Update on Editing - Becca

So far we are editing clips of the trailer we have produced, we have our main scene cut down in to small parts based on a Mathlete style competition between The Formula and D.N.A. Other clips we have at the moment is based on the make over and around Sam.

Editing update - Jordene

We now have all our footage and the editing part is progressing. Whilst filming we made several changes such as the beginning scene being a school photo style instead of a car scene as this was more convienient to do with the weather being difficult. We are now experiencing several difficulties with our files not opening sometimes and having to replace them, we are not entirely sure why this is yet. We are also having trouble finding a text to appear on the trailer that we feel is appropriate therefore this is something we need to try over come. One of our actresses also has a habit of looking straight at the camera therefore we may need to re film the parts she is in, as she only appears in a 'team' shot and this can be re done if we need too.
We have made progress with the music and all we need to do is add more variation of sounds as at present all we have is a main tune.

Update on filming - Jordene

Due to complications with casting and schedules we have been running slightly behind yet today we started to film.
Unfortunately, we had a few difficulties with people being ill and things not being portrayed on camera as we imagined them. We are going to keep updating our schedules and try find another time when everyone is avaliable to add finishing touches so we can finally begin editting and carrying on making progress on our front cover and poster.

Filming Schedule - Becca

Filming Schedule

Group: Jordene, Becca and Dizzy                                  Film Text: Chick Flick

Date of filming                       Scenes to be filmed                                   Resources/actors required  

16/11/2011        Car scene, all the geeks getting out of the car    Franchesca Graham, Georgia Goslett, Sam Snow, Bethanie Lewis and Mai Smith.              

22/11/2011      Maths contest                         Aimee Margott, Kellie Bingham,

Film Magazine - Demelza

This was the first idea I had when designing the poster, I wanted it to include all the characters since as it would give a better sense to what the film was about. However it is clear from the above image that having five people on the front cover proves a bit too much for the page. I have looked back over other film magazine covers and in most there are only a couple of people on the cover, and sometimes only one person. But then that also determins on the main characters. Since in our film there is one protagonist, the girl in the middle of the above photo, I then decided that I would only use a photo of her. I decided to have a light pink background, to compliment Sam's dress, the title is my first attempt at the header but clearly it isn't big enough and I do not like the font so I shall change that. The background is made up of photos of maths equations writen in a book, there is also very faint text that says 'the formular' and 'who's going to get it right'.

I have decided to go with this image of the main character as she has clear eye contact and the light direction of the photo is well done. She is clearly lit but there is still shadows that make the picture more interesting, the image before seemed dull. I had to use the lasso tool to crop her out of an original picture that had the full cast. The dress matching the background has proved positive, I also used a shadow effect to add a 3D effect and make her pop out of the cover, otherwise it would look too flat. 

I have changed the title, at first I thought of what colours to have, as I needed something that would match the image and not cause to much contrast. Looking back at my research into previous magazines I found that some did change the colours of their headers to match the main feature/image of their magazine. I therefore decided to have it the same colour as the dress. Deciding on the actual name was fairly easy, I changed the 'ED' to black and white make it look more interesting, it also matches with Sam's bow.

I decided to change the position of Sam, as most people in the magazine front covers have been placed in the middle to be able to feauture text around the body. I have decided to add a slogan to the magazine and place it under the heading, and I also made it relatable to the film being promoted: 'ultimate chick flick special'. This makes it obvious to reader what The Formula could possibly be about. I kept to the house styles and using pink/greys/blacks for the text around.

This is the final piece as shown in photoshop cs4, I have added text that is relatable to the issue of chick flicks. The magazine is an english magazine, and is premoting a British film therefore I thought I'd had the texts of 'sexy and english' that include famous British men. This is further informing the nature of the magazine and also intrigues the reader, I have also incorporated other films such as 'chalet girl' and 'bridesmaids.'

To make the title stand out a little more than it did I added a slight black border, similarly with the title of the film, it has a shadow to stand out more. "Inside the chick-flick that changes everything' is the tag that will get possible readers interested in the film.

Practicing Making the Poster - Demelza

I have chosen this image to be the one to work on because I love that fact that it's such a natural image, in fact the actors weren't not actually aware of the image being taken. But in a way it captures the nerdy persona well, the geeky smiles and Sam's normal pose gives of the effect I was looking for while taking the images.

To edit this image effectively I had to put it into photoshop cs4 and use the lasso tool to cut around the figures and put them in a new layer. This allowed me to smooth out the background to get it ready to easily edit a suitable background for a movie poster as the original wasn't professional enough. In my research most movie posters have a simple background or it is very professionally done, either a background scene from the film or an edited collection of images. I added a shadow to give it a 3D feel and make them stand out more, however it has made it obvious that the image has been cropped. Further editing included brighting the image and making slight alterations to the colouring to make it look more natural.

For the title I used Princetown LET as its a font regularly shown in schools, which I too used a shadow to make it stand out more. I had to download it off dafont.com. It is in the same colour as Sam's dress to make it clear that she is the main character and to let there be a clear styles of colours throughout the poster. I have made the background all one shade, the lighter colours bought out the shadows more and also resulted in the characters standing out more. I therefore had to edit again around each person to make it look professional, especially around Sam's hair that had a clear colour difference from the background and original image.

Then came the banners, slogan and release date so the poster isn't as plain. I used the same colour as the title/dress to keep the connection palet and used shadows to give them an extra lift off the page. I used the date August 2012 so it is a British summer movie and I decided on a caption that was going to get the possible viewer interested. The main reason for the banner placement at the bottom was because the image wasn't long enough to fill the whole page so I needed to come up with something to keep the size but for the image to not suddenly cut off. I think the banner justifies my meaning and it doesn't look awkward.

The final result of the the poster. I have included the script at the bottom of the poster, to give it the authenticity it needs, using our group names for the director/producer/etc duties and it also used the names of the actors. There is a website address too and made up icons for film picture companies. I also added a small equation under the title just to make it that little bit more interesting. I am pleased with the end result.

Taking Photo's for the Poster - Demelza

I originally took around 40 images, but I have narrowed it down to 5 that I liked the most.

This was the first arrangement that we decided to have our actors stand. Simular to other posters such as St. Trinians, it makes it easy to distinguish all characters as well as clearly represent the main. I wanted a room that had white walls to allow easier editing in Photoshop. However the rooms available was quite small so full body shots was impossible.

The aim of these photographs was to have 'The Geeks' pull extremely cheesy grins that contrast with Sams straight face. (With except of the first image which is a test.) I had two studio lights face the actors to make sure they were lit up enough so colours could be edited nicely.

In terms of the costume the actors wore jumpers/cardigans/blazers and with Georgia and Fran hats and glasses. Sam although relatively smart, wears a dress with long blonde hair. Creating a juxtaposition from 'The Geeks'.

The second arrangement shows them in rank also, with Sam at the front, slightly parted from the other actresses in the first photo. Her height is also an advantage to separating herself from the others. I also prefer the lighting on these photos, it's softer and doesn't blind the viewer with their smiles.

Picture Ideas for Front Picture on Teaser Poster - Becca

Picture Ideas for Poster:

·        All IT girls in a line, all looking unimpressed with Geek ( Sam Snow)
(IT GIRLS - Mai, Beth, Millie, Hannah and Sarah O'Hare ) (Geek transformer - Sam Snow) To show a hierachy if she is at the end, in a food chain style photo. To show how the IT girls think they are so much better than Sam.

·        All IT girls behind in triangle with Geek ( Sam Snow ) at the front looking confused with book and pen.
To convey some sense of talking behind her back? and Sam being oblivious to the kind of world the IT girls have.

·        All IT girls pointing at Sam laughing.
To show how the IT girls make fun of Sam and the Geeks,it is also to convey how nasty and superficial the IT girls can be.
·        Geeks on one side and IT girls on the other side, in a mock western style
To show the contrasting views between IT girls and Geeks, to also show how malicious girls can be.

·        Sam sat down, with geeks and IT girls and other groups fighting
Showing how Sam does not want to get involved and how she is in the middle?

Poster Template - Becca

1. The title will stand out on the poster and give connotations about what our film is about.
2. The colour scheme of pinks and blacks is to show the audience the film is targeted at girls.
3. The font will be quite large to eye catch the audience.
4. A quote from characters to also allure characters.
5. Release date quite large for the audience to see.

Scene Order - Becca

1. Car Scene – Cars pull up then we have a shot of each person ( close up of each character)
2. F - ( Sam Snow recieving an F- on one of her subject tests, she's very upset)
3. First Maths competition of them all laughing at her ( all laughing at Sam Snow because she does not know the answers)
4. Sam wanting to be a geek ( Funny quote)
5. Makeover ( of Sam Snow transformation into a geek)
6. Second competition ( Where Sam Snow is transformed into a geek and no one continues to mock her)
7. All walking along outside path ( Showing sam as one of the geeks)

• We have had to revise the order of the scenes to create a more realistic beginning and ending, we expect our trailer to be about 1 minute to 1 minute and a half.

 

Costume Idea's - Jordene

Above is a moodboard of our costume and hair and make up ideas. For the beginning our main characters will have big hair, braces, lipstick on teeth etc. whilst our main character will have perfect make up, designer clothes, long blonde hair etc. showing clear differences between them and making stereotypes clear. Due to our main character going from 'IT' girl to geek, the make over will be opposite to the conventional ones with the main girl having big hair, glasses and bad make up. Pictures of the blonde girl featured above will be similar to our character after the make over whilst the one's with brown hair will be our geeky characters.

Music for the Trailer - Becca

We decided as we wanted our opening part of the trailer to have 1,2,3 to suggest the start of the film, this song would be appropriate. However when sending several emails to the producers and directors of the music video and the music stars themselves we recieved no reply. We did not want to have any problems with copyright so instead we used a song found on Sound Track Pro called 'Funk' for the background in the trailer.

Email to Head of Drama about borrowing props! - Becca

Prop List - Becca & Jordene

1. Podiums ( for the math contest)
2. Glasses
3. Bad Handbags
4. Car
5. Bad Clothes
6. Maths Papers
7. Books
8. Folders
9. Phones - Nokia ( Bricks)
10. Pens
11. Make- up

These are the main props, used for the trailer, we need podiums for the maths contest as a classical American scene in which one team is winning and the other team is losing. In terms of costume design, we are going to need awful handbags and bad clothes and glasses to show the Geeks have no sense of fashion or upcoming trends. Old phones can also associate them with not being very cool, and in with the latest trends as well. Pens, folders, books and math papers again are just to clearly convey how into their school studies they are. Make - up is needed for the makeovers, and bad make up can be used for the geeks as well. We will also be using one car for a scene in which all the geeks step out in a very awkward fashion.