JI: Evaluation 6

Blog

• We began the whole production by setting up our own blog which we used the website http://www.blogger.com/ to create.
  





• This gave us a forum format where we could upload and brainstorm our ideas through posts of text, images or videos which we had seen which inspired us and sparked any good ideas.
  





• It allowed us to interact with each other about our ideas and thoughts without having to meet up and work collaboratively.
  





• It meant we were able to see our other group member’s work and their research they had done to give the other person ideas to follow on from.
  





• It also meant the public could follow us and see the progress and work we had done from the beginning.

Filming

• Before we started filming our opening we shot a preliminary task within our school, just to get a feel for the cameras and help us explore the different shots we could produce.
  

• It also gave Luca an idea of how it would be like acting for our footage, and me working with the camera.

• We also went on a location recce to the Sevenoaks Amateur Boxing club to have a look at it and see if it was appropriate for what we wanted to shoot and how it would look, although we didn’t do any filming, we took still images to give us a good visual idea.
  





• Straight away we thought it was perfect for our urban boxing style film.

• After our location recce we felt we were ready to start filming.





• To film our opening we used a 1080p HD digital camcorder as well as a tripod so we could create smooth and steady shots for example, tracking shots when running in the training montage.
  





• Although, we did use handy cam to shoot some shots like the POV shot from to antagonist against Luca, to gain the rough, fast pace action to the audience like in a boxing ring.

• When shooting the footage we had to experiment a bit at first to get some ideas of the best angles to shoot at where the framing would be most suitable.
  





• Also we shot most scenes more than once to allow us to gain the best quality footage, and give us the leniency to cut and chop the footage.
  





• We were able to shoot each shot and then watch it over again, which was very helpful as it allowed the pair of us to evaluate it and collaborate our ideas to try and capture the best footage.

• We experimented with different angles, and repeated footage we liked from a different frame to capture the best possible footage, which we could choose when editing.
  





• We changed about the framing of different shots from close-ups to long shots throughout to give it a feel of a different time frame throughout the montage.

• The majority of our filming was shot inside so we had no real trouble with the lighting and balance, especially when filming in black and white.
  





• We didn’t want it to be to bright as we were trying to create an urban type feel to represent the characters background.

• We didn’t experience any major problems during our shooting apart from occasionally the other public users of the gym where we were at.
  





• At the start we felt this would be a problem, trying to integrate our filming around them, however as we started to film, we felt the disruption of characters behind the focus shot would give it a more real life type feeling, and also give the audience a feel for what it’s like to be around during intense training.

Editing

We firstly exported all of our footage from the DV camera into the Premiere Software where we would edit all of the footage. We put all of our footage into the correct order to begin with to give us the idea of how the story line would flow, from there we then looked through all the footage, and picked the best, most appropriate footage we felt we were going to use, and deleted the shots which didn’t work. This was the great advantage filming more than needed footage, as if something didn’t go quite right we could delete it and compensate with another shot.

We used the fade special effect quite a few times within our opening to gain the transition like when Luca walked out the door into what the audience think will be a fight, although it changes into a white fade then to a quote with a black wash background, which was appropriate for our opening and from one of the most prolific boxers ever lived. We also used the fade special effect for the introduction of all the titles.

• Another we used while editing was the time stretch tool, this allowed the footage to be the same, however look like it is slow motion. This was used twice through our opening, once when the trainer was putting on the boxing glove, and secondly our final shot where the boxer is training in the ring reflecting the elegance of the sport.

A transition which I personally like the best, and was an idea from the start is the transition between the door slamming to a close-up of the punch bag being hit. I feel it works great with the transition flowing well and the digetic sound of the slamming of the door to the punch, which dominates over the top of the soundtrack. It’s a section where the tempo of the music changes as well which builds up the high intensity of the montage training programme.

Another effect we used was during the POV of the fight within the boxing ring, once the opponent gets knocked down by Luca we used the blurred effect to give the idea that the boxer was dazed by the knockout punch, along with the heartbeat to add the concentration of the focused character.

Exporting

We exported the footage through Adobe Premiere Elements as a video file, and then uploaded the piece to YouTube, from where we where able to embed it onto the blog.

Production Process

I believe our production process would be very similar to that of a real film however obviously to a much smaller scale. We followed the stages of making a film, with starting with some research into films of our similar genre, and the conventions they used to make their films iconic. We also carried out audience research to gain views from the target audience, so we could produce an opening which would appeal to the audience. Finally we edited our footage, which is something all films would do during the production method, so in general we stuck to the main process.

On the other hand there obviously were some major differences including recourses of the actors, location and equipment, and fundamentally the budget available. Also experience within making a film, as for me this was my first ever experience filming any film footage of any kind.

The soundtrack we used in our film opening was from Copyright free school resource music called 'Uplifting strings'. Previous to this though we had looked at the website http://www.freesound.org/ however the sounds available on this we felt didn't fit to our style of opening.

In conclusion obviously our film openings will not be to the very top standard of any box office premieres nowadays in the market; however I feel our group have produced an interesting film opening which touches the audience and engages them into the footage, and wanting to see more.