23rd of March, Planning!

We had a single period of film today, during which we worked on the logistics of our 'twilight zone' film concept. We have now decided that it would be wise to use our group members as the characters in the film, as they are the only ones whom we could rely on to actually show up. We decided that Julien would be best, as he is the only boy and boys generally seem more screwed up in this kind of film, which is the sense we are aiming towards; the kind of 'oppressed life, lost and screwed up' feel. Our aim with this project is to leave people feeling 'empty' after it is over.

Today I feel like I was a thinking and communicative learner. Our group cooperated very well today, and we got a lot of work done, largely I feel due to my effective leadership. I also feel like I put thought into the decisions that were made; they were not made simply to have somehting to work with. This is evident through the 'chase' aspect that we chose; rather than having our protagonist being chased by something, I decided that our protagonist should be the one who does the chasing. He will be chasing an ever-present-but-ever-elusive white 'ideal' or 'dream'. It is definitely going to be abstract, but I think if we do it properly we can pull it off. I thought it would be really interesting to do this as I'm sure almost every other group is going to be doing it the other way round. Our 'portals' will be linked with the changing locations; the locations represent grotesquely blown-up versions of the scenarios our protagonist encounters in every day life. For instance, to represent transportation, we are going to film on a traffic-jam packed road. The switch between locations will be the 'portals', but we are not entirely sure yet as to what they will be exactly.

There was not much for me to do as regards my role as sound editor, however we have decided now what type of music is going to be our backing track; haunting classical music. This is good, as now I have more of a direction to look in while searching for appropriate material. We have also decided to include some sounds such as panting (while running) and the sound of our protagonist being stabbed. Next class I think we shall record the voice-over, so as to get a head start on the footage, and so that I can upload it and have a timeline (of sound) to work with. Depending on how quickly the filming is done, I might actually get the sound done first, especially as we are not including many of the natural sounds (running etc.). This way when we edit, the visuals can match the music better, so it flows better. I want it to be a film that indulges all the sense; abrupt changes at changes in the music, climax at the crescendo etc. I'm very excited! Also this way I can get a feel of the software before I actually have to work on it because of time constraints.

Originally we had planned to film today (after school), but we decided at the very last minute that as we don't really have enough planned (in terms of a literal storyboard) we could not just go film. Hopefully we will get filming some time this week, as we really need to get a move on! Jing Ting and I realized today that in total we need to film on four separate days. We have a total of 11 locations, which is quite a lot, but we are going to keep the film short by only showing each location for a total of around 30 seconds (to keep the pace up - something that I need to remember as that was a fault in our last film). I'm really happy with our work as a group today, as we were all on-task, and our idea is finally taking shape, albeit still a slightly fuzzy one.


Thinkers: Exercise initiative in applying thinking skills critically and creatively to recognize and approach complex problems, and make reasoned, ethical decisions.

Communicators: Understand and express ideas and information confidently and creatively in more than one language and in a variety of modes of communication. They work effectively and willingly in collaboration with others.