L5 Collaborative Practice

Digital Copy of Sketchbook

Editing: Week 1 (Assembly)

13th Nov:

Today was mostly about looking through the footage and correlating them to the shot logs that Lucy our production designer and continuity logger wrote down during production week. We’ve had a look at the footage and also at the rough edit that Isabel did during production week and we are starting to structure it as we planned in the storyboard.

14th Nov:

Rough Edit after Production Week:

- video credit: Isabel -

In order to help us see how the intensity of our film is structured, we’ve drawn an intensity map based upon the edit that Isabel did during film production. For the most part, it is a constant climb with little moments bumping it up sharply in certain places; such as the phone ringing, the door knocking and the character hitting the picture frame. All leading up to the fridge scene where intensity is at its highest until he gets the beer; after which point the intensity begins to drop, but it ends around the middle as he finally decides to answer the phone which is a little intense moment for the character.

16th & 17th Nov:

We’ve decided to split off into three separate groups to make three different versions of the edit and see which bits we like best from each other’s versions. I am placed with Lilli and Season. Our approach was more non-linear compared to the original storyboard. We decided to begin with rather high intensity, showing moments of him looking in the mirror and then moments from the fridge scene in the height of his frustration. We saw this as a way of foreshadowing what struggles he is yet to face. 

We also took the opportunity to experiment on the fridge scene; as there are many ways that it can be cut to be intense. One thing that we added was single frame inserts of the TV; placed between moments of his rage. One clip was the audience laughing and cheering; we saw this as mockery to the character trying to get the beer. The other frame was a goalkeeper getting frustrated on the pitch; to reflect the character’s current state of emotions.

Research: Walter Murch

Walter Murch is considered to be "one of the few universally acknowledged masters in his field." I've researched into his philosophy of editing by reading his book In The Blink of an Eye and how some of his methods could apply to our project:

In The Blink of an Eye – Walter Murch



Why do cuts work summary:

·         Discontinuity is key in film

·         Jump cuts are jarring to the audience: a bee can adapt if the hive is 2 miles away from origin or can carry on if it is 2cm from origin. But it gets confused if it is moved 2 yards from origin.

·         The Shining is an exception to the rule of discontinuity



Cut out the bad bits Summary:

·         There’s more to editing than cutting bad bits

·         What makes a bad bit?

·         Bad bits can be taken out of home cinema; a goal of “un-restructured record of events in continuous time”

·         Bad bits are harder to spot in narrative films because they are more fragmented in time structure

·         Process of making film is “the search to identify what is a uniquely ‘bad bit’”

·         Murch compares editors and films as the DNA in humans and chimpanzees

- DNA (film material) is the same

- Genetic code (the editor) is different

- Don’t decide to make a chimpanzee and change it to a human halfway through, loses potential or becomes boring.



Most with the least summary:

·         “do only what is necessary to engage the imagination of the audience”

·         “suggestion is always more effective than exposition”

·         Editor’s job is not to be paid to cut but to make decisions and where not to cut

·         Overactive editor like a tour guide that points every detail out when tourists want to spot things for themselves.

·         “When you have to make a cut, what makes it a good one?”



Rule of six summary:

·         Three-dimensional continuity = cutting every movement fluidly with no jumps in space or time

·         Audience remembers how they felt, not the camera work, editing etc.

1.       Emotion 51%

2.       Story 23%

3.       Rhythm 10%

4.       Eye-trace 7%

5.       Two-dimensional plane of screen  5%

6.       Three-dimensional space of action 4%

·         Emotion, story and rhythm are tightly linked together



Misdirection Summary:

·         Put yourself in the audience’s position. What do you want them to feel, think and look for?

·         An editor can make an audience look one way instead of the other like a magician can.




Seeing around the edge of the frame summary:

·         Editor should not be privy to what goes on during production and on set

·         Directors need to create a barrier (e.g. go on holiday) so they are not influenced by takes that took time and effort to shoot

·         The editor is in the same position as the audience when it comes to editing.




Dreaming in pairs - summary:

·         Editor/director relationship is like a dreamer and the listener

·         Dreamer starts off vaguely, listener prompts a suggestion, dreamer defends dream by saying it was something other than the suggestion

·         Editor throws bait to the director to flush out the best catch

·         “it is the quality of the bait that determines the kind of fish you catch”



Team work: multiple editors - summary:

·         Pros = speed. Cons = lack of coherence

·         Having one editor can lead to a locked viewpoint and can clash with director’s vision.




The decisive moment summary:

·         Print out frames that define each shot (use more than one for complex moving shot)

·         Lay it out in storyboard style to read it like a book.

References:

IMDb - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004555/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

In The Blink of an Eye - Murch .R (1995, 2001) In The Blink of an Eye, Silman-James Press

Editing: Week 2 (Variation)

20th Nov:

We had a look at each other’s edits from last week. What we found is that they were structured in more or less the same way. Matt also gave us some note about our main edit; we need to understand the emotion of the character in order to help us cut. Our character begins angry and depressed and he must go on a journey to reach acceptance by the end of the film.

21st Nov:

Matt has given us more input on our current edit. He says the fridge scene needs more work. He also found that some shots don’t work; such as the Jib shot of the picture frame; its framing is not right and the audience doesn’t know where to look. Also the mirror scene is being overused so we should use it sparingly if it is used more than once.

Research: Editing Techniques

• Lee Smith: Non Linear Editing (Inception)

Single frame inserts - Fight Club (1999):

- We referenced several scenes in David Fincher's Fight Club where Tyler is inserted into a single frame so we can see him for a split second. We thought about using this in the form of a jump cut in our film to send the audience off balance during the rampage of our main character in the fridge scene.

Akira Kurosawa - Cutting on movement:

Note - this section of research on Akira Kurosawa is taken from the research I did on him in the Subject In Context Module:

- The two example above show cutting in relation to movement. Akira Kurosawa would either cut at the end of a movement in one scene, then straight into a scene with lots of movement; or he would cut on specific movements so it looks like the image flows smoothly and the cut is hidden. This could be useful when we want to slow down the tension at the end of the fridge scene in our film.

Non Linear Editing - Inception (2010):

Opening scene of Inception

 

- In Inception the film opens on the main character Cobb waking up on a beach and then dragged into a banquet hall to talk with an old man. The film then cuts to both Cobb and the old man looking younger and better dressed eating at the table. Because the cut occurs in the same room, it's hard to realise straight away that the film has gone back in time. When the audience realises this, it gets them asking how the events that follow in the film lead back to that opening scene.

Non linear editing is an interesting way of keeping the audience wondering about what will follow in the narrative and could be something we can use in our film; possibly for foreshadowing events that happen to the main character.

Editing: Week 3 (Refinement and Sound)

29th Nov:

   

We set about recording non diegetic voices for the fridge scene today. Most of them involve phrases regarding the character’s accident. They are mostly his friends and family comforting him but they will be merged into one to sound distorted and irritating. Marlon is taking charge of mixing the sound for this.

30th Nov:

We’ve now split into a rota to work on the edit; as we’ve found that it seems a little impractical for us all to be in the same room working on the same edit. So we have split into shifts. I am with Rosie and Georgie and we are starting from scratch based upon the notes we have already about the previous edit.

Notes to apply:

• Likes from the fridge scene onward

• Feels like on the outside, don’t really care about him

• Fridge scene is a lot better

• Still too much at armlength

• Don’t feel anything for him, not engaged with him

• The beginning is kind of boring, its bland, needs spicing up

• Maybe pace the build up a bit more, cut it down a little?

• The facial shots make us more empathetical

• Could even cut to the crowd a little sooner in the fridge scene

• Need to from an emotional connect by seeing the struggle to move from the sofa to the wheelchair

(maybe if we all have a go at moving without using our legs to see what strain it would take on us)

• Still thinks we should split up to groups to get different edits with fresh eyes (Oscar and Alex)

• By Tuesday we need to have decided what we are going with from a few different full edits

• Some of this edit could be lifted out and used in the final proper edit with refinement 

• 3 groups?

• Could have 3 full edits not including this one by Monday

• Want intimate emotional connection

• 3 this afternoon, 4 tomorrow morning and 4 in the afternoon

Case Study: The Rise (2012)

- The Rise (2012) Directed by Rowan Athale

I think that The Rise is a film that has you on edge from the very opening shot. It makes you wonder how one event leads to another and keeps you waiting for the next stage of the plot to unfold; while also leading you to assumptions that are not actually what they appear to be at first glance. Through the writing, editing and visual language of this film, Athale has told a story of four well developed characters who we can follow and actually route for, even if the end goal is to pull of a club heist.

In brief summary, The Rise is a film where Harvey Miller is under arrest and questioned by an inspector on an attempted break in at The Rise Club. Harvey explains how he and his mates had planned to steal money belonging to Steven Roper; the man that got Harvey sent to prison. Roper had the money locked away in a safe below The Rise club. The inspector learns from Harvey that the break in was unsuccessful; until Harvey records the rest of his confession on tape when the inspector leaves him alone in the interrogation room.

Jung Archetypes:

One thing that is very well established in the film is that Harvey is part of a group of life long mates who we come to know as being loyal and trusting to him. Each of these mates has a different personality and react differently when Harvey tells them about the business proposition he's managed to be apart of while in prison. Harvey and his mates therefore, can be described by the Jung character archetypes theory:


Harvey - The Hero/ The Visionary

Harvey is the protagonist with the main plan to rob The Rise club to start a better life abroad in an investment he agreed on with an inmate in prison.

Hero Qualities:

• Harvey assure's his team that they will pull the heist off

• He wants to prove he can make something of himself when he left prison

• He sometimes shows arrogance at how he feels in total control of his plan

• He is competent and courageous against wealthier and powerful men

Visionary Qualities:

• Harvey puts the idea into his mates heads to join him on his venture to start a new life

• His actions lead to unintended negative consequences (one of his mates Charlie gets attacked by Roper)

• He is capable of finding a win-win solution. e.g. he gives the inspector the choice of hunting them down, or letting them get away with the heist; Harvey does this by recording the rest of his story when the inspector leaves the interrogation room.

- Whenever Harvey thinks about planning the heist or listening in about information relevant to it, he always wears or is surrounded by blue. Blue specifically signifies depth and stability. Harvey is calm and thorough in his plan and considers every detail, which justifies why he is associated with the colour blue.

- Whenever Harvey puts his plan into action, or facing confrontation, he wears a black leather coat. Black is associated with power. Rowan Athale has therefore made Harvey's character wear the black jacket when he feels that he has a sense of power about him. For example, when he is confronted by Roper, he stands up to him right in his face. 

- Contrasting to Harvey's jacket, Roper's power is less obvious than that of Harvey's (shown in his black jacket). Roper wear an orange body warmer with a red shirt underneath when he is first introduced. Orange in this case can be seen as Roper being an nice guy, but wearing red underneath it signifies the orange as a facade. In other words, he's plays out to be a nice guy; like when asking Harvey how he's been after getting out of prison, but really, Roper is an aggressive man with a vengeance about him on the inside.

- Harvey wears the black coat again when he feels that he has safely got his girlfriend back after their previous argument before he went to prison. This is showing he feels he's in control of their relationship again.

- Harvey wear black again when he goes to find the location of the safe with the money at The Rise club; this marks his control over the situation and his plan is going smoothly.

Dempsey - The Jester/ The Innovator

Dempsey is Harvey's best mate and the character that is the life and motivation of the group when Harvey is quiet, calm and calculated.

Jester Qualities:

• He doesn't worry about what could go wrong and lives in the moment

• He keeps the moral high when things are down

Innovator qualities:

• He realises Harvey's vision and how it can be beneficial to everyone

• He motivates everyone when they are feeling doubtful about the plan

• He is rational when his mates are angry

-Dempsey is introduced in orange. Orange signifies joy, happiness and determination. Dempsey imminently jokes about Harvey's time in prison when he picks him up from the train station.

- When Dempsey is talking about the plan and how it could be a great new start and a better life for them all, he wears a smarter looking coat compared to his orange puma jacket. This shows that he is capable of making rational decisions and has a sense of logic and wisdom which he encourages to the rest of the group when they are unsure. 

- When Dempsey is on board with Harvey's plan and watching The Rise club, he wears blue (which is shown to be Harvey's colour). This means that both he and Harvey are on the same page of the plan with no doubts.

- Dempsey wears his smart coat in the hospital after Charlie was attacked, both Harvey and Dodd are angry and want revenge, but Dempsey reminds them both that they have to worry about Charlie before thinking about revenge.

- Just before the night of the heist, everyone becomes unsure about the plan and feel like it won't work. Dempsey is wearing his orange jacket again when he stands up and reminds every one of the end goal and motivates them to hold it together.

Charlie - The Regular Guy/ The Caregiver

Charlie is the more doubtful character about Harvey's plan, but he cares about his mates and goes ahead with the plan; knowing how it will be good for all of them.

Regular Guy Qualities:

• He tries to connect with his mates when he finally agrees to go ahead with the plan

• He stands up for his virtues of being a carer to his mum when his mates talk about starting a new life abroad.

• He lacks pretence about his views on how crazy he thinks the plan is at first.

Caregiver Qualities:

• After he gets attacked, Charlie still decides to go ahead and help rob The Rise club to help his mates.

• He's a carer to his mum which is his greatest conflict when he thinks about starting a better life for himself.

Dodd - The Rebel/The Innocent

Dodd is the tough guy that resorts to aggressive measures when anyone crosses him or his mates. But, he also has a heart that values home and this holds him back somewhat when he's given the chance to start a new life abroad.

Rebel Qualities:

• Isn't afraid to use violence for revenge

• When he is on board with the plan, he completely sabotages the alarm system in The Rise club

Innocent Qualities:

• Desires for a better life deep down.

• Aims to do things right for the good of his mates (even if it's aggressive sometimes).

• Has faith in Harvey to see this plan through to the end.

Editing:

Opening Scene

• These are the only shots used in the opening sequence, tight and close to open on tension
• Film opens on a bloody and beaten character to get the audience on edge from the start

Introducing love interest

• Cuts switch from close to mid shots. Acts like Harvey's slow but nervous approach to get back with his girlfriend.
• Getting in closer as the editing continues marks that he's still managed to whittle his way back into her heart.

The morning after

• Soft lighting: shows that Harvey is back in bliss when he wakes up in Nicola's flat
• Editing here is quick, jumps from frame 2 quickly to frame 3 then frame 4 in around 3 seconds. This signifies that she is playing "hard to get" with Harvey by constantly leaving him wanting more.

Walk to work

• Similar to the scene in Nicola's flat, editing jump cuts in what should be a slow intimate moment. Signifies that their relationship is not as intimate as Harvey would like.

The night of the job

• When Harvey begins tells the inspector of how the heist went. He focuses not on what happened, but the nerves, human error and all the things that could make the plan go wrong.

• In the editing of this sequence of shots, the tension in the actors' performances, combined with Harvey's narration make the audience anticipate that the plan goes horribly wrong.
• This is backed up by the fact that Harvey is beaten up and under interrogation at the police station.

• Through this one long shot where the camera follows Harvey, all the time his face is never revealed. This is an important detail that Harvey is concealing when he tells his story.

-Demspy hiding as Harvey confronts Roper

-We see Harvey's beaten face at the end of this sequence and assume that Roper has beaten him up.

• Because of all the panic, tension and potential failure, the audience assumes that Dempsy is watching Harvey confront Roper alone and then Demspy runs off leaving Harvey to deal with the mess.

What really happened

The frames below show what Harvey left out in his story, and later reveals to the inspector when he is alone with the recorded tape:

-Harvey planned to make it look like they failed to break in

- Harvey planned to trigger the alarm at a precise time to lure Roper to the crime scene

• Harvey left out specific details in his first version of the break in.
• The editing here is a repeat of the first version but with extra bits added in.

- This same camera track is like the one before; this time following Harvey from the front, showing that he planned to look beaten and bruised before he confronted Roper; so the police would assume that Roper attacked him. This is the important detail Harvey concealed in his story.

- This time, we see the full confrontation between Roper and Harvey and how Harvey antagonised him to the point where he pulls out a knife; justifying Harvey's act of self defence when he knocks Roper out with a crowbar.

• After the confrontation, a blue light starts to flash over Havery's shoulder.
• It's blue flash resembles a heart beat
• The calm, collected and calculated blue of Harvey slowly beats back over him when the audience realises that Harvey was in control the whole time.

Conclusion:

A really well written and well directed film by Rowan Athale. Using colour in specific ways and editing to conceal all the important information, The Rise is a brilliant British heist film that connects the audience with the characters really well; wanting them to succeed not just to get one over the  man that sent Harvey to prison, but also because they are four genuine lads that deserve a lucky break.

Rough Notes:

References:

Colour Symbolism - http://www.color-wheel-pro.com/color-meaning.html
Jung Archetypes theory - http://www.soulcraft.co/essays/the_12_common_archetypes.html

Editing: Week 4 (Sound, Foley and Titles)

6th Dec:

- Setup

 - Ruffling sounds

-Drinking sounds

- More ruffling sounds

- Searching for keys in pocket sounds

Today we've set about recording the essential foley that we need for the film. We've chosen a quiet stairwell in Parkside so that we won't be disturbed and set up the mic with the Tascam. We've also used a mic stand so that unwanted rustling noises from holding the mic are reduced.

7th Dec:

Today was the next day of Foley. For this, we needed to go to a location that matched our character's environment; in order to record sounds such as throwing things out of a fridge and atmospheric background sound. We chose my flat because it was close by and because it was similar to the kitchen our character would be in.

8th Dec:

For our titles and credits, we have looked at several font styles to see which would work best for the personality and emotion of our character. Our starting point was football team fonts as that is what the character is most interested in. However, we found that they were rather dull looking and weren’t what we wanted. So we used dafont.com and browsed fonts using certain key words to find what we wanted.

1.       Stempel Garamond Bold (Aston Villa FC)

             Half Time             

2.       Helvetica Neue Heavy Condensed (Birmingham City FC)

Half Time

3.    Arial Black

Half Time

4.    ITC Stone Sans SemiBold (Man U FC)

Half Time

5.     Avenir Medium (West Bromwich Albion FC)

Half Time

6.    Albertus Roman Medium (Liverpool FC)

Half Time

7. Peignot Bold (Chelsea FC)

Half Time (or) HALF TIME

8.    Clarendon-Extra Bold (Coventry City FC)

Half Time

9.     Palatino (Man City FC)

Half Time

10. ITC Newtext Demi (Leicester City FC)

Half Time

11.  Lucida Bright (Swansea City FC)

Half Time

12.  Century Schoolbook Bold (Southampton FC)

Half Time

13.    Helvetica Extra Compressed (Nottingham Forest FC)

Half Time

Our final choice was Avenir Medium.




Editing: Week 5 (Colour Grade, Foley and Submission)

11th Dec:

Summary:

• 1st Pass Colour Grade:

Lumanance - Waveform was compressed so black colours appear grey. Gain was raised and highlights were lowered to resolve this:

-Before changes to lumanance waveform

- After changes to lumanance waveform

Vector Scope:

changing the vector scope from all colour saturation levels being the same, means that the image will not  be monochrome:

-Before

- After

White Balance:

Using the curves tool, levelling out the red, blue and green determines true white for correct white balance:

- Before

- After

We preceded to do this process for all our shots in the edit. Adjust lumanance, alter the vector scope and the white balance. 

• 2nd Pass Colour Grade:

To match up our shots, we used tools like the sharpen tool to reduce the blur in some shots. 

For many shots in the fridge scene, the fridge was over exposed due to the ND filter not being used in the shot; this was something we had to accept.

• 3rd: Stylising

We had a range of presets to choose from to stylise our film:

- Kodak filter: Added blue to the shadows to make it feel cold

- Teal Orange: Severe and very Hollywood looking

- Sepia Toned: Stylistically more aggressive in colour

- Emulating Film Stock: Adds right amount of contrast, creates depth (option we chose)

A few minor adjustments were made such as adding vignettes in certain shot (when he's watching the football match) and a touch of pink was added to the hallway shots and they appeared slightly green. Here's the result of the colour grade:

-Before

- After

12th Dec:

We've finalised on the titles for our film. Using our selected font; we chose to design the title like that of the centre circle on a football pitch; as it is the halfway point between both halves of the pitch. Our final choice is the title in the top right of the image above.

13th &14th Dec:

Last few days of Foley; gathering the last bits of audio that we need and rerecording some of the audio that didn’t work before. Marlon is overseeing the finalisation of the sound mixing.

15th Dec:

Final sound mix check in the recording studio and film is complete

Half Time: Analysis

Half Time is a film that aims to tell a story that we can all relate to in some way; that is we are all proud to do things for ourselves or the way we want to, but there is no shame in admitting to needing help from those who are offering it to you. 

Through the struggle of the main character; first avoiding any contact from the outside world, then struggling to do simple chores, to taking his frustration because of his disabilities, he realises that there is no shame in needing help; especially when people are trying to reach out to him; he is changed by this when he answers the voice mail and when he finally answers the door.

Framing:

- In the opening shot, the protagonist is framed to almost look like he's sitting in a wheelchair. The door frame in the foreground on the right is vertically straight; visually acting like it is propping him up in his seat. the arm of the couch also shows where the horizontal arm rests of a wheelchair might go. Thus this is foreshadowing that the protagonist is disabled long before the wheelchair is even introduced. 

- This instance of framing shows the length of his disability. The protagonist is framed so that the crack in the mirror goes right through his legs; marking visually that they are in some way damaged to the point where he can no longer use them to walk.

- Frame 1

- Frame 2

- Frame 3

- The shots above are framed so that the protagonist is shown to be out of control or facing a great stretch. Frame 1 widens the shot so the audience can see the depth of the protagonist's struggle by how far away he is from the beer. 

Frame 2 also shows the length of his struggle, this time using shallow depth of field so that we can see how far away the beers are, but closer in which brings the audience a little closer to the struggle.

Frame 3 is used to make the audience look down on the protagonist from the top of the fridge, again amplifying how far up he has to reach; only you can see his struggling expressions from this angle. 

- After the outburst at the fridge, the protagonist is frame in two thirds of the shot so that the audience can see him become calm; at the moment he realises just how ridiculous it was to get a beer. It's a moment of acceptance and the audience can see that in the protagonist up close.

- Once the protagonist has accepted the way his life is now, he is framed to be in power from being shot at a lower angle. He is back in control and can enjoy himself once again; in this case by watching the football.

Colour:

- The protagonist wears a dark blue jacket. Dark blue is associated with seriousness. And after his accident, the Protagonist shows a serious and monotone attitude; a sign of ignorance from not wanting any help from anyone. 

Underneath, he wears a red shirt, this signifies his internal aggression at how he can no longer play football again and he's bound to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Combining the two, the colours show a character who is trying to hold a serious and competent nature, but deep down, he cannot cope and he is getting close to breaking point of an angry outburst.

- In both the kitchen and the hallway, the walls are painted grey. This is so that the colours on the protagonist's clothes can be amplified more. These two locations are also where he gets the most frustrated; avoiding the door knocking in the hall, and trying to get the beer in the kitchen. These grey walls therefore allows the colours that show his internal emotions to increase as the intensity of the film increases.

- In the living room, the walls are painted a sickly green; this is the room where the protagonist tries to watch the football without acknowledging the phone. The actions of his ignorance are making him more worse off by denying help; leaving him to wallow in his struggles on his own.

Editing:

- Jump cut from hands on wheelchair straight to touching the mirror (Referenced from Fight Club single frame inserts of Tyler)

- Among the cuts in the editing of the fridge scene, there are fast and slow moments to disorientate the audience over what they are seeing; rather like losing control in the heat of an intense moment. Specifically, there are jump cuts back to the hallway scene where the protagonist looks at himself in the wheelchair. This is symbolising what's running through his head as he is letting out his rage; briefly reminding the audience that the protagonist is unable to do the simplest of things because of his disability; which can be extremely aggravating.

- Another jump cut is when the TV is inserted between the protagonist's rage. The first insert is the crowd laughing and cheering. This is made to look like they are mocking the protagonist at his struggle to get the beer which adds to the aggravation of the moment. The second insert is of the goalkeeper taking his frustration out on the pitch; this reflects the protagonist's frustration rather than mock it.

- After the fridge rampage, the pace of the editing is instantly slowed down and the shot is dragged out, allowing a moment of breathing space for both the protagonist and the audience to calm down and focus.

- Following the moment of calm, the protagonist takes a swig of his beer and the cut is made on the movement which leads  into the next scene. This choice was made to keep the smoothness created from the longer shots that followed from the fridge scene; so the audience knows that everything is calmer now. This is also a choice based upon research into Akira Kurosawa cutting on movement for fluidity.

- This shot is the one of the longest to allow the music to come in; this changes the tense emotions throughout the film into a more positive vibe. A sign that the protagonist has changed after the struggles he's been through. He's changed so much to the point that he is more open minded, more wise and willing to accept contact from the outside world; because he knows now that's what he needs.

• Protagonist's want = to live his life independently
• Protagonist's need = to accept help from those who care about him 

In conclusion, Half Time isn't just about a disabled footballer who's angry that he can't play football anymore; it's a story that tells us that we can be as proud as we like, but we should always remember that comes in accepting kindness and compassion from those who give it to us.

Considering Film Festival Submissions

Poster:

One Liner:

"Everyone has a breaking point"

Log line:

"One man's desire to live his life the way he wants, leads him to the limits of his endurance"

Synopsis:

An ex football player has recently returned home after suffering from an accident which has terminally paralysed his legs. He now has to live and work around the house in a wheelchair but refuses to take any help from his family, friends or the hospital. He finds though that his pride of being independent soon leads him to the breaking point when trying to do the simplest of tasks.

Sites to submit to:

Withoutabox.com:

Collaborative Practice Module Evaluation

I feel that this module has been varied upon the processes and measures we’ve taken as a group to complete our short film. I feel that I worked best during the production week when we rigged and dressed our set on the first day of the week. This work ethic was also carried through rehearsals which consisted of running through the blocking and making sure that we knew how we wanted the shots set up prior to filming. Also, we made sure our actor was comfortable in the role of the disabled character and also with the directions he would be given when filming commenced.

When filming began, I feel that the onset discipline was very good. We were consistent and efficient running on time to with the shooting schedule; sometimes even ahead of schedule. In between takes, we were all comfortable in our roles to do what needed to be done. For me, that was making sure that the next shot was set up, the camera settings were correct, making sure we were using the appropriate lens and framing our actor to the way we wanted him to be framed. 

The consistency of our group work onset continued well up to the final day of filming and the de-rigging day. Personally, I feel that we communicated well with each other, that we understood each other and that we listened to each other. If there was ever a problem that needed fixing, it would never be left for someone else to do and would be taken care of as quickly as possible. Overall, production week is the part of this module I have enjoyed the most.

The weeks that followed from production week consisted of us putting together our footage to edit the film in a way that could best tell our story to our audience. Week one was mostly about organising and reviewing the footage we already had and how it looked at the most basic version of a rough cut. We would refer back to the shot logs and storyboard to help us see the best ways to edit. 

We also tried variating as well, going into little groups and trying different edits; some were non-linear against what the script and storyboard stated. This process of trial and error allowed us to realise as a group that a linear edit is the best version for us to go with. From this point, we began to refine our edit down to a better version; based upon the emotions in the scenes.

Generally, editing did feel slower compared to production week. Sometimes it was difficult for everyone to stay focused and we would struggle for ideas. We did however take regular breaks to avoid this as much as possible. Personally, I feel that my input on the edit was, to a certain extent limited. I contributed to group discussions about what worked best in the edit and mainly operated the computers when we were split off into smaller groups. In terms of the main edit though, I feel I was more part of the trial and error processes leading to the refined version. 

On the occasions where we would start again from scratch, I did put more effort in as we did this in the form of a rota where everyone could work on the refined edit in little groups.

For the Foley, we would look at our edit and list what sounds we needed to get. This was done either in quiet areas of the university building, or on location. The location Foley was done in my flat kitchen as it closely resembled the kitchen that our character was in. We were able to get atmosphere track and also sounds from the fridge as well. 

During the process of Foley, our edit was also colour graded with the assistance of Matt and we looked at how he did basic colour correction, and we also chose how we wanted our film to look stylistically.  We also looked into titles and fonts for the opening and for the credits of our film. We decided upon a simple font shaped in a football centre circle; after researching different types of fonts from football logos and font design websites.

Foley was still ongoing, this time though the edit was complete and for specific sounds like the wheelchair, we would watch the edit on a laptop and then act out the sounds so they could be recorded. I feel that my input in Foley was considerable. I was able to help in recording Foley at my flat, non-diegetic voice over and also helped when acting out the sounds for the wheelchair as I watched the edit on a laptop.

With the film now complete and the project at its close, I can say that nearly our entire group has put in their efforts towards this project and I feel that this is shown in the final cut of our film. I feel satisfaction when I watch over the final cut and feel that it was a great team effort.

Overall, collaborative practice is a module that I have learned quite a lot from. It has given me the chance to try the role of cinematographer; something outside my desired career path of director, but it has also taught me the discipline of working on set and applying that discipline into practice. I realise that film is not something that can be done easily; this is particularly evident in the post production process. I have the realisation that editing demands just as much time, effort and input as pre-production and production. 

I have enjoyed collaborative with the TPE students and hope that I may be able to collaborate with them again for their expertise in set design on my own films.  I come out of this module feeling ready to create films unlike how I used to in previous modules and have a clearer grasp on the measures it takes to make a good film.