Location Shooting

This morning i got up at 8 am and went out to film the locations that will be the backgrounds in my film.

I planned to shoot them in the correct order, so that the lighting conditions would be correct in the timing. 

Park Bench

First i headed to the park to shoot a park bench background. There were 2 to choose from, one with a road behind which was quite interesting, but i thought that it might take the attention away from the characters. Also this bench wasn't straight and so when i had straightened it in the viewfinder, the houses were slanted.

Therefore i chose another bench, which just had trees behind. Nice simple trees. I paced out 18 feet (as this is the distance that the seat in the green studio was away from the camera). Then i filmed about 3 minute chunks of footage about 3 times just to be sure.

I decided to start the scene with a pan down from the white sky. I did this because the bench scene is the opening scene of the film, so i thought it would give the film a bit of movement before the motionless backgrounds kicked in.  

I also set the exposure to manual, so that the light didn't change at all on the pan down went i came to add the characters in. Another reason was to make the sky bright white, which would make the opening of the film more aesthetically pleasing.

Cash Point

Next i scurried over to my local Co-op to film the cashpoint background. (There is a scene in the film where the characters are queuing at a  cash point.) 

Again i shot 3 minutes of footage a couple of times at 18 feet. It was quite busy and people kept on walking through the shot which meant that i had to keep the camera rolling until i had 3 minutes of non stop cash point. 

(Also i switched the camera off when people tried to get money out as i didn't want to look too shifty!)

Bus Stop

Finally i shot the Bus Stop background, which was just opposite the cash point. I had chosen to film a different stop than the first one is filmed in my tests, because the first bus stop was next to a bank which i had to film from. This meant that the camera was too high. Also there wasn't much walking space as the path was narrow.

The Bus Stop took the longest to film, with people coming and going off and on buses. 

Was pretty frustrating, but i got my 3 mins footage in the end. Woo!

FINAL FILMING

I got the filming done!!! 

On Tuesday I filmed in the Green Studio all day. With just 45 minutes sleep from completing the final storyboard, the night before. 

I was still coming up with new ideas at 4 in the morning, but decided that it was too late to start anything new. So i chose to refer back to one of my earlier storyboards and just enhance and tweak the ideas a little.

What i ended up with was a flowing story looking into the personal spaces of multiple characters, which entered into three different locations.

I started by filming each of the 3 scenes separately, with the adjoining characters going off screen, then coming back on in the new scene to create cuts in the footage.

However, i decided to go risky and attempt to film the whole film with no cuts from start to finish. This meant that the actors had to come on set at certain times, usually when one of the other characters was 'in their personal space'.

Amazingly, on the 2nd try of this mammoth shoot, i got a perfect take, with all the characters remembering when to come in and when and where to move to and from.

Thanks to the help of Margarita, Lexi, Duncan, Caz, Steve and Maggie, i have a seamless 6:30 minute take of my film. 

I'm feeling 90% less stressed now that i have all of the footage i need from the green studio.

I just have to go out and re-film some of my backgrounds, then it's edit, edit, edit!!!

Faded Background

For this test, i tried fading the Bus Stop background out and the white (personal space) background in. 

I like the fact that you can see what the other characters in the scene are doing and that life is actually continuing while the main character is in their space.

However, this style would make it a lot harder to cut between backgrounds and the surprise of a new character entering would be lost.

Dancing Space Cont...

These are the same videos as the one that i posted before in 'More Ideas!!', but with modifications: 

This first modification is the i gave the 'personal space' colour. Although i think this makes it look too similar to the Ipod advert.

Ipod Advert

This 2nd video has actual footage of the bus stop as a background instead of a photo.

However, the sound from the background is a bit too loud.

Stressy Stressy Stress Stress

Hmmm, i've just found out that my home version of Adobe After Effects does not have the 'Keylight 1.2' Effect on it. This is the main effect that i have been using at uni to key out the greenscreen background.

So uber frustration has set in and i am currently trying to reinstall my version of After Effect. 

ARRRGGHHH!!!

MORE IDEAS!!

'Dancing Space'

The film starts with one character at the bus stop. This characters goes into their own space and starts dancing. when they have finished dancing, the background scene cuts back to the original scene (bus stop) and there is a 2nd character waiting there. This character then starts to dance to their own song and goes into their own space. When they have finished dancing a 3rd character has appeared next to them and the 1st character is also still there. The third character then repeats this routine and a fourth character has appeared. The 4th character then goes into their own space, but there is no music, just silence and they stand there smiling. (happy in their own space) The scene then cuts back to the original background and 'the bus arrives' and they all get on.

This test is a little bit different to the text above, but you get the idea.

'Squashed Space'

One character is waiting. They then go into their own, personal space, which is quite big. A second character then walks on and squashes their space. A third character walks on from the other side and squashes the original characters space some more. The 2 new characters are listening to music and dancing in their spaces and taking up a lot of room, which continues to squash the original characters space. The 2 characters eventually walk away and the 1st characters space resumes its original place and size.

'Intruding Space'

The scene starts with a character waiting at a bus stop. The scene then cuts to them in their 'space' alone. A second character then enters into the 'personal space' scene in their own box. The scene then cuts back to the bus stop and the 2 and character is standing there. The first character then starts a conversation with the 2nd character and the scene changes back to the 'personal space' scene and their two boxes have joined together. (they are in each others personal space). A 3rd character then walks into the p.s scene. The scene cuts back to the bus stop and all the characters are standing and waiting. The 1st character then tries to walk over and talk to the 3rd character who is listening to their ipod. The scene changed to the p.s scene and the 1st character walks into the side of the 3rd characters box. He can't get into it as the 3rd character is not paying attention to him. (She's not letting him into her space). A 4th character then walks in, who catches the 3rd characters attention and their boxes join together, pushing the 1st character and his box out of the way. The scene then cuts back to the bus stop and all the characters are standing and waiting for the bus.

Ideas I had in the Shower

So i was taking a shower today and i started thinking about my film. 

Characters

I was originally going to have ONE main character who entered in and out of, and affected other peoples space. However, i now have chosen to use a number of different characters (4+) and their own spaces. The character changes as each scene changes. 

For example, the film will start off with at one location, (say a park bench) where the first character will be. He/she will then go into his/her own space and dance/run/sing whilst in their space. The character will then proceed to walk (while still in their space), until the background scene reappears and they're at a different location (a bus stop), where there is a second character. 

This character then looks at the first character and goes into their own space, where they shout/laugh/scream/cry, they then walk along whilst in their space, until the background reappears and they're in a different location (a lift), where there is a third character. This character then looks at the second character and goes into their own space....etc.

Scene/Location Changing

I was also thinking about how the characters could moved from 'scene to scene' in the easiest way possible. 

I came up with the idea of tracking the characters in the green studio, using the panning tracks. If i filmed a character walking and pan with them, i can make that character look as though they are walking but their position on the screen stays the same. So they'll be in their personal space and walking 'on the spot' as it were, but then when the scene reappears it's a different location.

Another idea would be to have the character just pace back and forth across the screen to show that they are traveling somewhere. Maybe even pace along the bottom of the screen and appear along the top of the screen. 

The other option is to make the character walk out of the frame completely and reappear at the other side of the screen in a different location.

Yea, it was a pretty long shower!

Timecode

http://www.videodetective.com/movies/TIMECODE/trailer/P00132543.htm

'Timecode' is a 2000 experimental drama film, directed by Mike Figgis.

The film is constructed from four continuous 90-minute takes that were filmed simultaneously by four cameramen; the screen is divided into quarters and the four shots are shown simultaneously. The film depicts several groups of people in Los Angeles as they interact and conflict while preparing for the shooting of a movie. The dialogue was largely improvised, and the sound mix of the film is designed so that the most significant of the four sequences on screen dominates the soundtrack at any given moment.

This is another film idea that i love. The realtime aspect of this film makes everything so 'REAL'. Everything is happening at the same time, which means that you can be in multiple places. 

Although the idea is very clever, i don't think that the film really works. It is very busy and the sound is messy, which i guess is a technique that Figgis may have intended, but it is a pain in the brain to watch and keep on top of. There is a lot of information to take in from each of the 4 screens at the same time.

The parts of the film i like the most are the earthquakes, to see how all of the different people react to the same disaster, the phone calls between frames, i like the way that you can see both of the characters body language and also the points in the film where characters pass from frame to frame. I found it kind of like a game to chase the actors through the frames and to see them from different perspectives.

Slacker

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=OrRQ9rraq0o

'Slacker' is a uniquely-structured and seemingly plotless film, following a single day in the life of an ensemble of mostly twenty-something bohemians and misfits in Austin, Texas. The film follows various characters and scenes, never staying with one character or conversation for more than a few minutes before picking up someone else in the scene and following them.

I love the idea of this film. Not concentrating on one main character frees the film up to make its own path through the set. The audience is also made aware that different things are happening in everybody's lives at the same time. The world does not revolve around us as one person.

 

This is the kind of idea that i want to pursue. I like the fact that the characters just come and go. They are involved in one anothers' lives/personal space's, sometimes for just a few seconds, then they just carry on with their own existence. Everyone of the characters is on their own journey for their own reasons. You may not know where they have come from or where they are going, but i think that is one of the feature that intrigues and excites me about this film.

Multi Screen Influences

'In the Labyrinth' 

Abridged version of the original 79 minutes movie of the National Film Board theme pavilion at Montreal Expo 67.

'Pillow Talk' (1959)

The interaction at the start of this clip is the kind of initial ideas i had for this project. The frames interact with one another even though they are two completely different scenes.

'Down with Love' (2003)

Another example of the interaction between the two characters in different frames.

'The Rules of Attraction' (2002)

The final part of this clip, where the two screen come together as one is an area that i was interested in at the beginning of this project. I had an idea about 4 housemates that all left their house at the same time and went off in different directions. I wanted to use this technique to show them separating from each other.

'Conversations with Other Women'  (2005)

This clip involves two cameras shooting the same scene at the same time from different angles. This technique lets the audience watch both characters facial expressions and body language while the other other character is speaking. 

Toward the end of the clip, the second screen shows footage of the characters when they were younger. I also like this idea of the screens showing the actual scene and also what is being talked about. A memory etc.

'THINK!' drink driving campaign

This advert shows two things that are happening at the same time. This means that the audience can see the effect the crash has on the mans wife.

'Sugar Water' - Cibo Matto

This music video was directed by Michel Gondry and has had a big influence on some of my previous work. The perfect timing and choreography really make the piece stand out as an amazing piece of visual art.

'Sideways'

This trailer contains a number of different sized frames, which float across and up and down the screen showing different scenes and characters.

'The Tracey Fragments'

This film is a busy mess of multiple screens and sounds and even repetition and scene manipulation. The frames are all in different sizes and shapes and sometime overlap with each other and the way through the film. It's like a psychological mixup inside a teenage girl's head.

Ideas

More ideas for the green screen film:

Location:  

Bus Stop

Advantages:

• (standing or sitting)
  
• Easy to find and film
• Different types of people wait at bus stops
• Good reason for waiting
• Ending is simple (characters get on bus, therefore it would be best to shoot this scene from across the street, so that when the bus arrives, it drives in front of the characters)

Disadvantages:

• Boring scene (not much happening)

Train Station

Advantages:

• Different types of people
• Simple Ending (get on train, shot from opposite platform)
• People wait in a line

Disadvantages:

• Hard to film (frequent trains/people in the way)
• Permission
• Too Boring?

Queuing (possibly for a cash machine)

Advantages:

• Close proximity of characters (small spaces)
• Reason for waiting (the characters could come and go)
• Different types of people
• Easy to film. (lots of cash machines around)

Disadvantages:

• Hard to get cash machine in shot (not obvious what the characters are doing)
• Boring scene

Lift

Advantages:

• Close proximity of characters (small spaces)
• Reason for waiting
• Interesting shot (crop the edges of the frame so the scene came be filmed from outside the lift, but look like it's inside)

Disadvantages:

• Small space (hard to shoot/arrange)
• Not very common (hard to find)
• Boring scene

Busy Shopping Street

Advantages:

• The audience does not know who the characters in the film are as they will blend into the crowd.
• Option of speeding up the scene when the characters are in their 'spaces'. (either in faded background, or behind black background)
• Interesting scene (Busy, lots going on)
• Different types of people could be the main characters

Disadvantages:

• Too busy (people might walk in the foreground where the green screen characters will be)
• Distracts the audience
• Characters standing out (the lighting will be different on the main characters so they may be easier to spot in the crowd)

Green Screen 'PERSONAL SPACE' tests

This is a test that i filmed on friday.

My film is going to be about personal space. In this test, i have tried to show what is going on inside a characters head (in their own space).

I think that it is a bit too similar to the ipod advert, but please let me know what you think!!

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AIMS + LEARNING OUTCOMES

AIMS:

• To heighten my knowledge of Adobe After Effects and other Editing Software.

• To explore new techniques and increase my understanding of filming methods.

• To creates a short film(s), which show what I have learnt throughout my time at BCU.

• To communicate a simple message in a complex way

• To make an interesting short film that can hold the attention of the audience for the duration of the piece and cause them to feel a number of different emotions

• To manipulate and tease the audience.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

• Learn how to use Adobe After Effects

• Increase my knowledge of Final Cut Pro

• Increase my range of camera techniques (lighting, styles, green screen)

• Introduce myself to HDV