Short Film Pitch Review

Short Film Pitch

Recently I pitched my short film idea to my teacher, and I think it went really well. I developed a PowerPoint to portray my ideas on, with text ad pictures to show Kelly what I meant when I was talking. I went over the ideas and inspirations that got me to where I am right now with the idea. I made mood boards for the character design and the locations I want to use, to help Kelly and myself visualise the film before it gets made. I talked about things like the target audience to show who I would be aiming the film at. I talked about the different characters I would have in the film and where there concepts came from and what led me to give them their looks and names. I explained that the film is practically one big homage to previous action films with the style of writing and the shots I will be getting. I didn't really cover the actual story too much, which may be my downfall, so if it is I now know what I need to focus on in the future for pitches. I didn't do as much research into the little things as I would have liked to, but that can come later, when it gets closer to filming. Overall I think it went really well and I am hopeful that my short film gets picked to be put into production.

Review Of The Script

After handing in the first draft of my script, I was given some feedback from the class and Kelly. Most of the feedback was positive; however some people thought that the characters could do with some more depth, starting with John and Spike. They said that the audience would need more to become invested in his killings, making him more of a ‘good guy’, by expanding on the death of his lover. This would also tie in to making Spike a more in depth character, as it would be him who was involved in the killing of John’s girl. People also said that the dialogue needed a little touch up, so I could work on this for the second draft. There were some more logistical issues that Kelly pointed out, such as the choreography of the fight near the end of the film, and how the guns would look in the end, and I will hopefully have these dealt with soon. The script itself, the premise, doesn’t really need much changing, as it is currently shootable, except for what has been pointed out so far.

First Day of Filming for Christmas Ads

12th December 2016

At the start of the day I got into college as early as I could, as I was going to meet Amy with the equipment and get straight to her house to begin filming as early as possible. Once I arrived I had maintenance open the green room so we could get the equipment and got ready for Amy's arrival. Once she arrived we got the gear and got into her grandfathers car, who then drove us to his home to begin filming. once we arrived at Amy's home, we set up the camera and got the directions sorted out while waiting for the actors to arrive, after they arrived we waited for Stephen to get there and get his appropriate clothes on before beginning filming. Once we were ready we began as soon as we could, shooting the scenes in the front room first and then moving on to the scenes in the 'office' room. during this time we decided to have a little break, with Stephen being a minor he couldn't be on camera for too long before needing a break.  We continued to film as many scenes as we could with the actors and Stephen all there before Stephen had to go home, and some of the actors followed him. We thanked them for there help and sent them on their way, leaving some of the equipment at Amy's home and having Logan leave with some of it. I departed with some of the actors and went home at about 7, with Stephen leaving around the same time.

Second Day Of Filming For Christmas Ads

13th December 2016

This day started like any other, I got to college around 9 and went straight to the green room, but it was locked. I went down to reception to have maintenance open it for us, after finding Andrew on the way. This day we decided to start filming on my Christmas advert on top of finishing off the filming for Amy's. After acquiring the gear we needed for the day of filming we set off to got to Amy's grandparent's house. Once we arrived we realised how tight the schedule actually was for the day of filming, so we got right down to it. We started by filming the time lapse shots for my advert. While doing this we changed some of the decorations around on the Christmas tree, so it looked like some time had passed. We also sorted the presents that we were able to use into small piles so we could place them under the tree in each shot to, once again, make it look like some time had passed. We had finished shooting these shots Stephen arrived for his scenes in Amy's advert, as we were finishing off hers as well. We began filming some of these scenes before Stephen needed a break, so we had a bite to eat, pizza. After this we got Stephen into a change of clothes and filmed the rest of his scenes for the day. By this point the day was almost over we decided to start planning the next day of filming my advert. We had finished filming all of Amy's so we thought we would use the last of the week to film mine and edit them over the holidays. This was, however, when we realized that filming my advert was going to be next to impossible, as the acting students and other people we needed to be in it weren't going to be available to film when we were. After a long time deliberating this point we diced that the best course of action would be to just cancel the second advert entirely, as it was going to be way too much hassle to get it filmed and edited. This was a hard decision to make, as it meant I wasn't going to have directed anything at this point in time, and would need to wait until the short film topic came around to have another chance. I do, however, think it was a good decision to cancel the second advert, as we would probably still have been doing it weeks later, what with all the work we've been assigned since. But other than that it was a really great day of filming, and definitely showed us some new things, such as working with children.

My Individual Edit Of Jump The Moon

Jump The Moon



As per the request of the assignment brief, I have put together an individual edit of Andrew's music video 'Jump The Moon' by Ozzy Osbourne. This was actually much more challenging than I first expected it to be. At first it looked like it was going to be easy enough to edit, as there wasn't much to be done to it. The song was short enough and there weren't really any crazy shots that would need loads of care and attention to edit. It seemed like it was going to be easy. But after I started to edit it I realised that it wasn't going to be that easy, primarily because it wasn't my video, and so I dint have a real idea of what was to be done to it. I started to struggle to edit it because the primary concept wasn't locked in my head, it was in Andrews, which was a new thing to me. After some tinkering and thinking I came up with an idea for how I was going to edit the video. I was going to have the song start half way through the video when the bar scenes start to play, but this never came to fruition as there wasn't enough footage to put into a 2 and a half minute video, just from the bar scenes. After some more thinking I decided to just have the song playing across the whole video instead of starting half way through. This also proved to be quite difficult, however, as the music kicks in straight away, there's no build up, making the board room scenes look quite strange, but I think I made it work. I decided to use really fast edits in the bar scenes as this would make it look faster and more engaging, compared to the slow cuts used in the boardroom scenes. Overall, this proved to be quite a challenging video to edit and put together, mainly because I didn't really have a great idea of what the director wanted, and it was a hard song to make a video for with the given footage, but all in all I think I did a really good job at putting it together.

Reviewing The Christmas Advert

Reviewing The Christmas Advert

When I started to work on the Christmas advert, I didn't think I would have as much fun as I did. it started out as any other shoot, but with the added difference of a child actor, a new thing for me and the group. At first I was worried about how this would work, but after we started to work with Stephen, it became apparent that he was just a little bundle of joy, as the cliché suggests. It took a bit of getting used to having to record how often and how long he was on camera, but once we got past that it was just like filming any other scene. You can refer to my previous blog post if you want to know how the filming of the ad went. Once we had finished filming the shots and editing the ad, we showed it off to the second years and the acting students to see what they thought and get some feedback. The feedback was almost entirely positive. Every single person who gave feedback said it was emotional, which is exactly what we were going for, however a lot of the female audience didn't say it was entertaining, so perhaps in the future we can try and steer the aim in a more female direction to appeal to them more. Upon reflection of the ad, I decided to put together my own edit, which can be found below. I personally think that my individual edit of the advert is the best, obviously, because of how the shots are cut together and the way it is in time with the beat of the music. There are also no pointless shots cut in just to lengthen the adverts time as it is already long enough. I believe that my advert is very well put together but could have been improved with better editing skills, such as better use of the different transitions and special features of the software we used. this can only be improved over time and I hope to work on this as the course progresses, but right now I believe it held back my final edit of the advert.

After carefully examining the video and the results we got from showing it others, it was clear that we had hit the nail on the head almost perfectly with this production, with only a few things getting in the way and stopping it from being completely perfect. The next time we work with children we know what to do to keep them entertained and interested in working, as Stephen was getting bored near the end of each day. It would also be a good idea to maybe plan the edit the same way we planned the shots we would be getting. But other than that it went really well, in my opinion.

It's Begining To Look A Lot Like Christmas - Part 2

It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas – Part 2

John Lewis – Monty the Penguin (2014)

Written by Aaron Bootland

Monty the penguin is not my favourite John Lewis ad out there, I personally think it’s a bit on the nose for what it’s trying to portray. Appearing after John Lewis had become the Christmas ads instead of a department store, it follows suit with the previous ads by being about an idea rather than about selling products. It tries to sell the idea of being in love over Christmas, of being with someone rather than having to spend Christmas alone.

The major focus point of the ad is, of course, Monty the Penguin, a lonely little penguin who is clearly a mutant as no penguin should be able to survive in the warm climates around where the child lives. Anyway, Monty is a lonely penguin without a girlfriend, seeking love from someone other than the child he lives with. The advert follows Monty and his child owner around their day to day life in the run up to Christmas, with Monty becoming more and more distracted with things like; seeing a couple kissing, or seeing a romantic film on TV. This is showing that Monty is becoming distracted by being alone, and is in need of someone to share his love with. The ad goes on to show that the child notices Monty acting strange and decides to get Monty a girlfriend penguin for Christmas. On Christmas morning the child wakes Monty up and leads him downstairs to the living room, where there is another penguin waiting in a box for him. Monty rushes over and embraces his new girlfriend, at which point the child’s mother comes in and it turns out that Monty was just a toy penguin, now all dirty from being played with so much, and the same goes for the new penguin. It is clear that this advert is similar to many other John Lewis ads in that it wasn’t made to sell products, rather to sell John Lewis as a brand name. the tagline ‘Give someone the Christmas they’ve been dreaming of’, is clearly in reference to the fact that the child in the ad was simply dreaming that Monty was alive, but could also be construed to imply that only at John Lewis can you find the gift someone really wants. This enforces the idea that it isn’t trying to sell individual products, but rather the John Lewis name.

The advert's tagline

The advert employs a somewhat realist narrative, in that many children see things like teddies and toys as being real and alive at a young age. It could also be an anti-realist narrative in that, like I stated earlier, a penguin wouldn’t be able to survive in the climates the child can, and also toys aren’t real. It is a standalone ad in that it is the only advert I’ve seen John Lewis make about Monty the penguin. The music has very clearly been chosen specifically for the advert, talking about love and being with someone, while the penguin wants love and hasn’t got anyone to share it with. Once again there isn’t really much sound design, as the music somewhat blocks it out.  The use of computer generated effects is obvious in the penguin. As the ad was made in 2014, it doesn’t look like real life just yet, it’s clear that Monty is CGI.

The obviously CGI penguin

The advert doesn’t really employ any hidden messages, as it gives away the meaning of the advert at the end of the video, ‘Give someone the Christmas they’ve been dreaming of’. It does, however, employ the use of emotional association. It tries to target people who don’t have someone to share their love with at Christmas, like Monty, and tries to make the audience feel compassion for him, and implies that you can find something for people like this by shopping at John Lewis. It implies that the solution to this problem can be found at John Lewis stores. The advert also seems to imply that the main advantage of shopping at John Lewis is that you can find literally anything you need for literally anyone, and give them the Christmas they’re dreaming of.

In terms of techniques used by the advert, there once again isn’t much going on in terms of camera work. The camera is panning around a little then stopping. There isn’t much going on in terms of editing either. The cuts don’t seem to happen in sync with anything in particular, and they don’t seem to pick up in speed at any point to increase the speed of the advert. It is all round a fairly long, slow advert.

The target audience for this advert is actually probably people of a young age, as the penguin is made to look quite cute so as to appeal to a younger audience. This might have been done to try and bring more people into the John Lewis stores through their children, or it could have been done to try and make people want to buy the Monty plush dolls that went on sale as part of this ad. However, the target audience could also be older people who would see the tagline and read between the lines more so than a younger audience, and see what the advert is trying to imply rather than show.

It's Begining To Look A Lot Like Christmas - Part 1

It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas – Part 1

John Lewis – Shadows (2007)

Written by Aaron Bootland

Shadows is not one of john Lewis’ most well-known Christmas adverts out there, primarily because it came out well before the ‘hype train’ that shows up before an ad was a thing. It is still just as amazing and inspiring as the other ads that have come around since then, but it is far less well-known. It can be seen as being far more advertiser friendly than the more modern ads they are putting out, focusing on finding products rather than some deep inner thing they have people looking for now.

The major focus point, as stated above, is products, which is an uncommon thing now for John Lewis, who focus more on the people and the personalities that show up around Christmas, however this advert was released before that was there thing. The advert is quite simple in its essence, not much going on in the background or foreground, focusing more on the shadows that appear as more and more objects are placed in the path of a bright light. As the objects are placed they cast a shadow on the wall behind the set, eventually forming the appearance of a woman walking a do, complete with Christmas star and confetti snow. In this way, I think it is a simple yet effective way of selling more than just a brand, as they are want to do now. It sells the products instead of the people. There is even a moment when the camera zooms in on a young girl placing a pink box, but catches the front of a mac pro, which is obviously done as product placement.



Zooming in on the Mac Pro

The advert is a standalone in the sense that it is the only advert I’ve ever seen John Lewis make that doesn’t have some deep inner meaning. It simply says that whatever you wanna buy, you can find at John Lewis. It also embodies an anti-realist narrative, in that it is highly unlikely that a bunch of products will just come together to form a human shape. It can also be seen as having a somewhat humorous side to it, at one point an elderly lady comes on to pose with a champagne flute, gets a nod from another woman, and places the flute down on the pile of products. It isn’t exactly comedy gold, but in terms of the advert, it certainly seems to have had some thought put into it. The music design also seems to be somewhat well thought out, as the music seems to have been made specifically for the advert, instead of just taking a famous song and covering it like they do now. There is no real discernible sound design as there is very little sound, apart from the music in the background. The lighting is fantastic, and it needs to be so the shadows will look their best on the wall. It’d be a bit daft if an advert about shadows had crappy looking lighting, y’know?

The shadows create a background image

In terms of techniques used in the ad, there isn’t much going on for the cinematography. The camera moves around on a crane for the most part, occasionally zooming in on specific things, logos for instance, and finally stopping while being fully zoomed in on the shadow creation at the end of the ad. With the advert only being just over a minute long, there isn’t much room for creativity with the camera, which is unfortunate, as it would have been cool to see what they could do if they incorporated it into the shadows, ah well. There aren’t really any hidden messages in the ad either, as they give you the point of the ad at the very end, ‘whoever you’re looking for this Christmas’. The advert is obviously trying to give the viewer the solution to a problem that everyone has at Christmas, what to get someone. It does this by showing certain objects throughout the ad that might appeal to a large audience, jewellery boxes, new computers, that kind of thing. I believe the advert succeeds in trying to make the audience desire these new products, through using the creative medium of shadow puppetry to portray that only at John Lewis can you find what you’re looking for, I think it is a very fun and creative choice.

The final shot of the advert

The target audience for this advert is very clearly people who are looking for something to buy for someone at Christmas time, which is pretty much, everyone on earth. Quite a large audience then, eh? Well I think that the target audience can be broken down even further. I would say that just from looking at the advert once you can see it is aimed at middle aged adults, people who would probably have children and jobs, people who can afford to go to John Lewis and splash out on their friends and family. But it is most importantly aimed at people who can’t decide what to buy someone, and this is from the tagline at the end of the ad, ‘Whoever you’re looking for this Christmas’. It wouldn’t be aimed at younger people because, not only will they not find it a very entertaining ad; they also more than likely won’t be able to get the full spectacle of the shadow puppetry. If an adult was to watch this ad, then at the end they might say something like, ‘Oh hey, that was pretty interesting’, which would cause it to stick in their minds for a while, or at least until they do their Christmas shopping.

Editing Assignment Pictures

This post will show the evidence I have accrued to show that I have sorted the footage for, and edited, the Christmas advert 'A Gift That Matters'.

After shooting the footage and taking it off the SD card and deleting it from the SD card, I created a good and bad bin to store the footage after it had been sorted and checked. This will make editing easier as I will massively cut down how much footage I will need to look through to edit it.



After creating the bins I went through each video and renamed them so that it would be easier to identify them when it came time to edit them. The names chosen for each of the videos was made simple to, once again, make finding them during the editing easier. I named them who was in the shot and what they were doing to make editing easier, as I will find the right shot even quicker if I know what I'm looking for specifically.

After the footage was renamed I went and made a rushes log to track all the shots I had for the video, from both the good bin and the bad bin. I tracked how long each video was as well as whether I was going to use it or not. If I decided not to use a particular video, I would give a valid reason as to why. This also acts as evidence that I have been through each individual shot and analysed it closely, looking for faults.

After this was done I made an edit decision list to keep track of all the shots that I was going to use. I tracked how long each shot was before and after the edit was done. I also kept track of what kind of technique was used in the shot. This would make it easier to reference the different shots in the future.

And now comes the fun part, editing. I imported the footage from the good bin to Premiere Pro ready for editing. After importing all the footage and leaving the bad bin behind, I proceeded to cut the footage down to a manageable size and fitted it into the editing software on the timeline, with the video going on top and the audio on the bottom. I sorted all of the shots I was using onto the timeline and moved them to the right place. I added some transitions to the footage and exported it to my hard drive.

Finally, an image of the folder after the video has been fully edited, showing the song used, the pictures in this post and the bins I used to store my footage. I kept all of this in one place to make finding the necessary things easier. The preparations I made before editing made it incredibly easy to find and edit the footage I had chosen to use. 

Documenting My Work Experience

Work Experience

 

Peter Pan – 4 hours
On the 15th of December CCTV Productions set off to film a theatre production of the Peter Pan story at the Arc in Stockton (01642 525199), under the supervision of Sara Durkin. Located on Dovecot Street, the Arc is an independent theatre and cinema. The filming of the production will allow those who went to see it to buy a DVD copy and see it again at their leisure. All members of CCTV Productions had the same job, man the cameras and film the production from start to finish. The production started at 1 in the afternoon and we stayed there to film till 5, so we were there for 4 hours. At the end of the panto we were asked to film a short 'mannequin challenge' video for the actors so they could post it on their social media.
 
EDGE Bar Ad – 11 hours
On the 9th of January, CCTV Productions had a meeting with Mark from EDGE bar in Stockton, (01642 604471) about filming a short ad for a new drag queen night they were doing on Thursdays. Located at Castle Gate Mill, Quayside, it is a new business open to the public that does functions and late night events. The creation of this ad would allow for people to gain more insight into the different kinds of events the bar does and gain information about the drag queens antics. While we were filming I was given the task of operating the camera that would film the public and get their reactions to the strange phenomenon. Filming went on from 11 in the morning till 4 in the afternoon, so another 5 hours of filming. After this was done we went back to college to extract the footage and put the gear away, which took another hour.
 
Music Lead the Way – 10 hours
On the 1^st of April I was asked by my mother to film a show that she was a part of. The show would be an on stage production at the Hartlepool Town Hall (01429 890000). The show was being put on by Kate Sirs and her music school (01429 232952). I went down to watch rehearsals for an hour the week before to see where I could place the cameras for the best angles. The next week I went to the town hall at 5:30 and began setting up for the show to begin at 7:30. The show finished at 10:30, so I was there for a total of 5 hours. Since I was the only person working on the film I had to direct, control the camera and do all the editing. I began the editing of the film the next Monday, and it took about 3 hours to fully edit together all the clips, but it took almost a week, on and off, to export properly. Once it was finished I had it burned on CD’s and put on memory sticks to be given out to the people who wanted it.

 

Jack the Musical – 12 hours

As the second years began to make their PMP’s, some of them were huge productions that needed extra help, so Danniella went to us first years for assistance. I was asked to help on two days, a Monday starting at 8am, ending at 4pm and a Wednesday, starting at 4pm and ending 8pm. On the first day I was asked to be a runner, running between groups and helping out in any way I could or was asked to. An example of this would be when Danniella’s group had an issue with their sound not being recorded. She asked me if I knew how to fix it and I did, so I went out of my way to help out and fixed it. On the second day I was a boom operator for the second group. This was a shorter day so there wasn’t as much work to be done but tried to be as possible. All in all it was fun working with the second years.