Plan of Changes

After sifting through all of our feedback forms me, James and Archie chose three from separate piles which we thought were the most helpful and accurate. After doing this we discussed as a group what changes we need to make and the priority of the changes. The changes which we we'll make can be seen below in order of priority.

1. Improve the ending of the opening.

The ending on our first draft was very poor by our own admission and was the main criticism from the feedback. Therefore, it was only right that this was our first priority to improve this week. James suggested having a time lapse at the end. We have planned that Archie will paint my face to make me look like a zombie and James will take pictures gradually throughout the process which when collated together will be a time lapse. This will make it much more obvious to the audience that Zach is turning into a Zombie and will look much more professional than our current ending.

This is a tutorial James watched after we agreed on a time lapse at the end. Obviously it could not be directly applied to our one as the setting will be different. But this was hugely helpful to watch as the fundamental concepts of a time lapse were explained in a way that was easy for James to understand. Much of the advice given in this video will be taken into account when we create our time lapse. 

2. Make the story/plot more obvious.

This was a reoccurring criticism from our feedback. Many people said they weren't sure what was happening or that the story line lacked depth. To improve this I suggested that we implement a news report into our opening sequence which will explain the effect that the drug has on the users. The news interview will be filmed in the interview room located in our school as it looks similar to the setting of professional news sets. We also identified that we need someone older, wearing a smart suit, to be the news reporter. We asked our head of sixth form, Mr Barker, to do this and he has kindly agreed to do it on Friday morning.

Timeline of Opening

Here is a timeline of how The eZ Life progresses.

Script for the News Broadcast

Today I wrote a script for the revised ending for my group's film opening. The script will be read used by Mr  Barker who's playing the news reader in the film opening.

The script can be seen below:

I tried to use pre-existing news articles on the internet to gain understanding on the wording of news articles of this particular genre. I examined several news articles about drugs and worked out the kind of language which they tended to use.

Here is a screenshot of one of the articles which I used:

I took note on how the facts are expressed and then tried to implement these techniques in my own script.

Film Poster

Today I created the film poster using a photograph which Archie took a few nights previously. I edited the picture on my iPhone using an app called Aviary. Aviary is a simple app which uses professionally designed filters, creative stickers and frames, touch-up tools and more to create and share pictures.

In this scenario I increased the brightness and contrast and decreased the amount of shadows. I then enhanced the picture with a Hi-Def filter. Next, I exported the poster onto the computer. I used Adobe Photoshop to place text onto the poster which my group found suitable to the genre which our film fit into. I finally removed the backgrounds of some zombie hands on Adobe Photoshop and then placed them along the left and right sides of the poster. I felt like this would be a good idea to suggest a zombie theme. I placed the institution logo onto the poster and then finally added the group's names onto the top of the poster.

My group decided to use this poster for our film.


James then created some ways in which our film poster could be implemented into people's lives in and around busy cities such as London. Me and James discussed the best places to place the film poster. James then found some images on the internet and used Adobe Photoshop to insert the poster onto them.

Bus Stop: One way in which films are commonly advertised is on the side of bus shelters.

Theater: Here's our film being advertised in a cinema.

More Filming and Recce Shot of Location

Today we agreed that we would film for a consecutive night. We filmed the car scenes with the help of Mrs Brooks, who kindly agreed to assist us.

We filmed at a road opposite the school. Here, we shot the scene of Zach exiting the car and approaching the party. James filmed and Archie directed and I played Zach. 

Conveniantly, the house opposite had a driveway with very good lighting which Archie spotted. We decided to shoot a scene there, making full use of the opportunity. 

Here is a recce shot of the location Archie spotted:

Effective Lighting: Archie spotted this location while filming.

Boyz in the Hood Inspiration

Today during editing I implemented the use of iconography which was inspired from Boyz in the Hood which the class analysed earlier in the year.

The stop sign in Boyz in the Hood is the director's way of conveying a message. In The eZ Life, a similar sign is going to be used to express a similar message.

 

Here is a recce shot of the sign which we are going to use:

 

 

Script

Fonts and Titles Research

Here are my fonts and titles research.

Zombie Titles

 

Drug Titles

Storyboard (With Voiceover)

Props Research/List

Aspirin Pill: This is needed to represent the pill eZ which our film is based on

Black Hoodie: This will be used in the scene where the drug deal takes place, it will be worn by the dealer

iPhone: Needed to show texts between durg dealer and Zack

Mirror (in bathroom): for scene where Zack looks into mirror after taking eZ pill

Lampost (outside): Needed for drug deal scene for light

Green screen: To edit party scene on Adobe Premiere

Institution for The eZ Life

Film4 is a British digital television channel available in the United Kingdom, owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation, that screens films. We choose film 4 to distribute our film as it is a well known brand with a good Reputation. Film 4 channels many independent and mainstream films. Film 4 was first launched on 1st November 1998. It has made huge blockbuster movies such as 12 years a Slave but it has also made small movies such as The Double. It distributes a wide variety of films. Film4 also notably produced 24 Hour Party People and The Inbetweeners Movie.

Shooting Schedule

Music Research Ideas

I have been looking for various tracks which could fit what we are aiming for The eZ Life.

Firstly, the song 'Hell of A Night' by ScHoolBoy Q caught my notice due to the out of body feel which the synth gives at the beginning of the song. The lyrics are also very relevant to the film. 

'Hell of a Night' can be heard below:

Next, the song 'Dancin (KRONO Remix)' caught my attention due to its upbeat and lively tempo which would suit a party scene.

Dancin can be heard below:

The music video and song 'PMW' by A$AP Rocky ft. ScHoolBoy Q caught my notice due to the lyrics relating to things which happens at parties.

PMW can be heard here:

The song '2Pac vs. Banks Thugz Drowning (Carlos Serrano Mix)' caught my attention due to the high tempo and lyrics. 

'2Pac vs. Banks Thugz Drowning (Carlos Serrano Mix)' can be heard here:

Marketing Campaign

James created a marketing campaign presentation for The eZ Life. Other tasks which we had already completed helped him create this presentation.

Here is an example of what @TheEZLife would look like on Twitter.

Health and Safety Information (Risk Assessment)

Location and Recce Shots

Today we looked at some particular locations at which our film would start. This is similar to the opening scene of Spike island where there is a tracking shot which revolves around a wall. We felt as though this is a good place where we can fit our titles into our opening scene. I have found three locations at which all have a plain brick wall which we could use. We are a bit worried about the lighting as we do not want the shot to be grainy. However the texture of the wall would be good.

This is a shot of the wall in the night, outside the sixth form block. This is a photo without the flash.

This is a shot of a wall in the daylight,
outside the media department at Great Baddow High School.

This is a shot of another wall in the daylight,
opposite the media department. Flash was not used.

Production Diary

Day 1: Monday 10th November

Today we pitched our own individual film ideas. We then discussed eachother's ideas and contributed to what we felt would improve or what we could do slightly differently. During this discussion we then choose the film idea which we felt would be different and something that has not been done before. We choose this film then gave our own ideas to try and improve and develop the idea. We used this as we felt some ideas would have been to hard to do. We felt as though if we contributed our own ideas and discussed them this would benefit the film itself. We choose my film pitch idea, The eZ Life.

Working hard 

Day 2: Tuesday 11th November

Today we Pitched our film, The eZ life to our fellow peers and teachers. We received mixed feedback with some really taking to the idea however some people found it as though to be too hard and that the party scene will need lots of shots in order to select and pick the best ones. However the actual idea was overall accepted and that this could work. The fact that it is something that is different and has never been done before was something that would be exciting. It is an unusual but clever film pitch. We did have one criticism which was later resolved. We classified the film as a 15 certificate however this was questioned by many of our peers as our film involves drugs however we resolved this issue and we were correct in thinking that our film arrived inside the 15.

James helps Issak

Day 3: Thursday 13th November

Today we researched certain films which we felt as though would help us and give us some inspiration. I choose the film Zombieland. I choose this film as it is an age group at which our film is targeted at. Our actors are of similar age. Archie researched the film 21. James researched the film, Zombeavers. We all picked different films and we collectively decided that this would see a wider range of film openings.

Day 4: Friday 14th November

Today we had to research different titles. We did this to try and get some inspiration and some thought as to be what our film title could look like. We also done this to see the timing of the titles and the fonts. This would overall help us in picking our title. We each done this separately and together we came back into a group to discuss various titles that we felt were good or what we could do for our own titles in our film opening.

Day 5: Monday 17th November

Today we had a group meeting and we allocated roles for the tasks that we had to do e.g. Storyboard, audience research, etc. We felt as though if we allocated this now that this would save us time as we know who is doing what. We allocated these tasks to what everyone felt comfortable with and what we felt as thought would work well the best. We also created a moodboard of which gave us inspiration. We did this to give us an overall idea of the shots and the posters which we felt would help us. We choose similar genres and types of films so this would help us look at the shots for our particular film.

Day 6: Tuesday 18th November

Today Archie researched a similar genre film in which he researched various stats and information about the film which I thought would best suit our particular film. This film was Zombieland. This is similar to our film, with both including zombies. I researched different types of music for our film opening. I had to make sure that it was copyright free so therefore he researched and played different musics at which he felt would work best. James created a powerpoint which was synopsis planning. James did this as a brief plan for the overall plan. We then had a group meeting at the end to make sure that we was all on track and we then spoke about what we had researched.

Working as a team

Day 7: Thursday 20th November

Today Archie created our production diary as we realised that we had to post this constantly up to date. James started the script for our film opening, whilst I started the storyboard.

Day 8: Friday 21st November

Today Archie researched film institutions in which we felt would distribute our film. James continued producing and making the script. I continued to create the storyboard. We discussed our various ideas for the script and storyboard so we all felt as thought the storyboard would be as close as it could towards out final shots that we want to take.

Day 9: Monday 24th November

Today I researched certain locations and got some recce shots in which our locations could be. Me and Archie also started to create the storyboard video. Once we completed this however we received some feedback and we realised that we had to introduce titles into the video. James started the marketing campaign presentation.

Day 10: Tuesday 25th November
Today Archie created our risk assessment for our health and safety for our shooting risk assessment. James created our marketing campaign PowerPoint whilst I continued to work on our storyboard.

Day 11: Thursday 27th November
Today Archie planned the shooting schedule and together in our group meeting we decided what days we would film. We decided that if we planned certain days that we could all make that we would keep to this schedule. James finished the script after feedback which we felt as though we could improve the script from our group meeting, so James redid the script at which he improved. James also researched different titles fonts for which our genre was evident. Archie finished the storyboard editing and started to research various music research for our film.

Day 12: Friday 28th November
Today we continued filming shots for our film and started editing for our film. Together we filmed the first three shots of our film. We took two shots of every shot that we had so that we could pick the best shot which would fit our film.

Editing

Day 13: Monday 1st December
Today we continued to film certain shots for our film and Issak continued to edit the film. I researched various film institutions and researched Film4. James researched various props that we were using for our film.

Day 14: Tuesday 2nd December
Today we continued to film certain shots for our film and together we contributed to edit the film together. I continued to edit although we would constantly ask each others opinions and what we could do to improve it. We researched various inspirations to try and help us improve our film.

Day 15: Wednesday 3rd December
Today we continued to film certain shots for our film as we try to continue filming as a way to see what we could do and need to improve our film sequence. We looked for different locations in ways which were we could improve the shots to make them better. James made the shot list of what shots that we are using for our film sequence.

Day 16: Thursday 4th December
Today we continued to film certain shots for our film as we found shots at which we wanted to improve for our film opening sequence. James started the PowerPoint whilst James started the representation PowerPoint, Archie started the timeline of our opening sequence.

Day 17: Friday 5th December
Today our first draft needed to be in. This needed to be in so that we could receive feedback from our fellow peers. We however continued filming on this day in order to finish as we were slightly rushing. Archie also finished the timeline of our opening sequence.

Me putting in blood, sweat and tears

Week commencing 8th December:

This week we received our feedback from various peers and teachers in order to try and see what we would could improve. Our feedback was what we expected and was very good however we felt as though we could improve our film when we had group discussions. We continued to film for our opening sequence and we changed other sections and shots of our film in order to improve it. We constantly stayed every night after school as a group till 6 O'clock at least. Together as a team we discussed various ways our film could be the best it could be. As we were ahead with paperwork we filmed various of shots that we did not use and shots that we filmed twice as we were ahead of time. The final film needed to be in on Friday 12th December and therefore we focused our time on the film opening sequence. After a long and enjoyable journey we finished our film: The eZ Life.

Synopsis Planning

Target Audience Research

Today my group researched a film with a similar genre to our own. We researched various stats and information about the film which we choose, Zombieland. We felt this is similar to our film, with both including Zombies. This has given us an idea to which worked well and which did not.

Moodboard of Initial Ideas Including Inspirational Shots From Real Films

Here is a moodboard displaying the initial ideas which we used as a starting point for creating our film. The moodboard also incorporates inspirational shots from real films.