Green Screen Backgrounds

To get the backgrounds for the green screen, I can access videos on youtube and download them using this website:
http://keepvid.com/
If I can find what I need on youtube then it would be easy to get the videos edited. However this isn't always the case. I decided to make a gif of a candy land using Adobe Flash for the background. This meant that real people can be in a cartoon world which breaks boundaries that you can't do in real life. 

Green Screen

We decided to practice using a green screen to prepare for our work in the future. Using a green screen gives us more opportunities for ideas because we can digitally insert ourselves anywhere using it. This means that, although we can go to real locations, if they are not available we can use the green screen and keep the production process going. If this is not used in my short film, then I could use it for my poster or review by having the actors look like they are on a high budget set.

The lighting used was a little too strong in the upper corners of the green screen. This gave the video a glare that couldn't be green screened away. The footage used at the bottom of the screen worked well. We used a mat of the same colour on the floor so we could green screen the floor away too. The problem with this is getting the correct perspective using a background so that the actors don't seem out of place. I tried my best to match up the footage of the beach with the actor but it still seems a little out of place. This could of been because of the costume as well.

Short Film Roles

Director - Responsible for the artistic visions.
Script Writer - Writes the script and story board.
1st Assistant Director - Helps the director with their vision.
2nd Assistant Director - Cares for the actors and other crew.
Camera Operator - Films all of the footage.
Grip - Responsible to carry the heavy equipment.
Runner - Runs the errands.
Art Department - Responsible for props and set design.
Actors - Acts the script to the directors standards.
Extras - The other people and background people on set.
Wardrobe - Responsible for the outfits and costumes.
Security - Responsible for keeping the set quiet and safe for the recording.
Sound Recordist - Responsible for the sounds and music.
Editor - Edits the footage to cater for the directors vision.

I will be occupy most of these job roles because out of my class of three people, only I want to be the person to do a short film. I will not be an actor or an extra because I will be the person behind the camera filming. I may not be a sound recordist either because I don't have much experience working with sound and there are non-copyrighted music websites that I could use instead. This however depend on whether I can find what I need because if not, then I will have to record the sounds myself.
The actors will be theatre students, Aaron and Leon.
My 1st assistant director will be Harry because he is someone I can bounce ideas off of and he can also help with reviewing my work and giving me a few opinions on what to change.

The Brief (Specifics)

I have now decided fully on making a short film. The short film brief states that after the short film itself, I can chose two options to do out of three. The other options are a poster for the short film, a radio trailer for the film or a film magazine review page. Out of these options, I will make a poster and a magazine review page. This is because I already know the most about these due to previous research and because of the amount of practice, I can edit with adobe product quite well. Using Photoshop and InDesign is something I am comfortable with rather than using audio softwares for a radio trailer.

My Choice of Brief

I think I want to make a short film because this is the brief I am most interested in and I have quite a few ideas already. After looking through the brief, I found I was able to use non-copyrighted music which I thought would be one of the few problem that I could encounter. I am already aware of a few websites that have music that people anybody can use (As long as names are included in the credits). Eg. http://incompetech.com/

I have access to actors that are willing to take part in my short film and the locations that I want to use are available. 

I would love to be able to animate a short film but due to time, I don't think I would be able to animate a 5 minute film. However, I can still use animation in my short film by having my production name and title screen animated. This is so I can show my skills and still include a little more of what I love.

If I were to make a music video, then I would want access to a band for a few of the shots and I don't have that. After also already practicing making a music video during the preliminary task, I realised that I wasn't able to show a narrative that I wanted to tell. Making a short story is literally making a narrative piece which is what I intended on doing.

I wouldn't want to make a movie trailer because I am not able to use the special effects needed for the genres of film that I am interested in. I am also not a big fan of feature films and I don't want to spend my time focusing on a brief that I am not fully interested in. 

Research Presentations

We have all presented our research into the different briefs that we were interested in. I presented research into short films because I enjoy watching short films and I thought that it was a doable brief. I like the videos that I have referenced in my presentation and I believe that I would be able to recreate. I also showed example videos that I had found on the internet. 

http://www.slideshare.net/AmazingAllan/short-films-research-53142970

Jade made a presentation about music video research. This was one of the other briefs that I was interested in however I don't really know anybody in a band which would be something that I would want to include in my music video so I won't continue with this option.

http://www.slideshare.net/jadielouu/music-videos-53363430

Harry presented film trailer research. I didn't consider this an option and to be honest, I still don't think this is something I want to focus on. This is because the genres of film that I am interested in have many special effects that I don't think I would be able to duplicate.

http://www.slideshare.net/spodosmith/conventions-of-movie-trailers-53363809

Short Films Research

I researched into short films because this is the topic that I liked most in the brief. Here is my presentation that I am going to show the class:  http://www.slideshare.net/AmazingAllan/short-films-research-53142970