Filming 4th March in Gerrards Cross

On the 4th March the filming in Gerrards Cross went well. The director was present so i feel that more could be done, however only 3 out of the 4 group members were present. The actors performed well and we took our media teachers pointers into account whilst filming to make it the best that we possibly can. In an hour and a half we got a quarter of filming needed, we will arrange to do more filming soon.

Today, on the 5th March Charlotte will upload the footage, and start editing.

Progress made- 3rd March & first rough cut clip

We edited and showed our filming so far to our media teacher. In addition to this, we need much more filming (we only have a minute at the moment). Also, the establishing shot needs to be longer to introduce the setting properly, the main character needs a stronger sense of narrative whilst receiving the phone call telling him to run, more sounds dialogue is needed, a more subtle introduction of the other character (the 'tracker'), we need to show more obviously that time has passed to increase the sense of realism, the camera needs to tell more of a story, we need to make the editing less jumpy, the location needs to be slightly altered, reduce jumping back and forth between characters, show andy perhaps making a call, have a stronger sense of dual narrative and most importantly camera work needs to be vastly improved.

Furthermore, we have set a date for further filming- 4th March. Three of our group members will be present and the two actors, we are going to be working on improving these points and our coursework.

I have found the order in which the opening titles will be shown and have taken them into account with the other group members, at a later date we will attend an after school class to improve our knowledge of photoshop and other programmes to make our titles on.

First rough cut clip:

Filming- 8th February

We filmed in Gerrards Cross, to re-shoot our opening, as work was lost. However, i feel that this filming was more successful as we had more actors to work with and more knowledge of what to do. In addition to this, the new actors were Andrew Johnson and Sebh Hundal, they both did well, and the group was happy with the overall result. Tomorrow, we will upload the footage to out assigned mac for editing and continue with our progress. The only shots left now are any that fellow members of the group are not happy with- that need to be re-shot to meet everybodys standards. Organisation is still a problem, but i feel that it is getting better over time. Additionally, tomorrow our edited piece will be shown to our teacher to recieve any feedback or possible alterations that must be done to get the best possible grade.

Thriller update- 5th february

We have decided to re-film the opening on the 8th february. In addition to this, we have got some more actors- Sehb Hundal, Andrew Johnson and possibly others. We are meeting conventions but with our own twist on things. So far we have not met all deadlines but are working on better communications and sticking to plans. 

25th January- Filming in Gerrards Cross

Overall, filming went fairly well. Even though two members of our group did not show up alongside the 'Trackers'. However, Helen and i still managed to get a number of shots including the lead role (Jacob Grimshaw- a drama student at CCC). The weather was fairly wet and windy but luckily Gerrards Cross (GX) was fairly empty so filming without including pedestrians was straightforward. Filming outside Costa Coffee was possible as my fellow team member Helen went in and asked if it was possible to film outside, the manager said it was fine as long as we did not include customers- i felt this was significant as it gave us insight into what filming was like for real films. Now we need to keep these shots safe until the other shots are completed- hopefully as a group. I am happy with the shots and the progress made.

Update- animation evaluation and filming

Even though we finished our animation late- due to group difficulties i still believe that we did well. The problems we faced as a group were the lack of co-operation and different ideas and beliefs of what the opening should include, however near the end of production we sorted the problems out and overall created a piece that suited every ones views. The lack of co-operation taught me that in the future we should have more structure and organisation as a group and listen to every ones ideas.

After showing the animatic we received possible changes to be made:

1. We missed the 'Directed By' text in the opening.
2. An 'Establishing Shot' needs to be included.
3. Edit the dialogue to not give too mush away too soon.
4. Include an 'Establishing Shot' of the train leaving at the end of the opening.
5. More diagetic sound in the animatic e.g. footsteps.

In addition to this, we created a 'shooting schedule' to make sure we know exactly when we are filming and editing. However, as most of our filming is to be done outside- in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire the weather plays a significant role in when we film.

We have also chosen actors to play the main character (we have not chosen a name yet) and the 'Trackers' to be following him through Gerrards Cross. All the actors are Drama students so we can have the most professional effect within our opening.

Furthermore, my progress has also improved further- sketching out scenes/storyboarding- in order to reach the high quality expected. However, once again my editing skills could be improved further.

shooting deadline, name of thriller & possible song

What the shot list needs to include:

Date

Time

How long each shot lasts (duration)

Location

Who will be there (roles, actors)

Props/Equipment

Shots by number

Additional notes e.g. weather, changes...

Friday 30th January- initial footage deadline

27th February- no more filming

27th March- Finished film, evaluation, shown presentation of opening.

FILM NAME: We have decided to name the thriller 'Tracker' this is because it suits the narrative- a male agent getting tracked and escaping (during the opening). However, the name choice may change as, in my opinion it does not wholly suit the 'thriller' genre- it needs to be darker. But as a group we decided on 'Tracker'.

SONG CHOICE: The song 'sinnerman' by Nina Simone will accompany out thriller opening. Ryan Carroll will get in touch with the record label and ask for permission to use the song as it fits perfectly with our opening.