Diary

14.3.16 – 17.3.16

This week I received the Unit 13 brief from Mark Caffoor (my tutor), he has explained the brief. I have generated 10 themes that I may want to do for my final major project. I have written the positives and negatives about each theme.

Questions asked:

• What makes this theme a good theme to do?
• What makes this a bad theme to develop?

After generating 10 themes I decided to choose Infatuation and Revenge I think that these two themes captured my interest the most so I decide to combine them. I feel more than satisfied with my decision-making when choosing these 2 themes.

I have started my essay on Infatuation and Revenge and I think it is going well but it is quite difficult but I will power through it so I can get it done as well understanding the themes that I’m doing. I will hopefully be finished by next week, I may ask for assistance if I get stuck.

17.3.16 – 21.3.16

This week I have finished the 1500 theme on my chosen themes ‘Infatuation and Revenge’ I thought it was very insightful because it increased the amount of knowledge I have on my chosen theme so far. I think that it will assist me highly when doing research for this project because of the information and mindset that I have acquired after doing this essay. This essay was a difficult and stressful experience, however, I think that it is worth the struggle because now I know more about what I need to a do to progress and what my goal is at the end of it.

Once that was done I started to research looking for the definition of infatuation using different sources on the internet and then I compared and differentiated each definition and wrote a conclusion. click here to see my infatuation page. In conjunction with attempting to find out about infatuation more, I discovered to articles that demonstrate infatuation in real life which was interesting and engaged me because they have a large amount of information on the subject matter ‘infatuation’ and I think I could use this information later on when developing my idea.

I also did quite a bit of research regarding the definition of revenge using different websites to help me establish the meaning. I found out and wrote a bit about personal and revolutionary such as Kill Bill and Django and learnt that some of the aspects are linked to the definitions that I have researched.

Next week I will be continuing the revenge page, adding more information along with starting the primary research aspect of my project.

21.3.16 – 28.3.16

This week I decide to come up with a few questions based on infatuation and revenge to ask different individuals inside and outside of the college. These questions are on a page called ‘ Primary research on infatuation and primary research on revenge’. Click here to go to my primary research on infatuation and click here to see my primary research on revenge. Later on, I received my results by interviewing a few people asking them the thought based questions I had come with at the start of the week. I was asking people questions to establish what infatuation means to them, if they were infatuated with anything and if so, how it affected them. I went with Shannon, who is a trainee at the college and she supported me by holding the microphone whilst I asked the questions and held the camera. I did the interviewing technique with my interviews based on revenge however, I used a tripod and put the camera on it whilst I pressed record and asked questions. Every piece of feedback given was insightful because it gave me an idea of what I want to do plus I received anecdotes that may help me with the progression of my project. For example, in the interview session with Eniola and Menkem was really good because I received anecdotes from them on how revenge was implemented.

Also, I added more information to the revenge page, I found two articles on revenge. One of the articles talks about a males revenge for love and how he killed his girlfriend for cheating on him and how he loved her so much, the other article is about a guy who killed his wife because she was pestering him for child support when the children weren’t even his. I talked about how I felt about it and how it will benefit my project. Next week, I will be looking at infatuation through film and analysing what I like and dislike about them.

28.3.16 – 4.4.16

During this timeframe, I have researched a lot of films based on infatuation and it has helped me immensely. It has shown me how I can engage the audience, for example, the intimacy and acting in the movie ‘fear’ kept me interested so if made me think about applying their techniques to my own film to keep my audience engaged. I like the concept being delivered I think that it will influence the ideas that I come up with. On top of that, looking at the short films done by students had revealed what I didn’t want for my own film, both visually and conceptually, click here to view the films based on infatuation page.

Additionally, I looked at infatuation through dramas (plays) looking at plays produced by Shakespeare such as Romeo and Juliet and Loves Labour Lost, click here to see the page. I learnt more about infatuation through these plays because the definition of infatuation linked to the actions of these two plays which clarified infatuation to me a bit more helping me gain information that will be relevant in the production of coming up and developing ideas later on. Lastly, this week I had looked up two plays Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet, I think all of the data acquired this week is good and will expand my understanding of the theme so I can come up with a solid idea to expand on. Click here to see the page, I talk about what I like and how it could help me in the progression of my project. I think that the researching I have this week is helping me a lot.

4.4.15 – 11.4.16

Between the 4th and 11th of  April, I looked up poetry and quotes based on infatuation, I got poetry on infatuation by people who are not famous and write poetry for people to see and I really found their opinion on infatuation interesting. I wrote my opinion each one and how it is useful to me, my opinions are positive and I enjoyed reading them. In conjunction with that are quotes from authors help me interpret my chosen themes. Everything that I researched so far has been assisting me to understand the themes more and more so that I can come up with an idea that is accurate as it can be and clarify my views on infatuation and revenge.  Music has a lot of meaning so this week I researched infatuation through music, I have found out a lot of information, for example, one song that I looked up talks about how a man is infatuated with a woman and I learnt more about the emotional side of infatuation and I think that the music videos has made me think a lot more about what kind of shots I want to use and how intimate the shots are. Click here to see my music based on infatuation page.

11.4.16 – 18.4.16

When researching films on revenge this week I have learnt more about personal and revolutionary revenge such as the hunger games and Batman: The Dark Knight. This has assisted me in thinking about what type of revenge I will be doing, I am leaning towards revenge that is personal. Click here to see the page that has films based on revenge. There were quite a few biblical stories that I found this week it was interesting because the revenge present was positive and heroic. The research that I have done on revenge using the bible shows me the positive side of revenge instead of the negative side that I have seen in some films and stories I heard. In addition to that, I remembered some phrases/quotes that relate to revenge that gave an insight as to what I know about revenge and how it works in conjunction with how it was helpful my ideas and my film. Lastly, I added more information to the revenge page that talks about revenge for love in the tv series Daredevil, I think that this new information could influence my idea process.

18.4.16 – 25.4.16

During this time period, I created a new page and research revenge in music, there were quite a few examples. I listened to the lyrics more than watching the music video because some of the songs didn’t really portray revenge stories visually, however, I did find a few that were very useful and made me think about my own film. I gathered more information from watching the films but this piece of research was very constructive. This week, I came up with a few ideas based on the themes I had chosen (infatuation and revenge), I came up with five ideas that I was satisfied with and thought was good, also, I came up with five ideas that are different to one another but still based on the themes. Once that was done, I asked my peers to give me feedback on each one, I asked four people on each idea so that I can make a more precise and smarter decision because this is the idea I will be developing and using for my creative media project. I decided to go with the fifth idea because it was the most interesting and was based on both of the themes.

25.4.16 – 2.5.16

During these few days, I have created a page called ‘my idea’ showing the progression of my storyline I think that it will be useful because then I can receive feedback and have a clear view of what my story is in case I need to look or reflect on it. I have written about my initial idea is, the storyline based off of the initial and an updated version of my storyline along with feedback from Francis that helped me develop a bit of my idea. This week was a very productive week, I had started writing my script which is almost finished, I received feedback on the first draft of my script that was through a group discussion that I had I obtained a lot of feedback that I have profited by so far I’m on the fifth draft of my script now and I’m almost finished. Next week, I will have completed the script and then I will move onto the pre-production part of the project.

2.5.16 – 9.5.16

This week I finished the script officially finished the script for my creative media project. I think that the feedback received throughout the script process was extremely helpful to the develop of my script idea. Now I can distribute the script to my actors so that they could memorise the lines ready to film on the 16th of May. The group discussions and constructive criticism were valuable, I really enjoy receiving constructive feedback. Once that was done I created a new page called characters and that includes the character biographies so that I can explain the characters more to my actors and so that I can remember it easier, it wasn’t hard to do, click here to see the page. I also updated my initial ideas page, adding the final story to it.

Then created a casting research page and I started to look up how to do casting so that I can do it to the best of my ability and understand the process more, they were very useful. I have done casting in Unit 8 so I already had an idea on how I am going to approach it and what to do, however, it is always good to recap on information so that you don’t waste time or make mistakes. Click here to look at my casting research.

I have made a list of all the props I need, where I can get some of them from and what I have bought, for example, the picnic basket from Hobby Craft, I looked up the location of the basket and went up there a retrieve it. I went to escapade to buy props such as the fake knife, fake blood and liquid latex, it took me a long time to decide whether or not to buy the knife because the first knife looked fake and the second knife was good but I didn’t think it was worth the money, I decided to buy the first knife but I don’t know whether or not I’m going to use it. I bought the fake blood and the liquid latex so the trip down there was beneficial on the progression of my project and it wasn’t a waste of time. Then, I started to create the account for Rahsaan and Rose to use in the film, it was really easy to do because Rose and I already had a twitter account so all I needed to do was change the usernames and description names. Later on, I received the picture from Patricia, it is a nice picture and then I got the picture of Rahsaan printed for the shrine and formed a heart. Once that was done I asked my mother to go print the shrine out because she was near to a printing shop. Finally, I got the rope which is a shoe lace I found in my house and put all theses props together in the picnic basket so I don’t lose anything. Click here to view the Costume and Props page.

9.5.16 – 16.5.16

This week I have added new data to the blog and I have more of an understanding about where I will be filming, what equipment I will need and who my cast will be. I didn’t really hold auditions for the project but I used different pieces of information to choose my actors, click here to go to the Audition page. I think that the casting process was quite easy because I have friends who are acts and what to be actors so they were willing to contribute their skills and knowledge of acting in my film. However, I did look at previous videos to determine what person is what character in the film, I even used some of the new information that I had learnt from the casting research to make my decision. I am happy with my decision on what actor is what character, for example, Sharday is Kelly because I know that she can act crazy and she looks the part. Also, I created a page where I can display who is what character so that I remember and update if I need to. I contacted the actors that I need for the movie to work and they say that they will be free from the 16th of May to the 20th of May and that is time period is set, I think that if there are any changes the actors will inform me beforehand. The crew is only me at the moment, however, once I start filming cast member could assist my when not needed for a scene. On top that, I went out to take pictures of the locations that I will be using for my creative media product and I have written about how I am going to be using them. I really like all of the locations that I have chosen and they all provide me with free access to film in.

In addition to that, I did some experiments and techniques that will help me practice and understand what shots I want to use because I want to be extra ready to shoot smoother and easier to film my film. I did some tracking shots, a close up shot that is supposed to feature in my film. Additionally, I did some colour grading/colour correction experiments that I think that really well. I received a positive feedback on each of them which was great, I feel confident and ready to film next week.

16.5.16 – 23.5.16

16.5.18

Today was very disappointment because I was supposed to film the end of the film with Jason and Sharday however, Sharday said she had things to do today. She didn’t decide to inform me beforehand so, I could not film and I wanted some that I have fewer things to do the next day of shooting and Jason was free all day today which really annoyed me because I’m set back a day. Isabella already informed me that she couldn’t film which was professional of her. It is  okay because, I check over my work today to see if it made sense and was clear, I corrected a few things.

17.5.16

Today, I decided not use Jason anymore because he is unreliable for example, I wanted to do the shrine so I needed Jason’s pictures but he was taking long to send them, furthermore, he was disrespectful to me on the phone. I think he was with his friends am not sure but it is not a valid reason to be disrespectful and I don’t think I will be using him for future projects that I do.  I even gave him a second chance because he did the same thing with my previous project (unit 12) so I’m sticking with my gut. Thankfully, my cousin was happy to take his place as Aaron, my mother had his number and I called him up to ask for would help me out. I haven’t seen him act, however, he is doing performing arts in university so I think that he could be really good. Tomorrow, we will start filming and excited to start filming.

18.5.16

Today was a very productive day. I have filmed most of the end scene where Kelly kills Aaron. The shots went really well with Sharday and Rahsaan I think that they are great actors I am happy that they are helping me out. They were both professional even though Sharday messed up her lines quite a few times the footage still came out really well acting wise. I took a lot of shots today; closeups, tracking shots, mid shots and long shot. This is so I have enough footage to edit with as well as having variety in my shots.

Before the production of the scene, I set up everything the heavy object on top of my wardrobe, the scene in the kitchen, the bathroom and the living room where Sharday has tied Rahsaan up. Also, I did a production schedule for the day as well which helped a lot.

Click here to see the schedule.

Furthermore, I made sure the actors got to my house, Rahsaan came first and then I picked up Sharday from College, Isabella came with her and helped me cut the pictures for the shrine and help Sharday with her lines. I couldn’t find the top to my tripod so in the end, I used my shoulder rig to film with which went great but I’m still going to look for the top of my tripod. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a microphone so the sound wasn’t that great but we can dub it over at college after I have edited it. Next time I will use a microphone so it doesn’t.

Once the shooting had finished I made arrangements with the actors for the next scene that u will shoot tomorrow and what time they were available to shoot they scene and the said 2-7pm that everyone is available.

19.5.16

Today I had complications with the actors that I needed for the scene. I needed to film the scene with Kelly,Aaron and Courtney who is played by Sharday, Rahsaan and Isabella. Rahsaan was ready to film the scene today no problem at all. He was professional and was patiently waiting for my phone call so that we can start filming today. Unfortunately, the other two female actors Sharday and Isabella were unable to film today even though they said yesterday before hey left my house that they were free to film from 2-7pm. Once I approached the actresses so we came to pick them up They completely ignored me and went to do something else with their friends. Saying that they would message me to say whether or not they will be filming which they didn’t.

Due to my fascination with these actors, I phoned up my friend Carla if she could be Kelly who was played by Sharday and she recommended Patricia to play Courtney who was going to be played by Isabella. Carla and Patricia are free on the weekend so we can film all of the scenes then. Rose is available to film tomorrow because she is Lily who dies at the start of the film and Carla is free to come in to film the scene where Kelly kills Aaron and Kelly sees Aaron kill Lily which is fantastic. I will have two scenes done in one day. I borrowed some equipment from the college such as a boom pole, microphone with windshield, microphone cable, zoom recorder, batteries for the zoom recorder, tripod and a charged battery for the DSLR.

Eryk volunteered to help me do sound as well as act as the bystander for my film and I am grateful but I told him to go home because they weren’t going to film today. Also, I called up Rahsaan to notify him about what is going on. Hopefully, Eryk will help me tomorrow. Today I have learnt who is reliable and who isn’t and who to trust and use for projects in the future e.g university or the summer holidays. Some people can be very unpredictable.

20.5.16

Today went very successfully with Rose, Rahsaan and Carla. Rahsaan and Carla filmed did some of the last parts of the movie. You can check the production schedule on the production page.

Rose and Rahsaan filmed a death scene featured in my movie along with the live streaming using the periscope app. The death scene was filmed using different types of shots such as close-ups, tracking shots, mid shots and long shots, I wanted to do more close-ups of the intimate moment between Rahsaan and Rose but it is not important and I wouldn’t change anything because the footage that I have is great. I tried to make sure that I have a lot of shots to work with in post production. Throughout the whole filming process that was done today my brother helped me with sound for my film by operating the zoom recorder, holding the boom pole attached to the microphone and cable, he did a great job because l played back the sound and it sounded amazing, nice and clear, there were a few shaky bits of sound but I can fix it in post. The acting today was phenomenal I believe post production will very smooth because of the amount of things we had done today and how well they went, they follow directions amazingly. No negatives to report today except that I had to create a new schedule.

Click here to see the production schedule template.

21.5.16

Today, the shooting was very productive, we all went up to my granddad’s house to film a few scenes in the movie such as the picnic scene with Aaron, Kelly and Courtney along with the scene where Courtney meets Aaron. I gave the actors directions on how to get to my said location, they said it was pretty to get there which is good. I think that went amazingly it was a bit cloudy and windy that day, however, I came prepared and used to the zoom recorder and windshield over the microphone so that it is reduced. The actors asked questions if they didn’t understand which was good because after I give a response I feel like acted better than before.

Additionally, I thought that they acted quickly but effectively and it makes me happy to know that they have done a great job. I can visualise how I’m going to edit the shots I did today which is excellent. I re-order from a variety of film angles, I have done close-ups, mid shots, panned shots, POV shots and more. Carla helped me film when I had to be an extra in the movie and she is a great job taking directions and was steady with the camera. My mother, Patricia and Carla helped with the sound, it was a bit shaky at some points hopefully, I can fix it post. They did a fantastic job doing the sound for some of the scenes, they are fast learners because they didn’t know how to use it before today. Unfortunately, I did not get to use the picnic basket but it was okay because it did not affect the scene in any way. There are so many positives that came out of today’s shooting that I like and I grateful for and I believe that tomorrow will just as profitable as today.

22.5.16

Today, I finish filming the rest of the end scene where Kelly kills Aaron. I think that it went really well I had fun filming, however, I wish I had more shots to work with but the shots that I do have should be great because the were performed to a high standard. I filmed different shots for each part of the scene such as tracking shots, mid shots and close up.

The death scene was great I was very engaged whilst filming and I think they audience will be engaged too when I edit it together. The scenes didn’t take really long, Carla and Rahsaan took direction really well as always. They knew what to bring because I told them the night before and I made sure my camera was charged so there are no delays when filming for the day I had also assembled my shoulder rig beforehand and got the props needed for the day and put them nearby such as the rope and blood. Click here to see my production schedule. Everything went well today, there were no issues.  Next weekend, I will be doing the voiceovers with Carla and Rahsaan and then add it to the film in post.

I have also updated my cast and crew list and have included the necessary participant who helped me by being in the film and doing things behind the camera such as sound. Lastly, I filled out the production schedule for each day from Friday 19th of May to Sunday 22nd of May, click here to see the production schedule. I think that doing a production schedule is favourable because it has helped and will help me because when I edit I could look back at to know what footage was on what day. Furthermore, it has helped before I had to write out the safety precautions I had to take before actually shooting. Also, I created a distribution page and have written where I’m distributing my work and different ways to distribute it e.g word of mouth and posters.

23.5.16 – 30.5.16

This week was a good week, this is because I have done a rough edit of the film that I will use so that Rahsaan and Carla could do the voiceovers needed. There was a problem with how long the film is because of how long the film which was resolved and I had to remove the flashback scene at the market and the death scene were Kelly strangles Aaron had to be shortened. I think that even though I have shortened it I think that looks better than before. Editing is always fun to do in my opinion. I had to categorise the video files such as all the shots to do with Kelly killing Aaron would be in one folder, all the shots that were to do with Courtney meeting Aaron would be in another file. During the week, I had to buy a 1 terabyte hard drive because the way I was importing the files was wrong. I was using 2 USB drives and one memory card to import and hold files when editing which wasn’t good because my computer and the premiere pro started to run slowly and crash and that slowed down the process.

Separating the sound was very time-consuming to do and have never done it before so I took long, however, I got through it by creating a new folder calling it audio I am using and then put all of the audio files on a playlist and compared the to the rough edit that I had done. This weekend I got Carla and Rahsaan to do the voiceovers for the film, I have a microphone and music software to record them on. So they held the script in their hand, listened to the audio and then said the line need for that part and it didn’t take long. Furthermore, I created a target audience so that I know who my target audience, for example, what age range is my film aimed at and who would be interested in watching it. Click here to see the target audience page. I think that the research that I had done went successfully.

Next week I will be adding those voiceovers to the film and add effects, also, I will be separating the rest of the sound and adding to the edit. Lastly, I will colour grading the film and once the movie is up to my standard I will upload it to youtube and receive feedback.

30.5.16 – 5.6.16

This week I sorted out the sound for the movie, however, there are some parts of the film that could be improved. Sadly, I don’t have the time or actors to correct it. I did use premiere pro to the best of my ability and made it as clear as possible. I also found some free downloadable music this week to use for the film and I think that it suits the film a lot, creating tension. I am proud of what I have accomplished and I think that people will enjoy watching it in the exhibition.  I had completed and exported the final edit this week I am satisfied with the result of it, I exported the film. Before exporting the film I created a poster for the film this poster is going to be used when I distribute the link to my film so that people can get excited and watch the film, I added it to my distribution page. Unfortunately, I couldn’t distribute it this week because when I got home and played my film there was no sound coming from the movie, so next week I just have to export it again but making sure the sound is there. This week I also did a bibliography page so that none of the content on my blog is classified as plagiarism.

6.6.16 – 10.6.16

This week I uploaded the final edit to YouTube after exporting it for the second and final time. I made sure the sound was there which is was and the I got feedback from my peers. After that, I distributed the film on Instagram and Twitter using the poster I made last week Then I started doing my evaluation that I have finished and I spent the rest of the week making sure that my blog is completed to a high standard. Click here to see my distribution page.

21.6.16

Today was the exhibition, I invited Carla and my family e.g. my mother and brother to it. It was amazing there was food, drinks and other people work from the different creative departments such as fashion and games and animation. I wrote a review on the event, click here to view the review.