Here are some screen grabs that illustrate some of the techniques we employed in order to complete the mix.

The hardest part of the mix was combining the voice of, supposedly being fed from Martins dating video, and the diegetic sound of the activities he's performing. Above is an example of how we had to alter the end of many of the clips in order form them to end suitability abruptly, enabling them to flow seamlessly into the next clip. Here we added a final decipherable punch (made by Joel), thus giving it a definitive ending from which to follow on from.  

Above is the point at which the non diegetic sound from 'Star Wars' fades out and Martins voice comes back in. I edited it so that the iconic theme music creates a natural fade in the sound, at the end of the note cycle i dropped the audio levels from the film and at the same time increased the voice over, the result is a relatively seamless transition, allowing the levels to remain the same throughout the audience are less aware of the change in sound and therefore accept the change, creating a much smoother edit. 

I believe it's the little details, many that often go un noticed, that make the biggest difference between a successful and unsuccessful sound design. Below is a screen grab of the 'excersice' scene, as Joel created the entire sound design for this scene from scratch we were able to manipulate it in almost anyway we wanted. An aspect that many will have missed is that at the point that Martin wipes his forehead, there is a lapse in the button 'smashing' foley, adding that extra bit of realism and continuity to the film.   

Voice Over Complications:

Despite not having a lot of footage where we needed to sync sound to the actor's dialogue, I faced a new problem in that I needed to sync the V.O to text being typed into a computer. The obvious issue with this is that words are spoken a lot faster than one can type into a computer, on average anyway, therefore I had to speed up the clip of the typing in order for the text to appear near enough exactly as it's spoken. Following this, the second problem was now the speed at which the actors fingers were moving, it just didn't look realistic. To overcome this I had to crop the image, lessening in quality, but removing the comical speed at which the hands were having to move.  

The screen grabs below show the amount I had to speed up the clip in order to achieve a synced effect, I would have thought originally if i was going to have to nearly double its speed the result would look fake, i.e. sped up, luckily it seems to work well, with the only hint of its increased speed being the slight reflection of speeding hands in the screen of the laptop.

  

Big Problems

The biggest difficulty we faced when shooting was getting the lighting looking natural and consistant. Due to this being the first time we've used lighting out of a studio environment a lot of trail and error was involved when setting up the Dedo's. I'm not convinced we did a brilliant job throughout, there are a lot of shadows the the lighting quality does differ shot to shot. This being said however, being that it was a steep learning curve I feel we did well in some scenes to create good atmosphere, particularly one of claustrophobia and intimacy. The screenshot below sees our character indulging in one of his favourite pass-times, being 'sociable' with like minded people on the internet. Not only does this shot feel personal, but after taking advice, we wanted to vary the times of day that the film portrayed, thus giving a better, more rounded depiction of this characters life style. Considering this was filmed at around 2pm on a sunny day, we have done well to light the scene as if it were late at night.

  

Below is an example where we didn't get it quite so right, the shadow on the left hand side is far too exaggerated considering there is meant to be no light other than the morning sunshine. Not only this but there is too much of an 'orangy' glow, this can be fixed in post, however it just goes to show we need more practice and to be less reliant on our colour correction skills.  

Another problem that was hard to over come was using the glide cam, after such high expectations, when we came to see the results, their lack of quality just didn't justify using them in the final edit. Aside from the quality, the reason they didn't look right was mainly because the vast majority of the film makes use of locked off shots, due to there being just one character in a house, there was little need to use camera movement. It was also party because we drew inspiration from 'Clerks,' a film that works brilliants with very simple, static shots. After storyboarding for a film that emulate the style of 'Clerks,' the late discovery of the glide cam, while exciting in theory, didn't add anything to the cinematography. The one shot that we had always suggested using movement for was the track back, away from the character in a scene where we hoped to increase the audiences empathy with him by showing how alone he was. This remains in the film but I'm not happy with it, had we more time I would have liked to re shoot that scene using a few different techniques and ideally earlier on in the day. 

As you can see its very dark, we wanted it to be night time, however because we were going to be moving back through the location the placement of lights was very hard to get right. Due to the camera moving away from the character, we needed to ensure a high aperture setting to allow the camera a larger depth of field, this caused problems however as more light was needed to light the scene. Either they would light the room too much or not enough (as is the case). Along side that, with a moving shot it becomes hard to stop lights drifting into shot or shadows becoming accentuated as your angle changes slightly. Overall I don't believe the footage we captured does the scene justice, which is a shame as it had potential to be one of the best shots of the film.   

Location:

Quite a lot of time was put into dressing the house in order to make it look like a space our character would exist in. The bedroom was in need of a complete rework, the cluttered girly room was stripped and  re arranged in order to make the filming of certain scenes possible. Seeing as we were on location, one of the main problems we encountered was creating space in which to film. We worked around this by moving furniture and faking their position so we could get in behind to shoot.

Below is a picture of the bedroom after the rework. Between the group we accumulated lots of 'geeky' objects and posters to better represent our character and give the location a more lived in feel.

Due to the location also being the home to six students, constant tidying was required to keep up the facade that this was our character's home. Below is a before and after of the living room.

As you can see we've cleaned the whole room and added posters to the walls

We used grease proof paper as a filter to defuse the light, this overcame the problem of a spotlight effect. 

By moving the furniture around taking into consideration the camera placement, we were able to over come the issue of a small set. 

New Potential

We recently acquired a Glidecam HD-1000 which enables us to create much more dynamic camera movement. As a result of this we are revising the story board and where appropriate, utilizing this new equipment.

Below is a short film made by using the HD-1000, it does well to show off its potential.

Research & Inspiration

The idea its self was not taken from anything I had previously seen, however, with the idea formulated there are a number of short and feature length films from which shooting style can be examined and imitated.

I found this short film on Vimeo. What I like so much about it is its simple introduction the the main character, the shots immediatly connote who this character is and to an extent what he's like. The cheery song layered over the top emphasis's the lighthearted nature of the film and alongside the stylised and simple yet well written V.O does well to further round up the protagonists personality.
  

The choice of voice actor was clearly taken into consideration for this film, the somewhat nasally sounding voice fits perfectly with the comical side of the piece, the fact that the voice is somewhat 'funny' sounding works a lot better than if the same film used a well spoken, deep and meaningful 'James Bond' style of voice.
This is relevant to the drama brief as it will be essential to get the V.O sounding right otherwise that images just wont match up.


The second piece of inspiration is from The Social Network. The scene in which Mark is blogging about the break up with his girlfriend is useful as its similar to what we're aiming for during the V.O/blogging narration. By using the sounds of typing as used in this scene along side the V.O, it wont always be necessary to see our character physically typing the narration, the sounds will act as a audible signifier and the audience will be able to work out and accept that he's blogging and not talking directly to them.

Below is a useful video for taking inspiration from. It highlights the kind of things a 'bad' online dating video might include, helpful for writing the screenplay.

The film Clerks was a great film to watch in order to gain ideas as to what can be done with very simple, static cinematography. Due to our equipment list being restricted, its impressive to see what can be done with essentially just a tripod. This style of shooting will be one we hope to imitate, the long takes and simple editing goes well with the well written dialogue and forces the characters to move the narrative along and keep an audience entertained.
   

The scene in which Dante is getting ready for work is simple and precise, there is little 'fat' and through the editing the audience gets to know quite a lot about the character despite the sequence being just under three minuets long (titles included). This way of progressing the story is something I plan to emulate, when watching a character get dressed, there is no need to show every part of the procedure. In the clip above for example, simply leaving the bedroom, putting on shoes, making coffee and getting into his car is all that's needed to ensure the narrative moves along quickly. Even with so few shots, the audience is able to connect the events, fill in the blanks and accept what Dante is doing.  

The simple shots also connote the atmosphere in which the two friends work. The mundane day to day chore that it is to work in such a business is represented in the static shots and the symmetrical, even framing.  Nothing (other than a few of the odd characters that come into the shop) is out of the ordinary, just another average day for Dante. 

Idea Two (A final treatment will follow)

The film revolves around the attempt of a stereotypical 'geeky' character to find love on the internet. The story begins with the character posting a video dating bio on the internet and concludes with him finally getting some female attention and leaving his home to attend a date. The majority of the film will be made up of the 'bio' itself, being inter-cut with his day to day lifestyle. The second half of the film is the waiting game that follows and eventually the run up and preparation of the date. The film ends on a high as he leaves his home with high expectations of whats to come.

The use of the characters V.O will narrate the story, being disguised as journal entries to avoid a direct connection between the audience and protagonist. I felt this would work well as it avoids a documentary feel coming through, not only this but it reinforces the characters isolation from the rest of the world.        

Drama!

This was our original treatment and the one we pitched, however as we tried to develop the project we soon ran into problems. There were a few major fundamentals that we felt wouldn't work. While we wanted a simple concept from which we could create something technically sound, I believe we went too basic and the finished film would have been too mundane and uneventful to warrant really making it in the first place. 

None the less, here is the original treatment;

Treatment (Idea one)

A short drama that explores the struggle of three friends when the power cuts out and tension begins to rise. After swift negotiation it is decided that Desmond will embark to the corner shop to top up the power as the cold and isolation begins to set in at the house.

Narrative Development: The film begins with an introduction of the characters at their home, after establishing the group dynamic and learning a little about each of them by observing them in their ‘natural environment’ the electricity meter runs out, causing each of them a level of disruption. With this being the catalyst for the disequilibrium, it is decided by way of various methods i.e. rock, paper, scissors that Desmond, the most naive member of the group will go to the shop to top up the meter.

The middle of the film will revolve around the journey of Desmond, cutting back periodically to the two friends at home. Desmond, being a simpleton, is easily distracted on the way to the shop and takes a long time meaning that the two friends at home quickly get bored and begin trying to entertain themselves. When finally Desmond returns to his irritable friends it turns out he’s forgotten all about the electricity and has instead brought back some milk.

Through simple, light hearted comedy we’ll take this otherwise mundane task and transform it into a playful, feel good and relatable short film.

Visual Style: Considering the film is set at night, interior lighting is a key component to stylistic control. We hope to emulate Guy Richie films in terms of cinematography and mise-en-scene with smooth edits used throughout. Lighting and mise-en-scene will be tightly controlled in the house scenes where props will play a large part in telling the story eg. Candle melting away showing passing time/chessboard changing etc. Flashbacks will also play a major part in developing character construction, providing quick glances into the past of the characters. We plan to make use of alot of camera movement and homemade dollies eg. Rope around lampposts/boom pole tripod etc. To give the film a unique feel and keep viewer interest high.

Audience: We believe that this short would appeal to a wide audience, due to its relatable content however we are aiming the film at a mainly university student demographic.  

Newspaper Report;

http://www.peterguy.merseyblogs.co.uk/2011/08/chibuku-shake-shake-presents-j.html

Edit Process


The major issue we've come across when coming to edit is the fact that the interviewees seemed pretty concerned in promoting their own cause, in other words, almost nothing they say relates to what the other says. As far as learning curves go, this is a steep one. In order to get around this we have had to sacrifice much of what we initially thought good footage in order to create a loose structure that gets an audience from A to B. 


Multi Camera; Due to the fact we had two DSLR's to use on the project we thought it a good idea to have two camera set ups per interview in order to achieve a more interesting style and break up information that could have otherwise been quite mundane and relentless. The problem with this is that in post we discovered that the two cameras were potentially set up slightly differently, meaning that the two angles differed in colouring. We used filters and colour correction to get around this and generally I'm pleased with the result. Paul in particular when using the stationary footage, was badly washed out and not vibrant at all, the finished result, while clearly altered, does a good job of establishing continuity.

The End; I have a big issue with the ending, I found it really hard to end the documentary in anyway better than the way we did. With the footage we captured it seemed that no matter what we finished with it was always a bit of an anti climax and didn't really leave the audience with any lasting message. I'm aware that this is a big issue as the ending of this kind of documentary should be a summary of the film as a whole. If i were to do this project again i would be more aware of the edit during the shooting process and try to get what i needed out of the interviewees, rather than settling for just anything.  

Screen Grabs;

As you can see from these screen grabs we chose to colour correct some of the footage to improve continuity.
   

Contributor List


Paul Hutchinson - DJ/Promotor - paul@waxxx.co.uk


James Rand - DJ/Producer (Contactable via Facebook)


Andy Hill - Promotor  (Contactable via Facebook)

Documentary Audio


The documentary opens with a live mix by James Rand, as shown, he uses a number of analog mixers along side the software Ableton to produce the track on the spot. As a result, we have no MP3 or WAV file, just the sync sound we captured on both the Marantz 660 and Canon DSLR's

The second track we used is one produced by Dauwd, a producer from Liverpool who has been kind enough to give us a free range of his tracks.

Locations 


While in Liverpool we intend to visit two particular establishments. The first is 'The shipping forecast,' the reason behind going to this bar is that two of the three intended interviewees have ties with it. Andy Hill is a promoter who often uses this bar as the venue for his nights and James Rand is a producer/DJ who has a residency here, along with one another club. 

As you can see from this screen shot, at the time this was taken The Shipping Forecast was yet to exist however the building is clearly recognisable as the legitimate establishment from the documentary. 

Similar to the above, the venue shown in the film has yet to be arrive on Google Maps...

Shot List

Shot List

Shot	Location	Shot Type	INT/EXT	Movement	Interviewee	Equipment
1	James Rand's Room	Medium Shot	Interior	Static	James Rand	Camera/Tripod
2	James Rand's Room	CU	Interior	Static	James Rand	Camera/Tripod
3	James Rand's Room	CU OTS	Interior	Static	James Rand	Camera/Tripod
4	James Rand's Room	CU of mixing equipment	Interior	Static	James Rand	Camera/Tripod
5	James Rand's Room	High angle	Interior	Static	James Rand	Camera
6	James Rand's Room	Medium OTS	Interior	Static	James Rand	Camera/Tripod
7	Peacocks Bar	Medium Shot	Interior	Static	Paul	Camera/Tripod
8	Peacocks Bar	CU of face	Interior	Static/Free hand	Paul	Camera
9	Peacocks Bar	Medium Long Shot of Peacocks Sign	Exterior	Static	Paul	Camera/Tripod
10	Peacocks Bar	Medium Shot of statue	Exterior	Static	Paul	Camera/Tripod
11	Peacocks Bar	Medium Shot	Interior	Static/Free hand	Paul	Camera
12	The Shipping Forecast	Medium Shot	Exterior	Static	Andy	Camera/Tripod
13	The Shipping Forecast	CU of face	Exterior	Static/Free Hand	Andy	Camera
14	Streets of Liverpool	Medium	Exterior	Static	n/a	Camera/Tripod
15	Streets of Liverpool	Long Shot (Building)	Exterior	Static	n/a	Camera/Tripod
16	Streets of Liverpool	CU (Simon Cowell (Graffiti)	Exterior	Static	n/a	Camera/Tripod
17	Streets of Liverpool	Medium Shot (Bar)	Exterior	Static	n/a	Camera/Tripod
18	Streets of Liverpool	Medium (Gig Posters)	Exterior	Static	n/a	Camera/Tripod
19	Streets of Liverpool	Long Shot (street/ posters)	Exterior	Static	n/a	Camera/Tripod
20	Streets of Liverpool	Push Focus (Street)	Exterior	Static	n/a	Camera/Tripod