Welcome to my new blog! I thank you for taking time to look through all my posts. You can use the tags on the sidebar or use the menu on the header to navigate through my blog. I hope you enjoy reading all my posts as I put lots of time and effort into these for you. Thanks again, Zoe Ellis
Saturday 7 March 2015
Friday 6 March 2015
Wednesday 4 March 2015
Tuesday 3 March 2015
Opening sequence: Choosing the final version
Here are the final versions of our film. We are thinking of choosing the second version but will make our final decision after we have shown these two to our audience.
This is our first version:
Here is our second version:
After showing both versions to our audience we found that the second version was easier for the audience to to see the subtle shots that we included to have a threatening feel to it. This helps to place the audience so they can see our preferred reading. Also the first music didn't draw the audience into the opening scene as much as the second because the second music has an ominous feel to it and the audience wants to know what the character's are doing to have this dark theme following them.
After showing both versions to our audience we found that the second version was easier for the audience to to see the subtle shots that we included to have a threatening feel to it. This helps to place the audience so they can see our preferred reading. Also the first music didn't draw the audience into the opening scene as much as the second because the second music has an ominous feel to it and the audience wants to know what the character's are doing to have this dark theme following them.
Sunday 1 March 2015
Sony vegas
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This second picture shows how I made the titles move on the screen. Here I clicked on the cropping button on the title that I had added
Second I added new keyframes for my text.
Lastly I made the screen pan away at the last two keyframes so when the sequence plays the text moves off the screen at the right time.
Friday 27 February 2015
Name of film
We originally had the idea of using Morning Coffee as our title for our film however we decided to go with the title Mug Shot for two main reasons.
The first is that the title highlights the two main aspects of the plot that affects both Layla and Sophia. This is used because later in the film you find out the cause of death was poison in the coffee that Sophia drank and the second aspect is that Layla is sentenced to prison and the picture of her 'mug shot' will be shown. This works well with the music change because it really helps to bring out the subtle shots and the connotations of them throughout the film opening.
The second is because the title is a pun. In social media puns are used quite often and even though people find them annoying they are easily remembered. This is good because it helps to give our movie a lasting effect.
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There is a third minor reason and that is the pun in the name is a reference to my prelim video I created in the summer. At the end of the film the words 'coming this fall' appeared which was also a pun towards the short movie.
The first is that the title highlights the two main aspects of the plot that affects both Layla and Sophia. This is used because later in the film you find out the cause of death was poison in the coffee that Sophia drank and the second aspect is that Layla is sentenced to prison and the picture of her 'mug shot' will be shown. This works well with the music change because it really helps to bring out the subtle shots and the connotations of them throughout the film opening.
The second is because the title is a pun. In social media puns are used quite often and even though people find them annoying they are easily remembered. This is good because it helps to give our movie a lasting effect.
_______________________________________________________________________________
There is a third minor reason and that is the pun in the name is a reference to my prelim video I created in the summer. At the end of the film the words 'coming this fall' appeared which was also a pun towards the short movie.
Sunday 22 February 2015
Audience: Interviews
Thursday 19 February 2015
Thursday 5 February 2015
Fonts: Typography
We decided on using the Benchnine font because the other two fonts had more childish connotations and gave a less professional look. Also the shape of Benchnine was much more compact making the font easier to place on movie opening. Here is a segment of what the two fonts look on screen.
The Stainy font is what will be used as iconography for our film such as the title on advertisements. The Benchnine font is what will be used for credits because of its simplistic shape. Click here to see my original post about each of the fonts.
Wednesday 4 February 2015
Plot
Here are some bullet points explaining the plot of the whole movie that are opening will be a part of.
- Layla had to pay a shark loan for the new apartment
- Sophia thinks that Layla is cheating
- Sophia commits suicide making Layla look like the killer
- Layla thinks Sophia was murder
- Tries to find out who the culprit was
- Layla is also dealing with the trial and she is the prime suspect
- Layla finds out the truth
- Layla is found guilty of murder with a life sentence
Friday 30 January 2015
Opening sequence: Our draft
Click "Read More" below to see our draft on our media product.
Thursday 22 January 2015
Fonts: Title
While looking for suitable fonts for the title we found this font called Stainy, here is a picture of it:
We chose this font because it resembles writing in lipstick. We felt this helps to highlight the scenes which have the lipstick and to help represent the femininity of the two characters. This also helped to give a bit of an edge to our opening as women are often seen as weak, and the feminine font helped to portray this but the opening sequence is showing a murder scene.
The main font we will use is called Benchnine:
We chose this font because it resembles writing in lipstick. We felt this helps to highlight the scenes which have the lipstick and to help represent the femininity of the two characters. This also helped to give a bit of an edge to our opening as women are often seen as weak, and the feminine font helped to portray this but the opening sequence is showing a murder scene.
The main font we will use is called Benchnine:
We chose this font because it is a much cleaner and more simplistic font. This has a cold feeling towards it to help give an unfriendly look. This represents the themes that will be coming up in our film and help to suggest that the characters aren't as innocently girly as the seem. Also this particular font is very close together and this makes it very easy to put onto our movie opening.
Saturday 17 January 2015
Avoiding Lesbian Stereotypes
Upon research, these are some of the lesbian stereotypes that we found, and want to avoiding in the film opening:
We have decided to avoid these stereotypes in our opening sequence and create something that fits a more modern representation of homosexual women. This helps to break out of the current conventions that are in film and to appeal to young adults who are helping to break out of these conventions and are wanting to see homosexual characters used in normal shows without having their sexuality as the main theme of the show or character.
However we have decided not to subvert every stereotype that both females and lesbians portray. This is because trying to fit every subversion will give an unnatural feel the film. To fit both criteria we decided to avoid the stereotypes we found in secondary research but to include the stereotypes we found in our primary research, our interviews.
- In every lesbian couple, one has to be the man.
- Lesbians all dress like men.
- All butches have short hair and are overweight.
- All lesbians hate make-up, shaving, bras and dresses.
We have decided to avoid these stereotypes in our opening sequence and create something that fits a more modern representation of homosexual women. This helps to break out of the current conventions that are in film and to appeal to young adults who are helping to break out of these conventions and are wanting to see homosexual characters used in normal shows without having their sexuality as the main theme of the show or character.
However we have decided not to subvert every stereotype that both females and lesbians portray. This is because trying to fit every subversion will give an unnatural feel the film. To fit both criteria we decided to avoid the stereotypes we found in secondary research but to include the stereotypes we found in our primary research, our interviews.
Wednesday 14 January 2015
Saturday 10 January 2015
Genre: Thriller
Me and Jess chose our second theme would be thriller. This is the genre we went for in the end. We chose this theme because the genre has more room to add content as the horror genre sticks very rigidly to existing conventions. Also the horror genre is used very frequently in AS media openings so we decided to go with something different.
After our research these are the main points that we found summeried:
After our research these are the main points that we found summeried:
- Protagonist at mercy of antagonist
- Montages of shots
- Quick cuts
- Tension music
- Protagonist is brave male trying to restore equilibrium
- Revenge
- Use of mirrors to 'see' into the character's soul
Wednesday 7 January 2015
Story board
Click Read More below to see our story board for our film
Monday 5 January 2015
Filming Schedule: 5th Jan
Wednesday-
Zoe coming over 4pm
Reshoot.
Breakfast preparing scene
Alarm clock scene
(New) Extreme close up of eyes shot
(New) Close up of packet opening, pouring into coffee shot
Location-
My flat, kitchen
Props and costume-
Pyjamas
Resealable packet with sugar in it
Saturday-
Zoe coming over 12pm
Sophie coming over 5pm
Reshoot
Breakfast preparing scene
Waking up scene
(New) Extreme close up of eyes shot
(New) Looking at message on phone
(New) Money passing scene, outside
(New) Lipstick shot
Location-
My flat, kitchen, bedroom
Outside the flat
Proper and costume-
Pyjamas
Jeans, jumper, shoes
Lipstick
Money
Zoe coming over 4pm
Reshoot.
Breakfast preparing scene
Alarm clock scene
(New) Extreme close up of eyes shot
(New) Close up of packet opening, pouring into coffee shot
Location-
My flat, kitchen
Props and costume-
Pyjamas
Resealable packet with sugar in it
Saturday-
Zoe coming over 12pm
Sophie coming over 5pm
Reshoot
Breakfast preparing scene
Waking up scene
(New) Extreme close up of eyes shot
(New) Looking at message on phone
(New) Money passing scene, outside
(New) Lipstick shot
Location-
My flat, kitchen, bedroom
Outside the flat
Proper and costume-
Pyjamas
Jeans, jumper, shoes
Lipstick
Money
Thursday 1 January 2015
Location of film
For the location we will be using Jess' flat for two main reasons. The first reason is accessibility. Using Jess' flat means we can move and use all the scenes to our advantage and also makes travel very easy so filming in that location is much quicker and we can be more effective with the use of our time.
The second reason is that the location gives a good feel to the film. The flat gives a nice homely feel to the film and the high ceilings give a view that the characters a wealthy as the audience associates high celling with wealth due to the amount the house would cost. However both the characters are young so this leaves the audience questioning how they can afford such a place.
The second reason is that the location gives a good feel to the film. The flat gives a nice homely feel to the film and the high ceilings give a view that the characters a wealthy as the audience associates high celling with wealth due to the amount the house would cost. However both the characters are young so this leaves the audience questioning how they can afford such a place.