Costume

The costume within our film opening was one factor, among a number, which added something to our film. Costume helped us to set the scene, for example, when the girl walks along the road before the shot zooms into the poster, she was wearing everyday, casual wear, as not to distract from what is being said in the voice over.
Other times when costume was needed to be considered, were at the points when Daisy was walking through the park, Daisy in the cellar and the news report. When Daisy was walking the dog in Gillingham Park, she wore a navy blue coat, jeans and boots. Here, one could say that she was representative of the average teenage girl by wearing said attire.
In addition, the news report scene was thought of on the day we filmed it so, the costume which was worn throughout the report, was not representative of a news reporter as the character was wearing informal clothes instead of formal. If we had been more organised and thought of the news report the day previous, the outfit would have consisted of a blazer with a smart, casual top and either smart jeans or work trousers, depending on whether the shot to be filmed would be a long distance shot or a close up shot.
Finally, we put much thought into what outfit a victim of a kidnapper may wear. Towards the end of our thought process  we decided upon a black vest top and black tracksuit bottoms. This was due to the reasons that the black outfit would add to the atmosphere and her emotions. Furthermore, the outfit was plain black as to not distract from Daisy's reactions to her kidnapper entering the cellar and shouting at her in an aggressive manner. In average, all of the costumes worn within the filming were representing the younger generation and how teenagers choose to express themselves.

        

These outfits are along the lines my group and I were thinking of, in retrospect if we had more time.

  

Audience Feedback Half Way through Editing

As a way to ensure that our film opening was easy to comprehend and what we had put together was good, we decided to ask a few people what they thought was good and in their opinion, what we could improve on. Here is the feedback which we received and how we aimed to tackle any of the problems that would be highlighted to us.
It was said that there was a lack of variety of shots, for example, our shots were consisting of close up and extreme close up shots as well as, a tilt shot. Immediately we thought of being able to incorporate a point of view shot as Daisy is in the cellar looking at the man as he is coming down the steps. In addition, there was another point of view shot added, in the park, but it was the kidnappers view. We also added a pan shot, this is demonstrated when a random girl is crossing the road at the beginning. The news report manages to incorporate a medium distanced shot, furthermore.
Secondly, it was mentioned that the frames were held for a longer duration than needed and this was made more obvious when there was no movement occurring in the scene, this also made our opening seem very bare in content. When we went back to editing, one of the first tasks we did was to reduce the lengthy shots to a more appropriate duration. This can be seen 0:49 seconds into our film when one frame is held for 2 seconds, as opposed to five/six seconds.
It was noted that it was very effective when the music grew louder when the title came onto the screen gradually, the only criticism on that point was we could make the title bigger, to have more of an impact.
In contribution to all of the other points mentioned, there was one more, and that was to get Daisy's character to react more to the entrance of her kidnapper, and film some interaction between the two of them. For example, to get the man to reach his hand out to touch her face and then to get Daisy to  pull back and try to compromise with him to let her go. We took this on board, that there needed to be speech somewhere to fill the silence, this is when we filmed the news report and taped the voice of the man shouting "Look at me!".
In conclusion, it was extremely helpful to receive some input from an outsider as it allowed us to see if they understood everything and to see if they picked up on something my group and I would have missed. Also, when we got good feedback, saying that the slow motion used was very effective as it helped to create a suspense/tension to the opening, it made my group feel positive and look for other ways which would enable us to recreate those feelings.

Final Film Company Logo

Within my group there has been an ongoing query whether to go with our initial 'ASK G' logo idea or the more recent; cameo productions logo. In the end we decided to go with Cameo Productions as we felt it looked more professional and was a better Film Company name. Even though we had settled on the idea of having this as our logo, it was not until we uploaded the image we could make a accurate judgement. We found that the measurements of the logo were not exact to the measurements of the screen on Final Cut Express and as we created the icon in GIMP, it was not easily accessible to change on the computers at school. Due to experimenting in our spare time we managed to add a 'text' effect where our logo would have been placed and found the exact same font and typed    

C a m e o 

                                                 "      P R O D U C T I O N S   "

It was then we all came to a mutual decision to use that instead as we thought it looked just as good.

If we were more experienced and had knowledge of how to make our film company logo a animated/moving logo like Summit Entertainment or Regency, then I reckon we would have gone along that path.

Furthermore, from trying to replicate a logo, I feel if I were to do it again, I would try and look at more examples and looked at how company logos are adapted to each genre film they are in association with.

Getting a Variety of Shots filming 21/12/2011

For my group it has proved difficult to capture a variety of shots as we over looked this major detail whilst planning days before aiming to film. This meant that our shots we thought of on the spot, although, this does not mean our scenes were rushed at all as we had plenty of time to shoot the shots we deemed necessary. After experiencing lack of planning in our first filming session, my group received some feedback from our tutor, and from her opinions we deduced what shots our group would need to film in order to make our opening have a steady cadence to it.

In our filming sessions we have captured shooting a long shot, point-of-view shot and zoom in shot (when the camera zooms on the Missing poster), as well as the pan shot (when the camera films down the telegraph pole). 

Missing Persons Poster

One of the props required in our film was a missing poster, this was so that without speech the audience would know what was going on and how the film would develop.

In one of our filming sessions we each decided to research missing posters and looked at templates and what information would be put on such a poster. Following our research, three posters were created and by using something from each of the posters, (whether it be the layout, information or the eye catching title) we created the final product.

This is the result we came up with and the poster we will use to film with.



Furthermore, these are the posters in which we managed to create the final missing poster from.

                

Further thought of the Kidnapper's Victims and Future Victims

During the previous week Shannon, Grace, Amber and myself put together a montage of pictures of teenage girls which we could put on our set to further help set the scene within the cellar. We aimed to incorporate these pictures to represent future victims and past victims of the kidnapper. However, on the 16 th, when we improved our beginning of the film by coming up with a new idea (the voice over whilst zooming into the missing poster), my group and I looked over what was compulsory to have in our shots and decided that the montage of pictures was not completely necessary, mainly as they would not be shown within the point of view shot from Daisy and any other shot that was filmed in the cellar was Daisy tied up. This is the reason behind why there the pictures of victims are not included in our film.

The Inspiration on How to Link Our New Idea

Wolfman 2010

As we watched the beginning of 'Wolfman', immediate thoughts began on how we can link our new found idea with our existing footage.
When 'Wolfman' started with a pan shot down a headstone and a woman's voice over, it influences us to think of a paragraph which would also be said as a voice over, whilst a pan shot of the poster is being filmed.
We also gained the idea of zooming in on Daisy's eyes from the poster and then zooming out and her eyes would be looking around in the cellar in the present day. Similarly, in the film, a circle on the headstone transforms into a full moon into their 'present day'. This idea then aided us to link the existing footage filmed in the cellar, with the missing poster and voice over, which overall added a steady flow to our introduction of 'Daisy'.

New Idea

Once receiving audience feedback, my group and I aimed to approach our original idea a little differently and make it more comprehensive for our audience as out 'flashback idea' was harder than we had anticipated to create and made our film opening seem a little disjointed.
During another group brainstorm, we thought of replicating a missing poster for Daisy's character which would be the normal desperate act a parent would perform, hoping to embrace their daughter again. From this idea branched other ideas, such as having a voice over by Daisy, whilst the poster was being filmed. However, we were unaware of how to link this in with the footage of Daisy being tied to a chair in the cellar.

This is when we drew inspiration from a film opening we watched as part of research to find a solution for our problem.

Settings We Used For Filming

During our filming stage of the project, setting was key in creating the atmosphere we wanted to portray in a scene. Gillingham Park, a cellar and a street were the places in which we believed would best suit the picture which we had pictured when planning.        

Gillingham Park was used when "Daisy" was being kidnapped, we felt this place was relevant to our opening as it is fairly symbolic. Mainly children spend their time playing in a park, the fact Daisy was taken in a park is symbolic of her childhood being taken away from her and not of her own accord. 

    

 Having a cellar to film in meant we had a close proximity to work in, however the size of the part of cellar we used would translate on screen and would be an accurate portrayal of what my group and I wanted. Also, the naturally dim lit cellar would prove itself useful to create the tension to our opening of a film.

    

Bendon Way, situated close by Rainham School for Girls is a busy road due to the school. With our intention of filming on a lively street we felt Bendon Way was appropriate. Furthermore, as Daisy is a student from a secondary school, we thought if there was a student in the shot by accident, then the student would not look out of place.
   

Filming Session #3

After uploading the result of the previous filming session we figured we needed some dialogue so the opening did not seem more like a trailer. This filming session took place at one of our houses, this is where we all sat down and started to write what we would then use as the news bulletin, and put over the top of the footage of Daisy having flashbacks of that moment when she was being taken in the park. After writing the bulletin which would act as the divide between the music and silence of the scene in the cellar we then recorded one of our voices. The recording took more time than estimated, in total, we ended up spending roughly, 30 minutes on it as we each recorded our voice saying it to see who's voice would sound the more effective. It proved difficult for us to focus, however, once we had our mind fully set on the task we managed to produce the result we had hoped for.
Following the voice recording, we needed to shoot the scene of Daisy walking her dog in Gillingham Park. We did not set a time in which we had to finish filming by, as there were so many factors to consider, like, where in the park to film, are there any people going to walk into the scene and will the dog start to play up?.
Finding a spot to film was not difficult and time consuming as we managed to find a spot fairly easily, however, 15 minutes into filming of Daisy walking past the camera, getting a variety of shots, two ladies and their dog sat on a bench where we wanted to film. We managed to carry on filming shots we needed where we could not see them and by the time we had finished that they went which then allowed us to carry on.
Also it was a little time consuming getting the Shannon's dog to respond, though after about 15 minutes we got the shot of her dog we wanted.
Filming with an animal definitely requires you to take into consideration the needs of the animal and also that complications may arise and that you have to be patient.
Overall, it was a successful day for filming.

Voice Over

Our intial ideas which we wanted to film for our opening two minutes of a film did not include any speech of any sort whether it be a monologue, dialogue or within the music. After we had an assortment of varied shots of Daisy in the cellar and walking the dog in the park, we edited all of our footage and once we had do so, looking back in retrospect, our idea did not translate exactly how we wanted it to on the screen. It did not capture the tension we wanted to build up in order for the audience to experience an effective thriller film beginning.
After discovering our plan did not work as successfully as we had hoped, we traveled from the initial idea and decided to add a monologue to add the tension which is compulsory to introduce a thriller/crime genre film to an auidence.
This is the monologue we thought to add in - we wanted it to be a news bulletin voice over.

"Breaking News - Yet again another teenage disappearance has been reported. As of yesterday this has been the 19th abduction within the past six weeks. The victim is 17 years old and is currently studying for her A-Levels. Her parents, Deborah and Martin Robinson are holding out in the hope that Daisy will once again be reunited with them so that they can live a normal life."

Coming Up With A Title...

A crucial stage of the planning was to think up a title for our film opening. In our discussion of possible titles  we came up with names like The Lost abduction, Unknown, Daisy and Daze. In the end, we all decided upon Daze which we actually later changed to Daisy. The reason behind our transformation in title choice was due to fact from audience feedback. Our feedback said that 'Daisy' would be more relevant to our opening, rather than Daze. In addition to this, one person said that, in their opinion, when someone is in a trance they are in A daze, not, people are in daze. Bearing these very vaild difference of opinions, we named our film "Daisy".
The other names we thought of were discarded, this was down to the fact among my group some of us preferred names which others did not and we did not decide upon "Unkown" as we thought there is already a film named with that title, aswell, we thought people may draw to many similarities bewtween the plots and genre of the two films.  

Filming Session #2

The aim of this filming session was the same as last: to film Daisy being stunned and capture a variety of shots whilst doing so.
Session two, in retrospect was much more successful as we we aware that the lighting had to been changed (made brighter), to do this we tried positioning a small lamp light in front of Daisy, also we moved any objects that were in the way from allowing the cellar light to reach Daisy. We found that once uploaded to the editing programme, that the lighting had improved significantly.
Problems we faced , though did not address as quick as we had hoped was our indecisiveness which led Grace; who played the character Daisy, to say "Can we keep going, it is cold". In this filming session we managed to capture the zoom in, extreme close up and the medium distance shot, which is all of the shots we thought of at the time. It is fair to say that we did a lot of brainstorming whilst filming, trying to think of more dynamic and interesting shots to film, also we thought of trying to film a heavy breathing sound so we could edit her breathing and put it in the background of the fade in and outs. This was to (hopefully) effectively to help add to the ambiance.
We still had a little trouble with the pan shots, due to the tripod, however we managed to try and film the shot in a handheld position.