2 Minute Film: The Meeting.

Unit 1 Story Telling: Post Production.

Post Production: Editing

 

To edit my short film I used the programme Final Cut Professional. As a class we have been taking part in a Final Cut workshop every Wednesday - this has developed my skills and techniques in this programme and allowed us all to practice editing footage and sound. We also learnt how to add sound effects and visual effects to enhance the atmosphere and sound of our videos.

 

Whilst editing my 2 minute film, I needed to use a variety of editing tools such as colour correction, key frames, sound effects and cropping clips.

 

In post production I set up the white balance on the camera and used extra lighting - however, I found that the video footage was too dull and grainy when playing my video back as the main source of lighting in the flat was too yellowy as it's not natural light.

 

 

1.

 



                                     

After placing all my clips in the correct order and trimming them down, I went straight into correcting the colour. To do this, I highlighted all the clips and then went into the 'Balance Colour' option.

 

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3.

 

4

The 'Balance Colour' option created a default balance which the editing programme detected from the colours used. Initially I thought the change was good and added light yet grain in (which I needed as I wanted my scene to be quite dull and white).

 

5

However, after studying each clip, I noticed that the exposure and highlights was too bright on the face of my actors and parts of the room which wasn't the look I wanted for my film. To change this, I went into the colour correction and changed the highlights, shadows and mid tones to darken parts of the clip.

 

6

Although I'd selected all the clips in the timeline and used 'balance colour' some of the clips still slightly had different lighting. To change this, I went into 'match colour' and selected the clip which I wanted the programme to take the same colours of. This allowed the clips to become the same as possible which allowed the continuity to be accurate.

 

Overall, the editing process went quite well as Final Cut is straight forward to use. I also actually had a lot more footage than I had expected which meant I could switch shots to see which looked best.

Production Stills

Production Day 2

Production Day 1

Trailer Workshop.

Trailer Workshop: Soft

Ingredients of a TRAILER:

A theme throughout to fit with the set genre,
Titles/Credits
Voice-over/Music
Fast paced cutting/montage/transitions
Enigma and a hook to grab the audiences attention.

To get ourselves familiar with how to edit footage into a trailer, we was set a task in groups of 2-3 to create a trailer from the short film 'Soft'.

The trailer needed to be 1 minute long and can include sound effects.

Myself, Charlie Ansell and Mark Cooper worked in a group to create the trailer. To add intensity at the beginning of the film we added a fast paced instrumental sound, which builded up whilst we kept switching from shot to shot. We also added a heart beat which was added when the Father and Antagonist met up, we also played this in slow motion to show the build up to the two characters meeting up.

Overall, I enjoyed creating the trailer as it allowed us to practice creating a short trailer from a 15 minute film.

Here is our finished trailer.

Storyboard

Screenplay Draft 2

After receiving feedback from Simon and re thinking my ideas, I have come up with a 2nd final draft for my screenplay.

Ruby Rogers Screenplay - Draft 2

Update on The Meeting Idea & Pitch.

After receiving my feedback for my script, I've decided to change the idea around a little. Instead of the son being adopted and meeting his biological Dad, I've changed it so that the son isn't adopted, but has an absent father in his life who he's hardly seen.
The son is going to find a letter from his Dad which he wrote when his son was born (as he knew he wouldn't hardly be part of his life due to his own lifestyle). Instead of the letter being a certificate of adoption, it will be a letter from his Dad hoping to one day properly meet up with his son. This will then encourage Ben to go forth and properly meet up with his dad as he's only met him a few times in his life. The scene will still be awkward between Ben and Rick but make sense as Ben's got a step Dad whom he doesn't appreciate until he meets his arrogant, lazy Dad.
The change:
Ben has had enough by the end of the meeting and suddenly receives a phone call from his step Dad who is worried about him. Ben then sticks up for himself and leaves immediately, however still feels bad for his Dad as his Dad genuinely feels bad about the life he lives and wants to change and feel more involved in Bens life. A few weeks later the Dad will be looking at himself in the mirror wearing a suit trying to rebuild his life, heading out to a job interview. As he leaves, he notices some milk on his door step as a small gesture from his son (as when he met his Dad he was out of milk as he hardly has any money). Ben will also still want to get on with his Dad and fix their relationship but appreciate his family more.

Important note: In my script I'm going to re arrange the meeting scene (page 6) to page 1, this will mean that my film uses a non linear structure - inspired by the Christopher Nolan 2004 film: Memento. After the meeting has happened, the film will flash back to the morning before the meeting happened. I want to do this to create a non conventional film and make the audience try and figure out who's meeting and why the atmosphere is so tense and awkward.
I've decided to create the first 2 minutes of my film instead of a trailer - however, during production I'm going to film more scenes throughout my script so that if the first 2 minutes doesn't work out, I'll have the choice to change my idea to a 2 minute trailer.

Being inspired by the 2004 Christopher Nolan Film - Memento, has inspired me to create a NON - LINEAR narrative. I want the first 2 minutes of my film to consist of the actual meeting between the two characters, then I want the script to start from the beginning of that day to show the build up and how the characters lives were before the meeting. I also was inspired by Roland Barthes The Hermeneutic Code theory as I believe creating a non linear narrative will confuse the audience yet create a hook at the start of the film to encourage the audience to want to know what's going to happen.

THE PITCH.

My original pitch.

''A dramatic story about a naive young teen, determined to meet his biological father. But will it all crash when the two opposites collide?''

New pitch.

''A dramatic story about a naive young teen, determined to re connect with his absent father. But will it all crash when the two opposites collide?''

Screenplay Feedback

Script Feedback: The Meeting

 

After handing my script in, my teacher, Simon Welsford read through it and gave me feedback on the story & structure, action & dialogue and formatting and layout. Simon also went through our scripts and added notes on each page to help us.

Here is the script report I received back.

 

After reading through the feedback I also read back through my script and realised the mistakes I had made. I noticed how my dialogue on the actual meeting between the two characters was too forced and forward - I realise now that I need to let the dialogue build up, although Ben will be excited to meet/re connect with his Dad, he would still be nervous and it would be too awkward to just go straight into what happened between them. To change this I'm going to add more dialogue and let it gradually build into a heated argument.

At first I didn't want to change the Dad to an absent father as I felt the adoption story line would be stronger. However, after a lot of reconsideration I realised that it would make more sense to have the Dad being an absent father as I've not mentioned the biological mum at all.

RISK ASSESSMENT

Health & Safety: Risk Assessment.

 

 

To make sure that all cast and crew are safe, I decided to take a risk assessment. To do this I made a list of all the possible hazards and risks in all of my locations and decide what can be done to prevent them.

The locations I assessed was;

• River
• Kitchen(s)

Unit 1: Filming Schedule.

Filming Schedule.

 

To keep myself organised and prepared, I have decided to create a filming schedule. I have booked out a camera for the 5th and 6th November (to return on the 7th) so I have made sure that I've evenly scheduled times that myself and my actors are able to film in.

 

I have decided to film the scenes which only need around 15 minutes each on the same day. I have then split up the 1-4 hour filming times over the 2 days so myself and the actors will have time to prepare and rest in between scenes.

Production Preperation Work.

LOCATION:

PROPS:

The location for 'The Meeting' will be in a small, cramped kitchen - this is to show that the father isn't very well off and show the strain that he is living in. To show the problems that the father is having (such as being an alcoholic and drug abuser and being dis-organised) I have placed some tablets, strongbow, and cigarettes onto the table. I have also decided I will arrange some letters and leaflets on the table to show that the father could be in debt and show how he's a messy person.

Media Influences

Media Influences for Pre Production.

To get inspired and show in planning how I want my location, props, characters and mise en scene to look, I have decided to research into media and imagery to get a brief idea of how my film will look. 

After researching into the character profiles, I want both my characters to be two complete opposites. To do this I have decided to create a dull, unorganised scenario for the fathers scene, and for the son, he will be living in a clean, OCD kitchen with everything in the right place. 

LOCATION:

1. Taking inspiration from the British TV show 'Shameless' I want the location to look as if it is in a rough council estate with drug dealers hanging around or in a desolated flat. I think this will show that the father lives in a cheap, chaotic area where it wouldn't be safe to have a family. 

As my other character is highly OCD, I want his families house to be absolutely organised and sparkling clean to over highlight how neat and tidy he is.

(Mise-en scene also) In comparison to this, I want the fathers flat to look overly messy and contain alcohol and cigarettes in the kitchen. To do this, I will arrange all the pots in the kitchen overlapping each other as the photo below shows. I'll also spread alcohol over the table and make it very unorganised, this will also allow the son to feel uncomfortable and shocked at how his Dad lives when arriving at his home.

COSTUME:

The father's costume will be inspired by the character Frank Gallagher in the Channel 4 Programme 'Shamless' and Ste Hay in the Channel 4 Programme Hollyoaks.

Frank Gallagher 

Ste Hay

The antagonist will wear tracky bottoms and baggy ripped jeans to represent being lazy and rough around the edges. My character will also have stubble to make him look older.

My second character will be influenced by Jack Whitehall. I want him to look quite clean cut, yet have a cheeky appeal to himself. Jack Whitehall also has quite an innocent look which I think would help develop the OCD, quite character profile further. However, the clothes my character wears will be quite casual such as blue/black jeans and a plain shirt with a black jacket as I want him to be seen as laid back and also not look too old.

PROPS:

I'm going to create a very dis organised and messy mise en scene by using a variety of kitchen utensils and alcoholic beverages such as:

Tea bags, Sambuca bottle, Cider, ripped letters, a lot of cups and plates.