We went into school today to upload what we have filmed in the last two sessions and then start editing it. Our footage was not letterboxing like it normally does as we had not filmed with the same camera and the camera we had used films in a different format. This was bad news as it meant that half of our trailer would be letterboxed and the other half not. After worrying about this for a while we started to think about whether or not we could re-shoot one half of our footage,as we didn't like the fact that it would be different, but we decided against it as there would be too much to do. However, as we were flicking through the effects on IMovie looking for anything we might want to use in our trailer, we found an effect that covers the top and bottom of the footage in a black box that resembled the letterboxing perfectly. We happily started to use this on the non-letterboxed footage so that it would match the rest of the trailer. Of course we made sure that it was exactly the same size as the actual letterbox.
Filming Schedule:
Filming Session:
Filming Session:
For this filming session we went to Bareen's aunt and uncle's house to film the birthday scene - where Kayla goes to her friend's (Bareen) cousin's birthday and falls asleep on the cake. There were amazingly no problems this time - we brought a few cakes, in case the shots went wrong, however we only used one. We also bought balloons and spread them out on the table to show it was a party, as shown in the picture to the left.
The picture to the right again shows the set. We also bought some party blowers - which i am holding in this picture - so that Bareen could use one after her cousin blew out the candle.
We were hoping to get the shot perfect the first time as we thought it would take a while to clean up, but we had to take a second shot as Saidah only fell on the edge of the cake because she didn't want her whole face covered in sugar. We decided that it didn't look good that way so we turned the cake over so that there was no sugar and had Bareen's cousin knock the candle off with a knife - we decided to have him do it because it would be more believable that he only did it so that he could eat it straight away, rather than having his mum take the candle away. This time the shot went perfectly, with Saidah falling on the middle of the cake.
The pictures below show us blowing up balloons:
Filming Schedule:
Filming Session:
The third filming session didn't go as well as we hoped it would, but we did manage to get some useful footage. We were supposed to film the train scene - where Kayla falls asleep whilst a train goes past. We had decided to film at Eden Park station as it is the nearest station and is usually empty. We planned on filming Saidah from the opposite platform so that we could see Saidah waiting for a train then the train would go past her, blocking her from view. Once the train had left we would see Kayla on the floor asleep. However, we never managed to film this because once we had set up the camera a man who worked there came out of the building and asked if we had permission to film. We hadn't realised that we would need permission as the station was usually empty and we hadn't seen anyone working there before. Even if we had known that we would need permission, we wouldn't have known how to get it. So we left, feeling slightly embarrassed and decided not to film this scene. After discussing this problem with the station we realised that we wouldn't need to have a train, instead we could use a tram as we wouldn't need to be at a station, just somewhere where a tram runs through.
We had then planned on going to Central London to film Kayla falling asleep on a park bench and on a swing, however, we decided that it would be much easier if we filmed at a park near Bareen's house as nobody would know that it wasn't in London and it would be less time consuming and wouldn't cost us a thing - which is always good when you have no budget. The bench scene went according to plan and we were happy with the results. We decided to cut out the swing scene as it was more of a back-up scene that we still hadn't planned properly we didn't know how to have Saidah fall of the swing without hurting herself.
It had started to rain, so Bareen thought it would be ever so helpful to put up her umbrella to save the camera from getting wet. Of course the wind was making it slightly difficult to keep it over the camera.
We then had one last scene to shoot. Later in the day we went to a nearby bus stop to meet my family friend and his son who would be acting in this scene. Kayla would be falling asleep on a business man and then would later have a mustache drawn on her by a small boy. This scene would be cut up so that the shot of Kayla falling asleep on the man would be during the montage and the shot of the child who draws a mustache on her would be right at the end of the film. We felt that this would look good in our trailer as it is a funnier and more up-lifting ending.
We had then planned on going to Central London to film Kayla falling asleep on a park bench and on a swing, however, we decided that it would be much easier if we filmed at a park near Bareen's house as nobody would know that it wasn't in London and it would be less time consuming and wouldn't cost us a thing - which is always good when you have no budget. The bench scene went according to plan and we were happy with the results. We decided to cut out the swing scene as it was more of a back-up scene that we still hadn't planned properly we didn't know how to have Saidah fall of the swing without hurting herself.
It had started to rain, so Bareen thought it would be ever so helpful to put up her umbrella to save the camera from getting wet. Of course the wind was making it slightly difficult to keep it over the camera.
We then had one last scene to shoot. Later in the day we went to a nearby bus stop to meet my family friend and his son who would be acting in this scene. Kayla would be falling asleep on a business man and then would later have a mustache drawn on her by a small boy. This scene would be cut up so that the shot of Kayla falling asleep on the man would be during the montage and the shot of the child who draws a mustache on her would be right at the end of the film. We felt that this would look good in our trailer as it is a funnier and more up-lifting ending.
We are now searching on 'www.urbanfonts.com' to find the perfect font for our title 'Sweet Dreams'. We picked out 3 different fonts that we liked and thought suited our film well by clearly showing the genre. Here were the ones we were considering:
We liked this font as we thought that it was cheerful and clearly showed the genre of our film. However, we thought that by using it we would only be targeting young females as the curly letters make it seem a bit 'childish' and 'girly'.
We liked this font as the 'bubble writing' style and the odd angles the letters are at represent the comedy genre well. This font would also appeal to both the female and male population. However, we preferred the font below for our actual title and so we decided to use this font for our company name instead.
We thought that this font would be perfect for our title as it has rounder edges than the one above, which makes it more appropriate for a comedy, and also has the 'bubble writing' style which also shows the genre. It is also quite bold and so will attract the audiences attention.
We liked this font as we thought that it was cheerful and clearly showed the genre of our film. However, we thought that by using it we would only be targeting young females as the curly letters make it seem a bit 'childish' and 'girly'.
We liked this font as the 'bubble writing' style and the odd angles the letters are at represent the comedy genre well. This font would also appeal to both the female and male population. However, we preferred the font below for our actual title and so we decided to use this font for our company name instead.
We thought that this font would be perfect for our title as it has rounder edges than the one above, which makes it more appropriate for a comedy, and also has the 'bubble writing' style which also shows the genre. It is also quite bold and so will attract the audiences attention.
Filming Schedule:
Filming Session:
For this filming session we had to re-do a couple of shots from our first filming session, where Dr Gray tells Kayla that she doesn't actually have Narcolepsy, due to the fact that my voice was too quiet, so this time we brought a microphone with us. There was a slight problem as Saidah brought a different coloured headband to the one she brought last time we filmed this scene. However, once we thought about it more, we realised that you can't actually see the headband in most of the shots, from the first filming session, that we were intending to use as we had used mainly close-ups of our bodies to keep the focus on the tests Dr. Gray was carrying out. We did, however, have to re-do one other shot that we hadn't planned to re-do - Kayla's reaction to the news - as that was the only time we see the headband she was wearing. We think these shots went well and they didn't take us long at all because we knew exactly what we had to do.
We then moved on to another scene where Kayla falls asleep whilst getting ready for a party. We decided to use Bareen's bedroom as she had a mirror the perfect size and in the perfect position to film. Filming this shot went quickly, with no problems, and we are happy with the footage we got.
The picture on the left shows the two types of lipstick we had to choose from. We decided to go for the pink one because it was brighter and so would be easier to see.
The picture on the right is of Saidah wiping off the lipstick after haven taken the first take of the shot.
The picture on the left shows me filming Saidah sleeping on the floor. We decided to get a shot of this, even though we hadn't planned to, just incase it would look better with a close-up of Kayla sleeping.
The picture on the right, again shows me filming Saidah. This is the second take of the shot, we decided that the first shot had looked slightly dark so we decided to use Bareen's lamp to produce some light - you can see her holding it up.
We had one last shot to film, where Kayla falls asleep whilst typing an essay, so we used the desk in Bareen's bedroom for this shot - the picture on the left shows Bareen moving things so that we can place the camera there to film. We directed Saidah to fall forwards onto her hand which would be holding down the 'Z' button. Even though this seemed slightly cheesy, we decided to put it in to make the scene a little bit funnier.
After refreshing our memory on the editing process, we started to edit our first filming session. Everything is going smoothly, we have chosen most of the parts of the footage we want to keep and have cut it down to the amount we had planned.
This video also shows the reason why we chose Sadiah to play our main character - she can keep a straight face whilst acting and she can act similarly to Jim Carrey - producing comical expressions.
Below is a video of the several reactions that we had Sadiah (our main character) act out. We are in the process of deciding which one to use. We have narrowed it down to two expressions that we like and are currently debating which ones would look better in the trailer. One is a serious confused expression whilst the other is an amusing comical 'Jim Carrey' type of expression. This decision is slightly difficult as we want to keep the trailer realistic and create sympathy for the main character yet keep it upbeat and funny.
This video also shows the reason why we chose Sadiah to play our main character - she can keep a straight face whilst acting and she can act similarly to Jim Carrey - producing comical expressions.
Filming Plans:
The picture on the left is a list of what we need to bring and who will bring it. We wrote down everything we could think of that we might need and highlighted which things each of us were in charge of bringing. Most of the things ended up being Bareen's job to bring as they were mainly tings that could be found at her house.
The picture on the right is the script that we would be using, both for the voice over and the doctors scene. The highlighted section is what I say in this scene. We made sure to bring this with us so that we knew exactly what I had to say instead of just guessing.
Filming Schedule:
Getting the set ready:
The video below is of screen captures of Bareen, Saidah and I getting the set ready for the doctors scene:
Filming Session:
Our first filming session took a while to begin, as we had to discuss how we would design the set. We had decided that Bareen's living room will be the best and most accessible place to film these scenes. However, making a house look like a doctor's office seemed to be slightly difficult, but in actual fact it wasn't that hard, mainly because Bareen's living room was painted white which reminded us of a doctor's office. To make it more believable I printed off some posters that would be expected to be seen in a doctor's office as shown below:
We used Bareen's dining room table as a desk and placed items that we think would be used in a doctor's office such as pens, a notebook and text books that we borrowed from Bareen's sister who is learning to be a nurse. We were lucky that Bareen's sister was training to be a nurse because that meant that we could borrow the props we needed easily. She had the stethoscope and blood pressure pump that we were intending to use for this scene, however, she didn't have the little hammer that is used to check people's reflexes, so we decided to cut out that shot.
My costume was made easily as Bareen's sister had access to scrubs and a watch that are used by doctors. Our friend allowed us to borrow a lab coat from her, to which we attached the watch and a name badge. We then borrowed some glasses that we felt would complement the look we were trying to achieve - an intelligent, serious doctor. We also felt that they made me look a bit older.
My costume was made easily as Bareen's sister had access to scrubs and a watch that are used by doctors. Our friend allowed us to borrow a lab coat from her, to which we attached the watch and a name badge. We then borrowed some glasses that we felt would complement the look we were trying to achieve - an intelligent, serious doctor. We also felt that they made me look a bit older.
We feel that the filming went well for the Doctor's scene; we managed to get all of the shots done that we had intended to do and we finished within the time we intended to use.
Once we had fini
shed the doctors scene we had to set up for the next scene, where Kayla falls asleep whilst she is working at a restaurant. This meant that we had to clean up the living room from the last scene and decide how to arrange the furniture for the new scene. This took a while as we had different opinions, but we managed to come to a decision. We used a small table and covered it with a tablecloth and placed candles and cutlery on top and I had printed off 2 booklets that said menu to set the scene. We wanted to create a romantic atmosphere for the restaurant so we turned off the lights before filming. However, by the time we moved on to this scene we had used up all of the camera battery so we never got a chance to film it.
This filming session taught us that we need to plan our scenes more thoroughly so that we knew exactly how to design the set so that we don't waste too much time doing that and also the camera angles we intend to use so that we can place the camera where we want it and film straight away.
Below are a couple more pictures of this filming session:
Once we had fini
shed the doctors scene we had to set up for the next scene, where Kayla falls asleep whilst she is working at a restaurant. This meant that we had to clean up the living room from the last scene and decide how to arrange the furniture for the new scene. This took a while as we had different opinions, but we managed to come to a decision. We used a small table and covered it with a tablecloth and placed candles and cutlery on top and I had printed off 2 booklets that said menu to set the scene. We wanted to create a romantic atmosphere for the restaurant so we turned off the lights before filming. However, by the time we moved on to this scene we had used up all of the camera battery so we never got a chance to film it.This filming session taught us that we need to plan our scenes more thoroughly so that we knew exactly how to design the set so that we don't waste too much time doing that and also the camera angles we intend to use so that we can place the camera where we want it and film straight away.
Below are a couple more pictures of this filming session:
This is our storyboard. We are still not sure exactly which scenarios we are going to include in our montage of Kayla falling asleep so we just included our favourite ones, that we intend to do, in the storyboard whilst still keep to the time we are planning to have the trailer. We are hoping that by having the storyboard we will keep to the times we have chosen for each scene and know exactly what we are doing when it comes to the filming sessions so that we don't waste any time.
These are the actresses we are thinking of using:
This is Saidah. We are thinking of asking Saidah to play our main character as we feel that she fits this role perfectly, as we pretty much based our main character on her, so it won't be difficult for her to act the way we want the main character to act. She is very good at keeping a straight face which is essential for this role and she can also create 'Jim Carrey' style facial expressions. She is also free when we are and so it is easy for us to meet up and film.
This is me (ignore the glasses they are Saidah's). We decided to cast me as the Doctor because we can easily plan our filming sessions according to our schedules. We also thought that it would be easier than looking for someone else who was willing to act and free when we were free.
This is Sadaf - Bareen's sister. We thought that she would be perfect for the 'Scary Lady' character because she is very outgoing and loud which suits our idea of this character. She is also willing to be in a strange costume and make-up. Plus, she is normally free when we are.
This is Bareen - my partner in this project (also wearing Saidah's glasses). We were contemplating whether to use Bareen as the doctor rather than me. However, we decided against it as she is even worse at acting serious than I am. So we decided to cast her as an extra instead. She will play the main character's friend.
This is Saidah. We are thinking of asking Saidah to play our main character as we feel that she fits this role perfectly, as we pretty much based our main character on her, so it won't be difficult for her to act the way we want the main character to act. She is very good at keeping a straight face which is essential for this role and she can also create 'Jim Carrey' style facial expressions. She is also free when we are and so it is easy for us to meet up and film.
This is me (ignore the glasses they are Saidah's). We decided to cast me as the Doctor because we can easily plan our filming sessions according to our schedules. We also thought that it would be easier than looking for someone else who was willing to act and free when we were free.
This is Sadaf - Bareen's sister. We thought that she would be perfect for the 'Scary Lady' character because she is very outgoing and loud which suits our idea of this character. She is also willing to be in a strange costume and make-up. Plus, she is normally free when we are.
This is Bareen - my partner in this project (also wearing Saidah's glasses). We were contemplating whether to use Bareen as the doctor rather than me. However, we decided against it as she is even worse at acting serious than I am. So we decided to cast her as an extra instead. She will play the main character's friend.
We decided to make a rough storyboard to gain an idea of how our trailer would be structured and what scenes would be included. We have included a few of our favourite montage scenarios that we are planning on shooting, rather than adding them all in, to vaguely show how many we intend to film and for how long (the numbers in the circles indicate the amount of seconds the shots will last).
We were not sure how exactly we would do the 'Crazy Lady' scene, and so we jotted down some notes on the storyboard and then drew a quick sketch that was even messier than the rest of the drawings, as we were just getting down our ideas quickly before we forgot them. Which is why we did not include it in the normal storyboard style as you can see from the picture.
We were not sure how exactly we would do the 'Crazy Lady' scene, and so we jotted down some notes on the storyboard and then drew a quick sketch that was even messier than the rest of the drawings, as we were just getting down our ideas quickly before we forgot them. Which is why we did not include it in the normal storyboard style as you can see from the picture.
The following two pictures are of Bareen's room. We are thinking of filming most of our trailer at Bareen's house as we have easy access to it and we will have everything we need, so there will be less things to remember to bring and thus less things to forget. It also means that we don't have to carry the camera and tripod to a location that may be far away. Plus, she has everything we need (furniture wise) for example, as shown in the pictures below, a desk and a mirror that are in the perfect positions for filming someone at. We can also use her living room as a set for some of the scenes we want to include - mainly the doctor scene - and again she has furniture that can be placed in the perfect position.
The picture on the right is of our ideas for the scenarios that Kayla can fall asleep in for the montage. We have marked our favourite ones so that we know which ones to plan for but we are still deciding on the ultimate list of scenarios and which order they will go in. We plan to film as many of the scenes as we can so that we can pick out the best ones for our film.
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