Pre-Production

Shooting Script (Kitchen Scene)

We needed to change our last scene so this is what I came up with at short notice to replace the last scene.

The Back-Up Scene

Tom knocks on the door                                                                              Long shot

Friend opens the door to the house party                                              Long Mid shot

Friend greets Tom                                                                                                          

Tom sits with girl                                                                                     Long Mid shot

'Speech' face (like in a game)                                                                 Close-up shot

(Note: The actor won’t actually say this, the scene will continue as though he has)

Pouring the drink                                                                                  Close-up shots          

Tom drinking the drink (Drunk meter)

Girl drinking the drink

'Speech' face (like in a game)                                                                Close-up shot

        

Pouring each shot          (like it has a rhythm)                      Quick sharp close-up shots

3 tequila shots each (Tom and girl)

• One extreme close shot of glass when shot is being taken, without face, glass leaves shot and comes back empty
• One close-mid shot of shot being taken, without face, shot glass comes out of shot and comes back empty
• One close-up shot of the reaction of taking the strong spirit, Tequila

'Speech' face (like in a game)                                                                Close-up shot

Pour drink                                                                                             Close-up shots         

Tom drinking the drink (Drunk meter)

Girl drinking the drink

'Speech' face (like in a game)                                                                Close-up shot

Girl slaps him round the face                                                                   Close-up shot

Guy leaves                                                                                                       Mid shot

Guy stumbles around                                                                                       Long shot

Guy collapses on bench                                                                       High-angled shot

‘Wasted’ is stamped over his body.

Post Production

Editing

The team decided it would be efficient to do some editing and other post production elements while still in production stage of the overall film. As the first and second scene had already been filmed and Moritz and I had time to spare we decided to do the editing for these scenes.

Moritz had already edited scene one, which even though was done very well I pointed out a few things that could be changed and he agreed with me. The edit for scene 1 was still too long even after my input but it had gave us a few more seconds to play around with, which doesn't sound like much but I've realised in film every second is important.

We edited scene 2 as well, there were a few problems like reflections but we managed to edit the sequences in a way that the problem was reduced significantly and I think it looks good. We watched it all the way through and showed it to Stephen who liked it.

Once both scenes had been edited we had a rough idea of how much time we had to spare baring in mind that we are allowed 3 minutes of film time. The two scenes came to approximately 2:30 seconds. So we took this into account when organising and shooting the third scene.

Pre-Production

Moving Image and Chicago Town

Knowing that it would soon be our last day of filming I knew it was imperative we were prepared therefore I asked the guys to meet up to go through some of my ideas and incorporate everyone else’s so we were all clear on the plan of action.

Moritz and I met up in the afternoon to go over our third scene, whilst enjoying a nice Chicago Town pizza. We discussed scripting, location and shots. I wrote down some rough notes and later on typed them up. 

The main aim of today was to secure the location for the third scene. K-bar is ideal; I talked to the supervisor and am waiting on an email from the manager to give us the go ahead.

I have also come up with a back-up scene if K-bar doesn't go as planned, which I ran past Moritz and Stephen who liked it.

After K-Bar Moritz and I looked at the edit Moritz did of the first scene, which was really good. We edited the second scene and changed a few things on the first. At the moment it looks good but is a bit long and hasn't got any overlays.

We met up with Stephen, showed him the edit and discussed the third scene and the back-up scene. He came with me when I followed up the K-bar supervisor a few hours later with no new news and when I talked to a few friends about being extras in the back-up scene. 

For the back-up scene we will probably use my kitchen, which is easily accessible. Thankfully my kitchen isn't in the first scene because we want it to look as if he is going into a friends’ house and so continuity may have been a problem.

It will be a bit tidier when we shoot of course, although it will add to the 'studenty' vibe.

Pre-Production

Shooting Script

The Third Scene in Detail

Below are the ideas and a more in-depth shooting script for the K-Bar scene (Scene 3)

I have also added some rough examples of overlays I have created in Flash to give everyone an idea of the finished product. The text will stay roughly the same in the final edit but the layout style may change.

Walks up to the bar

Bartender asks ‘What can I get you?’

There will be a ‘Fallout’ style selection system, all the actions are predetermined but the ‘viewer’ will see, which option is being clicked as though they are watching someone control the characters interactions.

(Note: The actor won’t actually say this, the scene will continue as though he has)

Handing the money over                                                            a selection of close-up shots

Receiving the drink

Drinking the drink (Maybe fast forwarded)

He will walk over to the girl                                                                              Two Shot MS

Girl ‘Yea that would be nice’

To the Bartender:

Handing the money over                                                             Quick sharp close-up shots

Both of them drinking the drink simultaneously (Drunk meter)

Girl ‘I like vodka’

Handing the money over                                                               Quick sharp close-up shots

3 Vodka shots each

The actor smiles, slightly drunk                                                          Extreme Close-up shot

Handing the money over                                                              Quick sharp close-up shots

Drinks

The actor smiles, drunkenly                                                                Extreme Close-up shot

Girl grabs drink and throws it at him or slaps him round the face – depending on which we can get away with in K-bar                                                               Mid Shot of the guy OTS

Goes outside the bar                                                           Tilted frame? To show he is drunk

Collapses either outside or in the red room                          High angled medium long shot

‘Wasted’ is stamped on the screen over his body

Post Production

The Seminar

Unfortunately due to the sheer size of all our film clips it meant they took ages to download from 'Dropbox' so the two hour session wasn't dedicated to editing. Instead Moritz, Stephen, Luke and I went through the shots we did have and decided, which ones were good enough for the film and which were not.

Some Overlays

During the seminar Harry felt that all five of us sitting front of one computer wasn't a very efficient use of our time so he decided to create some 'game' inspired overlays for the film using Photoshop and Flash, which he would then import into After Effects later.

The Money

This really cool 'GTA' inspired animation will be shown on the screen during the cash machine sequence to show the money going into his inventory.

The Hygiene Meter

The animation above shows the layout of all the 'meters' we will use  i.e. the drunkenness meter. It is rather similar to 'The Sims' style needs bar shown below. The hygiene meter will be used in the first scene shower sequence.

 

Production

Day two of shooting

Today we filmed scene 2 of our film. It is split into three parts; the walk to the gym, the cash machine and the lecture theatre.

Moritz – Cameraman

Luke – Sound guy

Me – Director

Stephen and Harry – Runners and After Effects guys

The walk to the Gym

We wanted to get a few different close-up shots for cutaways but camera shake was a bit of an issue so we had to keep trying till we managed to get smooth enough shots. The noise of passers-by affected the sound dramatically especially if they wore heels or walked on the pebbles. I kept an eye on filming devices we had to consider like continuity and the 180 degree rule. We had to time each sequence very well as students were walking to and from lectures. We acquired some decent close-up, mid shots and a nice pan. At one point while we were filming this section Harry and Stephen booked the green screen studio for next Friday because the actor plays on his phone in one of the walking sequences and we had an idea to have an overlay of someone texting on the screen so it looks like he is texting someone.

The cash machine

We decided that filming the walk to the cash machine would be tedious even using a range of shot types, also it wouldn't really help with conveying the story so we shot a few sequences of the actor at the cash machine, taking money out and leaving. Our plan is to have a map, created in after effects, which is enlarged on the screen and make it seem the cash machine is closer than it really is; this style is very similar to a video game. We used mainly close-up shots of inserting the card and mid shots for the rest.

The Lecture Theatre

We tried a variety of shot types; long shot, mid shot, close-up and even a low angled shot which was rather dangerous in the cameras’ perspective and didn't turn out like we’d hoped. We had a bit of refection problems in the window but I think with some crafty editing we can make sure it doesn't affect the final piece or worst comes to worse have a re-shoot.

All in all a successful day of filming, it’s surprising that it only took around three hours to get the scene done. Harry and Stephen also created some nice graphics in after effects for the overlays in that time when we didn't require their assistance in filming. 

The medical, restaurant and cash machine symbols will be used on the map to show where the character 'is' and other possible places to explore.

Production

Day one of shooting

Today we filmed scene 1 of our film. I've split it into three parts; Game style selection shots, having a shower and playing on the Xbox.

Unfortunately it was just me and Moritz so I handled the director and runner roles and Moritz was the camera and sound man.

The day didn't get off to a good start but we didn't want to lose time so we continued with our planned filming sequences. I tried to think about continuity because we were in a bedroom, with many objects that could be moved without us thinking about it so I tried to keep tabs on everything. Me and Moritz would talk frequently about different shots and how we were going to shot them. I mentioned a few times about headroom, which worked at some points but he really likes his headroom and the shots didn't look to bad at all and we can use the extra space.

Game Style Selection

This was difficult because the actor couldn't move to much and we didn't want anything distracting in the background. We went for a traditional middle shot whilst following the rule of thirds by placing the actor on the 'invisible' right vertical line. This gives us room to put in the game style overlays later on, which will show the 'Day in the life of a student' as being selected. Unfortunately we had a lot of head room in some of these shots but we will use them to our advantage by using the space for different overlays.

Having a Shower

This sequence was rather fun to film as we had to film him leave the room and walk up the stairs. We used a variety of long, mid, low angle and close-up shots so we could get some cutaways to make it look interesting and continuous. We also got some high angle shots from the top of the stairs that worked well, although we did contemplate that it was rather risky to hold the camera over the banister of the stairs, we did however take precautions. We took a close-up of the door when the actor walks in and out, we made sure to include the shower sounds and actually put the shower on to create steam when the actor walked out.

Playing the Xbox

The actor had fun doing this sequence as he was required to play Halo 4 for at least 15 minutes whilst we shot him and when were getting ready. We had some interesting debates about filming on the bed as it made the camera very unstable and therefore wasn't producing decent shots. In the end we did majority of this sequence using the tripod. We attempted some over-the-shoulder shots, some close-ups of his hands tapping impatiently, playing the controller, some mid shots and a few shots of the screen as he plays, which turned out really well. The last shots were really effective. We wanted them to look fast to show the actor is rushing so we had him throw the clock down, grab his back and run through the door, using a mixture of long, mid and close-up shots to give a nice fast-paced affect. Then the very last shot is a long shot of him rushing through the kitchen door, which we took from the right and back angles to ensure we had enough footage.


Overall we had a good days filming and even though there were some head room issues we can use them to our advantage and add more game like features in the areas like a map or point system.
It took us around 3 hours, we were so happy to have shot the 1st scene and called it a day.
We came across a few problems but I think we dealt with them well.