Finished product

Finished product

After many weeks or research, practice, learning and production it is finally ready and this is how it looks!! I am very pleased with the outcome and anxious to hand it in, it is quite surreal to think I have created this. Please find the link below to view my film on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLP4N2HRGoE

Finishing touches

Finishing touches

As it is a physical hand in I wanted to hand in more than just a link. I decided to get my discs printed with a still from the film and to design a dvd sleeve.

I didn't want to show too much of the film so decided to keep the images on the disc and sleeve quite similar. I took screen shots of 2 parts of the film that were only seconds apart to see which one was more effective. I printed out the images cut them to size so that I could visualise the outcome.

My printer was laying up that is why the colouring is a bit odd but I did this more so that I could see the crop. I decided to go with the image above as it is slightly more obscure as the image in the foreground is already fading into the next shot. This is also occurring in the image below, however the image in the foreground is too prominent. 

I sent the image off to a printers called discprint (http://www.discprint.co.uk) where I was able to get a sample (see below) before agreeing to place an order.

In the meantime I also started to design the dvd sleeve, I knew exactly what image I wanted to put on there so just played around with the layout. I wanted to include a synopsis and a thank you note which is featured on the back. 

When I was happy with the layout I thought I was able to print it at home as it wasn't a very large format. Sadly that didn't turn out as well as expected, as I wanted to print it on glossy paper there were a couple of issues. 

After printing it I made sure to leave it to dry overnight, however it is clear that the ink didn't penetrate the paper properly as it would smudge as soon as you would touch it. 

Luckily I still had time left and as I spent under my estimated budget I decided to get it professionally printed as Design & Print. The outcome looks much better and am happy I left my self enough time encase of problems like this. 

The outcome is visible in the next post.

A few more changes

A few more changes 

After showing my tutor my progression and the film, she suggested that I made a couple of alterations.

I took her advice and executed them accordingly.

One main thing we both agreed on changing was the font, I went with a font called Steiner which looks like this:

This font is clean cut and clearer than the font originally used which can be seen in the storyboard. It was inspired by the short film 365 days of make-up by Lernert & Sander, which is also shown in one of my previous posts. The change of font makes a significant change to the overall presentation and makes it look more professional.

My tutor Sharon also suggested that I take out one of the scenes (image below), I was a little sceptical of this at first but after removing it and watching it back I am pleased that I followed her guidance. 

Music

Music 

I was recommended a music composer my my videographer, I have listened to some of his music on his youtube channel before and was excited to be working with him. His work is original and eccentric which works great with my project. 

I was able to converse with him on a regular basis so he could understand my project and so that we can be in-tune with what I want for my film. My key words for this composition were edgy, unique, intriguing and emotional. 

His style is generally quite techno which is something that would add to the uniqueness of this projects as initially I would have gone with something more classical. After further deliberation I decided to steer away from that as I felt classical music would have given the impact but would be too generic.

Three different parts of music were composed for this project. I asked the composer to watch the film to get a feel of the mood and draw from that as part of his inspiration. The first piece written based on the descriptions I have given him and the film itself, adding a slight 'jazzy' feel to it as this genre of music is very varied in regards to the mood it can set. The second piece was previously written by him, it is something I heard before and mentioned that I liked. He adapted this piece to fit in with the films movement and emotion. The final piece he described to me as being more psychological, it has an ambient feel to it finishes off the film well.  

Editing

Editing 

As I have never edited any video footage before my videographer offered to do it for me. I trusted him with this as he graduated with a film and video production degree so has a lot more knowledge about this than me. As I previously stated in one of my posts I did do some research on video editing as I wanted to direct the final outcome. The link below really helped me to understand the different scene transitions which was the one thing I was focusing most on during my learning process. Throughout my film I have mainly used a match cut, which is where it cuts straight to the next shot, and a crossfade scene transition being more of a gradual fade into the next shot. 

http://www.mediacollege.com/video/editing/transition/types.html

There have been several edits of the footage, below is a brief breakdown of the changes that have occurred. 

The first edit was pretty rough just to get an idea of how it will/should look. The 1st scene had to be cut down as the zoom in was too slow. The footage for the first make-up look had to be changed as the female hand was prominent and overpowering, also the head would dip too much into the shadows. The editor added in an effect to morph the face when my model was scrapping away the make-up, this wasn't planned but I really liked this effect so decided to keep it in. 

In the second edit the reverse sequence was a bit too quick so instead of the whole sequence slowed down my editor and I made a joint decision on having the beginning slower and having it speed up gradually. Also I wasn't too keen on the match cut at the end of the film, I wanted it to fade slowly into black and then smoothly running into the credits.

After those changes where made the film was not yet finished. I still had the credits to do, the editor created a rough credit list but again there were a couple of things I wanted differently in regards to layout and description.

These alterations where sent to me with the addition of music, it is incredible how much of an impact the music has on a film. I was very happy with the music and no alterations had to be made with that. However with the credit change I realised a few spelling errors which then had to be corrected.

After thinking I was pretty much done with the editing process I realised that the title of the film also had a spelling mistake. I was shocked that after having watched it so many times and having shown it to other that it wasn't realised before. Instead of Dimensional the title said Dimentional, it is minor but something that would definitely not look good if presented like that as it is the first thing people see.

Filming day

Filming day

This post is basically explaining how my day went filming, I woke up ill and super nervous which didn't help but the adrenaline and excitement is definitely something that kept me focused and determined to get it right.

After packing all my stuff into the car I had to drive to town to pick up my model, videographer and photographer. I knew my model was going to be a little late so called him and sent him a message to make sure he was on his way, after waiting a little while longer with no response I called him again he told me he was ill and wasn't sure whether to still come down. I decided to call my back-up model as it would take him an hour if not longer to get to the studio, eating into my studio time which I am of course paying for. I could not get hold of my other model so asked my brother, who was supposed to be taking on set pictures, to model for me instead which thank God he did. Not going to lie I was close to tears at this point and just wanted to get it done today.

When getting to the studio, me and the videographer set up the lights which was trickier than expected but overall worked out quite well. 

The studio was freezing as the boiler was broken, also something I only found out this morning which wasn't very handy as my model had to be topless through most of it. Luckily I brought towels and a dressing-gown with me. 

After applying the tape we set out to film the first 3 scenes, as my brother was supposed to be the male hands in the film my videographer set up the camera for me so that I could use his hands instead. All I had to do is to press the button on the camera to cut and roll. 

Following on, I decided to film the last 2 scenes with the mirror as the tape will look exactly the same as in the first few scenes. Furthermore no make-up has to be removed and re-applied this way. As we only had a black backdrop it was difficult to position the mirror as the sides and front were not plain black. I managed to place the mirror on a step in the corner of the backdrop so when the camera would turn all angles were black. The only thing was this scene has to be filmed by hand (no tripod) and due to the backdrop issue the videographer had to be really close up to the model. Besides all these small problems the footage came out the way I wanted it to.

As I like to keep my collaborates happy and motivated, I brought along plenty of food, snacks, coffee, tea and soft drinks to make sure they are all well looked after. So before filming again we had a break to refuel. 

I brought straws so that my model was able to drink throughout the filming process; during the day the tape had to be removed in certain areas so that he was able to eat so I made sure I took pictures for continuity purposes. 

While the rest was taking a break, I laid down cut open bin bags on the floor to make sure the studio was kept clean as the make-up was likely to drip on the floor. The floor was not visible in those shots so it did not matter what it looked like.

We carried on filming the rest of the scenes in order, and no real problems occurred. Tape had to be re-applied a couple of times but that was expected. 

I made sure to get a couple of takes of each scene to make sure I had the shot I wanted. 

I viewed all the footage at the end of the day and was really happy with the outcome, now I just have to wait and see how it will look when it is all put together and edited.

Final preparations

Final preparations 

Because of my practice run I already had all the supplies necessary for the make-up application.

The only things I needed to buy now was a skin coloured body suit and sort out a mirror. 

I bought a body suit to fit the model and packed some bull-clips just encase it is a little baggy. 

I also went to Argos to get a cheap free standing mirror, although after getting it home I realised that I wouldn't be able to transport it in my tiny car with my collaborates and make-up bags. So instead to my mirror off my wall wrapped that up and will be taking that with me instead. 

I also re-confirmed the date with my collaborates to make sure they know what times to be there and to ensure that they will not drop out last minute.

I am getting nervous for filming now, but I have everything organised so hopefully the day will run smoothly.