Evaluation Question Four: How Did You Use Media Technologies In Your Construction And Research, Planning And Evaluation Stages?

Evaluation Question Three: What Have You Learnt From Your Audience Feedback

Evaluation Question Two- How Effective Is The Combination Of Your Main Product And Your Ancillary Task?

Evaluation Question One: In What Ways Does Your Media Product Develop Or Challenge Forms And Conventions Of Existing Media Products

Main Task Focus Group

We held a focus group to get an idea of the audience feedback from our trailer in order to help us answer the evaluation questions.

Questionaire

This is the questionnaire we will use in our focus group to get audience feedback on the trailer in order to see what went well and what could be improved on and if there is any glaring issues that need to be addressed before evaluation the production.

Post Production Technology-Serif DrawPlus X5

The programme I used to create my two ancillary tasks was Serif DrawPlus X5. It is a programme used for artistic creations and is a programme I have used before on tasks unrelated to media but because I have experience on it, I believed it to be my best choice to get the best result I could as it provides more options to me than a programme such as publisher, although some of the tools on Serif DrawPlus X5, I do find hard to handle accurately.

One such tool is the cutout studio which is used to blade out the back ground of an image and is more accurate than a simple "remove background" option as it allows you to pick and choose exactly what you want cut out by drawing around it, making it much more flexible.

Another tool that I used was the shadow tool that enables you to easily add in shadow effects to objects in your work. I applied a shadow to the picture of Shaun after brightening the background image centre to give the appearance that a light is shining on him. I achieve this by using the shadow tool to first apply the shadow and then change the size and position to make it look more realistic as if the light is shining from an angle.

There are also simple tools that are used easily like the artistic text tool and the crop tool as I have used this before on other programmes such as Microsoft office word as they are universal tools. The other main tool I used however was the the Photo lab. Photo lab enables you to apply filters to your pictures and it allows you to mix and match them to create various effects and then further change the colours and shades around to make it more unique. For instance here I simply changed the colour of this wall to various shades of grey.

However I did use a more advanced aspect of the programme which was the mask tool in photo lab. This enabled me to create the colour contrast of the rose and Shaun in the poster as it enables me to accurately select which parts of the photo require a filter and which parts remain in colour much like how the cut out studio works which allows for transferable skills. 

Post Production Technology: Final Cut Pro X

Our post production editing work on the main task ( Young Breed Trailer) was made possible by the tools available to us in the Final Cut Pro X programme that we used on the apple mac computers. This is the same programme that we used last year and so having already spent extensive time using the programme we were already quite skilled in the use of it from the experience we gained last year when I was completely new to media and had no clue at all how to make a smooth and logical sequence. This year however we were more comfortable with the programme and so therefore felt more ambitious in our creativity by adding things like sound FX, experimenting with filters and using combinations of transitions, not just the jump cuts we were using last year.
Overall I felt that the product I made through the use of Final Cut Pro X is to a higher standard than the product at AS due to the experience from last year and our increased creativity.

Finished Trailer

Here is our finished trailer. We plan to have a focus group and questionnaire for our audience so we can acquire feedback to help us with our evaluation and to judge whether this is a successful trailer. 

Editing Session Five- Final Session

Today we completed our final editing session as Chris borrowed my memory stick and was able to transfer the songs he had found onto it and brought them in today so we could choose which one we found the best.

We all listened to each song and came to the decision that two of them suited the trailer. Both focused heavily on the drums and were well suited to the trailer however we felt that the second one that we tried was slightly overpowering for the action that was on the screen so therefore we opted for our first choice of music which starts as suddenly as the action does for dramatic effect.
I noticed that the end transition however wasn't very smooth so I decided to add a jump cut to a black screen and another boom sound effect to mark the end of the action sequence.
Once this was completed I then saved it to the desktop where I was able to upload it to my YouTube account to be transferred onto the blog.

Editing Session Four

Today we finished editing session four where the aim was to complete the editing of the sound effects that I downloaded the other day. I haven't got an additional song because Chris said he will find one so we will finish editing completely in the next session when all we will have to do is edited the new song.

I started the session off by importing the three sound effects I downloaded and the film four introduction. I then added the film four introduction after the green band statement and moved the first song, Nichole, around so that the music was in synch with the first clip.
I then added the bang sound over the flash transition and Chris suggested that we use the flash transition and ban for every scene during the action sequence and James and I both agreed so I edited the action scenes to the way Chris suggested and then he fine tuned it so it was good and synched up with the footage.
Next was the drug deal part of the sequence and the original idea was to have a heart beat on the fade transitions only however after trying this out we all thought that it didn't sound right and myself and Chris thought we should have the heart beat throughout. Chris wanted the heartbeat to be played on the footage only and not the transitions as the footage is longer, but I wanted to have the heartbeat on both but progressively speed it up as it gets towards the end of the scene. i tried this and Chris liked it but suggested I add more beats in as it was too slow in some parts so I did this and after some minor movements we had the finished scene.

Finally I added the sound of a glass bottle smashing as the bottle makes contact in the second to last scene which was hard to synch up with the contact so I zoomed in to the maximum allowance to get a frame by frame view of the shot allowing me to synch the sound and shot. I then lowered its volume as it was too loud and then we finished the session.

 All we have to do now is add a final song in the action sequence and we are finished. Chris George will do this.

Aims For Editing Session Four

I aim to complete the editing process in this session and so I thought in order to be prepared for it I would make a quick list of what needs to be done.

Firstly we need the production company logo, Film 4, and we want to make it as authentic as possible so we plan to use a video of the Film 4 introduction sequence they play before actual films.
Next we need the following sound FX:

• Heartbeat/Pulse for the drug deal scene
• Smashing glass for the bottle scene
• Fast paced song for the action sequence 
• Flash or sudden bang for the flash transition with the dealer

Editing Session Three

On the 28th of January we completed our third editing session in which we aimed to get the voice over on the trailer that we were unable to in the previous session due to technical difficulties and then myself and Chris would finish editing the text and make further sound adjustments with the addition of sound FX and further editing the music.

Chris started by attempting to access the voice over files of Tom's voice through his email address however when he attempted to log on to hotmail we found that the site was blocked and so we had now way of accessing the voice files. He tried refreshing the page and trying to log on to hotmail from a different source but he was unable to do so. Luckily he still had the voice files on his phone so I suggested he take my memory stick and put it onto to it so we could try and import the voice files from it as a final effort.

Whilst Chris went off to do this I started to edit the text on the trailer to make it fit in more with the text on our ancillary tasks. I was unable to successfully transfer the unique font I was using to the trailer due to it being classed as an image on Final Cut Pro X, which when enlarged made the image go all blurry and hard to read. I therefore looked for similar fonts within the Final Cut Pro X programme and came across a 2D font style called grunge which created a block and worn effect and then I crossed this font with the Gaz font which created an even more worn and battered look to the font then enlarged it and repeated across all the text in the trailer. I have an example of the text in a video.

Whilst I was doing this I also tried adding a Film 4 productions logo to the trailer as they are our production company however it had the same problem of the custom font of being an image and so when it was enlarged on Final Cut Pro X it became blurry and ugly so I deleted it. Chris came back with the voice recording as I was doing this and suggested finding a moving gif of the Film 4 logo and he began looking for one but couldn't find any. I suggested we put a video of the Film 4 introduction in our trailer to make it look more authentic but we couldn't access youtube or any videos because the site was down so I plan to do this in my own time.

With the text finished Chris went about importing his sound files onto the trailer through my memory stick and we experimented with where to place it. We agreed on close to the beginning and it would finsh as Shaun is walking away from the grave for dramatic effect. Next I added a flash to the cut to black as Shaun is confronted by the dealer but Chris felt the black wasn't needed with the flash as it made the transition too long. Chris then removed the cut and as you can see from this video off the voice over, text and flash transition, that the effect is much better.

With the voice over completed I then edited the song further so that it fades away as the action ramps up and we plan to put faster paced music in here to ramp up te tension but as it gets to later on in the trailer when the action dies down, I have bladed and cut the final part of the song over it to fade back in then as the sequence ends fade to black.

We then tried to find good royalty free sound FX to use but many of the sights were blocked and when we tried accessing PurplePlanet, the sight we used last year for most of our sound, we were unable to access anything due to a poor connection. Seeing as adding sound FX and a faster passed song is the final thing that needs completing as well as the addition of the FIlm 4 logo, Chris and I decided to get these from home where we can access more content online and so we finished editing for the day. 

Editing Session Two

On the 27th of January we had our second full editing session. Our aims for this session were to get the additional audio onto the trailer. This included the trailer song and the voice over however we first had to record the script. We did this on the same day and we changed one of the lines I wrote because the group decided it didn't sound good, so I wrote a new one and we recorded Tom saying it. This took a couple of takes but we ended up with two good copies, one is spoken faster than the other because we wanted to see what each tempo would sound like during the trailer sequence.

After that we went to start editing and I started by trying to upload the song Nichole (instrumental) by Gravenhurst onto the trailer from my iPod, however for some reason it wouldn't transfer from my device to the mac. I tried numerous options to get it from iTunes on my iPod onto the mac system however each way wouldn't work or my device could not be found. My first attempt was to simply drag the music to desktop as this normally works but it wouldn't allow it and there was no option to download to desktop. I then tried searching for my device in the system of the mac and when I found it, all my apps including iTunes appeared to be blocked. This meant I had no way of accessing the song and so we were stuck. Because we had no other way of accessing the music I decided to download the song using a YouTube converter which ended up being able to be saved to desktop and then I dragged it onto the trailer sequence. I also added in a green band trailer rating to make the trailer look more realistic and professional.
After I got the music onto the trailer I messed around for a bit looking for the best location for the music to start and fade away. I think the best moments where the trailer matches the music are in the clip below:

Once I had finished with the song Chris then went about getting the voice over onto the trailer as we recorded it using an app on his phone. However he experienced the same problems I came across and so was unable to upload it onto the trailer. Therefore in his own time he went and emailed it to himself so in our next editing session we can add the voice over to the trailer.

Voice Over Script

This is the script we will use to voice over the intro scenes of the trailer. The aim of the voice over is to intrigue the audience into the character of Shaun and to hint at why he acts the way he does and will hopefully make the trailer more flushed out and interesting so it compels people to want to watch the whole film.

Do you know what it feels like?
To wake up feeling empty inside
Nothing positive to drive you forwards?
When life and joy is taken away from you so suddenly
It numbs you to the rest of the world.
Nothing else matters
Except the violence and pain I inflict on others.

Finished Magazine Cover Ancillary Task

I have updated my magazine cover by changing some font colours to red to make them more eye catching and aesthetic, in addition to slight changes of word positioning and I added my poster as a fold up extra inside the cover.

Finished Poster Ancillary Task

After having feedback on my second draft I have added a rating and cast to the poster in addition to making my own credits I was unable to download a template to get the real and authentic look, however I feel that my attempt was close to the real thing.

Magazine Draft 2

Here is my second draft of my magazine cover and I again used Serif DrawPlus X5 as the programme to edit the pictures. I started by adding a picture I took during the photo shoot and cut out the background using the cutout studio tool. I then added a new brick wall background and added a filter over the two pictures that creates a blue tint in low key lighting effect without loosing the pictures colour. Next I added the Total Film logo to the cover, again using cutoutstudio to get rid off the background. I did the same for the Young Breed logo and began experimenting with the positioning of the text. Once I was happy, I then added the slogan I made then added the additional information found on magazine covers. After showing this to my group I will make any neccesary changes.

Poster Draft 2

Here is my second poster draft. I used Serif DrawPlus X5 as my programme and started by copy pasting my selected photo from my shoot onto the page. Then using the cut out studio I removed the wall background by hand then replaced it with a black and white image off of google. Then I marked everything but the rose for a black and white filter so that only the colour of the rose stood out. I then procceed to add my custum text onto the poster and created a slogan. I plan on getting some feedback from my group for any suggestions on how I can improve.

Permission To Use Trailer Song

Trailer Song Choice

This is the song choice that I feel is appropriate for our trailer opening as it has a sombre and melancholy. It is by the British band Gravenhurst and is published by Warp who I will send an email to ask for permission to use this song in the trailer. 

Ancillary Task Photo Shoot

On Friday the 22nd of January I did a photo shoot with Tom Chapman to get the main picture for my ancillary task products. Th props I used were the rose to signify loss and love, whilst the knife is representative of the violence in the film and of the character Shaun.

Editing Session One

On Friday the 15th of January we started our first editing session with a couple of goals in mind. Firstly we wanted to get the shots in an order that matches the mood board. Next we wanted to trim cut these shots down so that they aren't too long and to get rid of any speech that isn't part of the film. The final goal was to add transitions into parts of the trailer to add continuity and make the trailer a bit more suspenseful.

I started off by referring to the mood board and dragging the raw clips into the order we had visualised on the mood board. This was the simplest part of the editing although we had filmed some extra shots so that meant I had to shuffle around the order of some of the shots in order to make the trailer run smoother. During our audience research in the focus group we discovered that the audience preferred a trailer that was in non-chronological order to the feature film as they felt that this gave away less of the plot points than the chronological trailer we showed them (This Is England) so therefore the shots that we took are not in an order that would make chronologically sense in the feature film, rather they are in a non-chronological order that is meant to give the audience an idea of the plot but not too much.

After the group was happy with the order of the shots I began to use the blade tool to cut down the clips so they either weren't too long or that had speech before the action that was to be used began. This took up the majority of the session as I would blade the footage then replay the video to see if any further changes are needed because some shots cut too abruptly and some lingered too long after the action had taken place.
Once the cutting of shots was completed I then started to add transitions into the sequence. Most of these transitions are fades or cuts to where our font text will be but we also added a sequence of fades to one scene which we plan to add a heart beat in to build suspense.

Chris and James had to leave towards the end of the editing session so I finished off by adding slow motion effects to some shots whilst speeding up the glass bottle scene and workout scene because they were too slow to either appear realistic or be at the level of fitness that the character Shaun is supposed to have.

Since this editing seession we have returned to shorten the transitions and change some of the shots around because they didn't make sense in the order of the trailer or were adding unnecessary length.

Filming Day Five

On the 14th of January we finished our filming with the last two scenes that are going to be featured in the trailer. These scenes were the bottle scene where Shaun hits an enforcer over the head with a glass bottle and the second is a graveyard scene where Shaun is paying respect to his mother.

We started by filming the bottle scene which was filmed entirely by James and Chris whilst I played the extra who was to have the bottle smashed on his head. We filmed straight after school because Tom had his car and was able to bring a change of clothes to get into his character. Originally we were to use sugar glass in this scene so that the bottle would smash on contact, however I was unable to find a cost efficient way of ordering a product because organisation that would deliver products were based in the USA and had high prices that I couldn't afford, so after further research I was able to find a company based in the Midlands of the UK but they wouldn't deliver and instead I would of had to go and pick it up which isn't ideal, therefore for this scene we resorted to filming with a glass bottle.

The first shot was filmed by Chris and was a close up of Shaun's hand as he moved to grab a beer bottle on the side by his front door. This had to be filmed a couple of times to get the right camera position and I had to show Tom where he should hold the bottle and how he should hold it.

After this shot was completed James then filmed the next shot which was an over the shoulder shot of the enforcer and we see Shaun smash the bottle over my head as I play the enforcer. Again we had to film this shot a couple of times because Tom didn't want to course injury when he hit me so we had to experiment with the speed of the swing which we got to a moderate pace with a connection and we will speed up this shot during editing.

With the completion of that shot we only had one last scene to film which was located in a graveyard in Hale. Tom, who was driving, and I didn't know the directions to the graveyard so this caused us some trouble getting there as we missed some turnings, however Chris and James were able to guide us to the right place and because it took s some time to find the location the lighting was a bit dimmer which favoured us because of the convention of low key lighting in British Drama and sets the sombre mood. We chose Hale cemetery because Chris has a relative buried there he obtained permission off of his family for us to film there. I filmed the three shots used in this scene, the first being a wide shot with a pan at the end to see Shaun looking down at a grave. Shaun can be seen carrying a rose which is a symbol of love so we can infer that the the person buried here is of importance to Shaun emotionally. 

I then filmed a low angle close up so that we can see this emotion on Shaun's face and this required two takes because Tom laughed on the first take but aside from this it was simple to film.

finally I finished with a shot close to the ground which turns into an extreme close up of the rose as Shaun lays it down on the ground. I like this shot because we can see Shaun walking away in the background as he puts his hood up with his back away from the grave but because he left the rose there it signifies that no matter where he is his love for that person will remain with them.

Now that filming is completed we are able to fully focus on editing, the shots we have taken have all been uploaded and so we are able to go right into editing.  

Filming Day Four

The other day we forgot to do the last scene that takes place within the school setting so we finished that off today. The aim of the scene is to show the violent side of Shaun as he ambushes a fellow student walking along a corridor. I filmed both of the shots in this sequence, the first being a wide shot of Shaun hiding behind a corner waiting for the second character to walk close to him. I had to take this shot a couple of times in order for the positioning of the actors to be right in addition to the speed in which Shaun attacks the other character because it needed to look fast and violent. After completing this shot we experimented by taking a two shot from  the side of the two characters against the wall and tried filming Shaun punching the victim however we found that we couldn't make the scene appear realistic as we didn't want the two actors to actually make contact with each other in case we caused injury. James suggested that I stand in the position that the actor Mike (playing the nameless character) was in and have him punch at the camera as if we seeing it through the characters eyes in a point of view shot. This turned out to be better however Tom couldn't punch fast and keep his fist in shot so we decided to have him punch accurately at the camera at a slow pace and then we will speed it up in the editing session.

Filming Day Three

Today we had a short filming session which consisted of us filming one scene involving the drug dealer and Shaun. The setting is in an alley besides Shaun's school and he is returning from a day at sixth form when he walks down the alley and is confronted by his boss, the dealer. this would be early on in the film as the dealer wouldn't completely trust Shaun as to deal drugs in a school environment is risky and so he is unsure as to whether Shaun can handle it.

I filmed the first shot which is a wide shot pan of Shaun entering the alley where we can see the dealer with his hood up leaning against the wall so to conceal his face to anyone passing by. There wasn't any problems with filming this shot I just had to wait for a couple of pedestrians to pass by because I wanted to make sure that they wouldn't be looking at the camera whilst we filmed as that would break the realism the film is trying to portray.
The next shot was filmed by Chris and is a two shot of Shaun and the dealer. As Shaun walks down the alley the dealer steps out in front of Shaun blocking his path in order to confront him. The only trouble we had with this shot was the first time Chris tried to film we started the action too early into the recording which doesn't give us enough space to work with during editing so I thought it would be better to retake the shot and we completed it without any further problems.
After that James filmed an over the shoulder shot of the dealer (the camera was over Shaun's shoulder) as we needed the dealer to speak to Shaun in an aggressive manner and the plan is to have this sequence lead into a montage scene. We had a little trouble shooting this scene as the actors kept laughing for about 5 minutes so it took some time for them to compose themselves however we did eventually get the shot.
Finally I filmed a shot reverse shot of Shaun responding to the dealer and we had a similar problem to the previous shot except Tom the actor who plays Shaun kept forgetting his line so it took a couple of minutes but we eventually did get the response and that was the end of filming.
All that remains is the grave yard scene and a scene in which Shaun is roughing up someone.

Poster Draft Idea

Like the magazine draft I have made this poster through using images I have found on Google and used the application Serif DrawPlus X5 in order to create it. This is not a final product as it will be much more detailed with information on the film like a real poster but I will be using this design I made as a template for my future work.

Ancillary Task Magazine Cover Concept

This is a draft of a magazine cover that I made using Serif DrawPlus X5 using pictures that are not my own and that I found of Google. The real cover will be much more detailed and I will be using a better programme but I will be using this draft as a template to base my future work off of. 

Filming Day Two

On Friday the eighth of January we completed our second day of filming, with our objective being to complete all scenes within the Sixthform. These included three different scenes which involved multiple shots for each,

We started by getting our actor Tom to bring  some folders and work in order to make the classroom scene more believable. The aim of this scene is to make it appear that Shaun is beginning to try and turn his life around by focussing on using his opportunities in sixth form to get somewhere in his life and not remain stuck in the life he has gotten himself into. I filmed the first shot in this scene and it is a birds eye shot looking over Shaun studying. I did this by extending the tripod to its tallest height and holding it over Tom whilst I stood on a table. This shot could be seen as representing Shaun's mum looking down on him trying to change his life around.
The next shot in this scene was filmed by Chris and is a low angle shot making sure to capture Shaun's expression of concentration in order to show that he is working hard and concentrating on the work. To get this shot Chris shortened the tripod and tilted it up slightly so he was able to capture the upper body of Tom before pressing record. After this shot we packed up and moved location from a classroom to a long hallway where we were to film a drug deal scene. This scene involved Tom playing as Shaun and an extra character who was played by Adam Burgess. Props used in this scene were a £10 note and some tissue paper made to luck like a drug pouch.

James filmed the first shot of the hall scene and this was a tracking mid shot of Shaun from behind looking over his shoulder as we can see one other person walking towards him. We thought it would look good if Shaun walked into the shot and then James would start following him with the camera as I thought it would give the audience time to see the second character and that he starts walking when he sees Shaun so there is some sort of connection between the two of them.
The next shot was filmed by myself and it too is a tracking shot but it is a low angle shot from the front and I thought I would do it like this because it makes it appear as if something that isn't meant to be happening is going down as the low angle makes it appear more menacing and at the end of the shot it allows us to see the character pull something out of his pocket but we only see it for a couple of seconds so that it makes the audience guess what it was. I made sure not to break the 180 degree rule so not to confuse the audience as to the positions of the characters.
Chris was next to film and he filmed a two shot where Shaun and the other character cross over in front of the camera that Chris positioned at level in which the shot would be a mid shot focussing on the upper body so that we could see both characters exchange something. We then re-filmed the same shot but this time James moved the camera closer and zoomed into an extreme close up of just their hand so that we can see what was exchanged was money and drugs.

Finally after school we stayed behind with Anna and Tom to film the last scene which consisted of two shots, that remained to be filmed at the school location. I filmed both of these shots the first being a two shot of Shaun and Sarah having the end of a conversation that will be used as a narration for the trailer. The second shot was a low angle close up of Shaun's face as he reacts to what Sarah in order to show the turmoil that he is going through. The plan is to have this scene before the final part of the trailer in which it is montage shots of Shaun trying to turn his life around. We did have trouble filming this scene as the actors kept laughing so it took us a while to get it right but once we did, the day of filming was complete.

Props Used

Ancillary Task Idea- Magazine Cover

Inspiration

My idea for a magazine front cover will just focus on Shaun as he is the main character and the focus of the film and most heavily featured character in the trailer, therefore it is better to have him as the cover as he will be the most recognisable to the audience so they are more likely going to be attracted to the magazine. I will be taking inspiration from the magazine cover on the left because I like the angle in which the shot has been taken with Bond looking directly into the camera. I think this would be effective with our film because it is about the journey of one person and looking into someone's eyes can tell a lot about them just through the way they look at you. This would help the audience get an understanding of the character of Shaun and will intrigue them into buying the magazine to read the article. I plan on adding props to the cover such as the Knife or the Rose and will be experimenting with both in order to see which looks better for the cover and is informative to the story. In addition the background is likely going to be a brick wall because from the magazines I have studied, they all have a theme that coincides with the film they are advertising, such as the desert theme in the Total Film Mad Max issue, and the brick wall fits nicely with the urban environment of the film.

Second Ancillary Task Idea- Poster

Inspiration

Location Idea

 My second idea for a poster is inspired by the Kidulthood poster that I have analysed. It shows the main cast of the film all in close proximity but they are at different levels in the poster which is achieved through some sitting down and others standing up. My idea is in a location under a bridge in an urban area, which has a slope underneath it. I could position the cast at various levels of the slope depending on how large a role they play in the film. This could look quite aesthetic if I give them props related to their characters which would further inform the audience as to the role they play in the films and what the overall story may be about. I think that the biggest downside to the location however is the fact that it gets very dark in the location as soon as the light begins to disappear so if I do use this location i will have to take the picture when the day is at its brightest.

First Ancillary Task Idea- Poster

Location Idea

Inspiration 

My first idea for a poster is inspired by the This Is England Poster that I analysed as part of my product research. I have found a location with a large long and tall wall by the metrolink system which appears to be a good location to have the cast lined up and pose along for a poster. It also provides me with a lot of room to add the necessary information that a poster needs such as the date of release and the aesthetics fit in with the theme of the film being set in an urban location as it has an industrial vibe with the brick colours and grey moody sky. I think that the main problem with this location is that it is on a road with no pavement which is problematic because it may take a while to get everyone in the most ideal positions for the poster which would easily be disrupted by traffic.

Filming Day One

We started our first day of filming on the 30th of December with the aim of shooting all the scenes with just Shaun in them and that were outside of school. We had this as our objective for the day because Tom Chapman, who is our actor who plays Shaun, was willing to spend the day getting all of these shots done so we wouldn't need to needlessly extend the time we need him. We had another friend who lived close by who was willing to be filmed as an extra holding a knife, whilst my Dad completed his role as Shaun's Dad as he was only needed for one shot.

Camera Operator: Sam Warren (myself)

We started off by filming the opening shots which I filmed. For the first shot I tried to get the camera at a position where you could clearly see Toms face as he got out of bed so we could see his facial expression. The blinds were also closed to create low key lighting which is a convention of British Drama. It also helps to set the mood as we see Shaun's room is a mess and dark reflecting his inner feelings about his current situation. There weren't any problems with shooting the two shots that we had in this location so we finished up quickly without much hassle. I also filmed the shot in thee same location where Shaun opens the blinds of his room.

Camera Operator: James Scott  Actor: Tom Chapman

We then filmed a scene where Shaun is taking cocaine which we used flour to simulate cocaine and an old met ticket to make a line. In order to make the shot appear slightly darker we closed the curtains of a nearby window to keep the overall mood the same. We had to retake this scene three times to get it right because it didn't look realistic at first and British Dramas are know for gritty realism. We also took a point of view shot off a picture from Shaun's perspective which would hint at the reason why Shaun is gloomy towards thee audience as we can see that his thumb covers his Dad's face whilst he is focussing on his mother. The shot finishes with a tilt towards the ceiling for a transition we plan on adding in during our editing. Both of these shots were filmed by James Scott.

Camera Operator: Chris George

The final shot that we filmed in the house location was the shot of Shaun walking past his dad who is drinking. We had to retake this shot a couple of times to get the right angle and expression captured on Shaun's face and for a couple of bloopers where Tom started laughing. This shot was taken by Chris George who then went to film the next shot in an out doors location. where we see the main character being followed by another teenager with a knife behind his back which only took one take and we used a friend who lived nearby as the extra actor because it was a nameless character in the trailer but not the overall narrative that we wrote.

To finish off the day of filming we decided to change the location of where the gym montage was going to take place to a park because we thought it would look more gritty and inspiring if Shaun was working out in the outdoors where he is more exposed to the elements and making do with bare-bones equipment in a sort of Rocky Balboa way as it shows he is willing to endure more pain to change his life around for the better. I filmed the three shots in this sequence to finish off the days filming.

Costume Research

Because of the theme of the film there will be primarily two costume choices for the character depending where they are during the film. These two options are a suit or a track-suit.

The suits will be worn by Sarah and Shaun as well as supporting characters who are sixth form students during scenes where they are at school as it is the uniform policy of the location. It also juxtaposes the stereotype of teenagers dressing in baggy clothes that appear cheap and scruffy and shows them looking respectable which is jarring because of the activities that the main character gets up to.


Outside of the sixth form environment we will use the stereotype of teenagers wearing tracksuits because it suits the storyline of Shaun's gang members being school drop outs and so are unemployed and have little money and therefore are unable to buy nice clothes. It also makes them appear the same giving a sense of unity similar to the way the police and army wear uniforms to show solidarity. In the characters eyes they believe that by wearing the same clothing they are intimidating to others which is why in the trailer the scenes with violence are mostly shot whilst they are in the hoodies. People would wear this costume would be Shaun, the Dealer and the other gang members.



Finally the dad would wear a white stained wife beater vest and blue jeans because these are stereotypically associated with abusive father figures in films therefore it would be fitting for Shaun's dad who is now extremely lazy and an alcoholic.

Location Research

I went out to take pictures of suitable locations for shots that we will take from the storyboard. I have chosen these locations because they fit the description that the narrative provided as well as being similar to how we visualised the setting.