NOSTALGIA: Costume (detailed)

Costume:
I've made a costume list for all casts (as you can view in my older posts) and these are before and after pictures that I wanted to achieve after changing.
By looking at the 2 photographs, you can see the difference it makes to a "Band" look.

NOSTALGIA: Lighting (1)

For today's filming we have used a normal lighting which is switched on by a normal switch built in the wall in the Attenborough Hall. 

The out come of the lighting was very bad. I feel this because the lighting we used is nothing what like what the TV talk show studios would use. Also there is a >>>>>>>>> in the Attenborough Hall which we could have used to make it look better. 

The main concept which annoyed me is the shadow appearing on the characters. For me, it is crucial for the shadows NOT to cover any of the characters. This is because a shadow can create a character with in the actors. 

For example:

This character's face is covered in shadow on the right side of his face. This gives a vibe that he is an "evil", "bad" and "scary" person because of how the shadow has been used. The left side of his face is not shadowed which shows the "nice, "kind" and  "friendly" side of the character. 

By having the shadow on half of this characters face, it gives an impression of "shady" and that this character has another identity, another side and personality to him which can be seen in a negative content.

As for this reason, it was very important to avoid having the shadow on the characters face and body.

From this filming experience, my partner and I have decided to be more organised before filming with the lighting and also with the props rather planning it all on the set just minutes before filming. 

After all, I found this a very good experience and I see it as an experiment so for next time we film the scene it would look a lot better and well improved in order to achieve a talk show studio look. 

NOSTALGIA: Filming (1)

Day 1 - Filming

Today was our first day to film.

My partner has set up the chairs and "The Nicole Show" banner in  the background so it looks like we are in an interview studio during when I was getting changed into my costume (which were a formal appropriate jump suit worn with tights and heeled boots) and doing my make up to look more like a interviewer than a high school girl. Then the boys changed in to their costume.

We were all ready to film. But before we started to film we went through the scene couple of times so we are aware of the script and what to say. Went we went through it couple of times the acting became better and better, however when we started the actual filming, the cast became nervous and started to giggle and mess around. 

I looked at our first day of filming as a practise and we will definitely need to re film it again. Also when I went over and looked back at the scenes on Final Cut Pro to edit, we could hear some noise of the non cast members walking in the background, mumbling or making some noise. These noises were very quite however quite agitating in the background so next time we film we were only going to accept people who are casting and directing/filming the film to be in the room so there are no distractions and annoying noises in the background. 

Also some of the cast members became bored after an hour or so, this made the filming more difficult because they would not listen to the director and made the situation difficult. They didn't have enought energy and put a lot of effort we needed. For this purpose, my partner kindly suggested to volunteer some refrehsers when we are going to film it next time to keep the cast members motivated.

From this filming I also learnt the cast members need to understand how important it is to keep everything the same when we are filming.

For example: 

Keeping a particular hair style the same style until we finish filming. So the character cannot dye or cut their hair as this will go against the 

Nostalgia

The film is called "Nostalgia" this simply means a bittersweet longing for things, person or situation in the past. In our film the meaning will link to the story when Harry (boyfriend) wants back Melodie (girlfriend) as how she was before the car accident they were both involved in. 

We came up with this story because my partner and I both love the band 5SOS and favourites one of their song called "Amnesia" so we both wanted some kind of romantic/touching film linked to the song amnesia and recently I've watched the film "The Vow" so I took some interests from the film and try to take out some ideas to add in the storyline of our film.

Out first idea of opening the film was to start of with the band performing on the stage at a concert and then when the song "Amnesia" came on, Harry drops his guitar and walks off stage as this reminded Harry of Melodie and triggered Harry's feeling. However, this would made it very hard to organise as we would find a location that has a stage will allow us to film and with the props, the guitars, mics and drums. So my partner came up with another idea which is to change the opening to the band being interviewed and when the interviewer asks Harry about the song "Amnesia" this triggers Harry to walk off the stage. We sticked to this idea because it would be easier to organise with the props and the location, as we could use the school hall as the studio by decorating the hall with the right things.

I've started to plan the film by making storyboards and brief scripts. When my partner has agreed with the organisation I've made, I started to plan out the costume for each character in the film. After finishing all of the plans for the film, there were only one thing to complete which was the script. At this moment we only had the brief script which was hand written and did not look like a script at all. So I looked up few examples of scripts online and with the helps from my teachers, I made the official script for the film. My partner has searched up some examples from the internet on "What kind of questions to ask a band for an interview" and I added some inspirational questions in the script so this meets the convention of the scene (talk show). 

After organising everything we need, my partner made a group chat on Facebook and added all of the cast members to ask who is free on which date and time so we could agree on where and what to film at what date and time. There were few difficulties in arranging the time and the date as there will be 7 cast members who will need to be available at the same date and time. Also it wasn't just when all of the cast members will be free, we needed permission from the school to film in the school hall and decorate for our film as there are after school classes which will be taking place. However, luckily, we managed to arrange the time and the date where we all could fit in. 

So now we are at the stage where we are all ready to film. This was our first day to film so I was very excited to see the outcomes of the film. I know it wouldn't be perfect, however I was conducted to view the improvements that can be made and develop the process. 

On the film set we had:
•  camera (1)

•  tripod (1)

•  mic (2)

It took us 4 hours to just film around 20 seconds of the film, which quite surprised me because I thought it would roughly take about an hour. However everyone was shy at first and was distracted by the fact they are going to be in our film, so a week after the first day of filming. My partner and I planned what we can do to make improvements which was to change the cast members and have a meeting with all cast members so they know what is exactly going on.

Before we started to film for the second time, I started to work on the opening of the talk show entry on Final Cut Pro. I was inspired by a famous talk show called "The Wendy Williams Show" which is one of my favourite talk show. I was inspired by the design of the show so I stole some of their ideas into our opening sequence of the talk show scene. The process of making this opening took me about 3 days.

NOSTALGIA: Ideas for Location

There are 5 different locations we are going to film in for Nostalgia.
1 - School Hall (Attenborough Hall)
2 - Restaurant
3 - River
4 - House/Bedroom
5 - Hospital
(2, 3, 4 = for the flashback scenes)

We are going to film the talkshow/interview in the school hall, Attenborough hall.
We chose this hall as its just finished been built so it looks new and clean so this makes it looks more like a studio. Also there are few lights above on the seiling so we could adjust them to create the perfect lighitng for a talk show and not a normal lightbulb that has been built in.

NOSTALGIA: Script

In today's lesson, I've made a script for the film that we are going to use in the film. I've made changes from the brief scripts and improved some quotes. 

I wrote it up on Word documents and printed 10 out, one each for the cast members and director and who's filming the scene.

This is our final script: 

NOSTALGIA: Audience Target (What kind of audience would like to watch our film?)

I think teenage girls would be our main audience for our film as our film is all about love and drama. The story involves a couple which I think will be the main reason for a girl to watch our film.

This is proven even with my self. Recently I have started to watch "The Carrie Diaries" on Netflix because on the trailer I saw Auatin Butler as one of the main characters and he is a boyfriend character so it interested me, as Austin is also one of my favourite actor this caught my attention. So I agree with how the story line and the appearance of the attracts different varieties of audience. I think teenage girls can relate to our film and to our characters, as in the film the characters are teenagers also. This will make the teenage girls feel they involved. The story may relate to one of the audience and what they might be going through. 

Also the main character in our film is a typical teenage girl who's into fashion, make up and is in a relationship with a dream hot boyfriend who loves her and treats her well, this is every teenage girls dream, which is why I think teenage girls would like to watch our film than guys.

If this film was about a teenage boy who's into cars and is with a hot girlfriend then I think there would be more teenage boys who would watch our film than teenage girls. 

The reason why we came up with such a romantic girly film is because my partner and I are both teenage girls and thought it would be easier to make a film that we would like to watch because we will roughly know what kind of scenes to include and how to get other teenage girls attention. 

Results from the media consumption questionnaire survey

Media consumption questionnaire survey

I've created a very short questionnaire survey on a website called "SurveyMonkey". I asked questions which are linked to media consumption and the aim was to link to how much people use them and for which purpose, also for how long. I made this survey to see how media consumption is used between my friends. (ADD MORE...)
I am going to wait 3 days for everyone to complete this survey, so I can analyse and conclude the results.

My questions:

NOSTALGIA: Preparing for the film

To prepare for the film I've made a story board and a brief script so my partner and I know what is going on.

The storyboard explains what shot will be used for each different shot used and what action the character will be doing. Also I've included the duration of the shot because I had to organise the film to fit in minimum 2 minutes and maximum 3 minutes. 

The total calculation of the film should be 2 minutes and 21 seconds.

Story board: 

Brief script: 

I made this brief script so the character roughly knows the story line. When I am going to make the official script, I will find some inspirations from the internet what may be a good question to as a band during an interview. 

NOSTALGIA: Planning for the film

Locations:

Storyboard paper 1

Stage, where the show will take place

River, where Melodie and Harry will be walking by the path holding hands

Storyboard paper 2

Park, where Harry will give Melodie a piggy back

Bedroom, where Harry will surprise Melodie with gifts and presents

Restaurant, where Harry will take Melodie on a date 

Car, where Melodie and Harry "kiss"

Storyboard paper 3

Stage, where the show will take place

Hospital room, when Melodie is in a hospital 

Storyboard paper 4

Stage, where the show will take place

Hospital room, where Harry shows up in the room Melodie is in 

Props:

Storyboard paper 1 

• chair

• sofa

• show cards 

• coffee table 

• vase

• glasses of water

Storyboard paper 2

• bed 

• wrapping paper 

• necklace 

• jewerly box

• paper bag

• plates 

• knives and forks 

• car 

Storyboard paper 3

• sofa 

• breathing mask 

Storyboard paper 4 

• curtain

• hospital bed 

• hospital machines 

Costume check list:

Prop check list:

Planning for cast members: