Digital Film Year 2 - Storyboard.

Storyboard (Part 1) Heres my storyboard, Ive spilt the story up int 3 different parts. All the shots are going to be in first person, to give emphasis from the chracters point of view.



Shot 1 - This shots going to be a shot of the charcater walking down the drive in real time. I have picked the location for this which is the drive running upto my accomidation. Its going to be in full colour and I want it to be steady constant pace in the speed of the walk. Also Im hoping for a few people to walk past, to add create the real life atmosphere which im heading for in this shot.

Shot 2 - Moving on from the character walkin up the drive I want a shot of the character opening up the front door to my accomidation. I want to get the hands opening the door in this shot, shouldnt really be any issues with this apart from might take a few takes to get a shot im happy with as might be tricky getting the hands in shot and opening door at same time, but ready to give it a go.

Shot 3 - Continuing at a similar speed and in full colour plan for the charcater to walk down my accomidation corridor. Im not sure whether im using the kitchen or my bedroom for this shot, my bedroom is more apropiate I believe as its kind of more personal and belongs to me however the kitchen has alot more space to film.

Shot 4 - Similar to shot 3, just going to be a shot of the character opening the door whilst trying to get the hands in the shot.

Shot 5 - Is going to be a shot of the charcter picking up a book of memorys, which contains a picture of his ex girlfriend who got killed in a freak accident and is finding it hard to get over her death. I plan on including a couple of pictures of her around the flat which can be used as prop. So yeh I want to include hands again in this shot and basically he picks up the books and puts it on the table.

Shot 6 - Using hands he opens the book on the desk to the picture, which I forgot to mention I plan to take a picture of the girl who agreed to act and stick it in a book. Plan on using hands in the shot, and I want to express an upset and depressed character through the motion of just using his hands, whether that be stroking the picture or band my fist on the table, theirs a few ideas im going to experiment with to get an ideal result.I'm also going to have the character kind of blackout in this shot as to im not sure how im going tto do this, might just go simple and have the screen go black for a few seconds.

I plan for the music to build up in Part 1, as Its building up to the dream part of the story, Its all going to be in colour to resemble real life. One issue I just thought of though is how im going to hold the camera and get my hands in shoot. However to this part im thinking for someone to be behind me holding the camera for the hands part as they should be in stationary parts ie opening the door and picking up the book. I wont be moving so person holding the charcater wont have to keep up with me which could have been awkard. We shall try it out and see what the results come back like.

Storyboard (Part 2)



Shot 7 - Location for this shot is going to be in the subway right next to Dry Dock, reasons I have chose this location Is I believe would look nice in black and white due to the texture of the walls aswell and should'nt be too busy making it easier to film. From here on the film is going to be in black and white to represent that kind of dream feel and is gonna be shot at different paces of speed. I also may potentially go for three colour effect but undecided to this point. As for the storyline this is the shot where he wakes up from the blackout and is kind of dazed, so hes looking around and I plan to have his hands touch the wall representing that feeling of he's not sure where he is or whats going on.

Shot 8 - Getting further down the path, he's still in that confused state of mind however I plan on having his ex girlfriend who died, walk across the path at the end and turn around and look directly at him then walk of and disapear. This is the plan but not sure how to go about it as I want it to be a kind of ghost like figure ideally or maybe even a kind os syloette however would imagine that would be very difficult to proceed with, So might just have the actor walk across with very little effects. Would give more sense of believeing she's in the dream which could work well.

Shot 9 - Where the character runs towards the end of the subway, this shots going to be in a very fast paced, I want him to still be in a confused state and kind of move all other the place, to show sign of desperation.

Shot 10 - Shot where the character reaches the end of the subway, only to find she has disapeared, I still want the signs of desperation to be their and want the camera to move all over the place as he tries to find her or spot any clues as to where she is.

Shot 11 - Want this shot to be a more slowed down pace compare to the previous couple of shots, as the character starts to walk up the hill / path. Im using the path next to the Muti Story Carpark to film this, only issue I have with this is it good get very busy and ideally I dont want anyone in the shots. I also have ideas to have the muti storage carpark to a silohette kind of effect which could look great.

Shot 12 - Want the charcter to carry on walking up the hill however I want him to fall to his knees, and kind of blackout again, I want the hands to be in shot as they hit the ground, This could be very tricky to film and dont want to end up dropping the camera. Im gonna represent him blacking out by just going to a black screen for a couple of seconds I reckon similar to what I did earlier on.

I plan for this part the music will be at its heaviest and fastest as its one of the main parts in the story however up to the point in where the charcter blackouts then im going to have the music go much softer again where it will build up to the finale. Many worries I have about these shots is getting the public included by accident which I dont want, thats why I think its best to have a member of the crewing team to warn the public of filming and indicate when the ghost is clear. Im also slightly worried about some of the effects im hoping to use however if they dont look great i'll just leave them out, Im mainly thinking about the shot inwhere his ex comes across the screen.



Shot 13 - Carrying on from the previous shot I Want the characters hands to be in the scene kind of like feeling the floor, as he's dazed still, and not sure as to where he is. Im hoping for effect in which it will show some footage and then go to a black screen kind of to resemble that dazed feeling and trying to open his eyes fully, which I believe could look nice. I want this to be quite a long scene and take some time for him to get to his feet as I want it to build up and give the feeling of when he gets to his feet his night mare continuing.

Shot 14,15 - Not really anything set in stone for this. Just want the charcter to be walking around aimlessly still searching for his ex. I have a couple of locations which I plan to use which I think could look good such as the Broadcasting Tower and Millenuim Square however theres are very busy areas still, but I belive would look good and want to go for that silohette feel. So could try out a few locations and speed the pace up which could hopefully look good and emphasise the point in looking for.

Shot 16 - This could be a very challening shot. What im going for is that the character realises ihis only escape from his nightmare is to pull the trigger on himself. However for this shot I want you to be able to see the character for the first time so its the effect of him looking at himself in the mirror. Im not sure as to how to link the shots together, probably the best idea from shot 15 is to have the charcter walk into complete darkness and then follow onto this shot. Chances are im going to have to use the greenscreen as I want the character to be a silhouette.

Shot 17 - Following on from the previous shot still in silhouette I want the charcter to Pull a gun from his head and shoot himself, However im tempted with the idea of using blood, obviously like a silhouette red, but could look a good effect what with the sin city kind of aproach, its an idea to investigate with.

Shot 18 - Final Shot in which he wakes up, I want the music to finish to this point, and it goes back to full colour, and hes dazed and everything, it goes back to first person as he thinks everything is OK he checks his hands and theirs blood all over them to leave the ending in a suspense.

Digital Film Year 2 - Music, Ideas and Crewing

For the film I choose this music of free music archive, the song is called "Transisor" by Bildmesiter whoch can be viewed here

http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Bildmeister/You_Are_Not_Stealing_Bor_Land/06_Bildmeister_Transistor

reasons I chose this song, apart from the very poor selection of music they had uploaded to the site, Firstly I didnt want any lyrics in the song because I thought it would ruin the atmosphere Im trying to create and I didnt want to spend time relating some of the lyrics to the music video and make it feel more apropiate, So idealy a kind of instrumental was best searching for and I believe my selection whilst not perfect does create an apropiate atmosphere and I actually didnt mind the tune, alot better than most of the rubish uploaded. Secondly I liked the structure of the song and I really like the build up into the more heavy part which I think could potentially work well in the build up to an event possibly to the part inwhich he enters the dream, which could look great if done well and maybe when later on in the structure it breaks down again to a softer tempo which I have an idea in where the charcter falls over and have the music build up again to a main part in the storyline which Im undecided too.

Carrying on in the development I have a idea on some potential locations inwhich to shoot my film which I will talk about more in my next blog where I will display my storyboard and How im going to tackle certain issues. The basic plot im going for, is the character all shot in a first person view comes home,the character is slighlt depressed as he cant get over a part in his life which im not sure as to what yet. maybe a unavoidable event. And goes into a dreamlike state where he's reminded and he tries to escape until he puts the gun on himself and awakens up. Thats the basic plot though will go into a more detailed aproach next blog and I beleive the Music will relate well to the storyline and create a great atmosphere.

For crewing on my project, I didnt think I would need alot of people for the shooting, one person to do the filming, I wont need any lights with it been outside so can cross that of the list. I might need one actor, been thinking of having somone who we keep seeing in the dream state, prefebly a girl inwhich Ive asked about a friend helping me out to which she said yes. I could do with someone warning the public of filming, whilst ideally I dont want anyone to feature in the film I might have to compremise as to the area of leeds im hoping of filming is a failry busy place and me and Dan are going to do the editing and effects part of the film.

For the briefe I had to help out on atleast 2 other projects because I was directing my own film,In which I helped out on 3 projects.

Chris Project - Didnt really do much but just help out a little on the set, nothing important but helped out a little with the green screen, was benificial cause I was thinking of using it so was helpful to see it in use which I was greatful about.

John and Matts Project - Was a very technical project and I found it really intersting helping them out and they came up with a brilliant idea, and liked the way they tackled their problems, such the use of a remote control. I helped out a little in controlling the car and did a little shooting / photography on the project. Heres a couple of bad pictures, just to confirm I was their basically.




Finally I helped out on Robbie's project, Just did some behind the scenes footage which he asked for, and helped out some more on set, and he did a few tests on me first before he went ahead with filming, I also helped out a little with the lighting.

Digital Film Year 2 - Evaluation

For my Film Title Sequence I am very happy with my results and what I have achieved within the brief, and I believe I have explored different styles of media which I have enjoyed and learned new skills on Software such as After Effects which I can take forward and improve on and use these skills learned onto new projects and improve my knowledge further.

What I liked about my project was the style I went for as I believe it complements my chosen novel brilliantly by the use of silhouettes as that was a great style of media to go for and I really like majority of the imagery used. And I believe my choice of research was excellent and provided with me with many great ideas and styles in which to develop my sequence which lead me to some great results. I believe I have some great effects included such as the blood going along the shadow line which is really good and original and compliments my style well, I really like and the car scene in which the cars stop in mid air is one of my favourite moments from my sequence. I’m really happy with the font I selected and go so well with the style I choose and look really effective with the blood splatters. I really like the colour theme of my project in going for a 3 colour choice for majority which looked really effective among the silhouette focus of media.

I really enjoyed the experimentation part and playing around with different styles of media as its good to get away from computers and explore new materials and find new techniques and methods in which to play with and create interesting images and ideas in which you can use for future projects. Okay not all experimentation was successful but I learned that some forms of media aren’t appropriate for some projects. I also enjoyed using software such as Illustrator and Photoshop and building into your images and experimenting with different ideas and watching your development come to life which is the most exciting part of the project. I also enjoyed getting feedback off other pupils as it gives you new ideas which you haven’t thought off in which you can you to improve the quality of your work and can help you out on areas your struggling at which is always beneficial . I also enjoyed the amount of freedom we were given within the project in which you could concentrate your ideas onto your strengths and interests which improves the quality of your work when u can focus on an area you enjoy.

Things I didn’t enjoy during the project was actually picking a novel in the first place as I took too long making the decision and that was potential time lost on the project, I also found moments on After Effects very frustrating obviously with been new to the software it took time to adapt but eventually I got the required basics in which to complete the brief. And I also struggled to keep to the storyline as during the process I got so many new ideas in which to develop my sequence further and the more I developed the further I got from my original storyboard.
Things I would improve about my project is id probably have more camera action like when a shot finished, Id experiment with moving the camera as my project is a little static, or even zooming in the camera at times, just to add that little more dimension. I’d also probably include a little more animation for example having the character animated to hold up the gun. I would also clean up a few areas for example on the car scene the cars don’t curve as effectively as Id like which I could improve by using the graph editor. I’d also really like to improve the music as its pretty terrible and out of sync that’s something I plan to go back into after the deadline as well as other areas I may choose to improve on. I would also try to stick to my storyboard as much as possible though sometimes you have better ideas to improve on your originals. I would also manage my time better

Digital Film Year 2 - Music

One of the most frustrating parts of the project, I knew what kind of sound I was looking for, a kind of soft jazz aproach, similar to the music in Catch Me If You however looking for a more sinister feel, was looking at piano sounds as there really effective for creating emotion and can be played to a fast and slow tempo which could work well. I also thought of the idea of having gun shot noises but decided against as I felt that would ruin the atmosphere of the music.we were told to look on free music archive however I couldnt find anything that I was reall looking for, so I settled for the best I could find which. I choose apiano track by Cooper More entitled I NY Piano but unfortunatly I cant provide a link and not sure how bo post a mp3 on here. Howver I tried to sync the music to the film as best as possibl using final cut but this is not a strong point for me, and im not pleased about the music but plan to go other it in the future and improveand find a more apropiate song.

Digital Film Year 2 - After Effects Screenshots

Just a few screenshots of my project in After effects

Digital Film Year 2 - Added Shot

Surprisingly I had more time that I thought I would end up with at the end so I decided to add in a quick shot just before the last scene inwhere someone gets shot. So I decided to have a close up of the gun which looks quite nice and flows realy well with the scene before and after and looks really good, The text is'nt the right font as Photoshop dosent have font here so this was just a quick concept mockup, however having now animated im happy with the result and you couldnt tell that it was added last minuite at all.

Digital Film Year 2 - Further Development Shot 6 Part 2

I was struggling to come up with a concept for this shot. I had the idea inwhich The woman would walk across the scen however I couldnt execute it well, and struggled to animate it so I decided to have a read through the vovel for inspiration. And I came across this shot inwhich she starts of small and gets larger as she moves toward the end of the page which could be a good to experiment with and on the bigger image have a little of the screen off page which would follow well into the next scene. So i went with this concept. I admit its not the best but and this weakest shot within the sequence but it flows well and nicely and leads on well to the next scene, so shall keep it for the time been but plan to work back into when I have time and come up with some better concept.

Digital Film Year 2 - Further Development Shot 5 Part 2

Carrying on from what I previously mentioned I added in a jump before they stop in the air which looks really good And I really like the change in the background which looks even better now i added a jump as it builds u up more instead been there at a instant. Its not perfect as the cars dont follow a very smooth curve but thats someithing that could be looked in at a further date by using the graph editor but its not a big deal at this stage. Other that im really pleased though I f you look closer enought there is a bit of the car I forgor to rub out which will come into view towards the end of the scene, but likewise thats something I will go back into after the deadline and improve. Other than that im very pleased as this is probably my favorite shot in the sequence.

Digital Film Year 2 - Further Development Shot 3 Part 2

Pretty much developed the image to what I mentioned before, just added some paint splashes as people had reccomended me to do as it now gives more of a purpose for the blood to run under the agents feet which is really interesting, and gives the feel of blood dropping to the floor and dripping away which I really like. So yeh I believe the development of this shot is complete and to a standard im very happy with. Just one negative thing ive seen is theres a bit of white on Paint splash however its not that big of a deal, but summit I will go over and tidy once the project has finished.

Digital Film Year 2 - Further Development Shot 2 Part 2

Heres an improved versiion of the second shot as you can see I animated the gun which Im really pleased as it flows really well and is an interesting effect to use. I kept the square in the middle to stay and build the gun around it on purpose. I have also improved the timing, which is much better and in sync as the red eyes iluminate on the exact frame as when "starring" apears which works really well and "Dave Harris " appears when the gun is fired. Overal very please with the development of this scene and Im finally happy at my results, as this was one of the most challenging scenes on the sequence.

Digital Film Year 2 - Final Crit Feedback

For my final crit I got alot of valuable infomation inwhich I could take possitive feedback from and try to improve some areas of the film which arnt as strong as others and gather other peoples opinion which is invaluable.

Basically the main point inwhich I have to take further is to mave the film in a more finalised state for final crit which could be done by improving time management from thing which were reccomended such as planners and setting yourself mini deadlines.

The general opinion was that people liked the style and believed it was suitable for the book I was covering, general feedback was to clean up certain areas such as make sure the images wernt as pixalated and that everything was included within the composition.

Digital Film Year 2 - Further Development Shot 7

This is the final shot in the film sequence, Im really plased with this scene and I have added in the gun to the side as It follows on really well from the previous scene in where the woman is holding the gun, and it looks really effective been there with no one holding, and creates element of mystery, as your not sure as to who has shot hims, but your lead to believe its the woman so on that purpose im creat happy with I have achevied. I really like the effect of the blood splattering the body which is a really good effect and has worked out much better than I had planned, and is a great way to end the title sequence and then having the 100 Bullets appear at the same time as the blood splatter really works well, so yeh very happy with the final shot and dont belive anything needs changine.

Digital Film Year 2 - Further Development Shot 6

For this scene I decided to have the woman walk across the scene and have a few blood splatters which to emphasis shes the dominat character in the novel, and have so text apear as she walks past. Im not too kenn on the walking part as she moves across the screen, im not too sure how to tackle this, theres the option of animating her and when she gets to the other side she could hold up hergun,This is the scene that needs the most devoplent accoriding to feedback from final crit.

Digital Film Year 2 - Further Development Shot 5

This scene is not quite completed, as its missing a few seconds from the beginning, in which Im having the cars jump from under the sceen to the position in which they start of in this clip and the screen will be white, This is to emphasise the cars jumping over a hill, and Ive always liked the idea of them stopping in the middle. Originally I was gonna have a more flashing effect to emphasise the police car sirens. But experimenting with the idea I really liked just the red and blue static center which is really effective, as it just pauses which works really well with the text apearing, I deliberatly included two Names for this screen due to them been two offices in the novel, Also I used red and blue as the background to link well with the police sirens.

Digital Film Year 2 - Further Development Shot 4

Taking on influence from the last shot which turned out really well, I decided yo follow a similar technuque as the two images were very similar in style and I thought it would look good by the animating a red box to go along the gun and then shoot out, Once again people mentioned to use a different shape or a more blood like effect, but I decided against for similar reasons as mentioned previosly, And i like the way the gun is diagnoal and aimed at the corner so in away that complents the style I chose as its adjacent to the corner. Im also really pleased with the blood splatters which look really effective and are timed really well, and the placing of the text works well and im happy with the timing of the text apearing after the paint splashesas it kinda builds up tension and then calms down emphasising that point of keeping the viewers guesing through changes of pace. Potential development is to have the eyes light up when the gun is about to shoot but once again think that would take the emphasis off as too much red imagery happing at once, and should be best left earlier. So in conclusion I think this shot is complete and is one im really proud off

Digital Film Year 2 - Further Development Shot 3

Im very happy with the way this shot has worked out, probably my favorite in the sequence, first off im really happy with the image, and I really like the way in which I animated the red box to run along the shadow lines to create that effect of blood pouring down. People have mentioned using a more kind of blood effect to run down the shadow lines but I like the simplicity effect of a box as it has a feel of what im looking for similar to other film sequences such as "catch me if u can" as it takes images and simplifys them to an effect in its own which im trying to acheive with this this shot. I also really like the poition of the text as it works well with the shadow lines and i like the way the text apears as the blood passes. I thought about the idea of having the letters apear one by one as the blood passes by but I wanted to keep the text consistant, but was an interesting idea. I think one idea im going to proceed in that was mentioned at the Final crit is im going to have a few blood splatters to the boss which would look nice, as at the moment it does feel like the blood apears with no purpose, so hopefully the splatter provide a purpose while at the same time improveing the quality of the shot, so further development will be needed.

Digital Film Year 2 - Further Development Shot 1

Heres the first shot, which Is just an opening shot which I wanted to set the scene for the sequence, Im really happy with the text as you can see it works brilliantly with the plain white background, and I decided do a blending to introduce the first movement, but as soon as the blending stops on the "DC COMICS PRESENTS" I wanted it to hit you fast thats why I had a few paint splatters added across the text which also look really good and creates a great splatter feel with the text. I wanted a change in pace as I believe if things are kept at same pase it gets kind of boring and predictable, and I wnated the sequence to keep you off guard and be more exciting. So not really much to comment on as its just a simple opening shot, but quite happy with the result and fits in well the rest of the sequence. Im happy with this sequence so does'nt need anymore work done to it.

Digital Film Year 2 - Experiment With Text

For the font, originally I was going to go with the idea which I did in an experiment earlier where I was gona handraw the fonts myself and cut them out as I really like that effect as it complemented the imagery well, However due to alot of time developing my ideas, I thought it would be less time consuming if I picked a font. What I was looking for was a font that was kind of in your face and was looking at a kind of inky text which would work well and compliment with the blood spllaters, howeever I also liked the idea at looking at some handrawn fonts as like previously mentioned it is asociated to the style of gaphic novels well with the handrawn feel.

I also thought about how the text will apear within the sequence and I thought the best option as I wanted it to be kind of in your face and fast pased is to just apear and go without and animation or Blending, apart from the opening shot where I think a blending would be apropiate as its the start. Im also going to have the text in capitals to kind of go with the in your face feel, and be more dominant to go well with the genre.




Heres the first text which really struck my attention, the font name is "Broken Ghost" and from fist look it was almost the perfect font as it was exactly what I was looking for anf forfilled the criteria perfectly, and did several tests with the font and It really worked well in all sizes and colours and went well against all colours and imagery. Really like the kind of messy ink feel it goes well with splatters, and looks good in red as looks like a blood splatter.









Heres a few more typeface which grabbed my attention but to be honest my decision was already made, but these did gran my attention, but none of them could even compare

Digital Film Year 2 - Blood Test 2

Heres A Blood test I did using this premade blood effect on After Effects which I borrowed from a fellow student



Heres a quick animation of the blood been used on a plain white background, at the moment its im experimenting with black as its easier but If Im happy with my results I shall colour it red. From the video I really like the effect and the splatter could work well with some of the imagery for example gun shots.



I did a few experiments with the first scene and can already tell that the paintbrush effect is a much better technique to use. Firstly the paintbrushes are a better and more apropiate style of media to use as they go better as the colours are more bold and they work better, and you have more control over them in positioning them and are easily editable, as you cant extent the length of blood effect here so once it finished the animmation it disapears so for those simple reasons, im going with the paintbrushes which is comfortably the better option.

Digital Film Year 2 - Blood Test 1

Here is the first of a test I was going to try as I wanted a really good blood splatter kind of effect, which would work well with the syloette style, So i started off with experiementing with paint brush splatter effects, which I downloaded from a free site. however I have lost the link into where I downloaded them from, so im not sure on the copylaw writes as to whether I couls sell on my work with them included or enter into competitions



Heres a few of better blood splatters which were included within the downloaded packasge So I saved them then imported them onto after effects inwhcih to experiment with my findings.



Heres my results from my experiment, firstly I think it works really well as there bold colours and works well both splattered over the top of the syloettes and other the white background and the effect is really good and creates a good splatter tone, and I even tried an experiment of having them splatter in the eye and im happy with my results.