Editing Footage

Editing


We used the Apple MAC computer to edit all our footage using the imovie as this was the best and simplest way to ensure that we could could edit our film opening properly. To do this, we had a person to come in and show us the basics and then we were left to do the rest ourselves. This allowed us to play with the technology and get used to it which allowed us to learn how to edit ourselves.

In this picture above, this shows how we were able to upload all of our footage that we had recorded and we were able to view it all on the screen so we could go through each clip together and see which one was the most suitable, and we were able to delete the wrong one easily rather than going through it all individually.

The photo above shows us the different types of titles and themes that we were able to use. This allowed us to have a large variety of the way that the title will appear on the screen, allowing it to fit in with our film opening well. In the end, we opted for a side transitional title to play at the beginning of the film opening.

This image above shows us the sound effects (this particular photo showws the list of real life sounds) which we could incorporate into our film opening. Most of our film opening is a soundtrack by Matt Lungley so we did not really need to use sound effects.

This picture shows us the transitions that were available such as circle open, circle close, doorway, puzzle left etc.

This allowed us to make sure that all our clips flowed smoothy, making it into a fluid film opening. So in the scenes such going from the house into the road accident scene using the transitions made the clips flow with ease.

Posted by Kulsuma

FOCUS FEATURES

*Focus Features 

We chose focus features film company because we believe that this production company will best suit our film genre and do the best job in making our film opening

This company are well known for Brokeback Mountain, (2005), and as we have mentioned before this company its evident this company work majorly with romance/romcom films that, in my opinion, are very much unlike others. For instance, Academy Award-winning, 'Brokeback Mountain',  features a storyline that depicts the complex romantic and sexual relationship between two men in the American West. Considering our films plot is centred around the same issue of homosexuality, we think Focus Features would be the best decision production company wise.



FILM PRODUCTION COMPANIES- Suitable for 'Loving Jennie'

FILM PRODUCTION COMPANIES- 'Loving Jennie'

'Loving Jennie' befits the genre of romance and the plot is very similar, to movies that have been done before. In order for us to find an appropriate production company for our opening, we filtered through our genre research (particularly the british romance films etc) narrowed the films down and checked the various production companies behind them and which ever one would be suitable for our film:

BBC Films is the feature film-making arm of the BBC. It is considered to be an established company at the forefront of British independent film-making and co-produces approximately eight films a year. Also works in partnership with major international and UK distributors. BBC film like 'Fingersmith' also has the theme of homsexuality featured although situated in a totally different era, than our film.

Momentum Pictures (also known as Alliance Films UK), an Alliance Films company, is one of the leading independent motion picture distributors in the UK and Ireland. With films like (some 2011 theatrical releases) 'Season of the Witch', 'Insidious', 'Hobo With a Shotgun', 'Limitless' and 'Justice'. Mainly horror and/or action.

Relativity Media (sometimes written as RelativityMedia and Relativity) is an American independent motion picture production and investment company based in West Hollywood, California. Relativity Media filmography include many of the genre in topic, romance, e.g. 'The Holiday', 'Love Happens', 'Dear John', 'Wild Child' and 'Made of Honour'. These films do seem like polished hollywood-styled films unlike our film which we dont intend to give this impression at all.


*Redbus Film Distribution is a British film company. They have distributed and produced many films for the UK, some becoming hits, such as Bend It Like Beckham, What's Cooking?, Cabin Fever, Jeepers Creepers and It's All Gone Pete Tong. The first film released by Redbus was Open Your Eyes. Movies like 'Bend It Like Beckham'

Big Talk Productions Ltd. (stylized as bigtalk productions) is an English film and television production company established in 1995 by Nira Park. The company, located in London, has produced films such as Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz; it is also known for its British sitcoms such as Spaced and Free Agents.

*Focus Features
With films like 'One Day (2011)', Jane Eyre (2011), It's kind of a funny story (2010), Something New (2006) Brokeback Mountain, (2005), its evident this company work majorly with romance/romcom films that, in my opinion, are very much unlike others. For instance, Academy Award-winning, 'Brokeback Mountain',  features a storyline that depicts the complex romantic and sexual relationship between two men in the American West. Considering our films plot is centred around the same issue of homosexuality, we think Focus Features would be the best decision production company wise.


*Ruby Films
With their film catalogue including movies like 'Love + Hate (2005)', 'Love and Other Disasters (2006)', 'Tamara Drewe (2010)', it suggests 'Ruby Films' could be perfect for 'Loving Jennie' because of their audience base being similar to what we intend aswell.


Others Include:

Summit Entertainment
Gateway Films
Sally Head Productions
Film4


POSTED BY TOSIN

LOVING JENNIE- Meaning

Loving Jennie


Meaning

Our film opening is titled 'Loving Jennie' because we feel not only do it presumably suggest the genre of the film but also the omission of the name of the person who 'loves' Jennnie, subtly refers to the fact, we have more than one person in our plot who loves Jennie, our protagonist.
We want our audience to understand our title as perhaps an understated summary of our plot.

POSTED BY TOSIN AND SHAHNAZ

MISE EN SCENE: Characters' Actual Costume- Death Scene/Argument Scene

Actual Costume


Roland

For Roland's costume we kept simple but quite typical in terms of what a teen boy would wear. The playful impression of the mickey mouse jumper over the school boy like polo shirt, ties in nicely with the brown chino's. His coat suggests he perhaps is on his way out, which eventually does happen as he storms out after their argument.



Jennie

For Jennie's costume, we wanted to keep it simple with some aspects of colour; the scarf. Natural looking make-up and dark nail polish; we think this subtly suggest she takes some effort in her appearance. With her coat, we again wanted to give the impression both characters were on their way out before the argument flared up.

POSTED BY TOSIN

SHOOT UPDATE: Sunday 18th December 2011

Shoot 3- Update

 (Bedroom Scene: Re-shoot- Shahnaz and Jennie)

 (Death Scene- Roland after being run over)

(Clips from our montage: Jennie and Roland)

We changed a few aspects:

-Instead of filming some clips in a local park, like previously decided, we filmed it in the same bedroom that Jennie now shares with her female lover (but we changed the bed sheet to imply a totally different time frame). We decided using the same bedroom seems more personal and more intimate, in terms of wanting to the real chemistry between Roland and Jennie.
- We added a quick POV shot of the unknown driver (in the car: showing the dashboard) in the death scene.
- Instead of creating bruises or scars or even using fake blood on our character, Roland's, t-shirt we thought it be would more effective and realistic to scatter the fake blood on the concrete road near his head, to suggest a fatal head injury.

PICTURES TAKEN BY: SHANHNAZ, STEPHANIE, KULSUMA, TOSIN

POSTED BY TOSIN



We again all took still images of our work and efforts in progress.

SHOOT UPDATE: Sunday 4th December 2011

Shoot 2- Update

We again all took still images of our work and efforts in progress.

(Night time Montage Clip- Location)

(Male character of Roland-Montage Clip)

(Argument Scene- Location)

We changed a few aspects:

-The positioning of the argument scene was decided to be the bottom of some stairs as it will look more forseeably that the character of Roland will easily storm out the front door after that.
- Instead of the aerial shot of Jennie's eye (entering the dream) we decided on a simple close up shot, as it appeared less shaky and smoother.
- We decided to have one of the clips from the montage with a dark night/moon backdrop with just Roland. This was to appear more romantic and almost as if Jennie is the one filming him, as he messes about.
- We also realised we wished to re-shoot the bedroom scene on our next shooting day with a different second main character (the lover).

PICTURES TAKEN BY: SHANHNAZ, STEPHANIE, KULSUMA, TOSIN

POSTED BY TOSIN



Videography Plan - Shooting Script (2)

 Shooting Script

Our planned shooting days had to be extended as many scenes required to be re-shooted.

Day 3: Sunday 18th December 2011- Bedroom/Death/Montage Scenes
(Location: Tosin's house/Road/)


Day Three Shoot:

Start Time:  12pm
Approximate Duration: ---
Finish Time: ---

Some parts of the bedroom scene need to be re-filmed as we decided the performance of our second main character didn't suit the rest of our opening. Consequently, we cast another Shahnaz instead who fortunately is ofcourse a member of our group and knows exactly what we envisioned in terms of how the second main character should be and will play it well.

Although, we have completed filming the argument scene, we are still yet to film the death scene and missing clips for our montage.

Bedroom Scene
Costume/Make-up- (Same as previous for Jennie and now Shahnaz)

Death/Montage Scene
Costume/Make-up
-(Same as previous for Roland and Jennie)

(Props all kept the same)

People who need to be Present:

Shahnaz
Stephanie
Tosin
Kulsuma
Jennie
Roland


POSTED BY KULSUMA

DECONSTRUCTION- Eastenders Car/Death Scene

Decontruction- Death Scene

                         
This is the deconstruction of the scene where the character, Danielle in Eastenders tragically dies after Ronnie discovers the truth, that she is Danielle's biological mother.

Danielle is wearing a white top as to symbolise purity and innocence with a yellow cardigan which is quite bright and is usually associated with happiness and sunshine. This is contrasting to the scenery which is quite dark and scary.

When Danielle gets run over, there is only blood on her face and not on her clothes. Simarilily, we may able to achieve the same effect using limited amount of blood so it will be on the face and not the clothes as we will need the clothing without it being ruined just in case we need to film earlier parts of the film opening again.


The scenes and constumes are very juxtaposing. Ronnie (mother) is wearing glamarous clothing which is completely opposing to the tragedy of events that later take place.
Danielle's clothing seems trendy, young and casual which hides the fact that she has been carrying around such a big secret.

This is a really good close up shot of Ronnie as it shows the deep emotion on her face and the fact that it changed from zooming in to Danielle's face shows the heartfelt connection between the mum and daughter and the beginning and end of their relationship.

POSTED BY KULSUMA

TYPOGRAPHY- 'Loving Jennie'

Typography- 'Loving Jennie'

Now our group has decided on a name of our film, we have a few researched options, that we feel will be suitable for our film genre and our audience can understand.

To aid us in our research into different font types, we used 'dafonts.com'.










Below are the shortlist font types we collectively have decided on:

(bebas neue)

This font is edgy, yet has a sense of subtle femininity to it, and could possibly satisfy the general themes of our film of heterosexual love to lesbian love.

(jenna Sue)

This font is typically used for titles in films etc that have similar genre to ours. The curly letters collectively resemble handwriting of perhaps a love letter and it's also a font type that our audience can quickly see and assume the genre of our opening.

Similar to the above font type, this one seems like handwriting which gives a personal feel to it. Again, its a font type that will be synchronous not only with our genre but the type of impression, we wish our opening, to give to our desired audience.

(harting)

This font looks like type writing letter and it appears as if it has been written sincerely by an actual person, complementing the possible reality of the film and that this could actually happen. The roughness of the lettering creates an edgy effect which symbolises the drastic change in sexuality our protagonist goes through to make her the lesbian she is now.

 (aerial demented)

This font's shattered effect shows how our protagonist's life became quite shattered and shocked her when her lover was ran over, the font portrays this but it doesn't mean that she's given up, because the title forms actual words, it also reflects how she has picked up the pieces from the past and is giving love another chance although her sexuality has changed and her outlook on life, as she comes to term with the harsh reality and somehow she finds an inner strength that emerges in the form of her sexuality.

POSTED BY SHAHNAZ/TOSIN

DECONSTRUCTION- Greys Anatomy Death Scene

Deconstruction- Death Scene

We decided to use a close up shot zooming into or actor, Rolands, eyes. This idea was inspired by this scene in Greys Anatomy as it will show the actors last expression and we want our audience to really emotionally connect and understand the tragedy of this scene when watching.

We were initially having difficulties thinking of where the blood will be placed but after watching this Greys Anatomy advert, we got inspired and decided that mimicking it would be the way forward and effective for the atmosphere we are trying to create here.

POSTED BY STEPHANIE

FILM TITLE IDEAS

We thought of many names for our film opening and after discussing the connotations and relevance of each to our flm opening, we came up with:

- Changes
- The Three of Us
- Our Route
- Way we are
- Loving Jennie
- Swings

After deep thought, we decided to shortlist it to :
- The Three of Us
- Way we are
- Loving Jennie

We then decided on the name 'Loving Jennie'  as we believed it suited the film. We got the idea from the previous film called 'Loving Annabelle',  a lesbian based film which came out in 2006. We feel that the name is short but meaningful, and in a way denotes our film as our main character is called Jennie and our co stars are all involved with her.

Posted by Kulsuma/Shahnaz

SHOOT UPDATE: Monday 28th November

Shoot 1- Update

As we filmed the beginning of our opening, we all took still images of our work and efforts in progress.

(Bedroom Scene)

Upon beginning to film, we realised a few aspects of our prepared storyboard (this includes certain camera shots etc) in execution wasn't either practicable or something we felt added anything to the scene or atmosphere we were trying to achieve, but we also added a few new shots:

- The extreme close ups of Jennie's mouth and nose etc was not needed nor adding anything. Only a extreme close up of her eye is needed, to signify the beginning and entrance of her dream.
- The shot where Jennie reachs for her bra on the bedside table; instead we simply placed the bra in the background of the shot. We'd rather leave it to the audience's imagination as what whose bra it is etc.
- We added a low angle shot of the messy floor of the bedroom; this is to, not only establish the setting a bit more. but also because the props scattered across the floor are each significant into understanding who the character(s) is and implies certain events maybe that could have previous happend that resulted in the room being messy like that.
- We also added a pan where Jennie goes towards the window and we managed to get a close up of her face looking out the window  (A reflection of her face against the window)

PICTURES TAKEN BY: SHANHNAZ, STEPHANIE, KULSUMA, TOSIN

POSTED BY TOSIN

TESTS SHOTS/CLIPS

TEST SHOTS/CLIPS

We took it upon ourselves to ensure that we are clear about the type of shots we want to include in our opening and just how we will go about constructing it; through filming short experimental shots and clips using a volunteer. 

For example: This is a test shot is of how we would go about the extreme close-up of our main characters eye in the very first clip, entering the dream sequence.

POSTED BY TOSIN

MISE EN SCENE: Characters' Actual Costume- Bedroom Scene

Actual Costumes

Jennie

Jennie's costume was kept as we intended, with connotations to the colour and even style of her attire. The red open vest could connote love, passion, desire, and deep feelings. It could also simply suggest what this character would typically wear to join her partner in bed. In a sense, it is noticeably open which again could play into a vulnerable side to this character and her feminity. (Jennie is also wearing a pair of black leggings.

Shahnaz

We feel even though its very similar to the above characters costume, the connotations mean something rather different. In contrast to Jennie's vulnerable side, the openess of the vest top again could represent the openess she has with Jennie, especially phyiscally. But then also suggest not much regard to full decency (bra showing through) and again suggests what this character would typically wear to join her partner in bed aswell.

Typically the colour white would be symbolic to purity and innocence but we feel that because white is such a prominent, bold but yet basic colour, it could almost represent just how bold and certain this character is in her sexuality. (Similar to Jennie, Shahnaz is wearing a pair of tights)

IMAGES TAKEN BY KULSUMA
POSTED BY TOSIN

SOUND- Acoustic Choice (MattLungleyMusic)

Sound

As we intend the non-diegetic sound in our film opening to be acoustic, we began research into unsigned acoustic artists that produce original songs, as we understand the copy right restrictions on using other songs.

We came across a particular unsigned artist 'MattLungleyMusic' on Youtube with original songs that would be more that suitable for our film opening and just our whole genre and plot in general. We then took it upon ourselves to request permission from him to use his songs in our opening and he fortunately said yes, shown below.

Matt Lungley

 

Below is one particular song we considered as next to perfect for the type of atmosphere and overall 'feel' we intend to create and it would also be synchronous with the events happening.

POSTED BY TOSIN.

CHARACTERS (Changed)

CHARACTERS

Main Character
Name: Jennie Jarnot


  

No particular body or even face type preference, although her brown eyes would be key for the extreme close up shots, but mainly a girl who indeed who has a convincing look of the average 15-17 year old girl. 
Although the results of our audience survey showed caucasian to be the most voted ethnicity for our characters, we think our chosen actress, Jennie above would still be suitable for the part, as she isnt english but yet this aspect stands as almost intriguing, in a sense that the audience could make their own assumptions as to her background, actual race etc.

Character: The Boyfriend

Name: Roland Emojevbe

The male character in our opening, we want to look around the same age of our main character 15-17, not too tall and medium build. We deliberatly chose him to be Black as we think this type of interracial relationship (Roland and Jennie) isn't typical at all but this is for the purpose of keeping the audience generally interested, subverting stereotypes and an impression that our film opening isn't predictable. We also feel that this young couple would suggest an urban feel.

Character: The Other Girlfriend (Changed from Lucy to Shahnaz)
Name: Shahnaz

The other female character featured in our opening is set to be the lesbian lover to our main character. Although only showed for a quick clip, we intend this character to be socially considered pretty in terms of appearance so, with that said we don't wish to play into bold stereotypes of a typical lesbian with the short/cropped hair etc but rather small touches that subtly reflect this sexuality. With this in mind, we decided to use our own group member Shahnaz as we feel she would be appropriate in portraying a convincing lesbian.

POSTED BY TOSIN

MISE EN SCENE: LOCATION (Road)

Road Ideas

Another main scene in our opening is to be set on a street or road. Using a road or street allows the audience to quickly put two and two together and realise the death presumably was caused by a road accident.

We decided after our male character engages in the argument with the protagonist is when he storms out of the house (above) and comes head on with death on the road ahead.

 We intend to get close up shots of our protagonist cradling the lifeless body of the male character in the middle of the road.

POSTED BY STEPHANIE

INSPIRATION: Other AS Trailers/Music Videos/Openings

'The 11th Hour'

- This particular example made excellent use of fast cuts (1.09-1.16) when one of the characters was being hit. The cuts made the impact/hit seem more intense, it was effective in creating tension for an audinence. The non-diegetic sound matched well: as the happenings heightened as did the sound.
For our opening, we think its important that we, as the above example, understand what time of mood we wish to show with the use of sound, ensuring it matches the plot and character actions well. Also for our death scene whereby the male characer gets hit by a car, we think it would be much more effective if we use fast cuts to again, increase tension.



- although this example is a music video, it perfectly makes use of slow motion in exactly the type of scene we intend to as well; an argument scene. Each outburts and gesture clearly shown and exaggerated with the use of slow motion.
The extreme close-ups of the characters face was effective in a sense it really stressed to the camera, just how exactly what she was feeling was written all over her face. Perfect examples of a close up reaction shot.
From about 4.31-4.39 the previous clips of the girl on her journey were cleverly, rewinded to the beginning point; this was a clever editing feature as it really shows just how one decision made on the characters part has this, chain of effect on the rest of the happenings, which i think really pulls the piece together.


Hush

To me, this media production was very creative and the imagination factor of this was very high. The music I thought matched the genre of the clip which I assume is a drama/thriller; the music is mellow and touching just as the sensitivity of the topic is. 
At the beginning of the clip, I feel as if the sepia/black and white effect was very effective as it was of a flashback and the sense of nostalgia was heightened with the lack of colour as if it was a real flashback. The transitions in these 25 seconds suited the purpose of memories as the fading of it made the short clips connected more and reflected how memories are thought and how they fade in and out of peoples heads.
I think the extreme close up shot at 0:46 was very effective and showed real emotion and it was almost as if you could read the actor's mind while she read the letter and her eyes were following the words. The word that stands out at 0:47, 'infertility', makes us comprehend the actor's reaction more and I think this was cleverly done as an extreme close up shot was used straight after this of her eyes again so it's almost like we can feel her sorrow.
The title shows at 1:07 and this is done when, assuming, the main actor has left the room.
The connotations of white for the title can be that of the unknown, an act she does which she may think is innocent but not for the audience and it's a colour normally associated with children.
The fact that the title is on it's own can possibly reflect the loneliness of the actor.
The cuts used from 2:22 which cross cut to the main actress to the mum in the park is a very good editing technique as we see what's happening in both parts rather than just having to focus on just one and missing out on what was happening in the other if it were all in one pan.



POSTED BY TOSIN/NAZ

MISE EN SCENE: LOCATION (Park)

Park Ideas

 The location of the park and especially the bench is a casual setting which represents the comfortable nature of the couple. An open space like a park, we feel is a great place to reflect the couple's open playful and fun nature towards each other. Suggesting just how great things were before the tragic event.

The scenery with the fresh grass and the general outdoors, we feel would suggest the calm relationship between the couple because nature typically connotes serenity and gentleness but the leaves, changing seasons, could also symbolizes that although they may go through harsh times they will still have a stable relationship.
A casual place like this we think adds a sense of realism without making the characters chemistry seem plain.



POSTED BY STEPHANIE