Final Evaluation CHIPS [[Charlea]]

How successfully have you used digital technology?
In my advanced portfolio I have learnt many new areas and skills since my foundation….
 The main one-----Final Cut Pro.
(In my foundation portfolio we used a combination of both).
(Our main one being I movie).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxwHP3Ogakg
 Using Final Cut Pro has broadened my editing skills, with a more advanced programme. (In our last production Imovie had alot more limitation on what we were able to do, so when we switched to Final cut pro we were able to sort out the continuity and lighting errors I had before in my foundation portfolio)
 Learnt how to sort out contrast and lighting differences within the scenes
(Created continuity errors because of the back lighting, I didn't know how to do this in my foundation which meant it would get darker and lighter throughout the film.)
 Used the brightness and contrast tool bar in the video effects section.

 Another thing---using Final Cut Pro-----voice-over and import non-diegetic sound.(This is something I did not use in my foundation portfolio, which meant that i learnt alot from the process and am now capable of adding non-diegetic sound tracks into films)
 I’ve learnt how to produce different styles of films and not just having diegetic sound, I've also learnt to create a sound bridge so the clips run into each other smoothly, and also have non-diegetic sound as the main drive for the story.

 I developed my skills in transitions between the shots-----The transitions were rough in the foundation portfolio-----didn’t run as smoothly as they should have----Only uses straight cuts, this caused continuity errors, we also didn't include an establishing shot in out foundation for a more restricted narration).

 In my advanced----(The transitions)----they run a lot smoother----add to the action that is happening---mix of cross-dissolve and straight cuts. We also included an establishing shot so the audience could really take in the setting of the film, we still managed to include restricted narration. The cross-dissolve added to the action as it made time pass alot slower)

 Also----(Developing skills further)-----learnt to sound bridge.
(The sound clip of the cars was repeated throughout the film causing the scenes to link together).

 In the advanced portfolio I was able to increase my blogging skills.

 Videos/Video Bars (This was something i was unable to do in my foundation portfolio, so having them in the blog now and also the web links means that my group can productively research, quicker and easier)
 Web links. (having them inside the actual text, means i can support the message i am trying to get across to the targeted demographic, it also means the group will be able to get feedback a lot faster and more direct).
 Put pictures into to actual blog text instead of adding them as a gadget.
(Successful in making my work neater and more organised).
(In the foundation portfolio i was unable to put the pictures with the text, the only way i could do it was by adding them as separate gadgets at the bottom on the screen. This meant that our pictures looked random and disconnected because they were not directly linked to the text)

Equipment
--Reflector (We used this to reflect shadows off our actors faces, In my foundation we only used a Red heads and defusers, being outside we were unable to do that. So the reflector is a new skill i have picked up as last year i didn't even know what it was let alone how to use it)
--Still Camera (This year the amount of photo's we have compared to last year, you wouldn't have even thought we brought a stills along with us, I've learnt it's a good way of documenting your progress.
--Video Camera
--Big torch (I have not used this in my foundation, so learning how to control the dimness and also how to angle it for best lighting proved really useful, even though we did have some lighting errors.
--Dolly--(None of our group had ever used a dolly before so we were all able to experiment with different angles and different effects we wanted, we realised that a smoother surface would work better.
--Tripod (In my foundation we were not given a tripod so we had trouble with hand head shakiness, and finding the perfect angle, we had to improve a lot with books, tables and projectors, so learning how to fully use a tripod to angle our shots was really useful.

How creative is your work?
Film Narrative
Our film narrative is creative as it has taken a serious subject matter and added comical moments into it to lighten the load on the audience. Also the fact that we have included a voice over means the audience can really connect with the character. It has a creative touch, because we added in a non-diagetic sound-track at the end for an emotional and effective ending. For our Mise en scene we used a naturalistic social realism setting of a seafront and a bench (Brighton).


We used it in a creative way as we wanted visually stunning shots, like the one we have of the pier and our lead Sam throwing stones into the water. http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=276450286849(0.33)
(The pier is silhouetted in the background and has created a beautiful scene).

We also experimented with extreme close-ups, to add to impact of what the voice over was saying.
We thought this added a creative touch, as it was a convention of social realism that was saw a lot.

(our one)
One example would be Wasp (2003) by Andrea Arnold, they
used an extreme close-up to emphasis a conversation between Natalie Press and Danny Dyer.

In our piece we included some original work by adding in the non-diagetic sound track, we noticed in most social realism films the sound is mainly diagetic. We thought it made our piece slightly original. We used an acoustic guitar to add rawness to the sound, and recorded it through a Dictaphone, which meant it added a realism essence to the track.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7A-kN70gXU (3:41)

How effective do you think your role was in research and planning?
Research and planning
For our research and planning I looked into the permission we needed to use the sea front at Brighton, if we did not have it then we could have been breaking the law.
I looked into other social realism film, like Eight by Stephen Daldry (1998). They also have a young boy as the main character. Also another thing they used the same as us was a voice over.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4p2Y8qx-bk
This input into the research meant that when our sound first went wrong we were able to look back on the research and get the idea of then voice over.

http://www.littlewhitelies.co.uk/
For our review
In the style of Little White Lies (LWL)
--Had to look the same as the magazine
--writing had to sound the same
(the one on the site is a different layout)
Little white Lies design
--The magazine is known for it's design work
--They have a feature cover whose artwork is carried throughout the magazine
--Photo has to be right size
--Boxes had to appear random but were in a set order
We agreed as a group that we wanted artwork underneath our text to make the review more interesting for our intended demographic. Firstly we wanted out film to be the main theme for the review, then we realised the main film covers review had a different layout. We came up with The Salt-Water edition, so we had more of a reason for the sea goal being part of the text.

(Our one)

When it came to our poster I feel my research and ideas helped a lot as I did mock ups and also looked for other posters we could use. Being the main designer and knowing the soft wear meant it was able to include all that is needed into the film and also be able to fit it with our colour scheme


 For our planning we needed to get permission to someone under the age of sixteen.
 This meant we had to get the parents to sign a contract saying it was ok to use Sam in our film.
 This also meant we had to explain what we were using him for and arrange times and date of filming so his parents were fully aware where he was.
 We arranged a meeting between our groups and actors and agreed the best time for all would be the Monday of half term.

Before we concluded that date we also had to take into consideration the weather, this meant researching the forecasts, this also added to the reason we chose the Monday.
(If I had not looked into the forecast we may have had to cancel the shoot, due to heavy rain).

Describe what you were trying to achieve as a group in post production
Post Production
In post production we were tried to achieve lots of match on actions and a variety of shots.
This was achieved by
 Extreme close up’s-----hands going into pockets
 Extreme long shots of Roy (The Grandad) on the bench with the book---you can see fully what we have achieved.

We wanted the match on action to look realistic so we went into extreme detail when cutting the footage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7A-kN70gXU
(1:14---1:31)

We also wanted to achieve the effect of time passing by and a slow pass to the film. This was achieved by using a cross dissolves to combine both scenes together, and give the effect of time slowing going by.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wscIRsH6UcU
(Not an amazing example)

We wanted to contrast the faster pass action of Roy with the slower action of Sam; this was achieved by using straight cuts for Roy’s sections and mainly cross dissolves for Sam.
(The best example being the Match on Action we have.(This showed both the contracting passes of each character).

We wanted to make the audience really relate to Sam, so the use of just having his voice on his shots, and the use of close up really helped to achieve this. Cutting from a distance and getting closer as the speech got deeper, meant the audience has real sympathy and understanding for him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7A-kN70gXU (1:33-1:55)



We used many conventions of Social Realism in our piece.
Example---(one of the main ones) an urban setting and naturalistic lighting.

This is present in Happy-Go-Lucky
Also in Trainspotting

These are two famous examples of social realism.

We wanted a location that people would recognise, so that they could relate to the surroundings as well as the characters. This is why we used Brighton, people can relate to it because of the burnt down pier as it is a very recognisable setting due to the history.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2894981.stm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QueIsd22MOk

Lighting
We wanted to maintain natural lighting throughout---so most of it was from the sun---- we did use the torch and also reflector----to remove shadow.
(Because we had looked into the forecast we got the perfect lighting, it was slightly overcast, but not too sunny).

How did you use, develop adapt the conventions for real media products?

In all the short films we have looked at like Goodbye To the Normals, directed by Jim Field Smith.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p004tdm8

We noticed that the story-line was never over complicated and a lot depended on the shoots used. This is what we decided to create with ours, a simple and shot effective piece. In goodbye to the Normals it was mainly about the shot reverse shot between the characters.

 In ours we have a shot reverse shot--- show a discussion between the characters and their relationship.
 In ours we do have a voice over and no actual speech until the end when Roy says goodbye----it is different in Goodbye to the Normals and they use diagetic sound.

We wanted naturalistic speech in ours as most social realism films do, so we asked Sam to say some things for the voice over and gave him the rough idea of what we needed in it.
This meant we have slight stumbling and also naturalistic laughter, this adds to the realistic conventions of the film.
What have you learnt from audience feedback?
Audience Feedback…
For Audience feedback on our intended audience we created a Facebook feed, this meant we were able to appeal directly to our intended audience and gain their feedback.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=276450286849

We used idea’s like in the film for the bus stop, we also tried out different recommended techniques, this is what encouraged us to peruse the voice over.

For the poster we conducted a poster vote, we asked people to say which ideas they preferred and what colours they thought would work, we also asked about titling and what they would improve on throughout the production.

The audience feedback we gained helped us immensely in improving our film and posters to create our piece, Chips.

Errors
--Continuity (a bus half goes past the scene then disappears)
--Location (we would use two of them next time)
--Dolly (was very rough)
--Script (we should have given it to our actors sooner then when we were on the train)
--Brightness and contrast (would have worked on sorting out the back lighting and white balance)

If I had the chance to do it again I would
--Use a different location so that we didn't get the noise from the traffic
--I would make sure the white balance was set for EVERY new angle we set up and did
--Spend more time developing the non-diegetic soundtrack
--Bring a smooth surface for the dolly to roll on
--Also use the HD ready camera for a better image
--Last but not least, spend more time in production refining the details, e.g. continuity errors and also sound errors.

Overall I feel we have a good product that tests the social realism format, and also contains strong elements of it to. I could not have done it without my team, we worked really hard and really well together, and I feel all the hours we put in have paid off.