Editing my film

Editing my film has been quite a long process. I decided I'd make it hard for myself and try and make my film in black and white with colour highlights. I spent a good few lessons trying to get this to work, however, I never succeeded. So I decided to just make my film in black and white. I did do some with colour highlights but I used a colour matte which got rid of any a certain colour, however, this did not work as well as I had hoped. As seen below.

The first clip I tried to do this with was just the flowers. I selected the colour I want to exclude and replace another with but as the flowers were all different shades I couldn't do this. I tried again with the shot from behind of Alex's back and him walking through the door, when I tried the colour matte on this shot part of the house started to go red as it was the same shade as the flowers. My last attempt was on the shot of Vicki blowing out the match then smiling, again I faced the problem of different shades of red. Her lips, even though were the same colour to the eye, in Adobe were different shades of red depending on the lighting. This led to part of her lips being one colour and her hands also being said colour when I didn't want her hands to be that colour. It all became too confusing for words! Long story short I ended up just making the whole film in black and white.

Script and Prop changes

I have changed quite a lot of my script and props, instead of having a cherry pie I now have my actor laying the table, lighting a candle and blowing out the match. Also I have added a scene with my actor pouring herself a glass of wine then drinking some leaving a lipstick mark on the glass.
I have also changed the name of my film from "The Scarlet Lady" to "La Femme Rouge"
Also instead of using newspaper clippings of missing men I decided to have photos of men with circled faces and some the crosses in red on their faces. I have pictures of different men all walking round unaware they are being photographed, although we did ask their permission if we could use their photos, and one of Alex, the actor who knocks on the door as seen below.

Day 2 of Filming

21/01/2012

Today I am filming the inside scenes of my film opening. It did come with a few problems; breaking curtains, chopping meat unevenly, not being able to light matches or candles and not being able to put on a table cloth!
I changed my opening so instead of having a pie come out of the oven I now have the mystery woman laying a table for two, pouring herself some wine, lighting the candle and blowing out a match. As when I filmed the scenes outside it was dark I wanted it to seem like dusk inside even though it was only 1 o'clock in the afternoon, I remember this as at my location there are many clocks that strike on the hour.

As I wanted the room darker I closed the curtains behind the table, in doing so the curtain pole fell down on myself and my sister. Once we fixed the curtains we started to lay the table, I wanted to have a shot of someone putting a table cloth on the table. This took a good half hour as first of all we had to iron the table cloth as it had so many creases in it, then we had to work out how to throw the table cloth over the table so it landed perfectly the first time without having to straighten it out, this was hard than you think! We had to do it about 12 times and that was only practise, we had to do it another 5 times for the real thing!
We also light a candle, this also took a long time! The candle did light first time but Vicki lit it before I started filming! After this it took ages to light the candle again!
Below is a picture of my sister who played the main part in the opening of my film.

Chopping the meat

Day 1 of Filming

21/12/2011

Due to scheduling conflicts I had to change my location for a part of the opening. Instead of filming the outside of the house in the same location as filming the inside, I filmed outside a house in Norfolk as opposed to one in Yorkshire. As I needed a man outside with a bunch of flowers about to enter a house the actor I was going to use, Alex Elliot, wouldn't be in Yorkshire until February and I want to be editing my film by then, so instead I filmed at his house.

I did numerous shots and filmed as much as possible as it was getting dark quickly! I did a shot of the flowers, a shot of him knocking on the door, a shot from behind of him knocking on the door, a shot from the side and a shot of someone opening the door on the other side.

Alex knocking on the door from a different angle edited in black and white with red flowers

Close up of the flowers edited in black and white with red

Alex knocking on the door

My Sister getting ready to open the door

Hand on the door

In my original character bio for the man he was well dressed, rich and wore expensive clothes and an expensive watch, however I've altered that slightly, he is still rich but he doesn't come across like that straight away, he's more geeky and doesn't have very good style. My actor, Alex (pictured below), has quite long dark brown hair and a beard. However, due to the different shots I used you can't see his face. He was wearing a suit, Alex has acted before so he was happy to take direction from me.

I originally was going to have a bunch of red roses in the shots but I had to change this also as I went to a number of shops and none sold a bunch of red roses, so I bought a bunch of red tulips instead. There was more green than red in the bunch so I took off quite a lot of leaves so the red could stand out more.

What I need to film my opening

Actors  - For my opening there are only 2 characters in shot, a woman and a man. I imagine the woman is precise and neat, she likes everything a certain way and isn't aftraid to "get her hands dirty". I've cast my sister in that role, I thought it best to cast her as my location is far from where I live and I wouldn't be able to get my friends up to Yorkshire for a weeked, I also cast her as I feel she will take direction well from me and my vision will come across well with her as the actress.

Location - As I've said before I will be filming my opening in a kitchen in Yorkshire.

Props - There are quite a lot of different props that I need for my opening; a chopping board, a slab of meat, a cleaver, a cherry pie, a bunch of flowers, a photo album, newspaper clippings. I've got the chopping board and knife at home, I wanted to use a cleaver but we don't have one and it costs more than my budget. I will be buying a bunch of roses and a slab of meat. I will either make or buy the cherry pie, as I want a lattice pie so the cherries can overspill the top. I have a photo album that I can use and I can make my own newpaper clippings of missing men and print them off to make them look like real newpaper clippings.

Costume - As you only see the hands in the opening there isn't much costume needed, the woman will be wearing fake red nails. The man is wearing expensive clothes, he'll be wearing jeans and a blazer, so smart casual, he'll also have an expensive watch on.

My First Draft Script

LA FEMME ROUGE

By

Caitlin Robbins

Draft Script 12/12/11

THE SCARLET LADY

FADE IN:

INT. KITCHEN – NIGHT

A large chopping board with a large slab of red meat on it, to the left is a large cleaver. A WOMAN’S hand appears with long red nails, you don’t see her face; her fingers curl around the cleaver, lifts it up, weighing it in her hand, she suddenly grips it in her left hand and slams it down slicing the meat into two.

WOMAN

Giggles

A WOMAN opens an oven door takes a cherry pie out, heat rising from it, cherries spilling over the edge of the pastry. The WOMAN places the pie on the side, turns and slams the oven door shut.

Overhead shot of the pie, cherry juice spilling over the edge of the pastry case

The woman prepares some vegetables, pans round to a table. An open photo album is on the table, gradually zooming in, showing newspaper clippings.

Missing Men

The Scarlet Lady strikes again!

The WOMAN’S hand appears and strokes a picture of the missing man, she shuts the album violently. Put’s it on a shelf filling with others.

Knock on the door (O.S.)

EXT. DOOR OF HOUSE – NIGHT

A MAN holding a bunch of red roses, waiting to enter, dressed smart-casual, he’s wearing expensive clothes and watch, jeans and blazer. Nervous, cold.

The door opens and he disappears inside. The door slams shut.

                                                     FADE OUT

Fitzpatrick in the Morning

In last week's lesson we had to think of an innovative way to pitch our film opening ideas, our group decided to do a mock chat show. I was in a group with Alice and Georgie, Alice pitched her idea first then I did mine, then Georgie pitched hers.
The name of this chat show was "Fitzpatrick in the Morning" as I got my friend Hannah Fitzpatrick to be the shows presenter hence the title. I wrote the script for Hannah to read, as seen below;

Hannah Fitzpatrick

Hi, and welcome to Fitzpatrick in the Morning. Today I'll be joined by budding film students Caitlin Robbins, Georgie Brooks and Alice Leng. Here they are!

Enter Caitlin, Georgie and Alice

Hannah Fitzpatrick

Welcome to Fitzpatrick in the Morning, today you'll be pitching your ideas for a film opening isn't that right?

Everyone

Yes

Hannah Fitzpatrick

Let's start with you Alice, so tell me about your film....

Alice's pitch

Hannah Fitzpatrick

Wow that sounds good! What's your pitch Caitlin?

My pitch

Hannah Fitzpatrick

Reverting! Georgie what's your opening?

Georgie's pitch

Hannah Fitzpatrick

Wow! Well they all sound great! That's all we've got time for today, join me tomorrow on Fitzpatrick in the Morning where we'll be talking about cheese. See you then!

Production Company Logos

Today we finished off our production company logos, I thought we had to do two logos, turns out we don't! Although I spent agessssssss doing 2 when in fact I only had to do the one. I've still exported both of my logos, Cake Tin Productions and Cutting Edge Entertainment.
Although my Cake Tin Production logo doesn't fit the genre of my film. As you can see below it's pastel colours, which doesn't necessessarily fit a horror film.

Below is my Cutting Edge Entertainment ident, it's quite simple but I thought this would be better than lots of graphics flying around the screen.

Film Synopsis

Caitlin Robbins
"La Femme Rouge"
Crime/Thriller
Mainstream Plus

Logline: Men going missing, the only suspect is the Scarlet Lady, no one knows who she is and when she'll strike again!

In the opening credits of this film you'll see a woman preparing a meal (the Scarlett Lady.) The camera pans round to see a photo album full of newspaper clippings of missing men. After the woman closes the album the doorbell rings. Outside is a man with a bunch of red roses, the door opens and he disappears inside.

The main character is Detective Truman who is trying to solve the disappearances. Also keep cutting to the Scarlet Lady throughout the film but you won't see her face until the end.

Scarlet Lady, OPENING SCENE
Detective Truman, AFTER THE OPENING CREDITS FINISH
Fredrick, OPENING SCENE

Audience Profiles

Last lesson's objectives

1. To understand the way in which audiences are classified.

2. To understand different approaches to concepts of audiences, audience theory.

How might we categorise an audience?

* Age

* Gender

* Social Class

* Culture

* Jobs

* Area they live

* Steriotypes

* Religion

* Ethnicity

ABC1 = Middle Class

C2DE = Working Class

Films are usually aimed at ABC1 as they have more disposable income, hierarchy or needs, individualism. Once you've bought the necessities then ABC1 tend to have more money than C2DE to spend on going to the cinema. These classes tend to be classified by your job.

Audience Profile for an Acutaliser

Robert, 39, is a banker, who lives in Chelsea, he attends the opera and ballet at least once a month. He's married to Julia, 36, with two children, Charles who's 9 and Katherine who's 6. They have a housekeeper and only shop at the most expensive shops. They read the Guardian with breakfast. Both children go to private school and Robert went to Eton, he has enough money to retire comfortably but he wants to maintain his current lifestyle. Julia went to Cambridge but doesn't have a job although she is on numerous charity boards. She reads Vogue. Robert's guilty pleasure movies are Jason Statham movies.

Audience Profile for a Struggler

Emma is a 28 year old cashier at Lidl, she's been there for 3 years and she also is a waitress at a Mexican restaurant on Saturday nights but she still can't pay the bills. She lives above a Kebaby, she used to be a drug addict and every day is a struggle to stay clean. She prefers to keep to herself, she doesn't have many friends and all of her friends have either overdosed or are still in the drug trade. Her parents disowned her after she ran away from rehab. She really likes the band Friendly Fires and Everything Everything.

My audience profile for my film

My film is aimed at the ABC1 classes, the middle class.

Patrick is a university student, he’s studying film studies. He likes to go see art-house films but also likes mainstream. He prefers music that most people haven’t heard of. He likes crime/thriller films, films that make you think rather than the typical RomCom. He likes going to cinema to escape, he likes to live vicariously through the characters on the screen.

Adobe After Effects

In class James came in an taught our class about After Effects. We made the title sequence for "Anatomy of a Murder"
We also did the opening of the "Teletubbies"
We then did text, we made text animate and we came up with names of production companies, my name was "Cake-tin Productions"
Although for my first "Cake-tin Productions"' logo it's just text which I did in class, at home I have been experimenting by doing it with images as well.

Stories

Today in class we were given the sentence, Ross a _____ year old male woke and looked around him.

We then had to fill in the blank and carry on the story. We then passed our openings around the class until ending the story and giving it back to the person who started it.

This is the finished product of my story.

Ross a 28 year old male woke and looked around him, he was alone in a padded cell, dressed in a straight jacket and orange jumpsuit, and there was nothing but a bed, bolted to the ground, in his cell. Ross' hair was short, buzz cut and he had a ginger goatee. He had dark rings under his eyes and looked ill, his skin was turning a yellowy colour.

He took a coin out of his orange jumpsuit and twiddled it in his hands, trying to recall how he got to be behind bars.

There was a small window high in the wall above the bed, the only source of light, with bars around it. Out of the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of something black. He looked and saw a crow perched on the sill. He stared into its eye on the other side of the window and wondered why it was allowed to be free, unlike him. "A bird should be captured and locked away, not me" he thought as he stepped down and brought his attention back to the coin.

Just as he had the chance to draw his attention back to the coin, a long ear-piercing screech sounded across the empty, cell. "Ross," grunted to prison warden, "time for your call to home. Get out." Ross stood down from upon the bed, kissed the coin and dragged himself across the cell, concentrating hard not to fall over; his left leg was badly broken but he had not been permitted the right to go to the hospital. He entered another room in which there was a table, a chair and a telephone with 4 prison guards, it was seemed he was not even trusted to make a phone call without being under heavy security. He sat down, picked up the telephone and called. It rang once, there was a soft click and his mother's soft heavenly tone answered. "Darling? Is that you? Ross?"

"Mum? How did you get hold of me?"

"I pulled a few strings, but now listen, I think I can get you out of there! There's a kid been murdered on our street"

"How is that going to help me?" He said sarcastically.

"Because I know who did it! I can testify as a witness"

"What did you see?"

"Nothing but I can pretend I did. They have no evidence to suggest I wasn't at home"

"I still can't see how that is going to get me out of jail."

"Because if you use your brain you'll see how we can turn this whole thing around, I can say it was James! That the real murderer of your son is still alive and killing. I know you can make this work!"

There was silence down the phone.

"Ross?"

"I have to go now Mum, don't say anything for now. I've got a plan...."

This isn't what I thought my story would turn out like, one change made was that he was in a prison, I thought he'd be in a mental hospital, hence the straight jacket.

Preliminary Work

Here is our preliminary video, we had to have someone walking through a door, and someone else in the room as well. In ours Alice walkings into the room and we have a thumbb war. It isn't the best video we have done, although it isn't the worst.

My coursework idea

In class we have been discussing our ideas for our final piece of coursework.
My idea for the opening is a thriller/crime drama filmed in black and white with colour highlights, like in "Sin City" as seen below.

You open on a woman preparing a meal, you see a chopping board with a bit of raw meat (red) on it and a knife next to it. A woman's fingers curl around the knife, lift it up, and cut the meat into two. Whilst the woman is preparing the meal the camera would then pan round to show a table with a photo album with newspaper clippings of missing men. The woman then comes over and almost strokes the picture of the missing man and shuts the album, puts it on the shelf along with loads of others. The doorbell rings and the camera cuts to the outside of the house showing a man's hands, with a bunch of red roses in one hand. The door opens and the man disappears into the house. The titles then come onto the screen.

Above is a photo in black and white with red petals, this photo was one of my inspirations for the project.
In the opening I don't want any speech, the music playing in the background I want to be either a score or just the instruments from a song without the lyrics. I've been listening to some songs to see what type of song I want playing. I've been watching the Q music chanel as they tend to play indie type songs which is the genre of song I want to play in the background.
I don't want a fast paced song like Rizzle Kicks "When I Was a Youngster" the music to that is too upbeat. But I don't want a song like Adele's "Someone Like You" as that instrumental version is too downbeat. I then thought maybe I could have the song "My Favourite Things" from "The Sound of Music" this playing in the background would be quite creepy, which it the sort of "vibe" I want for the opening.

This weekend I am going to the location where I hope to film my opening, I will be taking pictures and uploading them to my blog to show for my planning.
I will be hopefully filming in my Grandparent's kitchen as it is quite modern compared to my own kitchen and it doesn't look like a family kitchen like mine. Below is a picture of the kitchen at night as that's when I want to base my opening. Although it looks like more than one person lives here I think I may remove some objects from the shot to make it less "home-y"

I think I may remove some of these items from the frame.

To the left of this picture you can see the hob, on the left of this where the worktop is, is where the chopping board and knife are going to be. Then I will pan round to the left to the table, although you can not see this you can see the chair at the bottom of the screen to the left of this is where the table is.

Although both these pictures are in colour I want to change them into black and white with red colour highlights. As stated before I want a woman to be in the kitchen preparing a meal. I will be using my sister as the woman, you won't be seeing her face and only her hands. As seen below, you can see her standing with a knife, although she has purple nails in this photo, in the actual film she will have long red nails. Although this knife is quite small for the final film she'll be holding a bigger knife to chop the meat in two.

The chopping board, knife and hand.
Although in this picture the chopping board and knife are small, in the final piece they'll be bigger.

Although you can see her jumper in this photo you won't in the film and both the knife and the chopping boards will be bigger, as I didn't bring my camera with me I found it hard to take photos so I used my laptop, although the angle isn't correct and it's her left hand instead of her right this is sort of what I want one of the shots to look like, although a bigger knife, red nails, a bigger chopping board, meat on the chopping board andit to be in black and white but the nails and the meat in colour.

AS Media 2011/12

For our practical coursework in AS Media Studies we have to create an opening of a film, it has to be 2 minutes long and can be in any genre we wish.

In the Media AS Level course we study Mise-en-scene which we must also take into account when filming our opening.
There are 5 main aspects of Mise-en-scene they are:

1. Colour and Lighting
2. Setting and Props
3. Costume, Hair and Make-up
4. Position of Characters and Objects
5. Facial Expressions