Moving Image Entry 8 - Kevin Ross:

Date:11/03/2014
Module: Moving Image El342
Kent University

Team 07:

vp216 - Viknesh Prabhakar
kr278 - Kevin Ross
cb595 - Connor Brown
Tws6 - Thomas Stowell


Discussion with Tom:

Today I had met with Tom to talk over a few ideas since my other group members weren't present In the morning.The idea of using the nine inch nails song I suggested seemed appealing to him too due to its sad feel. Furthermore we discussed further possibilities to do with out film.

We have started leaning towards a dark/sad film and have been considering making it be a shock advert to prevent drugs or something of the similar case. To do so we had discussed editing our shot to a more monotone look This dark atmosphere could be introduced into our film gradually.

We have decided to start our film the week after reading week due to other pending assignments, however we shall spend that week dedicated to filming. To do so we shall set times with the rest of our group and actors.

Todays Class:

For todays class we were set an assignment to our previous one. However this short clip consisted in having two actors and have them talk to each other with dialogue. The purpose of this assignment was to make a seem less transgression between each actor as they speak to form a discussion of some sort.

We ha decided to Record on a bench next to the pond we will actually use for our film.
Our scene consisted of the two meeting on the bench and having a random conversation about their activities the day before.

As the sounds person my job was to make sure that the dialogue was consistent throughout the clips and that the sound quality was loud and editable enough for our cuts. I had the opportunity to use the sound boom for the first time. I used it effectively and the sound quality produced is far better than the microphone. I found that its better to use the boom for group conversation opposed to individual.
In relation to the cameraman I had to make sure the boom was not present in the shot.

As a group we discussed what kind of shots to take, we did extreme over shoulder shots, close ups, mid and far shots as well as panning of the camera. Due to the large array of camera shots we were able to edit our film into a more eye appealing video than our last whilst also being able to maintain a constant discussion between each of our characters. We used the 180 degree angle technique too. Which consists of making the focus point the actors and the camera man can only film up to 180 angle. This makes the scene to be believable whilst also making it appear as the characters face each other even when only one actor is present on screen at once.

After all recordings were taken we went off to edit.
Tom loaded the files onto his computer and at the same time I started designing a title and credit screen. I used a shimmer effect which I learnt from my research and gave both title and credits a black contrasting background to make them stand out.
In our final edit we did not have enough time to assemble these into our film however our film appeared more fluid than our previous since it was more consistent and we had a larger variety of shots to choose from.

Here is our edited Clip:

The Clip has to be sent here in a later edit since Tom has the file stored on his computer.

Criticism:

- There was more face to face discussion required to make it seem more of a discussion between characters.
- Some cuts did not lead on to a clip with a dialogue that matched the previous.

What I've learnt from today :

From today I've established new techniques for recording our film such as the 180 degree rule. I have learnt how to manipulate the boom appropriately for the correct sounds. We have learnt how to work more efficiently as a group to collect more recordings of a higher quality in a shorter period of time.

Personally I now focus more on my task than anything else so that the correct audio will be available for when we edit. All in all, today was a good benefit for when we do our own films since it has taught me lessons on how to record audio appropriately and edit it accordingly.

Moving Image Entry 7 - Kevin Ross:

Date:10/03/2014
Module: Moving Image El342
Kent University

Team 07:

vp216 - Viknesh Prabhakar
kr278 - Kevin Ross
cb595 - Connor Brown
Tws6 - Thomas Stowell

Activities I've done to benefit our Film:

Voice recording contest for video game:

Over the weekend I had heard about a new upcoming game asking for people to send in voice recordings of a set script for the opportunity to star within the game. This game is Dragon age inquisition. The setting of this game is mythical and prior to modern day, almost medieval times.

Since I am the sound producer in our group I thought it would be a nice way of testing my own voice as well as being able to distinguish different moods and sound qualities of recordings.

Below you can find the rules and scripts from which I could choose, I chose script 1. My script consisted of acting as a villager and changing my voice according to the mood to say each sentence.

I found that having done this I have learnt how to effectively create a script (which will be required for our film).For this I will include each characters name , their dialogue and then the mood of each speech next to the dialogue so that the actors can act that part. Furthermore I had examined YouTube videos of people acting the same script prior to my own voice recording to be able to work on my own acting skills. This may come in handy for if I wish to act in our film or give directions to our actors on how to improve their voices for our film.

I have found it is best to act as if you were the character, make yourself feel like you are the character for the best recordings. I did take multiple takes for me to find the suitable take so I will wish to do the same for our film for the best quality recording.

In further analysis, I used the program audacity to modify my sound clips to make them clearer and off better quality. Having done so I have found that it makes the quality much better and therefore will modify our sound clips with said program in our film.

Unfortunately I cannot seem to upload sound files to my blog however here is an example of somebody doing a take on the script:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhobgaJsI_4

Rules:http://static.cdn.ea.com/blog.bioware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Take_Your_Place_Inquisition_Contest_Rules_.pdf

Script choice 1:http://static.cdn.ea.com/blog.bioware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Contest_Script_1.pdf

Script choice 2: http://static.cdn.ea.com/blog.bioware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Contest_Script_2_.pdf

Script writing:

I had started writing a possible script based on the storyboard made By Tom Stowell. I was focusing on writing what each character says in each scene , the sound effects and music used In each scene as well as the mood the actor will need to act.

For this I have reviewed different songs and still think that Hurt will be a good choice for our film edit. The sound effects used will be those to emphasise sounds in our animation such as the phone.

However today after having a group discussion with Tom I found he had also done a script.
Never the less, after having done the Game script and researched on scripts, I am going still going to be editing his work. I shall include the sound effects and moods for the script since sound is my main focus.

Furthermore I have been thinking off additional voiceovers in our film and if we do convey a message at the end of film warning about drug consumption or something similar, I shall include the script and possibly wish to do it myself after having done the voice acting contest just for practice purposes.

Idea to Make a questionnaire/ Survey:

I have been analysing something other film creators do before making a film or game makers before designing a game and that is public opinion.

Since the film is for the viewers and for the viewers to enjoy or watch it is only natural to find their perspective of what would be good features to include.

For this I have thought it may be wise to make a survey for our film to find out what features chosen from a list could be used in our film to be more attractive to the public. Reason why there is a set list is because it will be easy for us to see things that stand out more for others than just for us since they are the critiques.

Therefore I have started devising a questionnaire to hand to random people at our university at some point, however I shall discuss what other questions to include with the rest of my team.

Research into some Futuristic / time travel examples:

I had looked into how other films , books or TV shows portray the future or time travel to be represented. It has helped us think forward to how we want things to occur in our film and more importantly look. This goes for the characters appearance and for the environment. Knowing the set is important for knowing how to act within it.

Steins Gate:

The concepts examined from the Japanese anime "Steins gate" which can contribute in ideas for our film are Time travel and its effects. I Have personally watched this anime, it is about a "mad" scientist who discovers time travel is possible to a level. The concept was of cause and effect, the protagonist travels back in time numerous times to perform different actions in an attempt to alter what has happened in the future, doing so however will make also make a new unexpected outcome to appear. For the time travel to occur he uses a microwave device that can transfer messages to the past/future to alert anyone's future or past self about an occurrence.

This anime mainly focuses on time travels effects and how it can be dangerous and impossible to saves ones life without altering somebody else's. This idea could be beneficial to our film, we could make it so that if our main character becomes healthy another loving character then becomes ill.
The ideas of paradoxes and alternative universes also come into mind for which nobody has to die.
furthermore some points of time travel make the scene prevail as the same which is unusual if you are time travelling, therefore we could have an aspect like this appear in our film but just where instead of time travelling he is appearing in an alternative dimension.

Doctor who:

Doctor Who is a British Sci-Fi programme. Its about a main character who is a time lord which He explores the universe in a time travelling device. This of which is seen as a police booth. Along with others his ain goal is to work on saving civilisations. throughout this TV series there is an introduction of many futuristic beings (aliens).

From researching on Doctor who, I find that it does really well for attracting the public. This may be due to its action, time travel ideas or multitude of unique events. The fact that doctor who is so unique at portraying different events and creatures makes it exciting t watch. In our animation we could go really Sci-Fi with the future side of our film introducing all kinds of weird aspects such as aliens or futuristic gadgets. This will be appealing to the viewer.
Furthermore there is an iconic sound when he is time traveling that Is well recognised thus, maybe we should include some reoccurring sound effects in our film so the viewer/listener knows what will happen next.

Looper:

Lastly Looper is an American science action film. In the film, time travel is invented by the year 2074 . It is something that was outlawed and is considered illegal. The loopers are those that send back people in time for them to be assassinated in the present day so that they don't exist in the future. The main character starts as one of these assassins but soon changes as they send the version of him from the future back to the present to be killed.

The idea of making time travel illegal is something that could relate to our film if we have a force who stops people from travelling. However the idea to observe from this film was how the future was much more harsh to live in than modern day. So even in the attempt to time travel, our protagonist may find himself in a worse situation than the current one if we include ideas such as those in this film.


Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Looper_(film)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_who
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steins;Gate:_Fuka_Ry%C5%8Diki_no_D%C3%A9j%C3%A0_vu

Moving Image Entry 6 - Kevin Ross:

Date:09/03/2014
Module: Moving Image El342
Kent University

Team 07:

vp216 - Viknesh Prabhakar
kr278 - Kevin Ross
cb595 - Connor Brown
Tws6 - Thomas Stowell

Research Into filming and sound recording techniques:

Film:

A long or an extreme long shot: usually used as an establishing shot to display the scene. Its a zoomed out shot to display the whole landscape. Even though its usually used at the beginning of films I believe that this will be a useful technique we could use in various parts of our film. At one stage it will be useful to display our forest since its a large landscape, and secondly to display the Elliot building.




A full shot:  contains a complete view of the characters to display either their apparel or their relationship with each other. This kind of shot will be useful to display the kind of interaction between our main character and the antagonistic travel guards or drug dealer.






A mid shot:  This shot also contains the characters however can focus on an individual too. From this shot, viewers can see the characters' faces more clearly as well as their interaction with other characters. This is also known as a social shot. I find that this kind of shot will be useful throughout our film , for scenes where the main actor is waking up or walking to the forest to see his expressions with how he interacts with other characters or environment . It could be useful for fight scenes , when he is on the phone or making breakfast.



A close-up  is used to close up on one characters face. This enables us to see emotions that the actor is going through to then allow us viewers to start sympathising. This is also known as a personal shot.I find that in the emotional scene of our film, when Dom finds out about his illness, this kind of shot will be useful to express how shocked and distraught his is about the news.



Adding to this , An extreme close-up  contains one part of a character's face or other object. This kind of shot also creates the same effect on a stronger and deeper scale. We could use this to see our actors lip or chin wobble as he speaks back on the phone to represent his sadness. These shots are effective in allowing the viewer to understand our character.




Others:

Bridging shot: A shot used to cover a jump in time. This kind of shot may be necessary for us to transition from the present to the future. The time travel scene where the actor jumps into the pond and out into the future is a good scene for us to use this shot in.

Tilt shots: These are shots that Pan from below the torso upwards to the character face. Its good for introducing a character, usually for shock value. Introducing the Time police for second time for shock o the drug dealer for the first time may require a shot like this in our film.

Mixing focal lengths: This allows us in a scene to make one character dominate over the other, therefore one character appear clear in the foreground unlike the other character in the background. This sort of shot would be useful in a scene such as where the actor takes the drug with the drug dealer behind him.

Sound:

Diegetic: The real sounds, sounds that you would assume to be on screen due to what is occurring on screen. These can include :

-Extra Diegetic: Sounds that don't originate from a permanent source. So we could use car effects in the area we want to represent as our busy town area or we could use bird effects in our forest. It allows the viewer to immerse into the surrounding even though its not visible on screen.

-Effects: artificially enhanced sounds to improve a diegetic sound on screen by emphasizing the sound. In our film such effects could be used for where there may be gunshots, phone ringing or the actor jumping into the water. I think it would be highly useful on that last one since we wont actually see him land in the water however the sound effect will give the sensation he does.
These SFX will be mentioned in our script so that actors can act accordingly to them.

Non-diegetic: Sounds non visible on screen or due to any actions these include:

-Theme music: A piece of music that may appear several times in the film. Something like this could be used in our film to represent each time something bad or sad is about to occur, It could also be used to represent each time the travelling through time is happening.
From having looked into the scenes of our video, I believe a good song for instants could be "hurt" covered by Johnny Cash or the Nine inch nail version is also suitable since its sad yet dark and suspicious sounding. I think that it could start playing in the background whilst we zoom in into Dom's face when he receives the call and is sad. Then starts playing as the main audio file as he walks out to his suicide location, song will stop once he arrives. Then further in the film the song could appear in a scene such as him being hurt or chased by any of the antagonists. Also another suitable location would be when he is taking the drug to cure himself.  Therefore it will appear in moments of misery.

Johnny cash version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aF9AJm0RFc
Nine inch Nails Version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htmKZKR7oyc

The lyrics of this song relate to our film too, even though it can be seen more of a love song Parts like these convey something towards our film:

"I hurt myself today"
Will relate to him committing suicide or taking drugs.

 

"To see if I still feel, I focus on the pain ".

 Talking about his illness and how suicide is the only option for him.

 

"The only thing that is still real"

Maybe we could make this time travel just appear as an illusion where in reality his is a drug addict hallucinating in his apartment. This could give way to a possible ending message about not using drugs, a commercial video.

Or keep it at that he just realises that his is still ill even after time travel and that's all that bothers him.

 

"I remember everything!"

He could be Waking up to reality or him remembering his is ill after time travel.

 

"What have become. My sweetest friend. Every one goes away in the end."

Talking about him dying and wasting away to drugs.

 

"You can have it all. My empire of dirt."

This could relate to his bad living condition, his bad house, lack of food and poor health.

 

"I just want you"

He just wants the healthy life put back into him.

-Voiceovers: An off camera commentary which is placed on top of a film at any desired point. It can be used to create the setting. Example: " once upon a time ..."
Even though I don't think this kind of technique could be useable in our film , we may wish for the characters thoughts to appear on film so if they do this will be the technique to use.
I have been doing some voice acting for an upcoming game, I shall talk about this in a later blog once I have finished. However I have found that if we do some voice work I will be suited for doing it. Such example could be at the end of our video , we could convey a message such as about taking drugs is bad for you.

Films I recently watched with filming methods and ideas from them:

300 rise of an empire:

-Positives: Having watched this film one defining attribute are the colours and Dark atmosphere used. In the film the exposure is more monotone than anything else. This gives it a dark sinister feel like other films such as sin city. I think that a feature that this could be well used in our film especially in really sad scenes such as Dom walking to his site of suicide. Slow down effects are in constant use during this film too, it can enhance fight or flight scenes making the action more intense and eye catching. I think that we could possibly use this technique when Dom runs away or fights to emphasise the punishment and torment he is living. Close ups are also a common scene in this film and are well executed, they portray the specific features of the actors face to show how they feel. As mentioned before we will use similar techniques in our film for the phone scene.

-Negatives:  What I had observed however with 300 was that there was too much repletion in action slow down effects and CGI this made the film a bit surreal and at times off-putting. This is a good thing to recognize since it helps us to establish to use various filming techniques opposed to a reoccurring one.

Winters Tale:

-Positives: The way this film helps contribute to ours was that it conveyed emotions really well with the correct music facial expression and script. All crucial to making the viewer feel sorry for the Character.
Another thing to mention is that in this film their is a time change of around 100 years and it  is quick and simple. It is done through a tilt shot from the character to the sky and back down to the character. We could do something similar with out film like a shot down to the characters reflection in the lake and back up to the new time period. 

-Negatives: The downfall with a romance film like this was it was a bit predictable at times even with the shocks at some parts. It made me feel like I knew what was going to happen before it happened where a good twist could have been well executed to prevent this.
In our film instead of the typical happy ending we could shock the audience by making it end all poorly or something else just to add a bit less predictability in the film and keep viewers on the edge of the seat.

Lone survivor:

- Positives: This film was beneficial to me for watching since it included many sound effects. This was good practice to me to see what effects are best to keep standing out to show the atmosphere and setting of what is occurring. Some sound effects shall be used in our film. There was a good use of full shots to show all the main characters and allow us to see who was doing what, I have observed these shots were good in moments of action or full cast interaction thus our action scenes could use these. Lastly there was an element of shock where main characters kept getting casted off unexpectedly. Unlike many film the main characters don't usually die therefore I believe that by doing something similar in our film we could convey a much more potent message.

- Negatives: The plot started becoming somewhat repetitive with characters continuously fighting so too much action and little one on one emphasis with the characters was used. his would be bad for our film since it wont allow us to relate with the emotions felt by our main character.

Her:

-Positives: I found Her to be really entertaining in the way that it was Unique story that hasn't been thought of before. a unique idea is always interesting to watch especially when it includes funny moments like this film. I think that making our film out of the ordinary could increase the attractiveness and is something we shall look out for. Adding to this was the fact that these new unique ideas and aspects were well conveyed and explained to the point it seemed real. We seek for realism in our film since the idea of time travel has not been accomplished yet so it will be necessary to make it seem possible or "appear" to be possible in the case that's It isn't real and just an illusion.

-Negatives: I found that the ending was a bit abrupt and that it could have ended otherwise to convey a better story. I wish to emphasise our film from beginning to end so it is clear what the viewers have watched and so they finish with as much satisfaction as when they started watching

Purpose of my research:

Being the sound producer in our group, I have found that my research will be beneficial in helping me create effective sound with good quality for our film and each of its scenes. It will help me decide how to improve each scene and make it more appealing to the viewer.

Furthermore having researched into different filming techniques, I will share any information with my camera man Tom so we can work together to create a desired effect and atmosphere for our scene, where sound and video footage can be modified in correlation with each other.

Having watched new blockbuster films, I have recognized effects and styles of recording we may wish to add to our film to make it more appealing to the demanding public. I believe things such as the slowing down time techniques used in 300 as well as the dark atmosphere may be useful in our film about running out of time, since slowing time itself relates to the "time" style we need to follow and the dark atmosphere relates to our forest scene.

Furthermore comedic skits observed from films such as kick ass 2 and moments that captivate the audience to feel in films such as Winters tale will help make our film more emotional and on-going to keep everyone watching.

As for music, listening to some end sound tracks from several of these films I have watched I believe it may be wise to do so in our credits to give it more of a professional feel, also I have found it is good for telling the story too, thus the researched has helped me understand what kinds of music are needed for each scene such as metal for a fight scene or piano music for a sad scene.

Moving Image Entry 5 - Kevin Ross:

Date:06/03/2014
Module: Moving Image El342
Kent University

Team 07:

vp216 - Viknesh Prabhakar
kr278 - Kevin Ross
cb595 - Connor Brown
Tws6 - Thomas Stowell

Production studio Class 2:

During our second production studio seminar this week the 03/03/2014 we practiced the use of the video cameras, as well as filming techniques. We had the task of filming several clips around the Jenison building at  the University of Kent. After this was done we would be required to cut the clips and compose a short video of fluid shots one leading to the next, A "sequence".

As a group the first thing w did was decide who would do what. We decided that it would be wise to keep the roles we will use in our actual film, So Tom on filming, Connor in acting and story, Viknesh in Directing and myself in sound recording. We found that this would be beneficial in being able to record lots of shots rapidly and efficiently. This is good since the main part of this exercise was to later use all these recording and develop them into a small clip.

After this we headed outside to search for a suitable location. We choose an area with a pathway since it was easier to follow our actor here.


My role was to assess the sound quality of the clip. For this firstly I attached the recording receiver to the camera and the recorder onto Connor. He would require to leave the microphone away from his throat but inside his shirt since there was lots of outside noise which seemed to disturb the films audio, Thus from this I have realised that it is best to keep the microphone within our actors shirt for the real film.


After the actor was ready , the camera was placed in the correct location for filming and the audio was on par we were ready to shoot. The cameraman Tom was required to start recording before the actor even got into our clips. We did this so that we could edit our clip later to however it best suited the scene. Furthermore we had Tom record each scene of our sequence of events from a different perspective so that the clip was more eye catching/fluid and less boring.

We recorded each scene 5 times so that we had a large pool of clips to edit with so that if one clips lacked in a certain field another of the clips may compensate. This is also useful for if the sound was of on a certain clip. I found that whilst recording for our few first times there was a lot of emphasis of background noise, so I turned the decibels down to 0 and from doing so Connors voice was much more clear. I had him whistle in the clips to see what how the sound was.

Once all the desired clips were recorded we went into our editing lab to edit the film. We cut all our desired clips into clips of around 5 secs or less each so that when we compiled the film it would be a more fluid sequence apart from long boring scenes.

We found that Connor was whistling different tunes in each clip so we decided to grab our longest recording and use the sound file from that clip for the whole video. At first we had left the other sound files still on the clip but once we tried listening to the clip with both files there it gave the clip as a whole a nice beat.


Our Created video :

Criticisms/what would we do different:

- We found that next time we record it would be beneficial to vary our angles a bit better since most of our shot were zoomed out shots on Connor. For our film we will use a variety of shots since this sequence we made was pretty boring.

- Connor was always in each scene of the sequence from the very start, even though we were advised to do this, we ended up finding that having him actually walk into the shot would be an effective way to make our sequence more varied where it would keep the viewer watching.

- We found that Connor was in every shot, so it would be wise to include some shot without him there all together to display our scenario.

- We found that the sound was not constant for each clip and this is something I will have to remember to monitor since it will make our film look jumpy if the sounds change dramatically each scene.

What have I learnt from this practical?:

- I have further developed in my editing skills which include the audio editing as well as cutting longer clips to make a more fluid sequence of events.

- I have learnt to calibrate to different environments for filming as well as develop more on my team skills.

- I have developed in methods of filming, such as in angles from which we shoot from and  where to position the main actor. This is useful to keep the film more attractive and appealing and we found that using a different filming angle each time or zoom provides a more attractive look the the clip.

Moving Image Entry 4 - Kevin Ross:

Date:27/02/2014
Module: Moving Image El342
Kent University

Team 07:

vp216 - Viknesh Prabhakar
kr278 - Kevin Ross
cb595 - Connor Brown
Tws6 - Thomas Stowell


This is a late blog as for my last week activities towards our film

Team update:

One of our crew has decided to leave university for personal reasons. This member is Thomas Jenkins.
As from now we will be a 4 person group. We will now have to be a bit more efficient with our work since there will be more to do ,however we have started allocating jobs to individuals.

Thomas Stowell- Filming and editing.
Kevin ross (Me)- Sound testing/recording and post editing
Connor Brown- Acting, Story ideas and editing
Viknesh Prabhakar- Directing and Editing

My Role/ Research:

- My first role in our Moving image project is to be the sounds producer.
I have researched into this part of my role, I will be responsible for recording all recordings of sounds present on set. This will require me to use microphones, booms and headphones. Whilst using the boom I will have to make sure neither the boom nor the shadow is within the shot.

I may be asked to capture a wide variety of sound on location, and must also consider the format of the finished product (mono, stereo or surround sound).
As a sound producer I will be required to tell the director when the sound quality is correct for recording.

I will also be in charge of all sound effects editors when editing, these include things such as music.
For this part I will use a video editing programme to include sound effects, background music and I will  have to remove any unwanted background noises.

I have gained some experience in this department from my class activities which are later listed in this blog.

- My second role in the film project is to work on the post editing and finalization of the film, this includes the sound editing.
I have watched tutorials for post editing in my spare time. These include how to add subtitles to our film which we shall include, as well as how to create effective title and ending screens.
furthermore I have looked into how to balance sound effects and add my own to the film.

The reason why we have divided ourselves into separate roles is to work more efficiently and to be able to concentrate on whatever we have been assigned, like this we will become more comfortable with what we are doing.


Class activities :

 

 

The first part of our class activities consisted in setting up the camera and tripod effectively enough to film with. For this we had to extend the tripod legs to a height suitable for our camera man Tom.
secondly we connected the battery and memory card to the camera and formatted it. After this we attached the camera to the tripod. We found that the tripod will be well suited to parts of our film since it is good for a steady shot as well as fluid movement. How we found that it was restricted when it came to more complex movement and would be hard to set up in certain areas. The cameraman Tom or producer Viknesh will likely be in charge if this.

 

Another essential part of our setting up for the shoot will be to adjust the cameras white balance by making it focus onto a piece of blank paper. This will adjust the camera to its environment and give the best shot. Tom our camera man will be in charge of this.

For the sound, I had to connect the sound receiver to the camera, switch this on and pair it with the sound recorder. The sound recorder was given to Connor since he was doing the acting.
When doing this the microphone requires to be in a location where it isn't rubbing against his clothes or isn't to close to his throat for a clear sound.

Then we did an exercise as a class group. Here we saw how to use the boom.
This information was beneficial to me since I will be using it through our film especially when we have multiple actors in the scene.
It emits a clear quality sound of everything around it. However the only downfall to it is that it can be accidentally seen within the shot so this has to be monitored by Viknesh our Director.






We then observed working on a Dolly. The dolly is really useful since it can create beneficial angles for the filming process such as the Zolly.
I will look into these different angles for filming further on for research and include them in a newer blog. It will be wise using different options such as this technique for filming different scenes and making a more dynamic film.

Furthermore we observed the use of this wheel created by our lecturer. The camera sits within the centre and it is a useful device for recording low, high and many angles. It has a good purpose in following actors around to since it is easy to control. Furthermore it allows for rotation of the camera which may be beneficial for our film at some point.























What have I learnt from this practical?:

- I have learnt how to record sound efficiently , and different ways of doing so to record the best quality clip.

- I have learnt different filming techniques which include , tripod , dolly, wheel and holding the camera with you hands.

- I have learnt how to position actors appropriately as for also using the boom correctly in an acting scene.

- I Have learnt how to set up the camera, and work as a team with my our filming partners to collect many clips in a short time efficiently.

Moving Image Entry 3 - Kevin Ross:

Date:23/02/2014
Module: Moving Image El342
Kent University

Team 07:

vp216 - Viknesh Prabhakar
kr278 - Kevin Ross
tjj7 - Thomas Jenkins
cb595 - Connor Brown
Tws6 - Thomas Stowell

Pre-Production/ Treatment:

Before we left for reading week, as a group we had a meeting to discuss the Treatment assignment.
We had agreed on allocating specific areas of this assignment to different people in our group. I was in charge of writing about the locations for our film.

We all wanted to do at least a paragraph for our chosen topic.
For my chosen topic of locations I had looked back on our current decisions of different scenes that were going to be within our film and the locations which we had already set and ones that we had discussed as a possibility.

I chose to separate my locations topic into scenes/situations. Where for each specified scene I would depict where it is occurring.

Each of us were then to send our finished pieces to Thomas Stowell so he could put them together and edit any unwanted pieces before we hand it for assessment. We chose Tom due to his good writing skills and because it was hard to come together as a group in whole over reading week. however before we hand it in we shall assess the overall piece as a group once more.

The scenes that I covered in the locations par of our treatment were: The waking up scene, call scene, the walk, Time travel and attempted suicide, the cure acquirement and the action sequence.

The locations that I used for these were: Elliot dorm, Elliot kitchen, Elliot bridge and The university of Kent's grocery shop, Trees and pond location at university of Kent. Where further locations could be Stacey lab, Elliot car park, the fields at university of Kent as well as the walk way west of Jenison.

I choose these locations after having explored the campus for suitable locations and those of which are easily accessible to us.
Both me and Thomas Stowell went around to look at the specified locations.

I went to Toms dorm since he lives in the Elliot building and thought it was a suitable location since it is a small room with a shared toilet and kitchen. I found this to be a good location since it may depict a bad living condition if the room was an apartment rather than a Uni dorm.

After this I checked the Elliot bridge leading out from his dorm. It will make a good area to film both the fight scene/ chase scene Since it has an overhead angle on the parking lot and also an under view of the bridge which depicts a sketchy, maybe drug available area . Furthermore since the bridge is fairly long , a Zolly style angle shot ( Shot which zooms outwards) would be suitable here for when the character is walking.



After I checked the bridge and parking lot, I walked to the shop. Since it is a fairly populated area for university students I found it would be an ideal shot to create the idea of a town with population. A wide shot could be useful here since when we checked it out, the shop itself was fairly large and with a wider shot we can observe more people.





Lastly Tom and I explored the Forest and swamp area. The pond was fairly large and we found that the area was really muddy so when we are to record this scene we have to watch ourselves for health and safety reasons. Other than this the whole area was dark and shady, Great for a sad/ tense moment in our film.





After all of this had been explored and examined, I wrote my section of the treatment to send to Tom.
This process was required for our film since the set is what makes the scene for each part of the film where it brings emotion and a sense of how the actor is feeling. It also sets location for each event.
We could also observe how we were going to film each scene as for angles and filming method , as well as conclude o what could be some possible editing methods and sound effects we could include in each area.

Moving Image Entry 2 - Kevin Ross:

Date: 11/02/2014
Module: Moving Image El342
Kent University

Team 07:
vp216 - Viknesh Prabhakar
kr278 - Kevin Ross
tjj7 - Thomas Jenkins
cb595 - Connor Brown
Tws6 - Thomas Stowell

Pre-Production:

Attendance:

For todays discussion only 3 of us attended to share ideas; Thomas Stowell, Kevin Ross, And Viknesh Prabhakar.

Further development on our story:

In development to our current idea we decided that it would be a good idea to set the scene of the time travel in the Forest/woods. The main character who is ill will be taking a trip into the woods where he will accidently come across some type of time warp which will be how he travels into the future. We had discussed the idea of him stumbling across the time warp after trying to commit suicide within the forest to end his degrading life. At this stage he may jump in water to drown or something similar and soon discover it will teleport him into the future where he then sets out to seeing if a cure had been made for him.

Character development:

- Gender: Male
- His name : Dom Maxwell
- Mental State: Depressed
- Financial status : Poor, unemployed.
- Age: Mid 20's
-Traits: Silver tongued. (Good at discussing, persuading, arguing.)
-Illness: Uncommon advanced flu
- Health: Physically deteriorating

Filming location ideas:

For the forest we have discussed the idea of using the trees and wild fauna around our campus due to our location being restricted to The University Kent Campus. It can closely represent the idea of a forest due to the presence of trees water and plant life.
Furthermore we could use such a location such as the science labs as a clinic or location where the cure may be made or located. This would be a suitable location since it represents science and medicine.
For the filming locations at the time when Dom is waking up we can use any dorm room found around campus, most likely in the Elliot building since it has poor living conditions which could represent Dom's Financial status and reason why he is prone to illness.


Props for our film:

As for props we have further discussed about the cure and how it will be represented. We were thinking to keep the so called cure in a vile shaped glass ( to look like a potion of some sort) Where the liquid can have a very noticeable colour. For this we discussed using an energy drink or colour water .By adding colouring inside our water we could make a very bold mixture to make our cure look "out of the ordinary" which you would expect in a futuristic world, almost like a  mad science experiment.

Possible additional characters and their part in the story:

We had discussed as a group the idea of giving the story more of a plot to not make it too straight forward. We felt that there is usually always an opposing force against the main character in films therefore we agreed that it would be beneficial to introduce some type of antagonist for our main character. Firstly I had the idea of introducing a police like force that intervenes with time travellers to send them back since travelling in time is illegal for them in the future. Therefore if they were in the movie they would have the role of trying to capture our character and send him back to his death.
Another possible character would be the drug dealer we have previously discussed, His role in the story could be that he holds the potential life saving drug that would help our character however our character cannot achieve the money or whatever is needed to buy the drugs.

Storyboard:

We have started development on our story board. We have looked into the stages of waking up and receiving a call to alert him of his illness towards when he is walking towards forest and through the time warp.
The story board is required for us to further proceed in our film as it allows us to observe where could be suitable location, who could be suitable actors and what techniques of filming we could use.