We gave other students at our college a questionnaire to complete after watching our film. The questions were:
1. What mark do you give our film, rating it from 1-10?
2. Who is your favourite character?
3. Do you understand the story? If not, what was unclear?
4. Did you find you could relate to any of the topics or characters?
5. If you could change anything what would it be?
6. Did you find any part of the film went too slowly?
7. Did you find yourself feeling sorry for the main character by the end of the film?
8. What do you find worked best about the film? e.g. storyline, acting, editing, music, etc.
9. What character do you dislike the most in the film and why?
10. Did you think that the film represented teenagers realistically?
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Technologies
We used a number of different technologies during the research and planning, evaluation and construction stages of 'The Simple Truth.' Without the use of media technologies it would have been impossible to our final product well as the ancillary tasks. We used different technologies and software at every stage of making out product. As we decided to shoot our new film idea in Dogme style, schedule’s and props list were no longer necessary as everything was more or less natural and improvised so we did not use Celtx. We also used a feature on our mobile phones called BlackBerry Messenger to get in touch with our cast and make sure they came prepared to shoot. Each person in our group has a Twitter account and so we used them in the planning stage to make our plans known.
In terms of research, web 2.0 was essential for us. We visited websites such as IMDB, to look at conventions of similar genre films as well as looking for any further ideas. YouTube channel Future Shorts enabled us to learn more about short films and provided us with a background knowledge to producing our own film.
In post-production we used editing software such as iMovie and FinalCutPro to edit our footage together, as well as LiveType for our titles. We went against one of the Dogme rules and decided to create music and use it in our film. We did this using GarageBand. We used Indesign to create the layout of our poster as well as colors and taglines. We also used Photoshop to edit the image we used for the poster and adjust in within the final product. We used PowerPoint to create our Evaluation which includes our poster, magazine article, stills from the film and some of the film’s footage and music.
This is a snapshot of our film being edited on iMovie:
This is a snapshot of our music being created on Garageband:
In terms of research, web 2.0 was essential for us. We visited websites such as IMDB, to look at conventions of similar genre films as well as looking for any further ideas. YouTube channel Future Shorts enabled us to learn more about short films and provided us with a background knowledge to producing our own film.
In post-production we used editing software such as iMovie and FinalCutPro to edit our footage together, as well as LiveType for our titles. We went against one of the Dogme rules and decided to create music and use it in our film. We did this using GarageBand. We used Indesign to create the layout of our poster as well as colors and taglines. We also used Photoshop to edit the image we used for the poster and adjust in within the final product. We used PowerPoint to create our Evaluation which includes our poster, magazine article, stills from the film and some of the film’s footage and music.
This is a snapshot of our film being edited on iMovie:
This is a snapshot of our music being created on Garageband:
Comparing and Contrasting 'The Simple Truth'
When trying to compare our film with others we found two very different films that both had similarities with our own. These are 'It's a boy girl thing' and 'Adulthood.' Both are teen dramas but the main difference is that 'It's a boy girl thing' and 'Adulthood' are higher budget films than ours.
‘Adulthood’ is more closely comparable to our film as it also has a gritty life like style in which its filmed. A lot of the time the editing also creates the feel of you watching things happen on first hand. ‘It’s a boy girl thing’ contrasts more with our film than ‘Adulthood’ as it has a much more positive storyline and has a more glossy Hollywood look to it. However, there are some similarities between ‘It’s a boy girl thing’ and ‘The Simple Truth' such as both are teen dramas and are about boys meeting girls.
‘It’s a boy girl thing’ contrasts with our film as the editing invites the audience to watch the drama as it happens but from the outside perspective rather than really drawing the viewer in to witness it as if they are present.
In the beginning of 'The Simple Truth' we decided not to give our characters any exposition and instead chose to dive straight into the drama with a brief establishing shot as the first image.
What also sets 'The Simple Truth' aside from other films is that there is no character transformation involved and no happy ending. 'It's a boy girl thing' contains a happy ending so the endings of the two films can be contrasted.
‘Adulthood’ is more closely comparable to our film as it also has a gritty life like style in which its filmed. A lot of the time the editing also creates the feel of you watching things happen on first hand. ‘It’s a boy girl thing’ contrasts more with our film than ‘Adulthood’ as it has a much more positive storyline and has a more glossy Hollywood look to it. However, there are some similarities between ‘It’s a boy girl thing’ and ‘The Simple Truth' such as both are teen dramas and are about boys meeting girls.
‘It’s a boy girl thing’ contrasts with our film as the editing invites the audience to watch the drama as it happens but from the outside perspective rather than really drawing the viewer in to witness it as if they are present.
In the beginning of 'The Simple Truth' we decided not to give our characters any exposition and instead chose to dive straight into the drama with a brief establishing shot as the first image.
What also sets 'The Simple Truth' aside from other films is that there is no character transformation involved and no happy ending. 'It's a boy girl thing' contains a happy ending so the endings of the two films can be contrasted.
Dogme Rules
1. Props and sets must not be brought in. If a particular prop is necessary for the story, a location must be chosen where this prop is to be found.
2. The sound must never be produced apart from the images or vice versa. Music must not be used unless it occurs within the scene being filmed, i.e. diegetic.
3. The camera must be a hand-held camera. Any movement or immobility attainable in the hand is permitted. The film must not take place where the camera is standing; filming must take place where the action takes place.
4. The film must be in colour. Special lighting is not acceptable (if there is too little light for exposure the scene must be cut or a single lamp be attached to the camera).
5. Optical work and filters are forbidden.
6. The film must not contain superficial action (murders, weapons, etc. must not occur.)
7. Temporal and geographical alienation are forbidden (that is to say that the film takes place here and now).
8. Genre movies are not acceptable.
9. The film format must be Academy 35 mm.
10. The director must not be credited.
We followed the Dogme rules by filming with multiple, hand held cameras, filming on a carefully chosen location without any specific props, not using any artificial lighting and using improvised dialogue.
We challenged the Dogme rules by adding non-diegetic music, titles over the image of the film and a black and white editing technique. We also added red and green filters in certain scenes.
2. The sound must never be produced apart from the images or vice versa. Music must not be used unless it occurs within the scene being filmed, i.e. diegetic.
3. The camera must be a hand-held camera. Any movement or immobility attainable in the hand is permitted. The film must not take place where the camera is standing; filming must take place where the action takes place.
4. The film must be in colour. Special lighting is not acceptable (if there is too little light for exposure the scene must be cut or a single lamp be attached to the camera).
5. Optical work and filters are forbidden.
6. The film must not contain superficial action (murders, weapons, etc. must not occur.)
7. Temporal and geographical alienation are forbidden (that is to say that the film takes place here and now).
8. Genre movies are not acceptable.
9. The film format must be Academy 35 mm.
10. The director must not be credited.
We followed the Dogme rules by filming with multiple, hand held cameras, filming on a carefully chosen location without any specific props, not using any artificial lighting and using improvised dialogue.
We challenged the Dogme rules by adding non-diegetic music, titles over the image of the film and a black and white editing technique. We also added red and green filters in certain scenes.
Filming of 'The Simple Truth'
Since we decided to film in the avant-garde style of Dogme, this meant that we had to adjust to using multiple cameras. This took a while for us to get the hang of and we ended up filming four times, improving each time and learning and developing new techniques. To film we used two Canon EOS 550D cameras plus an extra Sony PD-170 sound camera, allowing us to record sound seperately. This proved to be very convenient as the Canon cameras picked up a lot of background noise such as traffic and wind.
During filming, our cast used improvised dialogue, though there were specific phrases they had to include in order for the message of the film to come across to the audience. Apart from that the actors were told to speak normally about an eventful weekend and this is why the film is realistic to teenagers lives.
We told our cast to wear what they would normally wear to college as one of the Dogme rules includes having no unnatural props and/or costumes.
During filming, our cast used improvised dialogue, though there were specific phrases they had to include in order for the message of the film to come across to the audience. Apart from that the actors were told to speak normally about an eventful weekend and this is why the film is realistic to teenagers lives.
We told our cast to wear what they would normally wear to college as one of the Dogme rules includes having no unnatural props and/or costumes.
Filming
Our first scheduled shoot began with the filming of the interior jeweller's scene and the morning scene. These two scenes were filmed successfully, however, it was then that we encountered some problems. First of all, the actress we had hired cancelled last minute resulting in myself having to play the role of Daphne. This then proved to be difficult as I did not look old enough to play the role. It also meant that the other actors we'd have to use for the rest of the cast would be teenagers and would look too young. The short film would then look unrealistic.
We took the decision, as a group, to change our entire story and genre of film. We decided on a simple narrative with about five main points to it. We decided to film in the Dogme style involving multiple cameras and improvised dialogue. We called this film 'The Simple Truth.'
'The Simple Truth' is about a girl's day at college. It begins with her admitting she has cheated on her boyfriend, she then finds out her boyfriend has done the same thing. They then fight, she decides to follow up her relationship with the older boy with whom she cheated but gets rejected. This is a simple narrative which is easy to follow and is true to teenagers lives. We wanted to represent teenagers in a realistic way and did this by setting it at a real college with real students and using the dialogue we use in our everyday lives. Most adults believe that teenagers talk about relationships, sex and their social lives and this is what we represent in 'The Simple Truth.'
We took the decision, as a group, to change our entire story and genre of film. We decided on a simple narrative with about five main points to it. We decided to film in the Dogme style involving multiple cameras and improvised dialogue. We called this film 'The Simple Truth.'
'The Simple Truth' is about a girl's day at college. It begins with her admitting she has cheated on her boyfriend, she then finds out her boyfriend has done the same thing. They then fight, she decides to follow up her relationship with the older boy with whom she cheated but gets rejected. This is a simple narrative which is easy to follow and is true to teenagers lives. We wanted to represent teenagers in a realistic way and did this by setting it at a real college with real students and using the dialogue we use in our everyday lives. Most adults believe that teenagers talk about relationships, sex and their social lives and this is what we represent in 'The Simple Truth.'
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