Production diary

Day One - 10th November

I was not in today and I was told that Soraya was not in either so it was just Issy  and Jimmy in school, they showed each other their film pitches but they did not make any concrete decisions as they thought it was not fair to decide until me and Soraya have shown our film pitches.

Day Two - 11th November

All of our film pitches were presented to each other today and we decided as a group to go with Issy's pitch as we thought it was not to complicated but had a powerful message and meaning to it; another reason we chose Issy's was that it does not require a high budget. We decided that the genre of our film will be Drama. After pitching our final film pitch to the rest of the class we received positive feedback and also points that we could improve on; one of the points we criticized on was the name, 'Sophia's List', which was the fact that it sounded too much like 'Schindler's list' which may be offensive or upsetting to some of the audience. We then as a group decided to change the name of our film to 'The Wish List'. Some of the positive comments we got was that it had a good narrative and would be relatively easy to follow, also it links well to the genre. We had a discussion about locations and examined whether it would be possible to complete filming in certain locations like a hospital. I also thought that some shots could contain flashbacks of the main character when she was younger as I have seen several film openings with the same genre that include flashbacks, like 'My Sister's Keeper' and 'The Lovely Bones'. 

Day Three - 12th November

Today as a group we researched different film openings that have similar genres to our one and took notes on: what type of fonts they used, the colour of the text, the time period for which each title lasted for and the order of the titles. We found that the most common studios producing Dramas was Sony Pictures but we found out that it would be more original if we used one of our own logos; after looking at all of our logos in our group we decided that Jimmy's logo was the best one to use. We also had several ideas on how to include some sort of animation in his logo.

Soraya did some research on production studios that commonly create drama films.

Day Four - 13th November

Today we each studied a different opening sequence of a drama film and created a timeline to show what order the titles appeared in and how long each one lasts for; I studied 'My Sister's Keeper'. This included several flashbacks and had dialogue of one of the main characters. The music in the background was very soft and calming, the titles were in a very simple and basic font and had a plain font colour which was white. The order of the titles generally consisted of a simple order, the main two actress' had their names appear individually before the name of the film. The same order, font and colour occurred similarly in the other film openings that the other members of our group studied; this information was key in helping us create a basic outline of what we should include in our film.

Jimmy researched the film 'Sophia's Choice' and I studied 'My Sister's Keeper'.



Day Five - 17th November

We sat down and discussed who was going to do what in the planning of our film, one of the first things we wanted to do was to sort out who was going to play which role and if we needed any extra characters for filming. We decided that Soraya would play Sophia (the main character), I would play Kaitlin (one of Sophia's friend), Issy would play Anna (one of Sophia's friend) and Jimmy would play James (another one of Sophia's friends). We agreed that to complete filming of flashbacks successfully we would need more characters of different age groups, I suggested that my younger sister could played the 11 year old Sophia and her friends could be the other kids at the party. We decided that our locations list will include: town during day light, town at night time, a park, a family lounge which will be where the flashback birthday party will be and a hospital looking waiting room.

Day Six - 18th November

I was not in today but I kept in touch with Issy and she informed me on what was discussed, they talked about the music we could use as a backing track for our opening sequence and also finalising on some of the locations. We were hoping to film in a hospital for a scene in a waiting room however a hospital is a serious place and we were debating whether it would be right for us to film there, Issy tried to contact the hospital to check if it was okay for us to film there but they said they would get back to us. In previous discussions we had mentioned that another place we could film is the Sainsbury's Walk in Center as it is on the same formal scale but it is not as serious there.

Issy tried to phone the hospital to ask for permission to film in the waiting room.

Day Seven - 19th November

I wasn't in today, the rest of my group researched different fonts for the titles in our film's opening scene, they also planned whereabouts the titles are going to be on the storyboard. Issy created the script for our opening sequence and they found out that they needed to adjust it so that it lasts longer.

Day Eight- 20th November

During Issy and Soraya's free period they continued on working on the story board and also they contacted the Sainsbury's Walk in Center to find out if we are able to film in their building. We need to get permission from the center as patients could find us filming there as disrespectful and maybe disturbing to them.

Day Nine - 21st November

Both me and Soraya were not in today, Issy and Jimmy completed a risk assessment; the risks were that we could drop the camera on the floor or into the scene whilst filming the tracking shot on Southend pier, also Jimmy could get run over whist filming this scene so they discussed that the ways of avoiding these risks were to always have the camera strap attached to our hands when filming and keeping it safe between scenes and also that we would be careful near any roads or train tracks.

Day ten - 24th November

Today we finalised the storyboard and made note of a few extra scenes just incase we need some more to fill up the credits with. We also discussed the filming schedule as filming in Southend would require us to book transport to get there; in some of the scenes we need younger people to pay the main character on a birthday when she was about 11 years old, I said that my sister and her friends would be able to do it on Wednesday 26th November so we arranged for Issy and Soraya to come to my house to film after school.

Jimmy added a few more scenes on the storyboard that we could use if we needed to make the opening titles longer.

Day Eleven - 25th November

Today Jimmy and me were not in and it was only Issy and Soraya that were in. Issy and Soraya recorded how long the dialogue is for Sophia's voice over and fond that it lasts for one minute and twenty five seconds which is good as the dialogue needs to last for all of the flash backs which are most of the opening scene. They then timed the conversation between Sophia and her doctor and found that it was twenty four seconds long. This is good as the conversation between Sophia and her doctor needs to be short as the scene of it isn't very long. By doing this it meant that we knew if we needed to shorten the script down in some areas as me and my group are trying to make the opening scene last for two minutes or more. However, the film opening must not be too long as it may become boring for the viewers to watch. This may effect the mark that me and my group get for the opening scene. Lastly, Issy and Soraya went through what they both had to do and how they would do them. They talked about potential ideas for posters and decided that our group should take some pictures at Southend on the pier with Sophia and two of her friends. They thought that it might be more interesting that a list of things on a note pad.

Day Twelve - 26th November

Today I was not in. Issy texted me to see if we could still film at my house after school as were using my sister and her friends to act in the flash back of Sophia's birthday party when she was little. Soraya brought her photos in today of when she was little to the present day and Issy brought in the photo album. This meant that we were able to put the photos in the order that we wanted and we are prepared to use it tomorrow when filming. Issy, Jimmy and Soraya went through all the titles that we needed and decided who's names we should use and what clip they would appear in and in what order. This means that when we edit the opening scene next week, we will know what titles go where and in what order. After school Issy and Soraya signed out camera seven and went to my house. Me, Soraya and Issy decorated the dining room to make it look as if it was a real birthday party. We blew up balloons and decorated the cake. We used my little sister's friend called Daisy as Sophia as she looked more like Soraya than my little sister did. We filmed the match on action clip, the medium long shot and long shot clip. We filmed each clip twice in case one was better than the other. After we finished filming, Issy went back to school and signed the camera back in. She also uploaded all the footage onto a computer so that it was ready to be edited.

Today Issy, Jimmy and Soraya signed out camera fourteen to use to film. They went to Issy's house at period two and four to film the shots of Sophia in her house in the present day. After they filmed each clip they all saw the clip and decided whether or not it was good or if they should film it again. This meant that everyone gave their own opinion and made us work as a team. After, they went back to school and Jimmy signed the camera back in and gave the tripod back. They used a tripod so that they got smooth shots rather than the shots being shaky. However, the tripod made a funny noise that was really loud when they turned it in one direction. This meant that they had to film two shots free hand which proved difficult as Issy had to make sure that she wasn't shaking. Both Issy and Jimmy took the filming in turn so that everyone was working as so it was fair. 

Day Fourteen - 28th November

Jimmy and Soraya filmed the story board again as we thought the first video wasn't good. We filmed each sheet one at a time and Jimmy spoke about each shot explaining what will happen, what movements will occur and what frame it is. Issy filmed the storyboard and Soraya made a script for Jimmy to read from so he knew what to say. After we filmed the story board Issy uploaded it to the computer we will use for the rest of the project and edited it on premier. This allowed Issy to place the videos in order, cut some pieces of the videos out, add a title to the video and to place transitions for the videos to make the videos change from one to another more smoothly. Lastly, we went through our plans for Saturday's filming and looked up train times and cost. This is the only cost for our film and resulted in the budget of the film being about thirteen pounds with the cake cost and the train ticket cost. By looking up train times it enabled us to set a time to meet Jimmy in Southend and for me to meet Soraya at the train station.  

Day Fifteen - 29th November

Today I was working so Jimmy, Issy, Soraya and Soraya's boyfriend filmed the flash back in Southend. On Friday Issy signed out camera fourteen and took a tripod. However, she did not bring the schools tripod to Southend as her sister had a tripod that was better as it wasn't broken. When they reached Southend Victoria Station they met Jimmy and walked down to Southend sea front. There was a lift that had a balcony which over saw the whole sea front. They took a video which contained Issy, Soraya and her boyfriend in it. This video made it clear where the flash back was set. They then walked down onto Southend pier and paid to go on in. This cost one pound and raised the film pitch to fourteen pounds each. When they got onto the pier Jimmy filmed Issy, Soraya and her boyfriend talking whilst walking down the pier. They did not get all the way down to the end of the pier as the sun set. However the sunset was really pretty so they filmed some scenes with it in the back ground. Issy took some photos whilst filming down the pier for the film posters. They then went to the beach and filmed some shots there and in café. Finally they made the journey home and Issy took the video camera and the tripod home ready for the filming the next day.

Day Sixteen - 30th November

Today Issy and Soraya went to the Sainsbury's walk in centre to film the final scene. Issy charged the video camera over night but found out in the morning that it hadn't charged. It would only charge on her laptop which meant that she took my laptop with her to make sure that it was charged enough to film and so she could charge it on the go at any time.  They went into the reception at the walk in centre to inform the staff that they had arrived so that they could warn the patients. They started by filming the tracking shot of Sophia walking into the doctors. Then Issy panned the camera up to that the sign on the wall was visible. This means that the viewers understand were Sophia is. Issy filmed the tracking shot from both sides of Soraya so that we could choose on Monday which one looks better. Issy then filmed the NHS sign to make it clear what location Sophia is at. Then they went home and Issy took the video camera with her.

 Day Seventeen - 1st December

Today everyone was in. We uploaded all the footage that they took at the weekend and uploaded the footage that they filmed at Issy's house as someone else took the camera out last Friday which meant that they could not upload the footage. Issy created a premier document and uploaded all the footage onto it. This meant that we were ready to create the film opening. We watched all the footage to show me what they filmed at the weekend and to show everyone what we filmed in general. We recorded the script on Soraya's phone in the classroom closet as it was a quiet place. By recording the script on her phone it was easy to upload onto Premier.

Day Eighteen - 2nd December

Jimmy put all the footage into order on the premiere document whilst Issy and Soraya did other work. Soraya worked on the marketing for the film and Issy tried to create a video for Watering Hole Studios to put into the opening scene. Issy also downloaded the music that we might use in the opening scene. By Jimmy going through the footage we were able to sort out which clips were rubbish, which ones were good but needed editing and which one we would use in the film opening.

Day Nineteen - 3rd December

Issy and Soraya went through the footage and shortened the videos down so that they were no too long as it would ruin the film opening if they were too long as it would make the film opening boring for people to watch. Then Issy went through the video transitions and tested each one out on the flash backs as she wanted to find a video transition that differentiated the flash backs from the present day footage. Issy found a transition called film dissolve with made the flash backs look as if Sophia is looking through her memories. This is an effective transition and she added the transition to all the flash backs and the two close ups of the photo album. She also used this transition as it was the only realistic transition she could find.

Day Twenty - 4th December

Issy edited the film opening; she placed the New Line Cinema logo at the beginning of the film opening and imported the audio of the phone call conversation and the over voice of Sophia talking. Issy also placed the clips in to the right place. She edited some clips out of the footage as she decided that some bits of the videos were not good enough to be in the film opening and that there were too long. She stayed behind school to edit the film opening and added all of the titles into the film opening, placing them into clips that there was room for them to be in. She made them long so that they did not go off the screen and so that the audience could read the titles without rushing to read them. Issy added the transition called film dissolve so that the titles faded into the footage slowly rather than suddenly appearing on screen as it would ruin the soft effect. She edited the transition on the flash back videos as she found another transition called addictive dissolve which created a flash effect. This made the footage turn bright and then back to normal lighting. This made it look like they were different memories coming to life inside Sophia's head and it made this part of the film opening seem lighter - happier. She edited the audio clips so all the mistakes were taken out as we recorded the script many times on the same two audio clips. When she went home she searched on YouTube for flash back effects on Premier and found an effect called lens flare.

Day Twenty One - 5th December

When Issy got into school she edited the flash back videos by placing the lens flare edit on the videos. She edited the lens flare so that the flare stretched across the whole video and so the brighter end of the flare was in the corner of the videos. This made the flash backs look more dream like - as if they are happy times that are not happening now (so they looked like they have already happened). Issy downloaded all the songs that she found and imported them on the Premier file. She placed them all in the opening scene. Jimmy, Issy and Soraya went through all of the music to see which one went best with the opening scene. Issy found from Jimmy's and Soraya's feedback that the cover of Salvation went the best with the opening scene. Issy edited the music into the opening scene and made it so it faded into the opening scene by using an exponential fade. She created a video clip on PowerPoint of her production company logo then imported it into the Premier file and placed it at the beginning of the opening scene. She added the transition film dissolve to it so that the logo faded into the opening and did the same with the New Line Cinema logo so her production company logo faded out of the opening. Issy then played the opening scene through to make sure that there was no mistakes. She then exported it into a video file and uploaded it onto her YouTube account then uploaded it onto her blog for the first draft.

Day Twenty Two - 8th December

I was not in today so the rest of my group watched other people's film openings and gave them feedback anonymously; our group also received feedback on our film opening. Issy started the representation task and used Prezi to present it. Soraya was working on the marketing campaign task and Jimmy was researching film posters from similar films so it gives us ideas on how our film poster will look. Issy, Jimmy and Soraya went on the computers and played around with images that they took to see what pictures were good for posters for our film.

Day Twenty Three - 9th December

Today we got given our feedback from the other media classes. Issy, Jimmy and Soraya went through all of them and read out ones which were different and gave good feedback. After reading all the feedback sheets Soraya wrote a list of things that commonly came up on the feedback sheets and things we are going to change. They also had a group discussion on how we could improve the opening scene and what each of us disliked about it. After deciding what they were going to change they set each other tasks. Issy's task was to re-record the doctors side of the conversation by using her dad as the doctor. Soraya's task is to continue doing the marketing research and to make film posters. Jimmy's task is to create film poster ideas. Issy and Soraya went to edit and create posters whilst Jimmy looked up what posters had on them. Issy edited the opening scene by changing what we had on the list which included sound, titles length and ending. She then cut the ending so that it was shorter and played around with the titles. Later on in the day Issy got some more feedback form the year thirteen's.

Day Twenty Four - 10th December

Today Issy carried on editing the film opening. After looking at the feedback from the year thirteen's the feedback was good as they really liked the flash backs. However, she got given a valuable piece of advice on what to change. She got given the advice to make the voice over shorter so that it started later on in the opening as the person thought that the voice over started to early and that they had no time to look at the locations and to establish were the opening scene starts. There was no enigma. The person also stated that the voice over needs to be re-recorded and that Soraya needs to say the voice over dialogue more slowly and with more emotion so that it would inform the audience of her emotions. Issy took this feedback into account and shortened the voice over to the right length so that she knew what Soraya had to say when re-recording the voice over. Issy also changed the titles so they faded out by playing with their opacity at the end of their frames. This meant that they faded out slowly which gave a calm effect to the opening scene. In the evening she re-recorded the doctors dialogue using her dad as the doctor. This meant that the doctor's voice would sound older on the opening scene and people would believe that he is an older man rather than a teenage boy which is what the doctor sounded like when we used Jimmy's voice.

Day Twenty Five - 11th December

Today Issy uploaded the audio of her dad saying the doctors dialogue and edited it so that is was quieter so that it wasn't over powering. She cut bits out of it where there was no speech so that it would fit in the time gap. As Issy had shortened some of the scenes, this enabled her to make the phone call scene longer so that the pause that Sophia does in the dialogue was longer. She also made the size of the titles smaller as some people thought that the titles were too big and took up too much room. Soraya and Jimmy worked on a film poster. Issy also sent Soraya the new script so that she could record her self saying it.

Day Twenty Six - 12th December

Today Issy and Soraya re-recorded the voice over as her voice over that she recorded wasn't very good. They recorded it three times as the first time the recording was jumpy and the second time you could hear voices and people walking past in the background. The third time recording the voice over they went into the schools toilets as it was during class so nobody would be in there. This meant that there was nobody talking in the background or walking in the background. Also, by using the school toilets it made the voice over sound louder on the recording as the acoustics in the toilets was good. Issy uploaded the recording onto the Premiere file and edited it so that it fitted perfectly and so there was no mistakes in the recording. She also edited it so that it was broken up with gaps between them to make the voice over more slower. Issy found out that the titles had to last for at least two minutes and some of the titles lasted for less. This meant that she had to move some of the titles around so that she had enough room to make them bigger. Also, she found out that you could not keep repeating peoples names. This meant that she had to change most of the titles. After Issy checked that everything was perfect she exported the file into a video file and upload it onto her YouTube account. This then allowed her to put it on her blog. Soraya and Jimmy worked on the film posters.

Day Twenty Seven - 15th December

Today everyone was in apart from Soraya as she was ill. Issy made a few adjustments to the opening scene and imported it onto a memory stick for our teacher to have a copy of it. Jimmy was working on one of the film posters and I was doing the audience research task for our film. Issy kept in contact with Soraya and told what she needed to improve on and what we had left to do. Soraya completed the marketing campaign task at home. Also, Issy tried to find the institution paragraph at the bottom of a film poster and edited it so it was ready to put onto the posters. Issy and Jimmy also looked at film posters for film inspirations and found that the best one was My Sisters Keeper. She also got informed that we had to create  landscape, portrait and bus/underground posters for our film. We are half way through the list as all we have to do it put the institutions on the portrait and landscape posters. Lastly, Soraya thought it was a good idea to edit the 12A film sign onto the posters and the release date to make them look more professional.