Developments/Filming

Having gone through what I have done so far with my teacher, one issue with my stop frame is that i included 'Starring' in every title which would not normally happen in a title sequence as it would only appear once at the beginning. I have re-done the stop frame for a third time, and corrected this mistake. The overall quality of the lighting was good enough, and the use of the hand seemed effective and feedback from my class mates showed this would be good to keep in my final cut.

FILIMING: TUESDAY 26T JAN (PERIODS 4/5)
During this session, i need to complete filming all the characters in thier rols for around 8 seconds to include in my title sequence. The end shots will probably be only around 5 seconds.

> Gemma will be singing/bowing (need micophone)
> Sophie will be telling a joke (reading the joke book)
> Amber will be directing someone (clapper board?)
> Andy will be taking a photo of the whole group...this photo may feature on the 'created by' credit-plannign to use an over the shoulder shot of andy taking the photograph.
> Sehb will be wearing a drama mask-will take it off and (will then be bowing)

further stop frame/mini rough cut

I have completed some more stop frame of better quality having slighty re-arranged the layout of the letters and objects ect. I have imported these into a new premier pro project and have begun editing for my final cut. I will upload the shots i have taken as another rough cut to show how the design of the titles has changed, the main aim now is to complete the filming of each of the charcters which i have decided to include. This will be a short clip, 5-6 seconds in length showing them in their role for the drama club. For example the director will have a clapperboard and the singer will be performing with a microphone ect. These will be slotted in between each section of stop frame. The photos I took oringinally will be used at the end of the title sequence were a 'created by...' title will appear. I may create a quick mock up of this to see if it is effective. I plan for the filming to have been completed by the end of next week, it is relativley short filming task so this should be achievable. I am still happy with my choice of music, there wont be any dialog although i may have the actors speak but thier voices will not feature.

Character photos

These are some of the photos I took for the scrapbook, I will use them towards the end of the title sequence during the 'Created By..' credit. I will use three images, swap them around and using stop frame, make them flick between different characters and scenes.

Developments...

I had originally planned on adding the photo's of the characters into the scrap book and having panning shots, close ups, zooms on them etc. and although i will still add them for authenticity i think it would be effetctive to have a collage of the photos on the screen evey so often so you can clearly see the role the charcter has. This may also stop it from being repetitive, although i could still zoom in on certain photos i think a collage where pictures come in from the edged of the screen, and perhaps some other objects to do with thier role (singer, directer etc.)I'm happy with still including the hand turing each page, as it adds to the effect of someone lookign through it but it will cut away from that at times to make it a more convincing titles sequence.

Targets: get as much stop frame done by thurs as possible. Still need to collect some photos of sehb and eveyone together.

Further progress...

I have now completed editing the rough cut, and have completed all the shot lengths and timings. I have also added the soundtrack, faded it in and out, and added other sound effects. Some of the clapping, cheering and camera noises i will use in the final cut but other sound effects will need to be recorded and some will need to be recorded again. As i hadn't filmed a shot for each time the page turned, i had to use the drawings from my animatic to show tis, but i am confident the way i stop framed the page turning during the first credit is an affective way to do it for the final cut. I have also considered doing more with the hand, and having them perhaps nock over some paint or glitter which would keep with the scrap book theme. I have used the hand (my hand) to wipe away the names of the characters and the book will be opened and closed by the hand but including more of this could be something to consider. If i make the final cut, and feel it needs more i can always take some more shots of this and include them.

Rough Cut-'Drama Club'

This is a rough cut of my titles, which is more or less what it will be like in the final cut. I will include more moving images such as the microphone ad the camera and other designs and patterns to make it more busy. I'm happy with the way it looks, as i wasn't sure if the letters moving would be effective and tries making them just appear but this didn't look as good as them moving in from the edges of the page. Towards the beginning at (0.12) i included the kind of shot i would use for the page turning. I feel its more effective if i stop frame the hand moving as well but i will have to film this each time i turn the page as i wipe a different name of each time. From watching it back i feel it can be a bit repetitive at times as each credit follows the same formula but this was a convention i noticed when watching other titles, as most of them have a sequence where something is repeated but i may change this and do something different than zooming into each name. I will also pan some of the pages and zoom in on certain photographs which i did show in my animatic, most of the photographs of the people Im using have been taken but i will need some more of them as a group.

On relfection, the size of the screen keeps changing as i adjusted it differently each time, i now know how to change the size and keep it the same throughout so it will remain steady. The lighting also changes during the 'Sophie' title so i will need to make sure this doesn't happen in the final cut. In addition, i could consider is having someone from another race included as most shows have at least one character from a different ethnicity, I could do with another male as the majority are female (will be adding the character 'Sehb').This will also even out the cast further as there will now be two males instead of one which is more realistic as a cast for a children's show. On further evaluation, the camera angle in some places meant you could see the edges of the scrapbook and the table, despite using the tripod. It was hard to keep the camera in the same position, and when i make the final cut i will put a black sheet or large piece of black paper down to stop you seeing the edges of the table which makes it look less professional.

Animatic

This is my animatic for my final idea 'Drama club', feedback from the class was on the whole very good as people seemed to like the idea of the page turning and thought this was communicated well through the animatic. I felt my use of sound was effective as i had a sound for every character in my title sequence which suggested something about their character. For example one character was a photographer so i included a sound-effect of a camera taking pictures. I had originally decided to zoom in on the photo's of the character on each page of the scrapbook, and although this may be effective for some of the characters, the continual use of a zoom became very repetitive. I have considered using some pans of the pages of the scrapbook at the beginning to establish what the show is about (drama club). it was also suggested i could link my main task with my Magazine advertisement and rather than a scrapbook, have the show based on a group of kids evolved in the production of a school magazine and the sound-effects can be altered to show the role of each charter in the magazine. As the last shot shows the complete scrapbook with the name of the show, i could change the name to that of the magazine with the last shot being very similar to what i would produce for the magazine advertisement.

Overall i feel my animatic was of a good standard, with a vast improvement from the animatic produced at AS. i improved my skills with premier pro by experimenting with zooms and pans as well as adding a sound track and ambient sound effectively. Having watched it back i am happy with the timings of shots and will experiment more with the use of zooms. I will also consider altering the idea to a magazine but am confident that the idea fits generically and is very similar to the opening of shows such as 'Saved By The Bell' where i got some of my inspiration from as well as 'Tracy beaker' and the credits of the film 'Wild Child.'

Deadline for ROUGH CUT: 4TH Nov

Will start to collect materials needed for the rough cut such as the black scrap book and begin cutting out letters and shapes. They will be very basic shapes but most of the letters can be used again for the final cut saving me time when i begin making this. I will also need to get a tripod for the camera, i will use my own camera to take the photographs of the objects moving. I will need to experiment with the shots of the page of the scrap book being turned, as im not sure whether to film this or even include the hand as it turns the page etc.