Evaluation

After having our fair share of successes and failures, we managed to complete the film and hand it in before the deadline and managed to hit all the other deadlines that were set before. I think we managed to hand all the problems we faced well and find ways to correct them, especially with the location difficulties. One of things we could of done to improve would to have been more efficient in finding actors. Overall I enjoyed myself on the project and feel that we produced a good piece of work.

Specific details

Idea 

• Was a unique take on a romantic short film
• The title "Shells" had a good link to the film without revealing much about the plot. Draws people into the film
• The theme of shells was something that the film manages to show throughout
• Having the death of the wife not become apparent until the end has a large impact on the audience.

Camera

• Good variation of shot types throughout the film
• Most of the shots are steady (a few camera shakes due to wind and the nature of some of the shots)
• Everything is in focus 
• All the shots are framed correctly
• The variation of shots and angles helped to engage the audience and create sympathy towards older Jon.

Editing

• Very good continuity throughout the edit
• Managed to cut down long scenes
• Filter on the flashbacks adds a nice effect to the film

Sound

• The sound helps the audience become engrossed in the main characters storyline
• The cut of the soundtrack when the kettle goes off adds a nice effect
• Nice variation on diegetic and non-diegetic sound

Feedback from actor

After Kat emailed the actor who played older Jon to say we had finished the project he replied with this:






















This was a great thing to hear as this was our first project like this!

Third Edit - Final

Today was our final day for editing. I managed to matching all the sound back to each clip which was a long process that took up a lot of time. Me and Ilarna also added the sound effects and the soundtrack to the film and Ilarna also managed to colour correct the film as well. Overall I think the edit came together very well! Tomorrow the other members of the group will meet to review the overall edit and then hand it in to be marked.

Second Edit - Refining

Today me and Ilarna spent around 8 hours refining the edit that we had and making sure that everything sequenced together properly while also keeping up a good pace. I also added the effects to the flashbacks using keying and camera blur. The effects look really good but now we have discovered a new problem. As we were editing, the sound had disconnected with each clip meaning that all the sound was out of sync. We are planning to fix this in one more day of editing where we will fix the sound, add the sound effects and colour correct.

Final Sound Effects

All the sound effects used on the film were sourced from freesound.org. We downloaded them all into one folder which made importing them into the film easier. All the sound effects are of good quality and fit in well with the film.

First edit - Rough idea

While Me, Ellie an Kat were filming, Ilarna had started to edit together some of the footage we already had. After then giving her the new footage, she had sequenced together all the scenes. She then showed us what she had done so far in the following seminar. One of the main problems that we faced was that the actor had done the scenes for far longer than we hoped and that some of the shots we had were far too long. It is unfortunate but me and Ilarna are planning to go back and refine the edit. 

Editing Effects and Tutorials

For the flashback I light the idea of having a filter over them to make it clear to the audience that they are in the past. I have therefore been busy looking at editing tutorials so that we can implement them into our editing process.








I have also been looking at just the basic tools on the editng software so that I can get familar with it as it is a software I haven't used before.

Sound Effects

During the flashbacks we want to have a romantic soundtrack in the background. I also suggested that we play the sound effect of the sea as the opening credits start with the credits fading in out with the sound of the waves crashing. Ellie also got a nice shot of some seagulls that we are thinking we are going to put the title over. We therefore also need a sound effect of some seagulls. Lastly we also need some sound effects of a door slamming and a kettle going off. I have been looking at some royalty free sound effects that we could use. 

Sea:

Soundtrack :



Seagulls:




Door Slams:



Kettle:

Font Ideas - Title

During our second day of filming, Ellie took an extra shot of the seagulls flying around on the beach. The shot came out really well and we all decided we were going to use it as the background for when the title comes up. Since then I have been looking at different fonts that we could use for our title. 

Krungthep

Marion

New Gothic MT

Trajan Pro

Filming Day 2

 Scenes to be Shot:

SCENE 2 – FLASHBACK 1

EXT. BEACH – DAY

SCENE 3 – FLASHBACK 2

EXT. YOUNG JON’S FLAT – DAYTIME

SCENE 4 – FLASHBACK 3

INT. BEDROOM - EVENING

Problems we encountered:

• Extreme weather - No beach ball scene, camera shaking
• No house/bedroom to shoot dinner scene
• Having a bracelet instead of necklace - had to change sequence of events
• Limited time with the actors

How we overcame the problems:

• Instead of having the scene where the two are throwing the beach ball, we decided to change it to John finding a shell on the ground and giving it to Melissa. This I feel could actually set up the flashbacks better and links it back to the collection of shells that older John has in the scene we shot on day one.
• Due to the first change, the scenes would of all been of John giving Melissa all gifts which is nice but a bit excessive! We decided to change the scene so that Melissa would already have the key and that they would be walking into the flat together.
• Scene 4 was also changed due to not having a house. We therefore decided that John would give the bracelet to Melissa on a park bench. We managed to find the perfect location just beside the beach.

Overall filming went well (even though it was freezing cold!) and I think we managed to get some really nice shots.

Film Prep day 2

To prepare for the second day of filming, Ellie prepared a shot list just like the one we made for the first day we filmed:

We also decided that only me, Kat and Ellie were going to film. Kat also created a group chat so that we could organise with our actors what time to meet and how we were getting to the locations. It was decided that we were going to film on the 30th of March.

Risk Assesment

Due to filming off campus on the second day, we were asked to fill out a risk assessment.
Here is the risk assessment that we created for shooting.

Although there was extreme wind, filming went very well and there were no injuries or difficulties that we came across.

Final Casting a Wardrobe

Here is our final casting a wardrobe:

Found Young Actors!

After looking for ages, we have finally found young actors to play young Jon and Melissa. Luckily Kat's friend Sophie studies drama and was happy to play the part of Melissa. As for finding the actor for younger Jon, we decided to approach one of the guys who studies on our course. Luckily he said yes! After struggling to find someone to play the parts for so long, it was a big relief!

Filming 17/03/2015

Scenes we were shooting: 

SCENE 1 – BEFORE THE FLASHBACKS

INT. JON’s ENTRANCE HALLWAY – DAY

INT. JON’s KITCHEN – DAY 

INT. JON’s KITCHEN – DAY - reaction to FlashBacks

SCENE 5 – BEGINNING TO MOVE ON FROM THE LOSS                              

INT. JON’S KITCHEN – DAY

INT. JON’S ENTRANCE HALLWAY – DAY

We arrived at 8;30 to set to start rearranging the furniture and work around the limits that student accommodation provides.

Problems we encountered:

• The door had a massive window on and no letterbox. It was also alarmed when kept open for too long
• no where to hang the coat (key part)
• Was shared accommodation so people were walking in out
• Student numbers on the cupboards
• Multiple hobs and ovens
• no separate lounge
• no bookshelves
• lighting!!

How we over came the problems: 

• Stared the shot of him walking in through a corridor, filmed with the door open. Had to limit the scene to less 30 second due to alarm going of.
• Had the women's coat hanging over a hinge and had him hang his coat on top, was unable to tell it wasn't a coat rack.
• Instead of having the letter come through the door and bring him out of the flashbacks, we had him walk in with the letters and put them in the kitchen. The kettle is what brings him out of his trance and when he walked over to the kettle, he picks up the sympathy card on top. 
• Not much we could do to stop people walking in and out, we just had to pause filming and wait for them to leave.
• Luckily some of the cupboards didn't have numbers on so we only shot in one half of the kitchen. This worked out in our favour as it gave us space to work with and hid the extra hobs and ovens. 
• The flat had sofas and a coffee table that we rearranged to look like a living area. We did not shoot him walking into the living room from the kitchen like planned as it gives the impression that they are 2 separate rooms.
• Changed the scene from him knocking the shells off the bookshelf to him tidying up the table in the living room and knocking a book onto the jar of shells instead

Our main problem when filming was the lighting in the room due to some of the room having no windows and the rest having large over powering windows. Not only did this constantly mess with the white balance, it also effected our exposure as well. We did the best we could to deal with this problem but after reviewing footage, it is clear that we are going have to edit the exposure of some of the scenes in post. 

By surprise I found myself naturally taking control of filming along side Ellie. Together we worked together well and managed to film everything that we needed and managed to overcome all the problems we encountered.

James himself said he enjoyed his day filming and that we were one of the more professional production teams he had worked with!!