy so we can reference and plan where we will have things set up and ready for the use of our shooting. This Location Recce was really handy and I think that the Library will be the place we will shoot at.

Location Recce Photo's

 When we went location scouting we looked around the library and we took a load of photos which had use to us. We made sure that this also related to risk assessments and anything like the power capabilities, this was linked in with our location recce as we took these photos.

The above images are the column in the library that we will be using, this is a great spot as this column is the widest and we feel that everything will fit.

The image on the left is the column of books that are on the row that we will be shooting on. The image on the right is a selection of fantasy books that we could use to make the piles of books that will be on the floor.

Finally these two photos are of the available plug sockets at the end of the column we are using, these can be used for lamps to help motivate the lighting if it is too dull or just any other power capabilities that are needed.

Story Boards

Here are the story boards that we created according to our shot list:

These are the outline for the ideas that we have created, I think that this has been well planned out and I look forward to more planning and shooting this short!

Shot List

1. Establishing Shot; Medium Shot; Straight on
-Camera tracks from right to left and we see subject reading a book.

2. Over the Shoulder; High Angle
- Book is shut and placed onto a bigger pile of books.

3. Close-up; High Angle
- Hand comes into shot and picks up "Wizardry For Dummies" Book. Book is then pulled out of the frame.

4. Over the Shoulder; High Angle
- Book is opened and a page is flicked to.

5. Close-up; Low Angle
- A page is turned and a spell is read, the head of the subject then peers over the top of the book.

6. Eye Line Match; Medium Shot; High Angle
- Wand is glared at in a box, subjects hand then reaches in and grabs the wand.

7.Match on Action; Over the Shoulder; High Angle
- Wand is continued being picked up and placed on the page of the book and then begins to move down (scroll)

8. Match on Action; Extreme Close-up; High Angle
- Wand tracks down the page and stops on a spell and taps the page.

9. Over the Shoulder; High Angle
- Wand is pointed at a set of glasses, the wand is waved and the spell is spoken.

10. Close-up; Low Angle
- Nothing happen to the glasses, subjects sigh is seen in the reflection i the mirror and then the subject looks down (back at book)

11. Eye Line Match; Extreme Close-Up; High Angle
- Page is looked down and then stops on another spell.

12. Over the Shoulder; High Angle
- Subject is angry that previous spell didn't work and waves wand around at mirror and yells the spell, but once again nothing happens.

13. Medium Shot; Straight on
- Friend walks into frame and asks a sarcastic question

14. Point of View (friend)
- Subject yells the spell and aims at its friend

15. Medium Shot, Straight On
- Subject gets up and pushes past friend and storms off, the camera then tracks down and cranes to the right and we see the floating glasses. The camera tracks back up and we see that the mirror is gone. Finally the camera dips back down and cranes diagonally to the left and we see the books (to get more information and back story about the subject) the camera finally reaches the friend who is dressed up is ridiculous clothes.

16. Credits
- Fade to Black.

Production Diary

16th October

Today I got into the group that I had been put into, with Mark and Jack to which Jack discussed with me what they did in the previous lesson (as I was away) the two had decided on an idea that we as a group would work on. I must admit the idea they have come up with I really like and I am looking forward to planning it. The idea that the two came up with was about a person (I'm not quite sure about age or gender) and they were really into wizardry, the person was obsessing over Harry Potter and was going through a book and trying to perform spells, though nothing happened and the person eventually gave up. As this person leaves the room all of the spells that he/she tried then begin to come into effect. This has a comical effect (in my opinion) and I really think that this idea would play out well.

Once I had caught up on the previous lesson we begun writing the shot list for the short that we had in mind. We came up with the person reading a Harry Potter book of which would be put down and a "Wizardry for Dummies" book would be picked up as they then try and do the spells, we also decided on some spells that would be used and the planning for the shot list is well under way.

Hopefully next lesson we will have the shot list completed and uploaded and begin story boarding of which I am looking forward to. I think that trying to work out shot duration will be difficult but it will be done!


17th October

I was late to lesson this morning as I had a dentist appointment and in that time Jack discussed the shotlist through with Mark (as he was away on the 16th) when I turned up the shotlist had been finished and I am happy with the shot choices and planning. We all then went on to do the storyboard and this is where we planned out each shot that we had write, along the way we elaborated more and things got in more detail, we also adjusted the last shot and added in one more, this was really handy and the shotlist will be updated to match the storyboard though we did stick to it but with some improvements to make it all flow and the continuity would be right.

I am going to draw up the images in the storyboard then regroup with Jack and Mark tomorrow to make sure they are happy with it and suggest any improvements or adjustments as I will be drawing out all the shots that we all decided on.


18th October
We contiuned with the storyboards as I had taken then home to draw up, we went through then and added in more details and arrow directions. After we had finished the storyboards, Jack and I went location scouting and did a location recce in the college library, we filled out the form and got it signed by the librarian. We knew this was the place that we wanted to shoot out and therefore we also filled out and got the location release signed. This was for us to shoot on Monday the 21st October. We agreed on this date and the librarian was happy we were going to shoot during 13:45 and 4:00 on that date. Having done this we also printed off the talent release forms as we knew who we wanted for the short. Handing out the forms we made sure they would both have them filled in and done by Monday. Finally we wrote a scrap list of props that we would need for Monday.

Next lesson we plan to shoot, even though we haven't done the props/costumes list we have a quick note of everything we need and it just needs to be wrote up. Hopefully being able to film we will get it all done and I look forward to doing this.


21st October
So today was filming day! It went so well, we filmed everything within the time allocated and we got multiple shots and takes just in case, we followed the storyboard and it really helped us along the way when we were shooting. There was a little bit of trouble when recording as we found that having a mirror was difficult to hang in the area that we hand, so instead of the mirror we decided we would remove the wand box as this was easier to do. Still following the storyboard minus the use of the mirror we found this to work really well. I think that not using the mirror was handy and it didn't mess up anything too much, in fact I think it was easier to make the wand box disappear. I really am pleased with how the filming went. We got back to class and uploaded the files onto the mac.

Next lesson hopefully we will have the props and costumes list wrote up and on my blog neatly, also having a short script of some dialogue that was used. Though we aren't using the dialogue that was recorded when we were shooting, we are going to re-record the voices and the ambient sounds t later add on in post-production, hopefully these things will be done in the next couple of days.


22nd October
Finishing off last pieces we made a props and costumes list. This list was simple as we didn't have many props or costumes, only a few which were the main essentials and these were simple to note down. After doing that we double checked we had everything else, of which we did. Having time left over we used this to watch our shooting that we did yesterday, this was really good as we got an understanding of everything to see if we could piece it all together. We then decided we would start editing just to get a rough idea of what things we can do. When editing we realised that there is a mis-match with one of the shots as we see the wand go onto the page at a left angle but when we cut to the extrme close-up the wand is in the opposite direction, therefore we are going to need to reshoot this. This will having to be done with all of the shots consisting of tracking down the spells page but it should be simple as it is a simple shot. After editing a little we left it so we could prepare for what to do next lesson.

Next lesson we plan to reshoot the shot that went wrong and hopefully fix that and then continue to edit, this will be a good lesson to get as much done as possible so that when I go on holiday for two weeks I would have started the editing and then I won't be too far behind when I return and I can then see the final process they did with the editing. I look forward to next lesson and hopefully we get those two things done.


23rd October
As we finished our rough edit we were quite pleased with how it all turned out. Watching it through a few times we pre-planned what we need to reshoot and we are ready to regroup in F block today as we are all free and we are going to reshoot our last shoot as we are going to do it with a jib to make it more stable. This should work well but I think the only difficulity will be trying to get the jib in the small area that we have, not only that but having to set up the entire set again will be difficult- the books are the only ones we need to do as the box will be easy to place. Hopefully this will be quick and simple. Not only that but we can reshoot the tracking down the spell spage with the wand in the right direction.

After half term I hope for the group to edit everything together and do the dialogue recording so that when I return I can see the final piece. I look forward to coming back after half term as I really think that our shooting has gone well and this short could work. I think having got the editing pretty much finished we are well set and planned for what we have left to do. I look forward to coming back after my holiday.

DepicT! Idea

So after mounds of thinking and looking around I finally came up with an idea. Having looked at a whole bunch of ninety seconds shorts and searching on YouTube looking at other videos, I found that thinking of an idea was a lot more difficult than expected. I must have looked at least fifty different videos and read about twenty odd different ideas that other people had until finally I thought of an idea, it seemed too good to be true at the time and I realised that I had just thought of an idea that had been done before; it was called ‘love language’ and I thought it was a really good story line and I liked the twist at the end, but I had to scrap that idea and start again.

I decided that I would come up with an idea that had some kind of loss or trouble in it, also I wanted to have some kind of twist, as the other videos and my previous ‘idea’ seemed really cool and I like twists, so that’s what I wanted to do and with that I named the idea of my short ‘Profit’ and this would be about a guy/girl who had just had some sort of confrontation or some exchange in money to which they then dropped some change on the floor, this could have been a 1p a 2p or any circular coin less than a pound. The (let’s use the 2p for now) 2p then rolls away and we see this journey of this lost 2p until it crashes/meets a bigger sum of money that looks tattered and lost, there is some sort of glare (of course though money can’t glare) and the two coins have some kind of face off. A few moments late the guy/girl gets to the bottom of the hill and sees both coins on the floor, of course we would expect him/her to reach down and pick the penny up that he/she just dropped but the guy/girl grabs the larger some of money and walks off leaving the 2p on the floor, lost and lonely. This is meant to be some kind of sad short and I feel this would be the jist of what would happen. I think that this could work as an idea and I look forward to putting the idea ahead to others.

DepicT! Analysis 2

Enough- Tor Kristoffersen

DepicT! '08 Winner

Looking at this DepicT! Short which won in 2008, I find this to be a really touching yet upsetting a gritty, hard-hitting and shocking short about a man looking back at an incident he witnessed, to later build the courage, go out and threaten the gang leader. With a really interesting twist the man gets stabbed and the gang leader begins to shout “Dad!” This interesting plot twist really makes this short work and at this stage the audience is connected on an emotional level with the man and the son. Looking at the narrative structure of this, I am not sure if it follows the ‘classic realist’ I mean I guess that it could fit If the normality is the man sitting in the arm chair have the flashback of the young lad being beaten up by the gang, the enigma is then the man getting up and preparing himself to go out, the pathway to resolution (in a strange way) could be the walking towards the gang and then the threatening, even thought threatening isn't really resolution and the closure would be the death of the man and the realisation that the gang leader is the man’s son. I feel that explaining the narrative makes it more applicable to fitting loosely around that narrative structure, though I do like the way it is all been planned and shot.

The sound in this short is really powerful as when we see the flashback, only in the flashback shots there is dialogue, when we see the man in his home, it is silent, until the banging of his glass on the table, this silence works really well because I find it to be entrancing to make me listen to the old man’s flashback and why he is so quiet. Up until the first forty-seven seconds (excluding the flashback) there are only minimal ambient noises which once again are placed in nicely to make us connect with the man, at forty-eight seconds we hear music which is supposedly diegetic, but you can’t see where it is coming from, but then it gets louder as the man approaches the gang, as he does the music stops therefore I am unsure whether or not it is supposed to be in the world of the film though I know that it had probably been added on in post production.

When watching this we start with an extreme close-up of a man’s eye shut, we also hear some dialogue of aggressive shouting and the noises of hitting, this is a sound bridge as we then see a shot of a gang beating this young lad, this shot is emphasised to be uncomfortable by the use of a canted angle, this already has us connected to the old man just in the starting two shots. The extreme-close up can be looked at as a sense of suspense, but in this case I will be looking at it as identification, as we are identifying with the man’s thoughts and this shot works. Another way to identify with the character is a point of view shot, the flash back that the man is having can be seen as a point of view shot as obviously that is his flashback and the way he

remembered him. We realise it’s his flashback when we see a shot of him shouting at the gang to stop but they just run away, in this there are a few more shots of canted angles which really make it looks disturbing as they finally kill this young lad. There are other signs of identification with the man as we see many extreme close-ups which force us to enter his personal space and sympathise with him. The title of the short is then cut in after the flashback and then cut back to the man in his home. We further identify with him when we see a photo of a young boy in a school photo, at the time, the audience is unaware who this is (unless they really paid attention) but this gets the audience intrigued to what is about to happen and who the boy is (unless they already figured it out). The main use of extreme close-ups really does get us to identify with the man and the narrative itself as we want to know more as the short plays out.

Looking at the continuity system of the short there are many ways that the editing has been done. This short doesn't break the 180° as we always stick in front of the man once he has left the house and when he approaches the gang. There is also an eye-line match once the man picks up a baton and then looks off screen, the eye-line match is to a photo of a young boy in a school photo. I feel that the rules of the continuity system are stuck to and this is kept quite simple with the use of shot types, by keeping them simple and just in front of the characters all the time.

Moving onto suspense, this links in with the continuity system but instead of the type of edits, the cuts that are used are pieced together with a quick editing pace, this really builds the suspense in the short. Even more so but because a lot of the shots are extreme close-ups, having a quick editing pace really makes the audience edgy as they wonder what is going to happen. Not only that but the use of cross-cuts where we see the old man walking towards the gang and then we have a shot of the gang, this is simultaneously going on as the man finally approaches the gang, the journey from his house to the gangs hangout has an editing pace which slowly increases, I find this to build tension to what he is going to do (above images). The shaky hand-held like camera movement really adds to the atmosphere and nervousness of the man and the audiences interest to what is to come. I also find that the suspense is created with the way that internal framing is used, the mise-en-scene is important too as the knife plays an important role to what happens, coming full circle.

When the man reaches the gang the shots are really shaky and they are shot through pieces of wood (at least that’s what it looks like) I find this to really add suspense as I personally want to see the whole thing and not bits through these gaps in the wood. Finally there is a low angle shot of the man on the floor (stabbed and bleeding out) and the gang leader calls out “Dad!” at this point the audience can process the young boy in the school photo was the gang leader and now the man had lost as the low angle portrays this. At this point in time the audience have connected with the man and now feel sorry for everything that has gone on to realise that it was his son who killed the young lad in the flashback from the beginning. I personally find this a really upsetting short but so emotional and powerful to be done in ninety seconds.

DepicT! Analysis 1

The Day Bob was saved by modern technology- Johan Kramer

DepicT! '02 Shortlist

Firstly I will be looking at ‘The Day Bob was saved by modern technology’ which was made by Johan Kramer. This interesting short is about an old man who has trouble with his motorcycle brakes as they fail, there is then a journey to finally coming to a stop.  The narrative structure of this short is quite simple and fits the ‘classic realist’ narrative structure as it has the normality at the start as he rides the motorcycle, the enigma is created as the brakes fail and then the rest of the short is about the pathway to resolution, this is finally resolves in the closure as his friends hold a mattress up to stop and save him from injuring himself. This narrative structure is enhanced with many features such as building the suspense in the pathway to resolution.

Some techniques of the suspense are demonstrated through the editing pace which speeds up after we see a close-up of Bob realising the brakes have failed as he tries to use them, there is also a car that is broken down and this creates some suspense as it is foreshadowing what is going to later happen to Bob.  Even though there aren't any extreme close-ups to show suspense in the face there are a few close-ups which really showcase what is going on in Bob’s face or even the failure of the brakes but there are mainly medium and long shots that are used and they do the suspense job just as well as we see a range of long and medium shots which are pieced together with a quick editing pace (linking back to the previous paragraph) and this quick pace really works well with the shots. There are also a fair amount of close-ups which are used to add more suspense to the story like the shot of the brakes failing and the close-up of the motorcycle wheel as it spins round showing how fast Bob is really going. Finally I think that the point of view shots really make us connect with Bob as we are put in his view and we can create some emotional identification as we begin to worry whether or not he will be safe. I find all of the techniques really add to the suspense of the short.

To further develop and help us identify with the Bob and the short there are techniques used like the use of a close-up, as I mentioned earlier there are only a few and the main one is used when we see Bob playing around with the brakes to realise they don’t work, not only that but there is a medium shot which zooms into to a kind of close-up of Bob’s face as he realises the brakes are gone, this could also be a reaction shot, as we see how he feels and his expression tells us exactly what his thoughts are about the current situation. There is also a point of view shot after where it Bob quickly looks down this narrow road to see that he can’t come to a stop, this shot gives us more identification with Bob as we are put in his shoes. Back to the reaction shots, there is another in the short as when Bob reaches the two old ladies holding the mattress there is a reaction shot of the women on the left as she sees Bob about to crash into the mattress, this really makes us connect with how these two new characters then feel about the situation.

When we see the start of the short, there are intertitles of the name of the short; there is then a graphic match of Bob riding on his motorcycle as he rides though the ‘O’ in Bob. After this we see Bob ride from right to left and the camera pans to the right and Bob is riding from left to right, this breaks the 180˚ rule (above images). These are parts of the continuity system, as we have various ways to help the audience understand the relation one shot to the next, but as we can see multiple times across the entire short the 180˚ is broken various times and this makes it confusing for the audience, not only that but linking back to suspense I think that this emphasises the issue at hand because there are multiple edits which mismatch maybe creating tension in the dilemma that is about to happen and does happen.


A further aspect of the continuity system is the way that establishing shots are used; at the start I would class that as an establishing shot (after the graphic match) as we see this old man riding his motorcycle calmly which is rode off screen, there is then a re-establishing shot when Bob reaching a cross-road and this is when we first start or pathway to resolution and this sets where Bob is and the two cars that he has just encountered and had to make brake (it’s a good thing both cars brakes work) I would say in my opinion they are the only two establishing shots in the short as most other shots don’t set the scene or anything, as the use of the long shots piece nicely together without confusion or need for re-establishing shots.

Not only this but I find that sound is very important in this short, especially the bell as we repeatedly hear the ringing as Bob tries to get people to move out of the way; no dialogue is spoken in this entire short and the bell is a brilliant way of trying to be the shouting or distress that Bob would be saying if there was dialogue. Not only that, but there are various ambient noises as he rides around, like the car horns and the band that play, though when we first hear the band they aren't on screen, this is a sound bridge as we then later move onto the visuals of the band playing. Across the whole short there is the overriding sound of the motorcycle engine with has probably been enhanced in post-production, this is the main sound element that is heard. To finally conclude it all when Bob is finally saved there is a tweeting of a bird which makes things seem more uplifting and positive that he has just been saved and things are better.

DepicT! Winners!

After watching all of the DepicT! shortlist for 2012 I had chosen my own personal favourites with the one that I wanted to win and then two runner ups. As my winner, I found Sun by Paul Hill to be the one I found as my favourite, this was for multiple reasons; Starting with the fact that this is quite a comical short as the sun is having fun burning everything up until it comes across a person who then has to run away as we have this little chase kind of scene. Alongside this I find the music to be really well done on how it is incidental and really emphasises the whole shorts atmosphere and the quirkiness of the sun having fun by burning things.

My runner up was the short by Chintan Gohil, A Thing which is a short about a craftsman making one of these things in less than ninety seconds. The whole idea of just watching this being created is the most fascinating and I like the use of close-ups though the entire short and we never see who the craftsman actually is. I think the process of tools that are used is really different as this isn't seen much in day to day life (unless of course you are a craftsman) but realistically watching this be done is so fantastic and the fact it is done in less than ninety seconds makes it ten times more brilliant, this was a close tie with The Sun but I found this to be the runner up which it totally deserved in my opinion.

Finally, my second runner up was Kurent which was made by Luka Bajt & Sarah Frimann Conradsen. I chose this as my second runner up as the way the story was based on an Slovenian folklore and how it had been turned into this creative piece about the change from winter to spring, I really like how the characters were both different as we had this realistic 'monster' and then an elegant woman who danced and flew around. I think that the music really fitted the characters as it changed the adapted and this is why I chose it as my second runner up.

I am happy with all three choices and I feel that they deserve to be chosen even though there are many different approaches to creating a ninety second short. I have found all of the 2013 shortlist to be inspiring to me and I am glad that I have watched all the entries.