Final Piece - "Upload Complete"

I am thrilled to present the final cut of our two-minute opening "Upload Complete".

Many thanks to Anna Jordan and Dominic Edmunds for their enthusiastic participation and Pauline Powrie for her less-enthusiatic donation of props!

Evaluation - Question 1

Evaluation - Question 2

Evaluation - Question 3

Evaluation - Question 4 & 5

Evaluation - Question 6

Evaluation Question 5 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Evaluation Question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learned in the progression from this to the final product?

Preliminary Task

This is our preliminary exercise-

"Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/revers shot and the 180 degree rule."

I worked in a group with James, Michael and George to complete this.

We decided to choose the idea of "Sprite Club" - a spoof of Fight Club.

It was our first real opportunity to use the cameras to film and then the editing software (iMovie) in post-production.

Below is the finished product:

Explanation of the lack of credits in our two-minute opening

In our two minute opening, we do not have any opening credits mentioning the director(s), cast or production companies.  This was NOT a mistake!

In most thriller-crime films if something important, such as a murder in our case, occurs it is standard procedure to not show the credits until the next part of the film.  This is mainly because this kind of opening really sets the tone for the rest of the film, and therefore the filmmaker does not want the audience to be distracted by the credits, and therefore show them at a less vital part of the movie. We have emulated this in our own opening.

Ident

This is our new ident for our two minute opening. We decided it was appropriate to develop a new ident on the basis that both of our previous creations were too cheerful/bright for the thriller genre opening we are creating. Because of this our new ident is simple, understated and is made upon a simple colour scheme. We decided not to include any sound because we plan to, once we have added our ident to our opening, lay sounds of a camera focussing over the top in order to introduce our film.

Coursework - Updated Casting Feedback

After some thought and consideration we chose the following cast for our film:
Youtuber - Anna Jordan













Man - Dominic Edmonds

Coursework - Updated Casting Videos

 

This is our casting video.  We auditioned four different girls for the role of the youtuber in our film,

 

 

 

We decided not to audition the role of the stalker since he has no lines and we already had a good idea of who we wanted to play the role.  A little bit of an inside job!

Coursework - Filming Dates

We have decided that our main date for filming will be the Saturday 24th of January - provided that our actors are available. We believe that this will be the only date we need for filming but this may change if there is anything that needs to be re-shot.

Coursework - Script

SCRIPT

(Camera flicks on revealing Youtuber from the point of view of the camera, as she begins making her video.)

YOUTUBER

Hi guys!  I know I haven’t been able to post loads recently so today I’m just making a little video just to update you all on everything that’s been happening in my life over the last few weeks!  

So, as I’m sure many of you are aware, me and my family moved into our new house last Tuesday and I’m relieved to say that it is lovely and we are all settling in great.  The move was obviously a little stressful but we are all glad to be that twenty minutes further down the A11! [laughs]

***

(Cross-cuts to the hand of a man scrolling through the Instagram account of the youtuber and liking all of the photos on her account.  He then gets into a car and slams the door shut)

***

(Cross-cuts back to the youtuber’s bedroom.  The camera is focused on the mobile phone on her bedside table which is flashing from the man liking her photos.)

YOUTUBER (in background)

…we want to say a massive thank you to all of you who helped us with everything!  We are so extremely grateful.

***

(Cross-cuts back to the man who pulls up in his car behind bushes of the youtuber’s house.  As he leaves the car and walks towards the house, the audience can see various photographs taken of the youtuber, as well as videos and other things related to the youtuber left on the passenger seat and dashboard of the car.)

***

(The shot cross-cuts back to the youtuber who is still filming her video)

YOUTUBER

Now, on to more important things. [laughs]  I have been no stranger to all of the rumours surrounding me lately about me starting a relationship with another, let’s say “quite well known” youtuber in the last month or so…

***

(Cross-cuts back to a close up of the man’s fingers as he opens the front door and walks into the house.)

***

YOUTUBER

…And I just wanted to take this opportunity to tell you all that me and Jack have indeed been on a couple of dates and I’m very happy to say that things couldn’t be going any better!  And I-

(A smash is heard from downstairs, the youtuber stops and pauses for a moment before shrugging it off)

[To herself/out of character]  Hmm, I’ll need to edit that out…

***

(The shot cuts to a shocked and frantic man downstairs as he attempts to push the smashed vase underneath a drawer.  Once he does this adequately, he hears a laugh coming from upstairs, and looks up the staircase.)

***

(The youtuber is reaching the end of her video.)

YOUTUBER

So then, I think I’ve said everything I wanted to say!  I should be posting regularly now from here on, and I want to say a massive sorry yet again for my inactivity over the last few weeks, but yeah!  I shall be posting more makeup,

(In shot, the door slowly begins to open behind the Youtuber.) 

hair and beauty posts over the next couple of days because while I was away I found loads that I just

(The man slowly walks towards the girl menacingly, who is unaware that he has entered the room.  He gets closer and closer until he is only a few meters away when she says the final line.)

think are great and want to show you all!  But yes, I just want to give an enormous thank you to everyone who helped and everyone of my subscribers who have followed me on this adventure.  I love you all!

(Shot cuts to black.)

(An upload bar fills up on the screen.  When it reaches the top you hear a small ‘ding’ and the words ‘Upload Complete’ appear on the screen.)

Fin.

Coursework - Audience Research

For our two-minute film opening coursework, we are required to get audience research from at least six people. 

This is the result of these interviews:

Audience research is important because it allows you to see the ideas and feelings of your target audience before you start making the film.  By doing this audience research, we were able to find out many different things about what people look for in films and what they would be expecting to see early on in the movie.

Coursework - Updated Storyboard

This is our completed storyboard, it does not include all of our shots but this is due to the fact that we are undecided about what footage we will need and use for certain shots.

Update - 16/1/2015

As of today, we still need to complete...

New casting, storyboard, scriptwriting, audience research videos and deciding on filming dates. This will be our focus for the next week before we are able to start filming.

Coursework - Target Audience

 Who is your target audience?

Our target audience will been teenagers and young adults. This is because our two minute opening will have a specific focus on the topic of social media and people in these categories are most involved with this.

Where would they watch it and how?

This type of film could be played on television, in cinemas, on a dvd or streamed from Netflix. Our plan is to create an entertaining yet informative film opening, warning people of the things that can happen if you share too much of your private information online.

What is it about your idea that appeals to this audience?

This idea appeals to my audience because of the rising power of social media. A film about the way in which most young people publicise their lives can be a very personal thing as it reflects the everyday lives of viewers.  It is very relevant to the ideas in the modern world around the internet and therefore is a very new and interesting topic of interest.

Coursework - Overview

Our 2-minute film opening idea involves two characters; one young female youtuber/vlogger and one quite frightening, almost psychotic older male stalker type character.  For the purpose of saving time, we shall refer to them in this post as 'youtuber' and 'man'.  The main point of our piece is the cross cutting between the two characters and how they eventually come together for a climax.  To make this post easier to read, whenever the scene has cut to the other character, we shall use a ' \\ ' symbol.


Synopsis / Our Vision:

The youtuber is filming a new video in her bedroom for her youtube channel.  This is not said, however it is made evident by the screen layout, which shows her talking into an in-shot camera whilst a laptop showing the recording is also visible on screen.

\\

There shall be a close up on the dirty hand and phone of an unknown man.  On the screen of this phone he shall be scrolling through and 'liking' all the photos on the girl's instagram account.  He then gets into a car.  As the car door slams shut, the shot changes.

\\

A close up of the youtuber's phone with notifications flashing on her drawer, as the man is liking her photos.  It is evident that she has not noticed since her voice is still audible from her appearing in her video.

\\

The man is parks his car outside the driveway behind some bushes outside a house.  As he exits the car, the camera pans around the inside of it, revealing many photos, scripts and other disturbed things he has collected over time.

\\

More youtuber (undecided)

\\

Close up as the man wraps his fingers around the door handle and opens it, walking into the house.

\\

More youtuber (undecided)

\\

You can see the hands of the man looking at decorations/vases on a cabinet.  His clumsiness accidentally knocks a vase over and it smashes on the floor.

\\

The youtuber pauses, obviously hearing the smash, takes a moment, but then dismisses it and continues.

\\

The man is quite frantic as he tries to sweep the vase pieces under the cabinet.  He then gets up and sees the stairs, he looks up them.

\\

The youtuber is reaching the end of her video and there and she is saying the closing parts of it when the two characters finally appear at the same time in shot.  The man approaches the youtuber, as he gets close, the movie cuts to black.

\\

The word 'Uploading' flashes onto the screen in white and the bar underneath slowly fills.

\\

'Upload complete' in red.

Update 6/1/2015

I have come to the conclusion that I require a partner in order to make my coursework the standard that I believe it should be. Due to this I have asked James (www.jameshuxtable-asmedia.blogspot.com) to pair up with me for this coursework. We will continue working together on my thriller concept.