Production progress

7th November

Today, we decided to have a group discussion on how we could use our feedback obtained from our teacher to make our production better. If we wish to achieve a higher grade then we will use the feedback given to trim scenes and add new scenes to the music video. The first changes we discussed were to instead of having the main character dying in a hospital (although this will be implied throughout) but instead at the end of the music video you will see the character in an open casket at a funeral. We decided on this as a funeral scene is much easier to set up than a full hospital room and equipment. Another change we decided on was the end scene where our main character enters his house and dies. Our teacher has said in her feedback that this scene is too long and not interesting enough. We have not decided on how to change this, only that we will. Lastly, we have decided to add another scene to suggest that there is something surreal about the world the character is living in, this will be shown by leaves falling from a tree onto the main character but these leaves will be falling upwards.

Another task we carried out during this time was a production schedule update. This was a table like before that clearly showed us what tasks need to be done and by what date.

The pictures below are of our discussions on what changes we will make to our production and on us planning out our new production schedule.

Feedback on first cut

After showing our teacher the rough cut of our production, she had a talk with us about what was good about the production and what could do with some adjustments. Once we had been told what she thought, Miss gave us a feedback sheet that she had filled out with notes on what was good and what needs improving, here are the notes.

Holding a shot steady

The first zoom out on Ashley needs re-doing as it is noticeably jerky. This could also be sorted out by doing a montage of shots, cutting out the jerky bits so it looks like it has been done for a different effect.

Appropriate material

Here a comment suggested we should link the beat at the start with a link to a suitable visual.

The corridor shot needs to be more obviously strange.

Approaching the pump house near the meads needed to be more significant and interesting.

The last shot of approaching Ashley's house was "boring" and needs to be changed.

Selecting mise en scene

Miss had noted she like the noir shadow as Ash leaves his bed.

The surreal pictures were a good idea but aren't very obvious to the viewer.

The last shot is good however Ash could possibly be covered with a sheet for more impact.

Editing for meaning

It has been noted that the music should start after our introduction captions to the examiner.

We should stress the opening of Ashley's eyes more in the opening.

We need to add in our sound effects of the heart rate monitor.

The sitting down at the table needs to be shortened down a little.

The transition to the corridor scene was good but more needs to be done by maybe fading the scene into the piece of paper just before hand.

Varied shot transitions, caption and other FX

We should maybe try out an original idea we had back in pre-production where Ashley is walking in one direction and a passer by is walking in another.

Possibly film so leaves falling off a tree then reverse the footage

Use of sound with images/ editing

Some good ideas

Overall comment

"Good overall idea, but some shots lack impact - go for more strangeness/ weirdness, build uup uncertainty in viewer - can they trust what they are seeing, colour in last shot is good, use spot colour at other points."

Rough cut of production

This is our first cut of our production. This cut is missing a few scenes due to finding the time to do the visual effects