Production Diary

We have been tasked to produce a Production Diary throughout the process of creating our two Short Films, one entitled "The Chase" and the other entitled "The Deal". Here you will see all of our Production Decisions, as well as relevant research and our final idea. 

This is a screen grab from YouTube showing a Chase scene from the film “Inception”; a lot of the greatest chase scenes of all time involve cars which realistically can’t be achieved when creating a short 2 minute film and with the resources we have. However, with the resources available to us we can create a scene simply involving two (or more) people chasing after one another like displayed in Inception; you can create something intense and effective with a simple narrative and involving just two or more people that if shot correctly can look visually aesthetically pleasing. This scene was a great scene to look at as it involves a simple narrative that if you were to recreate could possibly be achieved (parts of it anyway) and it shows that a chase scene involving two people chasing another can effectively be done in contrast to chase scenes involving cars, explosives etc.  Looking at scenes like this one can help when starting to develop an idea for a short film entitled “The Chase”, and in order to develop ideas I must look at chase scenes similar and different to this one in order to help produce a variety of ideas. 

Above are screen grabs from a YouTube video of a simple chase scene, however this isn't from a film, this “simple” chase scene was shot by students which is great to look at and get inspiration for our own videos. The idea of the chase was quite basic but had a comedy element to it which may be something I could incorporate when developing ideas. They used a variety of different shots, which some could be improved on but overall as a student film only being 55 seconds long, this simple chase scene had great shots and good ideas of camera angles which you can tell was taken from other famous chase scenes which again added to the comedy element along with the music being played in the background. This simple scene was very useful to look at and shows that it is achievable to make a professional looking chase scene for a student film and use a variety of different shots in a short amount of time still making it look effective and exciting to watch. 

This was from a website which displays "Steps and Tips" to making a "suspenseful scene", as you can see these were some of the tips that I can use to help me in creating a short film/scene full of tension. This is very useful to me as when creating my short film, I can refer back to this and include some of the tips in my short film like the different camera shots including close-ups, including focusing on eyes which helps "bringing the audience closer to the actors in the scene". As well as using "dramatic lighting" which helps build suspense, and music which helps "heighten the tension" and the site uses an example of Alfred Hitchcock and how in his scenes the "music alone will send shivers down your spine". Overall, I feel that this was very useful and building tension/suspense is very important as our ideas revolve around suspense; we as a group must try and incorporate these tips and try as hard as possible to attempt in building tension for the audience by adding these tips in our production process but making them our own and for our own ideas.

Idea Development

The Chase:

Initial Idea 1 - Witness of a Murder

An idea, which I plan on developing, is the idea of a chase scene after the witness of a murder. The idea would involve a female walking alone on her way to college through a dark and mysterious forest, after walking for a while she hears screams and slowly walks towards the noise and discovers a man stood with the body of a lifeless female in his arms. The female thinks she’s unseen and hidden behind the trees, but the mysterious figured male hears footsteps and turns around to find the female peering behind the tree. This is when the chase will begin and the murderer runs after the female through the forest to stop her from telling anyone about his incident.

Initial Idea 2 – Mysterious Driver

The second initial idea which I plan on developing includes two females walking home late at night in the rain when a car drives past and stops in front of them, the girls plan on walking past until the male inside the car winds the window down and asks if they want a lift. At first they explain how it’s fine however after some persuasion they both get into the car, as they drive they come across a house where the male plans on stopping and coming back in a few moments. The girls find this suspicious and checks if the doors are unlocked and find them locked and begin to panic; the girls climb over to the boot of the car and find a way of getting out of the car. Just as the girls are escaping from the car the male driver comes out along with another male and sees the two of them running away from the car. The girls notice and see the two males exit the house just as they’re beginning to run away and the chase begins.

The Deal:

Initial Idea 1 – The Body

This first initial idea consists of a male discovering another male at the bottom of the stairs looking as if he’s fallen down the stairs but as he looks up discovers another male at the top of the stairs looking very shifty and suspicious. As the male notices someone has seen him he begins to take off and run up the stairs; the other male that saw him runs after him until the suspicious male comes to a dead end. The two males come face to face where he begins to question the suspicious male, the suspicious male then explains a deal explaining not to tell anyone about this, accept the deal and act like he’s seen nothing. The male surprisingly agrees to the deal and walks off as if nothing has happened adding a sort of comedy element.

Initial Idea 2 - Record Deal

This idea consists of a female singer who gets discovered by an agent whilst singing/busking outside on the streets, the female is homeless and by this agent scouting her and offering her this record deal she is able to successfully start singing and better her life. Throughout the film you will see her singing outside on the streets, showing shots of the environment, which she’s in, as well as her clothing showing that she’s poor and homeless.

Chosen Idea

The Chase: - Witness of a Murder – two characters

Part 2

The film starts by a woman walking towards a room/building after hearing noise of a gun shot, she walks towards the room, opening the door silently and sees before her a man stood over another man along with a brief case in his hand as well as a gun. The woman then gasps, then the male turns around to see her; the female instantly runs in shock and the male follows. This follows a long chase scene through various locations including stairs, alleyways, back alleys etc. Eventually the chase scene ends by the female falling to the ground, the male will then approach the female slowly as she pulls herself along the floor. The male reaches the female on the floor, the female screams and then the film ends; again on a cliffhanger. 

The Deal: Part 1- three characters

This idea consists of a male starting on the phone arranging a deal, the shots will go from that to establishing shots of the killer walking with a mysterious silver brief case. The mysterious man with the briefcase will then enter a building, into a dark mysterious room where he'll greet a dealer from the darkness where the two discuss the deal. The mysterious man then pulls out a gun and shoots the man he handed the briefcase to, picking up the briefcase full of money. He then notices someone watching him, realizing someone witnessed the murder perhaps; the film then ends on a cliffhanger.

Audience Profile

Questionnaire

1. What is your age?
2. What is your gender?
3. a) Are you employed? Yes.   No.
4. b) If yes, from the options below what is your job role?

A - Higher Managerial    Administrative    Professional =

B - Intermediate, Managerial, Administrative     =

C1 - Supervisory, junior managerial, =

C2 - Skilled Manual Worker=

D - Semi- unskilled manual workers =

E - Student, Casually, State Worker =

5. Which of the following do you live in?

Town

Village

Costal

Other: (Please specify) ________

6. Do you enjoy films involving action and why?
7. What is your favourite chase scene from a film?
8. What do you think makes a good Chase scene?

Results:

	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Q5	Q6	Q7	Q8
A	16	Male	No	__	Town	Yes because they’re thrilling and keep you on edge	Casino Royale opening chase scene	A good chase scene must include action between characters that are interesting
B	18	Female	Yes	D	Town	Yes because they’re fun to watch	I love the scream films so chase scenes from there	It must involve good characters, and good music to cause an emotional response
C	25	Male	Yes	C2	Town	Yes – favourite genre of film	bullitt car chase	Car chases are the best chase scenes
D	21	Female	Yes	D	City	Some are OK if they have interesting characters in  them	I love the film Death Proof and the car chase at the end	Interesting characters as then we care for them when being chased/ etc.
E	17	Male	Yes	____	Village	Yes because they’re the most thrilling to watch	Hot fuzz funny chase scene and action film James Bond – Aston Martin chase	Good music, different camera shots, - sometimes comedy can work and can be realistic to make

As you can see from this table, I asked 5 “young” people (my suggested target audience), two females and three males, some had jobs and others were students and three lived in a town, one lived in a city and one a village. Their responses on the open questions differed slightly, with that being said all of them but one saying they're “OK” said they enjoyed Action Films and the person that said they were “OK” was female. When it came to Question 7, they all had different chase scenes which they enjoyed but when it came to the final Question 8, 3 of the 5 people asked included “interesting characters” makes a good chase scene in their answers and 2 of the 5 people said good music meaning that when I come to making my Chase Scene I must think about these elements as well as other elements that result in an exhilarating chase scene that causes an emotional response from the audience.

From this Questionnaire I can come up with a Target Audience. Our Short Film must be rated with a 15 certificate meaning our Target Audience cannot be any lower than this however for our Target Audience we plan on creating a chase scene between two young people meaning that our Short Film will be targeted mainly at young people – adults meaning teenagers aged 15 and upward and we also know this as when undertaking the Questionnaire above who were all "young" people and overall they all enjoyed action films which hopefully certifies that the target  audience being young people is the correct decision to cater our film for.  

 Production Schedules 

The Deal and The Chase Short Film
Unit Call Time: 13:00		Weather: Temp (Celsius): Humidity
Main Production Contact		Name & Number: Rory Campbell (Director)
Director and Production Manager: Camera Operator: Lighting Technician: Editor:	Rory  Tim Robbie ALL			356207@chesterfield.ac.uk 355427@chesterfield.ac.uk 351568@students.chesterfield.ac.uk

Preliminary Schedule – The Chase
Time	Action
12:30 13:00 16:00	Meet at location for filming – set up equipment Walk to other locations and film Walk back to college to hand in equipment and get footage off cameras	Unit Wrap Time: 16:30

Preliminary Schedule – The Deal
Time	Action
13:00 13:15 14:30 16:00	Meet at location – set up equipment  Ready for filming in the studio/college Walk to next location/s Walk back to college to hand in equipment and get footage off camera	Unit Wrap Time: 16:30

Equipment Lists

·       Canon 60D Camera – we will need this specific camera in order to film our Short film at the highest possible quality (industry standard)

·       Tripod – we will need a tripod in order to professionally shoot our short film ensuring the camera is securely attached and sturdy enough for shooting

·       Shotgun Microphone – we will need this specific microphone as we will be shooting outside and the shotgun microphone will cancel out any other background noise

·       Task cam – we will need a task cam in order to plug in our shotgun microphone and record our audio at the best possible quality available to us

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Production Roles & Responsibilities

Rory Campbell – Director

Tim Beal – Director of Photography

Robbie Marsden – Lighting

 My job Role – Responsibilities

Lighting Technician- Job Description

As a Lighting Technician, the main job and responsibility is to set up the lighting equipment before filming; their job role is crucial as the lighting in a scene must create the correct atmosphere that’s intended by the director to evoke an audience’s response. A Lighting Technician must have high-level technical skills as well as creative skills to be able to envision the lighting and how to portray the lighting. They must produce the lighting effects for many forms of media, including TV or Film productions.

 

 In order to be a Lighting Technician you must have the relevant skills as well as some interests; including knowledge and technical skills, as well as having a lot of creativity and another main skill is to have good communication and people skills as although you can set up lighting independently you generally work in a team, working closely with the Director and DOP to ensure that the lighting is set up in the correct way from the Director’s perspective and interpret their creative vision.

As a lighting Technician, one is responsible for the movement of the lighting and setting up the lighting correctly considering the separation of light and shadow or contrast, depth of field and other visual effects.

Lighting Techniques

A technique, which could be useful for our Short Film and we could use; is using a soft front light and a hot back light. This is where you use a diffused light at the front and a stronger light at the back of the subject (actor) that would highlight the subject and give them a “hot edge”. This could be used for the scenes when the mysterious man with the brief case is talking with the dealer; illuminating them in a bright light or one specific subject as they’ll be in a dark room where one person can be in light and the rest of the room is in darkness. The soft light at the front is known as the “fill light” and the stronger light at the back is known as the “backlight”. As a lighting technician, you can play around with the lights and arrange them in a particular way in order to leave darkness between the subject and area in the front light and the area in the back light.

Another technique I could use is using two different light sources of different “colour temperatures” on a particular subject in the same shot. However, there may be difficulties with this as you couldn’t possible manipulate two light sources of completely different colours and make it look aesthetically pleasing. We could experiment and I could try this technique and see if it would work, especially when the mysterious man or the “murderer” notices the female open the door and can see him; meaning that one part of his face would be in darkness as he’s in the dark room and the only light is coming from the door and shone onto him.

An essential part of lighting, which every lighting technician must know, is 3 Point Lighting. In 3 point lighting there is a Key Light, Fill Light and Back Light.

Key Light is the main light source; normally it’s the strongest light and influences the feel of the scene depending on the techniques you use. This Key Light is placed to one side of the camera as well as the subject so that the side is well lit and the other side has a shadow.

 

Fill Light is known as the “secondary light source” and is placed on the opposite side of the key light meaning that two lights will be placed on the subject. The Fill Light is used in order to fill the shadows created by the Key Light and in order to achieve this you can play around with the lights, rearranging them and moving the light further away.

The Back Light is a light, which is placed behind the subject, and lights from the rear. This light doesn’t provide direct lighting like the other two lights, but provides “definition” and “subtle highlights” around the subjects outlines; this helps separate the background from the subject and give the subject definition- a “three dimensional look”.

Best Lighting Kits

For our Short Film after gathering together Camera/Tripod Equipment etc you need a solid lighting source; that’s Tungsten, Florescent and LED. For us we will be shooting outside a lot of the time so we will need to use LED lights, as these are the only light sources we can use without a power cable. For the shots we’ll shoot inside, we will be shooting in a dark bedroom meaning that for when we’re shooting we can use other sources of lighting, as power cables are available to us like Tungsten Lighting. With that being said we will most probably use LED lights as it may help with the feel of our short film but we will experiment with the light sources and see which lighting fits best for the mood of our video. We will also use Light Reflectors when we’re doing close-ups as this will help reflect the lighting and light up the subject’s faces and we can use different covers on the light reflector to portray certain atmospheres/feelings.

LED lights are going to be the main light source throughout our short film, LED lights use “light emitting diode” and requires a small amount of energy to run however these batteries may not be reliable for filming for a whole day meaning I would have to bring back up batteries. For when we film inside we can easily plug the LED lights in to a power source. However, with that being said LED lights do not use any type of Gas or “filament” meaning they tend to last longer. But as said we could also use tungsten lights as one dramatic light would be used to light up the darkness and evoke a response from viewers. 

Storyboards

The Deal 

The Chase 

The Chase - Dialogue 

Above is the dialogue which we intend to include in our short film; as you can see not a lot is included however as a group we feel that not a lot of dialogue is needed and this short script will be enough to create effect and cause an emotional response from the audience. 

Editing 

Above is a photo of the editing process; we edited on industry standard software, that being Final Cut Pro and this allowed us to edit to the best of our ability, cutting clips and placing clips together in order for it to be effective and look aesthetically pleasing for audiences.