EDITING TIME...

Printscreens of Editing

This is a snapshot of a still image that I have at the beginning of my film opening, I particularly like it because it has a very idyllic and almost surreal.

This is an example of the 'Cross Dissolve' transition that I am using within my film opening to fade between the scenes of footage and imaging. In this example it fades from an image of a field to one of a diary extract of Eliza's.

Another example of 'Cross Fade' transition

Example of my Ident

Revised script..

"A DAY IN THE LIFE OF..."

FADE IN:

EXT. COUNTRYSIDE - MORNING

Panning through the countryside; fresh morning. Birds chirping, soft piano music being played in the background.

ELIZA (V.O)

Many people in life have a sense of direction and know

what they want their future to hold, apparently, not me.

I seem to be going nowhere and at the age of 18, I have

nothing to say for myself; no achievements, nothing, not even

a library card or a bus pass. Even old people have those, clearly...

my - life - is - irrelevant.

I've never had a boyfriend - well, of course, I've dabbled in the

occasional 2 week fling, but nothing serious, 

nothing significant; never broken a bone, never even been 

to hospital, besides of course when I entered the world and left the

safety and comfort of my mother's womb.

As Gandhi said, "I don't have a message. My message

is my life." and "When I despair, I remember that truth and

love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers,

and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end

they always fall. 

Think of it...always."

It is only when I think of those who have less than me

that I realise how much I do have; 

a functional family who supports me, a good education, friends who love me...

Need I say more? I'm a pessimistic, optimistic, naïve, melodramatic, 

shy and pathetic teenager, who wants nothing more than to find

her meaning in life. But I have no idea how to go about it.

I'm waiting for a revelation, anything, hit me by a bus

and kick me in the teeth! Anything.

***And that's when it happened, it came from nowhere
and nobody could have foreseen it. A car spun off
the road, hit the verge and the driver lost control.
Things would be so vert different if it hadn't happened
but I suppose it was my destiny and
that's how my life changed for good.

"This life is what you make it. No matter what, you're
going to mess up sometimes, it's a universal truth.
But the good part is you get to decide how you're
going to mess it up. Just because you fail once, doesn't
mean you're gonna fail at everything.
Keep trying, hold on, and always, always, always believe
in yourself."***

The 'starred; (*) pieces of text indicate the parts of the script that I have added to the inital draft. The second/final paragraph is a quote taken from Marilyn Monroe and it bares great signficance to the script because it is quite a mature and life-evaluating quote which is very influential.

FILMING WEEK

This week I have been busy with the camera. Filming took place on a field/verge near my house, which is an ideal place because of the lack of traffic and disruption. I am happy with all of my footage and feel that it will enable me to create an effective yet simple film opening; being that it relies solely upon the interest of the audience and the factor of the unknown - not knowing what will happen after the first 2minutes. 
I ended up filming at around 3.00pm because the light/sky was perfect and the ground wasn't too wet from the morning dew. I particularly like the point-of-view shots because the audience is able to watch the character's perspective; and the glare of the sun on the camera because it conveys connotations of purity and innocence, which are prominent themes in my film. I also filmed the audio of the narration, which took several takes for each part, to get it just right. I feel quietly confident with my progress so far. Fingers crossed!

The Perks of Being a Wallflower...

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is an "epistolary novel written by American novelist Stephen Chbosky. It was published on February 1, 1999 by MTV. The story is narrated by a teenager who goes by the alias of "Charlie"; he describes various scenes in his life by writing a series of letters to an anonymous person, whom he does not know personally." The male protagonist Charlie is a teenager who struggles with teenage adolescence.  
The story explores topics such as introversion and awkward experiences and confrontations of adolescence; also touching briefly on drug use and Charlie's experiences with it.
The reason why I have chosen to research this film is because within the novel's progression, various works of literature and film are heavily referenced and their meanings are discussed frequently, particularly in helping Charlie to understand the reality of teenage life and within his education. This links to my media film opening because of my references to Gandhi and Marilyn Monroe.

Colour and Lighting...

The previous post has taught me that when I come to edit my media film I will most likely manipulate the brightness/contrast, gamma, curves of the shots because by simply doing this, a completely different mood is able to be conveyed to the audience. This will also work particularly with my opening sequence because of the nature scenes with the trees (and if the snow is still around next week then it can be incorporated too!)

Looking at the effect of lighting and colour

ADJUSTING CURVES
LOW LIGHTING
GAMMA
SATURATION
ORIGINAL COPY
HIGH LIGHTING

In my lesson I have been unable to do any filming or editing due to lack of technology and so I have been editing photos on Adobe Photoshop CS4 to explore the effect of lighting and colours within a shot. I played around with adjusting the curves, lighting, gamma, saturation, exposure and vibrance. I particularly like working with Adobe Photoshop because I have used the software before and being able to manipulate an image in order to change the impact of an image. My favourite image is the edit which has been fully saturated into black and white because the tree gives across quite a sinister mood; in comparison to the calm and tranquil mood of the original image.

Camera Shots

EWS (Extreme Wide Shot) - The view is so far from the subject that he/she isn't even visible. Often used as an establishing shot
VWS (Very Wide Shot) - The subject is visible (barely), but the emphasis is still on placing him in his environment
WS (Wide Shot) - The subject takes up the full frame, or at least as much as comfortably possible.
i.e. long shot, full shot
MS (Mid Shot) - Shows some part of the subject in more detail while still giving an impression of the whole subject
MCU (Medium Close Up) - Half way between a MS and a CU
CU (Close Up) - A certain feature or part of the subject takes up the whole frame
ECU (Extreme Close Up) - The ECU gets right in and shows extreme detail
Cut-In - Shows some (other) part of the subject in detail
Cut-Away - A shot of something other than the subject
Two-Shot - A shot of two people, framed similarly to a mid shot
Over-The-Shoulder Shot - Looking from behind a person at the subject
Point-of-View Shot - Shows a view from the subject's perspective
Weather Shot - The subject is the weather. Can be used for other purposes, i.e. background for graphics.

In my media film I am choosing to not reveal the main character in the opening sequence in order to allow the audience to want to watch on, particularly because after the title sequence she will be in hospital and so her appearance may not be as it was before. The audience is able to empathise with her character and is curious as to how the accident has affected her life.
Therefore the main shots that I will be using will be Establishing Shots; in order for the audience to identify the location and Point-of-View Shots; which will enable the audience to be in her perspective; Weather Shots because my opening will be quite 'nature-based' in order for the audience to be led into a false sense of security, tranquillity and calm; before she meets her untimely accident which will be quite shocking but also very ambiguous. This links well with my Ident; Juxtaposed Productions, the definition of 'juxtaposition' being "an act or instance of placing close together or side by side, especially for comparison or contrast."
This then eliminates the need for costumes because they will not be seen in the opening sequence however, there will be props that I choose to include that hold great significance.

Review on narration

Remember Me is a 2010 American romantic, coming-of-age drama film directed by Allen Coulter, with the screenplay by Will Fetters. The cast includes Robert Pattinson, Emilie de Ravin, Chris Cooper, Lena Olin and Pierce Brosnan. The film was released March 12th 2010, had a budget of $16million and went on to take in $56,223,951 at the Box Office. The distributor was Summit Entertainment.
I have chosen to look at this film because the main character Tyler in the opening gives the insightful quote; "Gandhi said that whatever you do in life will be insignificant but it is very important that you do it...". This quote relates to my media film because I am intrigued by the use of famous historical figures whose words are able to have a great and significant impact upon peoples lives.

When his character is first seen, the script describes him as TYLER ROTH, early twenties, handsome, looking haggard. He is sitting on the floor, shirtless, bed head, wrapped in a blanket.

Copyright music...

COPYRIGHT-

Wikipedia definition - "literally, 'the right to copy.' Prior to 1886, no effective international law of copyright existed. The first major international copyright law conventions were the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works created in 1886. It is not within the scope of this document to examine the various changes, additions, and ancillary agreements to the Berne Convention. Beginning in 1976, copyright protection in the United States has been extended to a work of music immediately after it is created. Legal protection is extended to the work without the need to register it with the U.S. Copyright office. A work must be registered, however, before a copyright owner may bring suit against a party which has allegedly infringed on this original work."


Music licensing is the licensed use of copyrighted music. It is intended to ensure that the creators of musical works get paid for their work. A purchaser of recorded music owns the media on which the music is stored, rather than the music itself. A purchaser has limited rights to use and reproduce the recorded work without a separately arranged agreement.

Copyright infringement is the unauthorized or prohibited use of works under copyright, infringing the copyright holder's exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works. It often refers to copying intellectual property without written permission from the copyright holder, which is typically a publisher or other business representing or assigned by the work's creator.
Research obtained from http://www.wikipedia.org/

Editing my title sequence...

I have been making my title sequence for my film and creating random names for the different people involved in my production.

juxtaposed productions presents

a film by karen fisher

starring marissa kendall, phoebe morris, luca douglas, zak archer

casting by georgina howe

music by scott myers, billy palmer

costumes designed by tilly wallis

edited by sean berry, tyler hartley

production designed by dom gregory

director of photography laura stokes

co-producers molly davey, amelie preston

co-executive producers patrick skinner, yasmin gibbs

executive producers corey bentley, imogen morgan

written by eva hutchinson, callum byrne

a day in the life of…

produced by ethan murray, rupert tyler

directed by nicole o’malley

I have been using Adobe AfterEffects because I find it easier to use in regards to editing text and being able to manipulate the positioning and movement in comparison to Adobe PremierPro, so I will have to import the final sequence into PremierePro when I put it into my film.