For the title of the film they use the same font. The font, as used above, is quite basic, with the key difference being that the 'E' and 'A' are not fully completed letters. They give the font a futuristic vibe that goes along with the theme of the film. The text shows that the film is of sci-fi genre and is a very modern film. Under the text is three dots, three dashes and then a final three dots, representing SOS in morse code. This suggests that the film will put the characters in danger where they need to be saved. The morse code tells us that the characters are going to be intelligent and gives subtle hints about the film. The font used on the poster above shows a slick, classy look which continues across the film. The gray colours also heighten the modern look creating a very good poster for the film.
This is a royalty free song we are able to use for our production. We will use this song when we want more upbeat music. We will use it for diegetic music when the character walks past the radio as it sounds like something that could potentially be on the radio.
The song works well due to the lyrics. The verse's end with repeated words for the final line that are quite dark. "Wish 'em dead, with 'em dead, wish 'em dead", "Hunt 'em down, hunt 'em down, hunt 'em down", "Let 'em burn, let 'em burn, let 'em burn", "Time to kill, time to kill, time to kill", "They were slain, they were slain, they were slain". These lyrics are quite dark, but fit in with the connotations that the golliwog is spooky and potentially dangerous to the characters. We will use this song at the same time as the water phone, creating a layered effect. This will make the the song 'Gallows Hill' sound creepier.
This song by Alan Walker will be used as background music to the credits. It is the last thing the audience will hear as the film ends. The royalty free song play out with a black screen after the credits end, as if in a cinema. In the cinema the music continues to play as you get up and leave which i something we have trie to resemble. We have used the beginning of the song and then faded the song out before the first base drop.
Final Cut Pro is the editing software we have been using for our production. Recently we saw a video on YouTube from a Sunday League Football channel, showing his viewers how he creates the player walk ons. This video was a great insight to Final Cut Pro showing us additional features we never knew existed which we can now use to improve our production.
The video went through lots of areas of the editing software as to how to crete these player walk ons. It looked at how to crop a scene, scale the scene, zoom in on specific areas of the scene, create key frames, look at video animation settings (distortion, composting opacity, colour, trim and transform), how to remove colours from a scene (green screen) and also how to paste attributes.
The scaling of a scene we used on a few of our stop start animations, as we were not able to keep the golliwog in place without our arm on the scene. This video meant that we didn't have to go onto Photoshop and crop each image individually. Once the image was scaled and cropped, we could then move the image left or right, up or down so it was positioned in the middle of the scene. This was far easier than cropping each image on Photoshop and then placing them back in on Final Cut Pro. What made it far quicker was pasting attributes. This tool allowed us to copy the attributes from one image to another so they were all scaled to the same size, and positioned in the exact same place so that the camera doesn't move for the shots.
The video animations part is going to be very useful to us, in particular the composting opacity. This allows us to make the scene fade in nicely from 0% opacity to 100% opacity. This is great for the beginning of new scenes, but also the end of scenes so they don't just cut. The small opacity fade makes the edit between scenes look much smoother and more professional. Final Cut Pro allows us to make small, precise details as to how quickly it fades in and fades out so we can match it up with our scene.
Another part of the video that was very useful was a keyframe. This is where you make certain parts of the scene move into a different position. This is done by selecting the starting position as a key frame. This position is where you want X to be at the beginning of the shot. You then need to set another key frame. This frame is where you want X to be at the end of the shot. The key frame allows you to mark which parts you want the key frame to use such as scale, position etc. Once the two key frames are completed, Final Cut will play the video so that it moves smoothly between the two positions. This is something we may use to create specific wipes between scenes as Final Cut Pro does not have too many wipes that are going to be useful to us. However, we will use key frames when adding rain to the scene. The football scene in our production we think will look better with rain. We will use the key framing so that we can start the rain as really heavy and the colours as dark and gloomy at the beginning of the scene, but towards the end of the scene we want the rain to be much more gentle and the colours to be brighter again. The key frame creates a gentle fade between the rain so that is slows down gently.
Another part of the video was how to remove colours from a scene. The edit was showing the tutorial on a green screen. This was done by using a keyer which takes green out of the footage. If we want another colour to be removed we need to locate it using the sample colour, which then takes away colours that were just highlighted. This is unlikely to be of use to us, but could be used if we want to remove a colour from a scene.
We filmed on Sunday 30th October, 6th November, 14th November and the 20th November. Two of the days we filmed were with the two actors, Rory and Peter. The other two were days where we filmed stop start animations, which take a while to film so we didn't want to make our two volunteer actors wait around.
On Sunday 30th October we filmed stop start animations. We filmed some of the shots that are earlier in the production. These included the golliwog climbing the drawers, the golliwog sliding down the banister and the short walk along the hallway. These were our first time filming a stop start animation for our full production, so we found them quite slow to do. We were using thread and blue tac to keep the golliwog for the first time so it took us a while to work out the best way to use them. We filmed for 4 hours until we were stopped by the camera running out of battery, an issue we faced due to the hundreds of photos we had taken. We also had the drone available to us this day, however we were not able to use it as our phone did not want to connect to the drone due to a lack of mobile data signal in Drayton (a village). This meant we were not able to film the planned shot of the drone outside the house filming through the windows.
Sunday 6th November was our first day filming with Rory and Peter. We began filming early, starting at 10am, filming for multiple hours. We started the day filming Rory walking through the hallway past the golliwog. We cross referenced the position of the golliwog from the previous week to match it, hopefully avoiding continuity errors. We then filmed Rory walking through the kitchen, through the dinning room to the fridge. He then grabbed a can of coke (filmed from the GoPro) and walked back through the two rooms. This was a difficult scene to edit because we were not able to match his body positions in the shots so it was never truly smooth. What made this even worse is the shot in which Rory walks to the fridge, the footage was corrupted so we were missing the clip. Near enough this whole scene needed to be re-filmed. We then filmed Rory and Pete having a conversation in the lounge and Rory storming off. After this we filmed the two characters leaving the house from multiple different angles, including the drone shots.
The 14th November we filmed for a few hours after school on the Monday. This was another chance for us to complete stop start animations. We filmed the continuing shots from the banister scene. This was the golliwog walking into the kitchen and then along the cooker. We then filmed the stop start animation before Rory and Peter went to play football. This was the golliwog climbing to the window that overlooks the drive. We then filmed our last few shots, ready for the filming with the actors the following weekend. These stop start animations were of the golliwog climbing out of the bin inside and outside the house. This became a slight issue because it got very dark very quick. We were pushed for time, and unfortunately two of our shots needed to look and be outside. Thankfully Adrian is very capable with his camera, and was able to change settings such as the exposure to make the shot look brighter.
Sunday 20th November was our last day of filming. We started the day re-filming the shots in the kitchen of Rory walking through to the fridge. This whole scene became an issue when we filmed our stop start animation of the golliwog climbing up the cooker. This was because it was two weeks later from the first filming day, so everything in the kitchen was out of place. On the Monday we laid the kitchen out so it was easy to replicate the positioning of everything such as hand towels and kitchen utensils. This meant we were able to re-film all the shots without continuity errors. We then completed the football scene. This was finished with the two characters playing football, coming back home and then binning the golliwog. We then filmed Rory and Peter in different clothes to show a different day, sitting down to watch TV and then seeing the golliwog, so they bin it again, but this time outside.
From the interviews and looking back at the video footage, we are going to use Peter Weir to play the older brother. He helped us before with the practise camera angles, so Peter already understood how we would interlink stop start animations with the roles of the characters. Peter seemed very interested in the plot and really stood out to us. Combining his interest with his school acting, he was a definite choice for us.
We interviewed Rory over the phone which gave us enough information as to what he has done in the past. Rory has lots of experiencing acting and he seemed very engaged in the plot. He was one of the few we interviewed that would suit the younger brother. Furthermore, Rory would complement Peter in height, making it seem like they could be brothers.
We have casted Peter Weir and Rory James in our short production, Golliwog. Rory will play the younger brother and Peter will play the older brother.
These are the five interviews we filmed so we could decide who we wanted to play the protagonists in our production. By using these interviews, we can make a good, informed decision using in order to select the right person for the role.
The first person we interviewed for the part is Peter Weir. He was willing to help us for our practise camera angles filming, and was good at following instructions to what we wanted him to do. He was very calm during the filming and seemed natural in front of the camera. He understood our plot line and found it quite interesting. He hasn't had any experience acting, however he came across as a good actor during our practise so the lack of experience may not be too much of a factor.
The second person we interviewed was Ryan Morrow. His preference was to play the older character, although Ryan looks quite young and so would be more suitable for the role of the younger brother. He didn't like the plot too much as he thought it was quite plain and boring, which could become quite a big issue. When we asked about experience, he said he has done a little bit of acting, featuring in another short film about drugs and social issues.
The third person we interviewed was Matt Smith. He liked the plot, but was a bit confused on where the storyline went. This could become an issue as we need the actor to understand the plot so that they can visualise what we want from them. Like James, Matt has a beard but he said he would be willing to shave it off. Matt has had some previous acting experience, having also been in a short film as a boyfriend in a gay couple.
The fourth person is James Godwin. He is rather tall and has thick hair and has a beard, making him seem quite old. When we asked him, he said he didn't want to shave it off, which could be issue as it makes him look a lot older. However his beard is very thin so he could pass for 17. James has some acting for his YouTube channel which has over 300 subscribers, although he hasn't done YouTube for quite some time. In the interview, James came across as very professional, giving very detailed, in depth answers.
A fifth person we interviewed is Rory James. We interviewed Rory over the phone because we were not able to find a time in which we could interview him. He has had quite a lot of roles in many short films, giving him quite a bit of experience. He is good at getting into character and playing his role convincingly. He did quite a bit of acting during school and has always been improving and looking to act more. When we briefly explained the plot, he was interested to know more and sounded like he wanted to be a part of the production.
Two people that didn't make it to the interview stage for different reasons are Hanting and Kieran. Hanting is of asian ethnicity and so it would not be possible for him to be a full brother of any of the other potential actors. On top of this he didn't come across as very outgoing which would be a set back during the conversations. Kieran was not too keen on the plot although he did understand it well. Furthermore, Kieran is very tall which would make him seem older than 15/16. This would create an issue as it would be hard for the audience to realistically see the two protagonists as brothers.
The five candidates we will interview are similar age, and would work well with each other. Any combination of the four would be able to portray two brothers to the audience. They would all be able to play a part in our production and we will interview each of them to finalise two of them to act in our production out of the five of them.
