Our film location

These are a few shots of the location where we are going to film.  We are going to film in and around the church in Yarnton. 


The location is perfect for our film. We think this because outside the church you have all kinds of old graves and outside the church it looks very old fashioned. There are stone walls and wooden gates.


Lighting
There aren't many street lights down this road. We liked this about the location as street lights give an artificial light that looks orangey on camera. We would either film at dusk or dawn meaning it would be darkish but not too dark. This means we could use daylight and subtle lighting e.g. torches.



I shot these photo's during the day. This was a bad idea as we would be filming during at dusk or dawn so the lighting would be different. 


We chose Yarnton to film as it's local to everyone and everyone would be able to get there. Th is means people should be able to get to every filming. 

Sunday 30th January 2011 - Meeting 6

Today we met on location. We planned on filming a small part of the opening sequence but it was too cold and the lighting was wrong so we decided to plan. As this was the first time the other girls had seen the location we took sometime looking around the church and saying what we think would be good. We used our cameras to take some photos and speak camera angles. 


As it got dark fast, we would maybe plan on filming in the morning next time. This is because, if we we set off early in the morning whilst it was still dark while were filming inside the church by the time we had set all the equipment up it would be light enough. We like the idea of filming inside the church so we're going to alter our storyline very slightly. 


Although we didn't film anything today we're more organised for next time we go to film. Now the girls know what the church looks like we can draw up a story board as a group and plan shots. We are going to meet again soon and carry on filming.

Cars

Cars was made in 2006 by Disney and Pixar animations. It was directed by John Lasseter and Joe Ranft. The film is about a world which population is made up of only cars and other vehicles. It stars the famous voices of Owen Wilson, Paul Newman, Bonnie Hunt and even Jeremy Clarkson. Other Disney-Pixar films are Monsters Inc, The incredibles, Finding Nemo, Toy story and Shark tale.



The film was made by 300 artists, animators and technicians. Before they even began thinking of making the animation they drew up several storyboards. This meant they knew exactly what needed to be done and saved time. The 2nd full film story board they drew up was basic black and white sketches that when placed all together ran very smoothly. These were easier and faster than making the animation and allowed Pixar to remove any scenes they didn't want or make any changes needed before the final animation. 



My favourite part of the Cars film is the characters. The cars in the film are just characters that you love. John Lasseter said that for some cars he found the car first, then created the personality, where as other cars he thought of the personality first then thought which car it should be. For some cars they used specific models and others they made the car themselves and designed it. In one scene they even call a petrol station  a diner. I like all the thought and effort they put into each aspect of the film. They didn't leave anything out. 

How do you choose the right film location?

When looking for a film location we remembered that we needed one which was reliable and set the mood for the film. For example, we couldn't have a picnic scene filmed on the motorway or a woodland scene filmed in an open field with no trees. 

There are many things we need to consider when choosing the location. We need a reliable location as if it's not free all the time, we might need to look for somewhere that is. This is encase we need to film at 3 in the morning or need an empty room. Also we can't decide we would like to film a scene in LA as we would struggle to get there. Another thing we would need to consider is somewhere that has parking, this is because if we had any heavy props or setting we would need to get it too and from the car. 

We would need to consider the welfare of our cast and crew members. Therefore we would need to choose somewhere with toilets and somewhere for them to sit and rest if we are planning to spend a long day filming. We may also consider taking food and drink. 

When we have finished using the location we will be expected to pick up any rubbish and tidy away all equipment to avoid too much disruption. 

As our film opening is a low budget film, we wouldn't have too much lighting or sound equipment. Therefore we wouldn't need plugs or flat surfaces for lighting.

Friday 14th January 2011 - Meeting 5

Today we met again as a group and decided our final storyline. We decided to stick with ghosts as it’s an original theme and if we pull it off it would be really effective and keep people hooked.

Our story begins with a close up of someone’s feet. You see them frantically running bare foot, but you don’t know why. We would use several different shots and frequent cut shots to make it seem tense. Also we would use several high angle shots; they make the person/people within the shot seem vulnerable and weak. You would then see a girl frantically running up a lane. We would then maybe use a longshot and you see the girl running towards the church being chased. You then see her run and hide behind a grave. We would make the image of her fill the whole screen and then you would see a hand coming down. There would be a cut shot and we would maybe show some credits and it would flash forward to today. There are several people stood by the same grave and there is a man speaking of the girl who died by the grave, he would speak of people still hearing her scream late at night. Once the man has finished speaking the group and tour guide walk off, however one person remains, they are dressed all in black.

Costumes – The costumes in the beginning of this film would be a white dress for the young girl who’s being chased. The man who’s chasing would need dark, old fashioned, basic clothes. When we go forward in time we would need everyone to be in their own, casual clothes.

Lighting – We would film this opening during dusk, so it was a dark/eerie atmosphere that made the audience nervous. Too much lighting would spoil the opening as we feel it would take the scariness away in the first section. In the second part of the opening this would be filmed on a summers day. 

Actors - We are thinking of using a girl who’s aged between 12 and 18. We chose to use a girl instead of a boy as girls seem to come across more vulnerable and weak. We felt as a group this was the prime age for being chased; she wasn’t too old or young. We would like the girl to be pale and wear no makeup; they may even have messy hair. The pale complexion would seem ghost like and the no makeup would be due to the time difference. The messy hair would reflect the ciaos in the scene.  Also we would need a male character for this. We would like a middle aged male who had the dark and sinister look to him.

Movement – The movement within the scene would be the chase, so we would use several close ups and cut shots. We may pan, zoom or crab the camera a little.

Props – We wouldn’t need any props in this opening. This is because we are mainly focusing on her being chased. We may have some props in the second part when we are forward in time again people may be taking photos on their cameras.

Setting – Our setting is in a church graveyard. You see the girl run up the lane to the church and then through the graveyard and hides behind a grave. You would then see the church again. This would mean we need to look for a church with these characteristics.


Setting - This would be filmed in a grave yard. We are unsure of which yet, but we would need one with a long lane and it would need to look a bit creepy at night. 


Sound - We haven't yet spoken a lot about sound. We would need a lot of diegetic sounds like footsteps, breathing and wind. However we are unsure if adding music would take away the creepiness of the scene and make it cheesy. We would need to look into how we could add subtle music.

Next, we need to draw up a story line showing the camera angles, movement and sound. We also need to find the cast and find a location. Each person in the group is going to do a small part of the work to ensure that everyone pulls their weight. 

Wednesday 12th January 2011 - Meeting 4

Today we met as the group again and we spoke about basic story lines. In our group we haven’t yet got a specific story line with all the details. However we had a group member absent and didn’t want to change the story too much without their consent therefore we will focus more on smaller details until they’re back.

 We moved on to discuss how we are going to include the opening credits. We thought we needed 4/5 different ideas just so things don’t get repetitive. A few ideas were writing a name on a grave stone, writing the name on a book with tea stained pages and ripping wallpaper which would uncover a name. We would need to look more into these ideas and practice them beforehand. 

Friday 7th January 2011 - Meeting 3

Today we met in the group again and our group decided our opening sequence seemed more like an advert than an opening sequence. This meant we could change either the way we would film it or start again. We decided to start again as it could end up like an advert again.

Our previous story line was about stalkers, which can be a bit repetitive. So we decided to change the storyline from stalkers to ghosts. The problem about doing something that is based on ghosts is it can seem a bit cheesy. Therefore we need to look into ways to do it tastefully. One way would be to not to try to add any special effects. We could also make it so you never see the ghost this would mean we would need to look into ways of portraying a ghost.