2)Work Cohesively within our crew, finessing our own chosen role.

3)Updated log on Padlet

I want to outline my strengths and weaknesses here, so i can pinpoint where to improve.

STRENGTHS

• Flexible timetable

• Handles teamwork easily

• Creative

WEAKNESSES

• Basic foundational filming and writing skills.

• Susceptible to lazy shortcuts

• Unsympathetic to/ despises last minute change.

(By paying attention during this module and possibly creating and understanding films outside of classes should remedy these faults)

• Creative

• Push through unforeseen circumstances

What to work on

• Plan more shots to cover if a problem appears during editing.

• Collecting B-Roll shots to fill the awkward gaps in transitions

• Section where Audience immersion was broken (This was me being lazy and unable to fulfil a successful edit of a large gap within the scene)

• Largely needs more focus on the scene

Own thoughts

• Blatant use of editing to cover mistakes. so much so it is amateur.

• Rushed ending, although funny. Didn't take the time to polish it.

• Mixture of phone footage and phone audio. Significant drop in quality.

• I liked the colour editing I did as it gave off the uncomfortable atmosphere I wanted.

• Learnt about sound and preferred it over other roles.

The Witness (2019) Love, Death & Robots. Netflix

If Anything Happens I Love You (2020) Netflix

Bao (2018) Disney Pixar

Self (2024) Disney Pixar

Élégie (2023) GOBELINS- Youtube

Louise (2021) GOBELINS- Youtube

ENDLESSLY (2018) MewTripled- Youtube

The Stalker (Synopsis)

Person wakes up from a wicked hangover. Yet they have this sinking feeling inside that they are being followed. They don't feel safe in their own home. So they run, getting cryptic messages from a random number. Until they catch up to them and they look very familiar.

"The term "butterfly effect" was coined by meteorologist Edward Lorenz, who discovered in the 1960's that tiny, butterfly—scale changes to the starting point of his computer weather models resulted in anything from sunny skies to violent storms—with no way to predict in advance what the outcome might be."

Outlines

• Split screen

• Same situation, different outcome

• Emotional acting(minimal dialogue)

• Creatively inclined

• Passionate

• leadership qualities

• Have story-boarded previously

Looks:

Unassuming and plain. No piercings, the kind of person you'd see on the Yes side of what to wear for an interview.

Personality:

A positive look on their hectic life. This job interview could be a ripple in their pond of their life. And does have a "Live, Laugh, Love" poster hanging on their kitchen wall.

INFO

Any Race

Any Gender

Late Teens/ Early 20s

Production skills was the basics of film production. Now that we've moved on we have a lot more responsibilities to handle and won't be marked so forgivingly. This honestly terrifies me as I am still very new to anything film-based. Coming from a heavy theatre background means I am still figuring everything out.

A way to soothe my nerves is to practise in my spare time. Learning different shots and compositions, and how to tell story beats through subtext and visual means. And also keeping up in our analysing screen fiction class as it is a guide to how successful/industry standard films tell their stories.

Working in a group

Since the course groups have been mixed around, it is the rough, awkward stage of meeting people again. I know that I can't choose my groups so I will have to do my best in working with strangers. If I get to do sound, then it is important that I listen to the producer/director and provide insight where I can while also honing my skills. If I am to get a leadership role then I need to provide clear instruction to my group so that we can create something we all are proud of.

-Murphy's Law

-Needs a twist ending (A purpose, not a montage)

Ideas

-"The person who had a bad day gets the job?"

With the concept being around murphy's law, it would ruin the contrast between good and bad. Negates the purpose for the whole film.

-"It was all a dream. Splitscreen goes and they are late?"

Dream is cliche. I like the idea of a full circle moment but would rather go with something more dramatic than lazy writing.

-"A bad thing happens to the good person."

I like this as a twist ending. Relating back to the butterfly effect idea, the fact they missed the bus in the morning tornadoes into preserving thier life.

We brainstormed around the idea of what would happen to the good side and decided with a bus crash. It relates back to the beginning and ties everything loose thread together. Visually, having the good side go dark and focusing in on the pure relief/terror/euphoria of the bad side creates complexity in what audiences believe is the reality of the situation.

In basic terms, it is the aesthetic of the film used to convey the story. Making use of the camera to convey atmosphere and emotion by the framing, composition and type of shot used.

why is it important for director?

As director, i feel responsible for everything within the film. The mise-en-scene, audio, pacing, writing etc. And I want to create something that is technically challenging but also artistic in it's own sense. Many well known director's have thier own trademark that appears in thier films. Edgar Wright and musical synchronisity and clever transitions or Quentin Tarintino for his extreme violence and non-linear narratives. In the end it is what makes movies interesting. So i want to create something distinct and far different than the other groups.

Technically, this is the blueprint of how to create the film.

1) Marc Webb desyncs the audio and visual for the dialogue. This provides clarity to the audience and becomes a spot the difference between the two sides.

2) On the flip side, the shots also mirror each other perfectly. Webb focuses on the differences while the set and most extras are mirrored. This is important to note as different camera positioning, angles and set changes is disorientating to the audience. If used sparingly this confusion can provide subtext to the scene but timing differences and large visual changes muddies the scene.

They use the terror of Spaciks stationary facial expressions and the chaos of the students to juxtapose and terrify the audience.

Also what I am just noticing is the use of green. In colour theory green represents:

Growth

Health

Nature

Optimism

Envy

Employing green into our film can provide subtext. For example the Good side can rely heavy on the optimistic and healthy side while the Bad can focus on envy.

Colour wise, scott's shirt and ramona's hair highlights that they are opposites. They don't compliment each other as of this moment. Translating this in our film we can possibly colour correct the screen to provide emotional insight into the character.

Also, the contrast between Scott's intensity and Ramona's nonchalant look foreshadows the conflict that happens between the couple. Scott's determination to defeat her seven evil exes and Ramona's "laissez-faire" attitude about the situation.

Personally, I would feel more comfortable with someone from our course. I don't feel professional enough to direct someone who is studying only acting. Also, working with a friend can negate that awkward hurdle strangers need to overcome. They can also provide a helping hand if we are struggling with a technical issue as they have the same training as us.

Yet due to last minute cancellations and schedules it was left to me and Archie to film some test shoots. Therefore this was filmed on my phone (Negating audio) This is clearly shown through the shaking camera and the lack of reshoots/b-roll/multiple camera angles and consistency. Also this was edited on Microsoft Clipchamp.

(It's important to note that this is a very rough draft and in no way represents the quality of the final film. Also there are some colouring issues as I did a cut of the film testing the colour balance but neglected to double check the clean cut)

What I like:

This is a great way to visually share my ideas for this film. It has been hard to describe the visuals verbally so this will be a great way to show my group what my ideas are so we can hopefully recreate/reimagine the film. This also helps builds the trust between the actors and I. Helping him understand the concept of the film and get used to what is expected of him.

The quote on the statue was a last minute decision. I had the idea yesterday when location scouting and I feel like it adds some humour and or subtext to the film.

I used what I learnt from 500 days to do the statue shot. I duplicated the shot so it would be symmetrical and I think it works really effectively. It is satisfying to the same shot as it is easy on the eyes. So I am going to incorporate more shots like these to prevent headaches

What to Work on:

-Timing was a massive issue for both sides. You can see in the edit I had to speed up certain parts to have the two sides the same. To fix this, on the day when we film when we get the shot, I will make note of the time and have to copy the pacing over to make the editing process easier.

-Since I didn't prepare any props we had to improvise the props. (Using a leaf as the £5 note) This brought up a problem of how are we to stick the note to the shoe. It will have to be trial and error and what we use (Gum, washable glue, mud)

-Camera Angles and Perspective was a challenge I only noticed in the edit how the symmetry was off between the two sides. This can be fixed by using a tripod and having a set angle that we film from.

-Framing was hard when editing. I had to crop a lot of shots to make them equally fit on the screen. I am unsure if Premiere Pro has an automatic split screen option but this is still important to keep in mind when filming. If we use one set angle it could be easier to crop and edit.

We had a plan to meet on friday with booked out equipment and our actor to do some test shots. Unfortunately two of our crew members were unable to make it today. Meaning we didn't have access to camera or lighting equipment. We went to the IT suite to sort out paperwork and give Archie a rundown on what the project entails. I took this opportunity to work on how I direct. (Seen above)

I need to work on being more succinct in my explanations of what I want. Also being more supportive of my actors as I toe the line of being too strict. I know I can trust Archie, I've seen his acting and he is great therefore I should trust him.

When filming we considered reflections and the public, getting permissions from those who we could see in shot. When filming by the bus stop, when looking carefully you could see us moving around in the reflection so we had to place everyone away from the camera, save for Matthew who was on cinematography.

Problems faced today

• Sound

  Mia had to book out a H4 rather than the H6 we practised with in class. When we were ready to film, the H4 wouldn't format the sd card. We couldn't figure it out by googling so we had to send Mia and Chinai back to the equipment store to sort it out. The problem was resolved by borrowing a smaller sd card from the equipment store. Then we were ready to shoot.

• Continuity

  It was initially difficult keeping track of which Murphy we were shooting. We found it easier to film the same shot while removing Murphy's tie when changing sides. We had to be careful when shooting the getting on bus scene (R sc6) as Archie almost got on without his tie on. As a zero budget film, it seemed cruel to make archie pay over and over again to get the shot so we had to make sure everything was perfect before calling action.

What we learnt

Make sure the whole crew is keeping an eye out for continuity so if Me or Matthew miss something we had 3 other eyes on it.

Keep watchful for those in the background, we can't get everyone's permission and if that means holding for people to walk past, I believe we had set enough time aside to do that.

Best way to show our actor what we mean is by showing the storyboard and showing him physically what I want. With an acting background, it's easy for me to explain but make sure he is comfortable and understands what we want from him.

We started outside to catch the sunlight. This became a problem when it started shifting between cloudy and sunny. Initially we weren't worried about it but as we started losing time we had to negate the weather and just get the shot. Agreeing that we can fix it in post.

We problem solved and worked harmoniously together. In comparison to our last video project, having a clear leader/director made things easier as there was no objection to what I had to say.

One key example of us problem solving was when there was no wind to blow the money away. Therefore we used camera magic and hid Chinai under archie to blow the money away (as seen in the pictures to the right.)

We used sticks and other items left in the park to be used as marks for Archie as symmetry is really important for our film. When it got to our dialogue scenes I timed them to make sure they were similar lengths. Taking a note from 500 days of summer and desynching the visuals and audio so both can be heard and seen clearly. But also we changed the script so the left side had a shorter line. It made more sense as he wouldn't realistically stop to take a phone call if he was in a rush. I will review both and see which I prefer in my edit.

We were also lucky that Alex was free to help us out and be an extra in our film. His monotone demeanor also helped out when we needed a commanding voice for the aside dialogue.

I'm excited to review the footage as on the day I was ecstatic and energetic when filming today.

But rather than wallow in confusion, I booked out recording equipment and contacted archie when he was free.

I had the video up on my phone and had archie try and match his lip synching. I had him do multiple takes and to space his lines out so we could cut them easily and timing issues could be minimised. Also recording his dialogue that was outside, outside so i could capture any bird songs and wind in the background and the interior inside to capture the realism. I also recorded interior and exterior sound to put in the background.

I will admit it was stressful as I haven't done audio since first trimester so I was thankful that I practised by myself before hand as seen in the video.

For my next video project it's important to book out equipment in due time so i'm not fighting for equipment I'm familiar with. I was lucky to get a H6 and not have any rush in recording. The only problem I faced was Alex was busy today. I was considering just cameoing in the film but luckily, another group in our class happened to walk past and I was able to get the lines I needed from them.

Overall, the damage control was easily handled but I do feel like I stepped on Mia's toes and should've trusted her to do it in her own time. Yet i had time and just took matters into my own hands. Overall, this shoot we have been very lucky.

The first hurdle I faced was how to do the split screen. To figure it out, I simply googled it and rather than edit in a black line overtop the video I decided to crop all the videos. The troubles i had with this way was to make sure the line was centered and the same width between all the shots. I kept note of the dimensions and cropped them accordingly. The problem I faced with this was if I needed to zoom in on a shot I had to crop by eye. I've extensively checked the film and for the most part they are equal.

After my initial rough cut, the silence set an unsettling and awkward tone for the film. Learning from last video project, music is important to set atmosphere. After getting some feedback on the rough cut i decided that some instrumental music would fit. I considered using the same music as the POC but that wasn't melancholic enough. I knew I didn't want lyrics behind the film so using a karaoke track of Dido's Thank You perfectly fit the overall vibe I wanted for my film. Also to juxtapose the happy, calm vibe of the first half of the film with a terrifying realisation, I used music from a video game that matched the vibe of the horror that ensues.

I also incorporated a lot of SFX that would've been recorded by the mic on the day (e.g. the elevator, fire and ambulance)

I also considered the use of directional sound for scene 4, to build the separation between the two. I did need confirmation that it worked for one scene to ensure it was successful. Looking back now it works effectively to separate and differentiate the two sides. That although they are the same person, these are two different timelines.

Optional Opening

The video above shows an opening scene where the two timelines are merged together. Although I believe it looks really nice it disrupts that these are two different timelines. It suggests that they are dopplegangers instead and one dies. I hope through subtext it's clear that these are two timelines adhering to Murphy's Law and the Butterfly effect (The protagonists name being Mr. Murphy to really spell it out)

Biggest issue

The biggest struggle I had while editing was the opening with the bus. I couldn't time the bus' slight movements correctly so it creates a uneven visual and there's a clear cut on the left side. I just had to admit defeat as the biggest target i wanted to hit with the opening is the bus leaves at the same time. I did achieve this although it ate up most of my time.

Also the medium close up of Mr Murphy after he loses the money is out of focus. I only noticed this the last week of post production. We didn't see it because the sun was hitting the screen on the camera making it hard to review footage yet it something I will keep in mind for next time.