Picture This Analysis

This is another trailer of a teen chick flick that I am going to analyse.
The first shot used in this trailer is a POV shot of Mandy (main female character) looking at the most popular guy in the school which suggests that she shouldn't be looking at him as we get a mid shot of Mandy who looks a bit geeky with her glasses making the audience realise that she isn't popular.
Mandy is then pushed over by the Queen Bee of the school and we see a low angle of the stereotypical blonde popular girl to show that she is the only girl important in the school and the only one that can look at Mandy's love interest. Its also a shot of the Queen Bee taking a picture of Mandy's embarrassing underwear which suggest that she doesn't care about anyone else's feelings, that she gets a kick out of making others feel bad.
We don't get the establishing shot till quite a while into the trailer of the school and how big it is to then be a quick cut to the popular girls talking about Mandy.

There isn't much editing used of transitions or quick cuts which is rather unusual for a teen-chick flick but the few that are used are to show the difference in time and the difference of the character Mandy. She is changing her look to get the male character to notice her more. She is becoming who she thinks she wants to be.

The trailer also only uses the same pop tune throughout from start to finish suggesting that the way Mandy is feeling at the beginning is also how she is going to feel at the end. What she thought she wanted isn't what she actually needs.

At the beginning Mandy starts off with wearing glasses and baggy clothes but she slowly changes and starts wearing contacts and tighter clothes to wearing a sexy dress to impress her love interest.
The male lead is always lit like a God as we are normally seeing him from Mandy's point of view. Which is why Mandy's facial expressions are always happy when she sees him.

Alana

Breaktime

I am in media again with Alana watching through our film and editing out more pieces of our clip, we have sorted out more of our music which we wanted to play over our transformation scene. what we have wanted to do is to put a narration over the transformation scene and play this with the music. Unfortunatley we tried yesterday and the mic did not work, so we are trying to find another one maybe a head set with a mic or on Amy's nintendo DSI which also has a microphone.

By Hannah

Wild Child Analysis

Even though this is the trailer to Wild Child and not the first 2 minutes, I think that this is a good clip to analyse.
At the beginning of the trailer we are straight away introduced to Poppy Moore, the main character and who the film is about, the camera tracks her movement through her house to show she is the character everyone should be focusing on.
An over the shoulder shot is also used to show Poppy with hundreds of teenagers walking into her house that we assume are her Beverly Hills rich friends.
I like the shot of the feet walking towards each other (because we have used a similar shot) to show who is more important at the new school Poppy has gone to, even though she isn't the popular girl here she still tries and thinks she is by wearing high heels. The same scene uses a mid shot of Poppy and Harriet, showing Harriet towering over Poppy instead if using a low angle to show Harriet's power in the school.
The whole trailer is full of quick cuts and fast transitions maybe to represent the lifestyle that Poppy lived in Beverly Hills. A lot of slide transitions are used throughout the trailer to show the change on time and place also fade to Whites are used to have the same effect. Also really quick fade to white are used to have the sense of a pictures being taken when the groups of girls say 'who are we' and they get all their phones out. I think this is a really clever idea which we could use in our own film.
The non-diegetic sounds are basically all pop tracks. At the beginning a track with loud bass and very up-beat tempo is used when Poppy is at home in her comfort zone to show that she is comfortable where she is and in control. However, when it changes to the school in England the song 'Toxic' is used in a dramatic way with the lightning, to maybe suggest that she isn't going to cope in this situation with no friends.
A pop track is still used even when we are shown the clips of Poppy with Freddie who is obviously her love interest. Even though the track is slow to emphasise the strong feelings between them. Also relaxing, chilled out tracks are used with the clips of Poppy and her friends that she makes at the school are shown to create the happy atmosphere and to create a sense that she has grown up.
The props used at the start are to show that Poppy is rich and is spoilt with expensive gifts compared to when she is in England and has to completely change her usual routine and go shopping to charity shops. However, she tries to stay 'normal' by using mini sun tanning machines.
Also the lighting of Poppy is very bright and quite angelic compared to the character Harriet who is always so darkly lit to emphasise that Poppy is the nicer character of the film.

All of these things I have analysed is what I think of what we should try use in out editing of our 2 minute clip or because some of the shots and transitions we have already used which makes our film appeal more to the teen-chick flick audience.

Alana

Slaggy Lindsey

Here I have included the clip of Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging to show my main inspiration for Lydia which is the character that I will be playing in our film. the Angus thongs and perfect snogging really gives us the Brit-teen feel and look that we really want to establish within our first two minute film opening. I really love how we are able to take parts of chick-flicks and portray them into our film, this really has benefited us in the long run as I feel that is has made our film become more in tune with the film industry and as the films that we are analysing have done well in attracting audiences we too hope this will be the case with ours.

By Hannah

Early morning Editing

Alana and I came to media studies before college started and decided to do some more editing. We did some cutting of the scenes to make the transitions smoother and also this gave us more seconds to put in more shots towards the end of our scene.
We have also let Mr Oswick watch our progress so far we have been able to get back some feed back as to how to make our film clip better. We have been told to improve on our sound as some parts of our clip have background sound or parts of our props make to much noise (such as the shoes that make to much of an echo within the clip and dominate over the soundtrack).
Alana has also managed to bring up the photos taken to put onto as part of our film ( the transformation scene) We had taken the photos of the Queen Bees changing Tasha, we took photos because we believed that this would give a different approach and effect on the audience which is what we wanted. At the moment we are still in the middle of the editing although we have accomplished most of the cutting out of unwanted parts and smoothing over the transitions.
We are also debating on what type of music we will put on over the transformation shots.

By Alana & Hannah

Audiencing Profiling

I think that our target audience is mainly teenage girls because most teen-chick flicks are the lives or unrealistic story lines that catch their eyes as they may wish school life or life in general was like how these type of films portray them.
I've research some teen-chick flicks that I think plot line are similar too. These films are also certificate rating 12 or under which is the age rating we have classed our film to be.

St. Trinian's.
The majority of customers to see this films were females (80%) and mainly from the age range of 12-14 (22%) and 15-24 (41%). The customers were all from different social classes. Male customers did view this film but not a high percentage.

Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging.
Also with this teen-chick flick most of the customers to see this film were female but compared to St. Trinian's only 61% were female quite a few were male customers. This could be because more adults came to see this film so it could of been children's fathers. This film is also the certificate rating of 12.

She's The Man.
50% of the audience were male and 50% of the audience were female and the majority of the customers were in the age range of 15-24 (47%). I think that this film did extremely well to appeal towards girls and boys of the teenage group as guys don't really like to watch the girly films. They probably did this because of the plot line being about football and the main actress they've used.

Miss Congeniality.

However, Miss Congeniality most of the consumers were male between 15-24 again. I think that this is because of the storyline being about FBI agents and quite a bit of 'action' in this film with it also being girly by having the obvious minor love story. Also the actresses they used were very attractive which would catch the male audiences attention.

Alana

Editing Whole Film

Editing the whole film together today to make sure we had everything we needed and also to cut out parts that weren't as important as others as we went over the 2 minute time barrier quite badly.
But with the patience we have managed to edit the full film down to 1:55 which I think is excellent. All we need to do now is keep watching it start to finish and make sure the transitions make the different shots/scenes flow.
I like how we have put the titles onto the frame because then that also saved us having 20 seconds of titles at the beginning.
The problem that we seem to keep encountering is finding the right piece of music that we all agree on for certain parts of our film. But as we now have more time to find the right one I'm sure we'll be just fine.


Alana

Evaluation of Filming Yesterday

Yesterday we filmed the final scene in our movie; I think it went really well as everything went to plan.

The actors we used for the people in the corridor worked well and did what we told them with ease. The Queen Bee's were very well behaved and also worked well with what we told them to do. Again we used the 'FREEZE!' action within our filming, we felt that this was the most effective way to get all of the actors to freeze in their positions to help with the continuity.

I am very glad that the filming is over as we have now got to finish the editing and inter cut scenes, we are nearly finished with our filming and we are quite ahead of the other people in our class with editing and filming, as many of them have finished filming but haven't started editing yet.

Yesterday we spent most of our media lesson editing what we already had and finding music for these points, we found a perfect piece of music to open up the scene with our establishing shot. This then stops at the point in which Amy's characters says 'She got with your Boyfriend'. we think that this is perfect because it then emphasises the important fact that Lydia was just messing with Tasha and wasn't really genuine to her. This worked really well.



By Laura (:

Last Filming Day

Yesterday we filmed the last scene of our coursework. We only really filmed the Queen Bee's walking down a corridor and quickly talking to 'Tasha' to save time and make it easier to edit for us instead of filming the transformation scene we took pictures and are going to have an over the top audio of Lydia saying 'Welcome to St Ivan's'
I think the filming went well as our extras knew what they were doing in the scene and we did a couple on practice runs to see if the camera's position worked well for the panning.
I'm glad we have finished the filming before half term as we have done well with our time management as now our free time during school after half term can be used to edit all of the film together and find the music we need and add the titles to the appropriate frames.
Today we should edit the scene we filmed yesterday and make it all flow together. I am looking forward to having the final product.


Alana

Our Filming Equipment

Here I have decided to blog what we are actually using to film our little opening of a film. This enables us to produce and film our film we are able to pick up sound with our microphone leaving out the background noises and we are able as the audience to concentrate on the sounds that are directed at us. I also feel that we are able to all have more responsibility throughout the filming process as I am usually filming and either Laura or Alana are filming and this means that one is left out so the other is able to hold and control the mic.

We then have our camcorder we are using a 'Canon Digital Video Camcorder Pal MVX350I' this enables us to carryout our shots and our majority of the filming throughout our opening. The Canon camera has very high quality and are easy to use meaning it is easy for every one to use and not just one person who has spent a lot of time with the equipment, which is a plus and gives us all a equal chance to film.

We then have the tripod which gives us a steady way of shooting each shot making it more stable for the camera to focus and the audience to view what is going on in the shot.

I hope this is useful as you can see what we have to work with and what we are trying to use to the best of our ability.

By Hannah

Media Lesson

At the moment we are currently cutting down our film and so it is shorter so we can put in some of the new scene that we are filming today. We are also trying to put on our Production company (Working Title as it is short and will not add time to our film) onto our film. Working title was one of the companies that we considered doing from before when I (Hannah) suggested it.
We have decided to film our new and final scene today also. We will be filming the transformation scene and had new ideas in how to do this and so we will try them all and see which one looks the best and this will show us the one to use and add to our film. To add more of an effect we will be putting music over the top that we have found off a free copy website and also a narrative of the queen bees and possibly Tasha.

By Alana, Laura and Hannah

Editing our Film

Yesterday I had the chance to really edit our film. I spent around 1 1/2 hours yesterday doing our editing. This consisted of mainly watching our film over and over again until i could see what needed to be taken out. I cut most of the speech out that was not supposed to be in there for example Lora or Alana shouting 'cut' or 'go'. I was also able to have a go at doing some continuity editing where I matched the action of the Queen Bees walking into the party scene, with a mid shot of them walking. This gave the impression of feet belonging to the Queen Bees and them being a very important part of the scenes as it was the characters entrance into the scene and their arrival actually sparks off the catalyst of the events. We also began to worry as we had only 15 seconds of our film time left in order to get in an entirely new scene this meant a great cutting down of the conversations and shots, which worried us slightly as we wanted to keep most of it but had to cut it out in order for the audience to understand what was going on at the same time as staying within the time limit and staying true to the storyline but also giving enough room for the film to look like it needs to carry on.
I really liked doing some of the editing although there is much space for me to improve. I really enjoyed doing some of the editing as it gave me a new possibility to edit in the future and gave me more responsibility but also more control and input into what happens within our film.

By Hannah

Research into Chick Flicks

I'm going to research the types of people who go and see Chick Flicks, I am going to analyse as many films as I can to do with the Chick Flick Genre.

I am going to start with St Trinians;

This is a screen shot of the types of people and ages of people who went to see this film.

As you can see from the Image above it was mainly Teenagers who went to see this film, and the majority of them are female, which does make sense as this is a Chick Flick. The class of people going to this film are C1.

The second film I am going to analyse is John Tucker Must Die

This is a screen shot of the ages of people who went to go and see John Tucker Must Die

As you can see from the above image again it was mainly teenagers who went to see this film, there was a split gender as there was both male and female (50%) each.

By Laura (:

Editing

Yesterday we uploaded the After Party scene and started the cutting and editing of all the different frames. We've made the frames flow together with match on action and different transitions.
We've also edited this scene with the rest of the scenes we have film and uploaded to see how long our filming is at the moment. Unfortunately we have gone over the 2 minute's allowed so we are having to seriously think about what frames we actually need to make the story be told but still look good.
I think personally that we should cut out any dialogue that isn't needed, for example; the dialogue in the bitching scene which isn't about Tasha isn't needed and then we can cross cut from this scene to the scene of Tasha coming to school. I think that this will give the effect that they're superior than Tasha and also tell the audience that the film is going to be based around these four girls.
Though, I don't think we should start cutting out large parts of our film just yet until we have the final scene (which we are filming today) uploaded so then we can really concentrate and talk about which bits are and aren't needed.


Alana

Editing

Yesterday I cut down the vast majority of the re-re-re filmed After party scene, although this scene is longer than a minute we are going to finish filming today as we are filming the last bit which is the transformation scene - the scene where the Queen Bees transform Milly's character. Once we have uploaded this scene onto adobe we will begin the long process of editing everything. Once we have uploaded everything we will inter cut the scenes into each other and cut them down to the bare minimum to keep with the strict 2 minute time limit.

With regards to Alana's post about the sound I have suggested to her that we use Itunes, as on Itunes you can cut the start and end time on a song to make it shorter, which would be useful as the music we have found for her scene is a 30 second clip and if we only need the music for 20 seconds then we can cut either the end time or the start time, this will be useful for the shorter scenes where we may have a longer bit of music which is perfect but it is too long.

By Laura (:

Sound/Music

Currently we have been looking on copyright free websites to find some music for the different scenes.
We've found a fast tempo pop track for the After Party scene as then it seems like the characters are listening to that but it also goes well for when the Queen Bee's are walking.
However, the only problem that i think we have encountered is that when you download these MP3's some are to long for the scene. We need to find a way to cut it down to about 20-15 seconds.
We're also trying to find a piece of music for the locker scene to make us feel sorry for "Tasha" but so far there hasn't been any we think fits that part. We should maybe look for acoustic guitar melodies or maybe some strings.

I've got some of the music on a memory stick at home. Which i am going to try and find a way to shorten the tracks and see if they then fit and go better in our film.


Alana

Website Issues

We are currently trying to access our blog at the moment but the website seems to be faulted, hopefully by trying to post something we will be able to view our blog.

Hannah, Laura and Alana

Refiliming at Alana's House

Today we're re filming again the party scene at Alana's house.
We are going to take pictures of everyone's outfits to show the contrast between the Queen Bees and everyone else's costumes.

We will add them to this blog post at a later date once we have taken them

Hannah Laura and Alana (:

Today

Today Alana and I were talking about what scenes we were going to include in our film, as we have a lot of them in our previous story board.
We think that we should cut out the scenes in which the Queen Bee's and Milly get out of each of their cars and then we do a tilt shot of each of them to show the contrast between them, we thought that we should get rid of them because they are very time consuming and they will take up the majority of our 2 minute time limit.
I also suggested that in the scene where the Queen Bee's are bitching about the new girl we should mix the shot of Milly walking into school and looking up at the school where she also bites her lip as to suggest that she is nervous into this shot, as then we can say that we have used Shot-reverse-shot, which I think would be an effective way of introducing Milly into the film and
This then cuts down the strict time limit.

I am also going to blog the new storyboard which I drew earlier so Hannah can see it as she was ill today.

Alana & Hannah let me know on what you think of this :)

By Laura (:

Thoughts on the Videos Alana posted

I loved filming the after party scene, I liked to film what everyone was wearing and what Hannah has said connotes the reasons why we have chosen to put everyone in certain dresses and have certain peoples hair as it is.
The shots that we used in the other video of us practicing our filming shots were a range of shots as we just basically practised and had a go at changing the angles in which we looked at people in different perspective to what we usually do (mid shot, long shot etc)
I thought that these were very effective tasks for us to film as it gave us a broader look on shots and what shots suit certain characters

By Laura (:

The video of camera practice

This is the video to show us trying out different camera angles, shots and movement. Also it shows different ways we could film dialogue.
We practiced filming a pan movement of Milly walking up the stairs with the camera on the tripod to see how smooth the movement was.
We also did a high angle of Milly walking up the stairs to see whether this angle shows her to be more vulnerable as we could do with having the character Milly plays portrayed as the vulnerable new girl.
After this we then put the camera in the middle of a circle whilst Hannah, Laura, Milly and Dan were having a conversation to see whether that would be a better movement to use for filming a conversation. However, watching it back it could make people feel dizzy.
We also tried a low angle of Milly which successfully made her seem important and powerful which is what we exactly need to portray the Queen Bee's as.
I think that the match on action we tried to do didn't work at all. So I think if we should practice doing this shot and make sure we have some match on action in our film.

Alana

The Video Prep of After Party Take 1

Here is the video of the filming preparation for when we filmed the first take of the After Party Scene.
As you can see from this video the sound worked perfectly fine while we were filming this little video. So when we were filming the actual footage we needed the microphone must of either died or not been turned on.
I like this video because it shows how we tried to really symbolise all the different characters by their mise-en scene and the effort we put in to create this.
It shows the the Queen Bee followers getting their hair done the same and then showing all the characters and extras from head to toe with Hannah explaining what they are wearing and why.

Alana

Script for tomorrow's filming

Alana and I are going to write a script for tomorrows re-re-re-filming of our After party scene.

Establishing shot - extras dancing and talking

Queen Bees walk in.
Queen Bees sit down

Jasmin: That was really slaggy Lydia

Tasha Turns Round

Tasha: What was really slaggy?
Lydia: Nothing, Don't worry about it Tash
Tasha: No. really what?
Ellouise: She got with your boyfriend!

Lydia stands up and looks at Amy with disgust

Lydia: Thanks Ellouise!

Tasha throws her drink over Lydia

Tasha: You slag!!!
Lydia: gasp You weren't like this 6 months ago.

Pan of everyones expressions - some are laughing and others have shocked faces

Queen Bees walk out
Lydia walks towards a sofa.

End Scene

By Alana and Laura and Hannah

Age rating

I think that our film should either be rated a PG or 12, as there is mild language used in it and it is a chick flick, as mean girls and St trinians seem to fall into this category I think we should rate it at a 12a, which means that girls who are under the age of 12 may go and see this with their parents, and as it is a chick flick it means we can have some kind of adult themes in this film whereas if we made it a PG then we might be restricted to what themes and language we can use in the movie.

By Laura (:

Filming Today

Today in period 5 we filmed the 'toilet scene', this went really well as after my post earlier about us communicating together better obviously worked as we all voiced our opinions of shots and I thought that this scene went really really well

We used a lot of shots in this scene and I thought it was one of the best scenes that flowed together properly, the script that Hannah and Alana wrote was amazing and well thought out. We had originally planned to film this in the B corridor toilets but we found a massive disabled toilet in the 6th form changing rooms where we had been getting everyone ready so we decided to use this instead, this turned out to be a very wise decision as then we didn't have to disturb any ones lessons and we didn't have to move equipment around. The actual filming was very smooth and we used a lot of shots such as:

• Point of view shot





• Over the shoulder shot


• High angle shot





• Low angle shot

• 'Mirror shot' - as if the girls were looking into the mirror
  
• Sound Bridge
  

I think that the mix of shots used in this shot all work well with each other
The sound bridge that we used worked well as well, we used this when Jasmine was talking as I did a pan from the two other girls down to Jasmine to see her finish off what she was saying.
I think that this was a good idea and it works well with the rest of the scene as we don't have a sound bridge anywhere else.

This scene has given me the confidence to know that we should have everything filmed by the end of the next week of so so we can begin the long task of editing everything, as to make sure that everything is completed.

By Laura (:

Toilet Scene

We just finished filming the 'toilet scene' which is where the 3 Queen Bee's are talking about Tasha and plotting how they're going to turn her into one of them.
When we were filming we all said our ideas and all agreed to how each frame should be shot.
The filming has many different shots and angles that really work well together and i think that the scene is the best it could of been.
Also all of the filming was done on a tripod and different heights and levels so that we could include low and high angles but also have the footage smooth and calm which is better than if we had filmed this handheld or placed on a handmade dolly.
I'm glad that we all voiced our opinions with today's filming as it probably has been the best footage we've got. If we are like this for the transformation and after party scene I believe that our 2 minute opening will be rather good.
The only thing I think that will need to be done is editing all of the footage to having probably a lot of it cut and and using quick flash in and flash outs and other different transitions to make the footage flow and merge together to make our film look more professional.
We also need to think about time management. I think that we should have the filming done by the end of next week so then the 5 weeks after half term we can use for editing and creating how we are seeing the film in our heads on Adobe as we don't really have that much time left.

By Alana

Certificate Rating

I did some research into Chick Flick age rating and most of the films are either PG or 12 which would be good for our film as we are attempting to have our film like a common Chick Flick.

I also think that we should use either PG or 12 rating because of maybe the language.

I don't think we should use 15 or 18 age rating because obviously we don't have total appalling language or any sex scene in our film. Also their isn't any actions or explosion scenes which many 15 or 18 films include.

Also our film won't be a U rating because that's normally for Disney children films which are all happy, joyful and colourful

We should decide on whether we think our film is a PG or 12 rating and find a picture or quick video of the certificate and added to our film.

Alana

Script for the toilet scene

Here Alana and I have created a rough draft for the script for the toilet scene I am really looking forward to shooting this scene as I believe that it will look really good with the shots and camera movement that Alana has suggested in her previous post.

Ellouise: So...that new stuck girl is starting today.

Jasmin: She a slag?

Lydia: Jasmin, if she is stuck-up then she is not going to be a slag. She'll speak like the queen and look like a neek.

Jasmin: I bet you Lydia, there's no way, you could turn her.

Ellouise: What?

Jasmin: A slut Ellouise...what are you retarded or summin.

Lydia: Shut-up yous two.


Enter school girls


Lydia: Umm. Are you lost. You don't come here mingers.


School girls back out looking at one another anxiously


Ellouise: So you gunna do it?

Lydia:...Alright, be a laugh.


END SCENE

I feel this was a really good opening and introduction to our Queen Bee characters and I really love the way that the characters interact with each other and we as the audience get a real sense of the hierarchy and the relationship between the main characters and how that changes toward the end. This is really an insight into how they dominate the school and manage to control and manipulate the people around them and so they are able to control the situations around them to their advantage. I hope Lora will approve of what we have done so far and that we will be able to adjust it if we need to.

By Hannah Alana and Laura

General Thinking

Today we are filming another scene with the Queen Bee's where they are bunking their lessons to apply their make-up and bitch about the new girl Tasha. We're going to use the toilets at our own school which are rarely used so we won't be disturbed during filming.

I think that we should try do a track shot. But have the camera as the mirror. So then the 3 girls will be looking straight done the camera applying their make-up and playing with their hair. This will be a good idea because if we were to film it the other way round and have it as a POV shot the camera would be in the frame which would ruin the shot.

Also I think that the layout of the characters should be that Hannah's character Lydia should be standing at the front and the other 2 girls standing either side. A bit like a triangle.

We arranged to do this scene over the weekend via text and phone calls but I think that unfortunately not everyone feels comfortable with what we are filming today. However, I'm sure with filming last period we won't overrun.

At the moment Hannah and I are working on today's script. I think that we should use a lot of English slang to really make our film represent a real British production.

And as I just mention British production I think that we should use the Universal Pictures and Pathe and Working Title logo's to be placed in our film because then we have the British production company, Working Title, which is helped and funded by the larger companies such as Universal Pictures.

I also think that we should include a certificate rating. I think that it should either be a PG or a 12 as we are going to include some common insults which are commonly used but if this film was going to be in the cinema the parents may get offended with some of the language.

Alana

Thoughts On Laura's Comment

I think that we do need to talk a bit more as we all seem to be confused about people and what they are doing on what day in which scene. We have all tired to arrange things as best we can and we all need to meet soon today to discuss our ideas and thoughts on our film. We already have decided on the setting for today as I suggested the B block toilets and we all agreed it would be a good place to film. Lora said it is quiet and in quite nice shape. I also suggested that one girl in school uniform enters the toilets to use it but is pushed out by the Queen Bees as they are the ones in there, if Lora wanted to appear in the film now would be a good time as we can show the divide of social groups. let me know your thoughts of this.
I am currently writing the script with Alana and if Lora wanted to add anything or take anything out then i really would enjoy her feedback, we shall post the script ASAP. this way we can discuss what we like/dislike about the scene and also where we are in the storyline but also what we want add/leave out next time.

I will hopefully write up the script here today and shall report on how the filming.

By Hannah

Comments on Hannahs Post

I like the idea of using a British film company for the beginning of our film is a good idea as it does keep within the British aspect of our film and keeps it authentic. In our other Media lessons we have also been looking at Film 4, which is another idea for the film company 'producing' our movie. I have looked into the films that Film 4 produce and they are all mainly UK films as they do link up with other small film companies to produce low budget films as Film 4 cannot budget a film by itself. The Film 4 introduction is quick as it only flashes on quickly and then fades out which is good for us as we only have 2 minutes of total footage to fit in, and we have a lot of scenes.


By Laura (:

Concerns

I have had a few concerns over the past couple of days, I think that we're not talking as much as we used to about what we're filming and I felt a bit left out, so I think we need to talk a bit more about what we're filming so that we're all certain on what we're doing. I am also concerned if we're going to be able to finish the filming and editing of the whole movie. After half term we have 5 and a half weeks to complete and have a fully finished and polished off movie. I think that we should be able to do it, but we're going to have to do editing after school and at lunch. As Hannah and Alana don't live near to the school after school sessions are going to be difficult as they will not be able to get home. We also need to remember to add titles onto the beginning of the film to introduce our characters, we need to have a look on our editing suite to see if we can do this on Adobe. If not I am sure that we can go on Windows Movie Maker to add the credits as it is easy to do it on there. Today we're filming another scene where we see the Queen Bees bitching about Tasha. We're going to film this in the B block toilets as they are bigger and no-one really uses them. We are going to film 5th period so hopefully there will not be anyone in the toilets at that time apart from us, as everyone should be in a lesson. If not then we will have to film after school which would be a lot easier, as if we don't finish filming within the hour then we might be disturbed by the school bell signifying the end of the day.

By Laura (:

Film Production Company Possibilities

Here I have gathered quite a number of the film production companies that I feel could be possible candidates for our film that we needed to consider. As we are British I feel we should go with a British film production company, this would enhance the reality of our films appearance. I have included some of the major names such as Universal studios and 'Dreamworks'. However I have done some research into these production companies and the types of films that they have supported in the past. For example Universal have supported Mean Girls which was a classic chick flick that is well known and loved by everyone although this was an American company and an American film (settings, cast, plotline). The productions company 'Dreamworks' and 'Pixar' generally produce a lot of the animated films that are shown at the cinema. Production companies such as spyglass and 'Lakeshore' generally feature in more British films that have had success in both the UK and the United States, which may be a really good option for use to look at. Another one that i thought was a real contender was 'Pathe' production company. They have supported British films such as Slumdog Millionaire and Angus, Thongs and Perfect snogging. These two films have had great successes even when they were not expected to be. I feel this could be down to partly because of the production company and there care and determination through the films.

I think that we should aim to go with a company that we know have debt with British films and this way we know that they cannot be made to 'Americanised' but we know that the film will also have success I feel that we narrow them down to three possibilities them being : Pathe Pictures, Lakeshore Pictures and Spyglass. These are great examples of well known companies and I feel would really benefit our film.

Below I have left some pictures of the Production Companies Logos and so they are easier to recognise and therefore discuss.

By Hannah

Uploading

Unfortunately uploading videos hasn't been very successful. Whenever we try to upload our videos of our filming preparation, camera practise and microphone testing it seems that's either the computers don't like us or the software that we are using doesn't seem to be working at school.
Maybe we should try putting the videos onto a USB stick and try to upload the videos onto YouTube from home.
Then if that works we will be able to post the videos onto our blog to show everyone what we've done.

Alana