Movie Construction For The Advanced Portfollio

Movie Construction Steps for the Advanced Portfolio

Step 1: A brownish colour tone was added to most scenes during the editing phase carried out on Premiere Pro CS6. This was done to achieve a messy look whilst also remaining cinematic-like. This was done by using the 3-Way Colour Corrector in the Colour Correction tool.

Step 2: The Introduction of the title was created using the ‘wipe’ tool. The timing for the tool to work had to be adjusted accordingly to the movement of the character. Using this method was useful in 2 ways: it can prove to be an impressive style for an intro and wastes no time indicating whom the title refers to.

Step 3: Scenes had to be increased in ‘contrast’ in order to reduce pixels and make the images more sharp. This allows the audience to identify every detail that the director is trying to convey. 

Step 4: Music is always one of the most important features in a movie that creates an atmosphere of tension or drama. But in order to do that one must use the appropriate and suitable option. The music was very closely synced with the shots in the film. As the scenes progress, the tone of the sound tracks change as well. A clear example is the scene where the boy injects himself at the end of the movie. An exponential fade was added to the soundtracks so they don’t begin immediately and seem random. Instead they escalate slowly and sync with the scene. 

                                                                                                                                                        

Step 5:  Since there are no spoken dialogues in the film, using only music may seem monotonous and inevitably mundane. So sound effects were added to certain scenes so the audience doesn’t feel isolated from the movie.

Step 6: A couple of low angle shots were used in the making. This signifies superiority and gets to the point straight off.  It shows the distinction in class and how weak and vulnerable the boy really is.

Step 7: Blur helps focus on the main object while keeping the rest of it obscure. The camera is placed on ground level and emphasizes on his desperation and struggle.

Step 8: Both subjects are on the same level and signify equality. Camera is kept on a low angle shot and shows they’re on the same boat.

 Step 9: A close up on the boy’s expressions and curiosity. However this time it’s different from the election poster he had obtained earlier. This time he gives in to the temptation.

Step 10: A couple of footage was placed on top of each other.  Using the ghosting effect, slowing down footage and adjusting opacity gives it an intoxicating look.

 

 Step 11: The credits were also used changing opacity and slowed down footage. The font was a bold ‘Chapparal Pro’ with an added texture. 

Question 1 & 2 Advanced Portfolio

Q.1 How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?

The film is uses the regular conventions for the most part. It begins with the studio’s name; the studio, that consists of two of my friends and I. They’re non-media studies students but film enthusiasts and were willing to help on the production. Then comes the intro where it gives a small peak into what the movie is based on. Showing the busy streets and day to day life of a homeless boy. The idea is to create a neglecting tone and sense of alienation. This is done by shooting some shots of him sitting all to himself and if someone other than him is present on screen, he’s shown as inferior and vulnerable.

The intro music used is rather unorthodox, very much like the other soundtracks used and probably the only element going against the conventions. The name of the song is ‘If I Had a Heart’ by Fever Ray, was the ideal choice due to it having a melancholic yet quick beating touch. The plan was to avoid making the movie excessively depressing and have some intensity and a speck of oomph. The music really creates the atmosphere of sorrow and coldness and blends in perfectly with the movie. The second soundtrack has a more of a mechanical and futuristic tone. Again, this was an unorthodox choice and was used to signify how cold and automaton-like human beings can be when it comes to businesses and money. For the sake of reputation and a stable income, people can be sometimes willing to lose themselves and their conscience to something like profit. And the last soundtrack emphasizes on the fact that addiction to a powerful drug is like a bug caught in Venus flytrap. It starts off slow and feels almost eternal-like, then after having taken the drug, the music turns mellow as he walks away with a druggie; the only person who’s accepted the homeless boy for what he is.

To add that feel of poverty and derelict, the homeless boy was represented the way most homeless people are shown on media. As covered with dirt, malnourished and famished. Limping instead of walking, a can to for the money he gets. To add that appeal of inhospitality and dullness in general, a brownish-dark tone was used in most of the scenes. It adds that cinematic look and dryness; gives of a crude perspective of the life of the homeless. Scenes with the antagonist, the policeman, had a tinge of red. First reason was to aggravate the intensity of the scene. And the color red is often used with antagonists in general. It is also linked with an ominous foreboding and represents corruption too.

The movie mainly revolves around three social issues. One, how social class is distinguished amongst societies. The rich become richer and more powerful, whilst the poor become poorer and helpless. Two, the authorities taking advantage of their positions to exploit the helpless. As exaggerated as it may seem, the police do exploit the people and are willing to ‘look the other way’ as long as they get a big chunk of the dealings.  The third issue focuses on that a state of extreme hunger makes a person resort to drugs most of the time. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Pakistan has 6.7 million drug users. More than 4 million of these are addicts, amongst the highest number for any country in the world. UNODC calculates that more than 800,000 Pakistanis aged between 15 and 64 use heroin regularly. It is also estimated that up to 44 tons of processed heroin are consumed annually in Pakistan; a rate of use twice or thrice that of America's.

Q.2: What kind of media institution might distribute your product and why?

As a young filmmaker who is trying to avoid the huge and tempting production companies and become more independent. Heretic Films would be the likely institute as they produce less films compared to Paramount and Times Warner and significantly have greater standards. Heretic Films is based Utah, USA and is known for working with artists who are dedicated to bringing important stories to the screen. They believe in personal funding and invest into films that really enlighten the audience. Much like our studio, De facto, the main goal is to take a simple idea or story and turn it into something extraordinary. Heretic films is the type of studio which allows an artist to ‘do their own thing’ instead of being in a more autocratic style large production companies follow and focuses on social issues and dark or satire comedy much like our content.

Nowadays, endless sequels that dominate the film industry are tremendously successful in the Box Office such as the Avengers or Hunger Games. These movies have massive marketing budgets and are bound to be successful as they have a large following. It’s unfortunate how some great pieces never make it big due to Hollywood entirely dominating the industry. Some films neither become famous nor get the gross they truly deserve. But only the people who’ve seen these films know how precious they are and cherish them. And that’s the entire idea; grasping the audience and spreading a message and not in it for the money.

Heretic Film has a website that shows their previous and current production work as well as trailers and the crew on board. Our website is somewhat similar to theirs. It focuses on the films that we’ve worked on and details about our tiny but efficient workforce. Not only should the actors, writers and director be praised for the end result but every helping hand that made the movie come to the screen from a couple of lines on a piece of paper. Any contribution to the films are much appreciated.

Question 3 & 4 Advanced Portfolio

Q.3 How did your productions skills develop throughout this project?

Much like my ability to work on Adobe Photoshop, I followed a similar pattern in learning how to use Adobe Premiere Pro CS6. Honestly it wasn’t a walk in the park at all. At the beginning everything seemed to be so disorienting; the tools, the settings, the formats, basic stuff etc. I’ve had Premiere Pro for a while and never had used it before but some weeks prior to editing our film. The main thing was that it was inevitable. Sooner or later this project will have to be submitted and I don’t want to be working on it at the last minute as it will be futile. So I watched online tutorials, started from the very basics, clip placing, titles and adding music. And then moved onto more advanced editing techniques such as adding colour schemes/filters, crossfading sound and adding blur. 

Planning was the key. Everything needed to go accordingly as the timeline constructed as the schedule was rather tight. I needed at least two weeks for research before preparing the storyboard. The research mainly involved a lot of fieldwork that revolved around the living standards of those who can’t afford proper homes. It certainly was eye opening at some points where some people said they had lost their loves ones to drug addiction. I then used the internet to acquire more information about drug cases; mainly statistics. All the research before making a movie is crucial, it needs to be unbiased and accurate as possible otherwise it’s meaningless and hollow.

I had numerous tasks on the film we were making even though I had two friends who supported me. I was acting, directing and working on the camera at the same time. I placed a certain angle of the camera and set it on record and was then acting in some scenes. It was the first time I had experimented this way but it came in handy, after all, actors aren’t easy to find with a very low budget nor were people willing to take part during exams.

Music was my strong point. Often it has been said that I have an intriguing taste in music. And that is why I was also in charge of the soundtracks to be selected for the film. At first again it was just experimental, I could go either with some conventional tunes or try to add some more oomph to it. Music really makes the scenes more realistic and intense. It’s about finding something that will weave the entire picture together and not seem random.

All the props in the film were made or arranged accordingly to the storyboard; the clothes, the little details (can, hairnet, cigarettes etc.) Without them the film would just be empty. Since no dialogues were used, they convey the image and message a filmmaker is trying to symbolize.

Q.4 HOW DID U INTEGRATE TECH-SOFTWARE, HARDWARE AND ONLINE IN THIS PROJECT?

Technology is the very backbone of our film and highly relied on use of modern gadgets and information sources. The film was entirely shot on a Nikon D5100 DSLR camera with a basic 18-55 mm lens using a standard tripod. The scenes were taken in 1080p 25 frames per second. It was the first time we had worked on such a high quality resolution because our previous productions didn’t require much detail and relied mostly on storytelling and dialogues. However on ‘Worthless’ we tried to a completely different procedure. We were going to create a no dialogue movie which was going to save us the risk and burden of using a microphone and avoid the subtitles. And use Full HD to add some serene shots as we were going to experiment with cinematography and colours and with the use of props or mis’en scene to convey our story.

After the shooting was done, all the clips were then transferred to my HP ENVY laptop. From there the editing took place on Adobe Premiere Pro CS6. I had to watch several online tutorials in order to be able to build the movie the way I had planned it to be. This required learning step by steps of filter adding, sound crossfading, blurring and titles. Everything was going as planned till one day my laptop had been stolen. But fortunately most of it was already on backup in Hard Disk Drive. That was the day I was eternally grateful to a little, neglected black box which I thought would never come to use. After that that I cherished it closely.

The internet was also highly helpful before and after the shooting. First it was used to acquire information regarding drug cases, recent unemployment rates, the average drug user, poverty statistics and so on. Naturally a lot of field work was required but statistics and charts are better to be received from online sources. The internet was also used to obtain the fonts and soundtrack to be used in the editing. The basic fonts in Premiere Pro just aren’t adequate enough sometimes and the music was downloaded from iTunes. A website was to be made in order to promote the film. I was lucky to have found an advertisement of creating a website while I was scrolling on Facebook. It is quite difficult to believe that a pop up add for once was actually useful. The website I used was wix.com which allowed me to choose from many different type of structures. There was a film themed structure and also a play themed one. Strangely, the play themed structure seemed much more appealing because it allowed me to present my previous productions as well. It made the site look all the more realistic and very professional.

The postcard invitation of the film was made on Photoshop CS6. Whilst I was going through different types of textures and filters during the editing, I came across a film grain filter that made the image more cartoonish. I was quite impressed by the smudgy look of it, altered it a bit and stuck to this decision. The font for ‘Worthless’ was also made messy looking by adding a Drop Shadow to it.

The film was inspired from a short film by a professional animation director. He screened his film on a film festival I was attending. The story was about a man stranded on a tiny island for several months. Many boats and ships pass by but all for personal gain. For instance a ship stops on the island to colonise the island by placing a flag and leave without the stranded man. Another ship sets an anchor next to the island but extracts oil from it and leaves the man again. At the end the only who one who rescues the man from his peril is another man who was previously stranded on an island too and holding onto a large piece of wood or log floating in the ocean. And they both float away together towards the sunrise.

Also looking up A-level Media Studies students’ blogs was rather helpful. It showed what type of level our movie should be with. Amateur level of course but creativity and originality goes a long way. Which also helped with the construction of my storyboard. The main thing is even if the film is short, it must be gripping, touching and connects with the audience.

Common Convention in Travel and Tourism Magazines.

Common Conventions in Travel & Tourism Magazines

 Magazines that encourage domestic travel try to create a sense of patriotism by using the color scheme of their flags:

Examples:

United States of America (Red, White and Blue)

France (Red, White and Blue)

Ireland (Orange, White and Green)

Travel magazine covers have specific areas where no text is added. This is to emphasize on the main part of the cover image.


Examples:








A very important convention in tourism magazines is that the main image consist of 3 main color schemes. And the prominent font is of a conspicuous, distinct color in order to be distinguishable.

Examples: 

(Image color scheme: Blue, White and Green)  (Distinct color: Yellow &Orange)


(Image color scheme: Blue and White)  (Distinct color: Brown)

(Main image color scheme: Blue and White)  Distinct color (Yellow)

Timeline for Advanced Portfolio

Timeline For The Short Film 'Worthless'

Budget for Advanced Portfolio Film

Storyboard for Advanced Portfolio Film

Storyboard

Act One, Scene 1

The scene will begin with an extreme long shot taken on top of a bridge of oncoming traffic. An introduction to the main character (the homeless boy) walking the busy streets of the city. This will be shot on the miniature effect on the camera to create a time lapse and emphasize on the passage of time.

Example: (Image from Google)

Act One, Scene 1

The title of the movie (WORTHLESS) will be introduced as the major character walks by the camera in a medium shot. Whether there will be a trash can in the background or not will finalized during the editing phase.

Example: (self-made)

 

Act One, Scene 2

Homeless boy sits outside a restaurant or café. The manager sends sweeper/janitor to ask him to leave as he’s a nuisance according to him. This will be taken on a low shot to signify the distinction in class and make the homeless boy seem inferior.

Example: (self-made)

Act One, Scene 2

The manager pours a bucket of water on the homeless kid to force him to go away. The boy lays on the ground, cold and shivering. This will be taken from a low angle beside the shoulder shot with the manager standing tall to again emphasize the sense of dominance.

Example: (self-made)

Act Two, Scene 1

Homeless boy sits in a ghetto-like alleyway. He receives something from a stranger and unrolls it for further inspection. This will be a medium shot taken from a low angle.

Example: (image from Google, gettyimage.com)

Act Two, Scene 2

The boot symbolizes an ominous foreboding and adds a dramatic effect. Taken from a long angle close up. The pack of chips is a positive sign and creates an optimistic feel until this scene occurs.

Example: (image from Google, 123RF.com)

Act Three, Scene 1

A drug addict sits next to the boy. This represents an idea of similar class and equality. They sit side by side which symbolizes a bond created between the two and are on the same boat. Again taken from a low angle.

Example: (self-made)

One of the last scenes is of the boy holding an injection. He inspects this like he did with the election poster earlier but is curious this time. The next clip shows him injecting it without second thought as he feels he can trust his new, spontaneous friend.

Example: (self-made)