Filming of Pictures.

In lesson time, Stephanie and I put together a range of photos and magazine articles relating to the character of HOPE, whilst Antar and Tom worked on the editing. We gathered up group images of 'Hope' and cut out articles such as 'how to be happy in a social situation' which we found to be of relevance to the film we were creating. After doing this we placed the images on a blank wall and created a collage, this was then filmed close up with a monopod to create a personal effect and draw attention to HOPE'S personality meanwhile hiding her identity.

Filming shot two.

The second shooting of Hope took place during half term, it was much more of a success than the previous shooting. It allowed us to work on the faults from the previous time and improve our work. We found that using candles to create light around the dressing table prevented the shot from being too dark, adding to the light for some scenes we used a lamp to create extra light and to create shadows creating an eerie feel. This worked especially well when HOPE reaches in to the drawer for the nail file, as when her finger is running along the knife, the light follows her finger and reflects off of it.

Furthermore, we improved our camerawork by working on the steadiness of the shots by using the monopod when possible. Due to some of the shots being at awkward angles we had to use handheld camerawork, this proved difficult to get perfect non-shaky shots but we repeated the shots until they were correct.

The shots included did not follow the storyboard exactly, as some had to change due to it facing to be too difficult. But as a whole the shots we planned to include in the film were included, but varied in order. Shots we still needed to film were the pictures on the wall, which we were able to do in lesson time and the S.T.A.N. logo.

Production Logo.

Our group decided to design and make our own production logo.  We felt that this would give our film a little more originality and  a professional look. 

We started by drawing out a couple of designs and choose the best one.  The next process was to choose a bold font from word processor. After printing, we cut the stencil out of each letter so that we could use it as a tenplate to paint around.  We used a simple black acrilic paint for this and it gave a nice spatered effect, in which we were pleased with the outcome.

Once we had produced the logo (shown on the right) we stuck it to a plain wall.  Where we were able to film the still image, by performing a reverse zoom from the logo outwards.   By the first couple of takes we were very happy with the outcome, so we uploaded them onto the macs and edited the best one into the beginning of our opening title.

The Filming.

On the first filming session we experimented with lighting in order to see what worked. After looking over the material we filmed, we found that the darkness prevented the viewer to see exactly what was taking place. This meant that in our next filming session we would look at ways to improve this situation. The ideas we came up with using were: candles, torches and lamps. 

We also found that some shots were slightly shaky, so would try to improve this by using the tripod more often, rather than using hand held camera work. To add to this some shots were difficult to film, for example the shot looking over 'HOPE'S' shoulder was an awkward position, especially due to not being able to include her face in the shot.

There was also an issue with the amount of shots we were planning to include, as many of which didn't go as planned. For example the shot of including a title within spilt nail polish was near impossible as the nail varnish dried to quickly, so we decided to cut this from our film. We replaced this with a close up of the red nail varnish bottle and 'HOPE' playing with it, which looked similar to playing with blood.

S.T.A.N. logo- development of idea

Whilst experimenting with creating the S.TA.N. logo to include at the beginning of our film, we tried out using spray paint but decided that using Black acrylic paint on white A3 card would give a more professional look.
Here is the process of creating the logo:

Coming up with the S.T.A.N. logo

We as a group came up with the idea of inserting a production logo at the beginning of our project. The idea begun as a simple sketch, we then developed this by deciding to use real life hands holding the 'S.T.A.N. productions' sign. This would give the feel that there is an image inside another image, and would be effective as an abstract extra to the project, in order to give a personal feel. 

The title

We are currently in the process of editing our main title. Our plan is to adapt the text in photoshop by adding graphical imagery of a dark angel. This would enhance the effect of the title, making it original and relevant to the film. The angel we have decided to experiment with was found on google images. This angel could be seen as metaphorical to Hope's name as the name can be defined as  'to wish for with the expectation of fulfillment'.