EDITING

This week was the last chance we had to complete our opening childrens film sequence. We used the three lessons we had to do the editing for our film.
On the first lesson, Sarah Jebb, Aggie Andrews and Lauren Vyse did the editing of the film material. They uploaded all of the film onto final cut. They made sure that all of the shots were in the correct order and that they were the right length.
On the next lesson me, Aggie and Lauren then edited in all of the film credits. We included credits for the Camerawork and the main characters. This was very straight forward. We decided to use red font for the writing for the reason that the film is based around 'The Winter Ball' which takes place around christmas. We then began making the music to go with the film. For the opening shots, we wanted some pretty, magical music. For this we used the program garage band which we found very easy to use. We found some pretty music and incorprated it in the shots we wanted it in. We then found some tense, loud music for the shot where the 'mysterious' boy can be seen. And finally we found some upbeat music for the fast paced sequence where the three girls are seen to be walking through the college. The music that we found, gave the intentional effect we wanted and we were happy with the outcome. This process took us two lessons as it was very strenuous getting the exact music we wanted to use.
We finished our editing on the last day. We completed the soundtrack to the film and then we added transitions in between different shots. We added fades and wipes between different shots because we thought it would be good to keep the transitions simple.
Once we completed our editing, we uploaded our opening sequence onto our blog.

THE WINTER BALL (final piece)

HOW OUR FILMING WENT

We had the whole of last week to finish our filming. We were successful in doing so and completed our children's opening film sequence.

We began our filming in the college library as it was in our minds a recognisable location for our audience. The week before our filming began was our planning week, we decided then that we were going to do our opening shot in the library of the college. Our first shot was a shot of the Winter Ball poster, which then zoomed out onto a group of girls talking. Sarah Jebb put herself forward to do the camerawork, me and Lauren decided that we would be the directors and direct the framing of the shots and the positioning of the characters and Aggie played the role of one of the girls in the group. Sarah struggled with the filming and found it hard to get the shots how we wanted them to be so I then put myself forward to do the camerawork as i had had experience in doing filming before hand. Lauren and Sarah then joined the cast of the girls. I struggled doing the opening shot but with practise I was able to perfect the zoom onto the group of girls.

Even though we got permission to do the filming in the library the week before, we were asked to film somewhere else as we were too loud. This threw us off course a slight bit but with some deliberation we decided we would find a different location in which to film the same shot. We hunted around the college and chose to film in the Costa cafe. This was the best available location to do this sequence as the cafe in our minds was a recognisable and relaxing location for the children watching. We set up the camera and tripod in the cafe and i positioned the girls on a table in the cafe. We decided that we would place the Winter Ball poster above the table on the wall. The opening shot was of the poster then the shot zoomed out onto the group of girls talking about the ball. Once I was happy with that shot I moved onto doing different angles of the girls. I did over the shoulder shots, shot reaction shots and high angle shots. I think that these shots worked really well in our film and the girls acted really well. They discussed what they were going to wear to the ball and talked about who they fancied that were going. We felt that these topics of discussion were suitable for our target audience as they would be able to relate to the conversation in a reasonable fashion. I did many takes on this sequence of shots until I was happy with the outcome.

When we had finished the conversation sequence we then moved onto the over the shoulder shot of the 'mysterious' boy in the cafe. I positioned the boy on a table at distance from the other table where the girls were sat. I made the boy sit so that his body was on diagonal to the girls and put the camera behind him so that the audience were able to see that he was looking at the girls without seeing his face. I feel that this shot worked very well as it created suspense because the audience can't see who the person is but are aware that they are not meant to be looking at the girls. Sarah then filmed the next shot which was an over the shoulder shot of the 'mysterious' boy scribbling at the Winter Ball poster in anger. The shot pans down from the boys head onto the poster. Sarah filmed this shot and was very good at it.

The following lesson we then continued with our filming. The next sequence was an establishing shot of the college. This shot then tracks a person walking through the college grounds, through the corridors and into the refectory. On the day that we filmed, we were unable to get into the refectory so we had to rethink this sequence and we were also unable to get hold of one of our actors who played one of the girls so we had to adapt. Instead of doing an establishing shot of the front of college, Sarah came up with the idea of filming the establishing shot from the balcony of the hall. This turned out to be a very good idea because it gave a sense of the viewer having a higher status and it looked good as well. We also thought that it would be a good idea to film the three girls, Sarah, Lauren and Aggie walking into the college. We thought that this would be good as the audience can recognise the characters because they were introduced to them at the start of the film. This can allow our audience to relax as they feel more comfortable watching. I set the camera up on the balcony and tracked the girls walking into college. I only had to do one take of this shot because it was straight forward. I really liked the way it looked on camera so we carried on filming. I then told the girls to stop walking before they got into college. I got down from the balcony and began filming them from behind as if I was a person walking behind them. This sequence was all in hand held as it gave a very good effect and in my mind was more interesting to watch. I then tracked the girls walking through the corridors of the college and then into the refectory. This sequence was also good and i only needed to do one take as it was a simple sequence. We thought that this whole sequence worked well as children watching would be able to feel like they were there in the shot which to them would seem very interesting.
Jebb filmed two boys playing ping pong and discussing the Ball. Aggie Andrews and Lauren Vyse directed this sequence and told the boys what to say. We then moved onto filming a different sequence which took place in the refectory as planned. Lauren and Aggie filmed this sequence. For our audience to understand the plot even further we used more people who talked about the Ball. Two boys in the refectory talked about who they were going to ask to the Ball. We thought that this would be a good topic of discussion as our target audience would be able to relate to it. 

ROLES WITHIN OUR GROUP

 At the beginning of our filming we decided that we would pick people at random to be in our film. We tried this and we were successful in getting characters to be in our opening sequence. Our first opening shot was in the college library. A group of girls were positioned around a table discussing the Winter Ball. We tried using the people that we had picked at random but it didn't go to plan. They didn't do exactly what we wanted them to do. We then decided that our best option was to use three girls from our own group as they were the best people to use because they knew exactly what we wanted. We chose to use Lauren, Sarah and Aggie to play the roles of the three girls discussing the Ball. Then we realised that we needed one more person to be in the group so we picked one girl at random. This worked and we continued with our filming. 

I, Ella Stewart played the role of the camerawoman. I filmed all the shots and positioned all of the characters in the frame. I really enjoyed doing this but at the beginning I found it difficult as our first opening sequence proved hard. Our film opens with a shot of the Winter Ball poster which then zooms out onto the group of girls talking. This shot was tricky to do because i couldn't get the zoom on the camera smooth enough. With a lot of practise I was able to get a neat zoom.

MOOD BOARD

This is our mood board for our children's film opening sequence. We made this document using photoshop which is a technique we learnt in our induction period. This represents the overall storyline of our film and provides evidence for the contents of our opening sequence.

SHOT LIST

OUR STORY BOARD SEQUENCE

These are images of our story board for our film opening. It shows the different shots which will be in our film opening. The shots on our storyboard are only simple illustrations of different scenes in our film. We feel that some scenes may prove very difficult to shoot such as our opening shot of the Winter Ball poster and then the zoom out onto the group of girls. The majority of our scenes don't change within simple cuts, our scenes change with quite complicated zooms and sped up sequences. A lot of this will be down to some of the editing. We feel that even though this will be a complicated task to achieve it will be effective because it's slightly different to other group's work. Our group is very happy with the plans that we have done so far and we all think that the end result will be good.

The only props that we will need in our film sequence is a Winter Ball poster which are located around the college. We don't need permission to take one because there is a poster in the area which we will film in. We've asked permission so that we can film in the library and we are allowed to. We don't need any permission in order to film in the refectory because it's and open area whereas the library is for studying and you have to be quiet. None of our characters in the film sequence need costumes because we thought that if we had a costume we'd have school outfits but because we have so many characters in our film sequence, such as in the refectory it will be impossible to get everyone to dress up the same so therefore we'll just have people in everyday clothes to keep it simple and clean.

OUR PLAN FOR OUR FILM

The classification for our opening film sequence would be a U (universal). We feel that a U is the best certificate for our opening sequence because there is no threatening behaviour present, no sexual scenes of any kind etc. and no violence. The storyline is simple and is easy for a young child to understand. If we were to make the whole film, then we believe that it would be classified as a PG (parental guidance) due to the fact that there is a teenage theme current throughout even though the language would be simple and the storyline would be easy to understand, there could be some threatening scenes as one of the main characters in our film is trying to sabotage the Winter Ball. Our children's film opening sequence is based in a college. We wanted the college to seem like a school but through much deliberation we realised that it would be impossible as our filming has to take place in college grounds. Our filming is taking place in our college, Long Road. The theme of our plot is based around the college. Even though it's based in a college, which children obviously won't relate to, we feel that it will attract them because it's giving them an insight of grown up life in the simplest form. The storyline in our film is simple and because it's introduced at the very beginning of the sequence, children will be able to understand it easily. Our storyline is based on a Winter Ball which is taking place at the school. Our film begins with a shot of the Winter Ball poster, they're will be twinkly, magical music when the shot of the poster appears. This begins our film with a happy feeling. The shot of the poster introduces the plot to the audience straight away as they will be aware that the film is to do with a Winter Ball. The shot of the poster will then zoom out onto a group of girls in a library discussing the Winter Ball around a table. The music will then cut into really muted girly music in the background. The shot of the girls will show them talking about how excited they are to go. There will be over shoulder shots, reaction shots and shot reverse shots of their conversation. This will illustrate their conversation to the best of our ability. This specific scene will also introduce the main characters in our opening sequence and show each of their personalities so the audience are aware of who is who. This is important in a children's film as the characters are introduced straight away in the simplest fashion. The shot of the girls discussing the Winter Ball will then jump cut to an over the shoulder shot of a 'mystery person' looking at them at the back of the library. This shot builds up suspense as the audience are not yet aware of who it is so they are intrigued to watch on. The music is this specific shot will be very eary to shot the contrast of the good and the bad. The over shoulder shot will pan down onto the Winter Ball poster on the 'mysterious person's' table. The person will be scribbling all of the poster. This will display how they aren't happy about the Ball compared to the girls. We also want it to illustrate how the person wants to sabotage the Ball. We will then fade the shot of the person into an establishing shot of the college (Long Road.) This shot will be accompanied by the sound of loads of people talking and laughing from inside the school. The next shot will be a tracking, handheld shot of someone walking from outside the college, through the corridors and into the refectory. This sequence will be sped up and when the person gets into the refectory the shot will go back to normal pace. The music which will accompany this shot, will be fast paced and upbeat to keep in consistancy of the sped up walking. We think that this will give a good effect to our film sequence because it's out of the ordinary and will attract our audience. The next sequence of shot will take place inside the refectory. This will illustrate a typical lunchtime in the college. We will have different shot of all the groups in the refectory talking about the Winter Ball. These shots will zoom in on the group and then zoom out onto another group. All of this sequence will be handheld to give the feel of the audience being there, which in our opinion will hold the interest of the viewing audience.