Final Draft of Script

This is the final draft of my script. I happy happy with the content and I think it appropraitely fits the audience that I am aiming to entertain. There is no adult language, there are parodies of classic films that people will recognise even though they may have not even watched the original and the humour is immature. If adults happen to watch the film with their kids, they may be amused by parody moments because their is a much higher chance of them having seen the film. There are red underlined words and green underlined words because the word publishing software didn't recognise people's names, slang that I wanted to use or shortened sentences.

Draft Schedule

26/11/15 - Make the schedule for my project.

27/11/15 - Finalise my script.

02/12/15 - Location hunting in London for my poster and magazine article.

09/12/15 - Rehearsing with the actors a few of the scenes.

10/12/15 - Rehearsing the other scenes with the actors.

11/12/15 - Filming a few of the more complex shots.

15/12/15 - Practicing the editing of the complex shots.

Mise-On-Scene Costume

Because my characters are going to be young college students, I will have my actors be dressed neat and tidy in smart casual clothing. They can wear buttoned shirts, black trousers, dark jeans and/or nice dresses. The actors that I have chosen wear this during school time anyway so there might not be any need for a costume change. There may be a few little things to be added or removed but because my actors are students and it will be most likely filmed during or after school, my actors will already be ready for filming. Leon will be wearing his outfit tidily whereas Aaron will look a little scruffy with a tie that is loose and maybe the top buttons of his shirt undone. This is to immediately give the characters a look that can match their personality and gives the audience a chance to make a judgement on the characters just by looking at them.

Animation Practice

I use Adobe Flash Professional to animate because this is the software that I am used to using and it is also known as one of the best animation softwares. To get drawings or shapes to animate, you can either move it bit by bit for each frame manually or you can turn the object into a symbol.

Once it is a symbol, you can create a new frame with the shape in a different position and create a motion tween between the frames.







Flash will then automatically move the shape during the number of frames that have been motion tweened. The shape can have a number for the ease which means it will either start or finish by moving more slowly than normal. To do this, each frame jst has less movements between them so that it looks like it is moving slowly.




I had made the frames per second be 25 because this is the number of frames per second that is normally on the TV. The video will be 30 frames per second but the animation will be 25. This shouldn't be a problem because video editing softwares can play at both frames per second.

Each frame can be separately drawn and by using the onion skin technique in the last image, you can see the previous frames and can make judgements on how the next frame should look by looking at the previous movements. 

Introduction Timing (i Movie Practice)

I wanted to practice an introduction for my short film so that I can get used to using iMovie and so that I could try different timings with the locations shots that I want to take. I want to film my short film all in one location which is a convention that I have found to be in a lot of short films. Because of this, I want the location shots to immediately set the scene of the school. I downloaded a few images that I intend on recreating in my school but I just wanted to practice with the timing and how the clips fit with the song. 

Mise-On-Scene - Props

For my short film, I will need to gather or make a few props. I will need a tennis ball that can be used to bounce of the wall during 'The Great Escape' parody shot. I will also need a deck of cards so I can make a house of cards during the shot where we can see the boredom in the characters. Finally, I want to recreate the face on the volleyball from 'Castaway' on a tennis ball. I will make a tennis ball with a red hand print painted on it with a face and I will add some sort of 'hair' to the top by using cotton wool. 

Transitions and Effects

For my practice introduction, I tried different transitions. These all effect the times of the footage in different ways because some transitions made two different pieces of footage overlap whereas other transitions don't change the time because it doesn't make the footage overlap. I like to use the transition which fades to black between shots because the footage doesn't overlap. When I take my actual shots, I don't want the footage to overlap because it will look messy when there are people moving about in them. I want clear transitions like this because it looks more professional. 

Shots Order

I am not going to film my shots in the order they are in the storyboard. This is because I want to get the shots with more people in during the school time or during a time that everyone is available which is a lot easier to do than organising a time that 10 people are all able to work together. I am going to film location shots during the school time so there is footage of PE classes on the field and lessons in classrooms. I will then recreate these shots with an empty classroom and field to show the contrast and to show that time has moved on. I will then film the shot with all of the students walking down the stairs. This is so those students/actors can leave once it is done rather than having to wait for their scene. This is also the reason that I am going to film the shot with the awkward boy walking down the stairs. He can then leave once it is done leaving the two main characters to get all of the main footage.

Script Drafting

I have drafted my script multiple times now; making slight changes each time. I changed the script originally because I wanted to correct a few mistakes that I had made. I then showed the script draft to my 1st assistant director and we looked over it together and added little bits and took little bits away. My actors have also looked over my most recent draft and they are also happy with the quality.

Taking Practice Shots Of Locations

 There were three possible stairways that I wanted to use during the filming of my short film in my school. The first staircase looks like this. After taking the shots, I realise that this staircase was quite dark and narrow. I don't think I can get the shots I want with people in because of how narrow it is. There also wasn't a lot of space for the little extra things that the actors will do like building a house of cards or bouncing a ball off of the wall. I got the shot from the front of the staircase and a shot from the top because these are the shots that I want to be able to take during the filming.

This second staircase was a lot brighter which is god because I want to be able to see my actors. Once again, I took a shot from the front then a shot of the door from above. I want to be able to show students walking out of the door which is why I like this shot because there is room for enough actors to walk out while still be able to show the door and location. there was a lot of space available for the little extra things that I want the actors to do.  

 I took this low angle shot because I want this shot during the time of the awkward boy walking down the stairs. I think this shot will clearly show the boy walking down the stairs as well as making it comical because he will look slightly intimidating from this angle even though he is the complete opposite.

 I took a few extra location shots that I want to show in my short film to show that the location is a school. I like this display because it is bright and colourful and contains students in the photos.

 This is the shot of the field that I want to take with a PE class on it. 

 This is the final staircase that I considered using because of the lighting. There is a lot of natural light here which is good to see the actors. Although there is a wall, most of this room has glass walls, so when filming shots, I have to be aware of the weather because if it changes during some shots that I have filmed out of order, it will look silly when the shots are arranged in the correct order.

Again this area is good because there is a lot of space to watch the students leave through the door as well as space to make a tower of cards and bouncing a ball off of the wall.

I want a shot of the school bell when it rings because I want to show it at the start of the film to show the school day has finished.

Locations Discussion

We have sat as a group and discussed the possible locations that we can use for each of our chosen briefs. In my case, I have based all of my short film in school with teenagers as the actors. Because of this, all of my shots will be in or around my school. The furthest location for me will probably be standing outside of the school to get a shot of the main entrance  because everything I want a shot of is in the school. This makes the location slightly easier for me compared to others because I don't need to travel and have my actors meet in specific locations because my actors will already be in school and we don't need to waste time travelling. A problem I may encounter however will be that because it is a school. other students may pass by or disrupt the filming process. Considering this, I have decided that I will film after school where there are a lot less trespassers to worry about and we won't disturb any lessons during the school day. Some of my shots will need to be shot during the school day because I wan't shots of full classrooms and students playing sport on the field. These shots will then be replicated without the students to show the change in time.

'Happy Little pill' License

The song that I had decided on (Happy Little Pill by Troye Sivan) has been copyrighted and is owned by Universal Music Australia. On the webpage for Universal Music Australia, there is a contact page with the information on how to contact for various things. I filled in the information for an email for a request for the licence for use of the song. I explained that I only wanted to use the first verse and that we would appreciate it if we could have it for free.

The email read:

Dear Sir or Madam,

 We am currently creating a short film for my media studies A level coursework. The short film will be called 'Trapped' and is being made for entertainment rather than profit. We have found that you are the owner of the copyright to one of our favourite songs 'Happy Little Pill' by Troye Sivan. We have a low budget for the making of my short film and hope that you would allow us permission to use only the first verse of the song without any charge. We would appreciate it very much and once the film is completed, we can send you one of the first copies of 'Trapped' as a thank you for the license. If a fee is required, please let us know as soon as possible so we can arrange for the payment and if the song cannot be licensed then please contact us as soon as possible so changes can be made to our artistic choices. 

You can reach us by replying to the email currently being used, call 0151 638 2800 or you can post/mail to The Oldershaw Academy, Valkyrie Road, Wallasey, Wirral, England, CH45 4RJ. 

Thank you for your help. We look forward to hearing from you.

Very truly yours,

Allan Unsworth

Introduction Shots Planning

The very start of my short film will be the title and production company animated. After this, I want some shots of the school to specify to the audience that the location is a secondary school. I searched for images on the internet that I am going to try and duplicate and timed them in iMovie to fit the music. The shots I intend to use are of a corridor, a field, a classroom, a display on the wall, a school bell and the stairway that I am going to use to film all of the story. These shots will clearly show that the short film is set in a school because they are obvious stereotypical school locations and objects that everyone can recognise.