Thursday 6 January 2011
Monday 13 December 2010
Monday 15 November 2010
Children's Film Review
Camerawork
Firstly, we began with a mid shot of the book on the table surrounded by clutter. This simple shot worked well as the main focus was the book and the clutter disappearing around it, so we didn't have any movement of the camera, because the clutter disappearing was meant to be happening over a long period of time. Our next shot was an overhead shot of the book, followed by an extreme close up, this meant that the only focus for the audience could be the book therefore, they could get the full effect of glitter falling on the page. This wouldn't have been as effective if it was a long shot or mid shot because the camera was able to capture the glitter, making it possible for the audience to see it clearly.
Sound
We could have added more variation to our background music, as it was slightly repetitive because we didn't have much time to put it in, although, the music we did have fitted in well. We didn't use typical fairytale styled music that sounds 'magical', we decided to use a more modern style that was an acoustic guitar. If we could do the opening again we would add more special effect sounds, i.e. a twinkling sound when the glitter falls onto the book. We had a voice over which made the opening much more interesting and worked well alongside what was happening on the screen. It didn't give the whole story away but hinted at key themes of what was going to happen later on in the film.
Editing
After we had more our opening together, we realised that it was slightly jumpy between different shots. Therefore we corrected this by using a dissolve shot to smooth out the transition. We also ended on a fade to move on to the rest of the film that would be played by real actors instead of animation. We also changed the speed of the introduction of the characters so that it fitted in with the voice over. We could've improved the start to make it more interesting by having people walking past the cluttered table etc but sped up to show the long period of time.
Mise-en-scene
To start the children's films opening credits, we filmed in a classroom, that is just an everyday room that is boring and dull. The change therefore is emphasised because its a complete contrast from dreary to magical with the glitter falling onto the book. The book we used was very old and we felt fitted perfectly into the genre we were doing. Also, rather than just having the words just there on the page we made it more visual where the letters appeared one by one.
Firstly, we began with a mid shot of the book on the table surrounded by clutter. This simple shot worked well as the main focus was the book and the clutter disappearing around it, so we didn't have any movement of the camera, because the clutter disappearing was meant to be happening over a long period of time. Our next shot was an overhead shot of the book, followed by an extreme close up, this meant that the only focus for the audience could be the book therefore, they could get the full effect of glitter falling on the page. This wouldn't have been as effective if it was a long shot or mid shot because the camera was able to capture the glitter, making it possible for the audience to see it clearly.
Sound
We could have added more variation to our background music, as it was slightly repetitive because we didn't have much time to put it in, although, the music we did have fitted in well. We didn't use typical fairytale styled music that sounds 'magical', we decided to use a more modern style that was an acoustic guitar. If we could do the opening again we would add more special effect sounds, i.e. a twinkling sound when the glitter falls onto the book. We had a voice over which made the opening much more interesting and worked well alongside what was happening on the screen. It didn't give the whole story away but hinted at key themes of what was going to happen later on in the film.
Editing
After we had more our opening together, we realised that it was slightly jumpy between different shots. Therefore we corrected this by using a dissolve shot to smooth out the transition. We also ended on a fade to move on to the rest of the film that would be played by real actors instead of animation. We also changed the speed of the introduction of the characters so that it fitted in with the voice over. We could've improved the start to make it more interesting by having people walking past the cluttered table etc but sped up to show the long period of time.
Mise-en-scene
To start the children's films opening credits, we filmed in a classroom, that is just an everyday room that is boring and dull. The change therefore is emphasised because its a complete contrast from dreary to magical with the glitter falling onto the book. The book we used was very old and we felt fitted perfectly into the genre we were doing. Also, rather than just having the words just there on the page we made it more visual where the letters appeared one by one.
Monday 8 November 2010
Our review of our children's film opening
Good points
. Introduction of characters --> speech gives information about Edd and Mia
. Effects --> use of glitter gives a 'magical' effect, book opening on its own
. Animation --> girl moving on path (links to editing also)
. Sound --> voice over works well with the different parts of the sequence
. Transitions --> fading and cuts
Not so good points
. Camera --> could've been more stable at times and there could've been more angles
. Sound --> could've varied the music more
. Transitions --> some of the transitions could've been smoother
. Credits --> added more credits/ production company etc
. Mise-en-scene --> we could have made it more clear where it was going to be sent
. Introduction of characters --> speech gives information about Edd and Mia
. Effects --> use of glitter gives a 'magical' effect, book opening on its own
. Animation --> girl moving on path (links to editing also)
. Sound --> voice over works well with the different parts of the sequence
. Transitions --> fading and cuts
Not so good points
. Camera --> could've been more stable at times and there could've been more angles
. Sound --> could've varied the music more
. Transitions --> some of the transitions could've been smoother
. Credits --> added more credits/ production company etc
. Mise-en-scene --> we could have made it more clear where it was going to be sent
Peer feedback
Our feedback from the group about our children's film opening sequence:
Conventions of an opening sequence
. Introduces characters
. Credits
. Tells you what the films about
Specific genre conventions
. Fantasy
. Romance
. Fairytale romance
. Adventure fairytale
Variety and quality of camerawork
. Good variety of camera work but unstable at times
. Nice variety at beginning
. Nice variety
Use of special effects
. Good use of special effects
. Nice effects e.g girl walking up path
. Book opening on its own
. Fairy dust
Sound- quality and effectiveness
. Good background music
. Song fits with genre
. Like the music and the way it fits in with what's going on
Use of Mise-en-scene
. Book and glitter (props)
Editing
. Music, credits in the book being written letter by letter are good
. Opening of the book
Best features
. The effects
. Effects
Conventions of an opening sequence
. Introduces characters
. Credits
. Tells you what the films about
Specific genre conventions
. Fantasy
. Romance
. Fairytale romance
. Adventure fairytale
Variety and quality of camerawork
. Good variety of camera work but unstable at times
. Nice variety at beginning
. Nice variety
Use of special effects
. Good use of special effects
. Nice effects e.g girl walking up path
. Book opening on its own
. Fairy dust
Sound- quality and effectiveness
. Good background music
. Song fits with genre
. Like the music and the way it fits in with what's going on
Use of Mise-en-scene
. Book and glitter (props)
Editing
. Music, credits in the book being written letter by letter are good
. Opening of the book
Best features
. The effects
. Effects
Monday 25 October 2010
Initial ideas and resolving problems.
Initial Ideas and resolving problems for childrens film
In order to get an idea of what we would like to have as our opening credit sequence, we wrote down the different genres that may be used in a childrens film. These included fantasy, fairytale, adventure and comedy. For each of these categories, we made a list of ideas of what could be included and what the story could be and made a spider diagram with all our ideas.
We finally decided on doing fairytale/fantasy and did the story board to match the opening sequence we were going to use, which included things like a magical book of which Emily and Ciara went to the library to get ideas on what sort of book we wanted in our scene (as shown in the pictures below) aswell as glitter which would really give the scene a make believe, magical feel to it which we believed would feed the imagination of our younger audience.
In order to get an idea of what we would like to have as our opening credit sequence, we wrote down the different genres that may be used in a childrens film. These included fantasy, fairytale, adventure and comedy. For each of these categories, we made a list of ideas of what could be included and what the story could be and made a spider diagram with all our ideas.
We finally decided on doing fairytale/fantasy and did the story board to match the opening sequence we were going to use, which included things like a magical book of which Emily and Ciara went to the library to get ideas on what sort of book we wanted in our scene (as shown in the pictures below) aswell as glitter which would really give the scene a make believe, magical feel to it which we believed would feed the imagination of our younger audience.
We used a number of props brough in from home, like the glitter and fan. Our initial idea was to have the fan blow the pages to add an extra effect and make it look more magical, but this did not work how we would of liked it to and therefore came to the conclusion of using celotape which would open the book but not making it obvious. We also felt we wanted a better surrounding for the book to be in like outside or with people walking past it to show it was not wanted and unregarded, but outside just wasnt possible because the glitter just blew off the page and we didnt have enough time to film to exactly how we would of liked.
We also came across another problem whilst filming which was to do with where we were filming. The classroom we were using was in use, so we had to improvise and do a zoom to an extreme close up of the inside of the book and then changed location. Once we found another location we zoomed out again and the problem was resolved.
Thursday 14 October 2010
Children's Film Planning Notes
Genre- Fairytale/Fantasy
Classification- U
Story Outline
Ed is shy and caring and works at the castle as a servant to the royal family and has special powers that he uses to improve Mia's life. To achieve his powers, Ed has to rub his magical stone to make the powers come to life.
Mia is very accident prone (i.e. she didn't do her homework), resulting in getting in trouble with her dad (the King). Ed helps Mia to improve how accident prone she is but she does not know who is helping her at first, however is hoping its Ben, her love interest. What she does not know that it is Ed, the servant at the castle, who is really helping her. One day however, Mia discovers the stone and accidentally drops it onto the floor only to see the stone glowing, at this point Mia becomes intrigued. Ed, having magical powers, can sense that the stone has been moved, so he rushes to the stone to get it back. Ed then has to explain himself to Mia, and they become great friends.
Characters-
Ed-
.14 years old
Appearance
. Dark brown hair
. Freckles
. Tall and slim
. Poor looking
Mia-
. 15 years old
Appearance
. Long blonde hair
. Very pretty
.Typical princess appearance
Mia's Love interest
.Spanish
.Tall, muscular, extremely attractive
.Full of himself,
.Arrogant, cocky.
Props used-
-Book
-Glitter
-Card
-Fan
-String
-Random school objects
-Table
Costumes are not needed as we are using stop motion and will therefore be using fictional characters.
1st box-
Shots: Close up of the book
Outline of the scene: The book is old and tattered and has no been touched for a long time. Its shot in dark and dull conditions
2nd box-
Shots- Continued close up shot
Outline of the shot: Light appears on the book (spotlight) and glitter falls onto it, giving the impression that this book is no ordinary book.
3rd box-
Shots- Mid shot, moves out to see the book from further away so the audience can take in what is happening
Outline of shot: Pages start blowing and the book opens magically onto a page
4th box-
Shots-Extreme closeup of the writing appearing on the page,
Outline of shot: Writing appears on the paper (the name of the film) using stop motion.
5th box-
Shots-Extreme Close-Up of writing as it appears on the page.
Outline of shot: Writing appears on the paper (Credits) using stop motion.
6th box-
Shots-Long shot of a castle
Outline of shot: Sets the scene as a castle, Hints that the film is going to be a fairytale.
7th box-
Shots- Continued long shot of castle
Outline of shot- Characters appear when introduced. Also hints that the genre is a fairytale.
After analysing the story board, we decided to add in a shot at the very beginning. We thought the shot should be an establishing shot of the area where the book has stayed for a long time. We would then use stop motion to slowly take away random objects surrounding the book, to reveal it. This establishing shot would then lead into the close up of the book. The following image is a sketch of what we think the edited shot will look like:
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