R&P Post 30: Reflections on Week Two of Editing

During this week of editing, the main thing that we have worked on is titles. These are very important to our opening sequence and require a lot of planning and consideration. We firstly began planning our titles by deciding the billing order of them and which titles we were actually going to include. Below you can see a draft list of the titles we are going to have in our opening sequence and the order in which they are going to appear in:

Another thing we did during this week of editing is finding the right music for our film. We all worked on this together as a team, each member of our group finding different songs/soundtracks which we would then all listen to and decide whether or not we thought it was suitable. For our music, we had to ensure that it was unlicensed and royalty-free so that we were legally able to use it. This did cause some problems at first because to begin with we wanted to use 'Lose Yourself' by Eminem for our opening sequence. However, as this song belongs to an official artist and is not unlicensed we were not able to use it.

So we had to find something else. The websites we looked at include Stock Music Site, Epidemic Sound and YouTube Audio Library. We found two songs that we thought we might use on Stock Music Site but we soon found out that you actually had to pay for the music on this site, so we decided to use the other two websites. On Epidemic Sound I found one song that had potential for our opening scene but when we all listened to it we decided that it was too upbeat for our film, as we wanted music that would interest the audience but also make them feel at ease and fairly relaxed. So then we moved onto looking at songs on the YouTube Audio Library. On this site we found several soundtracks that we thought had potential to be used for our film. Here is a picture of the original list of songs that we created:

Once we had gone through them all, we decided that 'Phife for Life' was the best soundtrack for our film. We chose this particular songs over the others as it is rather relaxing and it suits the tone and mood of our opening sequence, that being a serious but also interesting mood.

Now all we need to do is make sure all parts of our film are complete and make any necessary finishing touches to it to complete it. 

R&P Post 29: Reflections on Week One of Editing

One week has now passed since we filmed our opening sequence which we have been editing for this week. We kicked off our editing firstly by cutting down our footage and deciding which scenes should be deleted as they did not actually have a strong meaning so the audience would not be able to connect with the entirety of our film. However, now we have cut down our footage and shots, we know now what specific footage we have to work with.

Here are some screenshots of our editing process:

In this picture we were deciding which transition to use for this shot which you can see in the bottom right-hand corner. 

The above screenshot shows the font we used for our titles and the title we used for our film. 

Here we were correcting the colours of our very first opening shot.

This week of editing has also included brainstorming titling ideas for our film. Fiona is the one who is primarily responsible for the titles of our opening sequence but we have all helped to add to ideas. Firstly, we had to create an official title for our film. The first titles we came up with are:

However, as well as these titles we came up with a some others as well which we thought were better than our original titles; these included:

• In The Ring
• Down For The Count
• Four To The Body
• On The Ropes

Once we had looked at all of the names for our titles we decided that the new ones we came up with plus Roll With The Punches were the best. However, in order to ensure that we successfully appeal to our target audience we went to ask people within our target audience which title they thought was best for our film. These are the results we received from our survey:

From our results we saw that Roll With The Punches was the most favoured title so we decided to choose this as the title for our film. So once we had chosen the official title for our film we began planning out by hand how we roughly wanted the font of our title to look on screen. Below you can see some rough sketches of how we did this:

To conclude what we have learnt from our first week of editing is principally how to use titles effectively in our film in order to appeal to our audience more. Also, now we have decided on the font that we are going to use for our titles in our film as well. As we have now chosen our main title, we can now begin to work on placing the other necessary titles in our film. 

Come back again soon for another update on editing! See ya!

R&P Post 28: Our Post-Production Kit

Hey there, thanks for coming back! Now we have finished filming we have began editing our film and in this post you can read about the kit and equipment that we are using for editing. Enjoy!

Our hardware included:

• Headphones/earphones
• Apple iMac

For our software we just used Final

Cut Pro X which is a fast and 

efficient programme which

allows you to edit videos to high 

standards and qualities. 

R&P Post 27: Costumes On Set

Costumes:

Once we had finished filming we took some photos of all three members of our cast to show their different costumes. Here is what they wore:

On the far left you can see how Hytham wore a vest, sport leggings, gym shorts and trainers to play the character of Drew. The vest used gave Drew a more relaxed feel which represents part of his cheeky personality. However, both the gym shorts and sport leggings demonstrates that he enjoys boxing and is serious about it. 

For Maya, you can see from Cqimere's outfit in the middle which consists of a jacket which she only wore when entering the gym, a hoodie, sport leggings and trainers. This costume gave Maya a more serious appearance as it suggests that she is also serious about becoming a professional boxer and is determined to push herself to the best of her ability. 

Lastly, on the far right you can see Coach Stiles' costume. For this what Shakiel wore was a hoodie, tracksuit bottoms and trainers to give a slightly laidback but also trainer-like appearance.

R&P Post 26: Mise-En-Scene Arrangements On Set

Welcome to another post about our filming day in which you will learn about the mise-en-scene planning we had on the set of our film, enjoy!

I was responsible for documenting all the features of our planned mise-en-scene on the day of filming. This meant that on the day I was in charge of taking photographs of things happening behind the scenes (e.g. actors rehearsing, group members discussing the different shots of our storyboard and how to position the camera, etc.), the props, the lighting, the location and the cast.

Behind-the-scenes:

Things that were happening behind the scenes include actors rehearsing their lines, our group setting up our camera equipment, setting up props and more. Below you can see some photos from behind-the-scenes of our set:

The rest of my group start to set-up the camera 

equipment whilst the actors rehearse their parts.

Shakiel practices his technique at the speedball,
showing Cqimere how to do it. 

Cqimere gets ready to hit the speedball.

                                              

Shakiel shows Cqimere how to box in the ring so that she can give a realistic and convincing portrayal of Maya as a talented boxer.










Location: 
You will have already seen some photographs of our filming location from my ninth research and planning post about our location planning. However, I also took some pictures of the location myself to show more specific parts of the boxing gym, which you are able to see just below:

Interior view of the whole of McKenzie's boxing gym.

Photo of the boxing ring which we used for our final part of our opening sequence. 

Lighting:

As previously mentioned, we decided jut to use the lights of the gym itself to give our opening scene a more natural and realistic feel. These are the lights that were provided by McKenzie's boxing gym:

Props:

Another feature included in mise-en-scene is props. Although we did not actually have lots of props, they were still very important in our opening sequence in order to complete it. These are the props that we used: 

         

Drew's boxing gloves

Maya's boxing gloves

Maya's boxing gym equipment bag

Maya's headphones

The speedball that features in the beginning of

our opening sequence

The punch bag that Maya practices with.

Hand wraps put on underneath boxing gloves to protect the hands.

Although we did not have a huge range of props, the props that we did use were very important in completing our opening scene as hey all had a role to play. The gym bag was used as Maya's boxing equipment bag; the boxing gloves, hand wraps, speedball and punch bag were used for the boxing scenes and the headphones were used to represent Maya's focus on her boxing technique when she was practicing at the speedball.

R&P Post 25: Our Production Kit

Hiya! Welcome back! In this research and planning post you will be able to find out what technical equipment we used to shoot our opening sequence.

The equipment that we used includes:

• Canon 700D camera x2 
• Tripod x2
• Telephoto lens
• Rode Microphone

By having a microphone we were able to record our sound in higher quality, making the dialogue of our characters clearer for the audience. 

Also by having a telephoto lens we were able to zoom in more on certain shots with the same quality, improving the quality of our shots. 

Overall we had a range of equipment available for us to use and with this we were able to ensure that our film was of a high standard.

R&P Post 24: Filming Day!

Hey there! Welcome back to my blog! This post is a rather exciting one as it is about our filming which took place two days ago (25/2/17). In this post you will learn about how our filming went overall, how we planned our set, what happened behind the scenes of filming and more! Enjoy reading!

Summary of how it all went: 
Overall our filming was successful and went well. We all met up at our planned meeting point on time and got to McKenzie's boxing gym for the right time as well. Once we were there we began setting up our camera equipment and positioning it where it was required. Whilst we prepared this equipment, the actors rehearsed their lines for a final time and the different shots which they were needed in. Once everyone had finished their preparation we began filming. In general the whole process of filming ran smoothly and went well throughout the shoot. On the other hand there were a few minor technical problems, for example one of the batteries of the cameras died during filming which was a slight difficulty but luckily, as we had another camera, we were still able to complete our filming on the day. In conclusion, our filming was successful and we worked well together as a group to solve any technical difficulties that we faced.

How we could improve:
One way in which we could have improved our filming on the day is by taking less time to position our shots. This frequently took a little longer than necessary and meant that we gradually had less and less time to film. Apart from this, we worked well together as a team to solve any minor problems that we encountered.

R&P Post 23: Filming Day Update

Now it is Friday we are just one day away from our filming day. We are all ready for tomorrow as we have arranged a meeting place for us all to meet up so that we can all go to the location as a group to save time. The actors also know how to get there and have prepared their costumes that they are going to bring with them and wear during filming.

In terms of camera equipment, Lesley has picked up the camera and tripod that we are borrowing from school and is bringing it with her tomorrow. Destinie is doing this as well because she is bring her own camera (for reasons explained in my thirteenth research and planning post). 

For props, Destinie is bringing the headphones and the actress playing Maya is bringing a gym/equipment bag for her to use during filming. 

So we are now all set to go for our day of filming tomorrow. Come back again soon to see how it all panned out! 

R&P Post 22: Our Filming Schedule (Filming Update)

Heya! Welcome to a update on our filming arrangements! Below you can see our schedule for our filming day:

See ya again soon for another filming update!

R&P Post 21: Filming Arrangements and Mise-En-Scene Planning

Hello again! Welcome to another research and planning post. In this post I will be talking about our filming arrangements and how our group plan to organise ourselves when it comes to shooting our opening sequence. Enjoy!

When our group decided on our exact location we chose a date for shooting our opening sequence. The manager of McKenzie's Boxing Gym gave us the 25/2/17 to film from 2 PM to 6 PM. 

In terms of our mise-en-scene planning what we need to have on the day of shooting includes...

Technical equipment: 
We are borrowing a camera and tripod from the school but Destinie is also going to bring her own camera and tripod, so if one camera does not appear to work properly or its battery dies, we have a back-up. Additionally, this also means that if we become limited for time we can potentially film different parts of our opening sequence at the same time (provided that the shot only requires one or two characters and not all three).

Props: 
For props our group will not actually need to bring any of our required props to the location. This is because all of the boxing equipment we need is being supplied by our actual filming location and the actress who is playing Maya is bringing the props that she needs to use during filming.

Costumes:
Like our props, the costumes that we need our actors to wear are being up supplied by themselves and  the plan is for them to turn up at the location already in their required costumes.

Lighting:
Again, like our costumes, for our lighting we are planning just to use the in-built lights of the boxing gym itself to reinforce the natural and everyday feel we want our film to have. We want it to have this feel in order to show the audience how our main character, Maya, may just seem like everyday people training to box a little, but in fact she is going to go on to be a champion boxer which they will learn as the film goes on.


As well as this, when it comes to the actual shooting day we are going to go together as a group to ensure that we all get there safely and on time. This will also mean that we all arrive at the same time so we can begin filming quicker. The actors will make their own way there and we will meet them at the venue.

Now what we need to do is a test shoot to check that everything is alright before we actually film our opening sequence. For information about our test shoot come back again soon!

R&P Post 20: Test Shoots

Hello there and welcome back! In this post you can read about how our test shoot went, enjoy!

                    
  
                  

Above you can watch a video show how we experimented with different shots and angles one of our first opening shots. During the beginning of our film we are going to have a shot of someone punching the speedball to give the audience a clear sense that this film is about boxing. When we did our test shoot, for this particular shot we decided to test out different angles and types of shots in order to decide which would be best for our film. The first video shows a steady, consistent and high-angle shot whereas the other video tracks around the actor slightly. These are both interesting shots which we could re-create and use on our actual day of filming. 

Here you can watch one of our more experimental shots where we tried a tracking shot. This was our first attempt and it was a very shaky and rather messy shot. However, we have decided that we do want to include a tracking shot in our film because it looks interesting and grabs the audience's attention. Thus when it comes to filming day we will make sure that our tracking shots are less shaky by using the camera on a tripod, and will make them look neater by only travelling in one direction with the camera, as in this shot we filmed in two different directions which made it a confusing and untidy shot.

To the right here you can watch a video showing how we experimented with filming our character of Coach Stiles. This close-up shot shows him in more detail, allowing the audience to gain a wider insight into his character. However, we have decided not to include this type of shot as during filming the punch bag takes up a large amount of the screen and actually covers the actor's face, making it a messy and rather unsuccessful shot. 

Overall what we have learnt from our test shoot is what shots look good on screen and allow the audience to connect with the characters and storyline of our film, as well as which shots are not so good and do not represent anything for the audience. For example, although our first attempt at a tracking shot was rather unsuccessful we know what we have to do to improve it and have decided to include a tracking shot in our film as it gives the film a quicker pace, representing the build-up of emotion in the character of Maya during this part of our film. On the other hand, we have also discovered that shots without any characters or action taking place within them are boring and disengage the audience from our film, so we will ensure that all of our shots are interesting and show the interactions between the characters, in order to keep the audience's level of interest in our film high.

Thanks for visiting, come back soon to read about our filming arrangements and how we are going to plan our set. See you later!

R&P Post 19: Completing Our Script

Hiya! In this post I will be talking about our final developments for our script, enjoy!

For our script, we all worked on this together and we created our final version by using the website Celtx which allows you to create film scripts for free. We were all able to work on this together at the same time when we were not actually together as a group because once you have shared a project with others on Celtx, you can then all make changes together at the same time, no matter where you physically are. What this enabled us to do was then work on the script in our own time, and through online communication we were still able to communicate with each other and recommend changes that we thought should be made. This is our completed script:

As well as this dialogue we have decided to include a voiceover for our film and you can read through the script for this just below:

I hope you have enjoyed reading about our storyboard and script and think that each are well-suited to our opening sequence. See you soon!

R&P Post 18: Completing Our Storyboard

So once we had drafted our starboard and script we began putting it all together into final, completed versions. You can see our completed storyboard just below.

This shows all of the different shots that we are going to include in our opening sequence.