Harry McHale - Poster Practice

I have practiced my Photoshop skills by re-creating a poster and adding my own twists to it. This will be helpful as I'm required to make a poster design for our short film.

Photoshop Practice Training



During this practice session with photo shopped, I have now been trained to successfully overlay images which will really help me when it comes to editing our film poster for On The Brink. This training has been very useful to  me as it has made me more confident in using this software as before I had never used it and was not very confident in using it. This acts as very important research for film posters as it allows me to understand what I need to do to produce a successful poster for our film.

Poster Practice

I have improved my Photoshop skills to become more efficient in making posters in preparation for the On The Brink poster. I have successfully overlayed and composited photos to replicate many parts of the 'Brighton Rock' poster. This also acted as important research into another film poster with a serious tone, similar to what we aim to create in the advertising for On The Brink.

Neve's photoshop practise

During our lesson we were trained on how to use photoshop properly, as I've never worked with photoshop before I initially found the task a struggle however as the lesson went on i picked up more so I now understand how to use photoshop better.

Successfully Finished Filming!

Yesterday, Sunday the 30th of October was our last day of filming. This was our most challenging day due to the amount of actors we had at once, however we organised them in a way that made sure they all had something to do whilst others were shooting a scene. We had our 6 actors and our 4 crew members. In total we had 3 filming days which went to plan and we felt as a team very pleased with the footage and everything that we put into it to make it work. Our teamwork was great, making shooting much easier and with less stresses.

Filming dates achieved:

20th October

29th October

30th October

Filming Dates Confirmed

As a group, we have organised the dates where we will all be free and what times should suit our actors. We have generated a schedule which should allow us to be efficient in our filming, and allow us to shoot most of the film in these two days.

One final scene to be organised is the forest sequence with Joe and Connor, which can be filmed on a weekday when our college timetables allow us to film together.

Allocated Film Roles

Nathan: Director & Camera Assistant


Emily: Producer & Camera Operator


Neve: Costume, Hair & Make-up designer, Health & Safety officer & Lighting Assistant


Harry: Sound Recorder, Lighting Operator & Props Organiser

Audience feedback

                                    
How we set up our audience feedback
To ask what the audience think of our ideas, I set up a chat on whats app this way I can keep everyone's opinions and answer to our questions all in one place. I can also ask some more questions in response to what they are saying.



 key ideas/points

• Main male character is unhappy/unstable/depressed.
• Family come over, daughter and boyfriend and brothers.
• Father doesn't know that the daughter is going to tell them some happy news
• Takes pills in the bathroom.
• Leaves the house and goes to somewhere that the family used to go to (beachy head) to commit suicide.
• Daughter finds the dad on the cliff and shouts the news.   

Questions we asked

• Would you be interested in this genre (drama) and why?
• Do you like films that have a cliff hanger or not and why?
• Do you think the idea is good? is there any improvements we could make to appeal more to your age group.

What the audience said


Caitlin (23)
I asked a couple people within our target audience firstly my sister came back to us and said that she would be interested in a drama genre because suspense makes it interesting and keeps your attention. we asked if she likes the idea of cliff  hanger; she said yes but not if they're to obvious as to what is going to happen. finally we asked for any improvements on the idea we could make and she said there should be more info given on the dads background and why he ended up depressed as this will make the characters more relatable to the audience.




Connor (17)
Secondly Connor said he would be interested in a drama genre because it sounds very gripping and a well thought out story. He told us that he thinks a cliff hanger in a film is good because it makes you think what happened after and keeps you thinking. and finally for improvements he said  its a good idea, but it could be made clearer on why he is depressed and why he is so desperate to commit suicide.




Tara (17)
Thirdly  Tara said 'it seems like an interesting short film and something I think along with other teenagers would be intrigued by mostly due to the fact that the drugs involved could perhaps be relatable in some cases however personally I think what would be most intriguing to me is the dramatic plot. in response to do you like cliff hangers 'honestly no I would only probably like a movie with a cliff hanger if I knew there could be a second film to find out all the information. and lastly for improvements; 'improvements for the film, I think that adding more information on all the characters would be good (so your audience connects with each character more). I would also suggest focusing on the dad a lot. an idea, maybe the daughters mother actually died a long time ago and that was the catalyst for the father which caused the depression and eventually the drug use'.


Kellie (18)
Finally ' it sounds as thought it could be along the lines of crime drama. and anyone who knows me knows I love a good crime or mystery and I love a bit of drama. I love films that have cliff-hangers. its like when you read a really good book and you get to the end and theres a huge twist and it ends on  a cliff-hanger and you just want more. cliff hangers and you just want more. cliff hangers are just exciting because there's usually twists and things you weren't expecting and they get you all excited wanting more of the story. The idea in itself is good. I think maybe you could add a little more mystery in it, even if its the tiniest little thing. it would appeal to my age group, but could also appeal to those older than me because of the mystery and crime essence about it'.


Findings from the feedback
Overall from out audience feedback its clear that we need to give more information about the father as this was stated in three of the feedbacks. as a group we will discuss how we can change this and make the idea better. and it has also been made clear that the audience would like more mystery in the storyline.

Applying media language

In our film On the Brink, we will include a vast range of techniques to achieve the engaging and dramatic product we're hoping for. These techniques will be used to add to the themes and issues in the narrative.

We begin the film by setting the scene as joyous and celebratory, with excited facial expressions and body language aiding the high key lighting we will use for the daughter's return home. Warm colours will boost the idea of this being a loving and cheerful household, which will give spectators a false sense of security and set the film up with a seemingly different genre. These uses of mise en scene, along with close ups and smooth camera movements, are conventional to Romantic and Comedy films. This use of camerawork and miss en scene is similar to the peaceful tone throughout the romantic short film 'Post It' where two characters enjoy each others company and go around town making others happy. We hope that people will watch our opening and expect the rest of the film to match the buoyant mood. These genre conventions make it more shocking and exciting for spectators when we jump to the other genre in our hybrid film; Thriller.

Parallel cuts are used as a direct transition between genres in our film, when we flick between John and the dark times he is going through, when using the props of drugs. There will be a clear contrast between the high key lighting downstairs and low key, enigmatic lighting in the bathroom where John is struggling to come to terms with what he's doing. The upbeat diegetic music being played downstairs will be contrapuntal to the sombre emotions John is feeling. Spectators will be placed in the uncomfortable position of seeing the family's obliviousness to John's actions through unrestricted narration whereby contrasting props are used in graphic matches, with John taking drugs and the family drinking and eating delicious food. Fast paced cuts are used in this sequence to represent the chaos taking place in the party atmosphere downstairs and chaos in John's mind upstairs.

Thriller conventions continue to be met as we see restricted narration in the church, with John shown at a distance and with low key lighting, making spectators question if it's him or not. We want to create this enigma to make spectators feel a part of this investigation, as if they are searching for him with the family.

In the final scene of the film, we will use many techniques to add immense tension and suspense for spectators, generating a feeling of desperation for Rebecca to reach her Dad in time. Spectators will be especially involved due to how we will align them with these two characters, with parallel cuts, close ups and low frequency cuts used in many shots of them throughout the film. This will allow spectators time to begin understanding these complex characters, and should make them determined for John and Rebecca to be reunited. The diegetic sound of screaming distorted by the wind will generate frustration as John doesn't hear his daughter. The extreme long shots and tracking used will emphasise the towering cliff and how close John is getting to reaching the edge. The film will then and on a literal cliffhanger, leaving spectators wondering if John jumped or not. This is a narrative Thriller convention used in other films such as Inception, which we feel was incredibly effective and left spectators questioning and talking about what happened next.

Location Permissions

Two of the locations used in our film will require permission. It is essential that we get this permission in order to carry out our shoot.

As I was not home, and wanted to organise permissions as soon as possible, I texted my Dad to confirm that our group was okay to film at home. I specified the rooms we would be filming in, and that we are hoping to film in the coming weeks. He has given the go ahead, which we are very happy with as we feel that my house provides an appropriate setting for many of the scenes. 

For the church scenes, we wanted one that was immediately identifiable as a traditional church, and that spectators would have no trouble recognising. I contacted the church pastor, Jim Foley, asking whether we could use the building in our film. He kindly responded by saying yes, as long as we meet certain conditions.

 

Lighting Decisions

LIGHTING DECISIONS

We have decided that we are going to need a lot of lighting however used in the correct way to make it look like natural lighting. Lighting will be used inside our house scene in Wivelsfield and inside the church. Inside the house we want to create a warm light, however not too cold or not too warm. A light that seems naturalistic to spectators so its not too overpowering. 

During the drone shots and outside shots we will need to colour correct our shots during post-production to make it look suited to our mood we want to generate, which will be thrilling and very intense. We do not want to shoot on a sunny day, especially during the cliff scene with John and Rebecca. Depending on the sunlight, shadows may not appear during these outside shots, making it more challenging for us during the post-productions process, however we will re create these shadows within adobe after effects in the editing suite. We may use lighting when having close ups as this may add meaning to our mood we want to communicate to our target audience. 

During our church scene in Sayers Common, we are going to be using lighting. The use of low-key lighting will be used, this is to create distortion in his appearance as you can see above how it demonstrated with the woman. This effect will also contribute to the darkness of the scene and highlights and represents his dark emotions that he is fully experiencing.

Animatic 2

We have produced another animatic with commentary on some of the key shots in our film which we felt required further description. As a team, we felt that we had gone into great detail within our synopsis, script and initial animatic to get the majority of information accross, so have added a voice over to some of the especially complex shots to give a further explanation of what will be taking place.

Harry McHale - Sound Design

Our film is based in various locations that require a different sound palette. In the post-production we will have to make sure the diegetic sounds match the location such as the ambient sounds. For example, at the cliff-edge where the father attempts to take his life, we have to make it out that the daughter's shout is hard to hear due to the heavy wind; in order to do this we will either have to record the ambient sound during production or create a foley in post-production.


Various aspects in terms of sound require preparation and can't be done on the spot. Various non-diegetic sounds will have to be considered such as the voiceover when the daughter reads her father's suicide note: this will require practice in order to make it seem realistic as emotion will have to be shown despite no visuals of the father in this scene. 


The soundtrack will have to planned carefully. The film's genre is a dark drama therefore a happy uplifting non-diegetic soundtrack wouldn't be appropriate however, the film starts with a happy family having good times therefore we will need two styles of soundtrack in this film. We decided that we can use a non-diegetic soundtrack as a sound-bridge where the sound is parallel in the 'happy family' scenes but contrapuntal when we cut to the shots of the father via parallel cutting. This helps emphasise the contrast or difference between the father and daughter and foreshadows the plot for the audience but also dramatic irony for the spectators which helps keep the audience's attention.

The dialogue will be recorded separately from the film camera if it's important to the plot: dialogue such as various conversations going on in the background during the family gathering won't be recorded separately as we want to create a busy atmosphere in these scenes.

We may alter sounds when we follow the father to emphasise how strongly the drugs are influencing/effecting him. We don't want to overdo this as a few scenes use parallel cutting therefore the sudden changes in sound will put the audience/spectator off.


Overall, the sound has been carefully planned out; we conjured a script which has dialogue for each character and various elements such as how each line should be said. Since this short film has various actors, the dialogue will need to prepared and will need to record lines multiple time so they are a good quality.

Applying audience

Audience


in our short film we will be targeting 15-25 to do this we thought about what we would be interested in. to target our audience we have incorporated a few ideas and visual things such as mise en scene that will appeal to our audience for example we have made the story about mental illness (depression and addiction) this is common in the audience we are targeting. some people may feel they can relate to this if they have experienced it or going through it.  The older of our audience might be interested in our short film because it has experiences they could be going through such as starting a family like our character Rebecca is. we are also going to target our audience through mise en scene. we carefully picked out the costumes for the characters so that they match the age and match what a person that age would wear in real life, for example we have chosen a stripy top, jeans and a thick knit cardy for Rebecca as this is what 20-25s usually wear this would target our audience because 15-25s are stereotypically concerned with fashion and have more of a visual eye for fashion than older people.

Animatic 1 - Durations

Script

One day until deadline

We are now close to reaching our targets for planning, with the animatics, script and other blog posts coming very close to completion. We have made good progress throughout the planning stage, as we have done many hours of work outside college from the start. The remaining tasks are:

Harry: Sound design, Animatic 2
Neve:  Applying audience
Nathan: Applying media language, Animatic 2, Script
Emily:  Organisation of actors, lighting decisions

Second animatic

Second animatic plan


Shots that we will focus on:

• Shot 9- 11 we show a close up p.o.v of john opening a pot of pills this shows his mental state and emotions as being depressed/sad. We show a graphic match of the dad opening pills and the daughter pouring champagne both through a p.o.v. This shows the difference between john and Rebecca even though they are doing the same thing, the difference between the drugs and celebratory champagne show that they are in different mental states (John being depressed and Rebecca being happy)

• Shot 12-13 we use another graphic match this time we show it through a close up of Rebecca and John pouring the props into there mouths. John is putting his pills in his mouth and Rebecca is drinking champagne. This again reinforces the idea that the daughter and father are miles apart in their lives emotionally even though they are in the same house celebrating.

• shot 14-16 In these shots we focus on John and how he is feeling. We use p.o.v's of John refreshing himself with water over his face. we also show a shot of Johns face in the water the water creates a distorted affect which implies how he is feeling. shot 16 is another p.o.v of John looking at himself in the mirror, we will show him really staring at himself as if to show that he is upset and disgraced with himself for doing what he is doing.

Thursdays Double- Targets

• Complete the second animatic
• Complete the script
• Post permission emails from our locations we needed permission
• Finish off applying media language to our short film

Applying representation to our short film

Class and status
The class of our family is represented as middle class, this is shown through the contrasting shots between the father and the family. Our family is portrayed as happy however there is a contrasting theme in the film that the father has a mental illness and addiction. The father is portrayed as unhappy and depressed (close to suicide). The undertones of this are that even though he has a happy and supportive family he still is suffering from mental health. This shows that money (middle class) doesn't make you happy or exclude you from any issues that life may present (mental health). Class is also represented through the location and costume (mise en scene). 

Places
we are filming our short film in a large family home this suggests that there is wealth in the family suggesting that the male has a nice life, a nice family and a big house which many people want however he is unhappy with all this around him. our short film is shot in rural areas e.g villages and beachy head which also hold connotations of a typical family life living in rural country areas.

Issues raised 
In our short film mental illness is an issue raised, our male character has depression and addiction both of these create a vicious circle. Being depressed may lead someone to use a form of drugs illegal or legal to numb how they feel however after seeing a change in how the person feels they could lean on them and get addicted. Our male character (John) has suicidal thoughts even though he had his family around, this shows his mental state isn't reliant on family or materialistic things and more a personal issue that cant be solved with support or money. We decided to raise the issue of depression and addiction because it is very common in males and females teens-50s. This is one of the most common forms of mental illness as a group we thought we could show a male living through depression and it would be more realistic than doing another mental illness that isn't as common in the social class or ages we have chosen. Another reason we wanted to raise the issue of mental health is because it is a very interesting subject that portrayed correctly can be very powerful and relatable for the audience.

Organisation of Actors

John (Husband/Father): Glen CONFIRMED (face to face confirmation)

Jenny (Wife/Mother): Helen CONFIRMED (through Facebook messenger) 

Rebecca(Daughter): Caitlin CONFIRMED



















Alfie (Rebeccas Boyfriend): Edward CONFIRMED (face to face confirmation)

Luke (Brother): Joe Comber CONFIRMED

Sean (Brother): Connor CONFIRMED (face to face confirmation)

(We have also made sure for certain characters such as Jenny, that we have a back up actress in case it falls through!)

Applying Genre to our short film

DRAMA, THRILLER & SOCIAL REALISM. 

Our short film explores different genres, making it a hybrid. It has a mixture of thriller, social realism and drama. It explores real life issues, generating messages and values through the narrative and story. For example: our main context of On The Brink is mental health, therefore the way in which we are going to experiment with our scenes will raise awareness for all sorts of mental health illnesses. However, these types of genres and messages also create an emotive response generating iconography and realism as these issues are very common in real life, making spectators relate or sympathise. Although it sends an important message, it also creates shock value with certain twists in our plot. 

Location Research

Beachy Head

• Already we have done our risk assessment and location scout to Beachy Head for one of our key scenes. We chose this location as it has a very high reputation of dark pasts, for example: many people have taken their lives on this cliff. However, staying well back from the cliffs this isolated location implements our narrative and story to really generate an emotive response from spectators.

Our interior shots inside a house

• We are wanting a open space kitchen and eating area inside a house to show a meal taking place between a family. We have talked about which house would work best for the story we want to convey. We have come down to the conclusion that we are going to use Nathan's house as from the set out and design of the kitchen and dining area, it seems perfect for what we imagined in our minds. It is spacious allowing us plenty of room for our equipment and a great opportunity to experiment with different shot distances and angles as there is no barriers to do this. 

Here is a rough sketch of what the kitchen and dining area looks like. This is where we will be filming the first part of our short film:

The Church

• We are going to be shooting in a church, however we have two choices of churches. One in Sayers Common and the other in Forest Row. If we are unable to get permission to film in the Sayers Common church then we will go to the Forest Row church. We wanted to include a church in our short film to give a variety of locations and to express how John is really suffering mentally that his spiritual side surfaces. 
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Shooting Schedule for our shoot

The dates we are choosing to film on:

• 17th or 18th of October
• 29th of October
• 1st of November
• 2nd of November

Timings will be confirmed.

Cliff test shot- Evidence of experimenting with new and complex techniques

One key reason for travelling to Beachy Head during pre-production was to get a test shot for the end scene of the film. We wanted to ensure that we could successfully achieve the effect of someone standing on the edge of the cliff, without causing any danger to anyone. We hope that the finalised version we use in the film will work even better as we are hoping to get darker and cloudier weather to make it easier to film and edit with the correct lighting. Our experience through this practise shot, as well as a lack of shadows, should allow for a near perfect shot of John standing on the edge of the cliff. This shot is an essential part of the shock factor we are trying to instil in spectators, so it must be effective and exciting.

We used a new and complex filming technique through the use of a drone- the DJI Phantom 2, which needed to be flown effectively and safely to achieve this powerful cliff shot. The drone allowed us to capture shots of the cliff and sea from angles which would be impossible without it. If we weren't to use the drone, we wouldn't have been able to get anywhere near the edge of the cliff with the camera, which would have ruined the dramatic effect we are trying to achieve by showing the daunting drop in front of John. This extreme height needs to be shown as it aligns spectators with John, as we see the terrifying descent that lies below him. This is what the initial shot looked like:

As shown above, the drone shot included Harry standing far from the edge of the cliff, before the drone then flies over the edge. These two parts of the shot needed to be composited into the same shot, to give the impression that Harry is on the edge, like John will be in our film. I had to use complex editing techniques to create this shot, such as rotoscoping and colour grading in order to make it believable that Harry is on the edge of the cliff. The shot had to be cropped, as the wind made part of the drone enter the shot, which looks unprofessional and detracts from the important part of the narrative which will be taking place. The angle of the drone as it passed over Harry is the same as when passing over the cliff, which creates the effect that he is standing looking over the edge. We feel that this shot proves our capability to carry out VFX heavy shots in this film, with this being probably the most difficult. Once we film in a setting with less shadows, and film with a slightly slower camera track to add suspense, the shot should be incredibly powerful.

Animatic update

We worked efficiently when making our first animatic, through importing the well framed images directly to the computer we would edit the animatic on.

Through creating our initial timed animatic, we have gained a much greater understanding about the timings in our film. We have discovered that the duration of shots and the film as a whole was not adequate when we first created the storyboard, so have gone through many shots and made the length of shots longer and more appropriate. This allows us to ensure the film is the correct length, and to implement more time in crucial shots to allow spectators to form a greater connection to the characters. We have also introduced a title and have generated more ideas for the film throughout the process of creating the animatic.

The timed animatic has allowed us to get a great understanding of how we hope the film will look, and has made us come up with a suitable title for the film: 'On the Brink'. The animatic has enabled us to see how the title would work at the beginning of the film, and how the themes and ideas in the film match this title.

Applying Narrative to our Final Idea

Key concepts

When we brainstormed for our idea, we wanted as a group to create a linear and chronological narrative. This is so we can focus on making our context great quality and easy understanding for spectators, allowing them to question certain messages and values within our narrative and become more connected to our characters on an emotional and sympathetic level through visual iconography and typical conventions, such as using Barthes theory of semantic codes. Certain props we will use will generate a certain association, for example: when John takes his pills in a very illusive state, spectators can notice mental health as a theme to raise awareness. 


On The Brink is structured within a linear and chronological form. We can apply narrative theory to our short film, for example: applying Todorov's theory can be useful to understand the structure of our narrative. As we have a linear narrative we can notice the 5 stages clearly of Todorov's theory. Although  our narrative is in a linear order, we do not have the 5th stage of his theory, which is the new equilibrium or the resolution. We decided not to include this stage in our narrative as it generates a more thrilling and immersive experience for our spectators. 

Achievements of today

Achievements of today:

• We have updated our initial animatic to include more effective timings and descriptions. The film now comes close to 5 minutes and it will include more engaging shots.
• We have also started and nearly completed applying representation and narrative to our short film 'On The Brink'.

Targets:

• To complete all of the checklist.
• Meetings out of lesson to make sure we're all prepared for shooting in half term.

Titling decision- On The Brink

On The Brink

Our chosen title name for our short film is 'On The Brink'. This suits our narrative as we shows how our character John is on the brink of suicide and leaving his family behind. However, on the brink does not have one meaning, it could generate exciting or nervous emotions from spectators, especially when we make our film poster for our short film. The fact it doesn't have one meaning is even better as this increases our shock value for our short film, as the ending of John about to commit suicide and then cuts, really creates intensity of that moment without release for spectators.


Rejected title ideas:

Cliff hanger- we decided not to use this title as it gives too much away of the story. One of our main locations and scene takes place on a cliff at Beachy Head, therefore, the shock value would plummet extremely low.

Edge- this title doesn't give away too much however, comes across too cliché as if this title has been used too often and doesn't feel unique to us.

Costume Research

• In our short film we want our actors to express themselves casually as this will show through our story of a normal middle class family having dinner together. Here are some examples of casual costumes that we are aspiring our actors to wear:

This would suit Rebecca's boyfriend as it represents his age and class, through the casual style of clothing.

This is a typical costume for a young female adult (20's) which suits our character Rebecca.

This is a type of casual costume that the mother will be wearing.


We want these casual costumes as it is what we see everyday of our lives, making the spectators relate to our characters not just on a emotional level but visually too.

 

 

 

Animatic and Planning update

Today we have almost completed our first animatic, which is giving an early indication that we are close to achieving the correct length in our film, but some tweaks do need to be made to shots which may be too short. The compelling story we are trying to tell must be given the whole of the 5 minutes in order to allow spectators to understand what is going on, and give time for them to get to know our complex characters and to empathise with them.

We have also started to research the props we need for our film. It is essential to plan for them at this early stage to understand the part they will play in the film, and allow time to source the many props we need.

Props Research

Props

• Pills (orange pot)- we will need this to show John (the father) taking pills in the bathroom scene. We will get this orange pot either from our families or look online for a cheap pot.
  
   
• Written note- This prop will be used during the church scene where Rebecca (the daughter) finds a note her father has left her. This will be easy to create as it costs no money, however is very effective to give context within our story.

• Kitchen Essentials & food- This will make our meal scene with the family become more realistic as it creates a sense of iconography of the everyday making it more relatable for spectators. We will gather these props from our houses as long as it is ok with our parents.

   

  

  
  

• Bottle of champagne- We are going to need to buy a bottle of champagne to show celebration during the meal scene with the family and how it creates juxtaposition with the emotions that the father is experiencing with his mental health. The person who buys the champagne will be Emily as she is 18 meaning she can buy alcohol. 





Update on our planning

We have now finished our story board. We worked together to get our storyboarding done quickly so that we can keep on top of our time management within our short film project. We are now going to be writing our script, our story board animatics and planning such as: costumes, props, more risk assessments and permissions.

Location Scout- Beachy Head

Storyboarding continued...

Thoughts during storyboarding:


Whilst we carried on storyboarding we came to the decision that we are no longer going to include the final scene. This was a final shot of the family all happy together after Rebecca having her baby. We carefully chose to reject this idea for our ending as it almost strips away the shock value of our complete story. We want spectators to be left with a surprise, and this cliff scene will be a perfect way to leave spectators literally 'on edge'.

Planning update

We have started storyboarding our film, using the synopsis as a guideline for the narrative. All of us are involved with the storyboard, with each of us sharing detailed ideas about how each shot will look. With 4 of us storyboarding together, we are able to work efficiently and productively and generate as many ideas as possible. This process is allowing us to start thinking about what props, settings and actors we are wanting to source.