Ancillary Tasks

I can now focus on the ancillary tasks as we have some footage to work with, a tone and a theme to coincide with.

I am completing this brief:

3. A short film in its entirety, lasting approximately five minutes, which may be live action or animated or a combination of both, together with two of the following three options:
o a poster for the film
o a radio trailer for the film
o a film magazine review page featuring the film.

I think it would be easiest and most efficient for me, if I completed these two ancillary tasks:

o a poster for the film
o a film magazine review page featuring the film


Therefore, I can start planning the tasks and gather some research for them.

Re-Shooting?

I have looked over the footage and decided we may have to re-shoot some frames. This shouldn't be a problem because I have emailed our teacher to explain this and have also informed Sam and Curtis.

Props

There have been many props used in the production of our film, and they all have meaning. We chose these specific props for a reason;

The 'Southpark' Stan character - This shows Alfie watches TV programmes that are too old for him, showing his lack of guidance from his parents and the fact they are hardly around.

The 'Harry Potter' film - This shows how Alfie gets scared at the child's film, but can watch TV programmes such as 'Southpark'. This is very contradictory and speaks more to the older audience of the film about the parenting used.

The red snakes in IKEA - This snake is clearly a child's soft toy, and for Alfie to be scared of it in the dream sequence ties in with the above idea with the lack of parenting.

The rugby kit - This is from Alfie's school, the uniform for rugby. This shows he is a stereotypical boy, but with slight childish tendencies, again contradictory linking with the above idea.

The LACK of parents (props) - This is the basis for the plot applying to the older audience. It explains why Alfie is how he is, without being too obvious to the younger audience.

Last Day of Filming

Today was hopefully the last lot of filming we need to do, unless we need to re-shoot. We filmed the loose ends, such as running up the stairs, getting changed, and waking up/falling asleep. Alfie has been very patient and a great sport, even when I was stressing and panicking about time. It has been stressful, but it is more to do with the time of year and the unfortunate schedules we all have, more than filming itself. Now to enjoy Christmas!

Christmas Visits

Everybody took more hours on at work over Christmas, and everybody has had plans and family to visit. We knew this would be the case, and although we are slightly behind schedule, things will be fine and it will be finished on time!

Filming With Alfie

Tonight, Me and Alfie were dropped to the location of filming and we filmed part of the dream sequence. We filmed the stop-motion snake with Alfie on the bed and Alfie on the sofa watching 'Phineas and Ferb'. This was extremely time consuming and stressful because it took so long, and was quite boring, yet Alfie had to stay stock still to ensure the film looked smooth.

Filming

Today, I went to the filming location and filmed some more stop-motion. I was on my own, because I had a free in college, and was visiting my friend anyway, so to pass the time, we filmed some stop-motion. This sequence can hopefully be used in the dream sequence, as the snake was climbing the stairs.

Preparation

There has been a lot of preparation for our film, that has made everything time-consuming and over complicated. However, this is to ensure the location and setting looks good in our film. For example, We have had to purchase toy snakes from IKEA and cut all the labels off. We have had to do a massive clean out of the bedroom being used, and fill it with child-like toys. We have had to make sure the living area is clean and tidy before and after filming, to make it look good for our film, and out of respect for the residents.

Deadline

Our teacher has set a filming deadline to make sure we are all on track and keeping to this projects tight schedule. Ideally, he would like all the filming finished for January, so we have the Christmas holidays to film. This ensures we have enough time to edit and enough time POST-production.

Camera's

We have borrowed a camera from college, but I also have a DV Tape cam-corder at home, and so we can set these up to make sure there is a complete match on action and continuity. We can also experiment with camera angles and compositions, especially in the dream sequence.

Filming Complications

We were planning to film on Sunday, but Curtis and Sam have work. I will be filming the scene on my own, which is fine, it needs to get done! It will be tricky, but there will be help at hand, and we need to get all the outside shots done today.

Filming With Alfie

Tonight, we got some shots of Alfie. We started filming the dream sequence indoors, so the lighting matched up. It was dark outside, so we couldn't film the establishing shot. We got a shot of Alfie reading a book, with all these snakes appearing around him, combining stop-motion, with real-life film. This was very time-consuming and needed two people. Our friend also helped slightly with filming, pressing record and little things to make sure things looked right. We are slowly but surely getting the filming done, it is tricky because we have to do the filming at a weekend when Alfie doesn't have school.

Filming

We filmed another lot of stop-motion with the snake today, as we have a break in college, but Sam had her lesson. Filming, ideally, shouldn't interrupt with other college work, and so far, we can manage with two, however filming will become trickier and we will need three people.

Filming

Today Curtis and I managed to get to the location for filming, and we started on the stop-motion snake in the dream sequence. This was very time-consuming and needed two people, to make sure the footage ran smoothly. However, we realised it wouldn't be a disaster if the footage didn't run too smoothly, as the dream sequence is preferably meant to be abstract.

Coursework Planning

We have now got everything set up for filming, but are trying to negotiate a time for us all to be available to film. We have different college timetables, and different work hours, so have to find a time we can all get together and start filming. We also have to negotiate a time we can use the location, as the house being used is a friends.

Location

We have established a set location for our filming; at a friend's house. This is because the house format is easiest for what we had in mind, and also midway between our homes. The location is perfect, as the bedroom is a boys one, tying in perfectly with our film.

Equilibrium Change

This is how we will use Equilibruim throughout the short film:

1. Equilibrium - Alfie gets home
2. Disequilibrium - Parents aren't there
3. Makes himself at home - turns on telly - 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets' is playing, Alfie has underlying fear of snakes
4. Sleeps and dreams a scary dream of imaginary snake chasing him
5. At the end of the dream, Alfie befriends the snake
6. He wakes up and no longer has a fear of snakes

Step Outline

Scene One - Alfie comes home, unlocks door. Walks straight through to living room, kicks shoes and bag off. Turns on TV. 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets' is playing, and the 'basilisk' appears on screen. Alfie cringes away from TV and runs out of room. See him running upstairs.

Scene Two - Alfie is upstairs getting changed and he looks at the bed. Snakes begin appearing all over his bed and Alfie freaks out.

Scene Three - Alfie is laid in bed reading a book, and decides to go to sleep.


Scene Four - Alfie starts to dream that he is sat ont he sofa watching the cartoon 'Phineas and Ferb'. Snakes start appearing around him, and he runs upstairs, scared.

Scene 5 - Alfie is under the duvet scared, whilst the big red snake follows him. Alfie faces his fear and overcomes his phobia of snakes.

Scene Six - Alfie wakes up in his bed, and gets out of the bed, happy.

The basilisk can be seen in the previous blog post, this is the cartoon 'Phineas and Ferb':

Stop-Motion Animation

We have decided to use stop-motion animation in the dream sequence as it will make the whole film appear more child-like. We may use elements of stop-motion animation in other parts of the film, as Alfie sees snakes appear out of nowhere. Stop-Motion will be a little time consuming, but should be achievable and should look quite effective. We have been looking at Stop-Motion Animation videos on youtube, and seen how smart the overall effect is. Here are some which we have looked at:

Step Outline

Scene One - Alfie comes home, unlocks door. Walks straight through to living room, kicks shoes and bag off. Turns on TV. 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets' is playing, and the 'basilisk'* appears on screen. Alfie cringes away from TV and runs out of room. See him running upstairs.

Scene Two - Alfie is upstairs getting changed and he looks at the bed. Snakes begin appearing all over his bed and Alfie freaks out. Hears his mum and dad come home, so he goes back downstairs.

Scene Three - His mum and dad have bought a new pet snake - Alfie's worst nightmare. He tells them he doesn't like snakes and won't hold the snake. He goes upstairs.

Scene Four - Alfie is laid in bed reading a book when mum comes in to say goodnight. They talk about why he doesn't like snakes.

Scene 5 - Alfie has a dream where snakes are chasing him, and he is running away. Snake eventually catches up with him and comforts him. Alfie seems happy.

Scene Six - Alfie wakes up in his bed, goes downstairs and wants to hold his snake. He is no longer scared.


* The 'basilisk' is a huge snake from the Harry Potter films. It looks like this:

Dream Sequence Idea

We have changed our dream sequence idea too. Now, we are going to have Alfie looking around normally, and lots of snakes being there - he does not react to them in everyday life. However, in his dream, he reacts to all the snakes and gets frightened. We will be buying 15 small stuffed snakes, green and 10cm long from IKEA to place around the house randomly, and 1 large stuffed IKEA snake, red and 1.5m long for in the dream sequence. We plan to use stop motion to animate the big red snake slithering towards him. It will be quite an abstract dream sequence, with lots of quick shots, odd camera angles and distorted colour.

Equilibrium

This is how we will use Equilibruim throughout the short film:

1. Equilibrium - Alfie gets home
2. Disequilibrium - Parents aren't there
3. Makes himself at home - turns on telly - 'Anaconda' is playing
4. Parents come home - equilibrium should be ok, but they have a new pet snake
5. Sleeps and dreams a scary dream of his pet snake chasing him
6. Wake up and holds his pet snake first time. And feels safe - equilibrium is restored. character has gone on a journey that will enrich his life.

Change of Plan

We have a new group member, Sam, and so we tried to think practically about how we could overcome certain obstacles. For example: we had to find a nursery rhyme book which included all of the nursery rhymes we needed. This proved to be difficult because we would of had to make our own, and we needed Jake and he was unavailable at the time. We also have to do some re-shooting, so we thought we could change the idea, and include Sam more, as she helped come up with the idea.

So, today in Media we decided we are now using a snake instead of a spider because it is more easily accessible for us. We also feel children are more inclined to be scared of snakes than spiders. We can now get rid of the Nursery Rhyme book which simplifies some of our problems, and we have a pet snake at our decided setting, which is used to being handled. We will have the 1997 film 'Anaconda' playing on the TV, as this relates well to snakes, obviously. And we can also have the boy dreaming his pet snake eats him, just like in the film 'Anaconda'. This simplifies our lack of spider films available. We have to do some re-shooting anyway, so changing the plot line isn't too complicated for us, it doesn't change our schedule. We plan to film at the weekend, and can start on the animation dream sequence this week.

Lesson Catch-Ups

When I use this title, I don't mean Curtis and I have missed any lessons, more on that I haven't blogged every lesson, because we had been stuck for filming and the book. We have been looking at various film sequences and doing some textual analysis to build on our ideas instead. We are only able to film at weekends really, because Alfie is at school all day, and Alex's house needs to be available. We can't just interrupt everything. Also, we need to have Jake help us with the nursery rhyme book, and he hasn't been in college the past week, and lives in Salisbury, so we can't get to him easily. However, we have been productive and trying to add ideas to make things clearer for the audience. We need to be sure everything is right before we film.

Script

Yesterday in Media, Curtis and I decided to start on the script. We only had an hour lesson, so we started writing the script by hand. We then went to use 'Scriptmaker' but it wasn't installed on the computer. So we called in the IT Technician to fix the problem, and began typing our script on 'Scriptmaker'. We got halfway through and the lesson ended. So we finished doing the script today.

Build on Story

We have stuck with the original idea of the nursery rhymes, and have thought more about how we can animate the dream sequence. We both have a mutual friend who is extremely good at art, who can help us with the dream sequence. Obviouisly he will be credited and we will do as much as we can, but he can be there to help tweak it and correct perspective mistakes we may make. We also thought about involving a packet of Haribo Horror mix sweets, and him visualising the spider, but I couldn't get hold of any Horror mix after Halloween went by. I think this would of been a good idea and a subtle extra touch, however it may have been too much spider-orientated visuals. Our film is aimed at somebody on the children's TV channel, and so the audience doesn't have the most complex mind, and I think one or two mention of spiders will be sufficient, instead of overloading their minds with spidrs, so they get lost in the moral of the story, which ironically, is infact NOT to be scared of spiders.

Spellbound Dream Sequence

As the viewer, I understand when the dream sequence begins, because it is clearly shown through a fade to black transition to the next scene. It's then shown through a fade from black into seeing all these eyes. Hitchcock used Dali as the designer for his dream sequence, and the combination of both their unique styles had a really good effect on the viewers in 1945. The zoom into one of the eyes keeps the reader intrigued and expecting something to happen. Instead, another shot of all these eyes, staring at the viewer, including them in the film. The camera never stops moving; in different directions with each overlapped shot. Another shot then fades in, and the eyes fade out, to be replaced by a stage surrounded by eyes. It zooms in to a stage full of people playing musical instruments. A close-up of the musicians fades in and the camera carries on zooming in. The camera then fades into close-up of an eye on the stage, with some man using giant scissors cutting it up from the viewers right to the viewers left; revealing another eye underneath the cut away eye. Another shot appears in the pupil of the eye, and the camera zooms in until a fade from back ends the dream sequence. All the transitions in this sequence fade and go to and from black. This helps the viewer understand that this IS the dream sequence. The lighting is very dark, even though it is a black and white film. There is a lot of contrast and dark moments, which help the viewer understand the surreality of the dream sequence. The mise-en-scene is interesting because Hitchcock and Dali's surreal dream sequence works really well in this scene, bacause the viewer clearly understands there is a dream going on; which is what Curtis and I need to be careful of not confusing the viewer and disrupting the continuity.

Step Outline

Scene One - Child comes home from school to an empty house. Reads a note from mother explaining she is working late tonight, food in fridge. Various shots of empty house, shows audience he is alone and the time.

Scene Two - Child walks into Lounge and sees the TV playing. He is intrigued, so sits down and just starts to watch it. He doesn't know it is 'Eight Legged Freaks' playing, and he is petrified when a huge spider comes on screen. Runs away. This shows his phobia of spiders.

Scene Three - Child is in bedroom reading Nursery Rhyme book. Is reading Humpty Dumpty aloud. Close-up of book, so audience can see the nursery rhymes he is reading.

Scene Four - Mother comes in and child confesses about the film scaring him. Mother says not to worry about spiders and shows him Incy Wincy Spider. They read it aloud and he falls asleep smiling.

Scene Five - Dream Sequence. He sees a hill and there is a well on top, like in Jack and Jill. (animated) He then blinks and a Shoe appears instead of the well, like There Was An Old Woman Who Lived In A Shoe. He walks up the hill, and a huge spider appears, like in Incy Wincy Spider. He then runs back down the hill, and falls, breaking in half, like Humpty Dumpty.

Scene Six - The child wakes up and tells him mother about his dream. She tells him not to worry, and that the spider wasn't real. The child realises extra-large spiders are fictional and do not exist. His arachnophobia then subsides and he feels calm again.

Nursery Rhymes

'Jack And Jill'

Jack and Jill went up the hill,
to fetch a pail of water,
Jack fell down and broke his crown,
And Jill came tumbling after.

'There Was An Old Woman Who Lived In A Shoe'

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe,
She had so many children she didn't know what to do,
So she gave them some broth without any bread,
And she whipped them all soundly and sent them to bed.

'Incy Wincy Spider'

Incy Wincy Spider climbed up the water spout,
Down came the rain, and washed the spider out,
Out came the sunshine and dried up all the rain,
And Incy Wincy Spider climbed up the spout again.

'Humpty Dumpty'

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall,
All the king's horses and all the king's men,
Couldn't put Humpty together again.

Nursery Rhymes

Curtis and I spent the hour-long lesson yesterday brain-storming some ideas that could link in with a dream sequence and the animation/live-action idea. We had to think of a well-known story that was not copy-righted, and that would easily be recognised by the majority of the audience. We thought that Nursery Rhymes are part of nearly every child's young memories and that they would easily be recognised by the audience, even adults who have children or know of the Nursery Rhymes. We then decided how we could incorporate the Nursery Rhymes into a dream sequence, here is our first idea;

o A child laying in bed reading a Nursery Rhyme book
o Mother comes in and the child recalls their scare earlier in the bath when they saw a huge spider - appears as a flashback
o The mother then says not to worry and shows them the Nursery Rhyme 'Incy Wincy Spider'
o The child looks unconvinced and starts to fall asleep
o The child starts to dream (about parks or swimming pools) then it changes suddenly into a nightmare
o They dream of four Nursery Rhymes - 'Jack and Jill', 'There Was An Old Woman Who Lived In A Shoe', 'Incy Wincy Spider', 'Humpty Dumpty' - and a story forms *
o The child wakes up upset and calls for their mother
o The mother comes in and comforts the child, allowing them to fall asleep uninterrupted

* The story is as follows:
o The child falls into their nightmare, and sees a hill. They start to climb it (influence from 'Jack and Jill')
o When the child reaches the top of the hill, they see a shoe, and believe a woman to live there (influence from 'There Was An Old Woman Who Lived In A Shoe')
o However, a huge spider appears (influence from 'Incy Wincy Spider')
o The child then runs down the hill and falls, breaking in half (influence from Humpty Dumpty)

We appreciate a lot of planning and research is needed to be done and therefore, some changes may need to be made. However this is our initial idea.

New Ideas

Curtis and I have been thinking about the accessibility of the polyphasic sleep idea, and have been debating whether it is actually likely to work. We realised we would need an interesting twist to the documentary to make it entertaining and highlighting the point of the documentary. We came to the conclusion the polyphasic sleep idea wouldn't work and that we needed to have a serious re-think about what we could do with this project. So, we have come up with the idea of a short film, using both animation and live-action in order to make the film interesting and entertaining. We are thinking primarily of an animated dream sequence and can have all these distorted images and animated objects. We know it will be very time-consuming and probably very stressful, but the two of us have a good work ethic and are willing to put the effort in. We are now going to spend the lesson thinking of a narrative storyline that we can incorporate animation and live-action sequences into.

Ancillary Task Ideas

Whilst Curtis and Keri are absent, I can gather some ideas and information to help me with my ancillary tasks. The short film brief goes as follows:

3. A short film in its entirety, lasting approximately five minutes, which may be live action or animated or a combination of both, together with two of the following three options:
o a poster for the film
o a radio trailer for the film
o a film magazine review page featuring the film.

I think it would be easiest, most cost and time efficient if I completed these two ancillary tasks:

o a poster for the film
o a film magazine review page featuring the film

I think I would be best at doing these two ancillary tasks as I study Art, and English Literature and Language, so these two options fit in nicely with skills I already know. I have developed a lot of skills within my art class, such as drawing to a good standard, and how to apply paints and other medias properly. I have learned how to analyse drawings which relate to a target audience and how to draw to attract a certain audience, by drawing in the same way or using the same technique. I have also learned a lot of skills in English Lit/Lang which will no doubt help me to write the film review. I can either use a chatty, colloquial style of language, which would appeal to a majority of the public, and would most likely be published in a tabloid newspaper such as 'The Sun' or 'The Star'. Or I could use a formal, informative tone which will appeal to a large proportion of business men and women, which would most likely feature in a broadsheet newspaper such as 'The Times' or 'The Guardian'. Either way, it would appeal to a certain audience and gain their respect. I think we need to sit as a group in the pre-production stage and decide what tone we want our documentary to take; whether it is a 'fly-on-the-wall' home-made style piece, or a formal analytical view of the effects of sleep. This will then help us to all understand the theme behind our own individual ancillary tasks.

Documentary Formats

I have been onto 'iLearn' on the Totton College Website, and had a look at the files there to help us. I found a file named 'Documentary Formats' and thought I would take a look. It has been REALLY helpful, and I have been able to gain better knowledge for what style of documentary we should shoot and what category our idea fits under. Unfortunately, both members of my group are away; I heard from Curtis who is ill, but I haven't heard from Keri, so I don't know where she is. This means I can't really get anything solid done this lesson, as obviously it is group work and there needs to be at least two group members here to make a solid decision. I am trying to gather some useful information which I can show my group once they are both back in lessons next week.

This is the document I found:

Polyphasic Sleep Idea

We have decided on the Polyphasic Sleeping patterns causing effect on daily life. We have a number of people lined up to take part in one of these 5 patterns. We can then analyse the effects lack of sleep the different patterns can have on normal everyday life. We should be conducting the experiment and filming over half term, which will be from the 24th-31st October. We can should then have enough time after half term to edit the film and complete the ancillery tasks. We think, if we can film over half term, we will have a good time schedule. We have 3 weeks to fully plan the film through the pre-production stages, and then will have 6 or 7 weeks to edit the film and complete the ancillary tasks. We are yet to have the idea set in concrete and get the ball rolling with pre-production planning, but I think we will do well if we stick to our time-frame.

Coursework Ideas

We have got a rough idea of groups so have been able to brainstorm our ideas. We have come up with a list of possible ideas and ways in which we can achieve them; how good they are for practicality and shots we could use etc. We have decided to do a Short Film, of approximately 5 minutes, which will be a documentary. These are some possible idea's:

1. Polyphasic Sleeping and the impact it has on your body.
2. The Scares of going to University because of the fees. Issues with the number of places available and the number of applicants, and how the numbers are affected by the fees and costs.
3. Takeaway Restaurants and the health and safety issues with food. Or the number of local takeaways and if home-cooking is a thing of the past.
4. The cost of driving lessons and cars amongst students, and why some teenagers learn to drive and others don't.

All of these options are achievable and could make interesting documentaries, but we need to think about how we could make the documentary enjoyable for the viewer, and not boring. We are leaning more towards the Polyphasic Sleep idea, because we can adopt certain sleeping patterns ourselves and see the effects first-hand.

Coursework Outline

We have been given the brief for the A2 coursework last week, and we can choose from 3 options:

1. A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the following three options:

o a website homepage for the band;
o a cover for its release as part of a digipak (CD/DVD package)
o a magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD/DVD package).

2. A promotion package for a new soap opera, to include a TV trailer, together with two of the following three options:
o a listings magazine front cover featuring the new soap
o two hyperlinked webpages (with video extract) for the soap’s website
o a poster for the soap

3. A short film in its entirety, lasting approximately five minutes, which may be live action or animated or a combination of both, together with two of the following three options:
o a poster for the film
o a radio trailer for the film
o a film magazine review page featuring the film.

We have to create a media portfolio, comprising a main and ancillary texts, and a presentation of my research, planning and evaluation in electronic formats, via my blog.

We could of chosen from a podcast, a blog, a powerpoint or DVD extras. I chose to do a blog, because this is easily accessible and I have experience from producing my AS Media Portfolio through a blog. We should be using lots of images, audio, video and links to online resources.

I am planning to complete option 3, a short film, and am currently listing some ideas we could do with the option. For example, an animation style film or a documentary.

The groups are not yet definitive, so neither can the ideas be. We are just getting to know the brief and the ancillary tasks that need to be completed. We have to think of the most practical and efficient option we could work to, and think of ways we could create the best outcome.