Video Diary 1 - After Filming

Catherine and I wanted to create a video diary to comment on our progress throughout the filming and editing processes. Our first video diary was after filming was finished. We made up questions that we could ask ourselves about how filming went to show the examiner how we were feeling throughout each stage. We wanted to film the interview because its a lot more fun and interesting. We didn't want to just write up the answers. Also, seeing us in person would make the examiner relate to our work more in our opinion.

We wanted to answer questions about what went well and what didn't go to plan. We also answered questions about how we felt Lauren, our actress performed. We wanted to comment on everything we did before that point so we made sure to mention recording the monologue and how that went for us.

Actor Interview - Before Filming

On the train on the way to our destination we wanted to interview the actor in our film, our friend Lauren, to give her an idea of our expectations of her for our film. The train journey was the first time we had fully discussed the shots we wanted to achieve however when we were at the recording studio recording the monologue this gave Lauren more of an insight into our main character in our film. This is a transcript from the interview.

 Lauren: "So what do I do first?"

 Molly: "So you already know that you're a nameless homeless person trying to find your parents. Do you remember the monologue? That is the sort of character we want you to be."

 Catherine: "You need to make sure that you maintain your character, especially these train shots because we can't do them again."

 Lauren: "Are there any lines?"

 Molly: "No. The focus of the film is on our main character so throughout the opening of the film the monologue is the only dialogue."

 Catherine: "Make sure that you show your emotions through your facial expressions. You need to be able to show the audience that you are upset and lonely."

 Lauren: "Ok, so what shot is first then?"

 Molly: "We need a midshot of you sitting on the train looking through the window clutching your sleeping bag for comfort."

 Catherine: "Again you need to make it obvious that you are on you own. You need the audience to be able to symphasise with you."

 Lauren: "Ok, I will make sure that I remain quite serious and solmn. I won't make any direct eye contact with the camera and I will make sure I remain in character throughout."

 Molly: "That sounds great, that is exactly what we need from you."

Filming - Time Management and Difficulties

We planned to film our opening two minutes on the 20th Dec 2013. This was harder to plan than we thought because we had to consider each others time. It seemed as though when one of us was free, the other two had other plans. It being so close to Christmas, only made it harder for us. It was really important for us to get the Christmas lights to be a main part in our opening so we really needed to get the filming done before they were turned off and taken down.
We finally were all free on the 3rd January. So we took that opportunity to go out and get all the scenes filmed. We were battling with the light that was quickly fading so that gave us even more pressure to get a good result.

The first hour or so of filming went really well. We filmed the first 5 shots without a hitch. We were having a lot of fun playing around with the tripod and the angle at which we would shoot the scene. It all started to go wrong for us when we started walking to the high street in Guildford. When we got there we realised that the Christmas lights were not turned on. This really worried us because the lights were one of the most important aspects of our opening. We decided to leave filming the Christmas lights for the time being and focus on our main scenes because Lauren our actress had to get home in a rush after we had filmed. Another worry we had was the light. In between takes, the light was fading really quickly. This worried us because we didn't want it to be light in one scene and dark in another. When we realised this, we make a bigger effort to get the shots done. Looking back this hurrying may have made our actual scenes not as good as they could have been, but the rush was necessary. The last few shots we filmed went really well because they were mainly close ups, so we didn't need to worry about the light.
We were really worried when we were planning our filming because we didn't think we would have enough shots to get 2 mintues. But this was nothing to worry about because we filmed for extra time than we had planned to give us some leeway.

Overall we are pleased with our filming but we would have liked to not have to worry about the light fading and the Christmas lights not being on. We had a great time filming and it was even more fun that we aticipated. Were happy with the results and hopefully the editing process will be just as fun.

Soundtrack Research - Final Thoughts

For our media piece we were not allowed to use copyrighted music, which made it hard for us to think about the type of music we wanted behind our monologue and film. We research many instrumental tracks to add to our film but in the end we decided on one.

In the end we decided to use a instrumetnal version of Katy Perry's Wide Awake that we found on YouTube. This wasnt copyrighted and was the perfect fit for our film. The piano version was perfectly steady and emotional for our film and fit right in with the monologue aswell.
We didnt want to include lyrics in the music for our film because it would get in the way of the monologue which we want all the attention to be on. We didnt want our audience to get distracted trying to analyse the meaning of the lyrics because we wanted them to be analysing the monologue and getting to know the character.
We editied the monologue with the sound and made it fit in with the tempo of the song. We made sure that as the characters voice got a bit higher and more emotional, so did the music. We cut parts out the make it match with the verbal noise and made sure it sounded perfect, ready for the film to go over the top of it.
Overall we are so excited about the soundtrack. We think it fits perfectly with the emotional monlouge and will go just as well with the film itself.

Shot Type Evaluation - Shot 6

For the sixth shot type we will be using a midshot to show the main character walking across a road and moving out of the camera frame as she does so. We decided that this shot type is effective as a midshot allows more of her facial expressions to be shown. This is important as we believe that we don't want to reveal too much about the girl's appearence at the start. However as the film progresses we will use closer shots so the audience can feel as though they are getting to know her, and by the end of the film they will feel that they know everything about it. The fact that we will be showing her moving out of the camera frama will effectively represent her on going journey and her desire to find her parents and how focused she is on doing so. We decided that this particular shot needs ten seconds, this is because she will obviously need a bit of time to cross the road safely and we want to capture the whole of her walk as she walks out of the frame.

Shot Type Evaluation - Shot 5

The fifth shot will be a long shot to show the character walking away from the train station. This will be effective in giving the audience a feel of the location. It emphasises the idea that she is just a teenager in a big world. The long shot will make her look small in comparison to the other shots which we have used that make her look bigger. This shot shows her leaving the station which is significant as it indicates the start of her journey to find her parents. This long shot will allow the audience to see vehicles on the roads, buildings and pedestrians which is realistic and sets the urban location. It is important that the location is as realistic as possible because our story is based on an event which happens to many people, therefore we can't make it look like something it is not, the location can't be out of context such as an exotic location. Many drama films such as Forest Gump are filmed in Urban locations. We decided that this shot type is suitable for this particular moment in the opening because all the main character is doing is walking amongst other people, we decided that she would want to blend in with the crowd as she doesn't particulary want to stand out as being homeless. Therefore this long shot will not allow any facial expressions to be exposed. We decided that 5 seconds would be suitable for this particular shot as nothing significant occurs in this shot so it does not need to be of huge focus.

Shot Type Evaluation - Shot 4

We will then use an over the point of view shot of the main character getting off the train. This is effective as it focuses on the girl as an individual and shows her to be superior as she is the one who is focused on, therefore her story is of importance. It will also reveal her alienation to society as she is surrounded by people who live normal lives and have lots of disposable income to leisurely shop wheras she can barely afford a train fare. This shot will put the audience in her shoes and will able them to feel what it is like to be so lonely and therefore they will symphasise with her. It also allows the audience to see the surroundings and link them with the main characters perspective. Seeing people around her will make her feel lonely and depressed seeing people with family and friends however a normal person probably wouldn't even notice individuals around them as they have their friends or family there with them, therefore the surroundings will be blurred to them. This emphasises the importance of the girl finding her parents so she can hopefully one day feel the same as the 'Christmas shoppers.' By using this point of view shot we want to make the audience symphasise with the girl as she has to walk past people with their friends and families as she is leaving the train. We have decided to make this shot five seconds, we believe this will be more than long enough to give a good insight in the characters thoughts and feelings. From the first image I have selected it shows the amount of people we want in it. It is busy however the people appear to be dressed in Summer clothes and we want people to be in Winter clothes and carrying lots of shopping bags to show that they have lots of disposable income so can therefore afford it. As a whole the atmosphere in both of these images seems to be quite subdued, we want to try and capture people talking and having a good time to show how our main character can't have this.

Shot Type Evaluation - Shot 3

The third shot type will be a mid shot showing our main character sat on a train. By using this shot type we aim to give the audience an insight into what it is really like to be on your own. Audiences will be able to relate to times when using public transport on your own you tend to feel lonely however you have somewhere to go to, we want to audience to symphasise with the girl and make them realise that she really has no one and she is not on her way home to be with her family. The midshot will allow the audience to get a good view of every features of the girl. They will be able to see her face so they can see her expression of longing as well as what she is wearing. We want to allow them to be able to have an insight into the characters situation by what she is wearing. A midshot is also a perfect shot type for as well as revealing the character of focus it also reveals the surroundings. We want the audience to be able to see people on the train and the scene right on the train by filming so close to Christmas as this is the time where people go shopping with their friends and families. We also want the camera to shake a little bit so therefore we will not be using a tripod. This will give a rough feel which links in with the fact that she sleeps on the streets. It will also be realistic and goes well with the motion of train as they tend to be very bumpy, therefore it will be more realistic.

Shot Type Evaluation - Shot 2

The second shot type we want to use is an establishing shot however we will use several of these. They will take up six seconds of filming. This is to give the audience a feel of the location. We want to give an idea of what general shoppers are like at this time of year busy buying presents for their family.We want to show a festive atmosphere and the happiness of people, we also want to emphasise their wealth to be able to leisurely shop whilst all our main character wants is to find her parents. We need to point our how these people take their lives for granted so we will try to do this buy filming very close to Christmas when we will know it will be busy. The establishing shots we have selected really capturesthe Christmas shoppers walking up and down the streets. The first shot shot captures the bright Christmas lights which is our symbol in our film. We believe the Christmas lights in Guildford will be as good as the ones in this image, we want the lights ideally to be very bright to make the atmosphere very bright and festive. We want the audience to feel as though everyone is having a really nice time shopping with their friends and family all accept our main character. Her main issue right now is where to sleep tonight. The second shot is really shows the amount of people who go out Christmas shopping and reinforces the idea that her parents could literally be anyone. We know that Guildford will not be as busy as London because around 10 million people live in London, however Guildford is the main shopping location of the Surrey Hills, therefore it still should be very busy. The Christmas lights are a very important part of our film, if they are not bright enough or there are not enough of them this will make the atmosphere not seem as festive. We will also need to a few close up shots of the Christmas lights which will take up four seconds of filming. This is to reinforce the setting being near to Christmas.

Shot Type Evaluation - Shot 1

The first shot type we will be using will be a shallow focus shots of Christmas lights combined with the title 'The Desperate Persuit.' This will emphasise our key theme of hope and will ensure that the Christmas lights will draw in the attention of the audience as they will want to know the significance of these lights. This shallow focus will transform into a deep focus shot creating a blurred effect which will be effective as it will cause the audience to feel as though that her dream of hope may not be achieved. The blurred effect indicates confusion which is most likely what our main character feels, the confusion as to why her parents left her. Therefore as well as looking good, these shots link in very well with our symbol of the Christmas lights and our theme of hope. We want to have the shot lasting for four seconds as we believe this is long enough to display the titles for and will make the audience think.
Shallow focus-The first image below I selected is not the exact object we will be using, however it reselmbles the shot type we will be using. The second image however is more or less what we are after. We love how the background is blurred effectively in this shot.
Deep focus- The first image shows blurred Christmas tree lights, it is not the type of object we will be using however the circle light effect is what we will be aiming for. The second image shows a street Christmas light, this shows the right type of object however it is not quite the effect we want.

Recording Our Monologue

We travelled up to Guildford on Sunday to record the monologue we had previously written. We went to Spiral Studios and met Rob and Sam. When we arrived they took a while to set up all of the microphones and equipment needed for our recording. This took around 20 minutes, giving Lauren (our main character) time to rehearse the monologue and get it in her memory.

While Rob and Sam finished setting up, it was time for Lauren to go into the sound proof room. She had headphones on where she could hear us talking when we wanted to give her comments and advice, and we could hear what she was saying through the speakers where we where. This really helped us get the perfect portrayal of emotions from Lauren.
It took around 30 minutes to record our monologue and get it to the quality we wanted it. Rob had to add a few things he called plug-ins to it, which he said made the overall quality of the track better. He also said adding this would help us be able to put music on top of it without reducing the sound quality. He gave us a CD of the un-mastered version and he is going to email us the finished product in a few days time.

Overall we are so thrilled with how the session went. Rob gave us a discount because we didnt take very long recording, which was a bonus. We loved the experience of going to a real recording studio with all the prefessional equipment. Rob and Sam were incredibly kind and helpful. Lauren was absolutly amazing! She got into character straight away and nailed it within 3 attempts. Having the monologue recorded, has given us the basis of our film. We can now move on to start the actual filming process and hopefully that will turn out as good as the monologue did.