Closing Post.

This blog is now closed!

We hope you have as much fun looking through our blog as we have had making it and completing this project :D

Audience feedback

We decided to record some audience feedback for our film in order to see what is good about the sequence and what could be improved.  We organised a time and date for a screening in the media block, using our posters and a facebook group to advertise it.  We had a turnout of over thirty people which suggests that in terms of audience feedback, our advertising could be considered successful.  We allowed our audience first to watch the sequence the whole way through without filling out the questionnaire so that they could fully engage with the sequence atleast once.  We then screened the sequence again, this time asking the audience to fill out the questionnaires.  These were there responses.

As you can see we recieved very positive feedback, from a wide range of the lower end of our target audience although there were some things we could have improved on. Please check our individual blogs for our individual feedback on this.

Poster

We have designed a poster for our film! We have built on the theme of shadows in our film which creates enigma, however it is clear the figure is a female assassin our major selling point.

This poster's appeal will be put to the test when we host our opening sequence premiere in school.

Reply to Re-shoot post:

Hi Francis, it's Nico. I called Natasha and the re-shoot is fine for today :)

Behind the scenes- Real shoot 25/02/12

This is exclusive behind the scenes footage of our real shoot.  I talk through our setting, props and equipment, whilst also asking talking to group members Natasha and Francis!

Shoot Permission Form

This is our shoot organisation form which everyone had to sign, including our teachers, to make sure our arrangements were clear and that we would all stick to them.

Real shoot organisation sheets

As one of the main problems in our test shoot was the lack of props. Here we have written up a comprehensive props list with who is getting what. Secondly we have written up a list of things we ned to do better this time around to make sure the shoot goes smoothly as well as the changes we intend to make.

Behind the scenes

Here is a behind the scenes view of our test shoot. We are setting up for shot 6, the focus pull of the man washing his hands behind the drugs.

Group 2 LotusTest Shoot

This is our test shoot footage edited into a rough edit which matches our animatic.
The test shoot itself went pretty smoothly. We started quite slowly however and found ourselves a bit rushed towards the end. This meant we didn't use the clapperboard towards the end, something we need to do for our real shoot. We alos didn't have access to the proper lighting kit for this shoot and also had some stand in props but all these issues will be sorted out for our real shoot next week.
There were many great shots and positives from the test shoot, in particular the general style of the opening CU's and the idea of the shadow in the shooting scene. However there are also many things we need to work on and improve on our next shoot. This is all detailed in the Teacher Feedback post above.

Shot log

We made sure we were organised and kept to our schedule by noting down everything on the table.  It also will help us when editing when using time codes. Here are our shot logs:

Animatic for opening sequence

Here is the finished animatic for our sequence.  It has really helped us visualise how our final product will turn out, and has enabled us to consider shot duration and timings without yet filming, definitely worth the time doing! One thing we need to change is the script, as it isn't sounding quite right yet. After talking with our teachers we've also decided for the purpose of this opening sequence, it's best not to use bad language.

Storyboard

Here is our group storyboard.  There are a total of 35 shots in our sequence, ranging from closeups, which are shown in orange, to mid-shots and long shots which are shown in purple and green.  Doing our storyboard in this way has helped us balance out the range of shots in our sequence, as we were able to see if we had too many closeups or too few midshots.  We finally created a suitable mixture of shots so that our sequence is interesting and engaging for the audience.   Our titles for our sequence are not in this storyboard as they will be entered digitally on Adobe Premiere Pro when we produce our animatic using these stills.  From this we will hopefully create a rough structure to our sequence.

Locations Addition

In addition to shooting in the kitchen like we posted earlier, we are also going to have the character cross into the front room, as the glass doors work well, and here is a more suitable place for him to sit and relax.

More script Drafts and final script

We went through a long process of scripting. We initially had quite a long speech from the guy, however this was too long-winded and dragged the sequence on so we cut it down again.

Draft 1:

MAN:

(He releases a deep breath, as though a weight is lifted off his shoulders)

So he decided to send someone with a little class.  You’re fresh out of the farm, aren’t you?  Only time a mark gets to talk is if the asset is a little green.  Should have shot me before I said anything.  Now that bastard gets to know that I had time to think about the fact I was dead.  What kind of twisted asshole does that?

Silence.

            MAN:

Pour me the rest of that scotch. 

She pours.

Someone once told me it “takes the edge off”.  Doubt that applies to a 9mm to the skull though. 

He drinks.

Fuck, that’s gonna hurt.  You should do it when I’m not expecting

She shoots.

Draft 2 and 3:

We eventually went with Draft 3 but cut the third line and Lotus's dialogue to make her character more mysterious.

Film pitch feedback sheet

 Year 12 film pitch feedback group 2

We pitched to the class and our teachers today, however we didn't quite get the green light as several changes are needed, and lots of points need to be more clear. The feedback is listed above.
Individual reflections of this are on our individual blogs.

Revised Film Treatment

We have created a treatment for our film so that when we pitch it to the teachers they they can use it to support what we are saying and visualise the film better.

Opening sequence Inspiration

Here we have two opening sequences which follow a similar idea of a murder in an unexpected place e.g a home, a public bathroom.

Treatment

Title

Changes to Narrative

We decided not to give the male character a name and also decided that the inital conversation should be more cool and relaxed. The guy just turns round and see Lotus sitting at the table and they have quite a casual conversation e.g "I knew you'd be here one day." He goes to get her her a coffee and gets his gun. He then points the gun at her. She says something like "not a good idea." Then they fight, she gets the gun. He dies/ This is also subject to further changes. We also thought about getting rid of the school run/wife scene as it joleted with the high class assasin idea however we felt family photos were a good idea.

Ideas Brainstorm and Inspiration

We met to discuss ideas and genre's we would like to base our film openings on. We discussed the fact that thrillers were quite common among filmmakers our age and that we wanted to try something different. However, having siad that, watching other student opening sequences we realised perhaps thrillers were the easiest films to come up with ideas for. During our brainstorm we came up with several ideas, some of the main ones being:
1) A female assasin. Hotel room scene where she murdrs someone. Genre: Action/Adventure

2)Odd Roomates type Comedy/Hotel Room Mix Up. Opening set-up of one messy, one clean freak. Comedy.
3)Abused woman alone in her house, crying, messy, husband comes home and yells at her, she kills him in self-defence. Thriller
4)Teenage Slasher.

5)Escape from an Underground Basement. Tied Up, beaten up etc. Thriller OR make it a comedy with kids as the captors, tied up their babysitter.


As is probably evident these ideas are all quite vague. Therefore we decided we would all come up with either a fully developed new idea or develop one of these ideas to pitch to the group next week. Then we would make a decision on our final idea.