Continuity Task and My sequence - Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

We had a task to re-do our continuity task for the film project. From the task I learnt and remembered 180 rule and that where the camera is on certain parts of the sequence, really matters. I learnt that during a conversation between two characters, the camera should be showing both the characters when they speak or if not you can have the camera of the characters reaction to the other talking.

The 180 rule is the the camera should stay on the same side of the two characters having a conversation and not change from that throughout the conversation. 

The sequence also has to visually make sense. for example, when someone opens a door you should see the characters hand go to push the handle down and then see on the other side of the door opening it the rest of the way and coming into the room. 

However, with my sequence there was no need to use these rules within my sequence. This is because my sequence is basically just a montage of comic book pages and a one shot piece of footage at the end of the sequence. Therefore, no rules were needed to be taken into account. 

Similarities - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My task was to compare one of my shots, which included my actor within it, with another shot from another movie. I close my only shot of my character, which is a zoom in of him in a hospital bed and still in his coma. I have chosen to compare it to a shot out of the film 'Awake'. The shot shows the character under anesthetic and with all the medical equipment plugged into his body. 

Similarities and Differences

1) The shot is roughly the same to my shot, even though it is at a slightly different angle, it still shows the same principle. Both of the shots are taken from the right side of the body(as if you were viewing from head first) and shows the patients head on the right hand side of the frame.  

2) The equipment in the shot which I have taken from the film Awake is not in my shot, as I couldn't get hold of the equipment and it wasn't suitable for the shot as the actor is about to wake from the coma. On the other hand, my costume is quite similar, as both of the two actors are wearing white t-shirts, which is suitable costume for a patient. 

One big difference is what each of the characters roles were. The character from my film is meant to be waking from a coma, after that shot, and he discovers he has 'super' powers. However, the character from Awake, is having a heart transplant which is set up to be a murder rather than a real surgery. 

Key Frames - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Nine Key Frames - Info

The image above is of my 9 key frames from my opening sequence. Each of my images which I have chosen, when in the moving sequence, show didn't forms and conventions which I have used. The first images shows my titles of my film and it also represents camera movement. This is because when it is in movement, it starts off small and it spins slowly whilst zooming in on the images and title. This probably my favourite camera movement and is the best example of one way in which I used the camera to make my opening sequence interesting. 

My second image is of a man in a hospital bed and the production companies on the image too. I have used this image because it is an example of typography. This is because it shows a clear view of one of my titles and it shows the text quite clearly. The text is in a sort of hand written kind of font called Marker Felt and I used this because it looked quite suitable for a comic book style. 

The third image is a close up of a doctor within my comic book. This is an example of framing because I used the camera to zoom in on a certain part of my image and I thought this certain frame would be a good example. 

My fourth image is an example of transitions because it shows an image of a dark figure looking at the main character standing on the edge of a building and that image starts off with seeing the dark figure and then slowly zooms out and pans down to see the whole image. I liked the way that this transition worked as it gave a good effect to what the image was trying to explain. 

The fifth image is a close up of the main character lying unconscious on the floor. I have used this image to show my narrative because it shows the main character how he got into his coma and him actually going into his coma, which I think shows a big part of the story. 

I have used image six to show the setting because it shows a flash back and I think it is a important setting to set as it shows the main characters past and how important it is to the story. As well as using this image, I could have also used the image above as that would have shown the setting for all of the other images too. 

My seventh image is to show vision and effects. I chose this image because it is one of my images which is meant to show a flash back to the characters love life before he went into a coma and I used some colours to change image so he represented love and a past time. I chose to do this because I wanted to make it obvious that it was meant to be a flash back and the red colour specifically was meant to represent the love between the two characters. 

The eighth image I have chosen is to show the lighting within my opening sequence. The lighting was a big part of my project as my opening was based on a comic so I made each image have a shading in the right places and made sure the colour showed a style of comic. The shading was also very good in making my images stand out and shading in the right places on the image of the dark figure, made the image more mysterious and dark. 

Finally, the ninth image I decided to use to show costume. It is my last shot within the sequence and shows a zoom in of the real character in a hospital bed. I used it for costume because it was really my only shot to show real costume and it shows it quite well, as he is in his hospital clothes and also in a hospital bed. The costume was quite easy to show, as it was basically a white t-shirt and a white blanket to cover the rest of the actors clothes. This costume was vital to my sequence as it was important to show that he was a patient and I wanted to give the same image as a real hospital scene. 

Feedback From Level 2 Group - Who would be the audience for your media product?

The level two group were given a sheet of questions to fill out, which would give us feedback on our sequences. Here are the questions and the feedback. 

What kind of genre do you think this film belongs to and why?

"Animated storyboard and a serious drama because the titles of the film is Coma and the music suggests this sort of style."

Who do you think the target audience of this film would be and why?

"Between the ages of 15 and 25 because its look sinister and the film needs to be understood properly but could be an enjoyable film if you were to make it."

What is your favourite image from the film and why?

"My favourite image is when the man is in the bed and it says HeartReel and Long Road Productions because it looks affective. I also like the image where it goes from comic to real footage." 

If you were to borrow one idea from this film for your own film-making project, what would it be and why?

"The music because it is very dramatic and it sets the suspense for the rest of film. I also like the fact that it is from a comic book and I draw cartoons for a hobby."

Feedback From Jake- Who would be the audience for your media product?

Jake and Jim came into our media class for one morning to see our opening sequences and give us feedback. The feedback the Jake gave me was that my sequence was a little bit slow and that you had to wait a while to get to see the titles of my film. He mentioned that I could zoom out of the picture a bit more so that we got to see the titles a bit quicker. 

I have taken in Jake's feedback and even though I can't change my video now, I will think about that sort of thing when doing future projects. 

Invoice Cloud Questions

Thing in which I think I could improve on and develop.

- I think I would benefit on improving a developing my skills on After Effects and I chose this because it was the software which I needed the most help with throughout my film opening project. 

- I think I could also develop my drawing skills, as when I was drawing my comic's during my project, I found it quite hard to draw comic images which actually looked like comic images. 

- I think I should also improve my planning and time keeping, as even though I had just enough time, I would have liked time test things out and see what worked a lot of times before I got a final version. 

Three people within the class that I did not assist during the project and how I could help them in future projects. 

Tara - I have improved my Final Cut skills throughout this project so I think my skills there may come in useful and with anyone really. 

Matt L - I could help him with music by seeing if my boyfriend(who made my music) could help him with his music because I got very good feedback from that piece of music. 

Allie - She is one person which I did not help but I don't think there is certain skill I could help her with but I could help anyone with using Comic Life software if they chose to use that. 

Invoice Cloud

The text below is the text which is in the picture above. ^^^^^^

This is my other invoice cloud which work pretty much the same way but this one is the other way around. The names within the cloud are people which I have helped with something which they needed help with, I would fill out the sheet with the job which I did for them and then they would give me feedback, Again, the text is bigger if I helped them a lot and the name is further away is they gave me bad feedback and so on.

Invoice Cloud

This is the text that is in the image above ^^^^

This is my invoice cloud, which is based on the invoices I received once my class mates helped me with tasks which I needed help with. The invoices were bits of paper which in this case they would fill out with what job they did to help me and then I would write feedback on the bottom of the sheet.
The cloud is quite simple, the more further away of each names are the better the feedback I gave them on the invoice and the bolder the text is on each name, the more times I have need their help. For example, I gave Kirk the best feedback but James helped me the most but didn’t get such great feedback.

Technologies - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product

Technologies - How I Used Them - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

In the picture above I have gathered all the items which I used within my project to complete my opening sequence. The the picture consists of camera's, both the HD camera and my digital camera, Mac's and head phones. I also added in all of the software which I used throughout the project, such as, Final Cut, Garage Band, Logic, Comic Life and also some websites like Art of the Title and Dafont . com. 

Firstly, I used my Mac to load up my comic drawings, once drawn and load them into the Comic Life software. Within the comic software I changed the colour of the drawing so they were in sepia sort of shade and then the images which were representing love, I then turned into a warm red/pink colour. As well as editing the colour of each image, I also put each of the images into ready made comic templates so that each page looked like it was taken from a real comic book. 

Next I started to put all of my comic pages into Final Cut and put them into their proper order so as you went through the opening you would be able to see a sort of story. Once they were in the right order, I then cut them down so they were all the same length in time but also not really long so people wouldn't get bored. Finally, I edited them so that they slide into each frame(which I ended up changing because it looked better if you saw each page as if you were reading the comic) and then I put fades on each ends of the images so that they flowed into each other well. 

After finishing most of the editing I thought I needed to do with my comics, I then went onto getting my production companies into the front of my sequence which wasn't hard at all really but I needed to use After Effects to edit my Long Road production logo, as at first it wouldn't load into Final Cut. 

I then started using the HD camera to film my only part of footage I needed. I found a first aid room at college which wasn't perfect but it was quite good for what I needed to do. Once I had permission to go into the room, I invoiced my class mate Hayden to help me with the zoom in of my actor Kirk, in the 'hospital bed'. It didn't take long at all and it ended up looking quite good. 

The next thing I had to do was to upload the footage I had taken to the Mac and then into Final Cut. It was the much simple part within my project to edit, as all I did was cut the parts out which were not relevant and then slot it into the end of my sequence. 

My music was the next thing which I had to put into my Final Cut file. I had to transfer it from my boyfriend's Mac, which he made on Logic and Garage Band software, to my Mac and slot it into the right place on my sequence. 

Youtube was my next thing I needed to use, to upload my rough cut to there, which is where I upload all of my video throughout my project. I also used the site Blogger to blog all of my project as I went through each part and is also were I put all my video too.

By this time my sequence was pretty much finished but I managed to get some feedback which really helped me and I editing a lot more of my sequence. The feedback took me back to the Comic Life software, as part of my feedback was to change my titles from flying on the screen, to actually being on the actually comic images. 

As well as using software and parts of technologies, I also went onto websites for research. These websites included Dafont.com and Art of the Title. 

Film Opening -With Commentary - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? How did you attract/address your audience?

This is my film project opening sequence but with a sort of director's commentary over the top. In the commentary I tell you a bit about what I would do if I made the film, a little about the opening and what I would want the film be like once made, e.g what kind of audience. 

Evaluation Questions

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of film openings)

Most of my inspiration was from the film 'American Splendor' and its opening sequence. I liked the way that the camera moved over the comic images and also the style of the comic images. When creating my comic's within 'ComicLife Magic', I tried to recreate the same style the comic's were in American Splendor, they were tinted brown, to give an old comic effect.

How does your media product represent particular social groups

My social group would probably be young adults and teenagers, most likely males. As my film is based on an action comic book and it involves someone waking from a coma to discover his powers, I think the social group I have stated above would fit well. 

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

An institution that might want to distribute my idea would be any who are interested in comic based movies and action ones to be specific. Maybe the same distribution as American Splendor but I would think who ever distributed films like Spider man, Batman or The Crow, just because these films are closer to what I wanted my film to be like. A man with a dark history but a life full of action. I think they would enjoy those two elements combined and thats what would 'make' the movie. 

Who would be the audience for your media product?

My audience would most likely be from the age of 15-16 to the age of 30 but it depends on what the person who viewed it would be interested in, as my film is an action film based on a comic book, i would expect people who are interested in action and comic book based films to be my audience. 

How did you attract/address your audience?

I attracted them by showing within the opening that it was obviously based on  a comic book, from when you see the first comic book image come into screen. I also showed a few images to suggested action will be involved. These images were of the silhouetted character, pushing the main character of the roof and then seeing him dead on the floor. 

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

I have learnt that it takes more time and patients to create a finished product which looks professional and very visually clever or interesting. I felt like I need to produce a lot of versions of product before I got something which I liked and others thought were good to watch as well.

Working in Final Cut was fine but getting the images to work well with the titles was much harder than I thought it was going to be and in the end, I ended up putting the titles on the actual images and it look better than before. I think with making anything like I did with comic book images, trial and error is the best way to go, to make sure you have plenty of time to try things out to see if they work, get an opinion and then fiddle with it till it is perfect. I found with mine, that to do it right, was to get something good but to do it in a wrong way, was to get something which didn't look that great. 

Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

I think with mine it wouldn't make a huge amount but I think I did end up using it more than I thought. When making my footage for the end of the opening, I tried my best to take things out the shot which made it look more like a first aid room than a hospital room. As that shot was only a zoom in, I was precise in making sure the zoom in was only of a certain part of Kirk's body, starting from seeing his head to his lower legs, to just seeing his head. 

The rest of my sequence didn't really involve much continuity, but when making the image come in to frame, it turned out that having them come in from too many angles didn't fit well so making them read across a page made more sense. Also making sure the pictures were in the right order to tell the story with images correctly was a very important part. Without having them make sense, my sequence would be boring and quite pointless. 

Video Without Footage

The video below is my Coma video but a version of it without the last part of footage. A couple of people thought that my video would look better without the end footage but I decided in the end that myself and a lot of others preferred it to be included so it is now in my final version. This video below was made more for comparison between my final version and this version I could have had.

My Final Version - Coma

This my final version of my film opening project. I think it went quite well and turned out to be a good video, in my opinion. If I had another day to do this project, I think  I would probably use the extra time to play around with the order of my pictures and get some more opinions from others. As before I finished my project, there was a lot of debate on what order to put my picture in and whether to keep my end footage. I decided in the end to keep the end footage and I ended up changing the order of my pictures slightly and I think the end outcome is good. 

Constructive Criticism

"Dialogue could be bit louder, as music goes over voiceover" - For this I am planning to get rid of the voiceover all together as I think it is not really needed very much within my opening sequence. 

"Maybe have the comic's moving into shot, as if you were reading it" - I have decided to do this and also have the camera focused in on one part of the comic page and then move over to the main picture, where the titles appear. 

"Titles are often horrible placed on black parts of the pictures" - I will fix this by not actually having the titles outside of the comic at all but instead I am going to have them in a white box, within some pictures. 

"Varying the ways in which the comic's come into frame" - I will change this again by having them come in as if you were reading them and this way the comic's with come into shot in more simpler ways and varied. 

"Perhaps reduce the running to time to 1:30" - As I am getting rid of my voiceover all together, this will reduce my running time and will maybe be more interesting to watch. 

Draft of Opening Sequence

This is my draft version of my final video, for my opening sequence. So far, I think it has gone quite well and quite smoothly but there are a few things within this video above in which I need to edit before making it my final version. 

Firstly, I want edit part of the music, during the begin, where the voiceover appears there is a part where the person speaking is interrupted by part of the music being too loud and I want to edit this so that you can hear the voiceover that dame amount all the way through. This won't be too hard, as I just have to delete that part of the music from my soundtrack and then reload it into my final cut version of my video. 

The next part of my video which I need to edit or add to is the section at the beginning where the screen is blank during the voiceover. In this space, I am planning to make a heart rate monitor using AfterEffects and have that playing whilst the voiceover is playing. This shouldn't be to hard once I figure out how to make it but I intended to invoice one of my class mates or get help from a teacher to do start me off with it. 

Those are my main things in which I want to edit and have to do and there isn't really much else I would like to do but I am playing with the idea of maybe slowing down the speed in which the comic comes into screen. However, if I did do this, the music wouldn't be as long as my footage and I would have to edit that too and I really like my music and how it fit perfectly with my footage(from my point of view). 

My 3 Tips

My three tips to give, if I were to go back in time and repeat it all again are . . .

1) I would plan my time a lot better, so when it came to drawing my comics and learning new software, I would have plenty of time to do all that and have time to spare just incase I had to redo things and I wouldn't be under pressure to finish them last minute. 

2) Learning how to transfer footage properly before hand is very good advice, as I found out once I had got home after transferring my footage at college to my own laptop. If you don't transfer the files over correctly or you don't know all the settings, then the footage will become offline when opened up - so learning this before a weeks holiday would be very helpful. 

3) My final tip is that, I would have like to have turned out with better quality drawings so either getting someone to teach me draw things I couldn't or spending lots of time on them could have helped and therefore given me better quality drawings for my sequence. 

Positive Image

Today we were asked to draw a positive image of a part of half term, in which we felt good about and felt that we achieved something good. 

My image was of me, at my desk, on my laptop, finally after playing for a very long time with some software called ComicLife Magic, I managed to create a comic book full of images which I felt was a great achievement for me and the outcome was a lot more impressive that I first thought it would be. The software was extreme easy to use, produced something which was easily made but gave a great effect and by the end of two days playing with it, I badly want to buy it(as I have it on a 30 day trial). 

ComicLife Magic - Half Term

During my project, I have had a 30 day trial of the software 'ComicLife Magic', to use to make my comic image look more like they came from a comic book. Overall I really enjoyed using the software as it was easy and fun to use and it worked well for my film project. 

After drawing my pictures I just had to take pictures of each image and load them on to my Mac. Once loaded, they were easy to manipulate. I basically chose 3 or 4 different templates for the pages and made a part with each, e.g I would use one of the 3-4 templates and then use that one again after I had used another 2-3 templates for the next 2-3 pages. After having a template, I just had to slot in my images the way in which I thought they looked good and then click on each image to change its colours, textures and pretty much anything else you wanted to do to it. I decide to give most of my images a sepia effect and then the images which resembled love, I then made a warm red/pink colour. 

When each page was finished, I then just exported them all into one file which contain all the images together and from there I could import them to Final Cut. 

It was all really simple to be honest and I loved using the software and would happily go out and buy it. Throughout the whole of half term i don't think I had any problems, thought I could have tried out a few more things with the images, e.g putting the titles on the images to see what it looked like and that would have said me a lot of time when it came to my last bit of editing. 

Drawing Comic's - Half Term

Drawing the comic's over half term wasn't really hard at all. I had all my pictures all planned out before hand so it was easy to just get stuck into it. I measured out each picture so they were the same size each time and so they would look the same measurements within the comic. 

After drawing each image roughly with pencil, I then went over them with a pen so that they would show up nicely when I took pictures of them. As well as going over the lines with pen, I also shaded parts of the images so that it would give a nice dark comic effect when edited in 'ComicLife Magic'. 

When each of the drawings were finished, I took pictures of each of them, using a digital camera and then loaded them on to my mac ready to edit within ComicLife Magic. 

The images below are 3 of 14 picture I drew for my comic book. 

Voice-over for Beginning of Sequence

Below is the script for the beginning of my opening sequence. The script should last about 12 seconds when spoken in a steady pace and in a sort of serious and dark voice. 

Script: Draft

"Coma is a profound state of unconsciousness, a person in a coma can not be awakened, can not respond normally to pain and light and can not take voluntary actions. 

Coma's can be caused by intoxication, metabolic abnormalities, stroke, hypoxia and head trauma. 

After several years the chances of full recovery are slim, the outcomes vary from recovery, vegetative state and death but in some cases, there can be a miracle......"

Titles LIst

Coma

Long Road Productions

HeartReel Productions 

Film based on Comic Book by Philippa Price

Executive Producers Sam Chappell-Winnington and James Walker

Co-producers Lawrence Smith and Ashley Atherton

Action Director Hayden Martin

Director of Photography Tara Cox

Edited by Alex Whitcombe

Costume Designer Matt Hornby 

Music by Jonny Dawson 

Casting by David Pinchen and Matt Leonowicz

Kirk Kemp 

Susan Keefe

Alie Nicoll 

Rebecca Young

Josh Blake 

Tim Hodson 

Joe Robinson 

Location - Pictures of First Aid Room

I didn't manage to find an actual doctor's surgery or hospital bed to shoot, which didn't really surprise me but I did manage to get the first aid room at Long Road College, to shoot my one shot in. Below are some pictures I took of the first aid room and when looking at them, there are a few things which I need to do to make the scene look more realistic. Such as, making a drip stand and the drip and bringing in a white sheet to use as a blanket. 

Continuity Task with Expensive Camera's

Below is a continuity task, which I and three other class mates made to practice with the expensive camera's. The task was set to remake the same continuity task as we completed before but to make it using a better camera, making one version normally and another in HD. The first video below is the normal version which we remade and then under that is the HD remake. 
I found the task quite easy to do as I have done it before and it didn't take long at all to grasp how to work the different camera's. I really enjoyed using them and I think they will be even more fun to shoot with during our shooting period. 

When it came to problems with the camera's, there wasn't really any big problems but we did have a slight problem when editing. When transferring over the footage to the laptops, we noticed that the sound was very quiet and we couldn't work out a way to fix this during editing so that would be a thing to work on. 
I watched both the HD version and the normal version of my continuity tasks and compared them to see if there was any sort of difference between them. I expected the HD version to have a clearer picture than the normal version but that was as much as I thought I would see. So far, all I have noticed is just the picture and to me, even that isn't that different. 

Prop List - images

The image below is the equipment I will need to make my comic book, which I will put into final cut and then add some effect to, to finish my opening. 

The next and last image of a plain, white sheet. This is the only prop which I will need to use within my last and only real shot, in my opening sequence. This sheet will be used to cover my actor when he is lying in the hospital bed - playing my coma victim. 

What Else Needs Doing...

I have made a storyboard which is quite detailed within the pictures but could use a bit more writing under each of the shots to explain it a bit more. 

I have also created a detailed shot list to show what happens within my opening sequence, when and how each shot happens in the rough 2 minutes. 

Below are all of the things I think I have left to, to make sure my project goes to plan and works how I want it to. 

- I think my biggest priority at the moment is finding a location for my last shot and I still need to do. 

- I've found an actor willing to play the part but there are still something to organize in this area, as we don't know when we will do this and how he'll get to the location, where ever that will be. 

- Props are still to be made or borrowed - if I find an actually doctors bed to shoot, I may ask to borrow props(of course not to literally use but to have in the scene) but if I don't manage to find a doctors bed, I will have to recreate my scene and everything I want in it. 

- If something happens with my location, when I find it, I am hoping to have two possible locations to shoot so I have a back up if one falls through. When it comes to my actor, I think that is pretty secure but if not, I always have many people in the class to help and my brother. The props shouldn't be two much of a problem but if I cant get hold of real ones, a few of my class mates have said they would help me make them and they know how too.  

The weather will not effect my shoot too much, as it will be inside a building but it may stop people from getting to the shoot so I will be have a fews days to shoot it so that we have plenty of time. 

Overall, I don't have a back up plan, but I have little back ups for each part of my shoot so it all goes to plan and it should as this is my only shot - it is easy to back up. 

- When it comes to effects, I am planning to use after effects and a software called comic life. I have comic life on my laptop at college and at home on a 30 day trial which should be more than long enough. But after affect software I only have on the laptop at home so I will be need to time my session at college so that I get plenty of time to use that software then or I will have to find a way to get it at home too. 

- Finally, with my music I am getting my boyfriend to make the music and he has given me permission to use it within my opening sequence. I will plan time to spend on helping him with the music, as I will want to make sure it goes the way I want it to and then transfer it over to my opening. 

Shot List - UPDATED

This is a more solid version of my shot list, edited from my previous draft shot list. 

The following shot are shown in black and white - to show the darkness and seriousness of his situation. 

1) shot of long road production logo

2) shot of my production logo - HeartReel 

3) shot of moving heart rate monitor, dialogue over top, along with beeps and music and then the monitor line flows into the title of my film, Coma. 

4) first shot of comic strip - showing a hospital room, with a young male coma victim in one of the beds - the shot slides in from the bottom left corner - at a steady pass - in time with the music i'm intending to have. 

5) the next comic strip slides in from the right side - showing the picture horizontally and the picture is of the same male in the hospital bed but this time the picture is zoomed in close to view him, the equipment and the bed. 

6) The sixth shot is a close up of a doctor, this is meant to show him explaining the patients status and setting the serious mood. The comic strip comes into the screen from the bottom, slides up and zooms in a little more. 

7) My next shot shows the male still in his coma bed but he is being attended to by the hospital staff. This shot comes in from the top right corner, slides in a zooms in a little. 

8) The next shot slides in from the bottom right corner and zooms in on a picture of him in his bed and this close up is quite close to him and views his upper body. 

The following shots will be shown in a warm colour - most likely a shade of red. This is to show the romance between him and his girl friend - it shows his memory of her. 

9) My ninth shot slides in from the left side, viewing a horizontal image of the coma victim and his girl friend at a cinema. This image is drawn as if you were looking from behind them. 

10) The next shot is an image of the both of them in a park together and the male is swinging his girl friend around. This shot comes into shot from the bottom and zooms in on them. 

11) The which follows after is brought into screen from the top of the screen, slides into shot and then zooms in. The picture shows the both of them sitting down to dinner and views them from the side so you see one of them at either end of the table. 

12) The next comes in from the top left corner and again slides in and zooms in. The image is of the both of them just standing watching a sun set and holding hands. 

13) This next shot is slightly different and I think I may change it at some point if it doesn't work but it starts off small and diagonal and slowly zooms in and comes into shot horizontally. 

The images show the both of them kissing and his meant to show the love that they had for each other. 

14) Shot fourteen is showing the both of them sitting on a park bench together. This comic strip comes in from the bottom right corner, slides in and zooms in. 

The following shots go back to being shown in black and white - again to show the darkness and seriousness of the issues shown in the pictures. 

15) This shot shows the young male standing the edge of a tall building and a dark shadow(the attempted murderer)standing by the door behind him. This images slides in from the bottom and again zooms in. 

16) The next shot slides in from the bottom left corner and zooms in on a picture of the dark shadow, having just pushed the young male of the building and the young male following to what you think to be his death but turns out to be his coma. 

17) In the next shot, it shows the young male on the concrete floor, with a puddle of mud around his head and this shot slides in from the bottom of screen and zooms in quite close to the image of him. 

18) The shot which follows comes in from the bottom right corner and zooms in on a image of the ambulance and medical team attending to him and also showing a keep out sign to stop the public coming in to see. 

19) The next shot is of the dark shadow standing on the top of the building, staring down at the scene. This shot comes in form the bottom of the screen and zooms in quite close to the dark shadow. 

20) The second to last shot shows a view of the shadow from the back of him, then looking on to the ambulance driving away in the distance. This shot comes in from the top left corner and zooms in of the image of the shadow. 

21) My last shot starts of small and zooms in to a close shot of the last comic image. This images shows the young male in his coma bed and the shot slowly fades into a real shot of the young male in an actual bed. 

Planning - props

Props

List of props - 

- hospital drip - recreated one or real(if able to get one)

- hospital look like bed and room

- maybe a paper band round the wrist to look like medical wristband 

- paper for drawing comic strips on and editing in comic life software

My list of props is quite small as for most of my project, the only thing I will be using is the Mac to use effects and pencils/pens to draw my comic strips. The last shot is the only part I should need proper props for. 

Planning - costume

Costume

Well my last shot is the only part which I am planning to organize costume for. The costume which I want for this shot is, a basic white vest or t-shirt and anything below that doesn't matter as it will not been shown with the bed cover will be over most of the body. 

Planning - location

Location

Well most of my time will be spent in class or at home working on my comic strip but I will need to find a location to do my last and only real shot. I want my last comic book shot to fade into a real shot of a hospital bed or a bed I can look like one. I will need to find somewhere to do this, for example, the first aid room in college or maybe ask my doctors surgery if I could film there for a little bit. 

This is the only location I will need to find and I will have to make sure I find a place which I have got permission to work on and I am able to get my actor to the location. 

Animatic

This is my animatic for my opening sequence, Coma. It hasn't got any music, as at last minute the music changed when transferring over to my laptop but I will try put an updated version on the animatic with all the music on it as well. There aren't too may titles but it gives you an idea of how it would go. 

I quite enjoyed making this animatic and ended up making it a bit too long but I'm sure this can and will be changed. 

Major Issue Throughout My Project

The following is one major issue which may occur throughout my project and of which I should take note of and see how I can help this problem which I may face.

3}  My last issue is getting after effects and comic life software on my laptop at home. This will be a big issue, as I need time to work on my project and especially my comic and will have to some of it at home. 

Solutions -

- I could find a way of buying them at some point

- I could also talk to Dave, who is a class mate and others have mentioned that he may be able  to get them for me

- I will most likely download the comic life software for a 30 day trial at home, as well as at college

Major Issue Throughout My Project

The following is one major issue which may occur throughout my project and of which I should take note of and see how I can help this problem which I may face.

2} My second issue is being able to find someone who will be my one actor, for my one shot and this person would need to lay in a hospital bed, asleep. This is vital for my shot and I will need someone who is male and around the age of 17 to 19. 

Solutions - 

- I could ask one of my family members to act for my shot, as they are closer to home - which is likely to be near to my location. 

- I could also ask my class mate Kirk, who seems fit and willing for the part and I think that would go well. 

Major Issue Throughout My Project

The following is one major issue which may occur throughout my project and of which I should take note of and see how I can help this problem which I may face.

1} My first issue is that I may not be able to find a hospital bed for my last and only shot. This is a big issue, as I need this shot for my opening sequence and need it to look realistic. 

Solutions - 

- I could see if I could use the first aid room inside of college but I would have to make the drip, which may not look to great. 

- I could ask the doctors in Over if i could borrow one of their rooms for a little while but they are most likely to say no. 

- I could also ask my neighbor as she is a nurse and may be able to give me access to that sort of thing

- If worst comes to worst, i could always recreated my scene just using a bed and some materials. 

Issues Throughout My Project

Nuisances

- drawing of comic strips - my drawings may not be very good quality and I may need someone to help with drawing them.
- I need to be able to make good effects for my opening and may need some help with this again too.

Minor Concerns

- I have quite a small amount of time to complete this project, so I will need to sort out my time well.
- I will also have to find the time to do part of it at home too, as lessons times are really not long enough.
- I will have to make sure I get the music done in good time too, especially as someone else is completing it for me.

Major Issues

- I think my biggest issue will be that I cant find a hospital looking bed to shoot one shot of, but I will have to ask people I know, such as my neighbor, who is a nurse or see if the college has a first aid room with a bed. 

- Also finding an actor for my last shot will be an issue, I need a male between the age of 17 and 19 and willing to lay in a hospital bed. I think I may have nearly found this person but still needs sorting out. 

- My last major issue is managing to get the software, at home, which I need for my project and this will include after effects and comic life software. i will want these outside of college so I can continue with my work then because college time is not long enough. I will mostly find a way of buying them somehow. 

American Splendor

The image above is from Art of the Titles and its shows nine key frames from the opening sequence of American Splendor. I looked at this opening sequence as it is very similar to the way I want to layout my opening titles. It's a mixture of real shots and comic book images which works really well but with my sequence, I want to just use comic images for most of it and one real image at the end and this opening will help me get to what I want. 

Feedback on Blog

We all received feedback from one person in our class, about what they thought of our blogs and what we could do to improve it. 

Mike gave me feedback, which was :

"Following from reading the blog, i thought that it was very well done. A good range of images and videoes instead of it just being text. The blogs were very informative. Some of the posts weren't needed, such as the concept one, as it just explained 3 other posts into one. Overall, i thought it was a well made blog, but there are some minor things that may need tweaking."

I thought, overall, that this feedback was quite good. Mike thought that it was quite good and only needed a few little bits of tweaking. I will find out what sort of thing should be tweaked and then do what is needed to make it better. 

My Production Logo

Concept Art

Planning for story board this week. 

Firstly, we collected images which would set the mood of our sequence and also some images which we thought were laid out similar to the way in which we wanted our sequence to be. These images were gathered together and we used them to create a moodboard. To create my moodboard, I used FinalCut, collected all the images, pasted them there and then added effects to make each image fade in and out into the next image and also zoom in. This final moodboard was then made into a quicktime and uploaded to youtube and blogger. 

After the moodboard, we made nine key frames which were nine still shots that would appear throughout my opening sequence. Creating these shots were useful as they gave me an idea of proportion and how things would look throughout my opening sequence. Also, by drawing these, I would know which images would have which effects, for example, which images would zoom in or be a long shot etc. The nine frames also make me think in more detail, they help me see in great detail what things would go where and how exactly I would want them to go. 

Finally, we made three film stills, which were taken from my nine key frames. We adapted these shots and joined them with some of the pictures we used for our moodboards. For example, we would take an image which was laid out how we wanted one of our shots to be like and then draw one of our film still in this way. We created three of these and each one was drawn in a different angle, for example, a close-up or a long shot. 

These shot helped me more than the key frames because it made me draw them in more detail therefore I could see clearer how things would lay out and what I would want to do. I think if i did each other my story board shots this way, I would get a very clear idea of what would come out of it all and what I would want to change but it would take too long to complete it that way. 

Three Story Board Frames

This image below is of three frames, which I have taken from my nine shots and then drawn in the style similar to three of my moodboard images. 
My first shot it a close-up of a picture within a comic book. The man in the shot is meant to be a doctor and he is telling the coma victims family about the situation. 

The second shot is of an angled close-up, again of a comic book picture and the image is of the coma victim in his hospital bed and a few darkened images from other parts of the comic. 

Finally, the third shot is of a comic book slowly zooming in closer and closer and eventually it will show another image from within the comic book.

Nine Key Frame Ideas

The image below is of nine key frames, which I intend to have throughout my opening sequence. The images give you proportion of where things will be and how much space a character or an object has. They can show you wether a shot is a close up or a zoom in and in my case a lot of them are. 

Opening Sequence for Film Project - shot ideas

In class we made a timeline to layout what ideas we have so far, where they would come in to the sequence and what shots went where etc. Here is a rough version of my ideas for my shots throughout the opening. 

All of the shots with images in off comic books are going to have the titles on the same page as the image 

- First shot of a heart rate monitor, flashing, moving alone and beeping in time with a patients heart beats. Dialogue over this shot, stating facts about coma's etc

 

- I think after this shot I will have a shot of the title of the film, Coma, and just have it plan white on a black back ground but I'm not sure of wether I will keep that idea

The following images will be in black and white 

- a fade out of the heart monitor and a fade in of a comic book page - picture of male in hospital bed

-a shot of a doctor explaining the males coma status, this images is on a comic book page - not sure what effect to place on this one

- zoom in of another comic book - starting from whole book - zooming in on pictures of male being nursed in the hospital or maybe police officers around his bed 

- maybe a slide in of a comic book page - double page - close up of two images - both hospital related again, male waking up from coma, and being tended to by nurses 

- a shot of the accident, which put the male into the coma but not too much detail so not much is given away, again on a comic book and probably a close up 

The next following images will be in a warm colour - suggesting a love relationship with someone

- picture of male with a past partner, maybe wife, in field and impression of him spinning her around 

- maybe a shot of him and his partner kissing or something along those lines to show the strong relationship they had - the deep love and again on comic book page

- a comic book picture of male caring for his partner, maybe two pictures on one page

-  a comic book image of the both of them at some sort of event, like a gig or some sort of activity - enjoying each other company 

Shots now go back to being black and white - setting a mood of sadness, loneliness and darkness

- another image of the accident which put the male into the coma

- a image showing a dark figure standing above the male, the figure is blacked out so you cant tell who it is and what they look like and then maybe on the page next to it, the figure walking away

- image of his partner visiting the male in the hospital - male asleep

- image of male waking after his partner has left - maybe on opposite page as the shot above

This is as far as I have got with my ideas of shots throughout the sequence but I think I'm almost there with what I want to do. The last though, will be of the male in his hospital bed and it fades out of the comic book effect and then into a real shot - I have to work on how I will do this shot though.

All of the shots above will have the credits on the comic book page - as if written on the actually book. 

All of the images in the shot will be shown as drawn comic book strips and have some sort of effect to slide in, zoom or some sort of effect like this. 

Moviestorm practice

Moodboard - in motion

moodboard - more images and fonts

These pictures show more font titles which I think would suit well in my opening and I also like the picture and layout which appear on the front of the DVD.

This picture, I think has a good and suitable font. I would want to use something similar to this, if I didn't end up using a 'typical' comic book font. 

Moodboard - Images to set mood

The first mood I am showing and wanting to set is mysterious, as my character is very mysterious and I think that this mood is very important within my film and should be shown in the opening. 

I chose this picture because as well as being in black and white, it sets a mood of mysterious, a women with hardly any detail and hidden in a way. This is very mysterious and almost exactly what I want my character to be portrayed as in the film. 

This picture shows a slightly different mysterious mood. Its more of someone being evil and mysterious from certain people, more of what you would see in films, which may come in useful. 

The next mood I want to set is anger, this i because it shows my main characters emotion in the beginning of the film and should defiantly be shown in the opening, as he later will 'run' on his anger and revenge. 

These two pictures show a very strong emotion of anger and pain. If I were to show this in a comic book form and with my character, it would fit nicely into my opening sequence.

The last mood I wanted to set was sadness. This will show the twist to the end of the movie but without reveling it and also his feelings from the beginning. 

I chose this picture as it shows an obvious sadness and seems to be hand drawn so I can see what the sort of mood could be portrayed as in my opening and how it could fit. 

moodboard - images 2

These pictures below are inspiration for colours, more than layout or mood. When creating my opening, I want to have a comic book theme and design but have it in a black and white theme, which in a way sets a mood of darkness, loneliness and evil. 

This last image below is drawn in a slightly different way and  I would like to find out how to to do this effect, as it sets a dark and mysterious mood and would suit well with my opening.

Moodboard - Images

Here are a few images for my moodboard, which I may use for inspiration, when creating my opening sequence. These images are similar to the way I want to lay out my opening sequence and they give me some ideas on what colour schemes I may use. 

Moodboard - Font Ideas

Here are a few comic font which I Thought would be good for my titles sequence - http://www.urbanfonts.com/fonts/comic-fonts.htm
I thought that these fonts would be good as they look a bit like they would be used in a comic strip and for my sequence I am thinking about making a comic strip which runs across the screen. These are comic fonts and are interesting fonts to use for my sequence.