progress report

• All pre-production work completed
• Filming and print brief
• Filming will be complete by the end of January
• I will be using the diamond for the photoshoot 

SHARMA, Akash Coco

Evaluation mark: 5/10

Grade: D

WWW: Your use of media terminology is generally very good and this shows your film and technical knowledge. This will be important for your full MEST2 evaluation as well and is a real top-level signifier.

EBI: Written English is a problem. It’s not so much a case of spelling, punctuation and grammar but rather organisation and paragraphing. This will be a crucial skill if you want to reach the higher grades in your A Levels.  I also think you could have made a lot more of the fact that this didn’t meet the brief. Was your planning really excellent if you didn’t meet the brief? Aside from this, I’d like to see more detailed discussion of specific shots, sounds, transitions etc. and most importantly the impact on the audience. For the top grades, you need to consider this from a variety of perspectives and bring in media theory too.

LR: Copy and paste this feedback into a new blogpost and write three specific aspects you will look to improve for the real MEST2 evaluation in March.

• I will write in more detail and go in depth e.g talking about transitions etc.
• I will make sure that my work is more organised and easy to read e.g punctuation and spelling mistakes. 
• I need to add more facts about the production.

Outset- Preliminary Exercise Official Clips

Outset - Preliminary (30+ Second Clip)

Aarun and Akash Official "Outset" Clip

Alan, Rehan and Taranjits Official "Outset" Clip

Planning process and pre-production:

I think we have clearly executed the 180 degree rule. The 30sec film did not match the brief exact as we were experimenting by using a variety of shots but a lesson to learn that it did not fit the brief. 

The team did not have many ideas for a good 30sec clip. so we decided to create a scene in which executes all shots and POV shots clearly so that we can practice on how to play around with it until we get the best result.

In terms of preparation for filming, it was an easy decision for us as we knew that we wanted to use a camera dolly for this film because we never really used it properly and this gave us the opportunity to get really cinematic, smooth shots. In addition to this, my choice of lenses was the 35mm f1.8 as it was important that we achieved the depth of field and necessary amount of light to the camera sensor which played a massive part as we relied at all times at the lighting provided in the building. The actual most important part of the planning was to use a slate reference when filming but also that this appeared along the side of the shot list labelled correctly so when we actually started rolling it was easy for us to get exactly every shot. I learnt this technique as its more efficient and better organised so i may consider using this in my own film. the use of having a clapperboard was useful at some points e.g finding the shots on Adobe.

Strengths and Weaknesses:

The main strengths of our production were that our planning was excellent which made the filming easy for everyone working on this film. The range of close ups at the beginning of the film contributed the hallucinative storyline and made the audience feel confused but also worried for the character. Me and Aarun managed to create a emotional connection to the audience but Alan's video struggled to deliver the narrative which made the audience a bit lost. i think the storyline wasn't good enough as it was alan's idea but if it was my film perspective i would create more of a action type to engage the audience as Me and Aarun were told to edit separately in which i think was better as we were also able to use our editing skills.

The audience wasn't aware of what was going on as Alan used heavy effects in which destroyed the narrative of the actual video. whereas the feedback me and Aarun got was better as we did not use that many post production effects which gave the video realism and smooth transitions.

Overall i think we successfully completed the task and created a good film for a audience. unfortunately it did not meet the brief but we managed to use all the shots required. i will learn from the mistakes we made and apply what i have learned in my actual film and for future preferences.

Preliminary Excercise Planning : "Outset" - A 30 second film.

PRODUCTION: "OUTSET"
RUNNING TIME: 35 SECONDS
ASPECT RATIO : 16:9

DIRECTED BY:
ALAN BRZEZINSKI

CLAPPER LOADER: TARANJIT PANESAR

CAST: 
AARUN SAINI - PARTICIPANT
AKASH COCO SHARMA - PAUL
REHAN ALI - LARRY

MUSIC: SPEAK WE'RE LISTENING - RYAN TAUBERT
(Extracted from full version)

EQUIPMENT:
Nikon D3200
35mm 1.8
70-300mm 3.4
Manfrotto Video Tripod w/Fluid Head
Newwer Tripod Dolly
Rode Videomic.

SLATE REF	SHOT TYPE	DESCRIPTION
1A	CU	Participants face is shown in distress as he’s lying on the floor
1B	ECU	Participant’s eyes are shown with a blur over them.
1C	ECU	Participant’s clock is seen still with its seconds not moving at all.
1D	CU > MS	He stands up with medium pace as the dolly pulls back from the ground to a standing position.
2A	MS	As the participant stands there he visualises the past events that occurred before he woke up. As his visions start to end we hear footsteps getting louder and we see the framing normally once again.
3A	MS	This shot continues from the previous one. We now drag with the dolly to reveal the characters where the participant is facing.
4A	Pan + MS	Paul and Larry confront the participant. Camera pans when Paul finishes speaking and focuses on Larry.
4B	CU	The participants reaction is seen
5A	LS	We see the characters together in the shot.
6A	MS	We see the participant give his short speech, he takes out a strange metallic object, presses his fingers against it and disappears – FADE TO BLACK.

Script: 

FADE IN:
A YOUNG MAN, 17, IS SEEN LAYING ON THE GROUND WITH GREAT DISCOMFORT, BODY HALF SHAKEN, EYES TWITCHING AND SWEAT RUNNING DOWN HIS FACE. HIS CLOTHES ARE CASUAL BUT HIS WATCH IS NO LONGER TICKING. 

PUAL

PARTICIPANT 429... WONDERFUL.

LARRY

THERE IS NOWHERE OUT, DO YOURSELF A FAVOUR A COME WITH US.

PARTICIPANT

YOU'RE WRONG. (STUTTER) THERE IS SOMETHING, SOMETHING WE AS HUMANS SIMPLY UNDERSTAND - TIME.

FADE TO BLACK.

Editing

Phenomenon Eminem. This video has a lot of fast paced editing and the presentation of the cuts are straight throughout making it a more professional and powerful appeal. There is also some distortions effects to the video in which enhances it. Slow motion is used at the guys face when he gets punched and his spit comes out in slow motion making it more aggressive and realistic. The video has long shots to show the bike and other people. The protagonist then goes on a helicopter and falls down through s building the use of the camera following him downwards and zooming on his face tragically. 

Cinematography

ALI G INDAHOUSE 

Warning! this video contains sexually explicit scenes.

Opening sequence

The opening sequence contains a bird eye view shot of the city and cars driving along the highway. then exits with a pan upwards to capture the protagonists face. Ali G is then introduced by coming in a convertible. the use of wide shot occurs a lot in this scene to create the setting for the film. It then follows up with a chase where there is extreme fast pace of different camera angle shot e.g as Ali G fires a gun. when he saves the kid the camera shakes creating a distorted effect which makes you feel as if your in the scene then slow motion is used to make it more dramatic and cinematic. After ALI has no ammo left in the gun the firing squad fire at him and the bullets are penetrating the walls but luckily he stops each one a variety of shots are established to make it more funny and realistic. some shots don't match the scene but this what makes the opening sequence really funny because people don't expect that and that what makes this movie a comedy. The opening sequence is really strong as they use all types of shots e.g at the beginning they used a crane shot which is really rare.

Sound Analysis

Lucy 

The diegetic sound in this film clip is the sound of nature as Lucy travels there is a different atmosphere in which cuts off the sound genres e.g the dinosaur in the beginning started to roar but the audience would expect some non diegetic sound such as fast paced music but the scene just cut off which makes it more realistic as it feels like your at the specific . The non diegetic sound is the gradually building up of the music which makes it parallel to the scene and the shift in time delivers a variety of old/new music so the audience can guess what time the scene was set. This specific part of the movie is so cleverly put together its really hard to guess the contrapuntal sound as all the sounds used actually fit the scenes but i think there was contrapuntal sound when Lucy was visualising the galaxy but still really hard to guess the contrapuntal as it fits many genres such as horror action but lacks comedy so funny music would be contrapuntal.There is really less voiceover from Lucy as she is amazed by the atmospheres but the character that wants to shoot her. There is so many sound effects which really enhance this scene such as the flashback and membrane noises make it seem really realistic and frightening. The sound bridge runs throughout the whole scene which breaks up the music drastically. The idea of having many scenes and shifting in sound genres makes the scene look really professional and creative.