Evaluation Task Seven

Evaluation Task Five

Evaluation Task Four

Evaluation Task Three

Evaluation Task Two

Evaluation Task One

Opening 2 - The Daedalus Project Final Cut

This is the final cut of The Daedalus Project. To finish the opening we had to watch more editing tutorials found on Youtube to help us add the titles on to the opening, also we used a tutorial which told us how to add music to the video.

Our Film Poster - Analysis

We created our film poster by taking a screenshot from our filming then going through a design process on  Adobe Photoshop, first of all we erased the background between the two characters and filled the empty space with a black background. Next we added the photocopy effect which added a mysterious yet powerful feel to the image, then the second effect of scratches were layered over the image to give a rough feel almost urban like which ties in with our film theme. Then we wanted to replace the white colour so we added a sepia tone colour and shaded in areas with the spray tool. We then added the film title with the text tool and we chose a thrilling font to follow our theme. We decided to keep the text black so we made a second red text and placed it behind the black text, then we also added a glow behind the text which helps the text jump out and also enables viewers to read it easily. Finally to pull everything together we decided to add a lens flare above the character.

The Daedalus Project Poster

We created a poster for the opening of our film, it features the two figures from the opening, however the faces and details are blacked out in order not to give much away.

Reply from Placebo Band

This is the reply from Placebo granting us permission to use their song in our opening.

Letter To Placebo Band

After having created a rough cut for our thriller opening, we decided that the music we had chosen did not fit with our film. Although we do not actually have any music on our rough cut, we was able to play the music while watching the opening, this gave a us an idea of how the two worked together. After having done this we felt the music we chose was not right for our film, we therefore decided to change music we are using.

Opening 1 - Rough Cut

This is our very first edit of our thriller opening, by putting together a rough cut we can now see the strengths and weaknesses of our opening. For example, some of the shots are not steady, this means we will have to shoot that scene again.

Why We Changed Our Music Again...

We decided to change our music again. This was because we did not feel that the previous music we had chosen fitted in with our opening. Although we do not have any music on our rough cut, by playing both the opening and the music at the same time we was able to get a sense of how they work together. After having done this we decided to go with a new song which we feel fits better with our opening. The new song has quite a slow pace which fits in when our main character is walking around the house.

Editing Rough Cut

This is an image taken while we was editing and putting together our very first rough cut for The Daedalus Project. We used Final Cut Pro to edit our rough cut, as we are new to the editing process we watched Youtube tutorials to help us learn the basics of the software, we would watch more tutorials when making our final cut to improve the quality of the end product. After watching the tutorials we was able to construct a rough cut which can be found in the video above ^^^.

Production Log #7



Filming Log

10/01/14: This was the day on which we started filming, we all met at the setting location which was my house. We went over what we was going to film and reminded Zak (main actor) of what he should be doing in each scene and prepared all the props we needed. We actually managed to get half of the filming done in one day, we could have possibly filmed more had it not been dak outside once we had finished filming inside the house. If we had thought about the order in which we shot out scenes this could have been avoided. However this was not a huge set back.

11/01/14: On the second day once again we all met at my house. When the whole group was together we again ran through the course of the days filming. We filmed all of the outside scenes and then we also had the chance to go back and mend mistakes, re-shoot shots etc. This was helpful as we had some shots which were blurry, unsteady and too much background noise.

Final Day Filming

Today we finished filming for our thriller film opening, however we still have a lot of editing to do, we plan to put together a rough cut of the opening as a whole, this will help us decide the strengths and weaknesses of our opening, and if we need to we can then go back out and re-film some of the scenes. Also as we have 100+ clips making a rough copy will allow us to easily decide on the best ones. Overall the group if pleased with the overall outcome of the filming.

Production Log #6

First Day Filming

Once we sorted out the props that we needed and the setting where we was going to film, we began filming. The process of changing angles with one camera was very tedious, but his gave us a much wider range on shots to choose from when it comes to piecing our opening together, overall the shots came out as we wanted them. Due to the amount of laughing and difficulties concentrating within the group we ended up with around 100+ different clips and shots. We managed to get quite a lot of footage which we plan to edit together to form our opening.

We faced two main issues when it came to filming; firstly when it came to filming the outdoor scenes it was dark, so therefore we had to wait another day to film the rest of our opening, if we had thought about the order in which we chose to film we could have had filmed the whole opening a lot quicker. The second issue being that some of the angles and shots that we wanted were just too unrealistic because of the space constraints. Now to progress we must film the outdoor scenes of our film opening.

Behind the Scenes Photos

In this shot Zak (main actor) and Wojciech (group member) posing for a photo while making final changes a preperations for the first scene which takes place in the bathroom.

Zak and Wojciech in the bathroom just before we shot the first scene. We had to move everything that was on the side of the bath before shooting the scene, we did this to make it look more like a house which could be associated with a drug dealer.

Production Log #5

Shooting Script

This is our shooting script, it has every camera angle from every scene, the location we used to shoot the scene, the script/audio, the date and time at which we filmed each scene and finally the props we use in the each scene, the costumes the actors are wearing in each scene and the equipment used for each scene.

Script/Dialogue for Film Opening

Setting Shots and Analysis

We decided to film at My house which is in an estate in Penge, we chose to film here because it is very urban and fits in with our crime thriller story perfectly. We filmed in my room, the bathroom and the hallway, we tried to make it look like a drug dealers house by making it messy, however I do not think it is very convincing.

The downside to filming in a house was that we could not get as many long shots and establishing shots as we perhaps would have wanted, this was due to the space avalible inside the house. However the camera shots/angles that we could capture we think worked quite well. Filming on an estate was perfect for our opening as it makes our main character look out of place in his surroundings which is exactly what we wanted to achieve. We did not change much at the location in terms of props and furniture because everything seemed to look in place. We could not change the outside surroundings so we had to work with what we had.

Props List for Opening

In no particular order of appearance:

Clothing: 

Jeans

Trainers/possibly boots

Jumper

Jacket

Beanie

Ruck sack

Hoodie

Setting props:

Drawers

Bags of drugs

Bath tub 

Phone

The prop list for our film is rather short because out film focuses mainly of the actions and movement of our main character, hence the lack of them. Below are some pictures of the props that we are using 

Final Preliminary Task

This is our finalised preliminary task, we used various camera angles such as high angle shots, we also used a number of different camera shots such as close up and over the shoulder shots. Some of our shots had to be re-filmed as they were either blurry, to fast/slow or because we started laughing while filming. We also re-shot some of the scenes to make it easier for editing. There was a few things that the preliminary task had to contain, these things were, the 180 degree rule, dialogue. As a whole I think our preliminary task was a success, however there is room for improvment, especially in terms of acting skills.

Mise En Scene

The Mise en Scene of our first location which is the house will be made to look messy and dilapidated. We like the idea of this setting as it feels very real, this allows the audience to connect with the characters in the opening. 'Eastenders' is a prime example of this type of Mise En Scene as often you can hear floodboards creaking, doors closing and often a bit of background noise. Drugs are visible in one of our scenes which makes the concept very illegal.

The outdoor scene will be filmed on an estate in Penge, which means we can not change much about the setting without distrupting the residents. However, we think that the setting is very good regardless and does not need much change, other than possibly the placement of cars, which again, we have no control over. To add to both the indoor Mise en Scene as well as the outdoor, we plan to dress the characters in urban outfits, such as hoodies and jackets, this will connote the dangerous nature as often that type of clothing is associated with criminalistic youth. While shooting the outdoor scenes there is going to be some background noise of other cars and people, however we cannot stop this. But it could work in our favour to some extent as it would make the scenes more realistic and believable.

Updated Main Character Profile

 We did not believe that our main character was convincing enough so we decided to make an updated version of our original character, we practically changed every aspect of him.

Our main character; Zach Moore (played by our friend) is a Middle-class 18 year old teenager, who until recently lived a normal teenage life. However, a surprising turn of events left him selling drugs to make money and ultimately survive. As Zach was never involved with the crime scene as he was growing up, Zach will soon realize that getting to grips with the business is harder than he thought.

Name: Zach Moore

Age: 18
Nationality: White British
Socioeconomic Level as a child: Excellent
Socioeconomic Level as an adult: Not good
Hometown: Beckenham
Current Residence: His house, abandoned by family
Occupation: Drug Dealer/ student
Income: £10,000 a year predicted from drugs
Talents/Skills: Very intelligent and creative
Salary: 0
Siblings (describe relationship): None 
Spouse (describe relationship): None
Children (describe relationship): None
Grandparents (describe relationship): None
Grandchildren (describe relationship): None
Significant Others (describe relationship):None
Relationship skills: Average

Physical Characteristics: 

Height: 5"11
Weight: 170 pounds
Race: White
Eye Color: Blue
Hair Color: Dark brown
Glasses or contact lenses? NO
Skin color: White Pale
Shape of Face:Broadish
Distinguishing features: hair, nose
How does he/she dress? Refer to 'Character ideas and influence'
Mannerisms: Undisclosed
Habits: (smoking, drinking etc.) No
Health: Good
Hobbies: The Arts
Favorite Sayings: Not sure
Speech patterns: says 'Errmm' a lot
Disabilities:No
Style (Elegant, shabby etc.): Clean Cut Urban
Greatest flaw: Trustworthy

Best quality: Trustworthy

Educational Background: Finished A levels with great results.

Intelligence Level: High
Any Mental Illnesses? No
Does the character believe in God? No

What are the character's spiritual beliefs? None, very scientific, may change later
Is religion or spirituality a part of this character's life? No

We believe that the audience will be attracted to our Zach Moore as his character breaks away from the stereotype that drug dealers are from a lower class background and that they are all violent.



Preliminary Task Process



Preliminary Task Process

The preliminary task requires a group to demostrate their understanding of camera angles and rules, to do this each group had to film a short film which all group members have to feature in. In the film you have to show that you know how to use: match on action, 180 degree rule and a shot/reverse shot. Our preliminary task involves Freddie (playing a gang boss) threatening Wojciech (victim) for money that he is owed. We have included pictures from our editing process which took about an hour and in total our preliminary task is 54 seconds We recieved some help when editing our preliminary task from one of our classmates as we did not know much about using Final Cut Pro.

Pitch for The Daedalus Project

Collage of Target Audience

This is a collage that Wojciech made, it show all the type audience we are trying to aim our opening towards. It is mostly younger people, between the ages 16 - 22.

Story Board for The Daedalus Project