Representation of Character

Doc 1

Us Using Technology :)

Grabber Slideshow

Distribution: Who would distribute our film?

As we want our film to be seen by as many people as possible, this would be achieved if it was distributed by Momentum Pictures.

Momentum Pictures is one of the leading UK distributors, releasing approximately 20 theatrical films a year.

Quote: "Momentum prides itself on its diverse output. We acquire across all genres - family, upscale, foreign-language, action and horror."

Here are some films distributed by Momentum Pictures:

Requiem for a Dream

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Let the Right One In

Control

This diversity of film genres and storylines makes Momentum Pictures the perfect distributor for our film as it would take the risk of it being an British independent film about Autism.

Representation of Character

This is a screen grab I decided to use of

our main character. I used this shot as I think it represents her as independent even though she is autistic. I think that the picture from the film 'Forrest Gump' reinforces this as it is also has an autistic main character who is independent.

Representation of Character

Because our only character in the opening isn't shown until the end, its hard to find an exact representation of her autistic condition. In this shot however, the rain has caused disruption to her routine hence her annoyed expression.

In What's Eating Gilbert Grape? Arnie is an autistic 14 year old who also doesn't like his routine to change.

My contribution after screen showing

After the screen showing, I contributed to the group in the following way:
Firstly I had to make sure I found a suitable sound effect format for our rain sequence as the previous one was not doanloadable. I had to go through diffrent sites to find the right rain sound effect becuse many of the ones I did find that were doanloadable, had a rain effect which was too strong, which ment it was not suitable for our shot, as our rain shot was lighter than the sound effects. After i finally found one doanloadable sound effect I added it to our opening. I made notes while we were getting feed back in the screen showing, to make it easier for our next lesson to know what we have to improve on. I made a list of our technical errors, a list of the credits we need to add, a note that we needed to fade out the non-diegetic soundtrack on our opening and the fault we had on our credits not appearing at the same time where they were meant to. Then I helped Nyasha while she was doing the editing, as to what changes would look better and what we could do to improve our opening.

Rianna Aguinaga

Entry Nine: Audience Feedback

In our screening, we gave out a questionnaire sheet to the audience to fill out for feedback. We asked:

Was the genre clear and were there obvious conventions used to show it?
Did the narrative intrigue you and would make want to continue watching?
What did you like the most about the opening?
What did you like the least?
What could we do to make the opening better?

After our audience screening, we received a mixture of feedback. Most of our audience said that they were not sure what our genre was, so we now know that we need to make sure that our genre is clear to the audience.

However, the majority of people liked the opening and did want to continue watching the film, they also liked the variety of camera shots used. We were also told by the audience that they thought the music fit in with the film.

The feedback we got back on what they liked the least. The lighting for the tracking shot of the shoes was dark and needs to be made brighter. Also, the scene where the character is arranging her makeup went on a bit too long so we have to make that shorter. A few didn't like the shot of the stairs as the camera was wobbly.

To improve on our opening, we need to remove the Cast heading as a part of our credits and need to make sure all the credits are in synch. Our title of the film, IMHO (In my Humble Opinion) people thought it looked more like a logo than the title. We also need to add in the rain music into the shot of the puddle.

Entry Eight: The Editing Process

We started the editing process by capturing all our footage using Final Cut Express.

After this we sorted our footage into bins. The real editing started when we were selecting the 'In' and 'Out' point of the clips we wanted to use, we then dragged them into the viewer and this meant that they were all put into the timeline :)

At this point we had to think about how we were going to cut the clips, add transitions etc. We watched our footage multiple time to see where we could change things and make our film better. There were parts where I felt the a shot was too shaky or too dark so I would change it and then watch through it again. Re-watching footage is key! We then added the music to the film and checked if it suited the narrative. It went well~!

Mia and I then left it to Nyasha and Rianna to do titles...our work was done.

Entry Eight: Editing - Credits/Titles

After Asher and Mia had finished editing the film, me and Rianna added in the credits and the title of the film. We decided to put the credits on the upper left corner and the bottom right corner of the shots because it would seem a bit more distinctive than just having it in the middle of the shot. Each credit had the common opening credits order at the top of the person's name smaller

We placed the title of the film, In my Humble Opinion at the end to make the film continue after the title. We put it in bold and capital letters. After the feedback we received, we need to improve the credits and the title of the film as people thought it looked more like a logo.

Entry Eight: Filming

Filming took place at Asher's house on February 23rd and was completed within that day. We changed what we filmed previously using the bedroom as a starting point, the hallway and the front door as our location settings. As Asher was our camera woman, we were able to shoot all the shots.

We used the idea of concealing the character's identity except for showing Rianna's back, arms and legs to the audience throughout the opening.

The storyboard has been applied with the changes of the camera angles and shots.

Entry Seven: Leveling Your Mark

Level 3:

This shot establishes Rianna as a character as we do not see her until this shot. We also feel that this shot is well framed and the mise-en-scene represents and is appropriate to the genre (Social Realism).

We thought that we could improve the shot by making it steadier, as it is slightly shaky, due to the fact that we filmed it using handheld camera, but as we have filmed the whole thing using handheld camera, we feel it doesn't effect the flow of the film.

Entry Six: Music

I chose this piece of music because i think it really relates to the character and her way of thinking. I wanted to embrace the protagonists character, with a piece of music that wasn't to up beat,just a slow, calm, empty, personal sort of melody. Showing her state of mind which also reflects her life of a lonely person. After listening to great amount of ambient music I finally chose what I think is the perfect one for our character, taking into account the scenery, the time of day, and how the character is feeling. http://audio.lgfl.org.uk/track_details.asp?type=4&trackid=7566&l1=&l2=&l3=&l1c=&l2c=&l3c=

I also had to find a suitable sound effect for the rain, which is for the final shot of the main character outside, and a close up of a puddle as drops disappear in to it. I had to find the right one, that didn't have to much hard rain dropping, as it would not go with the actual weather we filmed in. I finally found the one that I thought was the right one, that fitted the exact type of rain drops in the actual shot. http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=87125

Entry Five: Location

The location of the filming was decided immediately to be in a house and we used Asher's house as the setting according to our choice of film genre. Her house was chosen because:

• Convenient
• Given permission
• Spacious
  

If Asher's house was unavailable, we would film at Rianna's house as a backup just in case.

These photos were taken as evidence of what the house looks like. We filmed mainly in the living room and kitchen. As you can see from the photos, the rooms are quite spacious as mentioned before and give a perfect view of what the main character's house looks like.

The bathroom photos were taken as a first idea and also to see what it would look like but later decided that we would use the sixth form toilets for the last three shots. At school, it will give a different feeling of the main character than what she is like at home. Since we have to film inside the toilet too, we may use a bigger one since it has a lot of space in it too.

Entry Four: Storyboard & Shotlist

Storyboard

The process of the storyboard is to have an idea of how each scene of our opening will be shot. Rianna who is the protagonist of our filming can also have an idea on how to act out each scene using the storyboard. Each shot has a small description of how the scene should look and how the camera should be positioned.

Shot list
The shot list shows where the filming will take place and follows accordingly to how each shot is going to be filmed with a short description on how to do it similar to the storyboard. We may change some shots depending depending on the location of the filming.

Entry Three: Audience Research

For our audience research, we conducted a survey asking questions that would help us when thinking about an idea for a film, and what we would have to do in order for them to be interested in seeing it.

Below is a picture of our questionnaire.

Entry Two: Target Audience

Our film is targeted at teenagers and young adults. In order for our film to appeal to our target audience, we've made our protagonist a teenage girl aged 17. The film is also set in the modern day, making it relatable to the target audience.

We made a mood board of our film genre with elements of the target audience.

Entry One: Genre

Social Realist

We've decided to a do an opening of the social realist genre. Within this genre, we have decided to focus on mental health, and a person living with autism.

From watching a range of Social Realist films and films that focus on mental health, I've compiled a a list of genre conventions and techniques that are used to convey this effectively.

As social realist films are representatives of real life situations, they have to look believable. This is achieved by:

• Using a lot of long shots with little camera movement. Any movement that does happen whether it be tracking, panning or so forth are usually slow as fast movements draw attention to the camera, destroying the illusion of what you're watching is real.
• Long takes as this allows the actors to semi-improvise their dialogue, creating a more naturalistic performance which looks real.
• Not having flashy editing as this, again, causes the focus to be more on the camera and editing.
• Trying not to use non-diegetic music as it doesn't make the film look real. However, in Half Nelson, a lot of non-diegetic music is used.
• In British social realism, the cast tend to be predominantly British, therefore speaking in strong regional accents. For example, in Paul McGuigan's The Acid House, had to been shown with subtitles in the USA and Canada due to the strong Scottish accents of the actors.

There are many different types of films that focus on mental health with a variation of conditions, settings, locations and characters. Despite this, they use very similar conventions in order to establish this.

• Voiceovers/Internal Monologues are used often in the mind of the protagonist. This is to provide them with narrative agency, and also to establish what is going on in their head and to help the audience understand their condition. Films like Taxi Driver and Girl, Interrupted; have voiceovers from the protagonists.
• Dramatising mental health to make it entertaining. If a true representation of a person with mental health problems was portrayed, it has the potential to be boring. Extreme stereotypes of often used for shocking or comical effect on the audience like Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs and Jim Carey in Me, Myself and Irene. This creates stigmatisations of mental illness.