The ManFlick Podcast: Episode 2

We recently recorded our 2nd Podcast which describes our production process to date, including the work we have done on the car chase. We also speak about our 1st draft and our plans to overcome some of our setbacks.

The All New ManFlick Productions Ident

Having created the first draft of our film, we decided to add in an ident to add our property seal to it. The basic logo is shown below.

We also created an animated version which will be shown at the beginning of all of our future works.

A Slight Snag

During filming our car chase at Dorney Lake, we encountered a slight problem in the shape of the site team.

Being a private site, they had an objection to us filming without their permission. However they were understanding to our cause and our apologies and told us if we write them a letter they would be happy to allow us to film. Basically they just needed some paper evidence to go in their files.

The letter is below.

Dear Sir/Madam

We are writing to you to ask you permission to conduct some filming for an AS Media Studies project on your land. Following a conversation with your site team we have provisional permission to do so but we have been advised to make a formal request to carry out this task.

We are making a 2 minute opening sequence to a film which involves a driving sequence. The sequence has been fully choreographed on our story boards and both our drivers have valid UK driving licenses. We plan to drive along the road which follows the lake to the boathouse and film two cars from different points on the road. We have discussed in great detail the correct procedures the drivers will follow and all road regulations such as speed limits etc. on your land will be followed. We have also discussed health and safety with our Media Studies teacher.

We don’t expect to take up a lot of time in doing this and we will follow any requests you may have for us. If you wish to know any more about our project we can show you the full planning of production which is available at the following link

http://wbsmediagroup6sam.blogspot.com

We have discussed this issue with an Assistant Headteacher at school and he has seen this letter. He is happy to make direct contact with you to discuss our intentions if that is desirable. His name is Mr Titheridge and he is contactable at the school on 01753 716060 ext 234.

We would greatly appreciate your co-operation with our project but will fully understand if you cannot grant us this.

Many Thanks

Oliver Clubb

Jack Parfitt

Joe Sullivan

SamThorpe

Having shown them the letter they were happy to allow us to continue so we are now planning the last days of shooting.

The Chase Is On!

Today we began to film the most dramatic part of our film, the car chase. This was a huge amount of fun to create and we hope it turns out to as we planned. To film, we used a camera car. This allowed us to drive naturally and also to capture the chase in open air, rather than through windows. The rough footage we shot today was brilliant to watch back and we should be able to cut it into a really slick piece of film.

At first we had a few problems with keeping the camera stable whilst out of the car, however we then sorted this out by using a Gorilla Pod. It is a from of tripod with flexible legs which allow it to be clamped onto lots of different objects.


Using the Gorilla Pod we were able to attatch our camera to the surround of the boot and get some great shots from a low level.

The other shots we did involved a regualr tripod and our cameraman being out of the roof. Once again this started with a few issues of camera stability but we enentually sorted this by altering the way our cameraman was stood.

One of the other great shots we took involved our cars being overtaken by the camera car. This was a great effect which proved difficult to shoot because of the way our cameraman had to rotate as he sped past us. This was difficult at first and the cars exited frame the 1st few times, but after that we got the technique right and made the shots look great.

All of our photos to date are available on our PhotoBucket Page. The address is below and in the Link List at the top left of the blog.

http://photobucket.com/manflick

Filming Some Re-Takes

After spotting a few areas where we could improve our film, we set out on another day of shooting. This involved some re-takes of our killer and photographer in the woods and when they leave in their cars.

Having watched back our existing footage, we realised that when our killer pulls the body from the boot of his car, he is in a different place to where he eventually leaves in pursuit of the photographer. This was of course a continuity error which we had to remove. This was very easy for us as we just moved the shots we already had to the new car park and did them again.

Using a car as a platform, we managed to create a great aerial shot. Because the car is steady with our tripod on top, the shot looked great. We even managed to overcome the problem of hitting record when the camera was out of reach by using a remote control!

Eventually we got the shots we wanted and moved onto our next location in order to correct our other errors. The rough cut we created showed us that we needed to show more of the reason why our killer began to chase our photographer and why the photographer ran away. We did this by showing the photographer being discovered by the killer and having the killer initiate the chase.

To show the killer dicovering the photographer, we showed him being disturbed by noises whilst he is digging. To show his paranoia in this situation, we used jump cuts of him looking around trying to see where the noise came from. Eventually he sees the killer looking scared in an over- the-shoulder shot. The next sequence of shots shows the killer initiating the chase.

Having done this, we then re-shot the slow motion take of our photographer running away and dropping his camera. We decided to do this as it would create a better lighting match.

The final shot we re-took was an extreme close up of our photographer taking a picture because the first time we did this shot we accidentally picked up a reflection of our cameraman in the photographers lens!

Having considered ways to correct this reflection, we decided that crouching behind the camera was the best choice.

With these retakes finished we now only need a few more shots in our car chase to have completed filming.

The First ManFlick Podcast

This morning we created our first ManFlick podcast. It contains a basic rundown of our production process so far aswell as a few good laughs between us. We thought it would be another way of documenting ourselves as we do this and a great thing to look back on.

Creating the podcast was very easy, we simply used a MacBook that had Garage Band installed on it and plugged in an external microphone. From their we just gave a quick run through of what our blogs have been containing up to this point. To us, the podcast is just a great way of condensing our blogs into a more accessible format and also a more enjoyable one.

Upcoming Plans

Having made a quick (5 minute rougher than Chuck Norris' beard) cut of our film we have spotted a few things to change and a few thngs to add. Because of this we will be doing some extra filming soon.

Filming Continues

Throughout the week, we continued our filming. This time focusing on the shots of our photographer as he walks around the woods and then the foot chase between the killer and photographer before they reach their cars. We went to Windsor Great Park to do this and found things much easier due to the location research we carried out during half term.

The shoot itself ran very smoothly and we had great fun doing it. It was also made far more enjoyable because of the lack of hole digging! We got all of the footage we needed and some extra shots which we thought might look good if we took them. This creativity was very satisfying because a days filming shouldn't be totally rigid to what our storyboards dictate.

Our only problems whilst shooting were the constant stream of dog walkers and cyclists around the park. We had expected this however, and so we started filming at 1:30pm to give us plenty of time to shoot even if the public did cause us delays.

Poll Results

My digital poll is now over and the results can be seen in the top left hand corner of the blog.

The results are pretty much a mirror of the more in depth market research we carried out before, with Action and Comedy being the 2 most popular genres.

Our First Day Of Filming

On Saturday the 7th of March, our film officially went into the production stage. We bagan by filming our serial killer digging his hole, a task which required a lot of labour!




It took us a while to dig a big enough hole, however in the end we had a grave for our victim.

Production Day 1

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The rest of our photos from the day are on the following Photobucket album.

http://s687.photobucket.com/albums/vv240/Manflick/

We are also in the process of creating a video production diary for the shoot. This will continue through all of our shoots and be an extra feature on our final film.

Schooting Schedule

Before setting our on our fisrt day of filming, we sat down and agreed when all the filming and storyboarding could be done. This was important to do so that we had a smooth schedule rather than leaving things to the last minute.

Our preliminary task had tought us that a lack of planning would make things extremely difficult at a later date, so we created this and hope it will make things easier.

Storyboards

During our pre production stage we have created some storyboards to give us an idea of what each shot we want will look like. They are in the slideshow below.

Media Coursework Storyboards

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Character Construction Research

Because our film will not be containing any actual violence, we need to work much harder in representing the serial killer as a serial killer. The main way we will do this will be through costume and mannerisms. With this in mind I have decided to research some other famous screen killers to get some ideas.

Ghostface

The first killer I have chosen to analyse is Ghostface. He stars in the "Scream" trilogy as the killer and is also highly recognisable, partly because of the success of the Scream films and also because he is often parodied. His costume comprisises of a long black robe which has slashed edges and his trademark white mask. The mask is a generic trait of screen serial killers as it hides their face, building tension until the moment in the film when we discover their true identity. Re-using this mask in our film would be far too cliché for our liking, however the long black robes are a definate possibilty.

The Candyman

My next killer is The Candyman of 1992 film "Candyman". He is a unique killer in that his appearance is not impaired by a mask and he is not of the human world. The plot of the film states that The Candyman can be summoned by anyone who chants his name 5 times whilst looking into a mirror. This trait means that he does not need to hide his identity because in theory he doesn't exist. Despite this, he is constructed as a serial killer through of his long black coat and the way he is never seen without his murder weapon, a fish hook. The use of a long black coat is again appealing to us because it is an easy and recognized way of constructing a serial killer. A coat is also easier for us to obtain than a robe.

Craig

Craig is a mentally ill hermit from the 2005 britflick "Creep". Craig prays upon late night passengers of The London Underground, using the darkness as camoflage to snaek up on them. He is created as evil mainly through his grotesque appearance. He is scarred, bruised and deformed and therefore different to other humans. Exactly what he is remains a mystery for most of the film, and this lack of knowledge about his species and therefore abilities leaves the audience fearful of what he may do. Use of prosthetics and make up would be highly effective in our piece, however their high degree of difficulty makes them inviable for us to use.

The Creeper

The Creeper is an ancient demon who survives by ingesting his victims in order to gain the body part he eats. He is another serial killer who wears a long coat but his demonic abilities mean he feels it is unnecesary to conceal his identity, instead he just wears a hat. His costume and physique mean that he bears a resemblance to a normal human and so silhouette's are effectively used in The Jeepers Creepers movies to make the characters believe he is in fact a human. In one scene of the film, two of his future victims believe they are safe havng taken refuge in a field. In the field a silhouette of a scarecrow is visible but is of cousre harmless. However wings soon spread from the scarecrow and the soon victims realise they have still not escaped. This type of villain is far more effective in big budget films because make up and special effects allow for better construction of the caharacter.

Freddy Krueger

Freddy Krueger is the star of the "A Nighmare On Elm Street" films, first seen in 1984. His legend is that he can kill teenagers through their dreams. His look is based upon childrens clothing because his legend states that he was burned alive as a child. He therefore wears a childish (though bloodstained) red and green striped jumper. His death means that his reincarnation is burned from head to toe. Once again this kind of make up would be great in a film but is far to complex and expensive for our budget.

Having taken a small look into the characteristics of serial killer costume, we decided that our killer would wear dark overalls with black shoes. This would make him hard to see at night, but also clearly construct him as a serial killer.

First Returns

My poll continues for a few more days, but our questionnaire's are all complete and we have collated the results using Apple Pages.



Once the results had been collated, we made some charts to show them in a visual manner. Once these graphs were completed, we exported them into an Apple Keynote slideshow which can be seen below.

Market Research Analysis

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Market Research

In order to accurately pinpoint a target audience for our film, we decided to create a questionnaire to find ot what people like in a film. Along with this I have created a digital poll here on my blog.

Below is the questionnaire that we handed out.



And the poll can be found in the top left hand corner of the blog.

Preliminary Task Evaluation

In order for us to get to grips with some of the equipment and software we would be using in our final piece, we decided to make a short preliminary piece. We chose a small skit about a man trying to end poverty with a concert, a la Bob Geldof and Live Aid.

To prepare for the shoot, we sat down with some storyboard sheets and created a shot by shot telling of our story. This made things far easier when it came to the shoot. In total this took around an hour, during which we planned 8 shots. Each shot had a picture of what would be in the frame and what would be said, if anything.
During the shoot itself, we had an initial problem in finding a location to shoot in. We wasted some valuable time walking around and looking for a secluded area, eventually finding an empty classroom within our school grounds. With this hiccup out of the way, we moved into a relatively smooth running shoot, there were the inevitable re-takes after laughter but by the end of the shoot we had become far more professional as actors. To create the film, we used two members of the group as cameramen and the remaining two members as actors. Our limited resources meant we could only use handheld shots because we had no tripod. This meant that some of our shots looked very shaky, however now that we have seen just how shaky, we will invest in a tripod for our final piece. The quality of our picture isn’t too high either because we used mini DV cameras, however we have little choice but to do so again for our final piece as new cameras would be very expensive.

After shooting our raw footage, we had to edit it. To do this we used Macbook Pro’s which were loaded with Final Cut Express. This software allowed us to edit the basic footage we had captured, into the logical sequence we needed to create the story. We removed our outtakes using markers to include the footage we wanted. The whole process was very easy and we had a completed video within one to two hours. This even gave us time to add credits, fades at the beginning and end of the film, and to add the theme tune. We chose to use Green Onions by Booker T And The MG’s, as it was an instrumental song which required little manipulation to be used in the video. We merely lowered its volume and then raised it again for the ending of the piece.
If we were to shoot the piece again, I think we would have researched available locations a lot more, so as to save us the time we spent walking around just searching for a location. We would probably also invest in a tripod to improve the quality of our shots.

Overall the preliminary video was very easy to create and I believe a good stepping-stone for when we create our final piece. It has given us vital experience in creating and editing films and has also told us we need to be far more prepared in terms of equipment and locations when it comes to making our final piece.