Final Reflection and Evaluation

Teamwork during Pre-Production:

• Describe any problems or difficulties your group encountered while developing your music video concept and deciding upon music;

We didn’t have any problems with creating the idea for our film as we all had an general idea of what we wanted to have in our film and they all merged together quite well. Finding music was simple as we has already decided to use a rock song and we all agreed on TNT as it’s lyrics weren’t explicit and fitted the main concept quite well.

• Explain whether your group effectively used the pre-production and planning templates prior to filming;

The templates for the shot lists and storyboards were quite useful as they helped us get an idea of what props and costumes we needed for the filming process.

• Describe whether your group made effective use of their time in class during pre-production. (Did each group member; contribute; have set tasks at all times; know their role in the group etc.)

Our time in class was originally spent creating out shot lists, and after that we were creating the effects that were needed for the music video. I had to create a quick back up shot list for our first day filming as our previous group member Millie didn’t write up the one that she promised she would make before the day. During lessons, Hannah, Shae and Kay were working on the shot list for the first scene and creating storyboards while I was creating the effects that would be used later on in the editing process.

• List some steps your group could (or did) implement to improve in this area;

We could have had the shot list for the first scene created before we started filming, but as we had a lot of shots to film from other scenes, we were able to go without it until the last day of filming.

Teamwork during Production and Post-Production:

• Discuss how your group used storyboards, shot-lists and a shooting schedule to assist during the filming making process;

We followed the shot lists that we had to keep an idea of what we were filming and where we were up to, but we were quite flexible about how we followed it, often changing the way a shot was filmed.

• Did your group experience any organisational issues during filming, (i.e. members who were absent or did not contribute; finding suitable times to film; forgetting shot-lists, costumes; not booking equipment etc.) How did you manage or work around these difficulties?

We faced a few problems during the production process. We started off with quite a few extra’s for zombies, and were excited that the filming was going to turn out great, but on the day only two of our zombies showed up. Fortunately we had thought ahead and the Nerds of the film were all told to bring in party clothes as well as their main costumes. This allowed us to have more than two people in the film. Over the next few days of filming we gained a couple of extra zombies that would come along whenever they could, and the music video ended up being a bit like the Foo Fighter’s video for their song Learning to Fly. On one day Shae and I had forgotten to borrow out a camera for the weekend, and had to use her dad’s camera which was a lot like the school ones and was able to film in the same quality. On the last day of filming I forgot to bring in the Death Note but because Shae had some black paper I was able to make a quick “back up” that can be seen in the first and third scenes.  

• Describe any problems or difficulties you encountered during post-production and editing. These may include; technical difficulties, corrupt or missing files, group related issues. etc;

There was only a few problems that arose in the editing process. We noticed that due to our trial at making the room seem dark and night club like, we had created a lot of film grain, which we had to work around as we were unable to go back and re shoot. Also Hannah and Kay went a little over time with their edits, so we had to cut out parts of theirs and mine to keep the video in sync with the music and in the time limit.

• Did your group complete all shots as detailed in your planning?

We managed to get all of the shots that were outlined by our planning done and got many extra ones that we thought could have been used as well.

Discuss your individual feelings about the Music Video Task:

I am quite happy with the final result and the concept but believe that there could be a few changes made in the filming and editing. If we could re do the film, I would use alot more lighting and possibly put a blue filter over the lights to give the film adequate lighting while maintaining a club like look. Also I would have a few more people there as there are shots where it is clear that there was no one else there. In editing, I would have had the first scene colour corrected, so that it looked better as the shots are straight off of the camera. The effects were pretty good, but I would have also used them in the third scene when the nerds are just starting to fight the zombies. Other than that this project was a lot easier to complete than the last one as in the last film we didn't plan very well and I only vaguely understood what the concept of the film was, whereas in this one I knew exactly what the concept was and was actually quite excited to make it. This can be seen through the Treatment that we wrote up for our films as there is little difference between it and the final product of the film.

• Consider whether you undertook adequate and detailed reflection to throughout your project. Have you provided enough evidence to support your work? (Does the work on your blog/journal represent 6 weeks’ worth of work).

I have used my blog quite well during this project, only slowing down on my posts during the editing process, much like in the last project.

Editing

I have started editing Scene 4: The Fight Scene that I wrote the shot list for earlier in the project.
The process is quite simple and I have completed most of it. Tomorrow at school I will talk to the other girls in my group as we are all going to need to use the same sort of filters otherwise the different scenes will look too different and the music video won't flow well.
I have succeeded in placing some of the comic effects over the video and have created the Death Note style heart attack effect, but there are a couple of shots where I want to move the effect around the screen and am unsure how to do so.
Also one of the shots that I am trying to speed up is giving me problems as it keeps popping up with an error about the "trimming process."
I am going to ask Mr Andrews about how to do/fix these in our next lesson, and also begin to help Kay with editing in Final Cut as it is her first time using the program.

Filming: The Last Day

Yesterday was our last day of filming, and it went really well. We only had a couple of shots to film, and were done pretty quickly, so now we are ready to edit.
We filmed Matt's part of the first scene, the shot where we hide under the table and get our weapons from scene 3, a shot where the nerds are a united force in scene 4 and the moment when a zombie chases the nerds away from the night club scene 5.
We have decided that we will be editing the scenes that we wrote the shot list for(Shae: Scene 1&2, Hannah: scene 3, Julian: Scene 4, Kay: Scene 5 ). It looks like we will have our project completed by Friday and I am quite excited to see how it works out.

Our Storyboards

Here is some our groups storyboards.

They were drawn by our new group member Kay, with the help of Hannah.

Filming: Day Unknown

On Saturday my group got together and filmed a few more shots for the party scene and the first scene when there is no music playing and the nerds are playing World of Warcraft.
We faced a few problems, but were able to get through them.
Shae and I forgot to borrow out a camera during the week, so we used her dad's camera, which is a lot like the schools ones, but I am unsure about the quality and if it was on the right screen size.
Matt and Ethan were unable to come to filming, which brought up a few problems because there were a few shots that we wanted to film that had them in them.
We have set up a date to film next week, and will be filming the last shots that we need before the assignment is due.
It was still a productive day, and next lesson we will probably start editing.

May the odds be ever in our favour.

Scene 5 Shot List

Here is the shot list that I wrote up for Millie.

Shot Number	Length (sec)	Visuals
1	4	Pan of whole room, zombies all on the ground, nerds looking around for hidden targets. (long high angled pan)
2	2	Nerd one gesturing for the other Nerds to follow her out of the club. (low angled close up)
3	4	Nerd 2 slamming the death note shut and jumping over a zombie carefully. (Long shot)
4	2	Zombies hand twitching. (high angled close up)
5	2	Nerd 2’s shocked/scared expression before he rushes off to Nerd 1. (Medium shot)
6	5	Nerd 3 slowly making her way towards the group, avoiding twitching limbs. (Long low angled shot)
7	4	Nerd 4 heading towards the others (Medium)
8	4	Nerds 2, 3 and 4 reaching 1. 1 Picks up bag and turns towards the door. (Long shot)
9	5	Zombies twitching limbs, some beginning to move (Long high angled shot)
10	4	From front of nerds, zombie getting up, others limbs moving. (Long shot)
11	3	Nerds walking out of the door. (slow motion, long shot)
12	6	Pan of Nerds faces, Looking determined and happy to have gotten out. (Close up)
13	6	Zombies getting up in club. One walking out of club. (long shot from behind)
14	5	Shot of zombie’s feet making their way out of the door. (close up)
15	3	Zombie stumbling into the light (behind long shot.)
16	5	Nerd 2 looks behind them towards the club, pans to the zombies that are coming out of the door. (close up pan)
17	4	Nerd 2 taps the others, pointing to the door. (Long, zombies in background)
18	8	All nerds turn to the zombies, face the nerd beside them then run off screaming. (Long shot.)

Steven Spielberg

• Has received 3 Oscars
• Has written 21 films
• Has produced 138 films
• Has directed 50 films
• His films include Jaws, Saving Private Ryan, E.T. , Jurrasic Park and Raiders of the Lost Ark

Random Fact: His dog Elmer starred in several of Spielberg's films including Jaws.

Filming: Day 3

Our third day of filming (Monday) went pretty well.
We filmed most of the shots that required only all of the nerds as we had a shorter time frame and also didn't bring any zombies. It was good, there is only a few more shots that need all of the nerds, but they require weapons and zombies, and we didn't have the light saber.

Filming: Day 2

Today's filming went really well! Even though we weren't able to film scenes that had Tayla in them as she had to leave early, so she just helped by being our lighting person. Minnie also came along, which gave us an extra zombie as Conor (Tayla's brother) was unable to come.
We filmed the scenes that had only Matt and zombies in them so now we have all of the single Nerd scenes out of the way. We also filmed a few shots of Zombies on the floor after an attack and a shot where Peta and I go for the same zombie without realising it before we are already there. We started filming shots from scene one where everyone is still human and is just dancing around in the party while the nerds walk in, and introduced Chemical X to the party.
Yes, it has been pointed out to us that Chemical X is what gave the Power Puff Girls their powers, but that's beside the point... This version could have been a part of the earlier trials of the product... but it makes the user harder to defeat, the only side effect being that it turns your skin green and you start to rot while you have a huge craving for brains.
Strangely Ethan does look more like a vampire who barely managed to avoid being decapitated, but he is the "head zombie" so he has to look different. (A.K.A, we made his eyes bleed before we realised he was supposed to be green so we just coloured his arms green.)
We filmed as much as we could before we all had to leave and now have all of scene 4 and most of the other scenes filmed. We will be filming on some weekends next term, as our zombies, and nerd, go to school on the other side of the G.C. and we may possibly be able to infect a few more zombies to try and get their turn at eating our nerds brains. which will make our party/club be more... party-ish.
Next, well this, term we will do a quick edit of the shots/scenes that we have and begin to play around with them, trying to add the effects that we are after for them.

So our owls will be sent out requesting the presence of our zombies when the time is right, and their flesh has rotted so much that we will no longer be able to identify them and may possible run and hide at the sight of them.

Production Images

Here are some images from our time filming during the past two days.

Set:

 

Lightsaber:

 

Peta's Sword:

Red Cups for Stereotypical Party Props: 

Chemical X (no we didn't drink it):

Peta in her 11th Doctor  Cosplay (missing bow tie and jacket):

My Luke/Leia Cosplay:

Tayla in Her Harry Potter Cosplay:

 

Matt in His Light Cosplay:

Becoming a Zombies (face makeup):

  

Scarring the Main Zombies:

Some Zombie Bites:

Filming: Day 1

Today's filming went pretty well, we completed quite a few shots, but we faced a few problems in the beginning.
We asked quite a few people to come along to the event and recieved quite a few "maybe's" but in the end we only had two zombies arrive, and ended up having to drag our Potterhead Nerd Tayla to drag her brother along as he was nearby. Due to the lack of people, we decided to do something similar to what the Foo Fighters did in their Learning To Fly music video where the band plays everyone in the video. We have Micheal and Ethan playing the two main zombies while Peta, Tayla, Matt and I constantly change between Nerd and Zombie. Tomorrow we may have 2 more zombies, but I am not too sure.
We have filmed almost all of the scenes where there is one-on-one battle between Zombies and Nerds. We started off with Tayla in her Harry Potter cosplay, then Peta in her 11th Doctor cosplay. We got majority of My scenes done, but have a couple left, so we are doing thoses and all of Matt's ones tomorrow.
It is going to be a little tricky to do the shots where we have multiple Nerds and Zombies, due to our lack of numbers, but we should be fine.
We also forgot to put the glasses on Peta and I's characters, so that's a little dilemma. But the glasses aren't too important. We'll just make sure that Tayla keeps hers on and Matt wears his.
Also, as Millie didn't send us her shot list before the film date, I had to write up a quick end scene shot list on the way to filming. Shae is writing up the first scene's shot list as well tonight, but we won't need it until tomorrow.
The way that we are dealing with the filming means that it will take a little longer than expected, but we should be able to get it done... Hopefully.

We do have images from the production, but I am currently unable to post them, so they will be up on a later date.

More Make Up Stuff... Because I Can

Yeah... He's having fun with this...
But these trials of the Zombie make up give off a more authentic feel, like the flesh is actually rotting off. Our zombies are going to look pretty awesome!

Scar... Well, Cut and Bite Make Up

Our scar make up artist has been messing around with his latex and other stuff and here is one of his trial runs for the bite's that all zombies are going to have (how else is the infection going to spread!?), and the gash that a few will be honored with.

It looks pretty good! He's going to be blending the edges a bit more, as at the moment you can still see the latex, and we will have rotting zombie flesh in no time! 

The Creation of the Death Note and Chemical "X"

The Death Note 

Here are some images from when I was making the Death Note. it is now ready for use and if you touch it you might even see a Shinigami! I haven't seen one yet, but maybe they're still in the Shinigami realm.

Chemical "X"

This is the design for the Chemical "X" sticker. It has a "Z" hidden in it so that a small group of government scientists that are working on the top secret project will be able to recognise the chemical as chemical "Z" for zombies, but others that aren't in the secret circle will just believe it is chemical "X", what they are being told is the new trial run for a cure of some form of cancer.