Completed Short Film

So after showing my film in class and taking on board the feedback I was given, I went and fixed up all the problems. I added a title screen to the beginning of the film. I changed the font to a more elegant script style. I made two time stretches between the keyframes of the colour change scenes. I added two snapshots of the film to the end scene that were the same size as the screen this time so there was no zoom in and I raised the volume on all sounds. And this is the final outcome for my short film called 'Remember'.

Film Production

When I had all my filming done I was ready to start editing. I took all my video clips into the 'Splice App' and clipped them, then I put all the footage together. I also used this App to speed up my time lapse scene. I then took my video into the 'InfiniFX App' and turned it all into greyscale but I kept the balloon yellow the whole way through, I also done some colour changes at the end. Here is an example of my video before the greyscale colour change and after:

 

I'm not quite sure how to use After Effects and this was the way I figured out how to change the greyscale into colour at the end of the film. I used one clip and changed it into 3 seperate colour schemes, then I clipped each video at a different place and put them altogether to get a gradual change of colour. Unfortunately for me the colour change wasn't so gradual once it was played back. So I found a tutorial on youtube that let me create a time stretch between these colour changing scenes and this made the change over between them more smooth. Here are the 3 different coloured video clips I used:

 

I then took my film into Adobe After Effects and added a title screen, text to the beginning and end, added a time stretch to the colour change scenes and also added two snapshots to finish the film off while the character was in mid air. Here are two screenshots of the text I added in the first and last scene of the film:

'Remember happiness is never far away' is the moral of the story within the film. The character's happiness is represented by the yellow balloon, and it is never far away from him in any scene. His life is portrayed as dull and grey until he is united with his happiness at the end, then his life becomes bright and positive!

I used the website www.freesound.org for all the sounds and background music in my film. I wanted the beginning of the film to feel lonely and sad so I used slow piano music for it. It was very windy the day I filmed the footage and the balloon and trees can be seen blowing about alot in the film so I used a wind sound through the grey scenes also. When the colour change occurs at the end I cut off both the slow piano and the wind and added more upbeat piano music and some sounds of birds singing, this was to show that the character's life had just gotten a lot happier.

When I showed my film to the class for the first time this was what it looked like:

 

When I received the feedback there were a few changes I had to make before my film would be completed. I had to:

1. Change the font of the text on the first and last scene.
2. Make the transition of the greyscale into colour more smooth.
3. Fix the end scene so that it doesn't zoom into the character in mid air at the end, make the transition more smooth also.
4. Raise the sound levels.

And also I wanted to add a title screen to start the film of properly.

Cut Footage

Not everything went right the first day I went filming, my first scene was to be filmed on the walls and there were alot of tourists walking around. I wanted to get empty shots of my character alone on the walls and we had to do alot of takes to get it right. It also started raining and this delayed my progress too. It was also really windy that day and the balloon wasn't behaving as good as I had hoped it would, it kept blowing down towards the ground and I had to do numerous takes to try and see the face on it. I wanted to start the film of with a panning view of Derry but my tripod wouldn't swing around smoothly enough, it turned out very choppy so I decided to cut it and just add a still scene to the beginning. I also wanted to do a panning view of the river Foyle below Sainsburys but again the tripod was not suitable for this type of shot. Here are the two shots I took:

 

 

It took me a long time to get a shot that I could use for the close up of the character staring out over the wall. The wind was really strong and I had to try and balance my tripod on top of the wall which didn't have a flat surface. I also wanted to blur out the character and then focus in on his face, manually turning the lens didn't help the shake either! Here were some of the shaky shots:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Equipment

I used my iPhone to record the whole film. I bought a small tripod online for my iPhone and also bought a 8x zoom lens.

 

Shot List

This is a shot list I made out for when I went filming. By using my storyboard I knew what scenes were to be filmed and when, this kept me on track throughout the whole filming process.

90 Second City Shot List

Shot	Description of the Shot
Shot 1	View of Derry over the walls below the Verbal Arts Centre.
Shot 2	Close-up shot of characters face looking over the walls onto the previous scene.
Shot 3	Distant shot of character sitting on the bench, camera then pans right to shot of the balloon beside the tree.
Shot 4	Close-up shot of the balloon blowing around the bottom of the tree.
Shot 5	Character walking away from the camera down towards The Apprentice Boys building.
Shot 6	Close-up shot of the balloon tied to the bench where the character was sitting before.
Shot 7	Shot of the character walking further down the walls towards the bridge, then the camera pans left to shot of the balloon tied to the fence.
Shot 8	Time-lapse scene where the character is standing outside the doors of the Foyleside Shopping Centre, crowds walk around him. (Lasts approx 9 seconds).
Shot 9	Shot of the character sitting on the bench on the Sainsbury’s path along the Foyle river.
Shot 10	Camera zooms in closer to watch the character taking a cigarette out of the box and placing it into his mouth.
Shot 11	Further zoom of the camera, close-up of the characters face. He lights the cigarette and takes one drag, blowing smoke from his mouth.
Shot 12	Shot of feet walking towards the character, camera draws upwards as it comes closer to him.
Shot 13	Close-up shot of the character being handed the balloon.
Shot 14	Camera draws back slightly to get a better view of the character turning the balloon around to reveal the smiley face on the back.

Shot 15	Camera stays in the previous position as character smiles at the smiley balloon and looks up and out towards the river.
Shot 16	Shot from a low position, character walks away from the camera holding the balloon and jumps into the air.
Shot 17	Still shot of character in the air. (Last approx 10 seconds)

Location shots

Here are some images of the locations that my film was shot in:

Research on timelapse

I looked at some time lapse videos just to see how they worked and what speeds looked best, and what level the camera should be on.

 

 

 

I liked the colour scheme in this film. I want to go with something similiar for my film, in the beginning the mood is depressive so I want the colours to be limited.

 

 

 

 

 

 

My third and final idea

So after thinking my second idea through more I decided it just didnt have anything interesting about it. I figured it wouldn't make the viewers wonder what was going on, so I wanted to add a twist or something a bit different to the whole thing. I decided to play around with the colour and give the film a real meaning. I decided the panning views around Derry city just wasted valuable time for me so I started with just one short scene of Derry and moved straight into following the character around different locations.

Basically the film is about a male character who is alone and unahppy throughout different scenes in Derry. The majority of the film is in greyscale, the background music has a very faint piano melody and also wind noises can be heard throughout. He is looking for happiness. In the majority of scenes his happiness is actually closer to him than he realises. His happiness is represented by a bright yellow balloon with a big smiley face on it. This balloon is always near by and it is the only thing that is in colour. I chose yellow because it is known to be a happy and joyful colour.

I added the time lapse in the middle of the film, this was to show that no matter how many people are around you it can still seem very lonely. I proved my point exactly while filming this time lapse as not one single person even looked at the character the whole time he stood there. The majority of them nearly walked through him!
In the end the character is giving his happiness back, the scene changes back into colour and he skips off happily to a more joyful background tune with the faint sound of birds singing.
Here are the storyboards for this idea:

My Second Idea

After I explained my first idea to the group in class I took their advice on board and decided to change around my concept a bit. I decided I would start of my film with panning scenes of some landmarks around Derry city. Throughout the film I was going to follow a sad male character, I would film him in different locations on his own arouns the city. I was also going to add a time lapse of him on his own surrounded by shoppers and people going about their business on the street. I had then planned to film him sitting by the Foyle river keeping a close eye on his watch. Then a girl character was to arrive onto the scene and just like a good romance they would embrace eachother and the camera would spin around them. Then they would walk off holding hands and happy together.
I had planned to keep the whole film in Greyscale and then when the couple would reunite the scene would change into colour. Here are the storyboards I drew for this idea:

'90 Second City' Project (My First Idea)

For this Project we have to make a one minute short film or animation with innovative content influenced loosely or directly on the character or the characters of Derry city. We are allowed 15 seconds either side for titles or credits if required.

My original concept for my film was to try and put across the point that coming from a small town into a city can be a very lonely experience. Everyone know's everyone in a small town and nobody know's you in a city and quite frankly nobody cares either! In cities everyone is looking out for themselves, I wanted to show that you as a person are very important no matter how many people are around you. My aim was to do a time lapse on people going about there business in the city but then to zoom into just one person. I planned to do this with a traffic scene and also a scene that included a flock of birds. Then I planned to stop some pedestrians and film them saying 'I am one' as in I am my own person and I am important. I was going to do my own voice over and come up with a powerful script and have limited sound on other areas of the film.
Here was the storyboard I was working on for this particular idea:

After I put my idea out there to my group in class I was given some ideas such as:

- Make the crowd scene greyscale and then to put the one person that I was going to focus in on in colour, this would make them seem important as they were the only one in colour.
- Follow someones typical day in the city.
-Put in some still images of different types of people randomly throughout the film.

I was doing some research on quotes that tied in well with my film for the beginning and end of it, here are a few I really liked:

"Today you are YOU, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than YOU!"
- Dr.Seuss

"The most important thing is to enjoy YOUR life, to be happy, it's all that matters."
- Audrey Hepburn

"Don't you ever let a soul in the world tell you that you can't be exactly who you are."
- Lady Gaga

"Do not allow people to dim your shine because they are blinded. Tell them to put on some sunglasses, coz we were born this way bitch!"
- Lady Gaga

I wanted my film to make people feel good about themselves when they watched it and I thought these quotes summed that up perfectly!