So It was my job to compile the footage into the package and live as well as incorporate our studio presenter using after effects on the green screen.
Obviously the live speaks for itself as it can't be adjusted except from lower thirds and any other logos and such like.
The package took a bit more care and attention as it required me finding the bits of the interview with Terry that would be best for the story as well as linking this with the odd bit of music and actuality.
In the edit suite for the package
I edited everything together as one long news show.
I had to edit the promo as a separate piece which worked out well.
In general the edit didn't produce too many problems which is a first for me. Although I have been using premiere now for quite a while so I am pretty used to it.
The learning experience on the edit for me was on After effects which I haven't used yet. The workshop we got from Fergus was a lot of help as otherwise I don't think I would have known where to start. I learned a new skill from this project and that was definitely green screen and after effects work.
I have to say it took me a little while to get into this unit, we begun with a news story about the BFI film festival which it turned out didn't really have a direction to make a story from. We did however still produce an edit and use it as a substitute TVPlay.
Learning from this we knew we had to go for something that would really have a good story to talk about so we wound up discovering the Maidstone film society which has lasted for so long in a cinema climate that has not particularly suited. So this was a great starting point and then we were told about the New Century Cinema in Sittingbourne which is the only cinema in Sittingbourne. These 2 stories were great stories to talk about and so our channel became FilmHouse News "Film Theatres worth visiting".
Once we got the stories we had to get the contacts so this, although it took a bit of time due to the fact that it took us a while to get to the right story and brand in the first place was a relatively easy process. This was mostly helped by the people being helpful and willing to aid us in our channel.
Developing a brand
We needed our channel to have a professional brand so I spent some time coming up with a logo which up until this week was this:
Unfortunately for this logo there were difficulties when creating an opening title sequence as we aren't quite knowledgable enough yet on After Effects. So the logo became this:
It works well and is now the brand on our Twitter, Facebook and Youtube channel.
This is thanks to Lawrence and Patricia who worked on the website and social media.
Plamen worked on the Opening titles and the scripting whilst I have spent most of this week editing together the final production of the channel.
Final Day changes (tweaking things)
Last discussion and feedback was generally good. The things to work on were the opening to the package as the words there didn't quite work for the piece. So we went into the sound booth and re-recorded the sound with Lawrence after we had re-written the script from our very false opening statement.
The new script:
Once a small town on the A2, Sittingbourne is rapidly growing in size and number. For about 30 years Sittingbourne has been left without a cinema, locals have had to travel nearly half an hour to watch the latest film releases. But now theres a new hope.
This was the main part to the changes, but there are a few little things to adjust as well like adding lower thirds and linking the pictures with sound in a more free flowing way. We managed to do this and its now looking much better in just a few hours.
Reflecting on the whole experience it worked out very nicely in the end and I think we produced some good work with worth while stories. There are definitely areas to learn from mainly shot sizes, structuring sequences, making sure to brainstorm the script as a group so everyone has a say. These are all things to take into the next project what ever it may be.
Something that I failed to talk about here earlier was the pre planning we did to get contacts and to check out where we would be doing things.
Hazlitt Research
I have to look a long way back, but to begin with I personally went to the Maidstone Film Society to attend a screening of the film Leviathan (2014) on Monday the 28th of September. This was really to check out what the place looked like and how they ran the society. Then myself and Plamen went to meet them personally and try and see if someone would be willing to do an interview, luckily Mike was very helpful and willing to talk.
We then agreed a date and time which best suited him and the Hazlitt theatre for us to film our live shoot. We agreed on Last Friday the 23rd morning.
New Century Research
This was a slightly longer process as we had to drive to Sittingbourne to get to the New Century. Myself and Plamen went along first to get in contact with a manager or owner, and we were given a contact by the and told that the manager would be in at a certain time, whilst there we decided to do a bit of filming so that we could have some coverage of Sittingbourne for when it came to the edit. We returned then to talk to Terry the co-owner and manager. He was very helpful to us and gave us a time and date he would be able to do which also happened to be Friday but the afternoon.
Looking at these two people we were quite lucky because they were very kind and willing, but I know from experience that it may not always be like this.
What I think will give us that extra bit of punch is the use of a professional who knows what they are doing. We managed to get Jennie Delaney on a last minute call on Monday, she was very willing and patient with us and has helped our channel 10 fold. Her sophisticated yet friendly voice was exactly what we were missing on Monday, but with the studio shoot on Wednesday we put that right.
We had a script produced and ready for her which stayed the same and wasn't altered too much during the shoot as in the package:
We spent about 40 minutes prior to our shoot making sure the light was just right on the green screen as well as on our presenter. This was most certainly a learning process as this was not enough time and so put a lot of pressure on us to get it right even as our presenter arrived in the lobby. In the end we got it pretty right in the eyes of us and Fergus so we are satisfied with the end result.
Lighting came of quite well, balancing green screen lights and presenter lights
With a bit of manoeuvring and with the help of a background we have a great platform to present our channel.
What I would say about the shoot was that it would have been better to shoot longer takes as the cuts are not great for taking it into the edit. The reason we did this however was that we tried originally using a prompter, but this noticeably lowered her eye-line so we got her to memorise short parts and read them out from memory. This is what is above and here is an example of the earlier attempts:
Low eye-line from earlier shots
Cameras rolling (makeshift prompter) causing low eye-line
Plus the added bonus during the shoot was the employment of the jib, which I think gives us another little edge towards the success of our news channel. We have used that on the intro and the outro tying the whole piece together really nicely.
Lawrence has done some great work on creating our website. It portrays our brand and our image showing we are a film related news channel. Myself and Patricia wrote short articles for the page about Sittingbourne's cinema and about the secret independent cinema revolution. Our aim for the website was really to clearly outline what we are about with articles and promo video which is still to come and I think we have done that now. The link for the website is:
We have also created a Youtube channel where we can upload the finished edits, and we have also created a Facebook page for more promotion for our brand to get our channel out there.
Although our film wasn't used on the TVPlay channel which was very well explained and understood by us, I still think it is worth talking about considering the effort and time we put in.
It was an interesting process coming up with the idea I originally put forward the idea of juxtaposing images with the use of Vivaldi's Summer as a soundtrack. I took inspiration for this from the film Force Majeure (2014) which uses Vivaldi's Summer, but on a much larger feature film level. Then we had to think what we would use as content, so Plamen came up with the struggle to thread a needle. Then we had to think of an ending so I came up with the idea of having a wound in his leg that he would sow up instead of the clothing or toy that would be shown throughout the film. Plamen took this a stage further and said why not take the leg off, this would obviously require some prop work which he did himself.
I then put together a quick screenplay heres a couple of page:
This was really just to give us some kind of plan before we shot.
Then after this we had to go out and buy all the things we needed for the shoot including: a needle and thread, a false leg, a pair of large jeans, innumerable items from art shops and a hip flask.
I think this was all for a good cause though because we have not put it up on TVPlay we have already entered the film into the WaterSprite Film Festival and plan to enter it into 2 more.
Overall really pleased with this piece of work even though it doesn't count for anything. Really think the whole thing came together really well with use of music and editing a key component.
Sky news have a very good youtube channel that has a constant live stream of sky news as well as a plethora of content to view on demand. I just clicked on it and found they were doing a brilliant live piece from a Pumpkin farm where children were carving pumpkins. They linked this very well with the story that there is a pumpkin shortage around the country.
The great thing about the report is that it was all done live and felt so smooth and well organised despite this fact. The reporter started outside the pumpkin tents introducing the place and what its purpose is, and he then proceded to enter one of the tents whilst the camera followed him in.
Introduction outside
He then does an interview with the owner of the farm who is very appropriately dressed as a witch. This has obviously been pre determined, but the interview seems very ad lib although at the same time smooth and interesting.
Interview with farms owner
After this he goes for the heart of the viewer by interviewing a child who is enjoying the carving process. He links this all very nicely into the story of the pumpkin shortage and the fact that some people have returned to the turnip carving tradition that we used to do.
Very well conducted interview with a child
I feel like this would have been a nice example to take and its a great reference for future projects of this type. Even though the camera follows behind him as he enters the tent he keeps it interesting by talking, as well as the camera man playing his part by panning onto some pumpkins on a table. Also have to mention the way he keeps the mic below the level of the camera so as not to obscure the persons face. Overall a really well presented live report that I think we should take head of as a group.
We shot both our live interview and package on Friday, it was successful because we got the interviews we needed and we weren't pressed by the interviewees. They were all round quite helpful and up to help us out on our project.
LIVE SHOOT
We began at the Hazlitt theatre in the morning with Michael Caine (no not that one) the chairman of the Maidstone film society who told us about the the society.
Interview with Mike (live)
Looking back I think we should have spent more time adjusting the questions to get more out of the people we were talking to. We didn't really get at the point we needed from him, which was how the society has managed to survive in the current climate of cinemas.
In general I don't think we were well enough planned for the live shoot. The point of a live is to be ready on the spot, because you can only get what the person says to camera. I think our problem was that we only did enough for a package shoot. Its something we could have cleared up with a voice over intro. However the positive for us is that we are yet to film a studio intro so there is room for alteration and and introduction if we are clever. Another thing we haven't done great is meet as a team and work on things, instead we have sort of separated into different roles for example website, casting, scripting, logistics which isn't bad but we needed to have more of a rapport with one another. PACKAGE SHOOT
I think the package shoot we did was much more successful as we got more coverage and substance in general and will hopefully be able to make a great package with all of that. Obviously the stand out thing from both interviews is that we are using ourselves as the interviewers and not external people. This has unfortunately been a problem for us we have struggled to get someone in time, not least due to the fact that we only finalised the dates of the interviews in the last week. This all started really because we changed our original news channel idea so many times prior to arriving on Film House news.
Interview with Terry for the package
Lawrence with a piece to camera
So in truth there are some good and some not so good bits to take from the shoot on Friday, it is now up to the edit to see what we can produce. Also the voice over we do with Lawrence the presenter will set the thing up nicely as at this stage it is missing something, but we have scripted this and are ready to go on this.
Also have to mention that we will be trying to do our studio piece this coming week and we are currently trying to find a presenter for it to add that element of professionalism we desperately need to bring our channel together.
Thanks to Plamen who put this together in the correct format. We all had inputs when we met our interviewees and found out a bit more about what they had to talk about. Its quite basic at this point, but this allows for change when we meet the interviewees properly. Heres the original script produced by Plamen:
Re-watching this quite wonderful show I couldn't help but notice all the different brilliant ways the writers have found to show faith to the source material in a modern set Holmes story. As I was watching the series for a second time it gave me a chance to recognise the things they did in other areas specifically the way they are faithful to the original. A good example I recognised from Sherlock was the way they harked back to the famous Reichenbach falls incident in the original stories, they cleverly had Sherlock (the Reichenbach hero) fall to his supposed death from the top of a building. Also to mention the Hound of the Baskervilles episode where the hound doesn't exist instead it is experimental gas that corrupts the mind.
Use of the word HOUND in the episode
This is the best way the writers could have done it, as they are showing fans hints of the source material whilst also introducing the character to a new audience who may not know the original stories. The thing about this series is that it came about in part due to the fact that the writers realised that John Watson in Conan Doyle's original stories had recently returned from a war in Afghanistan, which is a great parallel used in the modern equivalent and a great way to hark back to the source again.
The creators of this show obviously feel a need to look back as well as forward as they are constantly referencing the stories of Conan Doyle in the show. So much so that the upcoming Sherlock Christmas episode will be set in the Victorian era of the original Holmes using the same actors as the modern.
An exercise in trial and error. We were set the challenge of lighting and shooting a news piece in front of a green screen in around 2 hours.
It took some time to get it right, but it was worth it in the end as we got a well lit green screen and a well lit subject (Wesley), with the help of a little make-up. I think in terms of what we made as a whole group at the start of the day we were in the right place.
Had to take it into Premiere and adjust the sound that was only coming out of one ear, but apart from that there is not much to change as it came of very well.
This was very much a learning experience on how to get it mostly right, but when we as a smaller group myself, Plamen and Patricia filmed in the afternoon we didn't get it as right. We had too much light on her face causing reflections unlike in the mornings session. However we still had a well lit background and good sound. It was all for the best as we were clearly told after we filmed that there were a few elements that could have been adjusted to help us get to a great shoot rather than a good one.
So yes overall and interesting exercise obviously the next stage of this is to change the background, but we will probably have this opportunity once we get to know After Effects on Thursday.
Day 2: Location
To complete the package we went out not too far from the studios to film a quick short guerrilla interview. This went by without a hitch really and got us into the feel of how rushed a shoot might be, as we drove down the road and said right that building looks alright lets shoot there.
Here is the final result edited together, I personally don't know hoe to add something to the background in green screen so as a result it is not changed. I did mess around with some editing techniques we might use though using some music and fading to further enhance the program.
This is what I produced quickly.
This is what Lawrence produced with the same material, but more knowledge about green screen.
Not that I have ever done this before, but here goes creating a logo for our final name choice FilmHouse news (hopefully).
I used photoshop here with which I have had some experience with in the past at school. I have made a couple of options so far:
This being a much more simple version to start off with.
This being a much busier option using 3D fonts.
The general consensus at this stage is that I should tone it down and go for something more simple that stands out, like the ticket only with writing on it.
Its got to be something to remember not something with too much for the brain to take it at a quick glance like the CocaCola, Nike or Apple. So I left it a day and then returned to the process, turns out getting the right logo is not as easy at it may seem. There were so many different drafts I went through on photoshop not to mention the ones Patricia brought to the table. As I have had input from each person in the group I have got lots of different options in fact about 12 overall.
This is what I ended yesterday on.
As shown below I made a lot of small adjustments throughout trying to find the right amount of what we need for a logo.
So these are all theoretically options at the moment as we haven't made a final decision on which to use. However the logo below is the one I finished today on and the one that fits pretty well with the image of our news program.
We have changed again our angle is different and I think this time in the right place with a good story to focus on.
FilmHouse News
Theatres Worth Visiting
Today will be talking about underdogs and specifically independent cinemas in the area of Kent.
Package: Can independent film theatres survive amid the modern reign of cineplexes?
For our package we will look at the ABC cinema in Maidstone as an example of a cinema that lost out to the big multiplexes and ended up derelict, before becoming a Bingo hall which it is now.
Formerly ABC cinema now a Gala Bingo
We will contrast this in our package with a success story like New Century Cinema in Sittingbourne that reopened in December last year unlike ABC which could't hold up against the likes of Odeon and Cineworld.
Recently reopened New Century cinema
OB Live: How did the Maidstone Film Society and the Hazlitt Theatre manage to keep themselves in the game for more than 65 years?
Maidstone Film Society screens films here at the Hazlitt theatre from September through to April annually. Our plan is still to do an OB live for the society getting our presenter to go in buy tickets and then interview one of the societies representatives in the theatre.
Paragraphs are all relative, but are an idea of what different paragraphs might say.
Introduction
Define Adaptation
Introduce Sherlock as TV show of choice based on original Conan Doyle works.
However this is by no means the only modern day adaptation of Holmes that I will be looking at Elementary (2012-), Sherlock Holmes 1& 2 (2009 and 2011 films), Mr. Holmes (2015) will have to be mentioned along the way whether it is in the introduction depends.
Para 1
Conan Doyle and how many works he produced.
When he was alive and how this effects what mediums he encountered.
He was living during the victorian era subsequently his character is from then and operates during the time.
His books would have been a big source of entertainment during the time as opposed to films which came in later in his life.
Para 2
Audiences during his time compared with for example Sherlock in the 2010s.
Cultural changes between the 2.
Para 3
Methodology difference between Films/TV and Books.
Books: 1/2 people, Images Imagined
Films/TV: Big audience, Cast & crew different viewpoints on how, Budget, Images created
Para 4
Motives of adaptor do they want to change it or stay faithful to the source.
Who its pleasing
Conclusion
Audiences won't always necessarily be transported back as it depends on the adaptor and their motives. As shown in Sherlock (2010-) modern interpretations can be very different, but may for example have small hints to more traditional days such as when Sherlock adorns the deer stalker hat.
I'd also like to add another element to this essay in that Sherlock are doing a special one of episode to be aired at Christmas where judging by the trailers, the modern Sherlock and Watson played by (Cumberbatch & Freeman) will be back in Victorian London. This may suggest a want to show faith to the source material completely which is a very different angle to the Sherlock (2010-) we know.
After much deliberation I have come to pick the spoken word poem Red Phone Boxes by Adam Kammerling as the content for my film. Although I am not a literary expert I liked the image of a red phone box as something striking and prominent to focus on. I have a good skim through the poem and like the images created through the words, but I want to do something unexpected and not what you might expect when reading the poem. So as a result I have been imagining what my film might look like in its style, I have toyed with a few concepts.
Firstly My favourite TV show Utopia (Channel 4, 2013-14) has the most striking visual style I have ever seen in film of TV and I love the idea of being able to take inspiration from this. So as a starting point I have looked into exploring the possibilities, with the look I'm after it will require a lot of work colour correcting in post production. I have looked at the best software for this and have my eyes set on using Da Vinci Resolve software which comes highly recommended and is brilliant for the kind of thing I would like to at least try.
The show Utopia is unusual in that its colour palette is not based off Red, Blue, Green which is the norm, but instead has a base of Yellow, Cyan and Magenta.
This is mainly done through colour correction although especially as the show gained more popularity and subsequently budget, they were able to dress the sets to aid colour correction.
This clip shows what I mean by the colours being different:
As a completely alternative option I have looked into doing something demonstrated in Schindler's List where a young girls red coat is the only thing in colour in the whole film. Red being the appropriate colour for phone boxes.
In terms of what I might actually film and who might be in it well that is not as far progressed, but I have been doing research into voice actors on voicespro.com. I have decided here that would I would like someone from the outside looking in, so preferably someone not from the UK of Ireland but may work with someone from elsewhere than the south east of England as would still be an outsider.
Also in terms of locations the poem is very descriptive on red phone boxes locations and features. I may be tempted to go to one of the mentioned phone box sites in the poem. There are many options here, but I am just brainstorming ideas to see what I would most like to do, but also what would be most appropriate for the poem.
European Wheelchair Rugby League Championships coming to Medway
Workshop focussed on developing how to make a good package fit for a news channel. The goal was to plan what to do with a news article given to us and make it into a 1:45min long package.
So our article was a local piece from Medway Matters detailing the European Wheelchair Rugby League champs coming to Medway Park. Wheelchair rugby league is a sport similar to rugby league in that get 6 tackles to try and score a try over the opposition try line. It is a sport which is dwarfed by Wheelchair Rugby (like rugby union) which has a much greater standing in the world with 25 countries competing worldwide and spreading from Canada to New Zealand. It is a paralympic recognised sport and is seen as a major sport at the Paralympic games. Unlike Wheelchair rugby league which at the European champs only had 5 countries competing England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales and France.
The great thing about this event is it is bringing a sport to Medway and also encouraging young people to watch and therefore be inspired by offering free tickets to U16's. The difference for Wheelchair rugby league is that it allows able bodied and disabled people to participate alike unlike Wheelchair rugby which is only designated for disabled persons.
Taking this on into a package our plan was to have a reporter giving the sport a go by getting in a wheelchair and being roughed up a bit. The reporters job would also be to illustrate the dates and what takes place in the event. Our interview would be with Sports minister Tracy Crouch who we would hope would outline what the event is bringing to the local area and how it is encouraging young people to get involved.
Only just got round to posting this now post first interview, but here it is. We decided on our working title as above and have decided to go for a very different idea and angle for our news channel than we originally discussed.
The Pitch is:
A news channel dedicated to informing people of the upcoming film events such as film festivals, exclusive film screenings and premieres, and local film shootings. Our program will provide extensive coverage of places worth being where you can see films worth seeing.
(Credit to Plamen Dimitrov for coming up with our pitcnh)
So as seen in the pitch we are very much focussing on films and film events in particular. We have already got things lined up including the interview we already completed on Monday concerning the London Film Festival.
Our structure goes as such:
To introduce the package and the OB we will need a studio. However at the present moment we are still debating as to whether we use green screen or a physical makeshift studio, I am pushing for the latter. Live
For our OB we will have a reporter on the scene at the Hazlitt theatre in Maidstone reporting on the Maidstone Film society which screens films from September to April on Monday's at 8pm. Our plan here is to have the reporter enter buy a ticket and then conduct an interview with a member of the society to find out about it and what they are screening and when.
We want an energetic and knowledgable presenter who we will have to cast from outside the course if we want it to be successful and look professional.
Package
We've already conducted an interview with Corina Downing Education manager at the BFI about the LFF and what it is offering. So our idea is to use her interview as the narration during our package interlacing footage of people at the festival in London as well as signs and possibly trailers for films mentioned, thats if we can get permission to show clips of them.
1976 film about a fictional news network in 1970's America, Union Broadcasting System (UBS). It focusses on the trials and tribulations of a struggling news network in a period of recession in the USA. I found this film quite relevant considering the unit we are currently doing. The film is inspired partially by the on air suicide of Christine Chubbuck in Florida 2 years before. Its general theme is that "Television will do anything for a rating......anything!" a quote from an interview with Paddy Chayefsky the Oscar winning Screenwriter of the film.
This really is the trend throughout as Diana Christensen (Faye Dunaway) a young an determined young producer tries to turn the fortunes of the news network around. The story starts when ageing anchor Howard Beale (Peter Finch) is told he is fired by the people in charge, this in turn causes his to say on live television that he will kill himself. Most people at the network see this as further proof to get rid of him as soon as possible, but Christensen sees it as an opportunity as she notices a ratings spike after he says what he does. Beale is subsequently kept on as a ranting anchor who talks of the days problems with a very open heart. As the film progresses he descends further into madness, but this only increases the ratings so the network keeps him on, as he is the reason the network is turning its fortunes around.
I believe this is a great film to watch not just because it is hugely entertaining, but also especially because it is so relevant to the topic of study at the moment. What I like is that you get an insight not only into how things happen in front of the camera, but also the gallery, production meetings, whole Network meetings and stock holders inputs. Showing a great range of inputs and ways things are done within a news network, not to mention how it can drive people mad.
So we got our first bit of filming done for the unit. Interviewing Carina Downing education manager at the BFI. She runs the Young Jury program which has been taking place over the last few weeks, this is a program where young people aged between 18-22 get to watch and judge on selected films at the London Film Festival.
As we only actually did our workshop on the way we should conduct an interview for the unit today, yesterdays interview was a little bit experimental but still important for the package for our final news production. We essentially only asked 3 questions to Carina about the festival and what would be playing. The 3 questions we asked were along the lines of:
What films will be playing at this years festival?
Will there be any big names on the red carpet this year?
Using numbers give us an idea of the scale of the festival?
We got very helpful and informative answers from her which will be very beneficial to our final package.
We had to use a hand-held mic for the interview
Things Learnt
Obviously there were things I can pick on that we could have improved on, but there were also positives to take from the interview.
I would say we could have done some more work on testing out the camera prior to using it on the day. We were restricted yesterday by the fact that we could not use the Sony cameras or the clip mics which would have been ideal for this kind of interview. However we improvised by borrowing the small JVC camera from the equipment store. The reason this was helpful was for sound as it meant we could film with sound from the same device. As a result sound has come out very well although as a complication the picture quality is significantly lacking colour from the JVC camera we used. This is obviously something to move on into post production to see if it can be altered to an appropriate level for a news channel.
Looking back I would have spent more time testing out the equipment before to get the best picture and sound. This is something I will take on for future reference.
Our plan on the day was to also get footage of signs and promotion the the festival and looking through what we got it is nowhere near enough for what we need for this package. So the plane is to go back into London and pickup some shots to boost the quality of this package.
We've had a bit of a rethink as a group and have decided to scrap the acting channel and have instead decided to look into Film festivals and societies. Seeing as the London Film Festival is set to start on the 7th of October we thought it would be a good current topic to look at. I also just had the idea of using the release of the new film Beasts of No Nation on the 16th of October as an angle for our news. It is the first feature film to be produced by Netflix and has already received great praise on its festival run. What is interesting here is that Netflix agreed a deal with Curzon cinemas in the UK to screen the film a week before the Netflix release which suggests there is still belief in the old system.
Looking at this, is this the new way films are going? In this modern era where people want things fast is this whats going to happen to films in the future.
This would be something to talk about in the package as well as the London Film Festival which is also happening at around the same time starting on the 7th.
For our OB we have looked into local film societies and festivals and have found very close to us in Maidstone the Maidstone film society which is just beginning its 67th season of films which are shown every Monday evening at 8pm from around mid September to April. My plan is to go there tomorrow the 28th September for the second screening and see if I can get us a contact there. This would be a great local angle we can get to add to a more global film as a whole look in the Beasts of no Nation.
