Final Prelim Task and Evaluation

Final Prelim Film

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Evaluation:
Who did you work with and how did you manage the task between you?
I worked with Ale and Leah and we tried to work out each task equally between us however, Leah and I did quite a bit more than Ale did due to him being on holiday. Me, Leah and Ale was all apart of the film and was involved within the acting side. The task can be divided by filming, acting and editing and me and Leah did it all. I did all of the tasks, with Leah doing three and Ale completing two as well. We didn't manage to distribute the task equally however, the outcome we was pleased with. Ale draw the storyboards and played a part in the acting and filming.I carried out acting, filming, editing and the production diaries  More over, Leah also acted and edited as well as filling out the shooting schedule. 
How did you plan your sequence? What processes did you use?
We planned our sequence by making some ideas on a piece of paper and piecing our best ideas in an order that would make sense. After piecing our thoughts together, we decided to make a storyboard to make sure that when we filmed it would be in an established order that would make sense to the audience. Processes we used was the making of storyboards, shooting schedules and looking around a variety of horror films to help us receive some inspiration. 
What theorists did you think you could apply to your task?

What factors did you have to take into account when planning, shooting and editing?
There was various amounts of different factors that we had to take into consideration before going ahead with the shooting of our task. The main one being the location of our film which correlates with our planning. During our plan we had to make a list of locations and places of where we wanted to film. As we was restricted to school grounds we had to make sure we shot our scenes during the time that lessons took place so that there was no background noise or unwanted behaviour in the background of our scenes. Another factor that we had to take into consideration was that Ale and Leah couldn't be there for most of the days of editing so after Leah put the footage into order and cropped some clips, I edited the rest of the footage with transitions and music. I also added a voice over within the film so that one bit of the footage didn't have just no sound. It was also to add a variety of skills to the film.
How successful was your sequence? Please identify what worked well and with hindsight what would you improve/do differently?
Our sequence was successful in a way that it makes sense to us and the majority of the audience who have viewed it, and it is a lot compacted into 3 minutes which shows the seriousness and commitment put into the sequence. A main thing that worked well was our understanding of camera skills and the use of the tripod, which also helped our understanding of technology develop. Another thing that worked well was our commitment to re film each scene to make sure the outcome was substantially good. One thing that I would do differently is bring an outfit that I would wear specifically for each scene to ensure that there was no differences within the film that would confuse some of the audience, as in our film in one scene I am wearing one outfit then we used footage from a different day but it was the same scene and I was in different clothes so it didn't look as good as it would have if I was in the same clothes, and I also wasn't in the exact same location which is a minor fault that can be seen a little if you was highly analysing the film. Another thing that I would do differently is think about all of the location more efficiently next time to ensure that there would be no disruptions for the camera or the audio. 
What did others say about your productions?
One thing that was repeatedly said about our production was that it was a clever idea to incorporate the dream because it wasn't extremely confusing to understand what was happening because it was a small time scale so that people didn't have to think too much about what happened in the last scene. With the incorporation of the effects and transitions it was recognisable (also with the acting) that I had gone into a dream and that I was dreaming about something that in the end came true.
What have you learnt from completing this task?
From carrying out this task, it has enabled me to develop a series of skills and gain more knowledge about the ways of media, filming and editing. Along with this, the task has helped me in different ways but it also helped my in correlation with the feedback of my teacher and others that have watched the film. Another thing that I have learnt from this task, is that next time all tasks within the project should be split evenly to get an equal coverage from each person for the amount of work they each put in, therefore the overall outcome will be shared equally and each person will get their deserved grade as everything was decided fairly. Something else that I have learnt a long this process also is the ways around the editing software, premiere and how to carry out different functions within the software. By taking in new information from this task, it will benefit me in the future when I carry out other editing tasks, my knowledge would be improved and my finals tasks will have progressed. 
Looking ahead, how will this learning be significant when completing your final film opening?
As a result of me developing new skills and taking in new information it will help me in my final film opening as I will have more understanding of the camera and editing software, which will benefit me quite a lot. As I have learnt about different angles, I will know what type of angles to use in different types of scenes to get the best outcome of the film opening. Also with me having learnt how to edit properly, I know that I will be able to spend an equal amount of time on filming as I could editing because I know that I would be able to complete editing in a certain amount of time given as I understand my ways around editing. In addition, from this task overall I have just learnt about camera and editing, I have learnt how playing a part in a team well can have an efficient amount of outcome on the final task as it will reflect through the efforts of the acting and the time put into the editing. 

Preliminary Task

Today we have been given our prelim task groups and we chose the genre of horror.

Production Diary 1
Task
Our idea for our prelim task revolves around the haunt from a freaky follower. The first shot would be of Sophie and Leah during our lunch date and during this event a boy will walk over and ask for our names and numbers which will link into the film further on. After the lunch scene has finished and the boy has finished his lines there will  be a quick short time lapse of Sophie and Leah at lunch completing their work, with the unknown follower in the background behind the window. This shows the audience that there is a follower there but no one knows who they are, especially the main characters.
From this point Sophie and Leah part and walk home. Whilst Sophie walks off she receives a text saying "don't dream for too long" from an unknown number and starts to look around but no one is to be seen. Sophie then carries out other events that isn't filmed which explains the different outfit. She walks home walks through the door and sits down trying to complete her university work. In the meantime she receives another call from an unknown number which speaks "sleep tight". When I finally fall asleep I start to dream, which is what the whole film revolves around, the dream.
Within the dream a series of short events happen such as the follower walking behind the girls down the halls in their university (Sophie and Leah). During this chase chaos that is caused by the follower, there are many different shots that need to be involved which are demonstrated mainly in the dream, which will take up the majority of the film. After the dream of events occur it is an instant switch to me erratically waking up from my dream and then I don't expect what is to come. The last few shots will then be of a shot of the man standing over Leah's dead body then a quick close up shot with my head in my hands, screaming.

Cast
Leah- Luna
Sophie- Stacey
Ale- The Follower

Locations
Great Baddow High School
-Common Room Diner / Tables
-Drama Studio Rooms

Title
Don't Dream

Music

Script

LUNCH SCENE

Luna and Stacey walk into the common room casually chatting and walking to a table in the ‘café’

Leah: So.. how has your weekend been?

Sophie: It’s been good, got a lot of work to do for university though which is stressing me out and making me feel weird recently.

Leah: How strange, well I hope you feel better soon, maybe this lunch will help you clear your mind a bit.

Boy walk into shot casually.

Boy: Alright girls, no dramas but can I have your numbers.

Leah: sorry I don't give my number to random people.

Boy: how about you? (talking to Sophie)

Sophie: alright 07814 709745

Sophie and Leah chat for ages with music over the top and a time lapse, eating and drinking.

Sophie and Leah walk home separate ways.

Quick shot change from walking home to getting into bed.

Sophie receives a text saying “don’t dream for too long” then falls asleep and it goes into the dream..

DREAM SCENE

Leah and Sophie are followed by the follower.
Sophie wakes up after the dream scene.

Production Diary 2

This was the first day of us filming and we decided to film the last shot as it was the quickest because we had to create the make up idea and incorporate this correctly with the film. We filmed this shot several of times because we needed to get the lighting right over different shots. Instead of using stage lights in the main drama studio, we resulted too moving into another room and we used a phone torch. This was because we only wanted light on the places that we was filming and we had to work with what we had at that specific time. This shot took a while because we needed to get a good position from all three of us for the camera to pan smoothly but look jiggered at the same time for effect towards the audience. We watched back our footage and chose the one shot we wanted to use for the ending of the prelim.

Production Diary 3

This was a different period however the same day. After the result of having an incident with the make up due to current affairs with the clown scares, we had to improvise and change the way in which the follower was going to be known as or viewed. We had to remove the makeup from Ale's face and decide on what and where to film. We decided then to work in chronological order and film the first shots, the lunch scene. The shot we had filmed first we got other people to help us. Sophie and Leah were filmed in the diner with two boys as the original act. We filmed the whole lunch scene from different angles and different heights to analyse them at the end to see what type of shots we preferred. After watching them back, we had realized the audio was awful and the actors could not be heard in any of the scenes as there was a lot of background noise that counteracted our voices. So we learnt that next time we had to chose a different location to film and ensure that there was as little background noise as possible. We also got Lollie to help us shoot the phone message scene. We got her to send a text too Sophie's phone under an unknown number and show the audience what the text message was. However, when we watched this footage back Ale's filming of the phone wasn't very precise but could vaguely be read. We thought this could be quickly filmed again and compared to the first scenes. 

Production Diary 4
As a result of our footage not being up to the standards of which we required, we wanted to re film some of the scenes to ensure that the film would look good. On this day we decided to re film the lunch scene again due to the previous audio problems. However, we once again had another problem, we got someone else that is not a media student to help us film and we again had two different extras. The problem that occurred was that when we started to act the person behind the camera pressed stop instead of play and when we said stop she pressed play so when we watched all the footage back, there was no film footage, just footage of us preparing and saying go. After this we thought we would either have to use the first lot of footage, or try to film it again. Although, we was all running out of time. 

Production Diary 5
We had had many problems and errors with our filming so we decided as time was running out we wanted to complete at least another scene which was the dream scene. This is when we decided to film the dream scene. Most of the filming throughout this was on a tripod so we could get various angles and know that our acting was being recorded. We had to use a tripod as all three of us had to be in the shot with Sophie and Leah being followed by Ale. Some of the footage Sophie filmed free hand which helped with the film being from the audiences different point of views. This dream scene then had to be merged in with the end scene as it all has to link together even though they are different scenes. 

Production Diary 6
This was our last day that we could film and we managed to film the whole start of the film again. We filmed the lunch scene although there was still another problem but we thought we can just write about in our evaluation and what we have learnt from it. We was in different clothes and didn't have enough time to re-film all of the mini clips that we had previously filmed with the rest of the first set of footage. We watched back our final pieces of footage and we was all merely happy with how it all turned out. We had too order all of our footage and put it in a folder ready to be edited for our next lesson.

Production Diary 7 
Finally, all of our footage that we produce we was substantially happy with so we had to import all of our footage onto premiere and we started to edit. Sophie and Leah took it in turns to edit different aspects of the footage and as Leah was away one day, Sophie finished off the final edit of the film with all the transitions and music. 

Institution- Logo, Big/Small Budget

us Within this lesson we was informed about creating our own logo. We learnt about the difference between an independent film and a mainstream film. There is quite a big difference between independent and mainstream but the majority of films people watch today are mainstream films because there are minimal independent cinemas in a lot of areas. Mainstream films consist of laughter and sadness. They make you feel emotion compared to independent films as they make you think more, of which the enigma code applies and they are associated with critical success. 

Cinemas have different tactical ways of making their money. One way that they make their money is through selling their tickets to different films. A studio that the movie is made with leases the movie to a cinema for a set period of time. Within the first few weeks of the movie being released the cinema only receives around 20-25% of the profit from the ticket. The longer the movie is in the cinema, the more the percentage decreases so the cinema will get less money the longer the movie has been in the cinema. 


Concession is the main way that cinemas achieve their targets and make most of their money. Without the concession stands in the cinema, the chains would not make half of the money tat they make today and they would not remain in business. Although the cinema doesn't receive the entire cost from the concession, they do receive a percentage which is where they make most of their money. 

Thirdly, they do make some more money from the onscreen advertisements. Sometimes along with leasing a movie to a cinema, they sometimes pay cinema to play a trailer that may sponsor their movie. Or another theory could be that advertisers will pay the cinema to broadcast their ad. If it was a blockbuster as a trailer, the money they receive would be higher because it is wider broadcast film. 

How a film gets into a cinema:

• Someone gets an idea for a type of movie they wish too create.
• The creator makes an outline to promote the idea.
• One of the studio makers or an independent investor denies to purchase rights to the film. 
• After this stage people are brought together to make the film e.g. screenwriter, director, producer and cast.
• The film is then filmed and sent of to a studio. 
• The studio makes a licensing contract with a distributor company. 
• The distribution company will then come to an agreement on how many prints/copies to produce. 
• The distribution company shows the movie to prospective buyers representing the theatres.
• The buyers have to negotiate with the distribution company to know what they wish to lease on the terms of the lease agreement. 
• The final prints are given to the theatres a few days before the opening day.
• The theatre shows the movie for a specified number of weeks.
• You then purchase a ticket for the movie.
• At the end of the period of engagement, the theatre sends the print back to the distribution company and it then progresses to make the payments on the lease agreement. 

What does a distributor do?

A film distributor has the responsibility of the marketing of the film. The distribution company is usually different from the production company. Distribution deals are an important type part of gaining business and are vital for the financial status. They create film releases to ensure they reach big audiences and make a profit. They aim to sell and publicise films for the media, different marketing partners and the cinemas. 

Institution from Sophie Chettleburgh

My Logo