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The Pre-Production Process - Requirements for a Moving Image Production

The Pre-Production Process

Types of moving image production

Our assignment required us to create a 90 second short film for Depict! Competition. My partner and I decided to create our short film based on the idea of domestic abuse, shown through a relationship between a male and a female. We wanted to explore the idea creatively and intellectually, therefore we decided to create a short contemporary dance showing physical abuse. We used instrumental cello music that we found on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akOTFXXV70s) to help us highlight the aggressive movements. We had decided to use black paint and metal chains as our props to help us visually show the audience the effects of traumatising physical abuse being spread onto an individual emotionally and physically, chains connoting a cage that the victim can’t get out of. Through our short film we wanted to get a message across to the public about violence and how it affects both females and males who are often forgotten. We distributed our Depict! Video on YouTube.

Distribution is ‘the link between the public and the filmmaker’ delivery of digital media content, such as audio, videos and movies. (http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/distribution.html)

A moving image is a form of entertainment that enacts a story by sound and a sequence of images giving the illusion of continuous movement. A moving image can be literally anything from a two-hour long film to a six second vine video, also including television shows and adverts. As long as there is a moving visual element present to the product it is considered/classed to be a moving image media product.

There are many different ways to distribute your product in the media industry. One of the methods is physically going to a distributor and getting a deal and depending on what your product is (short film, advertisement or a feature length film) will depend on how the distributor decides to distribute your product to the public. When releasing short films, they’re most commonly presented at festivals and markets around the world in attempt to sell it to television and other companies that show short films. (http://www.thefilmnetwork.co.uk/) When releasing a feature length film, the distributor is going to handle the theatrical release of a film (in a particular country) as well as the marketing for home viewing, such as DVD, television, video-on-demand, online viewing etc.

Another way to distribute your product would be to do it yourself which is called self-distribution. Self-distribution is done by the person who created the media themselves, this could be done by uploading their product to YouTube, Vimeo etc. This is most commonly done with video clips and sometimes with short films which allows anyone to view them across the globe with an internet connection. By self-distributing their product the creator can keep all the rights to their media product. However, self-distribution has its own flaws such as the creator will have limited options where the product will be shown and the chances to sell the product to bigger companies will decrease to a minimum, because the established distributors have more expected connections to buyers.

Online distribution is the easiest way to distribute short films. Websites such as:

YouTube (www.youtube.com)

Guardian Unlimited: Cybercinema (http://www.film.guardian.co.uk/cybercinema)

Facebook (www.facebook.com)

Vimeo (www.vimeo.com)

ITunes (www.itunes.apple.com) (http://www.apple.com/uk/itunes/)

Netflix (www.netflix.co.uk)

Finance and source of funding

There are a million and one way in which a creator is able to get funding for their product. The first and the quickest way is self-funding. Self-funding is where the creator/s fund for their own production out of their own money, which are commonly known as low budget productions. Examples of low budget films are Clerks 1994, The Blair Witch Project 1999 and Primer 2004.

All of these movies were funded by the creators with their own money/savings.

(https://www.ukcfa.org.uk/) Crowfunding is another way to get funding. Crowfunding allows the creators to ask a large group of people on the internet to fund their project (usually a small amount of money to support their work). There are 3 main types of crowd funding, which include donations/rewards, debt and equity. Donation/reward based Crowfunding is a programme where people donate small amounts of money to the project in exchange for a reward. The rewards typically include things like a copy of the product that they donated for, recognition, advertisement or a small gift from the creator/s. However, many of the donators do not expect anything in return. Debt Crowfunding is where the investigator gets their money back after the project is completed, commonly with interest on top. Equity Crowfunding is quite different to the rest. The investor gives a large amount of money to the creator/s in return for a small piece of equity within the project (the quality of being fair and impartial). Equity funding is commonly used to fund bigger projects such as movies.
Another way to gain funding for a project would be product placement. Product placement is “an agreement between the creator/s and a media company. In which the company receives economic benefit.

Product placement is a fast growing multi-billion-dollar industry, which can be a cost-effective method to gain funding.  Big brands like Pepsi, Coke, Pizza Hut, Reebok, Adidas etc. frequently sign contracts with well-known creators. Product placement is rarely seen in independent projects as there is no guarantee that the project will gain a lot of views. Musicians also get the opportunities to work with brands, Lady Gaga’s 9-minute music video Telephone featuring Beyoncé is tormented with product placements (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ95z6ywcBY), including Coca Cola – seen in the scene where Gaga curls her hair using Diet Coke cans, Polaroid – spotted in the scene with Beyoncé and Gaga in the car. (https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/product-placement-examples#sm.0000m8v119y4hd1usot28h76tdi90)

Requirements for any production

Below is a list of what the budget will be used for:

Director/s: A director is vital for any creative production. Directors create and organise the project, in addition to providing the key ideas to a project. There are several types of directors creating varying pay. The Directors Guild of America is an entertainment guild which takes interest of different television and film directors in order to get them more noticed or to increase their pay. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directors_Guild_of_America)  

A director who works within The Directors Guild of America earn their pay purely based on the type of production, usually directors can earn a minimum of $16,800 per week for a film that is scheduled for at least ten weeks of work. Those directors working on a short paid budget earn roughly $ 11,791 a week (http://work.chron.com/much-money-film-director-make-7811.html) Lastly, a film-director who is an A-list director is guaranteed to earn between $5 to $10 million per project. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_budgeting)

Well known directors earn immense amounts of money due to their working history, knowledge and understanding in filming. Due to successful career, directors such as Steven Spielberg who earns $1,923,100 weekly and Tim Burton who earns $1,019,230 weekly are highly popular in the creative industry. (http://www.paywizard.org/main/salary/vip-check/movie-directors) Jeff Davis who is as an American writer and television producer, best known for creating CBS crime drama Criminal Minds and MTV’s Teen Wolf series earns between $59,000 and $246,000.

Producers: Producers are also crucial when working on a creative project. Both executive producers and film producers earn a seven-figure salary, on top of their main pay they also receive bonuses and a share from the profits made on the production.

Cast: Depending on the actor’s background and based on their popularity and knowledge of the creative industry, the payment will vary within the production. Most of the time the cast are usually paid by an Actors Guild (An Actors Guild is a labor union which represents television and film principal and the background of actors worldwide). The average pay of an actor is known to be around £12,700 onwards.(http://www.payscale.com/research/UK/All_Actors_%2F_Actresses/Salary)

However, some actors can earn more based on their history and talent. Leonardo DiCaprio is known to earn around $27 million, Brad Pitt now earns around $31.5 million, Johnny Depp approximately earns $48 million and the world’s highest-paid actor at the moment is Dwayne Johnson earning $64 million. 

Extras on a film who belong to a union car earn up to $130 a day topping that up with extra pay for overtime or for providing their own wardrobe. However, if an extra doesn’t belong to a union or is working on a low-budget production, in that case they will be payed less or not at all. Many people volunteer for free to be an extra in project for experience and possible future opportunities.

Music: If and when music is used in a production, and if the production requires an original piece of music, the composer commonly will earn a seven-figure salary. If the production requires a piece of music that already exists, the artist will be contacted to ask for the rights to their song/music (permission to use their creative product in the project) in return for publicity and a small fee.

Production cost: Production costs are a necessity of making a film. Crew wages, production design, costumes, props, live set and studios, catering, transportation, travel, hotel and accommodation all come under production. Depending on how large or small the project is the costs will vary. The highest paid crew member usually earns between $500,00 to $ 1 million - who are most often the directors of photography.

Visual Effects: Visual effects are anything that is created using the power of computers during the post-production period – known as generated imagery. The cost will always depend on how much work needs to be done digitally. Films such as The Lord of the Rings and Avatar are easily cost up to $100 million just on its visual effects. This is a very time consuming process and a challenging part of the post-production as it is rather difficult to maintain high quality graphics as well as making the image move.

Filming Equipment: Filming equipment is an essential when creating a moving image production. Depending on the project, the costs will vary based on the equipment required for the production. Low budget productions may only need a handheld camera whereas a franchise production will require several cameras, tripods, mics, editing, lights etc. The prices can start from  $50900 to $1018000 (http://www.desktop-documentaries.com/video-production-equipment.html)

When creating our Depict! Production, we worked on a low-budget. We were required to buy acrylic paint out of our money which only came to £3. The costumes were brought from home to save spending money on new clothes. We borrowed the chains from the college as our prop. We had the privilege to borrow the filming equipment from the college. Camera’s, tripods and SD cards were borrowed for the making of our production. We used an accessible outdoor environment, close to college to shoot our video meaning we didn’t have to worry about travel costs and catering. Overall our project was extremely cheap which allowed us to maintain and stick to a low budget.

Personnel

Crew: A low budget production mostly focuses on hiring a skeleton crew – a skeleton crew is the team that is stripped down to the bare essential crew members. (http://www.indiewire.com/2013/09/the-5-people-filmmakers-need-for-a-tiny-skeleton-crew-34424/)  Regularly used to save money in production.  The skeleton crew does not include the director/s or producer/s as they’re the main members on any film crew.
The top five best skeleton crew members include: a director of photography, a production assistant, gaffe/grip, a make-up artist/hair dresser and a location sound recordist.

A director of photography creates the film’s visual identity by working closely with the director, the light department and the camera crew. They oversee all aspects of the filming process – re-watching any footage, ordering and supervision of the equipment and sorting out recces.

A production assistant is there to help the rest of the crew by doing anything. Anything literally means anything from taking the crew or the equipment used to where they need to be and when to simply getting coffee/tea/water to those in need.  A production assistant’s actions will depend on the budget of the production.

Gaffe/grip are the head electrician who are responsible for the lighting plan and rarely they get a chance to design the plan.

A make-up/hair dresser applies make-up and styles hair for all of the actors and extras. Their other task is to research what the most popular looks fashion wise and make-up wise were in the period of the film is set, in addition they design the looks for each character to match the period and the character’s personality. While filming the make-up artist and the hair stylist stand on set to make sure they’re ready to do touch ups to both make-up and hair styles during each take.


Crew: Hollywood feature film: the most important crew members are the director and the producer. The role of a director could vary depending on the project, however they’re usually the ones with all of the creative control from start to finish. The producer has many different aspects and each one is most likely to be different. In the creative industry the producer is known as somebody where the buck stops on money, the team, organisation and rights. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/#roles)

One other main crew member for a feature film is a script/continuity supervisor who makes everything important continued throughout the film and the consistency in each shot.

Crew: A television programme: Requires a lot more people to produce a television programme.

A television producer is compulsory as they’re in charge of the finance, administrative, legal, technological and artistic aspects of the production. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_crew)
A head writer is also a crucial member of the crew as they provide and supervise all of the writing crew. If there is no head writer on a production, the role falls down to the executive producer.  There is also a floor manager who keeps everyone on schedule by giving them instruction, directions or deadlines to other crew members or cast. A title sequence designer is needed in the post-production who are responsible for making the title sequence of the programme which appear at the start.

Working on Depict!: When working with Caitlin on our Depict! Project we divided the paperwork equally, so we both had roughly the same amount of work to do, we did however, help each other out if we were stuck on something or were unsure on how to do the task. We worked together on completing the storyboards as we thought that was the most time consuming task on the pre-production list. I drew the pictures and Caitlin wrote details about the shots. We double checked everything for each other to make sure that the paperwork was completed properly and with quality. Once the paperwork was completed we put it all together.
We had to film our video twice (see the evaluation of the video). However, this gave both Caitlin and I the opportunity to work with the camera and experience the filming process.
Caitlin and I edited the video together which allowed both of us to include our ideas and to improve our editing skills. We did ask our teacher, Carl, for some supervision when editing and neither of us did it before.

Cast/other contributors: There are many cast members within the production, in front of the camera and behind the scenes. Often extras may be used within the television show or a film production to fill a scene – making it naturalistic. Street scene often use extras to make the environment look usual and busy. Some productions often require stunt performers, who are used to perform dangerous action scenes. Stunt performers are always very experienced individuals who know exactly what they’re doing and how the actions need to be done in order for them to look naturalistic. Stunt crew perform scenes where a lot of physical activity is required, for instance climbing and jumping on building rooftops, fight scenes and motor biking. There is also always somebody who is responsible for all the props on set. The individual provides and makes sure the props are correct and safe to use. Having this extra person helps the production to be well organised and prepared, making the production run smoothly.

Time

We were given six weeks to complete our Depict! Project, including pre-production, production and post-production.  Caitlin and I spent the first two weeks only working on our pre-production paperwork to make sure everything was done before we went out filming. We had to complete risk assessment and budgeting which cannot be done post-production. Due to our chosen location being outdoors, we were restricted to filming due to bad weather, however when we couldn’t go out and film we went over our paperwork to see if anything could be improved. On the last week of this unit we concentrated on editing our video, leaving us with enough time to experiment with the editing software and complete the credits at the end of our video.

When working in the creative industry it is highly important that all of the deadlines are met otherwise it could leave to negative effects on the productions such as money and crew loss. This is why a line producer is a very important member within the crew as they ensure that all of the filming is on schedule and doesn’t clash with anything else.
When deadlines are not met, there is a high risk of funding loss from sponsors which can lead the creator into debt, therefore the project may never be released.
Caitlin and I worked hard to make sure we met all of the deadlines in class. Regardless of the fact we had to film our video twice which caused us some time loss, however, we successfully caught up and submitted everything on time.

Equipment/Facilities

There are a lot of equipment and facilities that are essential to have when creating a moving image production.

Camera: A camera is needed to film the visual aspects of the film. Different angles and heights are used to cover all aspects of the moving image. There is a wide range of different camera lenses and camera bodies that can be used, all depending on the budget of the production.

Lighting: Lighting is crucial when making a film, the creators will want the audience to be able to see the moving image. The lighting sets the mood and the atmosphere of a scene. The lighting is usually matched to the type of the scene and set used. For example, if the scene in set midday, the lighting would be quite bright, however, if it’s a low budget production, natural lighting will be used to save money.  

Transport: Transport is important as it allows the crew member to get to set and filming studios. Without transport, the crew members and the cast may not be able to get to a location meaning they will be absent during the filming which can cause production delays.

Accommodation: Accommodation is also important as it provides the crew members and the cast somewhere to live during the production as most of the time filming takes places in different locations, meaning not many people will be able to stay at their homes. This will increase reliability of the crew as they will be able to attend the filming.

Props and costumes: Props and costumes are important types of equipment when filming. Costumes often are used to create the character and their profile, also to set the scene, for instance if it’s winter season you wouldn’t see the characters dressed in beach wear – unless it’s done for comedic effect. Providing costumes to cast allows continuity throughout the scene/s/film. Moreover, props are also very important at they may set the scene or hold significance in the scene/throughout production.

Caitlin and I gained the access to the equipment at the AV room at college which allowed us to borrow cameras, tripods and SD cards which we then returned back to the AV room after finishing our filming. We also have the access to the costume cupboard at college where we were able to find the appropriate props for our production. We borrow the chains which held important significance in our production.  

Locations

Caitlin and I decided to film our Depict! Video in a public forest near college. We agreed that the forest will fit our story and that it would add a closed atmosphere to the scenes that we shoot. We went on a walk around the forest to explore different locations and to find a spot that we suit us the best. At first we said that we would film in 3 different locations around the forest, however we ended up filming in one section of the forest as it had the most space and was easier access. We took pictures of the locations that we included in our location recce.

A location recce is a form that must get filled out if the creators wish to film on a private property or a public place by the person who owns the land. By signing the form, the owner provides legal permission to use the location. Taking pictures of the locations helps the crew to identify any hazards or issues within the chosen location. Photographs of the locations also help with planning the project around the location/s.

After deciding that we would like to film in a forest, Caitlin and I did some research online to find the closest and most appropriate area for us. Whilst doing the research, we found a public forest in walking distance from college which was convenient for everyone who was involved in our production. We believe that the location that we chose worked well for our story and our dance piece as it gave us a big enough amount of space to move in, not forgetting that it allowed us to work with different height levels by using the trees. Basing our production on domestic violence, the forest helped us to create the feeling of no escape.

We then assessed the locations and filled out a risk assessment which identified the possible risks that could occur whilst filming. We risk assessed things such as slippery surfaces and uneven grounds which can possibly cause physical damage to the crew members. Filling out a risk assessment helped us to have an action plan if any of the risks were to occur throughout our filming.

Materials

A lot of equipment is required when creating a moving image production. As well as cameras, cast, crew etc. additional materials are required, such as costumes and props. A prop, also known as property, is an object used on screen by actors during the screen production. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theatrical_property)

Many props are used within the production that signify the story or create different action for the actors to perform during a scene, for example, using a notebook and a pen to write a letter. Props are very important as they allow the story to develop. As well as props, costumes are another very important material that are used within the industry. Costumes help to create a character and their characteristics and mannerisms. Costumes are also known as “set of clothes typical of a particular country or period, or suitable for a particular activity”  (http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/costume)

Costumes help to highlight the personalities and often identify the characters seen on screen or theatre, for example if an actor is wearing a sailor uniform it instantly tell the audience who they are. However, budgeting should be considered when purchasing props and costumes. Low budget productions often can’t afford to buy specific and expensive props or costumes therefore they have to use what they already have or can borrow from somebody, for example, The Blair Witch Project cast used their own wardrobes from home. In contrast to this, Hollywood productions may use a big fashion designer to create costumes and a prop/set designer to create something specific for the production.

For our production we used our own clothes to stay on a budget as well as borrowing props from college.

Legal Issues

Whenever anything is created by someone they automatically have the copyright protection, anything from a simple photo to a two-hour movie. The creator doesn’t have to apply for the protection as long as they put the copyright symbol within their name and the year the product was created.
Having the copyright protection prevents people from taking the creators work and claiming it as their own, making copies without a fee and selling the product to the public. The creator with a copyright protection has the right by law to sue the person who is claiming the work as their own. Copyright protection lasts a certain duration depending on the type of product, once the copyright has ended, anybody is allowed to copy the work. Copyright protection for big movies commonly last 70 years after the death of the director whereas the music and sounds are only protected for 70 years after it’s been published. (https://www.gov.uk/copyright/how-long-copyright-lasts)

When creating our Depict! Copyright had a slight effect on our final product, as we were not allowed to use any type of music that was not copyright free. We were able to find a copyright free music websites on which we unfortunately couldn’t find any music that would suit our ideas. However, we found a really nice piece of cello music that we used in our video on YouTube.

·         
Clearance: The ability to produce copies of a product such as musical, moving image, or artistic work. This is protected for a certain amount of years. (http://dictionary.reverso.net/english-definition/copyright%20clearance)

·         
Public liability insurance: This covers any costs of claims which are made against an individual’s business, such as a moving image product. (https://www.moneysupermarket.com/business-insurance/public-liability/faqs/)

·         
Completion guarantee/insurance: This is a form of insurance which is used for moving image products to ensure they are produced and delivered on time. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Completion_guarantee)

Regulation

A regulatory body is a professional organisation that protects the public by enforcing security, conditions and restrictions on products. (http://www.totalprofessions.com/more-about-professions/regulatory-bodies) (http://www.totalprofessions.com/more-about-professions/regulatory-bodies)

OFCOM ensures that products are protected from scams, as well as regulating TV, radio and video sectors. (https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/what-is-ofcom)

The BBC is regulated by OFT, also known as the Office of Fair Trading which “protect consumer interests throughout the UK” (https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/office-of-fair-trading)  The BBFC certifies film ages, allowing films to be censored for certain ages.
Most videos posted on social media do not have to be regulated, unless someone feels that the content presented is not acceptable to be viewed by all audiences. The creator (or who posted the content) may be asked to remove their product or to be censored.
Some TV programmes or series are often age restricted because of their content therefore only certain audiences can view it. On Demand services regulate their programmes by having age restrictions, over 18’ can only sign up and view specific programmes.

Trade unions and trade associations

In order for people to be able to get the best wage possible, there are trades unions organisations which help people work to the best of their ability. They also help people to get the best out of their job (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_union). It is really important in the creative industry for there to be a trading organisation as it allows for discrimination not to happen as well as the workers not to be treated unfairly. The trade association would promote a production by creating a variety of publicity including merchandise, interviews and advertisements to increase the number of audience. BECTU and PACT help to promote health and safety within film and TV and are agencies located within the trade union.

Bibliography

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http://encounters-festival.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/DepicT-Logo-300x144.jpg

Depict! Video Evaluation

Our Depict! project was revolved around abusive relationships. Caitlin and I decided to expose the abuse through the use of contemporary dance. We also decided to use black acrylic paint as a prop to show the spreading of physical abuse and emotional damage. We picked an instrumental music which allowed us to creatively think of aggressive and dominant movements. The choice of music also allowed us to show and create an intense and suspenseful mood and atmosphere in the relationship between the female and the male. 

I'd like to believe that the continuity throughout our video worked pretty well. Each clips streamed smoothly to the next which created continues transitions. As well as continuity, I think the dance sequences worked very well however some improvement and development could be done. We tried to include variety of different angles and heights in our shots (following our shot list) in order to capture the emotions and the dance sequences from variety of angles and points of view. However, I think we could have experimented with shots a lot more to create a more imaginative and creative clips. The use of the chains within the dance sequences worked a lot better than we expected, as well as the black paint which created an eye catching view.  We used the black paint to represent pain and suffering both physically and emotionally, which was spread across the female’s body by the male throughout the video. Moreover, I think that added a motivating element to our video which makes it stand out from the rest. 

Caitlin and I worked incredibly well together, we had full confidence in expressing and sharing our ideas to each other which led us to working at a productive pace.  We shared the duties evenly and fairly within our Depict! project. I completed the risk assessment, shot list and the talent releases, as well as the story board which took me quite some time to complete. Caitlin took the responsibility to complete the prop/costume list, pre-production schedule, location recce, initial ideas proposal and the budgeting list.

We had to film the video twice. First time Caitlin took the role of filming and I participated in the dance, however, we were given the wrong cameras which resulted in clips being in bad quality. I took the responsibility of filming the 2nd time and Caitlin participated within the dance. Throughout filming we both discussed which clips to keep and which ones to re-film.

Caitlin and I decided to edit the video together as that would allow both of us to develop our editing skills and to become familiar with Pro CC. As well as that, we both had the chance to participate in including our ideas into the editing of the video. We decided to add little facts about domestic abuse at the end of our video to make the people who decide to watch our video aware of statistics.

If we had another chance to improve out Depict! video, I would make sure to develop the dance sequences and separate movements into more complex and abstract routines. Furthermore, I would also like to spend more time preparing the shot list and think of creative ways to capture the dance. I'd like to spend more time filming as we had to rush due to the weather - rain and cold wind.

I think that Caitlin and I created a rather interesting piece of which not many people would have thought.

Lastly, I think our video withholds a very important message which the viewers can think about after watching our video. Caitlin and I worked extremely close and productive together and considered one another's ideas. 

Depict! Video

Pre Production Paper Work

Depict Research

"Nati" by Daniel Chisholm 

http://www.depict.org/2014/nati/?category_request=2014

In this video a 91 year old Italian man - Nati, cuts an old olive tree to then make a new plant. The audience becomes familiar with his background and his views on life as he reflects back on his life in 90 seconds. This video contains match on action shots, wide angle shots as well as close up shots. Through the use of match on action shots and wide angle shots we become familiar with the location and the surroundings. This video also includes diegetic and non-diegetic sounds  such as voice over and the dialogue. The voice over is spoken in a different language therefore, the video includes English subtitles at the bottom. Even though the man was aware that he was being filmed, none of his actions looked staged or scripted.
I really liked this video as it gave me some topics to think about.

"The Peace of Wild Things" by Adam DJ Laity

http://www.depict.org/2014/the-peace-of-wild-things/

Autobiographical 90 seconds video that follows a man's journey into nature. This video is in black-and-white,however, it doesn't stop me from seeing the beauty in every shot. Absolutely stunning cinematography that makes you appreciate your surroundings and everyday of your life. The poem that we hear as a voice over is beautifully composed and read by Wendell Berry. The close up shot of the man's face towards the end of the video allows the audience to see his emotions. The time lapse at the end of the video that captured shadows created by clouds on mountains was very effective as it allowed the audience to reflect back on the words spoken in the poem.

"A2042" by David Castro Gonzalez
http://www.depict.org/2015/a2042/?doing_wp_cron=1476805581.1244480609893798828125

Incredibly overwhelming video of a middle aged man having a panic attack in the streets overnight. The sound effects of breathing and heart beating intensifies the image seen on the screen. The first thing we see is a close up shot of a man's face which highlights and allows us to see his emotions. As the video progresses the camera slowly zooms out which reveals the man's identity and locations - he is a police man sat on the floor leaning against the wall. As the camera continues to zoom out, we are exposed to what is happening around the corner - broken glass on the floor, a knocked over rubbish bin, blue and red lights which are clearly coming from the police cars because we are now also introduced to a new sound which is a siren, we also see people running around which connotes that this is a crime scene. 

This video opens the audiences eyes to the fact that regardless of what our training was or is, the fear of death is always going to be a major mystery.

The Blair With Project (1999) Low Budget Filmmaking

  

There are several elements of low budget filmmaking evident in "The Blair Witch Project".

These include; 

1. Main characters were played by non famous actors.
2. Footage was filmed by the actors from their point of view.
3. No professional equipment used - the cameras were hand held.
4. The footage was filmed in a documentary style.
5. The set was very simple - available locations were used - nothing was built specially for the film.
6. There are a lot of unnecessary shots included - ground, walls.
7. Simple editing - blunt cuts and no special effects.
8. Dialogue doesn't seem to be scripted - actors had a rough idea of what they had to say, however not all of it was scripted.
9. There are no sounds effects nor any presents of diegetic or non diegetic music.
10. Costumes are regular everyday clothes such as jumpers, jeans and boots - possibly actors own clothes. 
11. There were no signs of light or sound crew.

After doing my research on this film, I found out that the script was only a 35-page outline as the writers wanted the actors to improvise their dialogue in order to make the story more realistic and believable.

Due to no written dialogue the actors had to use a 'code' word for when they wanted to speak out of character - the code was "taco."

The actors filmed nineteen hours of footage in total which had to be then cut and edited down to ninety minutes.

Only one of the actors continued working in the industry as a full time actor. 

Induction Task - Change of Hands (Evaluation)

Even though my group had some difficulties working as a team whilst filming, I think that our final piece isn't that bad. 

Coming up with the story line and ideas created tension within the group. Sebastian and Lauren were absent in the first lesson, leaving Caitlin, Leah and I to draft ideas for the story line. Leah wasn't as focused and helpful in this session and was concentrating on other things during this lesson which left Caitlin and I to come up with the ideas. 

Caitlin and I came up with the idea of gay relationships and how people get treated because of their sexuality. 

In our 2nd lesson, Caitlin was absent, however everyone else was here. Sebastian, Lauren and Leah decided to change the idea because they thought that it would be difficult to portray the characters.
Sebastian wanted to create a comedy sketch that involved superheros and villains. As we didn't have an actual plan for this idea, we struggled to film.

Leah and I were absent on 3rd lessons, therefore I wasn't able to contribute in this lesson. I asked my group what they were up to that lesson and they explained to me what they did.

4th lesson Sebastian was absent and he had all of the footage that been shot in the 3rd lesson leaving us with nothing to do. We then decided to go back to the original idea - gay relationships, and preceded to film. We managed to film everything that we needed in that one lesson.

In our 5th lesson we started editing. We cut the videos to how we wanted them and put them in chronological order. In the 6th lesson we finished editing and uploaded the video onto YouTube.

Continuity flowed quite well throughout our final piece. However, the bits that didn't work so well were the 2 shots where the 'gang' walks through the door - they took a while to start walking. Another section that didn't work was where Caitlin and I were walking down the corridor and James was pointing at us.

Lastly, I believe considering all the stress that our group went through, we ended up with a decent final piece. 

Photo Connotation Exercise