Ancillary Task - Poster - Development

I started this poster by selecting this image from several that I had taken after one filming session to use for this poster

After this I separated the image into two layers one containing the couple and the other containing the background. I then took the background layer and applied a combination of a paint brush filter and a glass filter to give the background a more blurred effect

Then I added the text into the poster starting with the main poster text

I experimented with both Black and White text both of which could have worked. However due to the darkness of the background when viewed from further away the black text was less visible. In addition to this the white text would mean that it was consistent with the text used in the film itself which would increase the similarities between the two products something that I wanted to do as much as possible to make sure they worked together

Finally I added the two cast members names underneith the text as this framed the couple nicely with the text. I then created a series of Awards for the poster one of which is too the left. Finally I added the billing block in a simple billing block text and kept it small so as to avoid it drawing focus from the main header of the poster containing the title

Ancillary Tasks - Two Page - Photos

Below are the photos that I decided to include in my double page spread as part of my ancillary tasks.

Ancillary Tasks - Two Page - Text

Audience Comments Final Edit

I showed the final edit of the film to a group of friends and they have several comments about the piece

Several of them had watched the earlier edits and commented on how much of a difference the colour grading made as it made the whole film feel cohesive as a whole which is definitely a plus.

Several people who had not seen the film before commented as many people have about how much they liked the chemistry between the two leads and this made the story seem more realalistic and helped to draw them into the story. In addition to this several people actually laughed at the moments of humour in the film which is great as I was nervous that the overall tone of the film would mean that these comedic moments wouldn't land

A number of people commented on the sound design in particular the final track before the credits which they said made the scenes much more emotional and gave an effective end to the film. Another person also said that they liked the way that the scenes transitioned from one another and particularly liked the sound bridge of the door slam.

One person did say that they felt that the script was a bit rushed. I believe that this was caused by the cuts that I made removing the other conversations between other couples that were present in the original script. These were removed due to time constraints and were meant to break up the action and provide a point of conflict between Sam and Danny but their removal did harm the piece slightly

Music Final Thoughts

Track 1
The opening track has been through a couple iterations and these iterations were used as other tracks throughout the piece namely the final end credits track. This development took place on electronic music software and it was this process that shaped the whole of the music used in the film which is something I definitely did not expect to happen

I am very happy with this track as I think it immediately draws the viewer into the world that the film takes place in and gives the opening a sense of energy and movement that is really useful in establishing the tone of the film.

Track 2

This track was designed to compliment the earlier track and to keep the party atmosphere going in the background of the scene and I think it did this well and gave a sense that the music was a part of the world being played from a speaker actually at the party which added to the realism of the piece

However it was also meant to increase the tension in  the piece somewhat as the ex couple begin fighting  and I think this wasn't as effective as I would have liked. This may be due to the fact that after sound mixing the music isn't as loud as initially planned or it might be due to the fact that there is no significant increase in tempo but time restraints meant that while it could have been better I think it worked to a limited degree.

Track 3

This track was the last track to be created and was inspired by audience comments made about the ending of the piece with people mentioning how it felt odd that the final scene was played out with no backing track when the earlier scenes had a continual beat. After creating the track this was definitely the right call as it heightened the emotional weight of the scene immensely

This is the one track of the four that is recorded using a live instrument in this case a simple piano. This was inspired by other movies and soundtracks that use similar instruments to create a sense of melancholy and sadness in the viewer. I think that this change of instrument gave the track a really nice bit of contrast from the other tracks and this helped to further highlight the change in tone in the third scene of the film

Track 4

This final track as shown from the inspiration I posted was originally designed to follow the influences of pop and rock music along the lines of bands like two door cinema club and the arctic monkeys. However unintentionally when working on the music for the first time. I began to experiment with some synth and electric bass work. I really liked the tune I was created and so explored it further eventually adding the loud drums into the mix to drive the beat forward and it is this track that I eventually decided would be good to play out over the end credits.

This track was always intended to create a feeling of nostalgia in the listener. Originally this was going to be a more youthful track with lots of energy and this sudden energy is what I planned would create the nostalgia. However when I began creating these tracks I moved away from an indie rock style and focused more on a synth based ending which I think worked very well

Second Background Music

Ending Music

Audio Notes

In order to create a effective sound track during the mixing phase of production I have made several changes to the tracks that play throughout the piece

Firstly I took the various soundtracks and made it so that whenever the main character portrayed by Ottilie got nearer to the source of the music in the geography of the scene then the music got louder. this was mostly succesful however due to the tracks being primarily computer created they didn't have the exact level of reverb to match the quality of sound that would have been realistic for the location that the film takes place in.

In addition to this I also carefully faded together the various clips of the background crowd music I had recorded and faded them in and out again depending on how close the main characters were to the people speaking. I think this added a really nice layer of realism to the piece while not requiring much effort at all

Colour Grading

Several of the scenes in the piece had to be colour graded to do this I used the colour correction tools in final cut which I had not used before so this was a new experience for me but I think the end results were very successful

The first scene that I had to grade was the opening of the fridge which I adjusted the colour and exposure of as Ottilie was overexposed due to the harsh white light of the fridge

The next scene I changed was the shot immediately after the fridge where Ottilie walks through the party I took the first half of the scene in the kitchen and applied and exposure and colour filter to bring the lighting closer to that in the living room which made the transition between the two less annoying. I then added a cross fade between these two scenes so that the colour changed gradually rather than snapping back which was noticeable and looked terrible

Finally I graded some re-shot shots as these were filmed on a different cameras which I did not set up correctly and therefore needed to grade the footage to match earlier shooting

All of these changes can be seen between the third and fourth edits although some additional grading was placed on some scenes after a round of audience feedback

Rough Cut 4

Reshoots

The reshoots were a great success today. I got all the shots that I wanted to get and we finished in good time although it was still a long session due to the required change in location.

One thing that I didn't mention in the planning post was the fact that I had also decided to film some continuity shots today of both Roddy and Ottilie leaving the room which made the transition between the indoor and outdoor scenes much better

Below are some clips from today's filming

Audience Feedback - Second Round

I recently showed the third  edit to a group of people and these were the comments that they had.

Those who had seen the first two edits commented that the story as a whole felt cohesive and well paced which is fantastic as some people had commented that they were interested to see how the piece concluded after seeing earlier edits and the fact that people were satisfied with the way it ended made me very happy.

People liked the outdoor scenes and the crowd scenes but commented that the outdoor scenes were shot from too close and needed to be mixed with wider shots something that I absolutely agree with and plan to fix in the reshoots. They also commented that the crowd scenes didn't quite mix correctly together and that the transition between the kitchen and the living room was confusing and so this will need to be fixed in post

Final Scene Music

Reshoots (Planning)

Reshoots

Equipment
Camera
All lenses
spare batteries
Tripod

Sound Recording Equipment

Actors Needed

Ottilie Nye
Roddie Thompson

Shots Planned

Reshooting the argument scene as ottilies shot is from the wrong angle

Same with Ottilies "piss off line"

Then outside need to reshoot from a wider angle and make sure all the shots are straight

Notes
Just got to be quick about this as it will involve a location change and we have a fair bit to reshoot.

Opening Track

Rough Cut 3

Shoot Day 4

Today's shooting was a success but we could have done more. The shots that we did get worked well and the lighting was good with the sound being minimal meaning that you could hear the pairs dialogue the space is also bigger that the one I had originally planned to use meaning that the camera could be placed in a better position

However I did have some issues with the camera and one of the lenses meaning that it wouldn't focus properly meaning I couldn't get the wide shots I needed and that the shot of Ottilie exiting the door were too close which didn't work with the scene.

Below are some clips from Today's filming

Script Scaling

Originally I had planned to feature several different conversations in this piece with several friends at the party. However once I had put together my first cut with the footage I had recorded of just Roddy and Ottilie talking together it became quickly apparent that at least one of these dialogues was going to need to be cut as keeping it in would cause me to run over my five minute time limit.

However the other conversation I had hoped to keep in however decided agains't this as reshooting these scenes was proving difficult later in the production run.

This removal I believe has actually focused the piece which previously may have jumped around between different conversations too much rather than focusing too much on the dramatic centre of the film Danny and Sam's relationship. With the removal of these two other conversations I believe that the text is now properly focused on this relationship which had been my original intention.

Shoot Day 4 (Planning)

Shoot Day 4

Equipment Needed

Camera
Wide Angle Lens
Close Up Lens
Standard Lens
Tripod
Spare Batteries

Audio Recorder
Microphone
Microphone Stand

Actors Needed

Roddie Thompson
Ottilie Nye

Shots Planned

The plan for this days shoot is to shoot the outside scenes that make up the finale of the piece.

Notes

The outdoor nature of the scene means that is could be too dark to shoot outside this is one of the reasons that I changed location as the lighting outside of the principal shooting location was not sufficient for good quality cinematography

Sound could also be an issue as the road near to the shooting location could interfere with sound recording

Music - First Ideas

Three Different Tracks

Opening
Not sure exactly what inspiriation I had for this but standard kind of dance tracks but opening them up a bit removing a focus on the base and adding reverb to give the sense of a wider party

Second Track

 Emotional meeting at the end of the film as the couple reconcile
Final Track

Over the credits up beat and happy looking opptimistically towards the future

Title - Inspiration

The video above is a video about how to creatively use film titles. The example at the beginning of how the avengers used titles as an answer to a question that is posed by the film as a whole.

I chose to invert this decision and have the title be a question in this case;

WHAT COMES NEXT?

This is the question that is posed by the character of Danny early in the film with his confession of his confusion over what happens now that they are technically adults and is the central theme of the film this idea of moving forward in life and wanting to see what comes next is what causes the character of Sam to eventually reconcile with Danny and to look to the future. Below are some examples of font styles that I would like to use from similar texts.

Rough Cut 2

Shoot Day 3

Today was another successful day of shooting however I could have used more time as some of the shooting was rushed due to a number of the extras having time commitments that they had not told me about. We did get all the shots I wanted which is good because organising re-shoots with this many extras was very difficult and people have multiple commitments at this point in term

The stabiliser worked well on the day which was a massive help and made the walk through shot look really good although I did leave a tripod in frame briefly which is annoying but it is only visable for a brief so it is not that big of a deal

Below are some other clips from Today's session. These are unedited and so might be quite long

Initial Audience Comments

I showed the footage from the first two shoots to a small group of people and they had several things to say about it

First of all they thought that the actors had great chemistry and that it was totally believable that they would be long term friends this is fantastic because this is exactly what I was aiming for when I cast two people who already knew each other so they could act as naturally as possible around each other

They liked a couple of the shots such as this one where Ottilie moves in front of camera and Danny interrupts her. And the two shot of both of them on the sofa which I am particulary happy about as they spend a good chuck of the conversation in that shot so to know that it is working is nice

They also noticed the incorrect shot of Ottilie which I have already mentioned in my review of the second shooting session clearly showing how much of an issue this is.

Overall though the response was positive and many of the group expressed how excited they were to see the finished product which increased my confidence with the piece immensely.

Shoot Day 3 (Planning)

Shoot Day 3

Equipment Needed
Camera
Close Up Lens
Wide Angle Lens
Standard Lens
Spare Batteries
Tripod
Stabaliser

Audio Recorder
Microphone
Microphone Stand

Actors Needed
Ottilie Nye
Roddie Thompson

Extras - Still Waiting on exact list but approximately ten extras

Shot Planned
This is the crowd scene shoot day and I want to get all of the crowd scenes shot during this day these include the initial walk through by Ottilie the reaction shots to the argument and the "being idiots scene"

In addition to this I would like to record some background noise for the party as a whole and this won't take long but I might end up layering it with pre made sounds to get a sense of a wider party.

Notes
I am nervous about using the stabiliser as I do not have as much experience as I would like using this piece of equipment although I am optimistic and think it will make for a great opening shot

Lighting again could be an issue as when moving from the kitchen to the living room there is a significant lighting change hopefully I will be able to fix this on site but it might require post production correction

Rough Cut 1

Certification- What Comes Next?

I was debating between classing this as a fifteen or a twelve certificate

A twelve rating would make sense because there is not much use of bad language and minimal drug use which is not made to look good in anyway in fact it is actively made fun of by the film. However these elements could be seen to be a big enough influence on those watching that the film would be classed as a fifteen as such displays of underage drinking and swearing could be seen as inappropriate for younger audineces

However looking at it objectively I think that the film would be classed as a twelve certificate for the reasons given above.

Shoot Day 2

We had another successful day today as we filmed all of the shots that we had planned to film and also attempted to film some of the conclusion of the film

The indoor shooting was again successful however there was one shot that I placed incorrectly in the shot reverse shot between Ottilie and Roddy in which the eye line match on Ottilei was not correct and this will have to be reshot which is annoying but easily fixable

In addition to this the outdoor shooting while it wasn't planned exposed the fact that the outdoor area at the principal location isn't really going to work for filming as the lighting is too difficult to maintain due to the light being on a sensor and the high slope on the path making it inconvenient for tripod shooting.

Below are some other clips from today's session

Shoot Day 2 (Planning)

Shot Day 2

Equipment Needed
Camera
Close Up Lens
Wide Lens
Standard Lens
Spare Batteries
Tripod

Sound Recorder
Microphone
Microphone Stand

Actors Needed
Ottilie Nye
Roddie Thompson

Shots Planned

The plan is to shoot the rest of the indoor scenes which feature just these two actors after they finish their awkward silence and until Danny storms out and slams the door. This will be a longer shoot then the first one but this means that I will have more time to make sure I'm getting the right shots.

Notes
Costume needs to be kept consistent once again luckily with my actors being fairly experienced they're used to being in costume and so I am leaving the planning of this up to them as what they wore last shoot worked well.

Lighting doesn't seem to be as great an issue as I thought but I must take care to make sure that the camera setting remain consistent shoot to shoot so that the colour does not vary as this would just create more work for myself

Shoot Day 1

The first shooting day was a success I got through everything that I had planned to do although I probably could have done a bit more but wanted to keep the first session short to slowly introduce my actors into this style of acting which neither of them have done before

I filmed the whole of the first conversation between Sam and Danny and after viewing it I think it all looks good and nothing will need to be reshot

Below are some clips of that days filming

Shoot Day 1 (Planning)

Shoot Day 1

Equipment Needed

Camera
Close Up Lens
Wide Angle Lens
Standard Lens
Spare Batteries
Tripod


Actors Needed

Ottilie Nye
Roddie Thompson

Shots Planned

The plan is to film the entirety of the pairs initial conversation and the shot where Ottilie opens the fridge. While this might seem like a fairly limited goal this will be the first time I work with this equipment on a larger scale and so I want to allow to for myself and my actors to get used to working with the equipment.

Notes
Costuming is something that I need to discuss with the actors making sure what they wear matches their characters and also is consistent shoot to shoot

Lighting is going to be interesting as I will have to see how the camera will handle the yellow lighting playing around with the white balance and exposure should mean that this problem will be minimal

Animatic

Animatic

Shot List - What Comes Next

Shot Number	Shot Type	Contents of Shot	Extras
1	Close Up	Fridge Opens and we see Sam reach in and take a drink out of it	Need Drinks
2	Mid Shot	Sam goes and has conversation with friend
3	Reverse Shot	As above
4	Tracking Shot	Sam moves through party interacting with people as she goes eventually you reaches Danny and stops and goes and sits down	Need Stabilizer and Extras
5	Midshot	Sam sits down and has a conversation with Danny but he isn’t interested
6	Reverse Shot	As Above
7	Wide Shot	Shows party in full flow	Extras needed
8	Wide Shot	Snap cut back to Danny and Sam sitting in awkward silence
9	Mid Shot	Sams goes to leave
10	Mid Shot	Danny try’s to stop her by striking up a conversation
11	Reverse Shot	Sam engages with him
12	Two Shot	Sam and goes and sits next to Danny and reminds him about how they’re still young
13	Wide POV Shot	Shows people acting like idiots during the party	Extras Needed
14	Two Shot	Reaction of Danny and Sam
15	Mid Shot	Couple Run into Shot and suddenly stop and see Danny and Sam sitting together	Who to Cast?
16	Reverse Shot	Danny tells them to go and find somewhere else
17	Two Shot	Sam asks Danny if he’s told anyone about them
18	Wide Shot	Danny gets up angrily
19	Close Up	Sam begins to shout at him
20	Reverse Shot	Danny does the same
21	Wide Shot	Danny storm off
22	Mid Shot	He walks to and storms out of the door slamming it behind him
23	Wide Shot	The party goes quiet and suddenly look over at Sam sitting alone	Extras
24	Reverse Mid Shot	Sam tells them to piss off
25	Mid Shot	Sams goes to door and follow Danny out	Door slam sound bridge
26	Mid Shot	Door slam cuts too Danny sitting out in the night looking angry he looks up and
27	Reverse Shot	We see Sam walk through the front door of the house and stop and look Danny
28	Wide Shot	Sam steps towards Danny but stops and waits awkwardly for a second	Coats!
29	Close Up	Sam begins her monologue
30	Mid Shot	Half way through she goes and sits down next to Danny
31	Two Shot	Finish of Monologue and Final shot of the two of them sitting in peace having finally reconciled