preliminary task (the continuity editing task),

I used many techniques  and shots in my opening sequence, from my continuity task. 

Shown below are a few shots in which i used in my opening sequence. 

My film opening with directors commentary

Script for directors commentary 

Hello, im kirk kemp, writer and director of Sugar n spice.

Im just going to talk you through the opening sequence of sugar n spice, but before i do heres a little more information about my production company and some other information relating to it.....

My production company was created in order to show and promote my video productions and work. 

When i was looking for distribution companies i came across Dog Woof: indie, and i think  they will be the best company to distribute my film, as they focus mainly on distributing british independent films, and as you can see that is what sugar n spice is. 

To make the full length version of this film,  i would most likely ask for funding from the uk-film council, as they fund many british independent films.

As you can see at the start of the film opening i have placed the title of my production company. i have done this mainly due to copy right and also to show that it’s my production company that has produced this film.

 also this follows in the footsteps of a traditional film opening.

 As the titles appear they appear within the negative space, which is black. I chose to do it this way as the titles seem a lot more clear and easy to understand.

 

As you will see the titles continue to appear in the same way but at different points around the screen.

 I went with this idea as i believe it keeps the audience fixed both on the action and the titles which i believe are very important within a film opening. 

Realistically speaking the films that would be released in a similar way to mine are any independent uk films, for example the film *Life is sweet*.

It’s a great example of a great british film, which is actually closely related to sugar n spice. 

As you can see it is quite obvious from the first few shots, mainly due to the school uniform, that sugar n spice is aimed at teenagers. 

And the overall age group for this film is 15 upwards this is due to the content within the film. 

Such as...  swearing..., and some scenes of violence...

Equipment i used in order to make *SugaR 'N' SpicE* opening scene

I have used a wide range of equipment and software in order to create my opening sequence.

 

Software used: 

Sony Vegas 8.0 

Picasa Pro 3 

Paint 

Windows movie maker 

Mix Craft 4.0 

Equipment used: 

Sony Vaio Laptop 

Kodak 9 mega pixel camera 

USB 2 gb flash drive 

Mouse 

Websites used: 

Google.co.uk 

befunky.com

Youtube.com

Blogger.com

Here are the ways in which i used the above things, in order to produce my film opening....

Software: 

I have used a wide range of software packages / programs in order to produce my film opening. The main program that i used was sony vegas, as this is what i sued to produce my final (video) footage. I put all the photos (30-40) into a time line in sony vegas, to see if they matched up ok, once they did, i then exported the images out of my camera folder and onto a carbonizer on a photo editing website, where by then, i edited the photos in order to make them look more like a cartoon. 

I done this for all 30-40 photos. After this i then placed them into paint to crop the images to the correct size. (As i had taken screen shots from the photo editing website) I then placed the photos back into sony vegas and put them into a sequence once again. 

I soon realized that the picture quality was lowered when i rendered the footage, so i exported the footage onto windows movie maker where i made the footage sharper, and slightly edited the colour and contrast to make the images more clear on the screen. 

Once the video footage was done, i moved onto making the sound track, i made the sound track in mix craft 4.0. Once the music was completed i then exprted that from mix craft into windows media maker where i put the usic in time with the video. 

Once all this was done i rendered the final video from windows movie maker, onto my desktop. 

Equipment:

The main equipment i used was my laptop and kodak Camera.  I used the camera to take the photos, for the stop motion of my opening sequence.  I then edited the footage on my Sony Vaio laptop 

Websites: 

I used a few websites in the process of making my opening sequence, websites such as google and youtube, i used these websites for inspiration purposes mainly, but i also used google in order to find the photo editing website which was (befunky.com). 

Once i had done my video (draft and final) i uploaded them to blogger (blogger.com). I also uploaded my videos to youtube. (youtube.com)

9 shot photos from my opening sequence

Film opening sequence *Evaluation*

Evaluation of my film opening

- SugaR 'N' SpicE -

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

I have found many websites for independent film distributors,

shown below are a few screen shots from the websites i have found:

Out of the four websites i found, i strongly believe that my movie would get distributed by the Dog woof: INDIE.

I believe that they would be a good distributor for my movie, as it suits the theme of my movie / film, which is (Uk independent film) Compared with the other distribution companies i found, dog woof:indie seemed to be the perfect company to distribute my film. Mainly because the others focused on short films / British films but only Dog woof:INDIE, focuses on british independant films, and that is exactly what my film is, so therefore will most likely be distributed by Dogwoof:INDIE.

My final opening sequence / video

After looking back over my feedback, i have made a few changes to my opening sequence. The main change that i made to the sequence is to change the titles, as they were said to be "too in the audience's face". 

So i re-edited them so they appear the same way (Moving out from the screen, from the middle) but instead of going all the way forward they stop half way in the black out side of the film. I decided that this was best because they re more visible and at the same time do not distract the audience from the actual film itself. 

Overall i am very pleased with the outcome of my final opening sequence. 

Shown  below is my final opening sequence, and also the draft / rough cut version. 

Rough Cut / draft 

Final Opening sequence 

Feed back on *Draft* opening sequence

Today in class, i recevied notes / feedback from every class member within my group. The feed back was on diffrenct aspects of my opening sequence, for example, Mise en scene, editing, and titles, as well as a few more.





I have just review'd the comments that people made, and i have found that the most common problem with my sequence, seems to be the titles, in 2 of the feed back sheets, two people have said that they are to "In your face".





Other than that small issue of the titles being too in your facem the other comments were rather very positive and overall very good, which in my mind means that i have done a good job in gettin my messege across in my opening sequence, and also means i havent got too much to do, in order to make it complete from draft -> completed opening sequence.

Screen shots from the edit of m film opening

Shown below are a few screen shots taken from the editing process and final production to youtube, for my film opening sequence. 

*SugaR 'N' SpicE* 

Film opening project

Refering back to my completed draft / video for my opening sequence, i have listed below some helpful tips in order to achieve a succesfull shoot / footage.

*Be creative with your ideas
*Use a variety of tecniques when shooting. (angles,positioning,contanuity etc)
*Stick to the original plan as best you can (Storyboard)
*IF you change your idea from the original plan, try not too over-complicate the idea (s)
*Learn how to transfer the footage and make sure that the cameras footage actualy can be imported, before you start your film shoot.
*Always have a back up idea, especialy with your location / props etc
*Be ambitious in your filming

My film opening *Draft video / project*

I have completed the draft version of my Film Opening for *SugaR 'N' SpicE*.

What i done to complete my film opening in draft: First of all i took the photos from my story Board, and i was faced with a problem straight away. The problem was that the photos had already been editied, so i had to back track and get the original photos back, as i needed the originals in order to cartoonize them.

I eventually was able to restore the photos to their original state, but to do this i had to restore my laptop, which was time consuming but i managed to get them back in the end. I could of easily taken them straight from my Camera SD card, but unfortunatly when i originaly took the photos from my SD card i had cut and pasted them so they were not on the SD card when i looked for the originals, so therefore i had to restore my laptop etc, but as i said i got them in the end.

When i did get the originals i moved onto the next stage, which was to edit them into a cartoon type effect (Cartoonize). I browsed around on the internet for editing software in order to edit them how i wanted, but this again was very time consuming, but i needed to edit them so to find the software or website was a must, and a very high priority in order to get any progress in my project. Eventually i found a website where you can edit you photos for free, but i was yet again faced with a problem, it was a printing website where they print them for you onto mugs, tee-shirts, mouse mats, etc etc, and as this was not what i wanted, instead of close the website and find another one, since ihad been looking and browsing for over an hour, i decided that the best idea would be to just *Print screen* what i had edited and then crop the photos in paint. I done this for all 30-40 of my photos, and overall i was very impressed with the overall outcome of my photos.

When i had the edited photos i moved onto the next stage of my project which was to edit them into a stop - motion sequence / video. To do this i used the programe (Sony Vegas 8.0) which i have installed on my laptop. Once i had put the photos into a video (which took me about an hour or so). This also includes the time it took me to make the moving titles, (KK-Productions, Director: Kirk kemp, etc). Once i had completed both the titles and video, i then renderd the final video, which took another 20-30 minutes, as i was waiting for that to render i could not do anything else as my laptop was quite slow while rendering the video, so while i was waiting, i grabed my note book and started noting down some posible song ideas, that would relate well to my video, for order to me use it in the opening sequence. When the video was renderd i uploaded it too windows movie maker, so i could add the music track later on.

I started making my soundtrack for my opening sequence in *mix craft 4.0* I soon managed to make a sound track, which reflects the mood and also fits with my opening sequence / video. Once i had finished the sound track for my opening sequence i simply, added it to my video sequence, and then i re-render'd it from windows movie maker, in order to make it a video file, to play back on my laptop.

Finally i watched the video to see wheather it was ok and didnt need any changes etc, i found that it does not need many changes in my mind, but tomorrow i will see what people think to it and see what changes can be made in order to make it better.




Shown below is the *Draft version of my opening sequence*

My opening sequence *SugaR 'N' SpicE*

Shown below is a diagram that shows the high point of my project. Where I felt that I had acieved the best to my ability.





In this diagram it shows my laptop, with annotations which point out that i was editing my photos. I believe i put in alot of work, when i was caroonizing' my photos. Overall it took me nearly 2 hours too work through all 30-40 photos, but i believe that i worked to the best of my ability and when i was faced with any difficulty i soon overcame it and carried on. For example when my laptop crashed i had to re-do about 20 photos, which put me behnd but i didnt mind, i just worked on and managed to get it finished.

Once i did get the photos finished and i put them into a video . stop motion sequence i got to work on the sound track / music for it, which i found difficult at first as the programe was hard to set up, but when i did finally get it set up i soon got to work and produced a very good sound track which fits the theme of the video perfectly in my mind.

Evidence of helping with film shoot

On Monday 16th Febuary i helped out with Tim's film shoot. On the film shoot I was the Director of photography for Lee who had the job role of being the behind the scene's photographer. For this i supplied both my Sony HDSR1 video camcorder and my Kodak Photo camera. Both of which were used to their full extent and were used through out the day (2-6ish).

Overall the Film shoot went very well, and i managed to get some good photos from it, and also Tim shoot some fantastic video footage on my Sony HDSR1 camcorder. I also think that Tim's overall ideas were portrayed in the final videos, shot on the day, which was the main objective for the shoot.

Shown below are some of the photos that i took on the film shoot.

Opening sequence (Booking sheet / weekly plan)

Monday - Start risk assessment / shooting schedule 

Tuesday - Complete planning / risk assessment / shooting schedule 

Wednesday - Mike's film (Helping with continuity & sound)  

Thursday -  Sam's film (General helping out) -> (Take photos of location for tim) 

Friday - Mike's film, Sam's film and Phillipa's film (Helping with continuity, sound and acting)  

Saturday - Film / shoot my opening sequence 

Sunday - Post production of my film opening sequence (editing  sound track) 

 - HALF TERM - 

Monday - Tim's film (Location/filming/using my camera)  

Tuesday - Tim's film (Location/filming/using my camera)  

Wednesday - In London  (channel four)  

Thursday - Philipa's Film (Acting in the film/possibly help out with other filming)

Friday - Analyze my shoot (how it went etc etc) 

Saturday - Finalize -ALL- project / film opening related work. 

Sunday -  Analyze the WHOLE project  

Opening sequence (further planning)

(Click each document below to enlarge it)

How to overcome my problems

I chose 3 of the more major problems and have decided to write how i will overcome these problems

Health and Safety

Within my opening sequence, most of the action within the scene happens in the kitchen. This involves cutting vegetables and using the oven. So this will mean that i will need to fill in a risk assessment form and i will also need written permission from my parents, allowing my brother to act in this opening sequence. Also due to my brother being under the age of 16 it is vital that i have the written permission prior to actually shooting the opening sequence with my brother in.


Location

The location for my opening sequence is all at y house so therefore i will have t film within my own time (out of college hours) So therefore when i am at college i not have any filming to do, but this means i will be free to help my class mates with their media projects etc.


weather issues (loss of time)

With the weather at the moment, which is not to great. Means that college has already been closed for two days in a row, due to the adverse weather (snow) and that means that i have already lost a few hours, in which i could of been planning further for my opening sequence, or helping others out with their opening sequence's. If the weather does change and result in another college closure, then i will just work from home, and add to my blog with work realting to my opening sequence. (for example research / planning etc)

Channel Four : Inspiration week / Open day

In the email there was an attachement with the directions / map of how to find the channel four head quarters

shown below is the map that was attached to the email

Channel Four : Inspiration week / Open day

Below is the email i recieved to confirm i have a place on the channel four inspiration week, open day on the 18th february.

For the attention of:

Kirk Martin Kemp Long Road
Tim Hodson Long Road
Alexander Whitcombe Long Road
Michael Shaw Long Road
Tara Cox Long Road


Congratulations!

We would like to invite you to Channel 4’s Inspiration Week Open Day on

Wednesday 18th February from 12pm – 3pm

During your time at Channel 4 we will give you the opportunity to meet with industry professionals and find out about different roles in the media.

Our nearest tube stations are St James’s Park and Victoria, I have attached a map to help you find Channel 4’s HQ in Horseferry Road.

Please confirm your attendance to the above session by replying to this email. The deadline for this is Tuesday 10th February, or we may be forced to offer your place to another young person. Please also let me know if you will be coming with a parent, teacher or guardian.

Costs for travel outside of Greater London will be reimbursed for Charitable Organisations only. If this applies to you, please notify me of this in confirmation of your attendance.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me: wrl@channel4.co.uk

Looking forward to seeing you,
Kate

Channel Four : Inspiration week / Open day

Channel 4 Inspiration Week

Channel 4's Inspiration Week launches in April 2009 and will provide 160 places for 14-19 year olds who would like to work within the media industry. This initiative will give young people an all round view of the channel four industry, helping them to understand different roles within the media.

Inspiration Week is about inspiring young people by showcasing the skills, experiences and attitudes they will need to progress - as well as innovative ways to focus and strengthen their own career prospects.

Inspiration Week will take place during the Easter holidays from April 6th - 9th 2009, and will be held in London. Prior to the week itself that there will be open days for 320 young people on the following dates:

- 18 February 2009

- 19 February 2009

More ideas n thoughts.....

I was just looking at the pictures / photos i had taken for my story board, and took into account what Nick had spoken to me about on friday, which was to make my title sequence a stop motion like opening, and looking at the photos i took, it would be silly to just put them aside, and instead use them for my opening sequence.

The other idea is to make a completely new sequence using some stop motion and real action perhaps, or maybe ust keep it all stop motion.

Below are a few videos i found on you tube which reflect my ideas / thoughts:

Planning for opening sequence

Location:

The location for my opening sequence, is simple yet very applicable to the theme for my opening sequence, which is school / cooking, so therefore the location for my opening sequence will be in my kitchen, as it is easy to film in with plenty of space, and the possibility of many camera angles / positions.

Props:

The collection of props for my opening sequence are mainly cookery related things, such as pans, knife, cooker, school bag, planner etc. which yet again i have chosen becuase it is easy to get access to these items and they are relating to the theme of my movie / opening sequence itself. (cookery-school)

Costume:

The costume for my opening sequence is yet again a simple yet effective one that realtes completly to the overall theme of school, the costume in mind is my brothers school uniform, i have chosen that as it shows the school theme very well, but i have decided to allow my brother to wear converse trainers as this gives more of an edge on tha character and gives the idea of rebeling against the school and its uniform, and that again relates to the story line of my openiong sequence / movie idea.