My role in the making of my film

I enjoyed shooting our film and because one of our group members was absent on one of the filming days I was able to do most of the filming with Another member of my group. We used a Sony handheld camera which meant we could get a range of shot types and the footage could be jumpy showing how hectic the main characters life was.

During the Editing process we had some help from people outside of our group because none of us had any idea how to use adobe premier, Once we had learnt How to use it I started to enjoy editing the film because you could see how the film had come together. I added in all of the titles and production company logo into our film because my group members could not attend to one of the editing sessions.

We chose the location, costume and props as a group because we felt it was very important that everyone got to pitch their own ideas to each other and have an input in the final outcome (JESS).

Another thing we all did together was the sound, We started off researching songs on YouTube but then we realised we could not use these songs because of copy rite problems, This led us to soundcloud which is where we all listened to loads of tracks till we found the one which reflected best with our film.

JESS FINAL EDIT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRWNC6z9quU

Final editing process

After posting ou film o outube we realise hat we still needed to add i our production company, Working title films, Fade the ending music and add in the scene of Jess drinking the wine.
We had some complications wih the music while ediing the final ouhes of the film but eventually we go there.

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 1

IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS? (I.E. OF FILM OPENINGS)



The purpose of an opening Sequence is to establish the mood and visual character of a film and introduce the viewer to all or some of these elements:

• Characters
• Locations
• Narrative/Plot
• Themes
• Visual
• Genre
• Opening Credits

Characters

The only character you are introduced to in the opening scene of my film is Jess who is the main character. This is important because it helps you to identify who the main character is going to  be, This is done in most Rom/coms because it starts off the story well and usually gives you an insite into their life style.It is also the first scene where you will see the main character which meant that it is important to portray them in the rite way so that the audience will get the correct idea. Some examples of films that have done this are Bridget Jones, Juno and 13 going on 30.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20PQBtyfNZY  (Juno)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUDR5kcmkMk  (Bridget Jones's Diary)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nHTJRCnndU  (13 going on 30)

Genres/Themes

The genre of a film is the term for any catagory within the film for example: Romance, Action or Thriller. It is important to have a variety of genres in a film but also make you you stick within a few otherwise it could make the film to complicated and hard to follow.Overall it is important to stick with the same genres thoughout the whole film which i think we personally started off well with in our opening and used the stereotypical genres/Themes you'd expect to find in a Rom/Com.The Themes of a film are the main ideas which in my case are very similar to the genre.The genres/Themes which we wanted to portray in our film were:

• Romance
• Friendship
• Comedy
• Drama

Opening Credits

The opening credits go at the begining of a film so that you know who the big names are and the production companys etc. In our opening credits we tried to blend them in with the scenes and make them at different angles so they looked fun and unorganised like our main character 'Jess' This is quite a popular thing to do in any film because it makes the titles alot more interesting if they appear in fun ways reflecting on the characters, An example where this has been done is Legally Blonde I have included some print screens of the way they have done this. Another thing we did with the opening credis was o make the appropiat ones come up wih he scene fo example when she's doing her makeup he make up artist comes up. The Opening credits would usually include:

• Director
• Screen Writer
• Main Cast
• What it is based on e.g Book title
• Producer
• Publisher
• Distributer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UUKVPC4Fq4 <link to the opening of Legally Blonde

Locations

The opening scene for my film was filmed in our actresses flat because we felt that it was very authentic haveing all her own stuff around her and we also wanted her to be as natural and comfortable as possible. The flat we filmed in was good because it reflected well with her personality and woorked well with the mise-en-scene, her bedroom was messy but everything was stylish which we wanted.

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 5

HOW DID YOU ATTRACT/ADDRESS YOUR AUDIENCE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xo5x_RtXWN4 (Link to uptown girls)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UUKVPC4Fq4 (Link to Legally Blonde)

ACTIVITY 3

WHAT KIND OF MEDIA INSTITUTION MIGHT DISTRIBUTE YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT AND WHY?

A media instiution is an established, profit based organisation, that deal in the creation and distribution of advertising, entertainment and information services. Films that don't secure distribution will end up going straight to DVD which means they won't make back the money invested in them. This would be very unusual and unexpected for a Richard Curtis film as he is well known and everyone wants to see his films.
This  means Jess shouldn't struggle to pick a distributior.

We made the director of our film Richard Curtis because he directs films which are of a similar genre to the film I made for example Love Actually, Noting Hill, Bridge Jones's Diary and Four Weddings and a Funeral.

We wanted to make our production company similar to the ones that he uses in all of his films which are: Universal picures, Studio Canal, Working title films and Miramax films. In my group we made up our own production company called SBGfilms which would be like Universal Pictures or Studio Canal because these production companies have produced/distributed a wide range of chick flicks.

Film

OPENING FILM

Below is the link to my films opening from youtube.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QirLI3YMkYA&safe=active

Storyboard

This is the storyboard for our film.

Production company logo

After we had made our fil we realised that we had not added in our production company logo so we in one of the lessons we experimented with a few ideas on pain and below you can see our final outcome for   'SBG Films'

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 6

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT TECHNOLOGIES FROM THE PROCESS OF CONSTRUCTING THIS PRODUCT?

In the process of making my film opening i learnt how to use a wide range of computer software and film epuiptment which was fun and interesting.

For the soundtrack to my film opening we got a song off soundcloud because it doesnt have the copyrite rule like youtube. I had never used this before and enjoyed it because there is such a wide range of songs to choose from and it is very easy to use unlike other royalty free music websites.

I had to learn how to use Blogger for this unit so that I could record the process of my film being made.

Another type of software I learnt how to use is Adobe Photoshop which at first I found very complicated but after a while I got tthe hang of it. I used it to put images together.

We edited our whole film on Adobe Premiere which is also very complicated to get the hang of because it can do so mich but with help from other people we got it in the end. As we haven't taken any print screens of the editing process I have included a blank picture of Aobe premiere.

When filming we used a Sony Handycam which was very easy to use, Even though it did not have the best quality it gave us a good enough outcome to use for footage in our film and by using a tripod aswell it wasn't too shakey.

This is the tripod we used to make sure our footage was still and had as little shakes as possible.

We used youtube when researching other opening sequences to compare to, watch other As media openings so that we knew what standard to aim for and finally to upload our final film too.

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 7

LOOKING BACK AT YOUR PRELIMINARY TASK WHAT DO YOU FEEL YOUHAVE LEARNT IN THE PROGRESSION FROM IT TO FULL PRODUCT?

http://www.slideshare.net/Albeni17/activity7-18558687

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 4

Below is a powerpoint presentation focusing on 'Who would be the audience for your media product?'

http://www.slideshare.net/Albeni17/what-would-be-the-audience-for-your-media?utm_source=ss&utm_medium=upload&utm_campaign=quick-view

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 2

HOW DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT REPRESENT PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUPS?

This is the actress playing jess in our film, Her Name is Connie Martin and she looks exactly how we imagined Jess to look when planning our film.

Below are some pictures of her in action.

 

 

COSTUME AND APPEARENCE

When thinking about the costumes of our actress we got a lot of our inspiration from the main character of American TV series 'New Girl'. Even though New Girl is a TV programme and not a film we felt that it was appropriate to use it as an example because the main character is also called Jess but is played by Zooey Deschanel who plays a similar part to the Jess in our film. For our actresses hair styles we decided to go for the simple but playful look so it would reflect her personality very well, for example we gave her plaits, a high ponytail and messy bed hair. We wanted her outfits to be fun and reflect her ditsy but fashionable personality. We achieved this by getting inspiration from the outfits Zooey Deschanel wears in New Girl because we think that the styling department has done an amazing job with her outfits.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULg49_MUvjE  < Advert for New Girl

Our version of Jess' outfit which is in the middle is based on the two outfits on either side which are of Jess from 'New Girl': Polka dot summery dress, Plaits, Ankle boots and a casual bag.

Polka dot Pyjamas show her playful side (middle:Connie Martin and Right/Left: Zooey Deschanel) 

We got inspiration for her high ponytail from New Girl and liked it because it's playfull but also fashionable.

Below are some print screens of Connie playing Jess.

STEREOTYPE

Because our film is a Rom/Com we felt that it was very important to base our film around a stereotypical Character. Jess is a typical ditsy girl and she loves looking fashionable but is also very messy and unorganised, She's always fantasising about the perfect most romantic man but until she finds him she has a small cute dog called Ike who she loves, The fact that Jess is so ditsy also makes her character very comical. I have put together afew pictures of things Jess is interested in:

The three print screens below are from the opening, The top two show the process of her pouring coffee into a wine glass while reading the newspaper and brushing her teeth this lives up to the stereotype of girls being able to multitask and boys can't. The third shot shows Jess's misplaced phone which she later discovers in the oven, This shows that she is very Unorganised and probably hasnt checked her phone for a while. 

 

 

 

 

 

VALUES AND BELIEFS

Jess may be ditsy but she does have some very strong values and beliefs. Jess is an animal lover which means she is a vegetarian and also part time animal activist, She tries her best to use products which have not been tested on animals and deffinatlet would never even think about leather or fur, She is also very passionate about womens rights and goes on the occasional march or protest. Jess was raised by her parents with not alot of money so she doesn't believe that money equals happynes, She is also very polite and not afraid to say her opinion.

 

 

 

RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHERS

We wanted jess to come across as a young woman so decided that she would be single and looking for love, She does not have a man in her life and always has bad luck with whatever men she meets. Jess is also very social and always going out with her friends, She has a close circle of best friends and then lots of other people who are just friends. One of her best friends is a boy who she eventually ends up falling in love with. Jess does on the other hand have a little dog called Ike who she loves a lot and is almost like her boyfriend. At the Begining of the clip her dog jumps onto her bed to wake her up which is similar to the film 'Uptown Girls' except Megan played by Brittany Murphy has a pet pig instead, Her character is alot like Jess because she is very unorganised and ditsy; Another example of animals being used in films is in 'Legally Blonde' the main character Elle Woods played by Reece Witherspoon, even though Jess is very different to Elle she also has a little chihuahua called Bruiser who has never left her side and she loves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xo5x_RtXWN4   < Link to Uptown Girls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UUKVPC4Fq4   < Link to Legally Blonde

 

ROLE IN FILM

Jess from my film and Jess from 'New Girl' play similar roles in the way that they both have brunette hair which is styled in the same way, They have very similar personalities, Their love for animals and baking, They are similar in age aand both single.Apart from these things they are very different: Even though we were inspired by Jess (New Girl) our Jess is alot more stylish and knows what she's doing when putting outfits together, Another thing that's different is there living arrangements, our jess lives alone but Jess from new Girl lives with three men, They both have very different Jobs: Our Jess works in the fashion industry and Jess (New Girl) is a teacher, The final difference is that Our Jess have a pet dog and other jess doesn't have any pets. On the Left is Zooey Deschanel (New Girl and on the Right is Connie Martin (Jess).



Photo evidence

To prepare for our film we decided to do a photoshoot of our main character in role which will help us when filming.

 

 

First, an establishing shot of the first scene is our character Jess asleep in her bed. The pictures helped us to work out the mise-en-scene in each scene, we then designed her bedroom according to the personality of 'Jess' this included: piles of clothes everywhere, lots of heals and generally a skatty room.

 

Above is a shot of Jess waking up, we ruffled up her hair, made her look as natural as possible and scatteredcushions ontop of her bed so it was obvious that she just woke up.

Above is a picture of Jess choosing her outfit for the day, she is wearing bright purple polka dot pyjama shorts which show her bubblyness.

This is a shot of Jess applying her makeup, we really liked the idea of using a shot which reflects in the mirror so we were testing out a few ways in which it could work.

This shot is when we were thinking about the mise-en-scene of our characters room and how she comes across in it. Jess is very disorganised, ditsy and bubbley so the fact she has dying flowers and shoes on top of her wardrobe just matches this perfectly.

We dressed Jess in a short polkadot dress with leather ankle boots, a tote bag and pretty plaits. in the picture she is checking her phone which shows she is very social and likes to keep up to date with everyone or she could be checking the time because she is late.

This is a behind the scenes shot of us back combing our actresses hair so that it looks messy and like she just got out of bed.

This is a shot from what we are planning for our final scene, the closing shot will be of the door to show that she has left the house all in one piece after all of the dramas of getting ready.

 

 

Prop List

The majority of our opening sequence is filmed in a bedroom which means we will need to think about props which you willl find in a bedroom such as:

• Bed, covers and duvets
• Wardrobe
• Chest of drawers
• Clothing and clutter
• high heels and shoes scattered around the room
• Empty food packets
• Laptop
• Scattered papers on the floor
• photographs and pictures on the wall
• Sofa
• Dying pot of daffodils

Then we have a scene of Jess brushing her teeth in the bathroom, so we shall have her looking in the mirror in the reflection we will need a traditional bathroom

•  Shampoos conditioners
• Toothbrush
• Toothpaste
• Towels
• Loo Roll
• Scattered clothing on the bathroom floor

We have a scene of Jess putting on her make-up and getting dressed so we will need: 

• Mascara
• Her outfit
• Lip balm
• Lipstick
• Face cream

We will also be using a dog and a gat which is going to be very challenging but the animals are well trained and we feel that it will add to the ditsyness oh her character

Costume List

 Opening Sequence (First costume)

 

• Pyjama shorts and plain T-shirt

• Messy hair; out

Scene of Connie (Jess) painting her nails Blue, red, yellow and pink, This shows how multicoloured she is.

 

2nd Costume

• Little shift dress preferbly neutral colour; brown and black with polka dots
• Little cowboy boots
• Canvas bag
• Hair tied up in high pony tail or Plaits

Call Sheet

Character profile (Jess)

Charcterisation of  our character Jess

• Brunette
• Tall
• Fresh faced
• innocent
• Stylish
• Messy and Ditsy
• Friendly
• Loves to socialise
• Single
• Model
• Baby Animals

Shooting Schedual