Stabilising - After Effects

We first imported the original clip into after effects and made a new composition. We then went along the time line to 14fps and made a key frame in the 'position', we then went along to 1 second and made another key frame. We highlighted both the key frames, changed the frequency to 15 and magnitude to 25, changed the noise type to jagged and pressed apply. We then went to effect > stylise > motion tile and changed the output width and output height to 125 and clicked mirror edges.

For this video we again imported the original clip into after effects and made a new composition. We then changed the workspace to motion tracking, clicked warp stabiliser and changed stabilisation result to no motion.

Feminism Theory - Case Study

Feminism is the idea of people, often women fighting for women being equal to men, often a hugely debated theory because of a variety of factors.

The first argue is the fact of the words existence; most words like racist, sexist, terrorist are derogatory of the general belief, that these words are 'bad' people going against the common view. However a 'feminist' is someone who is fighting for womans rights, which leads to the idea that all people think men are superior to women. Jos whedon (although a controversial) speech on feminism is an example of the fact of the word http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDmzlKHuuoI.

Another argument of feminism is the idea of feminism in film. Continuously women in film are displayed is certain view that is seen as 'normal' because it so frequently shown. There is an idea of the 'Bechdel Test' which is a test to see if movies consist of a scene with 2 woman who have a conversation not about a man. Many films fail the 'Bechdel Test', with only a few passing although most of the films passing don't actually include and female roles. The list of films passing the 'Bechdel Test' is listed here http://bechdeltest.com. It is evident that successful film do not pass the test unless they children's films. 

There are many woman through history who fight for feminism, some mainly in film but always making the media, such as

• Anne Oakley - being a well known feminist, wrote many successful books on the idea of feminism.
• Naomi Wolf - Another feminist argues the point of feminism regarding 'beauty'. 
• Laura Mulvey - The last is a British film theorist who works for the BFI and teaches film at Birbeck University. 

Auteur Theory - Case Study

Hayao Miyazaki

overall influence - With most films Miyazaki has directed he has written and drawn for too showing he has a large involvement in the overall production. 

distinct style and recurring themes - Miyazaki always does Fantasy Adventure films. The characters (human and creatures) always look similar from when he started out in stop motion to CGI. The main characters are always children often living in a adult world so it appeals to children but has a lot of adult concepts. Frequently makes references to nature and pollution in his films (Ponyo, My Neighbour Totoro, Princess Mononoke, and Spirited Away). Most films start with a female main character going into an enchanted world, they often meet a male main character who they have a connected past with (The floating islands of Castle in the Sky, the forests in Princess Mononoke, the spirit land in Spirited Away and From up on Poppy Hill).In most of Miyakis films characters often fly. He always creates well developed characters and Builds emotional connection with them.

whole body of work -  Started of directing series. Massive collection of 21 films. first film in 1979

reusing cast - Always works with Studio Ghibli. Frequently uses music by Jo Hisaishi

Dead By Dawn - Film Festival

Location
Cinema One @ Film house, Edinburgh

Date
24th-27th April

Entry Requirements 

• Dead by Dawn has a rolling submissions policy which means you are welcome to submit at any time.  There is no fee for submission.

• Sh0uld be formatted in PAL or NTSC DVD 

• Submissions must include a submission form – either with the DVD or by email

•  work-in-progress or rough cut cannot be submitted without contacting them first

• If selected, you must provide any posters, press kits and/or other promotional materials.  These should not be sent until requested and should be sent at your own cost and will not be returned.  300dpi Images for our catalogue should be sent by email only

Opportunities

• Affiliated with Film House, Sex Gore Mutants and Robber Barron Productions.
• Not money awards but it is a notable award
• Prestigious UK festival (especially for horror/in Scotland) 

Winners 

Awards

All new features screened are eligible for The Audience Award for Best Feature.  The Cutting Edge Short Film Competition rewards debut and emerging directors.  The Audience Award for Best Short covers all the other short films played as part of the main programme and across all other strands, including What You Make It.

2011

• Audience Award for Best Feature: HAROLD’S GOING STIFF and STAKE LAND
• Joint Audience Awards for Best Short: THE LIVING WANT ME DEAD
• Cutting Edge Short Film Competition winner: HUNGRY HICKORY
• 2D & Deranged Animation Programme winner: VICENTA

2010

• Audience Award for Best Feature: 5150 RUE DES ORMES
• Joint Audience Awards for Best Short: TUFTY and DANSE MACABRE
• There was no Cutting Edge programme at this one day special event, but that competition and award will return at our 2011 festival

2009

• Audience Award for Best Feature: COLD STORAGE, dir Tony Elwood
• Audience Award for Best Short: NEXT FLOOR, dir Denis Villeneuve
• Cutting Edge Short Film Competition winner: KIRKSDALE, dir Ryan Spindell

2008

• Audience Award for Best Feature: STUCK, dir Stuart Gordon
• Audience Award for Best Short: SPIDER, dir Nash Edgerton
• Cutting Edge Short Film Competition winner: CRITICIZED, dir Richard Gale

2007

• Audience Award for Best Feature: END OF THE LINE, dir Maurice Devereaux
• Audience Award for Best Short: MONSTER, dir Jennifer Kent
• Cutting Edge Short Film Competition winner: THE FIFTH, Ryan Levin

2006

• Joint Audience Award for Best Feature: BROKEN, dir Adam Mason / BLOOD TRAILS, dir Robert Krause
• Audience Award for Best Short: OCULUS, dir Mike Flanagan
• Cutting Edge Short Film Competition winner: LOS OJOS DE ALICIA, dir Hugo Sanz

2005

• Audience Award for Best Feature: THE DARK HOURS, dir Paul Fox
• Audience Award for Best Short: THE TEN STEPS, dir Brendan Muldowney
• Cutting Edge Short Film Competition winner: THE FRENCH DOORS, dir Steve Ayson

2004

• Audience Award for Best Feature: SHALLOW GROUND, dir Sheldon Wilson
• Audience Award for Best Short: WARD 13, dir Peter Cornwell
• Cutting Edge Short Film Competition winner: BURIED, dir Tim Bullock

Evaluation

Our brief was to create an upbeat and atmospheric promotional video for a family run and orientated cafe. We were given a lot of details on what they were looking for in regards to length, target audience and features. We tried to stick to these to give the company the ideal promo they were looking for but we also negotiated some parts of the brief that we felt would help sell and market the cafe better. For instance, they wanted the video to be around 15 minutes long but we agreed around 4-5 minutes to keep it fresh and the audience interested. After receiving the completed brief, we arranged a meeting with the client to further discuss and negotiate ideas.

We worked well as a team; working on previous assignments together we knew each others strong points so could adapt well to creating the best possible video for the client. We all had an influence on each part of production but split the production into 3 main parts where each of worked to our strengths of pre-production/planning and ideas, shooting and editing. This meant each key part of production was done to a high standard and got completed quicker as we knew what each team member was doing and communicated well. In our meetings with the client, we arranged shoot days; keeping a professional and on going relationship with client and in our production meetings we arranged planning and editing days which we all stuck to, completing the video ahead of time. We also scheduled a second shoot after the first edit when we had to go back and re record some sound footage which was missing/of a poor quality. As we had planned ahead of our deadline, it meant we were able to fit in another shoot day and still reach a final cut in time.

We had very few constrains, we had no problem with time, financial or legal issues because we had well planned. Regarding legal constrains, the client has asked for an upbeat, happy backing track. As we couldn't feature songs that would be copyrighted we had to find a royalty free site and find a piece which would fit the video and what the client has asked for. As we were working to a brief, we needed to stick what the client requested so we didn't find we had any artistic differences as we were working to please the cafe. We had already planned and story boarded so each team member new the expectations.

We were pleased with our final product and we felt it fitted the brief well but also felt there were things that could have been changed. We would have liked one more shoot day to get more shots in better lighting as on the day the weather was poor and it was essential to capture the cafe in the best light creating a good pathetic fallacy. We also would have liked another re-shoot to get higher quality shots which we weren't happy with in editing. Our main obstacle we found with the promo was the sound; on our first shoot we used and external mic plugged into the camera and it wasn't till edit that we realised the mic had captured no sound in the interview scenes. When we scheduled a re shoot of the interviews we used separate recording device. Although we had now successfully captured the sound, the quality was still very poor and had to be edited in post-production. Overall we were pleased with the appearance of the video but the problems with the sound brought the general quality of the video down.

 Our client received the video well and was happy with the final product. They  it hit the brief successfully and highlighted the cafe to its best points, aimed at the right target audience and fitted the codes and conventions of a typical promo video. But agreed if the quality of the sound was better, it would've given the video and more professional look. It is key to get good feedback from the client, not only to keep them happy which what you have produced but also to create more work with future clients as testimonials is essential in corporate promos.

QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF:

         

-         What kind of briefs have you worked with and what was the most effective?

(Contrast with the least effective.  Give three reasons why it was the most effective – back this up with results.)

-         How effective was communication between you and the client and you and your team?  What strategies did you use to achieve this?  What strategies could you use to improve?

-         What obstacles were there and how did you overcome them?

-         Name three things about the final project that you are pleased with (give specific examples, if you are talking about a shot provide a screengrab)

-         Name three things you would want to improve (again give examples)

-         Feedback (screenshots of feedback, your summary, how important is good feedback from clients?)

Production (Including Sound)

Production photos:

Sound Production:

During our meetings, we discussed sound and the client told us they would like an upbeat, happy instrumental with no vocals. They would prefer a piano track and didn't want any guitars. As we couldn't use any tracks that had copyright, we found a royalty free site and chose a piece from there. 

We first put all our sound recordings of the interviews into Soundtrack Pro, we had to change some of the levels and distortion and remove back ground noise to give the best quality possible.

We then exported it into Final Cut Pro where we added the soundtrack and matched the interview levels to the backing track. As you can see the the levels are in the green zone so we know it is a good quality.

We then put this into our final footage edit and matched interviews. We had to cut and loop the backing track so it was long enough for our promo.

Meetings

First meeting 15/01/14:
In this meeting we asked the client of Huttons Courtyard Cafe if it would be possible to make a promotional video for them. They agreed so we planned a day to shoot, they asked us to come in on a week day morning when it would be quiet enough to have interviews with the staff. We have arranged to go in at 11am on the 24th on Janurary.

Second meeting 20/01/14:
We received the completed brief from the client and made notes to discuss with the client on the next meeting. In the brief they listed that they wanted the target audience to be 60+, as they had also mentioned that it was a family orientated cafe we suggested that it should only be 30-60 to target the audience of future customers more effectively. They also wrote in the brief that they wanted the promo to be 15 minutes, we recommended that it should be around 5 minutes to keep the attention of the audience as 15 minutes would be too long and they may lose interest, they agreed to this. Lastly they required they wanted staff and customer interviews and shots of dogs, we asked if these would be available on the day and they said that they would.

Pre-Production

Schedule 

Planned Brief - 14th Jan
Sent Brief - 19th Jan
Pre Production - 21st Jan
First day shoot - 24th Jan
Edit - 27th - 31st Jan

Script

"HUTTONS COURTYARD CAFE"

By

Aimee Lister

INTERVIEW 1 Rule of 3 mid shot of Café owner sitting on a sofa in dining area. Louise toner Hello, my names Louise Toner and my sister and I have ran Huttons Courtyard café for over 7 years. It is a family run business in the heart of Chelmsford located in Hylands Park next to Hylands house. The café is family orientated and accessible for dog walkers with animal safe patio areas. Through the summer our opening hours are 8.30 till 5 and in the winter we run 10-5. Our menus our freshly prepared and cooked on site including all day breakfast and Sunday roasts. We also have a large collection of home made cakes and desserts and a range of ice creams during the summer. INTERVIEW 2

Mid shot of chef standing in kitchen stirring soup, she looks up and begins to talk

Paula Weller

Hi my names Paula and I’m the head chef at Huttons Courtyard café. I’ve been working here for about 6 months and I love the environment and friendly staff. We prepare a range of meals from homemade curry to fish and chips to baguettes and sandwiches. We also make a variety of meat and vegetarian dog treats as our café is very dog friendly. Our ingredients are delivered freshly everyday from local suppliers. As our café is very family orientated we like to promote healthy eating.

INTERVIEW 3

mid shot of customer sitting at a table talking to her friend and eating cake.

Julie Shirwin

Im a regular customer at the poplar Huttons Courtyard Café because of its welcoming staff who are always happy to help, selection of home made cakes and dog friendly atmosphere. As I live locally I often walk the dogs around Hylands Park with its large gardens surrounding the café so this is the perfect place to stop and have a drink.


Shot list:

Risk assessment:

Location Report:

Budget:

Production Update 24/01/2014:

We had our shoot today and we planned to do one shoot and get all the footage on one day. The day of the shoot went quite well, we got all the shots we needed and the weather was fair to show the café in a good light. All the staff who were being interviewed arrived on time and we captured each interview successfully. It wasn't till we got home and looked at the footage that we realized on the interview scenes there was no sound. When the mic was plugged in, we checked that the levels were moving but there was no sound captured. We think there may have been a problem with the mic to camera adapter. We have planned to go back with an external sound recording device (shown below) to ensure we capture sound.

                                 

Production Update 29/01/2014:
We went back to day to film the interviews with missing sound. Unfortunately, some of the previous staff we interviewed were not available so we had to use other staff to fill in. This shoot went better and we successfully recorded sound with the internal camera mic and the external sound recording device, when editing we will have to match the external sound recording to footage.

Overview of Client Brief

18/01/14: we created a brief to send to our client to get an idea of exactly want they want from their promo video. 

18/01/14: sending the brief to the client

19/010/14: Client responds to email regarding brief

19/01/14: response notes to client brief 

Legal/Policy

When making a corporate promo, their are many legal issues to look into that many focus around copyright. As the promo will be featured on companies website to sell themselves, they must insure that they own the rights to video or pay for the copyright to anything featured in it.

Copy right could include music, logos, photos, footage of some locations and even fonts and colour schemes. Some of these can be requested to buy or 'rent' off the owner but some things are strictly copyrighted, such as the Google colour scheme. The film maker may have to create their own music or pay a musician to create a piece for the promo which they have to credit them.

Other legal issues consist of permission to use certain people in your promo, you will need to get them to sign a release form. This could be any person in public that hasn't given their permission to use their face, this especially is important when filming children. If you have any celebrities etc in your promo you will always have to have their permission, even if its just their voice or anything they've said.

In addition to these legal issues, theres also policies which concern the maker. When the film maker creates a promo for a company, and the company features it on their website you must make sure you are credited for the production.

Research - Market/Audience

Audience

target audience
The cafe is very family orientated so we would be aiming at parents aged 30+. Because of its dog friendly nature we would also market to dog owners and walker who would be stopping at the cafe. In addition to this, through research and visiting the cafe, we found the morning customers were a lot older at around 60+ so we would be need to aim at this age group too to reach a greater audience.

area
We are marketing to people who live in Chelmsford but mainly to the surrounding areas like Danbury, Billericay, Wickford etc. Most people in Chelmsford are aware of the café but people in further areas might not know about it. If they are dog walkers and live in areas that don't have good places to walk their dogs they may be more encouraged to use the café

devices etc
As the promo is internet based, we need to ensure that the audience viewing can watch it on all devices; phones, tablets, pc's etc.

Marketing 

distribution
We are marketing via the internet so we will use their website which will feature the promo on their home page. We will also be using YouTube and social networking sites like Facebook, twitter and linked in to link and upload the promo.

our idea
Our idea is to get a lot of footage of the surrounding areas like Hylands House and Hylands Park. We would also show what else the café has to offer like dog friendly areas, gift shops and the work shops. This will encourage people to come as it isn't just a café it has other things to do, it would also bring in a larger target audience.

media
In addition to the promo we can also offer the café stills to add to their website, we will also be designing text intros to the promo so they use these as idents on the websites or added graphics to the titles.

marketing tools
There are various tools the café use as marketing tools to sell to wider range of people, we will focus on these in production to sell the café at its advantaged. These tools consist of;

• Fresh food
• Promoting healthy eating
• Free range coffee
• Gluten free meals
• Vegetarian options
• All day breakfasts
• Sunday roasts
• Homemade dog treats

Research - Company

information from their website: http://huttonscourtyardcafe.co.uk

About the Cafe 

Huttons Courtyard café is a family run eatery and is located within the Stables Visitor Centre at Hylands Estate.
They provide an ideal venue to meet with friends for lunch or stop for a drink when out walking in the park.
They serve a wide range of hot and cold food, including breakfast (until 11am), daily specials, pasta, sandwiches, jacket potatoes and salads. Much of our  produce is locally-sourced. Senior citizens are entitled to a 10% discount on all food every Thursday. The Café is fully accessible for wheelchairs.

At Hutton's you can also enjoy a cream tea and some homemade cake also They sell a large selection of branded ice lollies . They have a number of children's options available and They sell a range of alcoholic and non alcoholic beverages.
Our new Dog friendly patio area is open 9am Monday to Saturday.
During 9am -10am They will be offering hot and cold drinks, toast & toasted tea cakes and a small selection of homemade cakes and cookies only.
Our full menu will be available from 10 o’clock.
Sunday They will open at 8.30 offering the full menu.

The café may also be open outside of these times depending on the season, but you should contact us prior to travelling if you plan to visit outside these hours.

Given notice, coach parties are very welcome. The café is also available for private hire and functions – but a minimum spend is required.

 Suppliers

    

GCS have been providing Huttons with a comprehensive range of professional catering & bar equipment for a number years.

They use GCS because of their unique personal approach. They visit us on a regular basis to ensure They're kept up to speed with all the latest equipment and special offers.

                      

After winning in the Food and Drink Awards in 2008 Ravens Bakery has continued to provide excellence in baking. Giselle and her team at Ravens Bakery supply Huttons with their range of quality breads. Taste and value make Ravens our preferred supplier.

Lane Farm is a family run farming business situated in the heart of Suffolk.

Huttons has been using Lane Farm as their preferred supplier for a considerable time because their produce is always of the highest quality.
Their business has grown steadily over the years and today they have extended their range into cooked hams, smoked products, air-dried Suffolk Salami and the Suffolk Chorizo.

All the pigs Sue & Ian rear at Lane Farm are born outside before being finished on a straw based system in a Theylfare friendly environment.

Hylands Park

The last private owner Christine Hanbury lived in Hylands House until her death until 1962. It was in 1966, with the House in a desperate state of disrepair, that Chelmsford Borough Council purchased the Park for the people of Chelmsford to enjoy. Hylands Park was opened to the public only 10 days later. It was agreed by Chelmsford Borough Council that Hylands House should be restored to its former glory and having stood empty for 20 years, the first phase of restoration took place in 1986. The final stage was completed in 2005.

Restoration of the house.

The House was in a state of progressive deterioration but, despite its poor condition, in 1967 Hylands House became a Grade II listed building. In 1985 the Borough Council set up a restoration fund and later that year English Heritage gave their consent to the Council's proposal to reduce the house to its 19th-century appearance. Prior to work commencing Hylands House was re-graded to become a Grade II* listed building.

Phased restoration work began in 1986, and by 1996 the external work to the House had been completed and the Entrance Hall restored to its Georgian grandeur. The Blue Room and Boudoir Theyre refurbished and once again the house was full of the sound of people.

The east wing was fully restored and opened to the general public at Easter 1999. The Theyst wing and basement restoration quickly folloTheyd and their grand opening took place at Easter 2004. The restoration of the basement area has brought to life the original red brick Queen Anne house and a number of exciting discoveries Theyre made. Interpretation boards throughout the house offer visitors an informative and photographic display of the restoration process.

The final phase of restoration in the House was completed in September 2005, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund. Hylands House is now fully restored to its Victorian splendour, giving visitors the opportunity to glide up the Grand staircase and imagine what it must have been like to attend one of the spectacular balls or banquets held there.

Restoration of the estate.

Intensive work on restoring the historic landscape of Hylands Park to its 18th century splendour, designed by famed landscape architect Humphry Repton, began in 2004 and was completed in 2007. The restoration of Hylands Park was financed by a Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £3.4 million and by the Council.

Restoring Repton's parkland - the original 'Widford Approach' drive has been reinstated for pedestrians and cyclists, providing beautiful framed views of the estate, before finally revealing the house itself. Repton's spectacular views of the lake from the house can now also be enjoyed, especially from the Repton Room located with Hylands house. 

Conversion of the stable block - the Georgian stables have been restored and converted into The Stables Visitor Centre which incorporates a new visitor centre, with craft studios. gift shop, cafe, interpretation rooms, education room and stabling for horses.

 Home Farm - these farm buildings have been restored and adapted for storage and offices for the Grounds Maintenance team.

Flint Cottage - a former gamekeeper's cottage and now derelict, has been brought back to its original appearance and is now used as a store to support the Council's events in the park.

Recent history

Since 1996, the park has hosted the annual V Festival. In the 2004 film Chasing Liberty, Hylands House doubled as the US White House In 2005 Hylands Park was the venue for the European Scout Jamboree and in 2007 Hylands Theylcomed scouts from over 160 nations for the 21st World Scout Jamboree, which celebrated 100 years of scouting. The One World Garden was created to commemorate this historic event, and now forms part of the estate.

Opening Times & Admission

Hylands Park is open to the public every day throughout the year. The gates at the park entrances are opened at 7.30am, and are closed and locked at the following times:
January: 5pm
February & March: 6pm
April: 8pm
May: 9pm
June & July: 10pm
August: 9pm
September: 8pm
October: 7pm
November & December: 5pm

After the gates are locked there is no arrangement for the release of vehicles left within the park until 7.30am the following day. Access to the House and park may be restricted at certain times due to large-scale events. To check opening times, please call 01245 605500.