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Secondary Research - Trippy Room

For my inspiration for the trippy room scene, I found 2 films  that used coloured lighting, which i thought looked good, so I wanted to replicate it in my film, which worked really well.

This is a screenshot from the film ‘Only God Forgives’ (2013). I liked the blue lights in this scene, so I used blue lighting in my film. The blue colour in my film turned out a bit darker than the lighting in this shot, as I was using dark blue tissue paper that I put on a LED light, but it still works really well. I researched the cinematographer for this film, Larry Smith, and found this blog post explaining how he did the coloured lighting. Smith used coloured gels for the lighting, which is what I was going to do, but I used LED lights instead, as they were a lot easier to carry, so I had to think of a different way to get the coloured lighting, hence the tissue paper. 

This is a scene from ‘Lights Out’ (2016). I used the same technique with the red lighting as I did with the blue lighting, and this worked really well and I got a similar effect in my film to the light in ‘Lights Out’.

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Secondary Research - Skins

I took some inspiration from the TV show ‘Skins (UK)’, as it has similar themes to my film. One of the main protagonists of Skins, Effy Stonem, has a problem with drinking and drugs, much like the protagonist of my film, so my research focused on Effy, for that reason. One particular scene that I looked at, a party scene where the characters get high is one of the inspirations for the trippy scene in my film. 

In this scene, the characters are happy and are having a good time. This is what I wanted to show in my film also. In this scene, it is filmed handheld, and the camera moves with the characters, and moves in on their faces, which is what I did in my film.

Also for the hospital scene in my film, I wanted to use similar lighting like in the picture above. The lighting in this hospital scene from Skins is blue toned and quite dull, which i tried to replicate in my film. However, in my film the lighting ended up a bit brighter than I wanted it.

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Secondary Research - 13 Reasons Why

For this project, Netflix's 13 Reasons Why was a big influence. 13RW has a similar storyline to my film, and has a powerful message that is also similar to the message of my film, so I took a lot of inspiration from 13RW. I looked at the classroom scenes in 13RW as I wanted to film something similar in the classroom scenes in my own film. 

I liked the lighting in the classroom scenes, which I tried to replicate in my film. The lighting in 13RW as a whole, is a cool toned natural lighting, which is what I was going for in my film, and the lighting is a bit grey and dull, which makes sense, as it relates to Hannah Baker, the protagonist��s, feelings and depression in the show, which is something that I wanted to do in my film.

I also liked the focus pulls in this scene, which I took inspiration from for a shot in my film, in one of the scenes in the classroom where the boys in the background bully the main character, Emily.

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Primary Research

I made a survey for my target audience. The survey was to see who would be watching my film, so that I could cater it primarily to them.

Most of the people that took the survey were female, which is good, because the 2 main characters are female, so the audience can relate more to the characters.

For this question, most people answered yes, because it shows real life situations, that people need to be aware of, also only if it is age rated appropriately, a 15 or 18.

For this question, a lot of people answered no, and their reasons were that they can make their own decisions and that they've never done anything that they've seen in a film. Some people said that films can influence them, if the films have powerful storylines, and the actors can become role models for them. They also said that films can teach them important things in life.

I think my film has a powerful storyline, and the point of it is to teach people to be aware of the effects of bullying and drinking, so this question in the survey is an important question that I needed to know to make my film.

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Editing Day 5

Wednesday 7th June 2017

Today Ali and I finished the edit. We took a look through the film, and made some adjustments to certain parts, where the music was slightly too loud in the trippy scene, and the sound of the phone call didn't sound right, so I adjusted the EQ graph on the audio and made it sound more like a phone. Once we were happy that the film was finished, I exported it and handed it in.

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Editing Day 3 + 4

Monday 5th June 2017 , Tuesday 6th June 2017

On Monday I colour graded some of the shots. I added adjustment layers for each scene and put a fast colour corrector on it. in the toilet scene, the lighting had a yellow tone to it, so I made it more blue to neutralise it. 

Also, Ali did some foley of the sound of the can opening, and some sipping sounds that I put into the edit. This was a part of the phone conversation, so I put an EQ on the audio to make it sound like it was on the phone. 

On Tuesday, Ali did some foley of the sounds of the door closing in the classroom scene, and some other foley that we needed, so I put all of that sound into the edit. I also added the credits on the end of the final scene. I had a look through all of the film, and we thought that adding black bars would make it look more cinematic, and it looked a lot better than without it, however, it did cut off some of the across heads in a few scenes, but we thought it was worth it to keep the black bars on.

I also edited the first scene, where Emily is being wheeled through the hospital. We added lots of sound effects of a heart beat, a heart monitor, ambulance sirens and some doctors shouting. It was difficult to find the sounds that we wanted, and I didn't like the way that all the sound just cut off, so Ali found a sound to put on the end so it didn't end so abruptly.

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Editing Day 2

Friday 2nd June

Today I edited the beach scenes, trippy room scenes, and the hospital scene. The edit was going lot better today, and I am more happy with these scenes than the classroom scenes. 

Agan, I used the script and the shot list to help me to put all the shots in order, and I started off with the first beach scene, where the character Emily meets Dom. There were more of a variety of shots sizes and angles, which is good, and I am pleased that I did that on filming day, however, it was a busy day Friday at the beach, so there were some people in the background of my shots, which I am not too happy about, but nothing can be done now. I noticed that the lighting looks a bit different to how it looked in the camera on the day, as it looks like it has a slightly green tone to it, but I will try to change that when I colour grade it. The beach scenes look good, and the sound is good as well, as it is consistent and there was no need for a wild track, which I am happy about.

Next, I edited the bedroom scene where Emily and Dom have an argument an Emily passes out. There is a shot that I particularly like in this scene, which I put on the timeline today. I like the lighting in this shot, I think that it works well as a close up. I really like the lighting in this scene, it is very neutral and kind of bland, which is how Becky, the director, and I wanted it.

I then edited the trippy scene with the coloured lights, which I think work really well. I am happy with this scene, and I really like all the close ups of the cigarettes and the girls laughing, and It fits well with the music, which is ‘Nothing Hurts’ by Wavves. I am glad that we decide to use coloured lighting, as it would look boring without it.

Lastly, I edited the hospital scene and the final beach scene. These scenes carry on from the scene where Emily passes out, and the song ‘Clutch’ by Sault Ste Marie plays in all of these scenes. This song fits well in this part of the film, and even though the song is quite slow paced, the cuts are fast paced, but it fits well. I am happy with these scenes.

Overall, it has been a good editing day today, and all I need to do now is go through the whole thing and see if theres anything that I missed or want to change, and colour grade some shots if I have time.

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Editing Day 1

Tuesday 30th June

Today I imported all of the footage from Wednesday and Friday into Premiere. I have already put all of the other footage into Premiere, and I have already put some of that on the timeline and cut some of it up, including the classroom scenes and the toilet scene.

I used the script and the shot lists to help me with the edit, and I put all of the footage that was on the timeline in order, and cut the clips down to how I wanted them. 

Editing the classroom scenes was difficult, as I don’t like many of the shots, so it was frustrating to get it to look good. I am not too happy with these scenes, but I did the best that I could do with the limited shots that I had.

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Filming Day 5: Beach Scenes

Friday 26th May 2017

Today we filmed the beach scenes in Frinton beach. I met Ali at the train station and walked down to the beach to pick up the equipment. We set up, and I took some cutaway shots of the sea, just incase we needed some cutaways. We also recorded a wildtrack while we waited for everyone else.

The first scene we filmed was the scene where Emily and Dom meet for the first time. Its as difficult to film, as there were a lot of people around, so there was a lot of background noise, which will be difficult to cover up. There were also some people in the background of my shots, so when I cut the shots together, it might look a bit jumpy. However, I did film a variety of angles, so hopefully I will be able to limit the amount of people in the background.

I filmed a long shot of both actors, but we didn’t know where to put the microphone, as it picked up a lot of the sound of the sea, so the actor’s voices were a bit quiet. Ali stood behind the wall, as you could see the microphone in shot if she stood on the other side of the wall. However, the sound was better on the other side, as it blocked out the sound of the sea a bit, so i may not use the long shot a lot. 

I filmed a mid shot of the actors, but I count get both of them in frame if I filmed them front on, so I had to change the angle and film them from the side. This worked out ok, but this was the shot where there were people in the background, so hopefully, it won't look too bad in the edit when I cut the the shots together.

I also filmed mid shots of just one actor at a time, and a close up of our actor Evie opening the beer can, and passing it to Emily. I think I got enough shots for this scene, and I also hope that the sound was good enough, as this is quite an important scene.

The last scene that we filmed was the end scene, where we see Emily walk into the sea. This didn’t take too long to film, as it is only one short scene. I filmed it all in one shot, then did another shot closer up, further along the beach.

Overall, I am happy with the shots that I got for these 2 scenes. The lighting was good, as there were no clouds, so the lighting stayed constant through out the shoot. The only problem was the amount of people on the beach, as there was a lot of background noise, add people getting into our shots which we couldn't control.

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Filming Day 4: Trippy Scene

Wednesday 24th May 2017

Today we filmed the trippy room scenes in my bedroom. There were 2 scenes to film, and we took a few hours to film them, as they are the most important scenes in the film. 

The first scene we filmed was the overdose scene. At first we filmed with both girls sitting on the bed, but the bed broke twice so we had the both sit on the floor instead. Ali found it difficult to record sound, as there was a lot of background noise of kids playing outside. However, we filmed a lot of shots for this scene, so hopefully it won't matter too much. We also recorded a wild track.  I filmed a variety of shots for this scene, including a long shot, mid shots of both actors in frame, mid shots of just one actor, and a couple of close ups when Emily passes out. I particularly like the close ups when Emily passes out, as I like how I framed the shot. 

There were a lot of props for these scenes, including lots of alcohol bottles and cans, and some cigarettes. As our actors don’t smoke, we bought fake ones from the fancy dress shop in town.

For the trippy scene, we used LED lights which we covered with tissue paper to get coloured lighting. We bought some tissue paper in town, and we experimented with how many sheets we needed, as too may made it too dark and only one sheet didn’t make it coloured enough. We got red, dark blue, green and purple tissue paper. We also had to cover up the window with a blanket to block out the light, which made a huge difference with the coloured lighting on camera. 

I filmed a lot of close ups of both girls - their faces, hands, them drinking the alcohol, and smoking the cigarettes. I filmed all of these shots handheld, as it was easier to get close ups of the girls and to get on the same level as them. Also, it doesn't matter if the shots are slightly shaky, as this scene is a quick montage, so it actually will look better if it is slightly shaky. We frequently changed the colour of the tissue paper on the LEDs to get more of a variety of shots. I am very happy with the shots that I filmed, as I got a variety and they look really good on camera with the coloured lights. I am glad that we used the coloured lighting, as it would look a bit boring without them.

We were a bit rushed to film these shots, so we all worked together quickly to get them done. It was a very hot day with all five of us in a small room, with the lights and camera, but we managed to get it all filmed in one day.

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Filming Day 3: Hospital Scene

Monday 22nd May 2017

Today we filmed the hospital scene. We filmed it in a room in the college, as we didn’t want to hassle a real hospital. Becky found the room which had a hospital bed in it. Again, I used the Canon C100, a tripod and LED lights. This scene was very short, and didn’t take too long to film.

The lighting was slightly blue, as the walls, the floor and the bed was blue, so the light was reflecting off, making it look slightly blue on the camera. However, this is what we wanted, as we needed the scene to have a cold tone to it. We closed the blinds, as it was too bright with too much natural light coming in. The LEDs were on the white light setting, as we needed our actor to look dead, which is what was happening in the scene. 

Filming went well, and I got a variety of camera angles. There was no dialogue in this scene, just Sally lying in the bed, so it was easy to film. One shot I particularly like is a close up side shot of Sally, which I think I will definitely use. 

We also improvised a bit on one shot, as I wanted to get closer to sally, but the tripod didn’t go any closer, so Ali and I both held the camera over sally. The shot was a bit shaky, so I might not use it in the edit, but at least I got it, as I needed a variety of shots, which is what I didn’t do last time in the classroom shoot.

This shoot definitely went better than the last shoot, as we had less to film, and I took more time on each shot, and I made sure that it was good before moving on to the next shot.

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Filming Day 2: Classroom Scene

Thursday 18th May 2017

Today Becky, Ali and I filmed all of the three classroom scenes. We struggled to get some extras for these scenes, but we managed to get 3 people, who all had speaking roles to be the bullies in these scenes. We also gave the actors a brief on the scene and they improvised their roles, as we wanted it to feel more natural, and not to stick completely to the script. 

I used the Canon C100, a tripod and LED lights, just like in the test shots. The shoot took us 3 and a half hours, as I struggled to get the camera and lighting how Becky, the director, and I wanted it. The lighting was mostly natural light coming from the windows, which was bit grey and dull, so I put the LED lights on a yellow setting to make it warmer. However, The LEDs were placed infant of our main actress, Sally, and it lit her up well, but the rest of our actors were not lit up, so it didn’t look right. I moved one of the LEDs further down the classroom, to light up the rest of the actors, which made it look a bit better. setting up the lighting took me longer than I wanted, as I just couldn’t get it how I wanted it to. Also, the lights were reflecting off of the whiteboard on the back wall, and I couldn't get it to not reflect off it, without turning the lights away completely. In the end, I just had to leave them how they were with the reflections on the wall, as I needed the lights facing the actors. 

I also used a track and dolly for a scene, which was difficult to use, as I had to follow the movements of the actors, and for the first couple of tries, I didn’t know how quickly they were going to move, so I missed the action completely, so I had to do several shots to get it right. Also, most of the acting was improvised, which made it more difficult, as I didn’t know what the actors were going to do. 

In one of the scenes, where Emily gets an F on her test, All of the shots went wrong, as in every shot, as Becky went to put the test pair down on the desk, the field monitor she was holding was in shot. This is completely my fault, as I wasn’t looking at the camera screen properly to notice the monitor in shot. What I should have done, is rewatched each shot to make sure that it looked ok before moving on. If we weren't short on time, perhaps I would have remembered to do that, and taken more time on each shot, rather than rushing them all. 

A shot that I do like is the shot straight after the now with the monitor in it, where I zoom in on Sally, with the extras in the background, out of focus, and then I pull focus on the extras as they say mean comments about her. 

Overall, I am not too happy with the shots, as I think I could have gotten more of a variety of angles, as it looks a bit boring as just one shot. The lighting turned out ok in the end, and the sound was good. We did get every thing done that we needed to film, so at least we have all of the shots, otherwise the film would not make sense. If we had planned it out better as a group, and work out exactly how we wanted the shots, it would have worked out a lot better.

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Classroom Scene Test shots

Monday 15th May 2017

Today me and Ali did a test shoot in the classroom we are using for the school scenes in our film. We used the Canon C100, a tripod and 2 LED lights. The room itself had a big window covering one wall of the classroom, so there was a lot of natural light coming in, which is what I wanted for this scene. However, it was a cloudy day, so the lighting was a bit grey and dull, so I used the LED lights on the yellow setting to make it look warmer. 

We set up the tables in three rows, as the actors would all sit in one row and they would all be in the frame. I tested out some different angles and positions for where I wanted the camera, and Ali stood in as the actor so I could see how I wanted to frame it. 

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Phone Foley

Friday 12th May 2017

Today me and Ali recorded the sound of the phone ringing for the toilet scene. We used a shot gun mic and a marantz  to record Ali's phone ringing. We recorded it in the toilets that we used for the scene, as we thought it might sound different in a different location. We recorded the phone a few times, as the first time we recorded, the sound was too quiet, so we turned the levels up to 6 instead of 5. We also recorded wild track, as we didn't record one when we filmed the scene.

After recording, we put the audio on Adobe Premiere, and we put it with the footage from the toilet scene. While listening to it, we realised that the quieter audio actually worked better.

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Toilet Scene Inspiration

My inspiration for the toilet scene was from a scene in 13 Reasons Why. I realised while watching the show that the idea for my film is similar to the main character in 13RW, Hannah Baker’s story.  In one of the episodes, Hannah’s mum goes to the school to talk to the principal, and she goes into the toilets and sees graffiti and horrible messages written on the walls. She uses this as evidence that the school and the students are responsible for Hannah’s death.

This scene shows that even demeaning messages written in a bathroom stall can have an impact on someones life. The message of our film is that any type of bullying can have a powerful impact on someones life, and can lead to them hurting themselves. We wanted to add more to the bullying that Emily gets to build it up, so that it leads her to an overdose. I wanted to make the toilet scene in our film look similar to this scene in 13RW, as I like the cinematography used in the series. This scene has natural lighting, and a cooler tone to it, which is what I wanted to do for our film, however, the lighting was very different in our location we used, so I tried to get the lighting looking as natural as possible, but it has more of a warm tone to it. 

‘13 Reasons Why’ (2017) Tape 2 Side A, Season 1, Episode 3, Netflix, 31st March 2017 [Online] Available from: https://www.netflix.com/watch/80117473?trackId=200257859 [Accessed 11 May 2017]

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Filming Day 1: Toilet Scene

9th May 2017

Today me and Ali filmed the toilet scene with our main actor, Sally, who plays Emily. We collected the equipment earlier than planned, as we wanted to set up early and test out lighting. The lights in the toilets were a tungsten yellow colour, and it didn’t look good, so I got some LED lights to make the lighting look more natural. I had some problems trying to get the lighting that I wanted, an it took a while, but I eventually made the lighting look better. However, the walls of the toilet cubicle are green, and the lights reflected off it, making the image in the camera have a slightly green tone, which I couldn’t change. I used 2 LED lights, one was placed to the left of the camera, close to the cubicle that I was filming, and lowered slightly and angled up towards the actor, to fight up her face.

The other light, the key light, was placed to the right of the camera, and was brighter than the other light. Both the lights were on a mix of orange and white lights, which gave the actor a nice warm tone, and the white lights was to neutralise the yellow tungsten lights on the ceiling.

The camera was placed on a tripod, in a mid shot of the actor standing in the toilet cubicle. However, I had a problem with the light shining on the wall, so I had to angle the light slightly off, and zoom in to the actor to block out the reflection of the light on the back wall. this worked out better, as it was focused more on the actor, and I could still see the writing on the wall. 

I also did some hand held shots of the graffiti on the wall, for a transition from the scene before this scene, which will be a classroom scene. Ali, the sound operator, used a radio mic that we managed to get, as they were all booked out until the last minute. The sound was clear and the levels were good.

Overall, this was a good shoot, despite the lighting problems. To improve this scene, I could have filmed from another angle to have more of a variety of shots, and so this scene wasn't just one long shot, as it looks a little boring.

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Tuesday 9th May 2017

Today we are going to film the Toilet Scene. I booked out the equipment today, which was way too late, as I couldn't get all the equipment that I wanted. I managed to solve the problem, and I had to get a boom mic instead of a radio mic, and there were no LED lights left, so I had to book out a top light instead. This is a lesson learnt, as I need to remember to pre-book all the equipment at least a week in advance to make sure that I can get the equipment that I need. 

Also, today I have written 2 of the shot lists that I need. One for the Toilet Scene that I will be filming later , and all the classroom scenes that I will be filming next Thursday.