We have gotten through our second day of production! This day, we had allocated to complete Scene 1 where we introduce the story of Street Style with a frantic Elle as she arrives at the studio as well as the beginning of Scene 3 where Tory and Elle talk before beginning the big dancing montage scene.
Overall, this day felt a whole lot more stressful and difficult. We were working under very tight time conditions, having only 2 hours to complete both scenes. This put pressure on us both to get everything done but also do it to a high standard.
As we didn't have the availability of our dance actors for this date, we had to change the location of the beginning of Scene 3 to a bathroom so that Elle and Tory could enter the dance studio with the
other dancers at a later date. While this was a last minute change, it was a great decision on Vicky and I's part as it allowed for some really interesting mirror shots and a feeling of tight, tense space. Having looked at the footage, it visually looks better than expected!
As I (Erika) play Tory's character, I rehearsed lines with Eliza, who plays Elle, prior to filming to give us as much time as possible during filming. I am not the best actress (despite doing a couple years of here and there theatre!) so remembering a long conversation of dialogue was a challenge and we had to do several takes before getting the shot we needed. This continued to put strain on us as we raced to complete all we had planned. Since I was acting the majority of the time on this day, Vicky focused on filming and directing. Heavy equipment continued to be a challenge!
Although we really pushed for time, we managed to complete all filming that we needed for this day. We have taken a look at the footage produced and while some could have been improved here and there, overall we did well. If necessary, we will reshoot some of scenes of conversation between Elle and Tory at a future date.
A quick thank you also has to go to Lyjan for acting as a behind the scenes photographer on this shoot, it really helped Vicky and I focus on making Street Style!
Next date of filming is planned for this Saturday 17th of December and we will be filming the big dance montage with our biggest cast yet. This will require a lot of focus and organisation but we have allowed for more time to give us flexibility if things go wrong. It will feel great to finish for sure!
Yesterday was the first day of filming Street Style! For this day we had allocated the entirety of the alleyway scene to shoot for the beginning of our opening sequence.
This day, we had a time constraint of about 3 hours so it was difficult to get the most shots we possibly could. In order to make sure we had as much time as possible to film this scene, we made the actors run through a rehearsal of the whole scene. We then planned around our shot list and storyboard to get the most out of this scene in footage.
We were also working around the sun setting so we had to wait for the lighting to go dark enough to film and play around with the camera's settings to get the best quality footage that still was visible and clear.
For this day, Vicky was acting in of the roles so I (Erika) focused on filming and directing, with Vicky's input throughout. This was difficult at times with the heavy equipment but we managed to work around and get all the footage needed.
Another struggle we faced was having moved the date of shooting previously due to our main actress being unavailable on our original day.This made it a challenge to organise other background extras for this scene but once we were all on set, organisning everyone into their roles was quick.
In the end, we managed to get all of Scene 2 done and we will be watching back the footage soon to make sure it's good for editing. We will film again on the 14th of December for the short scene 1 and 17th of December for the big dance scene, all of which will be rehearsed throughout this week.
Overall, this was a very exciting a productive first shoot day and we are excited to see the finished product!
To make sure our cast are organised for all production days, we designed call sheets for the actors and crew for each day we will be filming. This will be given to our actors prior to filming days so they have all information needed to quickly get onto set and begin filming.
In our opening sequence production, we need to be clear on who performs what role during production. These are the roles, who they are assigned to what these people are required to do.
Cast:
Eliza Wade, Nathan Dorman, Erika Andrejuskinaite, Viktoriya Pavlova
Acting and performing as the main four characters in the opening.
Screenwriter:
Erika Andrejuskinaite
Writing the script for all opening scenes.
Directors:
Erika Andrejuskinaite,Viktoriya Pavlova
Controlling and running the production, deciding how the filming goes and telling the cast how to act.
Casting Directors:
Erika Andrejuskinaite
Deciding what talent to use for the roles in the opening sequence.
Production Designer:
Viktoriya Pavlova
Setting up the locations for filming.
Props Coordinator:
Viktoriya Pavlova
Oragnising the props for filming days.
Costume and Make Up Designer:
Viktoriya Pavlova
Provding make up and costume for the actors that require it.
Camera Operator:
Viktoriya Pavlova, Erika Andrejuskinaite
Filming the shots, making sure to followe the shotlist and storyboard, controlling continuity.
Director of Photography:
Erika Andrejuskinaite
In charge of the cinematogrophy, making ti looking proffesional and fitting for the atmosphere.
Editor:
Viktoriya Pavlova, Erika Andrejuskinaite
Putting footage together to make the opening sequence.
Sound Effects/Music Coordinator:
Viktoriya Pavlova
Mixing audio tracks together to make the appropriate sound for the opening sequence.
Visual Effects Editor:
Erika Andrejuskinaite
Adding in effects and titles in the opening sequence during edit.
To make sure we were organised and completed filming before the deadline, we planned our filming days on a production schedule which you can view here:
In order to make sure we can safely film our opening sequence, we create a risk assessment and contingency plans in case anything goes wrong. You can view this here:
For our opening sequence, we created a storyboard which we can work from. For this task, we created a photo storyboard on paper and also an animatic to see how it would come together and look.
This is the script we wrote for the 3 opening scenes we will be including in our opening sequence. It's also a shooting script, including shot types and camera movement so it can be used during production days.
For our film opening, we decided on two main locations in which to film in: a dance studio and an alleyway. Here is the information on the places we chose:
In order to make our opening sequence story interesting, we had to make sure we had well written and interesting characters which fitted the drama genre. For this, we did research and decided on what our 4 main characters would be and how they would included in the beginning of the story. We write up information about these characters before putting them into the script and then did short auditions with the actors we thought would fit them best.
These are our 4 characters:
ELEANOR
► Name: Eleanor
► Age: 17
► Gender: Female
► Hair Colour: Light Brown
► Eye Colour: Green/Blue
► Height: 5’4
► Passion: Dance
► Character: Quiet, Brave, Focused on her goals despite her troubled past.
► Occupation: Student in a dance academy,gets involved with gangs so she can afford dance school
► Friends: Tori (best friend) and other people from her dance class
► Figure: Medium height, thin but healthy body, strong legs, skinnier arms and rather broad shoulders and straight poisture
► Weakness: She is not as strong as she acts and tries to be, breaks down under pressure and falls in a bad place
► Wardrobe: Dark, baggy clothes, dirty shoes, effortless look to show she has given up on impressing people and has bigger problems to worry about
► Accent/Dialect: East London, uses jargon when with the gang, speaks properly with her friends to cover up her background
► Voice: far from high pitched, more developped and reassuring, quiet as if she doesn’t want to be noticed
► Taboos: her family and financial problems
► Motivation: the big dance competition coming up
► Wishes: winning the dance competition and getting out of her debts
► Mood: Sad and Paranoid all the time
► Enemies: Jack and Camilla
TORY
► Name: Tory
► Age: 19
► Gender: Female
► Hair Colour: Auburn
► Eye Colour: Green
► Height: 5’6
► Passion: Making people happy and mentoring the younger dancers
► Character: Happy, Girly, Cheerleader Stereotype, Supports Eleanor and guides her through her problems
► Occupation: Student in the dance school from above, volunteers to mentor the younger years and visit their lessons
► Friends: Gets along with everyone, but has one best friend - Eleanor
► Figure: Tall, Thin, typical ballet dancer figure
► Weakness: Trusts people way too easily, is very innocent which can get Eleanor into trouble when she is not careful
► Wardrobe: Bright coloured crop tops, leggings, tight, trendy clothing, typical girly colours, well done hair and perfectly done makeup
► Accent/Dialect: Normal, teenage english, uses typical teen internet slang, nothing too specific - exactly the opposite of Jack
► Voice: High pitched, speaks fast and excited
► Taboos: She has no taboos … she is an open book
► Motivation: Other people’s happiness
► Wishes: To help her best friend deal with her problems and get her to see the bright side of life
► Mood: Happy, cheery no matter how bad the situation is, always excited and wide awake
► Enemies: No direct enemies, dislikes Jack and Camilla because of her best friend
CAMILLA
► Name: Camilla
► Age: 17
► Gender: Female
► Hair Colour: Black and Blonde
► Eye Colour: Brown
► Height: 5’1
► Passion: Causing drama and chaos, defending her gang’s title and boosting her confidence by making others feel bad
► Character: Mean, Violent, ‘Chavy’, disrespectful and challenging
► Occupation: A student in a fashion college, gang leader
► Friends: close with Jack and two girls that always trail behind her, but has no real friends, she is too self absorbed to care about anyone else
► Figure: Short and curvy, small frame but good build to defend herself if she was to get in a catfight.
► Weakness: She is nothing without the gang and Jack backing her up - she is helpless because of the lack of intelligence and common sense.
► Wardrobe: Dark, tight clothing, branded and trendy, takes her appearance very seriously.
► Accent/Dialect: Foreign accent (sounds Spanish), uses same dialect as Jack
► Voice: High pitched, speaks fast when she is angry
► Taboos: Her school grades and her family
► Motivation: Other people’s pain and misery
► Wishes: To put people down in order to feel powerful
► Mood: Either calm and rude or angry and violent
► Enemies: Hates a lot of people but mainly Eleanor
JACK
► Name: Jack
► Age: 19
► Gender: Male
► Hair Colour: Dirty Blond
► Eye Colour: Blue
► Height: 5’10
► Passion: Violence and Harming people
► Character: Short Tempered, street smart, manipulative and confident in his power over people
► Occupation: College Student as far as the country is concerned, Gang Leader
► Friends: Is close with Camilla, his right hand, but has no real friend or people he can trust
► Figure: Tall, looks skinny and normal but has strong legs, healthy and strong enough to fight back if he has to
► Weakness: Gets outsmarted by Eleanor which makes him look stupid in front of his gang and messes with his self esteem
► Wardrobe: Dark, baggy clothes, branded clothing, good planned outfits, has a little bad (pouch) he carries everywhere, his shoes are always clean and well kept, takes very good care of his appearance
► Accent/Dialect: South London, speaks in jargon only, often uses confusing terms to make the audience wonder what exactly he is talking about
► Voice: Deep, emotionless, monotone, as if he can’t be surprised, is always calm and has everything under control
► Taboos: His feelings, opinion on the people around him and anything to do with his family and past
► Motivation: questionable
► Wishes: To get his money back and bring Eleanor down
► Mood: Calm and careless all the time
► Enemies: Eleanor
These are the auditions we conducted:
We also wrote up all the actor information for the actors we auditioned, including parts of the script the auditioned with, which you can view here:
Before we began planning our opening sequence, we took part in a lighting workshop. This was done to teach us skills using lighting and a green screen to broaden our range of skills and allow us to create a more professional look opening sequence.
We got try out three point lighting, where we learnt about using key lights, fill lights, back lights in order to create a smoothly lit, high-key effect. In our opening sequence, we could incorporate this into the happier scenes in the dance studio to create a happy, typical day-to-day effect.
We also tried out low-key lighting using a single light to create a more dramatic effect. From this, we learned about the importance of positioning the spotlight to well light the subject balanced with creating a big enough difference in light and shadows to reflect an eerie and scary mood. In our opening sequence, we could use this type of lighting in the alleyway to create a scary atmosphere and enhance the tension between characters.
Finally, we also learnt how to set up, film and edit together green screen scenes. In this, we were taught about how it is important to light the subjects to not create shadows on the green screen and how to edit together on Premier Pro with the desired background. Using a green screen in our opening sequence may not be as useful but it did allow us to think about being creative with background and also editing effects into our opening, making the sequence look more interesting and exciting.
In our target research, we decided to conduct and interview with some of the target audience we decided was appropriate for our film. We targeted people within group E (specifically students), within the age group of 15-21 year olds. This is what they answered.
Analysis of their answers and conclusions we can make from what was said can be found on our individual blogs
Before we began planning and filming our opening sequence, we had to do a preliminary task trying out a variation of shot types and practicing continuity. This is what our group produced.
To give us ideas for our opening sequence, we looked at possible costume looks and the props we would need for our characters. We created a mood board for each character of possible outfits and also one for props to give us some idea for what we should have for the actors in our opening.
Main Protaganist/Hero - Eleanor
ripped leggings and shirt, dirty shoes to show that she cares little about her clothes as she has more important focuses in her life
black and navy colour scheme to indicate she doesn't enjoy being the centre of attention and prefers to be more practical rather than flashy, fitting her personality
little make up and messy hair to show she is often in a rush and busy, which explains that a lot is going in her life
sports bag to reflect her passion for dance and to be used as a prop where she will hold the money, influencing the narrative
Helper/Best Friend - Tory
bright colours to reflect loud personality and wanting to be out there and fun
comfortable flowing dance outfits to suggest movement and always being on the go and having an adventure
bright make up and large accessories to make her stand out
complete opposite to Eleanor's character to reflect how they are very different people that still balance each other out
Antagonist/Villain #1 - Camilla
black and red to suggest danger for Eleanor's character
typical gangster style to reflect personality and explain how she will be involved in the plot
bruising and piercings to show her living the 'street style' and being dangerous and intimidating
similar to Eleanor's style to suggest a connection
Antagonist/Villain #2 - Jack
very similar style to Camilla to suggest they work together
black and grey to suggest darkness and shadowing, which can create a sense of danger
bruising and dirt to suggest a rough lifestyle
typical gangster wear to suggest street style and to appear intimidating
Various Background Dancers
variations of dance appropriate outfits to create a street dance atmosphere
variation in colour to suggest different personalities and to create a light environment that Eleanor can have fun escaping to
Baggy and gangster style clothes to link to street style of dancing
Props
a prop knife, possibly blood for the villains to suggest danger and create a tense atmosphere
money in a bag to progress the plot and to suggest that Elanor is involved with very serious and scary stuff
speakers to progress plot by playing music and creating the right atmosphere for a dance studio
large bright lights to create the dance studio atmosphere and to help light the scene how it would look in real life, creating realism
a giant dance studio mirror to be used in dance scenes to replicate a dances studio feel and to progress the story
This treatment is a summary of the first draft we have on the opening sequence. It talks about the original idea of how things will go down and it sums up the key points to it.
Hello! Welcome to the group blog for Media Studies at Coombe Sixth Form by us, Vicky and Erika. We've chosen to name our production group "A Work in Progress" and we plan to use it for all work related to our opening sequence coursework project which we are starting work on.
This blog will contain all our planning and production work leading up to the final product of our opening sequence to a drama film. Throughout this process, we also plan to film the making and behind the scenes, which we will then compile into a final video post on this blog, after our final product is posted.
Although we really pushed for time, we managed to complete all filming that we needed for this day. We have taken a look at the footage produced and while some could have been improved here and there, overall we did well. If necessary, we will reshoot some of scenes of conversation between Elle and Tory at a future date.
