The opening of 'Taking A Risk'

Evaluation - Question 7

By Farjana Begum

Question 6

By, Farjana Reshma Rahman

Question 3,4 and 5

Yasmin Joygun Nesaa

Evaluation - Question 2

By Farjana Begum

Evaluation - Question 1

By Farjana Reshma Rahman

PRELIMINARY TASK

This is our preliminary task, including a variety of camera shots. It must have the 180 degree rule, shot-reverse shot and action match. Titles and music are compulsory.

The whole group.

Final Edit

Making the film opening was great fun and really exciting, i enjoyed working together to create a fantastic piece of work.
I think that our final edit is a huge improvement compared to our rough cut.
The range of various different shots is much better and the narrative is a lot clearer to understand.
When we first started to make the film opening, i was really bad at filming and keeping the camera steady, but throughout making the film opening i think that my camera skills developed a lot and is now much improved, the camera shots i did in the final edit are a lot better than when i first started to film.
I think that the titles that me and farjana made came out good, but they could have been a little more adventuress because they are quite simple.
However we have purposely made the titles simple because when we researched into titles we saw that drama movies had simple titles.
In our final edit there is a lot more various editing techniques than our rough edit.
To sum up i feel that the final edit has improved significantly and is a lot more enjoyable to watch.

Joygun Yasmin Nessa

My Experience and thoughts

This project was a great adventure at the start, it was difficult to get the shots correctly, the only shot we did correctly was the whip-pan as we practiced before hand. Also because it we where so set on just getting the camera work done and over with so we can we move onto editing the footage, we just got the shots following on our storyboard, not getting a range of shots, to experiment and the consequences showed after.  Whilst filming, it all felt like a long process, also because we were in the middle of winter and the weather was very cold and breezy. When we went to the city to shoot the whip-pans, it was snowing, so it was very hard working on the camera with burning cold hands. However, because of the weather and our tight-schedule we could not get various restaurants of different cultures, hence, having street cafes and bakeries, which were also a little bumpy whilst whip-panning. We couldn’t get the restaurants we wanted because of timing and other subject work and curfews, also the distance and time to get to our destination.

On the other hand, when we where shooting on the riverside, it was very hard to get the actresses expression because of the barrier. So most of her expressions where side shots and because of the sun behind her face, her body was made a faint silhouette making it difficult to see her expression.

Editing was only difficult when editing footage that wasn’t shot properly and editing with footage of few range of shots. Also, it lacked in different editing, which could’ve been put in easily, for instance, eye line match,action match or graphic match. Despite the fact that our first draft didn't develop to be how we pictured it, it opened our eyes on where we went wrong. So we were set on getting all the shots needed and making sure our original idea's were still intact, nevertheless, still trying different shots on each frame and it came to great use when editing because when one thing didn't look right, we could change or cover it with something else. 
We also used voice-over for the first time, when we did your practise run it sounded fine, however, we did realise that we will have to time it with the edited footage. But the problem was when we recorded our voice over for our rough edit and it came our with an echo, so for our final edit we had to tweek wih the program to get it normal with no effect and was much better.
Music was another adventure also, I couldn't find the right song, I knew i definelty wanted to have a piano playing, if not it being just a solo, because of the research I've done on the drama genre and that was the best way to go. However, everything that we chose seemes abit too depressing or too happy or even held a fantasy feeling. That's what our first music choice delievered, the genre of fantasy, which was completely different to what we wanted our music to signify. We wanted it to establish the genre and soon we found a fitting song, we just had to cut parts off and add specific parts of the music to get it just right.
Overall, I think our project was abit unusual, our first draft was much more different to the the storyboard and then the final edited video was sticking to the storyboard only adding a few extra action match and some natural transitions. Now, we only wait for the feedback and see what our audience thought of it.

Farjana [Reshma] Rahman

Research on Target Audience

Our movie is a drama, we have decided to do a drama because we feel that it will have a larger target audience than horror, which was originally the genre that we planned to do.
We decided to do a movie on drama rather than horror because we felt the audience will be more interested and attracted to a drama movie rather than a horror movie, which is rather typical.
A target audience is a group of people that the movie is appealing to and aimed at.
The target audience for our movie is anyone from the the age of 6 and above.
I think the target audience should be over the age of 6 because our movie is about cancer and young children will not understand what cancer means.
Our movie is a drama and therefore it should attract a larger audience because it can be viewed as a family movie which is appropriate for people of any age and gender.
We are aware of the fact that our movie is more likely to attract females rather than males as the narrative is emotional and depressing.
It is a fact that women are more likely to feel empathy towards the character than men as women are more emotional and sensitive than men and therefore, would be more sympathetic.
Some men may watch the movie with their partners or family, but other than that it wouldn't be the sort of movie that men would willing go and watch themselves.
Furthermore i assume that a large group of the audience will be teenage girls as the main character is a teenage girl and they will feel as if they understand her feelings and the emotional turmoil that she is going through.
The genre of the movie is extremely important as different types of genre attract different types of audiences.
Overall i think that we made the right decision in doing a drama movie instead of horror as it provides us with a larger audience.

Joygun Yasmin Nessa

Filming Experince

During the filming our footage that was set in the riverside, I came across a problem due to the pillar that was next to where we were shooting. We didn't realise it could come in the way of our footage until we did the long shot that pans up. This made it difficult to pan-up and still look ok. In order to avoid filming the pillar during panning, i panned slightly to the side and panned up from there.

Farjana Begum

Filming Experience 2

During our filming experience, we added a few things that we didn't have in our rough cut.
For example when the girl is in the doctors and just about to find out she has terminal cancer, we show her shaking her legs.
This connotes that there is something wrong and that she is nervous about finding out the news.
We added a close-up shot of the doctors hand on the girls shoulder, this implies to the audience that this is a serious matter.
Also we got a few more shots of whip-panning of the various different restaurants and sites.
However i don't feel that we got enough various different shots when filming and this is something we should have focused more on and kept it in mind.
Moreover the filming had to be based on the weather and we had problems with the filming because of the weather change, for example when filming next to the canal, some shots of the sky was a different colour to another shot of the sky because on one of the days the sky was quite dark and on another day the sky was bright and sunny.
Therefore when we came to editing it together, the sky shots did not match and the edit did not blend together well.
One part that did go well when filming by the canal was when we did the eye-line match of the girl looking over to the other side of the canal.
Another problem i had when filming was that i found it hard to keep the same frame when moving around the camera.
Furthermore when we did some of the shots without the tri-pod, i found it hard to keep my hand steady.
On the other hand we were more successful when filming the girl walking into school, because the action match worked well.
Overall i had a good filming experience, but i do think i need to improve my technical skills.

Joygun Yasmin Nessa

Feedback!

When getting back our feedback, we got mixed responses. We realised from the feedback that we could have improved our opening with or by adding, little things. For instance, some said that the titles would look better on the actual footage rather than on a black background. However, if we were to have the black background, it would look much better if it where to come after some footage and not all at once. Also, one person said that we could make it better by adding a eye-line match on what the protagonist is looking at, to show the flow on continuity. A positive feedback was on the setting, it was a nice setting to establish the drama genre, however, it was particularly difficult to get the actors expression because of the restriction of the railing and the actors position. Our peers, also liked the idea of having a voice over to introduce some of the narrative with dialogue, but found it sounded like an echo and it distracted the audience and didn't feel smooth. Taking on this feedback we are also going to re-shoot some footage, for example, the end of the film where the actor changes from the future to the present to start the story and have the title of the film before that frame, to make it look more like the beginning of a film then an ending.

Farjana [Reshma] Rahman

Rough Edit

This is our rough edit, however, there where many changes made during the rough edit. Mostly changes in the storyboard; for example, we didn't have a shot of her walking away and we couldn't get the shot the panning to the sky to pan back down correctly, so we couldn't add that in. So, this is what we edited from the footage we had.

Music

Whilst researching into music and possible music that I could use in my own work, I noticed a common theme that run in drama based film. That was the music was usually calm and peaceful, a score, with the majority of the instrument playing being the piano. Seven pounds opening is really effective in grabbing the audience attention, the dialogue inform the audience that there is a great twist in this story. However, it was the score, the soft, slow, sad but dramatic, piano playing in the background that signifies that the film's genre is drama. In My Sister's Keeper, it also introduced the Drama genre to the film, however, the music was much tenser in Seven Pounds in contrast to My Sister's Keeper, it is carefree and cool. So, when I researched into song choices it was based, it was crucial that I look at areas that create the atmosphere i want, that where calm and carefree, nevertheless, introduce the genre of genre Drama.

Farjana [Reshma] Rahman

Practise Titles

We did some rough titles for our film opening.

We experimented with different fronts,sizes and colours.

When practising how to make titles in Boris, we learnt a few new skills we could use when making our actual titles. 

We practised making these titles so that we were able to establish what we needed to include when making our final titles in Motion.

Doing this practise of titles has helped us to learn better techniques when making titles and also we learnt how to use new programs such as Boris and Motion.

Overall i think it was a good experience practising titles.

Joygun Yasmin Nessa & Farjana Begum

Changes made to our storyboard

While we were filming our film opening we realised that some changes had to be made to our storyboard.
Some of the changes that we have made from our original storyboard is that we have changed some of our shots.
We have done this so that we could include more of a variety of shots to our film opening, for example, graphic match, eye line match etc.
This had to be done because we did not have a god variety of shots.
We have also included another shot right at the end of the film opening.
This shot shows that the girl has now taken the risk and has now changed.
We did this because it sums up the ending and makes the story more easier for the audience to understand.
Moreover we have changed the one of the scenes when she walks off with her friend.
Instead of the girl walking off with her friend, she will walk out of the scene by herself as we think this works better and shows that she is in this on her own and only she can make the changes in her life.
These are the changes we have made to improve on our film opening.

Joygun Yasmin Nessa

Sound in our movie

In our movie we have include diegetic and non-diegetic sound.
The diegetic sound was the natural sounds that could be heard in the background.
The diegetic sound that we used was a voice over.
The voice over was used for our main character.
We used a voice over so that the audience is able to understand the emotions and feelings of the girl is going through.
By doing this the audience is able to sympathise toward her.
We got the idea to use a voice over in our movie because when we were researching dramas we saw that alot of dramas have voice overs for the main character.
For example in the movie 'while you were sleeping' there was a voice over and also in the movie 'my sisters keeper'.
Also while we were editing we added a soundtrack to create and calm and relaxing atmosphere.
Some improvements that we could have made was to include some sound effects or made a score for a specific scene and we could have included silence to create a dramatic effect.
Overall i feel that the sound techniques we used was good.

Joygun Yasmin Nessa

Filming Experience

When i first started filming the various different restaurants using whip-pan i realised that i was making a lot of mistakes and moving the tri-pod when i should have been moving just the camera.
As i carried on filming other locations i realised by mistakes and understood what i was doing wrong.
I think that doing this made me have a better understanding of how to move the camera,
and helped me significantly because after doing this i was able to improve on by filming skills and learnt how to do whip-panning properly.
These mistakes i made when first filming has taught me to keep giving it another go and trying so that when i am filming in the future i will no longer make the same mistakes and have a much more steady hand with the camera.

Joygun Yasmin Nessa

Practise Voice over

In our film opening we will be using a voice over of the main character.
I have practised making a voice over so that when we make our one for our film opening i am familiar with the program and understand how to make it.
When i practised making a voice over i realised that the voice sounded like it had echoes.
This is something that i need to improve on when making the actual voice over for our film opening.
I experimented with the different tools to make the voice sound the way i wanted it to.
I was able to change the pitch and make it  sound deep or high pitch and squeaky.
I also wanted to match the voice to the character,
the main character in our film opening is a girl and i think her voice should sound quiet and calm because she is upset about finding out that she has terminal cancer.
I think practising the voice over has helped me so i now know what sort of things i can do to the voice over for our film opening.
I can now make many improvements to the practise voice over and include the changes in the final voice over that we will use.

Joygun Yasmin Nessa

Soundtrack- Whole Album

http://magnatune.com/artists/albums/hanford-24preludes/

this entire album includes great solo piano tracks that would go well with our film opening.

Farjana Begum

soundtrack option 3- Calm

http://magnatune.com/artists/albums/dini-calm/

This soundtrack is called ''calm'', it is most preferable for the film opening because it is really good in emphasising the sadness in the film. the music is really slow and really relaxing. The minds natural rhythms are reflected in its sounds.

Farjana Begum

soundtrack option 2- magical tales

http://magnatune.com/artists/albums/jbwallach-magicalt/

this solo piano soundtrack would go well with the sad film opening as it is slow and calm which would make the audience acknowledge the fact that someone is about to die and how sad it is for them. the music is not upbeat so the audience know the film isn't about something exciting or happy, neither is the music too sad that it makes the film too boring to watch.

Farjana Begum

soundtrack option 1- beauty of the earth

http://magnatune.com/artists/albums/lmccauley-beauty/

i think this is a good soundtrack that would go well with our film opening because the film is about someone finding out they will die and would accompany it well with the calm and slow sound of the piano. it isn't too sad or too jolly. the voice has to be cut out.

Farjana Begum

Researching into Film Openings

Whilst researching on the genre Drama, I watched film openings to the same genre I aspire to have our film opening. Like Seven Pounds, The Art of Getting By, My Sisters Keeper, While You Were Sleeping and The Help. They all establish the genre, character, setting and narrative in the opening, but in their own different way. However, there are some techniques that reached out to me and gave me an idea on how I could establish everything needed in a film opening. For instance, I really liked the use of the voice over in 'My Sisters Keeper', and really inspired me to want to use it in my film opening. It's an easy way to explain the position of the film, an idea of the narrative and a taste of the character's personality; words are strong and using a voice over to kill three birds with stone, is a great way to go. 'The Art of Getting By' is set in New York, showing how you can use even city landscapes in a drama genre film. The isolation, the grey days and the narrow pavements filled with restless people can add to the genre, the character's feeling, circumstance and personality and it can add to the atmosphere. On the other hand, the landscapes are so beautiful aswell, so it could be used to create a happy vibe, nevertheless, it made me realise the contrasts of scenery I have in london and a bus or walk away from my house. Also the time the film is set in is during winter and being in winter helps add the gloomy lighting and atmosphere, and to the narrative also. So, I decided that shooting our footage in winter will not be a problem and maybe even a plus side, and we can use it to out advantage and introduce our genre to the film.

However, what I found most enticing was the use of having the present first, explaining the circumstance, leaving the audiencee questioning how they got there or what will happen. Seven Pounds does it by giving away the main character wanting to commit sucicide in the present and we want to know what happend in the past that lead him to that current even but at the same time we want to know what happens next when the paramadics do come. The Help is opened along the same lines, with the main charcter interviewing the main 'help' and gives off her horrible circumstances in a few sentences, it then goes a little back to the past and explains her circumstances,. On the other hand, My Sisters Keeper is done a bit differently as she explains the main climax the story is based around with a voice over, explaining the main characters problem and gives us an idea of what the narrative is about. It also gives off what type of character she is and what other character will be involved, with the many little home video footage flipping on. The film While You Were Sleeping also explains her circumstance and her main aim or the main climax of the movie, starting with her chidhood. Overall, researching and analysing closely into the film openings that matched my genre really inspired and influenced me on my ideas and how I would develop them and how I want the outcome to be.

Farjana [Reshma] Rahman

Wit

The opening of 'Wit' starts off with the main character talking about how she loves poetry. there is then a close up of her and her doctor who tells her she has terminal ovarian cancer. There are different shots of her going through her treatment and the side effects she has such as vomiting, chills, fevers etc. we gradually see movement of time where she loses her hair and becomes weaker and weaker. The audience are shown the main character spending time with the only person who cares about her properly who is her nurse. 

Farjana Begum

Seven Pounds

1 minute and 30 seconds in you are drawn into the film, with heavy, shaky breathing you can tell there is something wrong than we see him crying on the film, upset and shocked. When he reports a suicide and says he is the victim, it instantly grips the audience in wanting to know what happens that leads him to wanting to commit suicide. We know that the film will be about his journey to where he is now and that there is definitely something wrong in his life that causes him to feel this upset and hurt. However, despite the score in the background being calm, slow chords of the piano, it still adds to the upset and hurtful atmosphere. With the music you can relate to Will Smith's character, although you haven't really been introduced to his character you get affected by his choice of wanting death. Nevertheless, not only does it add to the emotions and make it easy to relate to him, it creates a great deal of suspense and tension, creating a dramatic atmosphere wanting us to watch more, that lasts the whole movie, making the audience want to know each detail of the narrative and how it lead to him to be in that position and what happens after. With the music and the opening credits being the first thing we see and hear, it subliminally introduces the genre to the film. The music soft and tensing it create a dramatic atmosphere; hence to introduce the drama genre, also the text is in normal capital letters, which is normally used for drama genres. Nevertheless, the colors used: white and red, signifies that there will be some sort of danger or problem which will arise in the film and we are very shortly informed that there is something unusual going on with this man that causes him to want to commit suicide. I really like the use of music and speech, it really shows what you can do and what affect you can create with the type of music and words. 

When you go into the film, you hear more of him talking as if he hates life, "God created life in 7 days and I wasted mine in 7 seconds". He is swimming and walking towards what seems to be his house; it then confirmed when he is looking through a list to make a phone call. This is when we get a glimpse of the other characters that play a vital part in the narrative; we also get a better perspective of his character. We get an over- shoulder of Will smith- the main character fixing his tie and shirt; normally when people dress like that they are smart and always mean business. We then see an eye-level shot of the list he was looking at and the note really adds to the confusion and suspense of wanting to know more. "Ben, These are all the candidates that meat your criteria here in region 5. Remember, you don't know me" From this line we know that he is looking for someone but we know that he is maybe doing it illegally and he is doing it secretively. This is all in the time in 2 minutes, and we are effectively pulled in to want to watch more but we still acknowledge everything needed to understand, who the main character is the genre and we know where he lives. If you went on to watch it until the film title, you get a better idea of the film and his character, the same quality in the first 2 minutes continuing. However, I looked at the first two minutes because that is the maximum time we are looking to create out film opening and this is a really good opening. The director Gabrielle Muccino was very in clever in his work and it really inspired me with some ideas and how important it is to grip the audience to your film even in the first few seconds. Overall, I think the opening of this film establishes the 3 important things needed in an opening: character, genre and narrative and it was done brilliantly.

Farjana [Reshma] Rahman

Whip Panning and editting

Experimenting whip-panning was really intresting. Whilst, shooting the footage, it felt like that maybe i was doing it wrong but when i thought i had enough footage to edit a whip-pan, i was really proud with my first edited peice. My original idea of whip-panning the shots was to have a still shot and whip-panning it to the right to see another still shot, that going to ship-panning to the right aswell and that contintuing for the followings shots of different places. Nevertheless, I tried shooting in different ways, I first panned objects panning to the right, then I did a shot of panning into the shot from the left and the same with whip-panning in to the shot from the right. Whilst editing i found it more easier making the whip-panning look much neater when editing [The first fottage of whip-panning] a shot of an object panning to the right to see the same panning going into another shot. However, I will still consider having a still shot and panning to the right, until the shots of places around london have ended. Doing this little practice of the whip-panning and editing the footage made me aware that when I go to shoot the footage, that I should whip from both right and left, getting all different ways, as I can use and experiment with it whilst editing.

Farjana Reshma Rahman

Storyboarding and practicing with voice-overs

This is our storyboarding for our film opening Taking a Risk, at the same time we experimented recording a voice-over of the girls dialogue. In doing so, we found many things we can watch out for whilst actually producing our film opening. For instance, when we get the girl to speak she might need to speak much slower but not too dragging or monotone, so we can get more of the shots to fit in without it looking like the shots are coming in, in a hurry. We might consider editing it first [still keeping in mind that there will be a voice over] and record  it according to the edited footage and the matching emotions at the right moments. Also whilst shooting the footage we want to get extra footage at the start and the end as it might be a great help when editing. Doing this we will be able to cut footage away to stay in time and not needing to worry if we are cutting important footage. Whilst storyboarding, I knew there would be actions in the many shots, but the shots of the many places in london can be whip panned making it look better and grab the audiences attention. As our audience of the genre, still including the teenager, it will look grab their attention and look cool to not only to the teenagers group of our audience but people aged higher.
Overall, through this storyboarding and practice voice-over and editing, we saw the many areas that will be important to pay attention to.

Voiceover- Joygun Yasmin Nessa
Storyboard- Whole Group
Farjana Reshma Rahman

Twilight Research

Twilight




opening of twilight

with the deer running fast and someone chasing it, you can tell because of the tension, there will be some action. because of the eerie-ness and title, fantasy and a hint of thriller is given off. 

in the opening of the film we see the girl and her father.

we don't really know, we know she is moved so she might get some trouble in school or she might get hunted like the deer.

farjana begum

While you were sleeping- Assessment

How do the filmmakers establish character, genre and narrative in the opening?
Write about:

• Camera
• Editing
• Sound
• Mise-en-scene

 'While you were sleeping' establishes the characters: the main character being a single woman and other characters include her father, a handsome man she has had her eye on and her neighbor. It introduces the genre, being romance and comedy and it also establishes narrative with simple signifiers in the mise-en-scene in the shots. 

'While you were sleeping' instantly establishes the genre which is a romance, comedy film. We immediately get this happy vibe, a feeling of love and to create this atmosphere they used a familiar soundtrack. That is usually listened to when in a good mood and also the lyrics refer to love too; this soundtrack is the signifier of the genre romance. Along with sound, the filmmakers introduce the genre romance also using the font of the opening credits and title in the film. Which is in a White and elegant font, what one would see as a very pretty font. This adds to the state of equilibrium, giving off a normal balanced feeling, but you would normally see that type of font in a wedding card or when in love, connoting that maybe someone will fall in love or is in love.


We get the first sense of the genre comedy, when we see a long shot of a ice rink and a man slips and falls. Even though the denotation of this shot is just a simple man trying to skate but slips in return, this is a classic move for comedy and this is a subtle way to first connote this genre to the film. A while later in the film, when the various shots of the train passing goes closer into the window to see a woman in the ticket booth dealing with a costumer, it goes into a flashback, with the music changing. That is when we hear a voice-over of the main character, the woman speaking, and the sarcasm in her dialogue gives off the comedy. For instance, when she was describing her childhood with her dad. "There are two things I remember about my childhood, I just don't remember it being this orange." They edit the setting they are in, her and her dad on a bridge looking over the river and sky, making the sky more orange to help understand the sarcasm in her dialogue, thus making it funny. In addition, they also use a prop and the setting to show her sarcasm and the comedy in the movie. First, when she is with her father [him chasing her and putting her on his back] she says how her father would take their adventures and he would talk about how exotic it is, and how amazing that her childhood town 'Wisconsin' wasn't. The filmmakers use the setting to add to her sarcasm and next they use props. When she tells the audience that her dad knew he loved her mother when she tells the audience that her dad knew he loved her mother when she gave the world to him, but it ended up being a globe with a light in it.

Other than the music, The first thing we see is, railway track along with the opening credits, usually the filmmakers make the first thing the audience see the establishing shot of where the film will be set. So this connotes that the train station or the tracks will play a key part as important events may take place in the movie. We know this is definite because we get following shots a while later of a train station platform with a train going. The next various shots establish the settings in the film. We see a wide-shot of scenic buildings, busy streets informing the audience first that this film is set in the city, than the filmmakers gradually inform the audience that the is set in Chicago, as we see a low-angle shot of a skyscraper with two Chicago flags and also an establishing shot of the Chicago stadium. However, the filmmakers could've showed any sign to show they film is set in Chicago, instead he uses the Chicago stadium, which  goes to a close-up shot of the stadium advertising basketball game tickets, letting us know what type of sport is played in that stadium. This shot, may be foreshadowing what events and where the events may take place, as we see more shots referring to basketball. We get a shot of a statue of with two men fighting over a ball confirming that basketball will be referred to in this film, or that it may play a good role in the narrative. We also get an idea of what time of year the movie is it in, with the people on the streets are fully covered in clothes. The shots of the city buildings are very misty, suggesting that the weather the movie starts with, will be winter weather. We also get a shot of an ice rink confirming that it is winter and more specifically it may be Christmas, as that it the time in which people like to go ice skating most. Nevertheless, that does not only tell the audience of what time of year it is, but introduces an additional genre to the movie.

During the flashback, we see that her dad plays a important role in her life and in the narrative because she talks about him with a lot of admiration, copying her action and playing with him. It also introduces her character with her dad being her role model; he really influences her thoughts. On the other hand, not only does the voice-over establish the genre of comedy but it also shows what type of character she is as well with the flashback. With her dialogue, the audience may find her confused, clueless, with her first line about not remembering it being this orange, but as the sarcasm continues you find that she is really genuinely nice and friendly, as she talks about her childhood with the real emotions. How she talked about her favorite memory with her dad was when he said told stories about her mother and the love between them, you can tell that she is like any other girl searching for love. However, as she talked about how she will get her true love, maybe one like her fathers you can tell she is naive, but we find her naive more because she believes she will fall hopelessly in love with her costumer, whom she hasn't gotten the courage to speak to yet. All summing up to her being influenced by her childhood with her father.

That is in when the filmmakers show the audience an important aspect of the narrative of the film. After the flashback, we get a middle shot of a particularly handsome man walking in a hurry towards the ticket booth and giving money walking away. This is when she realized him and a point of view shot of the main character watching the man and her thoughts continue. "The first time i saw him, he didn't exactly give me the world it was a dollar fifty and a train ticket. But i looked forward to it every single day... he was just perfect, my prince charming. Well, we never actually spoken but i know someday we will" Not only does this connote that she is single but it adds to her character, her not giving up hope and holding onto her dream, the filmmakers edit in score to that shot, adding to her feelings. The score created for the scene makes it sound so loving and perfect like starts twinkling and creating her fantasy in her mind. Plus, you know that this film will be based on her getting her love, that being her aim that one day she will get her 'perfect prince charming'. However, she sells tickets in a train station connoting that she isn't very successful and maybe why she is struggling both career and in her affairs or in physical beauty. This may suggest that this may be her flaw or the problem in the film, because he seems very successful with high standards, with his costume being a nice, clean, pressed suit. Nevertheless, him taking a train may show that he is open-minded and that there may be a chance for her. With the long shot of him getting the door open in the last minute we see him holding open a bit longer for an old lady. From this shot, we get introduced slightly to his character, he seems very helpful and friendly, hence, why she finds him 'perfect', so this suggests to the audience that there might be a big possibility that these two characters may come together.

To finish the opening we get a shot of a Christmas tree than being slightly pulled up, than we see a side-shot of her pulling something up the window sill with a rope, so we know that she is struggling to get the Christmas tree in what seems to be her apartment.  We know she struggling because she complains and groans, slipping on the rope and dropping it. Not only does this add to the comedy genre, but it connotes and confirms two things. That it is winter and that she is not only single but she has no male figure around to help. Showing the contrast from the past and the present in the movie. She is in a baggy jumper and looks too comfortable to be considered pretty and that she has many men on her tail. The end to opening almost informs the audience that the narrative of the film will take place in an key part in her life and that she may have to change drastically to get her love. It sums up the opening, informing the audience of the characters genre and idea of the narrative of the film. Making them wonder what will happen, as her journey begins of her getting her perfect prince, her love.

Farjana Reshma Rahman

While you were sleeping essay

The opening begins with an establishing shot of a train track panning up. This may be suggesting that the film the film might take place in a train station or a key part in the film may have something to do with the train station.
There is a sound track playing from the start of the film. The soundtrack is upbeat and establishes a happy, jolly mood. The soundtrack also has the word ‘love’ in it, which could be suggesting that this film is going to be about love. The soundtrack also fits into the genre of romance. We are shown a long shot of tall buildings which suggest that the location is in the city. We also see a low angle shot of flags of other countries with tall building behind it. This possibly may be suggesting that there is an up-coming event that will include other countries and this may takes place in the city that’s why it is showing the big, tall city buildings behind the flags. We also see a bust shot of a big sign that says ‘WOLFEYS’, this co-notates that this film is set in the USA. There is a Shot of Chicago stadium; this establishes that the film is taking place in Chicago. The Chicago stadium is advertising tickets for a basketball game; this could possibly be the up-coming event that I suggested earlier. We see a close up shot of a man making hot dogs, which also relates to the basketball game. All these little things connote that something big and interesting will happen at this particular basketball game. We are shown some pigeons flying around and people ice-skating; this could be showing that Chicago is a busy city. This is appropriate for the genre because it is usually in busy places where people meet and fall in love. Then we see a statue of two men fighting over a ball, also clearly implies a sign of basketball and suggests to the audience that the basketball game will be a significant part of the film. The audience are shown busy traffic and lots of cars rushing; this could suggest it’s a holiday possibly Christmas because we know its winter. The filmmaker has made it clear that it is winter because they have shown us that people are ice-skating and are wrapped up warm in coats and scarf’s.

Later we are shown a high angle shot of the sunset panning down on a little girl and her dad, the lighting in this scene is dark. There is a voice over of a female talking. From what she is saying we know that it is the girl in the scene but is likely to be when she is older because it is a very womanly voice in the voice over which suggests many years have gone past. Also suggests that the girl is the main character because she is the first person to be introduced in the film.  We than see a close up shot of the girl and her dad and the girl imitates what her dad is doing which suggests that she sees her dad as a role model.
 

After that the audience are shown the girl when she is older working at a train station. The filmmaker has done this to show that she has moved on with her life and is no longer dependent of her dad. We see a close up shot of her face observing a man who goes past, and then a close up shot of his face. This clearly implies that her attention is on him. Also suggest that the character has lust for him and this goes with the genre of romance.We are again shown a close up of her face; this is a shot, reverse shot. This shows that something will happen between these two characters later on during the film and also hints to the audience that the genre is romance.

Later on we see the main character pulling a Christmas tree through a snowy window. This tells us its Christmas time and that it’s been snowing. Also tells us that the character is a single woman who lives by herself and doesn’t have a man in her life to help her with her Christmas tree. We can see that she is struggling by her facial expressions. The filmmaker has done this to show she needs help. We then see a close up of her slipping on a wire this connotes comedy and may be implying that the genre of the film is also comedy.

The costume she wear when going to her neighbours is a big grey woolly jumper possibly because its winter and its cold. The costume also suggests that the character is someone who like to wear comfortable clothes. Her neighbour is wearing a shirt and a cardigan; this is something someone old would wear.

From the opening it is clear that the narrative of this film is to show the the main character who is a middle ages women go through key stages of her life. The filmmaker shows this by showing how her life was before with her dad and how her life is now (single, lonely). The filmmaker will also show very important part of her life, which is when she falls in love. We as the audience know this because the filmmaker has denoted it and given us hints e.g her staring at a handsome man in the train station where she works.


Furthermore i also realised that the filmmaker used non-diegetic sound, for example the voice over of the main character. I think that this voice over was used so that we are able to establish what the character is thinking and feeling at each specific stage of her life.

Joygun Yasmin Nessa

Setting, Characters, Props and Costume

Possible Characters:

·         Main Girl: Yasmin Nessa

·         Friend: Akram Ullah

·         Doctor: (yet to decide)

Props and costume:

·         Glasses

·         Nerdy clothes

·         Doctors apron


Farjana Begum

Costumes

Our character will wear along the lines of this type of clothes. 

She chooses to dress smart to match her personality, She is a geeky, neat, smart and likes to keep to herself. 

The costumes she wears will express her character more clearly and make it easy for the audience to understand the kind of person she is.

By dressing her like this before she "takes the risk" we are trying to show the difference between how she was before she took the risk e.g not very confident, low self-esteam.

This is the type of clothes that she will wear later after she has taken the risk.

This is to show that now she is more confident and trendy. 

It also shows that her self-esteam has changed and it is much higher than before because she used to be very shy.

We hope that the costumes will show this.

Joygun Yasmin Nessa

Setting Research

These are setting we most likely will and can use. The places that are possible for us to travel to and are not drastically far. I think These areas will be good to use, as they are beautiful places and the main setting, Shadwell basin/ king edward memorial park is a nice place to shoot. it's not too overcrowded. Whereas, in trafalgar square will be crowded but we will not be doing any acting there so it's perfect. Especially, now that we're in winter, the lighting will add to the the glum and grey atmosphere. There will be a chance it may be windy, or possibly rain but that is something we can ignore, with weather forecasts. However, the wind can show her situation and also add to the confusion and the coldness that hit her life. almost creating pathetic fallacy. Overall, i think we have all the ideal settings we need, a bus or walk away. 

Farjana Reshma Rahman

Our Response To The Feedback

The feedback we got from our class members was that they thought our pitches were good. They said that the storyline is structured well and there are interesting aspects to the character. They also said that our genre was established very clearly and that we had a excellent range of camera shots which helped to establish the genre better. We decided that we would use Reshma's pitch as it got the most votes in the pole. A feedback we got said that they liked Reshma's pitch because "it tricks the audience into thinking it is going to be a depressing drama and then it picks up pace and mood". Another feedback we got was that they thought Reshma's pitch suited the genre very well and they would watch it in the cinema, they thought the opening is very moving and exciting. Reshma's pitch was lacking in camera shots so we combined both our pitches together we used my camera shots with Reshma's narrative. We adjusted some of the script so that the camera shots were clearer. For example, to make a montage of shots, of various places in london. From the feedback we realised that there is a lot of improvements we can make on our pitch.

Joygun Yasmin Nessa

Final synopsis

The first thing we see is a side- bust shot of a girl, leaning against a railing next to the River Thames, to create a casual atmosphere. The audience knows that she is the main character and from her features and clothing you know that she is a teenager. There is also a calming but slightly saddening music in the background, with a natural dim lighting from winter; almost informing the audience that this film is going to about this girl’s life and that the genre is teen-Drama. The shot goes to a close up shot of her face and she exhales. A voice- over comes on and it’s the girl’s voice. "There was no place that described me better than this place...”  whilst saying this line, the shot goes onto a over-shoulder showing just where she is. Then, various shots come on, from famous sites, to parks and markets, to show the many sites in london. During these shots, the girl says “Restaurants, for the people who loved to eat. Religious building, for the people in touch with their spiritual side, shopping centres for the shoppaholics and there was historic places, but the list can go on. But, here, right here, was the place for me.” It goes back to the first setting back to the same over-shoulder shot. “Me all alone, on the riverbank, tempted to jump into the horrible green Thames water and end my horrid and boring life..." it then changes on to low shots to her feet to show she’s on the edge [she bounces on her toes to emphasise] and her gripping on the railing, while she is talking. This creates a false assumption that the girl will commit suicide. After that sentence there is a pause and you can see a side, close up shot of her face, and she lets out a humorless chuckle. "... Hell, that would've been the most interesting thing I’ve done all my life, but like always, I’d never had the guts.” Still on the same shot, she shakes her head looking down. The shot goes to a middle shot, from the back, to show her silhouette and the scenery. She picks her head up and the next voice over comes on. "That, was before I knew my circumstance, before the big change came” The audience next see a two shot of the same girl sitting, down next to a man; we can tell he's a doctor because he's wearing a white over cloak and has files in his hand. It goes onto a closer shot of the doctor as he says sympathetically, "I'm sorry, but this type of cancer is not treatable". Then a close up shot of the girls shoulder with the doctors hand on her shoulder. The voice over of the girls’ thoughts continues in this shot. "That's when I realized three things. Number one, time was too precious. Two, I had NO time to be a coward." By the end of the sentence the goes out and you can see the doctors lips saying, "I’m sorry" again, the girl has an unreadable and blank, [almost to shock to respond] expression. The shot changes into the original setting, but the girl’s normal expression change into a happy one, which is unusual because we just find out she, has cancer. "And three, It was time to take a risk" Someone behind her, it seems to be her friend, because she goes to hug him and her thought continues. "So let the journey begin". It goes onto a long shot of them walking away from camera and as the camera pans up towards the sky, the title comes on. "Taking a risk". The camera pans back down from the sky; the title gone and a complete new bust shot of the same girl walking but looking more like a geek. Ending the opening of the film and starting her journey. 

The whole group.

Generic Conventions

There are many important generic conventions that are usually seen in a drama movie. Some of the common generic conventions are making the audience feel as if they can relate to the character, building a climax to build tension and keep the audience interested or to show that the character is going through a journey which develops the character and makes the character come across much stronger also to have a happy ending or to make the movie realistic and to show that the character is going through a stressful, difficult and hard time in their life, this is done to catch the audiences attention emotionally and create a dramatic effect. We have included some of these generic conventions in our drama movie. For example our movie is realistic and has a happy ending. Furthermore we show our character going through a difficult time in their life which moves the audience emotionally as they will feel sympathetic towards her. Finally we show character going through a journey and taking risks, hence the title 'taking a risk'.

Joygun Yasmin Nessa

Generic conventions...

These are some important generic conventions that are seen in a drama film.

• shows real life situations, with realistic characters, setting and stories
• portrays journey of character development
• intense social interaction
• purpose of a dramatic story line is to move the audience emotionally
• heart of the drama is conflict- includes, hardship, difficulty and pain
• audience can relate to the character
• a form of realisation at the end/ happily ending
• structured with climaxes and anti-climaxes to keep the audience going, emotionally and keep the tension going
• man against nature

Farjana Reshma Rahman

Script

Girl: "There is no place that explained me better than this place.

There are all sorts of places here in London, parks, for the people who loved to go out.

Exoctic Restaurants, sharing all cultures of food, for the people who want to eat. Religious building, for the people in touch with their spiritual side and there was historic places, the Buckingham Palace, St Paul’s cathedral, for all the sight seers, museums but the list can go on.

But, here, right here, was the place for me.

Me all alone, on the riverbank, tempted to jump into the dirty green Thames water and end my plain and boring life.

Hell, that would've been the most interesting thing I’ve done all my life, but like always, I'd never had the guts.

That, was before I knew my circumstance, before the big change came."

Doctor: "I'm sorry, but this type of cancer is not treatable".  [He says sympathetically]

Girl: "That's when I realised three things. Number one, time was too precious. Two,lifes too short to be a coward.

And Three, It was time to take a risk.

So let the journey begin".

Farjana Reshma Rahman

Joygun Yasmin's Pitch

Farjana Reshma Rahman's pitch

Nikhat PITCH 3

PITCH 3 - Nikhat

PITCH 3

There is a teenage girl walking through a park alone on a dark, cold night. The shadows of the trees seem to look like tall, big men under the light of the lamps. The girl had earphones on listening to music very loudly to block out all her problems. She thinks to herself, "they don't stop arguing, all they ever do is fight. They don't care about me, they dont care about Sammy, they just care about themselves". As she walks she doesn't hear or notice a man dressed in black following her. He appears to be restless. She was just about to approach the end gate of the park and notices a moving shadow on her right. Just when she turns around the man grabs her and covers her mouth with his hand. She quickly gets her mobile out to call for help but he pulls her earphones out her ears and half wraps it around her neck. She struggles to mumble "please.."however he holds her tighter and whispers "don't say a word or i'll kill you right here right now". He throws her mobile still connected to the earphones into a nearby bush. The music that was blaring in her ears a few minutes ago was now blaring in the bush..

Nikhat Basheratul

Pitch 2

The audience is first shown black screen but are able to hear a girl arguing with her teacher. We see a close up shot of a girl shouting and than running out her classroom, forcfully closing the door behind her.We than see a over the shoulder shot of her teacher walk out the classroom and watch as she runs down the corridor.We see that the girls costume is a school uniform that a typical svhool girl would wear. From this we know that she is a teen and that this film is possibly a teen-drama.The audience are than shown a extreme close up shot of the teachers face showing that she is not angry but upset almost as if she is feeling sorry for the girl. Moving on we see a long shot showing the girl sitting on a bench in the playground with her head in her arms. We are shown a close up shot of a tear run down her cheek which tells us that she is clearly saddend about something. Than we hear a voiceover of the girl.
"i was never that of girl. Throwing tantrums, walking out of class. It just wasn't like me".
Than the camra beggins to pan out from the girl sitting on the bench and we see a flashback of how she used to be before.
"Ms im finished".
The audience are shown a two shot of the girl and the teacher smiling and discussing her work. The lighting in this scene is very bright and suggests a happy, peaceful, calming atmosphere.
"but this was all before i found out, before the wait began".
Than the camera pans out rapidly. This is dramatic and will grab the audiences attention. We are than shown a long shot of the outside of a hospital. This establishes that the next scene will take place i this hospitital. We than see the girl, her mother and a doctor in a room with dark lighting. There is an eery silence, this is efective and we are able to feel the tention.The doctor looks at the girl and her mother and says...
"Im very sorry your daughter has terminal cancer".
We see a extreme close-up shot of the girls face drop an and by her facial expressions we are able to see the see she is trying to hold her tears in and he eyes are very watery. Her mother beggins to cry estatically, looks at the doctor and says
"how long?". The doctor reply...
"sorry but it is uncertain".
We see a bust shot of the girl  and than the camera pan down to the ground and the title "THE WAIT" apears.

Joygun Yasmin Nessa

Pitch 1

The first thing we see is a girl, leaning against a railing next to the river. The audience knows that she is the main character and from her features and clothing you know that she is a teenager. There is also a calming but slightly saddening music in the background, almost informing the audience that this film is going to about this girl’s life and that the genre is teen-Drama. The shot goes to a closer shot her face and she exhales. A voice- over comes on and it’s the girl’s voice. "There was no place that described me better than this place...” various shots comes on, from famous sites, to parks and markets. "Me all alone, on a cliff, tempted to jump and end my horrid and boring life..." it then changes on to shots from her feet to show she’s on the edge and her gripping on the railing, while she is talking. After that sentence there is a pause and you can see a side, close up shot of her face, and she lets out a humorless chuckle. "... That would've been the most interesting thing I’ve done all my life, but obviously... I’d never had the guts.” Still on the same shot, she shakes her head looking down. The shot goes to a middle shot, from the back, to show her silhouette and the scenery. She picks her head up and the next voice over comes on. "That was before I knew my circumstance.". The audience next see the same girl sitting, down next to a man; we can tell he's a doctor because he's wearing a white over cloak and has files in his hand. It goes onto a closer shot of the doctor as he says, "I'm sorry, but this type of cancer is not treatable". Then a close up shot of the girls shoulder with the doctors hand on her shoulder. The voice over of the girls’ thoughts continues in this shot. "That's when I realized 3 things. Number 1, time was to precious, 2, I had NO time to be a coward." By the end of the sentence the goes out and you can see the doctors lips saying, "I’m sorry" again. The shot changes into the original setting, but the girl’s normal expression change into a happy one, which is unusual because we just find out she, has cancer. "And 3, It was time to take a risk" Someone behind her, it seems to be her her friend, because she goes to hug him and her thought continues. "So let the journey begin". It goes onto a long shot of them walking away from camera and as the camera pans up towards the sky, the title comes on. "Taking a risk". The camera pans back down from the sky; the title gone and a complete new shot of the same girl walking but looking more like a geek. Ending the opening of the film and starting her journey.

Farjana Reshma Rahman