I had a go at Editing today

Today during lunch I had a go at editing the microphone testing video. I found it fun to play around with all of the visual effects, once I have finished the editing I am going to upload the video onto here.
I really liked changing the colours and distortion of the video. I made the first bit where Dan and Amy are talking into a ripple effect, I then made it into a negative video, then i did a transition to make it into black and white, then i changed it so only the colours showed, I really like this effect. I found editing a lot of fun but also very time-consuming.

By Laura (:

Uploading Vidoes

At the moment we have edited a lot of our preparation and tester videos and many of them we have tried to upload onto YouTube so we can put them onto our blog in order for use to view and comment on them.
At this very moment in time I'm trying to upload the edited version of our preparation for the our first party scene and I am still waiting for it to upload, we do not know whether it is the computers or the software, but we have transferred our clips onto a windows format which has put the video onto higher quality.
Hopefully this time it will work.


By Hannah

The locker scene

Yesterday we filmed the locker scene, and we have viewed and edited the scene. I really loved doing this scene, I was able to do a lot of filming in this scene and I was really pleased with the amount of angles that I was able to get. Throughout the scene I was able to use a canted angle, locker shot which showed a close up of Milly's face (a bit of action shot) this showed the audience her real emotions as no one could see her emotions from the scene around her this is how we were able to create a real emotional bond between Tasha and the audience. Alana then shot an over shoulder shot and a POV shot (Tasha's POV) this gave the audience the unhinging first impression of the queen bees, who seem to smirk at Tasha. I was on screen at the this point and so the camera work was done by Alana and was very good. I was also able to get a medium shot of Milly's body and response to the introduction of the Queen Bees.
I really enjoyed the filming I thought that I was able to use some really good angles and shots this gave me confidence with using the equipment and so in the future I think I will be able to do it again when i next get the opportunity and I am not needed on screen. I would also like to continue to do some more microphone work as i really enjoyed it when i did the mic work when Tasha entered the school and arrived.
During the editing of the locker scene I was with Alana who did the majority of the Editing for this scene, I was able to advise Alana, with two peoples opinion and watching of the scene but with also other people watching and commenting we were really able to focus in on specific parts of the film and editing, which is why maybe it was so successful. We were also able to add in a really smooth continuity shot which is really fantastic to watch as it is so subtle. I was really pleased with the editing for this scene and I hope that we will be able to have all the rest of the scenes likes this as it was of very high quality and it made the scene look very professional.


By Hannah

Editing

Today I saw the scene that Hannah and Alana filmed yesterday, I have to agree with them both as it does look very good and I am proud of them both for having a go at something new. The match on action of the scene is really good, the cantered angle at the beginning of Milly walking is a really good idea as it may give the audience the impression that something bad is going to happen. I couldn't attend the filming session because I had work to do with a friend which we had pre-arranged. I have said to Alana that I would like to edit and she is going to let me do some editing when we get the next opportunity.
Today we decided that we might have to re-film the after party scene (AGAIN!) because the girls think that in the shots that we filmed it doesn't look like a house, I said we could justify this by saying that the scaffolding in the background is from flats and the random chairs and sofa's everywhere could be how someone likes to live! But I do agree with them as it does look a bit weird, Alana is going to talk to her parents tonight to see if we can film it at her house next Friday, I think that if we do it at Alana's house it will be more relaxed as we won't have a strict time limit of 5pm to finish filming. Also if we do go to Alana's house then we will be able to get everyone ready and we should definatley be more relaxed.
I also think that the shots will still be as good as the ones that we have shot at school. I really like the shots that I used in filming. I would like Alana and Hannah to give me their input on if they want to film as they only have to ask, and also what shots we should use as we can change them slightly if they need to be changed. I also think that the FREEZE technique that we used should still be carried on as it was very effective

By Laura (:

Editing Locker Scene

We uploaded the Locker Scene onto the profile to view and edit.
The filming, like i said before went well and today watching it back i feel relieved that we have some part of our film successfully done.
Me and Hannah editing the film to which will be placed into our film. The editing I think makes the scene look amazing. We managed to make the film flow and to correctly editing some match on action.
Also the filming was smooth and clear.
I am over the moon that this scene worked and it has given me a boost of confidence that we will do well with filming.

Alana

Locker scene

Well today we filmed a scene which wasn't originally on the story board. But as we borrowed a friends bag for the introduction scene of Milly's character Tasha. I thought that instead of always needing to borrow Jonny's bag we may as well film Tasha placing the bag into a locker. To which Hannah had the idea to use this scene to introduce the Queen Bee's staring her down.
The filming went extremely well. We started the scene with a cantered low angle of Milly feet walking towards a locker. To which we tried Hannah's idea of placing the camera inside the locker to see Milly's face whilst she is opening the locker.
When we filmed Milly shutting the locker you can see the Queen Bee's in the background to which i zoom in on their facial expressions to see them smirking at each other and Tasha.
This scene will continue to the Queen Bee's dragging Tasha off to which we'll do a fast shot down a corridor whilst the Bee's are changing Milly whilst walking.
I think this will go very well and the continuity is going to be rather easy to keep the same and i am very pleased with the filming today.
Minus the problems with the camera's which seemed to keep dying on us which luckily didn't make us give up with the filming.

Alana

practicing filming

Today we decided that we would all have a go at filming, first of all Alana had a go and was really focusing in on the angles.
I then decided I wanted to try and do some tracking with the camera but from a stationary point, I filmed Alana running and jumping onto Milly. This was a useful piece of footage as it really let me grasp the speed at which we needed to film at but also the smoothness that we could get by just using a tripod. I will try and post this at a later date.
Another thing that I tried was again experimenting with levels of the camera i filmed a conversation between Alana and Laura and when I watched it i was extremely pleased with the results. I used a low angle shot of Laura's feet walking towards and meeting Alana's, this looked really dramatic as it kept the audience waiting and anticipating what the characters were going to look like without actually revealing their appearance straight away. I also used the tripod to establish the 180 degree rule and this worked as the audience were not disorientated by the switching of characters position. I also used a POV shot this was my favorite shot this really put the audience into the scene, it was hard to try and position the camera at the same place and height as the character being talked to, but I really feel like it has paid off. I also used a over the shoulder shot this again acted as a way in which i could put the audience into the scene and really feel like they are part of the story line. I managed to film the scene with very little editing needed which I was very pleased about as this showed me that I could really have some potential with the camera. By doing this scene it has also given me confidence with using the camera and that i would be able to shot some footage that would be able to be put into our film and look really good.

In the afternoon we decided to see if we could make a dolly in order to do some track shots while the characters were moving. This would really give a sensation of movement and fluidity within the footage but also make the audience feel as if they are moving with the action.
We decided on using a wheelie chair and then position a tripod with the camera attached to it. We began to film however the floor seemed to noisy on the wheels, so we decided to use the drama studio which has a carpeted floor this reduced the sound. Overall the filming was quite successful i really loved the smooth transition of the scene while keeping up with the characters. I really think that we could use this in our film when we film the queen bees walking down the corridor.


Hannah

Camera Work

Today I practised using the camera on the tripod to see the difference from having to hold the camera. The picture came out more smooth and you can easily adjust the height to easily show anyone more powerful or important than anyone else.
With this we did a video of someone walking up the stairs and round with a nice smooth sweep. Starting from a high angle and following them wind round the stairs. Which looks really good so I think we should try and use less hand held camera footage in our film and use the tripod now as it will look more professional.
Also we tried creating our own dolly. Unfortunately the wheeled chair that we'd be able to use often has very loud creaking wheels which would definately be heard during our film. The other object we tried was a running cart which would of been a good thing to use as a dolly but it made the camera wobbly on the surface.
So both of these tests didn't succeed so we are going to have to think of something else to use as a dolly. Though I think any object we use will create some sort of background noise which will be very frustrating to use.

I also think we need to include more high and low angles to really show which are the superior characters in the film. As we saw today whilst practising the low angle of Milly walking down some stairs made her look extremely important and super. Which is what we need for the Queen Bee characters.
We should also try and get more harder shots to help us push our film to the next level. As all we are using at them moment is over the shoulder shots, two shots and close ups.
We need to use the range of shots, movement and angles that we have been taught and use them to our benefits.

Alana

After Party Scene

Last Friday we re-filmed our After Party scene. This time everything went well. We made some slight changes to this one from the previous one.
Instead of having everyone sitting down when the Queen Bee's walk in we had the Boys and a few girls standing up and then the 'Geek Couple' sitting down and they were talking and being all loving to each other.
At the end when Tasha throws water over Ellouise I captured every ones reactions, instead of going round everyone and seeing their expressions, I zoomed out of Milly's face to capture every ones faces behind it. We also added in the Geeky couple saying a few lines. The girl geek says 'That was Hilarious!' and then the Boy Neek says 'Better than Pi squared!'
We chose to have this line in the movie because then it would be contrasted with the Geek groups, as they are saying something that we should all understand but the Geeks probably understand it in more context than we do.
We have also used a lot of Stereotypes in the Movie, like the Groups all have a 'stereotypical' look about them, which makes it look good as well.
We also changed the Beginning of the movie. In the old beginning we just had a shot of everyone dancing and looking as if they are having a good time, in this version I zoomed out from a fairy light which we had strewn across the 'House' and then it then panned around to see everyone dancing and talking to each other. I think this has a better effect than the previous film because I like the way it zooms out, it looks professional.

We're going to be doing more filming over this week as we need to get all of our filming done so we can start editing, as I think this will take the longest and we only have 7 weeks to complete our coursework!
Pressures on guys!

By Laura :)

Today in Our Media Lesson

In our Media lesson we tested some different dolly types.

We used a wheelie chair to begin with, but we found that on a wooden or laminate surface the chair makes a lot of noise, so we then tried the wheelie chair on carpet and it was near to silent. In the Drama studio we found another dolly we could use. It was like a Air Hostess trolley, we tried this on the carpet and it was much smoother as the top of the trolley was flat, compared the the wheelie chair which was padded for comfort.

Above - these were the two different types of Dolly that we experimented with.

I found that the Trolley was better if we wanted a smoother film line, but it could only go forwards and backwards which would make it ideal if we were following the action and we needed to wheel the camera quickly to keep up with the action.

The chair was good as well, as the casters on the bottom of the chair went in all direction and not just forward or backwards, but it was annoying when we were trying to move it around in a straight line as it went everywhere and it was difficult to move. This would be ideal if we were doing a pan around someone as we could wheel it in different directions and it would be smooth.

The video of us experimenting is on Alana's tape, we should be able to upload it sometime soon and then I will comment on the video and say what I said here.

By Laura :)

School Scene(s)

For the next couple of scenes we're going to be using Milly and The Queen Bee's in their school uniform.
I'm going to look at some American and British school uniforms to show the contrast between the two.

In America people who go to private schools have a smart school uniform, students who go to a public state school usually wear their own clothes.

Private American School Uniform. I think that the American Private school girls wear these type of things because they are meant to look similar, as they pay to go to school and they probably cannot express themselves as they may be too busy learning manners and how to be a 'lady'

What I think a typical American State School Student would typically wear on a daily basis.

I chose these items because I have watched a few American programmes involving school girls and they generally wear relaxed clothes, which involved jeans shirt and converse. I also chose this because as I although do not go to an American school I am in 6th form and I wear these type of Clothes.

In contrast to this again in private schools in the UK they wear a smart[er] uniform. In public schools in the UK they were a 'relaxed' school uniform consisting of Shirt/Blouse, Trousers/Skirt, Tie, Jumper and/or Blazer.

In the private schools in the UK the uniforms usually consist of more of a smart 'office suit'. this usually consists of Trousers/Skirt, Shirt/Blouse, Tie (for men) and a Blazer for both sexes.

What a private school in the UK might wear for school uniform. This is taken from the film 'St Trinians' which Hannah has analysed, this is a British type film. I feel that it gave the best perspective of a Private school's uniform in the UK

This is what I know and think a public school student in the UK would wear, as the uniform is more relaxed here than in the Private schools. I chose this picture because as I was a student here in a public school I know what the Uniform looks like.

In 6th form in most schools in the UK they wear their own clothes, this shows that the 6th form stand out from the rest of the school as they look individual, and not carbon copies of one another. This is again a contrast to an American school, because if they go to a public state school then they wear their own clothes which helps them to express who they throughout their school years.

School uniform is again a very typically British thing to wear, so this again keeps with the UK Chick Flick theme in our Movie.

In response to Hannah previous comment about the Script I think having Alana as the second Script writer is a good idea as then Alana can then reinforce Hannah's ideas and maybe bring some ideas of her own to the Script.

In response to Alana's previous comment I think that with the Queen Bee's and Milly's School uniform they are going to have to improvise and make sure that they Amy and Priya look the same as they are trying to copy the Queen Bee. If this is the case then Hannah should be wearing something similar to them but at the same time completely different. I think they should do this as it keeps with the feeling of the Prom scene, where Amy and Priya have similar hair styles and they are wearing similar dresses whereas Hannah has completely different hair and a completely different dress.

By Laura :)

School Scenes

Well as we're doing a chick flick in a school our characters will be wearing uniform. They will also be wearing uniform because it's a very British thing that schools do. The uniform makes a school feel united and friendly to outside people. However, our film is going to have a twist of course.

The neeks will have superb uniform, everything neat and tidy.

The grungers will have their uniform tatty. Maybe even muddy to show that they don't care about their appearance as much. They could also be wearing the skater shoes and beanies.

Then there is the 'Queen Bee's' they will be wearing the school uniform but putting it to how they wish. So, for example, they will have short skirts with knee high socks on and high heels. Also their tops will be low cut with a loose tie with a fashionable top underneath.

Having the uniform like this still brings the British part of our film out but also shows the different groups that schools have in any country.

Here is a picture of the length and style the geeky group will have to wear. But of course we'll have to improvise as they'll have to wear their old school uniform:

And here is a picture of the style the 'Queen Bee's' will be wearing. As it shows the short skirt and knee high socks:

Alana

Response to Alana's Post

I really agree with Alana on the fact that we do indeed need to include some match on action and yes, I do believe that a good place to put some in would be in the car scene with Tasha and Tasha's brother.
I had another thought that when we come to film the locker scene we could put the camera in the locker and the audience would be able to see Tasha's face when she finally opens the locker. I think this would give us a real insight into our characters emotions. Also I think this would be a good place to introduce our Queen Bees, when Tasha swings the locker door shut the Queen Bees are standing there looking at her and then we will be able to start using the dialogue that we have written. As I have been writing the script up till now I have now included Alana in writing the script and to have a second opinion on what I have come up with so far. I feel this will be a really good way to put in more than one persons interpretations of the characters and also we can use more slang language within parts of the script which i have not picked up on yet.

I am really looking forward to continuing with this.


Hannah

Prep for next filming session

The scene where Tasha is walking into school. We need to get hold of our props, such as; a Mini and Jonny's bag.
I think that this should go according to plan however, the only part I am stressing about is the continuity of this shot with the previous shot we did the previous week.
I also think that we should try and some match on action with this scene where Tasha opens the car door and have it from Dom's POV and then match it to the outside of the car and have her getting out.
We could also use the match on action in a different sense and use it from her feet. Also we should really include some high angle to actually make Tasha seem like a new vulnerable student because we haven't actually achieved this yet.
I think, if we can create like a steady-cam to do a track long shot of when the car is being driven into the school and round to the front.

Alana

Filming

We have had some ideas about the scene that we're coming up to film. Hannah will be filming the shot where Tasha places her school bag in a locker and takes out a folder. This way we will not need to keep taking Jonny's bag. Also this gives Hannah a chance to film as she is a character. Hannah will be able to insert many different camera movement and angles for this small shot. I think that the shot would also be smooth and make Tasha seem vulnerable which is how we want to portray this character.

Alana

We have also thought that the scene where Dom drops Milly off would be a great opportunity to switch roles and so Alana will be able to gain some camera work and Laura will be able to use the mic for the first time.
We will also be able to use Alana and Lora's new learned skills when we do the scene where the 'Queen Bee's' walk down the corridor. For this scene we will use a dolly as we track the characters and we will be able to use the tripod and the wheelie chair.
We hope that with each of us learning these different skills we will be able to become more talented with all of the equipment and gain more experience throughout. We hope that this new thought may help us throughout filming as we will be able to share our knowledge but also our own ideas and thoughts about filming our media movie.

Hannah

The next scenes.

The next scene could either be the scene before Tasha arrives at the school, this is the one with Dom & his mini, as he is dropping his 'sister' off for school. I think the continuity for this could be difficult, as trying to match up the continuity between the shots. To solve this we could have Dom drive up to where Tasha (Milly) starts walking and just do a shot of her feet as she gets out of the car, as I think this would be easier and probably a lot easier to match-on-action.
As I am the director I shout 'FREEZE!' when I want everyone to stand still so I can get a different angle, I also try to stay on the same side of the 180 degree rule, as I don't want the shots to not make any sense.
In this scene I think a slow set of shots would be more effective, as Tasha will be anxious and reluctant to get out of the car, whereas in contrast when we film the Queen Bee's getting out of the car we can do a quick mash of shots, to signify that the most important (or as they like to think) people have arrived for school. I think if we do it this way you will be able to see the contrast between the two sets of characters.
The other next scene will be Tasha been changed into one of the Queen Bees. This will be a montage of quick shots of things being changed. They will be

• Tasha's hair being taken out of its ponytails
• Her tie being loosened
• Her top button and a couple more being unbuttoned
• Skirt being shortened
• Lip gloss being applied to her lips

etc

I think for this scene we should have the camera stationary behind Tasha and we see the Queen Bee's adding things to her and taking things away from her

I can't wait to carry on filming, I'm really enjoying it

Laura :)

The After Party Scene: Take 2

On Friday after school we re-filmed the After Party scene and this time the sound successfully worked.
What I really liked about this scene was how we started from a close up of a fairy light to zooming out into an establishing shot to show the audience a group of different clicks at a house enjoying themselves.
I know very well that we included pretty much all the different shots and angles to try and create the atmosphere we wanted. Which worked really well.
The scene was shot in the 6th Form common room so I used props and moved some of the furniture round to make a certain corner seem more like a house.
We borrowed bowls and cups to have on a table to have food and drink in which i think worked well for this scene as if it was a really after party there would be some small snacks lying around the house.
Also the fairy lights that we borrowed from our media teacher Mrs Martin definitely made the corner seem more like a party at a house because the fact that it wasn't major light effects but casual lighting effect.
We also used a wheeled chair to improvise as a dolly if necessary which i thought was a good idea. And we could use it again later in filming.
Overall, i think the filming went well though i think that our first filming of this scene would of been better to use. But i am very pleased and happy we have one of the major scenes done and can start on the next school scene which we should start planning and organizing soon.

Alana

Tasha's First Scene

On Thursday we filmed the scene where Natasha first comes to school.
We got Milly to look like an average geeky girl by having her in school uniform (which is also very British) and her hair in bunches.
I think the filming went successful because it didn't take that long to film. Plus it included many different camera shots and movements, such as; Point of view, over the shoulder, close up, track. We also used an cantered high angle of Milly looking up at the school building to make the audience seem worried and know that she is vulnerable which is what we are trying to portray at this point of the film.
I also think that we kept the continuity well and saying 'freeze' when we wanted to move the camera really does work well.
However, we still need to film the section of that scene where she is driving to school in a Mini. Which will be easily enough done is just trying to the continuity then. As Milly will have to be dressed head to toe exactly the same and placed in the same spot we started filming.
But with our determination I believe we will be able to do so.

Alana

The scenes for our recent filming locations

Seeing as the other girls have put pictures into their blog posts I decided to do the same, I chose to do the recent filming locations for the last 2 days that we have been filming.

For our after party scene we chose to film it in the 6th form common room.

We chose this instead of the drama hut as we think of the common room as we think of the common room as like our house away from home.

We also chose to do this as a 'after party' location as the common room looks more like a house than any other part of the school.

We moved the sofa's round and strung fairy lights around them to make it seem more like a homely setting. I think did a light check on the camera to make sure the lighting was okay, but it wasn't perfect, so we had to put the strip lights on. This gave it more of an artificial lighting, but the lighting on the ceiling wasn't in any of the shots so it was okay.

We chose to have Milly standing outside the school to capture her anxious looks for her first day of school. We have all been through the first day of school so we all know how scary it can be.

We also chose to do a close up of her face to capture her very anxious look.

Re-filming of the after party scene went well today and I think it looks better than the previous one we did. We also made sure that the microphone was turned on! Once we had finished filming we made sure that all of the shots had sound.

Laura :)

Make-up ideas for filming

As the majority of our film will be a school scene I think it would be appropriate to look at some of the make-up shown on big leading chick-flicks that we are trying to aspire to to get the same audience response that we are looking for.

The first I looked as was the classic 'mean girls' this gave a very useful insight that 'Regina George' who is the queen bee in this film wears quite extravagant eye make-up which accentuates her eyes making them appear larger and more attractive, giving the overall appeal to girls who want to aspire to be her and males who would want to date her. Another thing that I looked as was that she has very clear skin that seems to be all one tone which again is very appealing to the eyes and also gives and overall beautiful face contributing to her popularity. The next that I looked at was the main character 'Georgia' from the very British chick-flick 'Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging'. The main thing that stood out to me was that off her skin which seems to be completely flawless which is really appealing and one of the things I think we need to take into consideration. I really like the was that she appears to be wearing very little eye make-up giving the impression of natural beauty that I feel our character Tasha should have, which could be one of the reasons that she is picked by our Queen Bees to become one of them.
The next I looked at was that of St. Trinnians they are a slightly more unrealistic approach to schooling but none the less very popular with the female audience. The more 'Preppy' looking students was again something we were taking into consideration for our characters again another thing I found was the clear and even skin tone of the characters which I think we can accomplish with good foundation on our characters. another thing are the lips and eyes that are exaggerated by lip gloss and eye liner and mascara which makes the characters more seductive and giving them a 'sexy' edge. But I did look at some party scenes used in the films there was very little differences between the make-up it just appeared to be more apparent and heavy especially around the eyes with eye-liner and mascara but also eyeliner that was applied. This may be helpful to use when shooting our after party scene.

I hope this is helpful, I know it is for me as I will be the one applying it to most of the characters and it gives me an insight to what to apply to make a movie looking student.

By Hannah

Script for the school entrance of Tasha

We used a very short script for this scene as we thought that this would really add to the tension given by the character Tasha. We used Milly who is very good at her Pronunciation which meant that this would seem more believable to the audience that she was a posh young girl coming from a private school to a comprehensive school.
We used a simple phrase of "Here we go..." while Tasha sighed. This shows her apprehension of starting a new school and how she is really nervous about starting, the audience can sense this by her tone of voice and her facial expression shown through a extreme close up. This immediately draws in the audience and they find themselves empathising with her. The phrase shows that Tasha uses more appropriate English grammar for a privately schooled student, which would be different to the types of people that you would expect in a public schooled student.
Throughout the scene there is very little noises apart from sound of the cars in the distant and the birds singing. This gives the impression of Tasha being very isolated as she starts this situation on her own and that the birds that are chirping are free and she herself is not free as she has to go into an unfamiliar place that she would rather not be in.
I really like the simplistic sound and dialogue, it really seems to add tension and apprehension to the scene, which is exactly what we were aiming for.


By Hannah

Filming: The school entrance of Tasha

Today we filmed the school entrance of Tasha. We effectively were able to manage our time and within around an hour we were able to shoot our small scene of Tasha and her nervous entrance into 'ST. Ivans' . Milly who was playing Tasha did a great job we were able to show a lot of the emotion Milly portrayed through the camera and i hope we will be able to convey that to the audience so they too feel as if they are starting a new school with Tasha.
We feature a shot of Milly our actress playing 'Tasha', We can see in the picture what we tried to show through the stereotypical clothing of a 'Geeky' girl which i think has worked really well. We made her skirt long, with the tucked in shirt and plain shoes. Her hair is tied back into small bunches giving a child like impression and also the little use of make-up shows that our character does not take much care to wearing make-up but prefers her education. We also gave our character some props to use such as the big ruck-sack that a popular 'queen Bee' would not be seen wearing as it is off the practical boyish style. Another was that of the glasses, Milly actually wears glasses in real life, but it really added to the character of Tasha as she was of the 'geeky/academic/intelligent' social band.
We used many shots while filming this scene to give a lot of variety and depth to the storyline and also try and portray some of the emotions Tasha would be feeling to the audience as we tried to create an emotional attachment between audience and Tasha. As said previously we did use POV shots (looking at the school in Tasha's eyes), long shot (putting Tasha into the scene and making her seem quite small), low angle shot (of the school making the school look large and menacing, forcing the audience to feel intimidated), canted angle (which gave the impression of confusion, nervousness and disorientation). These were a few of the shots used.
We also used a microphone to pick up the dialogue spoken by the character. This time we made sure it was turned on.. The microphone did manage to block out most of the background noise but as we were outside filming there was a lot of noise about not to mention that there was a pretty strong wind about not helping the sound.
Before we filmed we did a short commentary and orientation of the preparation for the scene and we will post this at a later date. this enables use to explain what we were aiming for and how we managed to tackle the obstacles in trying to get ready for the following scene. This is also a good way that we can see how we can avoid possible difficulties in the future for filming but also a good diary of what we did which can be seen by others.


By Hannah

Character Profile

Actor: Hannah Thurlow

Character: Lydia (Queen Bee)

We chose Hannah to be the Queen Bee because she has the perfect facial features that a popular girl would consist of also her hair is the colour and length and can be styled as a popular girl. Making her the best appropriate person to be the Queen Bee in our film.

Actor: Milly Leppard

Character: Natasha/Tasha

We chose Milly because she's naturally pretty which will be good for the transformation scene because she also naturally has curly hair which most geeky girls have. Also to have the final geeky look she wears glasses which we are using in the film.

Actors: Amy Stewart & Priya Patel

Characters: Ellouise & Jasmine
We chose Amy and Priya because they are too both very pretty girls and also rather small and slim which in most chick flick popular girls are. They both have long hair. Amy has the common blonde hair blue eyed look that popular girls have and Priya has the lovely dark hair and dark eyes. They compliment and contrast each other as they are opposite yet in the same school group.

Alana

School scene

We are about to start filming another scene of our film where Milly's character Tasha is a new student and just arrived at school.
We'll be using POV shot, high and low angle, long shot, track, medium and close up to show which social class she is in once she joins the school.
We will also be considering creating a dolly by using a wheel chair to get a much smoother frame and movement of the camera.
Hopefully this time the microphone will work/be turned on.
We will definately double check this time.

Hannah & Alana

Editing a mini type movie

At the moment Hannah, Alana and myself are trying to make a mini-movie about getting ready for our main movie. We have included doing peoples hair, and makeup. Hannah also talks us through the outfits that everyone is wearing. We have also included a sound check for the microphone.

We will continue to add to this side project as we continue to film for our scenes. :)


By Hannah Laura & Alana

Preparation for filming tomorrow

What will be needed for tomorrow?

• Hair Products: hair spray, straighteners, grips and slides
• Make-up: eye make-up, lip gloss and foundation
• Costume: school uniform: skirt, tights, white shirt, school tie, shoes
• Cars: Dom's car, posh car for Lydia
• Filming Equipment: Camera, Microphone(make sure it is turned on!), tripod
• dolly: Skateboard, wheely chair if necessary
• props: phones, bags, make-up, glasses for Tasha

Just some things we need to consider and let our caste and crew know.

By Hannah

1st Scene Script

As I was in charge of script I have decided to post the script that we used for our first scene:

Jasmine: That was a bit slaggy

Lydia: Shut-up Jasmin e

Tasha: What was a bit slaggy?

Lydia: Nothing. It was nothing don't worry about it.

(Jasmin and Ellouise look at each other)

Tasha: C'mon what...

Ellouise: She got with your boyfriend....

Lydia: Thanks Ellouise! (stands up to talk to Tasha) Look it was nothing, it didn't really mean anything, no big deal, i just-

Tasha: YOU SLAG! (throws water over Lydia)

(Pan of characters emotions, everyone looks stunned)

Lydia: WHAT! You know what? You have really changed. (Jasmin and Ellousie rise and stand with Lydia)

(Lydia storms off camera followed by Jasmin and Ellouise, Tasha walks back onto a seat and looks sad)

Here is the short script used to set the scene and tone of our film. The script shows the really gritty English accent and common slang used amongst peers with each other. I think that it uses a lot of realism as i think our audience will be able to relate to the characters as they are made believable by the language used and the situations in which they are set in.


By Hannah

The filiming dilemma

I was really annoyed with the mix-up of the microphone situation. the camera angles were perfect movement, people were also very well prepared as we had all costume and hair and make-up done with great detail. This was a very good run through with what we have done.
Although there is no sound on our first scene we will post it and show the great camera work that we had created along with the documentary that we had made during the preparation with hair, make-up and costume explanations, hosted by myself and filmed by Laura.

We have delayed our filming of the first scene to this Friday which we hope we will be able to create the same effective piece we shot first time but we also expect to have more people within the scene (more extras). We will be filming the first school scene tomorrow (Thursday).

By Hannah

Dilemma

We saw the tape of our first time filming and we hit a wall hard.
The filming and shots and movement, costume. hair and make up were perfect unfortunately we had a rather big technical problem.
The student who was in charge of holding the microphone seemed to have forgotten to turn it on.
This means that we are further delayed in our film and meaning all our cast is going to have to return and re-shoot the previous scene.
Which also results in us having to find and buy all of the props used to reset the scene.
Our cast are now going to have to use up their spare time to help us get this scene done.

Alana

Next scene ideas

I've been thinking about the props we will need for later scenes.

And for the scene where Hannah's character Lydia is getting out of a car and looking at school as if she owns it, we will need a nice spoilt car.

My dad's car is a BMW 1 series

Or we could use my mums car which is a Peugeot 206 cc

I'm sure if I ask nicely we will be able to use one of my cars. However, my parents are normally busy after school. So if not we may have to find a new car.
I know we are able to use Dom's Mini for when Milly's character Natasha arrives to school. Which is a good car to use as it is a British car.
However, my parents cars aren't very British though my mum's Peugeot is a car that a spoilt school girl would get for a birthday present or for some occasion.

Let me know what you think.

Alana

First Successful Filming Session

Yesterday we finally started filming our coursework. We were meant to be filming a Ball scene but our cast didn't decide to turn up with the right costumes. Apart from our main characters Hannah (Lydia), Amy (Ellouise), Priya (Jasmine) and Milly (Tasha).
In the end we had to change the Ball scene to an 'after-prom-house-party' which in my opinion went well and will most likely make the film seem more British as Proms are normally an American thing.
Laura would shout freeze to make sure the cast stayed still so she could change the angle, and position of the camera so it consists of many different camera movements and shots.
I was doing continuity which i believe was met well. As i made sure that if the any part of the shot was filmed again i made sure peoples drinks were refilled and the food bowls were in the right place.
Overall I believe that the filming went well and i think we have included everything we have learnt into filming this scene.

I believe that we are already planning and getting our cast ready to film another scene on Thursday and Friday.
And we need to write a letter to go to tutors to let them know we may be filming in an area one day in the morning of children in school uniforms coming into school..


Alana

First scene of our filming is done!

Today we started our filming, as we weren't able to film 2 Fridays ago, we used today and we're going to use Friday as well.
We made some slight changes to our first scene because we emailed our characters to tell them that we were filming today and not many of them got back to us.
The people who did get back to us did remember to bring in dresses but as we only had 3 boys in our scene we decided to change the scene to a 'Prom after party' as this was much easier to do as an after party doesn't necessarily have lots of people in it.
I found filming lots of different shots difficult and it was very time consuming doing the same shots over and over again, but once we had done the scene it was very overwhelming.
Everyone looked gorgeous and I'm very excited to see what the first scene will look like
We're going to film the next couple of scenes on Friday which hopefully will run smoothly.

Laura :)

Hair Suggestions for Main Characters

As we're filming tomorrow I've been thinking about how little time we are going to have to set everything up as this hasn't been as thought through as last time.
I was thinking that the main characters should be the only people to really have their hair done. And as I'm the person to be doing this I researched some Ball hair styles from other British Films.


I was thinking this style of side pony tail with tight curls for Hannah's character.

And then for Milly's character can have the natural beauty look as British girls seem to be more natural than American girls

Amy's character and Priya's character can have a beehive ponytail so it looks like they are trying to impress people by looking the same

I'll try my hardest to make these hairstyles tomorrow for our film. If not it'll be something similar to these.

Alana

Things to consider

We will need Food
-party foods such as sausage rolls, sausages, etc
We will need Fizzy drink
-cherryade, orangeade, limeade, lemonade & cola
We will need Hairspray & Hair mousse
I've looked on Tesco and they do everything apart from the party food, but I looked on Sainsburys and they do the party food there so we can get it from there.

Laura (:

Filming

On Monday we going to film; as due to the snow in Friday the school wasn't open and we couldn't film, which was both annoying and upsetting as we had already planned every little detail and we weren't able to film
So on Monday all the snow should be melted so we should hopefully be able to film, hopefully all of our cast can make it.
I also hope that everything goes to plan and it won't take too long to film the prom scene.
Me Hannah and Alana will need to go to Tescos at some point during the day to get the food.
We are hopefully getting the 6th form changing rooms to put everything into it so our cast don't have to carry their dresses and props around.

By Laura (:

Our Film Choice

This is completely random but yesterday I went to the cinema to see Avatar.
It is an extraordinary film. However, sitting there watching a action film.
I'm glad with our choice of doing a Chick-Flick as it would of been rather difficult to create the opening 2 minutes of an action film.


Alana

Friday Filming Prep.

For the filming that we are doing on Friday I think that we should so some practise shots, etc to get us use to the camera sometime during our frees and lunch.
Also for Friday's filming we should only do the Prom scene as it requires most of the characters needed and it'll be a good quite day after school to use the Drama Studio. Also the Prom scene will be the hardest to get correct with continuity so best to try and do it in one day however, not rushed.

I'm still trying to find out whether we can use the 6th form changing rooms to store the clothes and equipment needed on Friday morning. We'll also need to find out whether the Drama studio is being used 5th period so we can set up during that lesson.

Doing the hair and make up for all the people in our film would take far to long. So if we ask them politely to have their hair and make up already done only the main characters should have their hair and make-up done by Hannah and I.

That Friday also we should take a trip down to Tesco's during our free period to buy the food and drink we will be using for the footage.
We could also buy decorations and table cloths if need be. I know that Miss Martin doesn't mind us using her fairy lights she uses to decorate her room during the Christmas period.

However, there is an issue with the skateboard to use as a Dolly. Milly says that her brother doesn't have a skateboard so I'll try to borrow my brothers. If not Laura can try find hers. Or we could borrow Amy's sisters skateboard.

Hannah for Friday all you need to bring in is:

• Make Up
• Small Mirrors
• Tape
• Skateboard maybe?

Laura for Friday all you need to bring in is:

• Make Up
• Skateboard
• Camera
• Tape

And I'll bring in:

• Hairspray
• Hair clips
• x2 Hair straighteners
• Combs
• Camera
• Tape

Let me know if i have missed anything out.


By Alana

Thoughts of Laura's comment

I really think what we have talked about and listed today was a really good way in seeing what we need to do, I think we all really need to be on the ball now leading up to filming. I have spoken with a lot of the people on the list and they all seem to have a positive attitude on appearing in our film, so that will be very good in order of numbers of people turning up. I feel that we will need to send out a facebook notice or something ASAP this is because if we don't we may run out of time in what we need to notify people to bring and when and where types of information.
Another thing that I forgot to mention this morning was that we need to think about skateboards for dolly's; either Laura and Alana or I don't know who we decided to bring it. I have given a rough idea to people about what to bring and what to expect.
At this moment I am writing our script, I was thinking I may use some English slang to make sure it seems a very British make, looking at films like 'Angus, Thongs and perfect snogging' the classic words such as 'minging' and so on. I feel this would really define our work and make it look very obvious about where we are setting our film and the type of people that our story will follow. I was also thinking of our new girl 'Natasha' as she will be coming from a private school she will of course be using proper English and grammar, showing a contrast between the social class of our characters.
I really loved that piece of music that Laura showed us today that was created by Robyn's band i really feel we could use this in the prom scene, of course we will have to ask for permission and whether it would be possible if we use some of their other songs to appear in our film. I feel their music could contribute a lot to our film enhancing the moods we are trying to create and the British 'School' theme we are aiming for.


Let me know what you think

By Hannah

General things we need to consider (First post of 2010! :))

This is our Facebook Fan Page For our Movie
I decided that this would be the easiest and quickest way of telling everyone what we are filming, when we are filming, what they need to bring, etc etc
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Alana-Hannah-Loras-Media-movie-D/238048184910?v=wall#/pages/Alana-Hannah-Loras-Media-movie-D/238048184910?ref=mf

These are the Groups that we have decided to have in our Film & who is in which group

Queen Bees
Hannah Thurlow - Lydia
Amy Stewart
Priya Patel
Neeks / Nerds
Laura-Jayne Way
Bonnie Man
Charlotte Docwra
(Suzi Homer - extra)
Grungers & BAND
Robyn Feegrade
Charlie Dowd
Lucy Smith-Jones
Dom Sturgeon
Preppy Girls
Alison Davies
Katherine Yearly
Clare West
Martha Collins
Hannah Minns
Gerneral Boys
Chris Styan
Stu Reeves
Laurence Bolton
Jonathan Howe
Dan Rossell
Charlie Surrey
Carl Downs
Otis Brayer
(Alec Mills & Joe Bird - extras)

Food, Drink, Decorative things for the Drama Studio
Cherryade - to look like Rosé
Apple Juice & Lemonade - Apple Tizer
Bread and Butter (to look like Sarnies)
Tortilla Chips
Sweets

-To decorate the Drama Studio
Fairy lights
Fabric
Tinsel?
Table covers
Plastic cups
Silver platters for Food

-For the Band
Drum Kit
Microphone
'Speakers'
Guitar
Bass

-For Alana to do Hair
Hairspray
Kirby grips
Hairbands
Hair wax

- For Hannah to do Make-Up
Old makeup people don't mind donating for us to use

-Other Props
3-D Glasses for the nerdy people to wear
Dom's Mini for the Car scene for Milly to get out of, a typically English Car
A nice posher car for The Queen Bee's to get out of.

Costume
Queen B's
School Day - Skirts, Black Tights, Black or Coloured High Heels, White Shirts & Ties
Prom Scene - Elegant Dresses like no-one Else's.
Neeks
School Day - Either Trousers, Skirts or Shorts, Black Tights, Long Socks, 3-D Glasses
Prom - 'Neeky' dresses
Grungers
School Day - Stripey beanies, Black Jeans, Khaki Colours, D/C's,Vans, Fingerless Gloves, Zip Hoodies - No fear?
Prom - Smart Shirts & Jeans or Tux's & Dresses
Preppy Girls
School Day - Mid Length Skirts, White Shirts, Long Socks & Tights
Prom - Dresses or High Waisted skirt / shorts & nice top & tights
General Boys
School Day - Relaxed School Uniform
Prom - Nice shirt & jeans - Smart. or a Tux


By Laura :)