#lajette

In todays lesson we where given our grading criteria and were asked to self asses our La jette project. Once we had finished our sheet we had to hand it in to Tim who would then have a one to one with us discussing our final grade and the reasons for this grade.

The first thing we did was watched the French 28 minutes long film la jette (1962) by Chris Maker and also everyone watched the (1995) science fiction film 12 monkeys another version of la jette after that we got put into small groups that we would work in to do our la jette project, we got told that we would have to make a short 3 minute film/ photo roman like la jette with photos with a subject to do with the apocalypse and the world ending, so in our group we started brain storming about what kind of films we could make, in the end we came up with the idea of doing it about 3 people who were the some of the last survivors of apocalypse after the unknown took over the world and starved everyone of food and drink and other supplies so to survive they had to work together to try get shelter  and supplies and in our film we would show them looking for food and drinks and fighting for survival. We also got told that before we made our photo roman film we would have to make a shorter version for practice but about anything of our choice, so we chose to do it about some drugs dealers as that was quite easy to film.

  In our group we all worked out the jobs we wanted to do so that everyone could work better and quicker, before we started shooting we looked around the college for some places we could take the photos to see what would suit our photo roman, after that we got a Nikon camera and when out and took our 12 photos, we also took some 3D photos by taking a picture with just the scenery then with a person or object inside with out moving the camera.

  Once we done that we went back and started editing our mini la jette and also learn how to make photos 3D in adobe after effects, we worked as a group to put our photos in the best way possible to make it effective, we also used some SFX’s to add to the atmosphere, in my group we all worked as twos or on our own to create our edit so we could show of our editing skills and learn how to use final cut. After that we all picked one edit and showed all the other groups and we got told what was good and what we could have improved on, which helped as we now, knew what we had to do for our final la jette film.

  For our main la jette photo roman, we had to work in the same group and plan how we was going to make it, first of we done a proposal with our finished idea, the we all done different bits of paperwork like risk assessment which we when to locates for to see how safe they were and what we had to be careful of when filming. Once we had done all the paper work, we could finally go out and film, we used the Nikon camera and also a tri pod so that the shots were straight, when we started to take the pictures some people were not in so we had to use different actors and different people on camera etc. including me as at first I didn’t feel apart of the team but I think when I got back it was a lot better and I did try as I took some of my own photos and edit etc after we had shot all the photos my group when into a recording room and done the sound/voiceovers as that was the best way to get good audio, we also used special make up to show what it would be like for the characters if our la jette was real.

  After that we started to put everything together, me with my edit and also Conors and Aarons as we all wanted to do one, while we were doing that Tina and Jordan were editing our 3D photos and looking for SFX’s as they would play a very important role in our final la jette.

We couldn’t go out and record real sound effects as we did not have enough time as we wanted to constraint on our edits but we found some really good sound effects on different websites that matched our photo roman perfectly, once both of our edits were nearly finished we tried adding our 3D photos but they did not work so Andréa showed me how to make them as we needed at least one so we both used that 3D photo, I think I worked quite well with the edit and was quite quick and persistent but I do wish I had been in more to help my group and it would have been a lot better if I had.

  Once we had added music and rendered and saved both our edits we showed all the groups and they told us what they liked about it and what we could of changed, I do think both of ours was good but could have been a lot better if we spilt our time better and worked more on our photos like with the exposure ect but I think we did well with the rule of thirds and depth of field but we could have spend more time making sure they were better.

Task:

I was given the task along with a small group I created to make a photo roman based on different types of apocalypse. We were able to use just one apocalypse or we could try and entwine a small number of different ones to bring our concept and message across whatever it may be. With this in mind, my team got together, brainstormed their ideas and created the idea of using U.F.O/Alien apocalypse along with Technology apocalypse... and to aim for the highest grade possible we would make our photo roman to go from B-A instead of A-B.

After consideration, we came up with the concept of our photo roman and it was about aliens (the unknown) taking over earths technology which after time would leave the world in derail as no crops can grow which means which results in people becoming greedy, fighting among each other as there is no food and no communication can be made across long distances due to their being no satellites/signals etc. which will leave the world in upset.

Audio? Dialogue & SFX?

With a photo roman being just still images, it can sometimes be hard to bring across a concept and message to the audience. With this being said, visuals have to be on point throughout and have to correspond to any dialogue or SFX in that shot for the viewer to understand what is going on. Shortly after coming up with our concept, myself and Tina decided to take control over the storyboard creating a range of shots with dialogue and SFX in some and no dialogue or SFX in others depending on what was happening at that point in the story line. After time, We managed to get our message across in around 30-40 shots with the overall piece reaching the 3:00 minute mark as instructed. However, I personally feel that after shooting clips/shots, and recording audio, at certain points in the roman when putting them together the viewer may not be able to tell what is going on. For example, in one shot, it has all three actors in the rule of thirds from left to right, two being male and one being female. In the piece, the female was speaking which was self explanatory from the dialogue used but the expression on her face made it look as if she was not speaking and it was somebody else. Now being able to look back on my own piece of work and see where we have gone wrong, I would take into consideration these factors when doing a similar task in the future in order for me not to come across the same mistake twice. 

Audio...

After recording audio, I am pleased to say I am happy with most of the pieces created. We made sure it was clear enough for the viewer to understand. I remember beginning to record audio using a ZOOM, Boom pole and a Microphone in a secluded room but after many attempts of actors adjusting their voices we just couldn't manage to create the feel we needed for the roman. So with this happening... instead of going through with it, rushing the work and throwing it all together, the group had a small discussion and took out the time to book the studio to make sure we could get the audio corrected for when we edited and put the final pieces together.

Dialogue...

After writing the script and getting into the studio, I made a point to the three actors (including me) to really try and fit their characters role. By this I mean to act, speak and feel like they were actually in the situation themselves instead of just using our normal voices to create the piece because if we would have done so the overall product would not work. For the audience to feel the message you really need to feel it yourself and if you cant feel it for whatever reason then the whole thing will collapse. However, after recording our audio I feel it all came in well together and we could feel it ourselves when coming to putting romans and dialogue together. 

SFX...

Meeting a deadline can sometimes be stressful when working in a group for the simple fact, if people do not pull their weight then it will result in others being brought down with them. Me and Conor volunteered to control our edit most as we had already produced the script and other areas ourselves such as me doing the treatment and Conor doing other things which will help the group get our desired grade. With this being said, someone has to take charge so I gave Tina and Jordan the role of getting together SFX which went 'okay' but time was running and we needed more effects in different areas to create the feel and help it come alive. Having told them this, there was a few SFX they missed out before the deadline ended leaving us to deal with what we had left. However, the SFX we did have worked correctly and was all in the right places where they needed to be. For future reference when working in a group I would make sure from the word go that someone is taking charge giving out orders as I felt me and Conor were having to do so as time went on and people started to become less attentive towards the workload.

Edits?

With the group members being given different roles as well as having an edit at the same time you really have to stay on your game. Me and Conor were of course doing an edit together of the piece, while Hannah did hers and Jordan and Tina supposedly doing theirs. As time went on and the deadline coming up, I feel some group members died on each other leaving other people to do their work while they sauntered through which I feel is unacceptable when being in a group. Me and Conor managed to complete our edit with everything given but when it was exported and put up onto the screen for the class to see the files seemed too exposed which we feel we did NOT do ourselves so how it came to this we do not know. Hannah was in some days and out the others but she really tried hard and managed to do an edit to the best of her ability before the deadline was met which is good as it shows determination which is ultimately what you need when working in a group. You cant be in a group and not pull your own weight because it will result in others being pulled down with you which is not fair. Jordan and Tina had an edit to complete between them while all this was going on but they decided not to go through with it and leave me and Conor to do ours and use this as the final piece... which is okay if you are trying to meet a deadline but I feel at some points the weight and attention was not there when roles were given out to sort certain things which will benefit the group. Vividly with this being the case I feel working in a group can sometimes be hard and I would love to be able to work in smaller group for future tasks so work loads can be dished out from the word go and people can get on with what they are supposed to be doing which as a result will not bring the group down....

Task Summary?

Our project was to a La Jetee film. We had to base our film on an apocalyptic disaster .Our project was called ‘The Viral Disaster’ within our group we created three different edits. I worked with luke on my edit. In our Project we had to include dialogue, sound FX, music and soundscape. Like and I had a total of thirty three photos and three 3D photos in our edit. We did not include any archive images in our project.

The music that me a Luke used for our project was a Zombie track. We chose this piece of music as we thought the music fitted in well with the storyline and with the genre of our project. The music we chose also varied in volume to add more suspense to the story. We also used narration in our project. This helped explain what was happing the viewing audience when there is no dialogue from the actors being used. The relationship between the narration and the music was good as it all fitted nicely together. To make the film sound more realistic we used sound FX in our project.

Our photos were taken very well and were of a high standard. We had to change the frame sizes of our photos so that looked correct on final cut pro. We used the rule of thirds in all of our photos. When editing we decided to move some of the photos around from the original idea that we had for them. This helped make the story run smother. After we had placed the photos in the right order we then put in the narration, dialogue and sound FX into our edit. When we added the narration and dialogue into our project we could start changing the length of our photos to make sure that they are in time with the audio so we did not have the wrong audio overlapping with the wrong photo. Once we had done this we added the background music in. We then started to make sure that the background music fit in well with the pictures and audio. If the background music was too loud in some points we would have to lower the volume of the background music using the audio mixer on final cut pro. Next time I would improve on making sure the recorded dialogue was loud enough because we had to re record most of our groups audio as it was not loud enough.

I feel the background music was effective as well as the type and quality of pictures taken was also very effective. I feel the voices we used were not very effective and having the narrator have the same voice as one of the actors was not very effective.

For the production we need SFX in different places to help the piece come alive, sounds will we need are listed below and any more effects we can think of will be added: 

- Wind 

- Footsteps

- Gravel Like Footsteps

- Leaves Scattering