Connor Hilton Practice Poster for 'Brighton Rock'

In a Photoshop practice session I have recreated a short film poster for 'Brighton Rock'. My recreation is missing some of the elements of the original due to time restrictions. However, most of the main elements are there.




Real Poster:

My Poster:

Practise Short Film Poster - "Brighton Rock"

Practise Short Film Poster - "Brighton Rock"

I have spent some time playing around with Photoshop to get used to using it. During this time I have re-created a real film poster and made my own version of it.

Real Poster:

My Poster:

Fourth Filming Shoot - Short Film Prodction

Fourth Filming Shoot - Short Film Prodction

We have now completed the fourth day of shooting our short film. This was the final shoot of our short film and this went very well. This means that we have not fully completed the filming for our short film.

Success Factors:

Here is a list of the success factors of this shoot:

• We managed to get all the shots we planned to shoot completed. This means that the whole short film has now been shot. 
• We adjusted the white balance for every change in location or any change in the lighting. The will give the finished product a better look because all the shot, colourwise, will look how the are supposed to instead of looking yellowy.
• We shot most of the shots multiple times with variations like the length of the shot and the shot distance. This is good because in editing we can choose from multiple shots and choose which shot fits the piece the best.
• We used an external sound recorder to record some foley sounds like the diegetic 'ping' message sound. 

Problems during the shoot:

Here is a list of the problems that we encountered during the shoot:

• During the shoot, we had an issue with the battery life of the camera. This is because the camera that we had only had two batteries and we didn't get a charger for the batteries. This meant that we had to be very conservative with the camera battery. By the end of the shoot, the camera battery had 2 minutes worth of battery life left which is good because it means that we managed to get the shoot completed, however, if we have had run out of battery then we would have to go back and shoot the last couple of shots of the shoot.
• Also, during the shoot, it was very hard to set up the tripod for some of the POV shots. This means that we had to shoot some of the shots where the protagonist is sitting on the bed handheld. We made sure to keep the camera as steady as possible, however, we won't know the outcome of these shots until we get into the editing phase.
• We did not have enough battery life in the camera to go back into the woods and shoot the picture for the short film poster. This means that we have to go back during the next week and shoot the picture for the short film poster.

Overall, the shoot went very well and we have not completed the filming four our short film. Furthermore, when we get back to college we will log all the footage onto the computer and then we will start editing the short film together. 

Pictures of use filming:

Third Filming Shoot - Short Film Production

Third Filming Shoot - Short Film Production

We have now completed the third day of shooting our short film. This shoot went very well and this means that we only have one more filming shoot to complete.

Success Factors:

Here is a list of the success factors of the shoot:

• We managed to get all the shots that we planned to shoot, shot today. This means that we have completed scene 3 and 5 today which leaves scene 4, 6 and 8 for the final shoot. 
• We adjusted the white balance for every change in lighting condition or any change in location. This will give the final product a better overall look because the moving image will not look yellowy.
• We shot most of the shot multiple times so that we can have enough footage in the post-production stage of the short film production.
• We used an external sound recorder to record some foley sounds like the kicking of a football and some footstep sounds. Also, we used it to pick up some dialogue between the two characters.

Problems during the shoot:

Here is a list of some problems that we had to solve during the shoot:

• Filming the part of the third scene where the protagonist walks along the middle of a road proved to be very difficult. This was because cars kept coming and using the road. This meant that we had to be very patient whilst waiting for enough time to set up and get the shot. In the end, we managed to get each of the shots.
• Filming in the woods also proved to be tricky because there were a lot of dog walkers and children walking in the woods and making noise. This meant that it took a long time to get each shot because we would have to wait for the people to move out of the frame. This was not a major issue it just delayed our filming meaning it too longer to get each shot.
• Also, during the shoot, we had some issues with lighting. Firstly, when filming on the field the sunny was behind the protagonist which meant that the camera was pointed directly at the sun. This meant we had to adjust the camera angles to avoid the sun being in the shot because it caused a lot of over exposure. Secondly, in the woods we had the issue of ever exposure again which meant that we had to manually control the camera settings like exposure to make the image look correct.

Overall, the shoot went well and we got the shots we needed to. However, we forgot to take the picture for the poster which means that we will have to go back to the woods location and do it again in the next filming shoot. 

Pictures of us filming:

Second Filming Shoot - Short Film Production

Second Filming Shoot - Short Film Production

We have now completed the second day of shooting our short film. This shoot went very well as we were able to complete all the shots that we planned to get.

Success Factors of the shoot:

Here is a list of the success factors of the second day of shooting our short film:

• We managed to get 11 shots of the short film filmed. This meant that we have now completed filming scene 1, 2 and 7 of the short film.
• We shot most of the shot multiple times with slight variations. This decreases the chance of having to go back and re-shoot any of the shots.
• We made sure to set the white balance for every change in location or any change in lighting situation. This means that we will not end up with shots that look very yellow instead of looking how they should. 
• Made sure to light our shots properly so that they didn't look grainy. This was especially important because in this filming shoot we were filming inside which means that there was less natural light than normal. Therefore, we had to use external lights to properly light each shot.
• Also, we made sure to keep to the continuity editing techniques. At one point during the shot, we were setting up a shot where the two characters were sitting down and playing video games together. Then we realised that they way we were going to set up the next shot would have broken the 180-degree rule. Therefore, we made sure to adjust the shot so that it didn't break the rule.
• We used an external sound recorder to record some foley sounds and some dialogue between the two characters. This is good because it means in post-production we will be able to have more control over the volume of these sounds.

Overall, the shoot went very well because we didn;t have any issues while filming and we managed to film all the shots that we needed to. This is good because we are not on schedule to finish filming by the end of half term which gives us plenty of time to edit the short film. 

Pictures of us filming:

Draft Short Film Poster - Promotional Research - Sam Swinson

Draft Short Film Poster - Promotional Research - Sam Swinson

Below you can find draft short film poster that I have created. I have drawn this on plain white paper and it is only a rough sketch of what the poster will look like because I am not very good at drawing.

Here is a description of some parts of the poster:

1. This is where the one word reviews of the poster will go and any film festival awards that it has won will also go here. The words that are in this section should be short and should be punchy words that entice the audience into watching the film.
2. This is the title of the short film. Originally we wanted the title to be 'Me Myself and I' however this is the title of a well known song and it doesn't specifically relate to our short film so we decided to go with 'Alone' as the title. This is going to be in block capitals and it will have a slight emboss around the edges of the letters. The text should be a blocky font that is not too thick.
3. This is the background of the photo and it should be slightly out of focus, but, the audience should still be able to make out what it is. It is the trees and bushes in the woods scene and the path will be seen in the background of the photo as well.
4. This is the friend character from the short film. He is facing away from the camera and he is slightly face out so that audience can see through him slightly to show the background.
5. This is the protagonist and he is facing the camera with a very serious facial expression on his face. 
6. Around the edges of the frame there will be a slight fades black circle effect that will cut off the corners of the frame. This is to represent the small and lonely world that the protagonist is living in because and it connotes the trapped feeling lonely people sometimes feel.

Something to note about the draft poster is that I have decided to make it landscape instead of portrait because it gives more room to play around with on the poster. This means that the poster won't feel crammed of squashed together. This means that the audience will clearly be able to see the two characters and what is around them.

The First Filming Shoot - Short Film Production

The First Filming Shoot - Short Film Production

We have completed the first day of shooting our short film. This shoot went very well as all went according to plan. We managed to film all the shots that we had planned to and we made sure to film each shot multiple times.

Success Factors:

Here is a list of the success factors of the first shoot for our short film:

• We shot all 13 shots that we planned to shoot for the short film.
• Most of the shots we shot twice with slight variation in either angle or shot distance so that we can have a play around in editing to see which shot fits the piece better.
• Made sure to set the white balance for any changed in location or any change in lighting. This is a vital part of the filming stage of the short film production because if the white balance is not set properly for the lighting situation then the shot will look very yellowy and it will make the final piece look awful. For the white balance, we brought a white piece of paper that we used to set the white balance to every time the lighting changed. This meat that we set the4 white balance about 6 or 7 times during the shoot. 
• The costume of the characters was as we planned it to be which was good because it meant that the correct information is going to be connoted to the audience. This is because the protagonist was wearing a white t-shirt and light blue trousers which connote's his happiness.
• Made sure to use a variety of techniques. During the shoot, we made sure to use some more complex camera movement and camera techniques like slit framing and pans. This is because it makes the piece look more professional and having variety keeps the audience engaged for longer.
• Kept to the continuity editing techniques. During the shoot, we made sure not to break the 180-degree line which is good because it means that our piece will not break continuity.

Overall, the shoot went very well and nothing went majorly wrong during the shot which would have set us back in any way. This is good because it means that we are sticking to the shooting schedule and will because able to get straight to editing the piece when we get back from half term.

We did have one issue when we were filming on the Bridge Road. This was because lots of cars kept coming past the camera which meant it took us a while to get each shot because the cars were driving very close to the camera and they would have been very loud on the camera on board microphone.

Video from our filming shoot:

Pictures of us while we were filming:

Short Film Poster Research - Connor Hilton

Short Film Poster Research 

In this blog post I am going to find a few examples of short film posters and annotate the conventions used. This will assist me in creating my short film poster in the future as I will be aware of techniques that I can use. Mainly, this research will inspire me to create a good short film poster as I can use the conventions of a short film poster.


TBC

 

Creating the website prop - Pre-Production Planning

Creating the website prop - Pre-Production Planning

On of the props that we need for our short film is a website that tells the protagonist that his friend has been killed. This prop can easily be created in photoshop using the official BBC news website and changing it slightly.

Here is how we created the website:

1. We chose the news website that we would base our website on. For this, we chose a BBC News article (Figure 1).
2. Then we took a screen shot of this website and put it into photoshop (Figure 2).
3. Next, we took a picture of Connor who plays the friend how has been killed and we then placed this on the website (Figure 3).
4. After this, we changed some of the text on the website so that it is talking about information relevant to the story (Figure 4).
5. Finally, we saved the website as an image and will display it on a computer for the actual short film (Figure 5).

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Filming Role Allocation

Filming Role Allocation

Roles:

Director: Jake, Sam & Connor
Lighting Operator: Jake
Props Organiser: Connor
Sound Recordist: Jake
Costume, Hair & Make-up: Sam
Health & Safety Officer: Sam
Producer: Jake, Sam & Connor
Camera Operator: Jake

Filming Dates

Shooting Schedule:

Shoot 1: - Scene 1 - Field + Woods
              -  Scene 7 - Bridge Road

Shoot 2 - Scene 1 - Jake's House
             - Scene 2 - Jake's House

Shoot 3 - Scene 3 - Field + Bridge Road
             - Scene 5 - Woods

Shoot 4 - Scene 4 - Jake's House
             - Scene 6 - Jake's House
             - Scene 8 - Road 

Dates:

Shoot 1 - 22nd October - 10:00am

Shoot 2 - 25th October - 2:00pm

Shoot 3 - 26th October - 10:00am

Shoot 4 - 27th October - 10:00am 

Costume For Shoots:

Shoot 1 - Light Costume

Shoot 2 - Light Costume

Shoot 3 - Dark Costume


Shoot 4 - Dark Costume

Locations For Shoots:

Shoot 1 - Field + woods + Bridge Road

Shoot 2 - Jake's house

Shoot 3 - Field + woods + Bridge Road



Shoot 4 - Jake's house + Road

Locations For Shoots:

Shoot 1 - Field + woods + Bridge Road

Shoot 2 - Jake's house

Shoot 3 - Field + woods + Bridge Road

Shoot 4 - Jake's house + Road

Props For Shoots:

Shoot 1 - Football + Phone

Shoot 2 - Website + Computer + Games Console

Shoot 3 - Football


Shoot 4 - Computer + Facebook Messenger

Audience Feedback - Connor Hilton

Audience Feedback

We asked people within our target audience to take a look at our overall story idea and answer some quick questions, giving their opinion.

General Story Idea:

• There are two male characters who are best friends
• One of the characters has been depressed for a while but is hiding it from his friend
• The depressed friend commits suicide
• The other friend becomes frustrated and sad while dealing with his friends loss
• The other friend eventually tries to meet new people and gets stood up 
• The other friend considers committing suicide because of how sad, frustrated and lonely he has become

Questions We Asked:

1. Would you be interested in watching this short film?
2. Do you think the message of this film is realistic?
3. Is the story relatable in any way?
4. What improvements do you think could be made to the story idea?

Feedback:

Fraser(17):

1. Yes, the story sounds interesting but it's a bit dark.
2. In some ways yes, however the reaction seems a bit extreme.
3. Not for me personally, but I could understand why some people might see themselves in the characters position.
4. I think that there should be some background into why the friend commits suicide in the first place. Like, explain why the character is depressed.

Matt(16):

1. It seems like an interesting idea, but it's not for me.
2. It seems a bit far fetched, without any knowledge of why the character commits suicide in the first place.
3. As I mentioned, I think it's unlikely to happen. It would seem more relatable if your friend died in an accident.
4. I think the death of the character that commits suicide should be an accident as that seems more realistic to me.

James(18):

1. Yes, it seems intriguing
2. I think it is somewhat realistic, it's hard to say without knowing the whole situation surrounding the death of the first character.
3. Somewhat, in a real life situation it's not normally your friend dying  but usually moving on. Or you might get separated by going to different schools.
4. I think the idea is good, but maybe add some more detail to show the reason the character was depressed in the first place and why he chose to commit suicide instead of talking to his friend.

Summary:

I think that the feedback that we received was useful moving forward. I think that the points that have been made about improving the story are important and we will have a discussion about this as a group. It seems like most people think that the overall idea is good, but they need more information about the death of the friend at the start of the film. This was a sacrifice we made for the length of the film otherwise the film would end up being too long. We will look into a way of telling the audience more information about the characters death.

Lighting Decisions - Connor Hilton

Lighting Decisions

Locations:

1. Field- In the field we will be shooting shots for: scene 1 and scene 3.
2. Bridge Road- On the bridge road we will be filming shots for: scene 1 , scene 3 and scene 7.
3. Woods-In the woods we will be filming shots for: scene 1, scene 3 and scene 5.
4. Jake's house-At Jake's house we will be filming shots for: scene 1, scene 2 and scene 4.
5. Road-By the road we will be filming shots for: scene 8.

Lighting at Each Location:

Field:

On the field we will most likely be filming using only natural lighting during the day. This is because we want it to seem like a normal lighting. We could decide to bring some lights in case it is too dark to film. However, I don't think that this will be an issue because we plan to film during the day preferably around mid day.

Bridge Road:

The bridge road lighting will be different in each scene that it is used. In scene 1 we want the bridge road to be sunny high key lighting at a natural level as at this point in the film the two characters seem happy and are having fun. Later on in the film we want the bridge road to look a bit more dull and dark. We could achieve this by filming later on in the day or on a different day where the sky is cloudy. 

Woods:

In scene 1 we want the woods to be naturally lit on a sunny day. However, because we can't guarantee that this will happen we may film with external lighting to make the woods seem more bright. In the later scenes we would like the lighting to be more low key and dark, this is because the film has shifted from being happy to sad. Also we want the lighting to connotate the protagonists loneliness. 

Jake's House:

We will film briefly for scene 1 at Jake's house as we will be showing the two characters playing video games together. We plan to have slightly high key lighting as it will help relate to the characters having fun and communicate this to the audience. However, in scene 2 we plan for the lighting to be more low key because this is when the protagonist discovers that his friend has died, so low key lighting would fit the mood. In scene 4 we will be filming in Jake's garden. We plan for the lighting to be low key. We will achieve this by filming on a dark day where clouds are covering the sun. This will help show the audience how the protagonist is feeling.

Road:

Similar to the lighting in scene 4, we plan for the lighting to be low key. This is because this point in the film is very depressing and dark. So, we thought that low key lighting would be best to connotate the protagonists feelings to the audience.

Applying Audience to Our Short Film - Connor Hilton

Applying Audience to Our Short Film

Our Target Audience:

Our target audience is people aged between 13-18. We decided to focus our film at this age group because it is the age group that would find our story the most relatable and therefore they would find it more interesting. The film is mainly aimed at males members of our target audience, simply because the friendship between the two characters is a male-to-male and therefore might not be relatable for females in the age range of our target audience. 

Filming For Our Target Audience:

We have decided to film in common environments which the target audience will often be in themselves which we hope will make the film seem more real and relatable. We have decided to film in a field, in a village on a bridge, in the woods and in a house. These are all places that members of our target audience might visit fairly frequently to do hobbies or just meet up with friends which ,as mentioned before, we hope will make the film seem like it could really happen to someone and will make the audience feel for the protagonist. 

Relate able Scenes For Our Target Audience:

Many of our scenes are things that many people in our target audience will do frequently, for example in the initial scene we have two characters playing football, video games and just hanging around. We hope this will make the audience like our film because it seems like something that they would do. Because of this, the audience will be engrossed in our story because it seems similar to their lives.

Location Permission For Jake's House - Pre-Production Planning

Location Permission For Jake's House - Pre-Production Planning

For most of the location that we are using for our short film we are using public places. This means that we don't need any permissions for filming because we will not be adjusting any of the locations in any way and we will be using them for normal things.

On the other, hand we are using Jake's house to film the garden and the bedroom locations. This means that we will need permission to use these locations from his parents. We have obtained this permission through a text message direct from Jake's parents.

Risk Assessment For Filming Locations - Pre-Production Planning

Risk Assessment For Filming Locations - Pre-Production Planning

With any media production, there are risks with the locations that they use to film. The same can be said about our short film because all of the locations that we are using to film have their own risks. In this post, I will discuss some of the risks with the locations that we are using to film. Here are the locations and the risks involved with filming in the locations:

• Rocky Lane Road:
• This is the main road that has traffic on it almost all of the time. This means that a potential hazard would be the cars that are going past us when we are trying to film. This is because we could distract the drivers with how close to the edge of the pavement we will be. Also, if we are too close to the edge of the pavement and a truck comes then one of use could get hit by a car or a truck that is traveling close to the edge of the road. This means we will need to be very careful and make sure that none of the actors or the equipment is put in any danger. Also, a good thing about this road is that it is a 30-40mph road which is good because the cars are not traveling super fast.

• Bridge Road:
• For the scene when we want to use this location we are going to have the protagonist walking in the middle of the road to show that his life is empty and to connote his loneliness. For this, we made sure that we chose a location that not many people use. For this fact, we chose the Bridge Road in Bolnore because normally in the middle of the day it is not used very often. Also, the cars travel very slowly along the road, therefore, if we have someone on the lookout for cars we should be able to get the shot without putting any of the equipment in any danger and without causing danger to the characters.

• Bolnore Field:
• This is an open location that should not have too many risks when we are filming. One of the main risks that I can see with this field is glass or some other litter that may cause harm to any of the members of the group when filming. To avoid this risk we when we are filming we must make sure that we look around for anything that could damage the equipment or the members of the group. Also, if it rains there is a shelter that we can use to protect the equipment and stay dry.

• Ashenground Woods:
• This is another public location and because we are in the woods we will be to be careful with hazards that are commonly in the woods. For example, we will have to watch out for bramble or spiky bushes in the woods because when we are filming behind trees it will be hard to see to there is a hazard. This means when we are setting up the camera for the shots we will have to be very careful and look for any hazards.

Animatic 2 - Voice Overs

Animatic 2 - Voice Overs 

This is the second animatic that we have created and it is like a directors cut of the first animatic. Each of the group members have done a voice overs part for the animatic and we talk about certain things that will not be clear from the storybaord frames on their own.

Animatic 2:

Shooting Schedule - Pre-Production Planning

Shooting Schedule - Pre-Production Planning 

Scene that we need to shot:

We have orgainsied the way we are going to shoot the scenes by location and costume of the characters:

• Scene 1 - field, woods, Jake's house - light costume
• Scene 2 - Jake's house - light costume
• Scene 3 - field, Bridge Road - dark costume
• Scene 4 - Jake's house - dark costume
• Scene 5 - woods - dark costume
• Scene 6 - Jake's house - dark costume
• Scene 7 - Bridge Road - light costume
• Scene 8 - Road - dark costume

Shooting Plans:

Here is a list of the shoot that we are going to have to do and what we are going to have to film on each shoot:

• Shoot 1:
• Scene 1 - field and woods
• Scene 7 -Bridge Road

• Shoot 2:
• Scene 1 - Jake's house
• Scene 2 - Jake's house

• Shoot 3:
• Scene 3 - field and Bridge Road
• Scene 5 - woods

• Shoot 4:
• Scene 4 - Jake's house 
• Scene 6 - Jake's house
• Scene 8 - road

Experimenting With Complex Techniques

Experimenting With Complex Techniques

We have done some experimenting with some complex techniques that we wanted to use in out short film. We wanted to have the protagoinst walking along and then his friend walks past him. The protagonist doesn't realise that it is his friend and he just nods to him. Then once the friend has walked past the protagoinst he fades away.

Test 1:

In this test we had two shots, the first shot had both characters walking through the frame and then we filmed a separate shot with only the protagoinst walking through the frame. Then in the editing program we cropped one of the shots and then used a cross dissolve to make the friend fade away.

Test 2:

Then we decided to do another way of creating this effect. In this version of the shot we had the protagoinst walk through the frame in one shot and then in a different shot we had a thr friend walk through the frame and then we edited them together with a crop of one of the shots and a cross dissolve.

Animatic 1 - Timing of Short Film - Pre-Production Planning

Animatic 1 - Timing of Short Film - Pre-Production Planning

From our storyboard that we created as a group we have create an animatic. This is the first of two animatics that we have to create. This animatic is used to show the timings of our short film because in the animatic we play each frame of the storyboard for the amount of time that it will be played in the final piece.

Aniamatic 1:

Organisation of Actors

Organisation of Actors

Actors:

Protagonist- Sam Swinson
Friend- Connor Hilton

Summary

All the actors that we are going to use for our short film are part of our production group. This is good because it means all the actors and group members have to be present at all filming sessions. 

Sound

Sound in our short film

Our short film is mainly a silent film. This means that a large amount o the sound is going to be ambient sound. By this, I mean external sounds ranging from cars to the rustling of leaves. To make these sounds, we will use garage band, the internet and create Foley sounds. Foley sounds will be where we want a specific sounds however cannot source it from else where so we will create it ourselves.

 To do this we will use shot gun mics which are provided by the college as you can record where the sound is coming from.