Diary Entry #14

So I'm back from my little break away from production and whilst I did have a bit of a break over the past week I was still working hard to maintain my focus on my production. Expect magazine drafts in the coming days, and I have been planning a tutorial session so that I can have a better understanding of IMovie.

Diary Entry #13

Once again just a quick update on my progress, the development of my magazine is coming along really well as I have sent out my basic first draft in search for feedback. But given that Christmas is fast approaching I have decided to take a little break over the next week so don't worry if I become a little inactive. I can assure you that I'll be back to update you on my progress after the Christmas break.

Props

Looking into the props for my trailer has become a significant aspect of preparation as whilst reflecting on my storyboard it became apparent that there are some really important props that I need. One of these being fake money or coins - this is needed for many reasons, one being it plays a big role in the film as it is the goal for my main character to get money, and two being it may feature on both my poster and magazine almost as a motif.Therefore I spent some time looking for "Fake money" on the internet and came across a a few options that I may place an order for. Additionally the use slight detail that the money will be in american dollars easily identifies how the film is based in america thus supporting the reason behind the american production company.

Other props that I need, do not necessarily need to be purchased. With the desktop computer being one of these as luckily I already have one that is suitable for my trailer. Of course if I didn't I wouldn't be buying a computer just to match what I am looking for. Instead this might lead to a change in location or using an alternative computer.

Diary Entry #12

Its been a while since I last updated my blog through a diary entry and there are some really important things that I have been working on so I have decided to update you on my progress.  As you may have seen recently I released both my basic poster draft and the audience feedback to it, but you may be wondering where is my magazine draft? Don't worry I've been working on that today and I will once again update you with what I have come up with, as well as the audience feedback.

Font Research And Design For Inter Titles

So these past couple of days I've really been thinking about the potential design and general appearance of my inter titles on screen. And I thought I would research further by looking at films that have so far heavily influenced my this project one of those being "Ted 2" of which the inter-titles within the trailer are simple in appearance as well as movement on screen which enables the trailer to flow easily. . Nonetheless the simple green design is something echoed throughout the poster and even the original Ted. This showed me the importance consistency and has encouraged me to use the same font design and colour throughout my ; trailer , poster, magazine and inter-titles. 

Audience feedback From Poster Draft

After having posted my basic first poster draft on social media I asked for some thoughts on it and thankfully I was able to gain alternative thoughts on my poster, which I will summarise and build on for my next draft. This is the post I put on Facebook in order to achieve these results:
On the left hand side is the original post I made with the right hand side containing the initial responses I obtained, I will update this blog should any relevant responses occur.

To summarise: Considering both the responses and my own thoughts

The positives:
Establishes meaning
Creates the Comedy genre through images
Font design is along the right lines

To Build on:
Include a background in order to enhance the genre
More relevant images
Other details such as production company , actors etc.

Filming Update #4

Incredible, the fact that I can let my crew have a day off because we are so far ahead and then on the day they return we almost finish filming, simply incredible. Such a productive day again, today we just finished up the montage sequences that we had started the other day and so nearly finished filming all together. We are so close, and we've worked so hard as a team to get to this position so there is no doubt in my mind that we wont finish the production on our next day of filming , which although it was only meant to be a contingency due to the drama of the first day of filming, we still need it to completely finish it . And yes we could've finished filming had I not let my team have a day off, but by doing so I have sustained their focus in the project and kept them fresh. Because lets not forget that filming can be a very monotonous process, so by keeping my team happy and making sure they are focused it means we can be as productive as possible when it comes to filming. And it makes me so proud as a director to see the focus and importance of this production for all my crew. Be it the first break as a actor or adding an example of set design to your portfolio, all members of my crew in the past couple of days have been fantastic.

Filming Update #3

Wow, the success of the last two days has been incredible and after are sluggish start to filming the team have really kicked on well and shown real desire to get the necessary shots. Today's been another fantastic day of filming, which is really important seeing as today was one of the longest filming days that we had planned and it also included more than one location to travel to. But what an effort the team put in, we started off with a short session in the morning in the local high-street before an afternoon of montage sequences. Overall really pleased with what we got and we also started shooting shots from the later stages of the trailer so due to our brilliant progress I've decided to give the lads a day off tomorrow, they've deserved it, plus I can't see us needing too many more filming days as we are so far ahead now.

Filming Update #2

Despite my original filming schedule being thrown off after yesterdays problematic start myself and the team looked to better ourselves today and get all the footage necessary to set the ball rolling in the process. And thanks to the owner of our set we were able to rearrange another night time slot in order to get the all important lighting for the opening sequence. To avoid the same problem as yesterday the whole team met up together around 2 hours prior to filming at about 6 o clock and travelled to the location together. This also got us all in a focused frame of mind which assured that we could all be as productive as possible when filming. The filming itself was a success and we managed to get more footage than we originally anticipated which is always a bonus, the team are all buzzing for filming tomorrow.

Filming Update #1

So what a disaster the first day of filming has been, we set out with our crew to the first location only for one of my actors to arrive late on set. This meant we were already behind before we had even set up. Nonetheless we carried on, trying to get all possible shots with a man down, but it seemed like forever until he arrived. And when he did arrive we had hardly any remaining time to get the necessary shots as this day scene needed to be shot at night. Meaning that we could not have gone earlier to film as there would have been insufficient lighting, also we we're kindly allocated 2 hours of filming by the owner of the premises under the condition that we did not run over this time. So with the very limited footage we shot, we have literally just cleaned the set for the time being and organised I time to come back tomorrow. Very frustrating start to filming, and given the time of 23:30 that I am writing this, it has been an extremely disheartening beginning. But we should not let this get to us, we need to stay focused and improve upon our mistakes for tomorrow.