Guest Speaker: Dan Jenkins 10/26/2015

In my professionally practice lecture we had a guest speaker called Dan Jenkins who graduated from Kent in 2010. He gave an inspirational talk about his time at Kent university to where he is now 7 years on.

 He told us he did not know what he wanted to be much like many of us only that he liked technology. He did a year in industry with Holiday Extras and said he doesn't think he would have achieved as much as he has without this experience.  He was very pro year in industry and would encourage any student thinking about it.

He spoke a little about how he was a web developer for Holiday Extras despite not being very confident in his web development skills. He found he was treated as a student for the firs three months but quickly became a member of the team. He learnt what it was like to be part of a big company. 

Some advice Dan gave us is to not have a boring paper CV. Obviously if it is required then have one but always bring more. Make yourself stand out.

He know owns his own company only 7 years on called Nimbleape which to be is the most inspirational part of it all. How someone from my educational background now owns his own business 7 years later.

Post Production: Problems we encountered 04/09/2015

1.Unfortunately we couldn't have credits and a title sequence on our film because after effects wouldn't let me import a file with more than one component. For it to have been possible we would have needed to applied the effects before any editing was made. Also we were not taught how to had credits in premiere pro and were unable to workout how to add text as premiere pro has none and requires you to add your own.

2.A massive issue which are seriously effected the final scene in our film was the wind. We realized the problem to close to the deadline to go out and film again and we didn't have any other sound clips that would fit. Unfortunately we filmed on one of the windiest days of the year so far and it drowned out the actors making it hard to understand how the film ends. In the future we will schedule better around the weather, probably use a clip on microphone instead of the camera one and take more than one shot as a backup.

Post Production Evaluation 4/08/2015

Evaluation
Now the film has come together and we have finished the filming and editing you can clearly see quality progress as you go through the scenes. This is because our first two scenes we weren't as experienced and took poor shots which made it harder on ourselves to edit. In our last two scenes the quality of shot and editing was far greater and much easier to follow and watch. If I was to do this module again I would have managed my time a lot better instead of running around panicking at the end of the project. The group felt rushed nearer the end as there were still plenty of tasks before the deadline.
 Another thing I would do different would be if any scene needed work done in after effects I would do that before editing the scene into the others because we had problems importing the project into after effects and as a result don't have the credits or title we originally wanted.
 Finally I would just improve the quality of the first couple of scenes by using the skills we were taught in workshops prior to our filming of those scenes. Such as making sure the actor leaves the shot, different times of shots, 180 degree rule and white balance.

Post Production: Editing

Once all the filming was finished the team designated people different scenes and roles such:

• Color correction
• sound
• clip editing

the team normally worked in pairs for whatever the job was.

here are some pictures of the team doing the work.

Pre Production: Filming a Rugby Match 30/03/2015

As a group we came to film the rugby team play a match but unfortunately there were no more league matches left as the season had come to an end.  They had a friendly match against a Dutch team on tour which proved most amusing for me and my group. We took a lot of clips of the game in progress and hopefully got the clips we need for our scene. Here are some pictures of us doing so.

Pre Production: Call Sheets 27/3/2015

As a group we had a meeting about the call sheets. We all wrote one each and all contributed to the content. These call sheets explain where, when and the time of filming. How we get there and where the nearest fire extinguisher is, also which actor is involved with that scene.

Pre Production: Prop List 27/3/2015

Prop List

In our small film we will be using a number of props throughout and its important to have a list so that we don't forget on the day. It also helps us obtain the objects before the day of shooting.

• Rugby Ball
• Plates
• Candles
• Food
• Tyres to sit on
• Mobile Phone
• Costumes
• Tables and Chairs

Pro Production: Practicing Editing and Camera shots 23/3/2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqxSOVvxFeI&feature=youtu.be

Above is the link to a scene we shot during one of our seminars. We then used premiere for the first time independently. We shot the scene on campus and all had an individual job, this was was good practice for when we begin shooting the real film.

Pre Production: Risk Assessment 09/03/2015

This form must be filled out on the day of filming accurately and carefully taking into consideration any form of risk. This is essential before filming can commence.

Pre Production: Permission Papers 09/03/2015

In order to film at the gym and other locations it may be necessary to get permission from the land/property owner. Here is an example of the permission slip filled in by the University of Kent's gym. This will be needed for scene 5 when Josh gets his act together and trains hard at the gym.

Pre Production: Shot Type List 06/03/2015

Shot Types

Scene 1

Rugby pitch –establishing shot- duration 2-3 seconds

Running on the spot- Medium close up (no higher than the knees) 2-5seconds

Catching ball- Medium shot- duration 2-3 seconds

 Flipping tyre- Long shot- 4-6 seconds

Struggling expression, drops tyre- close up- duration 1-3 seconds

Breathing, pan down- Medium shot, duration 2-4 seconds

Jake being spoken to by the coach- over the shoulder shot- duration 5-8 seconds

Running on to the pitch- long shot, ½ pan- duration 2-4 seconds

Scene 2

Writes text (call me when you get a sec) -Match on action shot-duration 4-6 seconds

Walking home, excited- long shot pan- duration 4-6 seconds

Girlfriend calling, swipes to accept- extreme close up- duration 2-3 seconds

Conversation on phone- medium close up- duration 4-6 seconds

Puts phone into pocket and takes keys out- close up- duration 2-3 seconds

Opens door and walks in- long shot- duration 3-4 seconds

Scene 3

Pull focus of candle- close up – duration 2-3 seconds

Jake puts his keys and rugby ball down- close up – 2-4 seconds

Dinner room- establishing shot 180 degree rule- 4-5 seconds

Naomi turns around looks over her shoulder- medium shot- duration 2-3 seconds

Jake goes to hug Naomi she stops him- long shot- 3-4 seconds

Both sat at table arguing- establishing shot- 5-8 seconds

Argument continues- Over the shoulder shot of Jake- duration 3-4 seconds

Argument continues- over the shoulder shot of Naomi- duration 3-4 seconds

Argument continues- establishing shot 180 degree rule- duration 5-8 seconds

Jake slams his fist down on the table- close up- duration 1-2 seconds

Sees Naomi in the background- over the shoulder shot of Jake- duration 3-4 seconds

Jake exits scene- long shot- duration 3-4 seconds

Scene 4

Walking down the road- long shot- duration 5-7 seconds

Ball thrown into the air- High angle panning shot- 1-2 seconds

Ball comes down- High angle panning shot- duration 1-2 seconds

Friend catches a ball- Medium shot- duration 2-3 seconds

Girl handshake- long shot- duration 8-10 seconds

Sitting on the tyre- long shot- duration 3-5 seconds

Jakes friend talking to Jake- over the shoulder shot- duration 3-5 seconds

Jake holding his head in distress- close up- duration 1-3 seconds

Boys on the tyres- establishing long shot- duration 5-6 seconds

Scene 5

Lifting weights- medium shot- duration 3 seconds

Skipping and training- up and down shot moving with Jake- duration 3 seconds

Running onto pitch – travelling shot- duration 3 seconds

Scene 6

People playing as Jake runs onto pitch- Establishing shot- 4-5 seconds

Josh looking at Naomi walking- medium to long shot- 2-3 seconds (medium) 45seconds (long)

Joshing running to embrace- medium shot- duration 4 seconds

Above are the scenes with the type and duration of the shots.

Pre Production: Cast Auditions 04/03/2015

After being persuaded by my group and lack of actors I have to play the role of Max in our small film Relentless.

PreProduction: Friday's Lab Session 28/02/2015

In the laboratory we were using adobe premiere to edit clips other students had taken around the school. In the 4 hour session we were given a number of clips which we had to take segments from and put together a sequence of clips in the order given to us in the brief. This was quite simple as it was just using the marker tool too highlight what part of the clip we wanted and drag onto the timeline.

Next we had to use the fast track color corrector which personally I found quite tricky to have a similar lighting throughout the video as some clips were very dark and others were very yellow. We were given a color spectrum which we had to drag the center dot around the circle until we were happy with the color.

Finally we had to adjust the sound of the clips to keep a steady volume throughout. This was difficult as all the clips were very different. For background noise or music I was aiming for around -12 to -18 and when a person was speaking I would adjust the gain so that it would be about -6.

I found this session incredibly helpful and really enjoyable. The 4 hours seemed daunting at first but went very quickly when I got into it.

Pre Production: Final Treatment 26/02/2015

Final Treatment
After the group had finished there individual sections they had been assigned, We then proof read the sections, edited them all in to make sense and added appropriate pictures to there sections. 

Pre Production: Dealing with a problem 18/02/2015

After I consulted my boxing peers and coach, they didn't see how we could fit in filming around our already busy boxing schedule. For this reason we have decided to stay as close to our story line as we can and contacted a rugby player about filming. He consented to the idea and we can now go ahead and use there ground as a filming location.

Pre Production: Characters 18/02/2015

My Section of the treatment was to do with the characters. Here is what I've done so far...

Characters

In our video we wanted to have more than just a compilation of sport clips, we wanted to have characters, narrative, someone for the audience to relate to.

 Our main character is a rugby player who wants to be the best at whatever he does. He is the main character in our video and we decided Jake was an appropriate name. We felt it was a simple memorable name, easy to pronounce, reasonably common and fitting for a rugby player. We will need a boy with a fairly big build to convince the audience he is a rugby player. We have decided to pay a rugby player to be the actor for our film. He plays for the university and has agreed to let us film him and use the ground they play rugby on.

  The second character is Jakes girlfriend Naomi who he lives with outside of university. She is his biggest supporter and Miss sensible. During the story they fall out because she doesn’t agree with Jakes decision making. We decided Naomi was a sophisticated name which goes well with the character.

 There isn’t really a limit to the amount of characters we can have and we may have other rugby players in the background but we really want to focus on Jake and his girlfriend and it’s their story and message we are trying to show our audience.

Pre Production: Approaching the Treatment 17/02/2015

As a team we decided that the treatment would take to long if we all sat down together and wrote it all at once. Because of this we decided to allocate different sections to members of the group. This way we could finish it quicker and can then look over each others works and add bits where necessary. I have been given the task of talking about the characters in the treatment. I will talk about who the characters are, why we have decided this, why we have given them the names we have and how we will get the actors for the parts.

Pre Production: Motivational Video 13/02/2015

The inspiration behind the sport video idea is something my boxing coach showed me before training. The video shows a compilation of athletes working hard to achieve greatness. There are also alot of powerful speeches that really motivate the viewer to push hard in there field work.https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=685054621537395

Pre Production: Brainstorming 07/02/2015

During the second meeting we began to brainstorm to come up with words we associate with our idea. We discussed Sports, ambitions, determination, characters and negativity. This helped us expand on key elements we will be focusing on in our movie.

Second Meeting

At our second meeting the group discussed about in further detail what the video would involve. We wanted a sport that wasn't generic and always used in sport videos. As I do boxing at the university I suggested using a boxer as our character. We wanted to show him doing a variety of physical activities such as press ups, skipping, sparring etc. The ultimate goal was to have him being Mr second place and finally achieves 1st after a sequence of working hard and over coming issues.

 We then had a meeting with Helen and discussed having a second character (a girlfriend) who achieves 1st in academics which he then becomes jealous and sad that he isn't achieving his goals. We liked the idea but still haven't decided on how to finish the video.

During the meeting we set up our blogs and followed each other. This will help us with ideas to fill up our blogs with.

First Meeting

When the team met up for the first time we discussed our interpretations on the term "greatest day" as given in the brief. we exchanged ideas and elaborated on them until we found a favorite.

 I suggested a motivational sports video and gave an example of one I had seen previously. The group agreed it was the most realistic of the ideas and so we started to build a storyboard. Charlie suggested having a character and a twist so it wasn't just a collaboration of sport clips.  The team liked the idea and we discussed how we could link the two ideas and made it relevant to "the greatest day". After brainstorming we decided to have a character enjoy playing sports at a casual level but never believed he was good enough. His girlfriend who always supported him had a argument which resulted in him being chucked out of her house and him going into depression. He then picks himself up, trains hard and comes first in the sport of choice and wins back him girlfriend.

 We then discussed who is doing what role. Despite our roles on paper we agreed to help each other out and swap when necessary as some of the team have more experience than others.