"A Sweet Surprise"... The Making of!

This weeks lesson involved us putting all our planning and preparation into practice... despite the terrible acting on my part (I never was destined to be in front of the camera) our film worked considerably well. There were a few hiccups along the way, there always seems to be when some form of technology is involved, but overall Lauren, Katrina and myself worked very well together, and "A Sweet Surprise" was formed!

We had already planned our film, which involved a chance encounter between two girls who had once been separated 10 years before, and we had our storyboard, script, treatment and placards at the ready. After we had got over the initial "giggles" of Katrina and myself being filmed on camera, as well as the excitement from Lauren, who was shooting, we commenced with filming.

Everything seemed to be running smoothly until our technical hitch. Through no fault of our own, the camera decided blur, resulting in our film looking like an extra scene from the Blair Witch Project rather than the story of two innocent girls. However, this was soon sorted in a very technical manner - zooming in and out again... always works! So, we carried on with filming until we had a finished product.

In all honestly, the film appears to be a lot better than i had anticipated. Look through the dodgy acting and we have included a range of shots from close ups to full body shots, as well as smooth transitions (from the help of placards in places) from one scene to another.

I have learnt that the need for planning is vital in production. Without our story board and script we would have been lost in a tornado of shots and angles and transitions, but this wasn't the case - to our delight! Furthermore, our story line could have become quite difficult to get the grasp of as on the outset it did seem quite complicated, but keeping the filming simple ensured that the story line wasn't lost in the hype of filming.

Overall, i feel our team worked well together and in the end, we kept to our planning and produced a film, what more is there to say!

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"A Sweet Surprise..."

As part of the module, we have to create a small film based on the title "A Chance Encounter". However, the emphasis is not on the actual film, but about all the pre production planning, such as arranging a story line and deciding which shots we are going to use.

The skills we learn will be useful when arranging our presentations of our major assignment project. As this small project is all about pre production, it will be helpful for us to prepare a convincing and coherent pitch of our new Spam product.

My part of the planning included creating the treatment for the film. This was a brief description of what we planned to do. Unfortunately, i cannot put the document on the blog, so here it is...

A Sweet Surprise

Lauren, Katrina & Laura

For our “A Close Encounter” project, we have chosen to make a short film following the story of two young girls, who after an unanticipated parting ten years earlier, unexpectedly meet at a bus stop once again.

As our film is not allowed to be edited in post-production, our plan must be clear and concise in order for the film to flow smoothly and form a coherent piece. Each scene must be filmed in order from start to finish, so the need for preparation in this task is highly important.

The storyline of our film involves the two characters mirroring each other’s actions as the film progresses. The characters will be involved in both the beginning and end scene of our film – but throughout the film they will be disconnected, which is why the idea or mirroring is so important.

Our film begins with two young girls (played by Katrina and myself) in the kitchen. As there will be no sound on the video, we will be using placards to communicate our ideas with the audience, so they have a better understanding of the film and the direction it is heading. The shot will be a long shot in order to convey the ideas that the characters are in fact school girls. Our next shot will be a medium close up of Katrina’s face to emphasise her expression of the shock of the news she has received that her friend is moving. We will then use a placard to show the transition into the present day, it stating “10 years later…”. This placard plays a vital role in order for the transition from one scene to another to flow smoothly, as when it is removed, the camera will be filming down by the river as opposed to the kitchen where the film begins.

We aim to use a variety of shots in our film in order to keep and audience entertained and to convey the message. The next few shots involve the characters being on their own, walking by the river and then across the bridge. Although the characters will be separate, a constant motif (in this case a bracelet) will be used to emphasise the thoughts of the characters – each are thinking of the other throughout the film. In these scenes we plan to use both medium and full body shots. As the characters separately walk over the bridge, the camera will pan 180 degrees to emphasise the “walking away”.

Our next scene involves using a sweet shop, as it carries all the connotations to a stereotypical schoolgirl, even though the girls are now older, the place in which they started they were both younger. The shots will once again be varied in order to keep the audience enticed by the film. Furthermore the transitions will emphasise the theme “A Chance Encounter” as we plan to shoot the scene so the characters miss each other by a fraction of time. The audience have superiority in knowing that the characters are soon to meet, yet they themselves do not know this. In this case it is involving the audience on a greater level.

The final shot will really enhance the chance encounter. The scene starts with a long full body shot of the two girls sitting on a bench in the bus station. The camera will show the back of the characters as this is emphasises the fact the characters are still slightly unaware they are about the meet because we cannot see their faces. Finally, the last shot will feature a wide close up of the two girls finally meeting, after all the build-up there has been. This will be the final scene.

Though our idea in planning seemed a challenging concept, the use of placards and symbolism as well as smooth transitions and a variety of shots will convey our concept of “A Chance Encounter” smoothly and concisely.

All our planning has been done, all we need to do now is film!

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Spam... The Ham that Can!

Our group have decided to go with the Spam theme, creating a new concept aimed at children... a bit of an oxymoron, yes... but it hasn't been done before and we are going for a brand new concept after all!

We've decided that, as a group, each individual member will have a separate advertising campaign so to speak. I am opting for the packaging, Kat will develop a poster, and Lauren is in charge of a television advertising campaign.

After researching Spam, I've learnt that there is more to the product than first meets the eye. The range of flavours that there has been is more than first expected... Hickory smoked, cheese - You name it, they've done it. However, it seems to little avail as Spam is a declining product after all. I've also noted that there is little aimed towards a younger market, perhaps because the sheer thought of Spam and the connotations that come with are just completely off putting for little ones. However, we hope to make it more enticing with some colourful packaging, a catchy slogan and some better nutritional information (to aim at the parents off course!)

Hopefully, we will be able to develop our concept to make Spam more appealing and deliver an interesting presentation at the end!

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