I attempted to make a film production title by following the tutorial on youtube.
Process:
Duringthe process, I faced many challenges such as trying to figure out how to function the 3D system, working with lot's of layers, and lastly working with aftereffects. However I've also picked up skills along the way including, using keyframes with the camera option which allows us to direct the positions of every movement. Overall I learnt that you are able to make a professional looking film production title from scratch using aftereffects. (from something that is 2D to 3D)
End product:
I am happy with the outcome of the title, however I don't think it is appropriate for my film opening due to the duration, as we only have 2 minutes.
This is the end product of our rough cut which I put together some of the clips that we shot during the day.
We showed this to some of our peers and most of the comments were positive. However we also got some feedbacks from our media teacher; these were the feedbacks:
The creation of the toy takes too long - there's a lot of tying. Could the glitch effect be used again.
Create a diegetic sound-scape - the steps of the boy, the heavy breath, the scraping of the chalk, laughing of the boy when he plays - will add much more atmosphere.
It is not obvious to the viewer that the boy is creating an imaginary friend - could you have whispers at the point when the boy looks at the camera suggesting the presence of someone else?Or make more of the drawing - close on as he sketches out the drawing - then go to the drone shot.
Then a close up on the boy looking at the sketch or holding hands with the sketch?
In my opinion, I fully agree with all of the point that Mr Harrison has suggested. And we am planning to cover all of these improvements for our final product. Other feedbacks: - unable to work out the meaning of the film. - colour grading - shaky footage - music is too epic
Sunday, January 22, 2017
PROCESS OF ROUGH CUT
Effects used:
Glitch - Symbolises the boy's dysfunctional mind.
By using keyframes and manipulating the position on every frame simply creates a glitch effect. To smoothen the glitch, I used the gaussian blur from the effects panel.
We decided to glitch to this scene because the sudden movement of the boy looking towards the camera hints the audience that there is someone else; the boy is not alone. Furthermore, we chose this composition of the wall blocking both sides of the frame, covering nearly half of the frame because it creates an idea of how the boy is trapped in his own 'imaginary' world. It also gives a sense of someone watching the boy from another room, this links to the fact that the boy is 'not' alone.
The use of focus in this scene was used to represent the boy's deep concentration for the toy and how he is extremely amused due to the fact that this is a rare object for him. The focus on the toy also absorbs the audience's attention.
The ending scene (bird's eye view) of the location emphasises the fact that he is all alone in a place that is much bigger than him. The curved edge suggests that he is enclosed from the outside world. This symbolises the separation between the real world and his own imaginary world. This scene also suggests that he is isolated from society and is neglected which is causing his mind to dysfunction.
Saturday, January 21, 2017
FILMING DAY 1(Saturday 21st Jan 2017)
Today we went back to the unfinished house that is located in the village that Enid lives in. We decided to film here because it is very convenient.
Firstly, we went through the safety checks (as our actor will be bare foot) including:
- Harmful objects on the floor (broken glass, sharp objects etc.)
- Tripping on unexpected concrete bumps
- Insect bites
- Dehydration
To prevent this, we cleared the floor so that there were no harmful objects that may cut the actor's (Enid's little brother) foot. We also brought water to stay hydrated and bug spray to keep insects away.
Before going out to the filming location, we sketched a quick storyboard of all the scenes we needed to cover.
BEHIND THE SCENES of filming
We used coal to create the dirt effect on Enid's brother's skin.
Tuesday, January 17, 2017
COSTUME
We asked Enid's brother filter through his wardrobe for old clothes and these are what he found. We decided to choose the blue shirt because it had holes and the edges were ripped. We also chose the floral pants as it seems like a girl's pants, this stresses the fact that he is abandoned which means that he does not have anyone to get him a proper outfit. Furthermore, I searched the meaning of the colour blue on google and this is what i found.
Therefore by wearing the colour blue, this symbolises the character's emotions as being depressed, miserable etc..
Monday, January 16, 2017
SOUND - MUSIC
To highlight the "thriller" genre of our opening. We've looked at some "spooky" classical music on youtube and found some tunes that we think would suit our theme. The idea of classical music was inspired by the film opening of "MAMA".
This is an example of what we wanted as a character in our film opening, however we were not able to find little girls like these, therefore we decided to let Enid's little brother be the actor in our film.
Thursday, January 12, 2017
IDEAS / THOUGHTS
SHOTS & SCENES
As I looked back at what I have learnt during previous media lessons. I came across the shape theory and how the tv show "DEXTER" used this theory to create such a dramatically violent opening from an everyday morning routine. This gave me the thought of applying this shape theory to our film opening.
In this case, we would film close ups of the boy's hand making his imaginary friend out of natural resources, but each scene will consist of violent/vigorous actions which may portray the craziness of his mind. However these actions are very typical.
HOW?
In order to make these simple actions of putting together the friend look vigorous, we can use sharp shapes for instant triangles or angular shapes (these may be: sharp twigs/ twigs with spikes/ apex of a leaf etc). But in the end, these are just harmless natural resources.
CREDIT FONT IDEAS
As our film opening is going to be based on children, we decided to use a children's handwriting font. This will stress the childish mood/atmosphere furthermore, which may also attract the audience's attention due to the "thrilling" look of the font. FONTS THAT I FOUND ONLINE:
Six yr old rushed font (created by Phantomhive Company)
Filthy sunshine font (created by Uzim)
MTF Gavin font (created by Miss Tiina)
Mouse handwriting (created by Sahara)
Sam handwriting (from website: DaFont)
Tommy's first alphabet font (created by Divide by Zero)
Personally, I really like the Mouse handwriting by sahara because of its simplicity consisting of only a single line; which makes it easy to read.
Tuesday, January 10, 2017
COSTUME IDEAS
As the character is an abandoned child who is lost both physically and mentally. We came up with an idea of the "Lost boy" outfit. This consists mainly of dark colours such as brown, dark green, and grey. These colours are able to portray the child's dull emotions and also creates a sense of loneliness, and cynical.
This look/idea was inspired by the character knows as "Peter Pan" from the film Peter Pan (2003)
LOCATION HUNT 2
We went on another location hunt to Enid's old condo expecting to see a large old playground that will suit our film opening, but unfortunately the area was took over by a small apartment so there was nothing much to film.
Due to the small consequence, we decided to explore the condo's underground car park. The car park had low lighting which gave a haunted atmosphere. These are some pictures that we took.
After that we spent the rest of the time taking pictures on the rooftop. This is the result:
We came across another problem during the day. We carried the drone box all the way to the rooftop hoping to get some cool drone footage of the city, but I realised after the drone was in the air that I had forgotten to bring the drone's sd card with me. I felt very guilty, but fortunately the condo is not too far away from our houses so we are planning to visit this place again in the future.
To sum up the day, I put together snippets of clips. This is what we did.
On the second part of the clip, I adjusted the shadows to a cold color and the highlights to a warm color. The adjustment gave a cinematic look to the clip; along with the black cropped boarders.
MOODBOARD
PLOT IDEAS
I researched about imaginary friends and the cause of the child's ability to see:
Children are usually open minded which gives them the ability to see things that adults don't.
Child has an imaginary friend because he/she feels lonely.
Abandoned boy - lives in an abandoned place
SHOTS / SCENES
Drone shot (bird's eye view- to show location) of little boy playing alone in a large area - sense of loneliness/ alone. Contrast of small (little boy) and big (the location) --> lonely
Here are some ideas that we wrote down.
IDEAS
CIRCULAR MOTION of:
toys - Music box
playground - merry go round
This symbolises: time, cycle, repetition, ongoing - never ending
This may link to the fact that the child's mind will always stay as it is; his mind never grows up as well as himself. (As if the child is living in a loop of time)
Loop of time - inspired from the film Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
Monday, January 9, 2017
COMING UP WITH A TITLE...
After browsing the internet with movies related to imaginary friends, I noticed that the title of many of these films are related to childhood fears, and mostly children related. The amusing part of this is that they use childhood fears (that grown -ups often use as an excuse for the child to behave / sleep) and manipulate them into something that adults fear as well.
