Pre Production Film

For our group, we made a video, talking about the different sheets we have produced, such as the production schedule, characters and their costumes, and we also filmed them talking about the location of the courtyard, classrooms and corridor. Ryan then edited the short clip on iMovie, then uploaded it onto Youtube. Using iMovie, different titles, transitions, and other effects were added. As well as the locations and the printed sheets, music was also added. One of the pieces of music that was put in was composed by Max, and will be used for Charlie's imagination scene, for when he imagins himself leaning in for a kiss with Gabriella. Ryan also added the music which we might use for our montage scene. I have added both songs, so everyone can see which one is better, and which song would fit that part of the film. The music for that part was done by the artist, Shaheen. As well as Max and Shaheen's music, he also added the songs which our group might use for the second last scene, when we see Max preparing Charlie to go up to Gabriella, and Charlie is acting all cool, as well as dressing a bit more cool, unlike his geek outfit. The songs which go into consideration for this scene are by UnkleJam.

This clip shows all of our groups pre-production and organising:

These are the screen shots for when I was editing the short clip in iMovie:

All:
- This screenshot shows all of the iMovie application. You can see the video files at the bottom, and everything around it.


Selected Parts:
- Here, you can see which part of the video file I have used in the video. Where it has an orange line at the bottom, that shows it has been selected, and where there is no orange line, that shot has not been used.


Titles:
- This screenshot shows the options for selecting the titles. In iMovie, there are around 20 titles that you can change and edit.


Editing Titles:
- Once you have selected the title you want, you can then edit the size, colour, font and boldness etc.


Transitions:
- Similarly to the titles, you can choose from a range of pre-loaded transitions.

researching magazine articles

we are researching articles from movie reviews so we are able to construct our own.
This article below is from the empire online film review site.

conventions in reviews:
star rating
a picture
summary plot
quotes
actors reviews

Poster Idea 2

as well as the first poster idea, we also thought that we could have just the one main character, with words written on the board. As well as these describing words shown, there would also be the name of the film and the films director, producer and actors.
Below is a rough preview.

Smile-Charlie's Imagination Scene - Music

I created the music for Charlie's imagination scene , using Logic Pro 9 . I wanted the composition to start off calm and mellow , but with a big climax half way through . I used a total of 19 tracks,instruments including , harps,violins,pianos,horns , cellos and many more ,i added effects such as reverb , delay and i edited the panning,EQ and velocity of each track . I also dived deep into synthesis , editing the ADSR and envelopes . To create the soul feel drum kit i used Ultrabeat , which is a drum beat sampler , making the kick and snare drum very soft with the high hats and symbols very crisp.
This is the full song:

Full Screen:

Piano roll:

Mixer:

Ultrabeat:

Instruments used :

Audience Research

Our film smile , comes under the genre of romantic teen comedy . therefore it would appeal to ages 15 - 21 , however i do believe that old people would also enjoy this film . i would make this film a 12a if it didn't include swear words , so therefore it would be a 15 , romantic comedy's generally appeal to females , however i think this would appeal to male aswell.

Location

This is the location we are using for our 5 minute film , the location is set at our college. The bench (in the photo) is the bench that Charlie and Max will have there lunch on, and the other bench is where Gabriella and Sophie will be sitting, outside the classroom. The corridor is where Charlie will walk through, towards Gabriella when he leans in for his imaginary kiss.

SMILE - Our Final Script

Our Script Produced Using Celtex

Production Meeting

We had a meeting in our lesson about which student is going to take up which roles. It is important that everyone learns about their own individual roles, and sticks to them. Those using Camera and Sound, will need a tutorial.

Character Breakdown

Charlie:
- 16 boy
- From London
- Goes to college
- Nerdy/ geeky
- Nervous/ shy
- Has only one friend
- Has a crush on the popular girl
- Studies maths, chemistry and biology
- An only child living with his mum and dad
- Big imagination


Max:
- 16 year old boy
- not as geeky as his friend Charlie
- From London
- Goes to college
- Studies P.E, maths, English
- Lies about previous experiences
- Lives at home with mum, dad, older brother and younger sister

Gabriella:
- 16 years old
- From London
- Goes to same college as max and Charlie
- Most popular girl in school
- Charlie’s crush
- Confident but ditsy
- Has a best friend called Sophie
- Lives at home with just her Dad
- Studies P.E, Photography and Art


Sophie:
- Gabriella’s best friend
- Giggly
- From London
- 16
- Goes to same college
- Popular
- Almost Gabriella’s ‘side-kick’
- Studies P.E, Photography and Art
- Lives at home with both parents

Film Poster Design

Between our group members we discussed ideas in how to create our poster. We came up with many different ideas that we couldn't agree on so we decided on mixing them together and came up with something we were all really liked.

Here is a sketch of our poster.

Background: White (Yellow Border)
Writing: Yellow (Black Outline)

The character at the top left is Gabriella and top right is Max. Both their bodies we plan to fade into the background. The character in the middle is Charlie. We plan to split him in half and fade it together to show his geek side (on the right) and to show his cool side (on the left).
We then had the title at the bottom in a curve, curving upwards.

We have placed all the characters and wording in particular places to create a smiley face. i.e. Max and Gabriella's heads being eyes, Charlie's being a nose, and Smile being the smiley mouth. It is similar to the image below

Here are some examples of some famous Romantic Comedy posters. You can spot the similarity between them all. They all have white backgrounds, bold writing and a bright happy vibe to them.

Costumes

Costumes
3 different costume changes

CHARLIE
1st day:
Checked shirt with buttons
Glasses
Black Jeans
Trainers

2nd day:
Long sleeve colour top
Grey jeans
Trainers

3rd day:
Leather jacket/hoodie
Jeans
Converse


MAX
1st day:
button shirt
Jeans
white shoes

2nd day:
polo
Jeans
blackshoes

3rd day:
jacket
Jeans
Trainers

GABRIELLA
1st day:
Fur coat
Jeans
Uggs

2nd day:
Jacket
Jeans
Uggs

3rd day:
Furr coat
Leggings
Different shoes

Story Board

This is a story board one of our group members created on Celtx. This is just for one scene that we had created in our script. The real story board will be drawn up as a group and put into an animatic on our blog once our script is finalised.

Props List

1 - EXT - ON THE STREET

Props Sound FX Music

Bicycle (Pink) Whistling "Lucky"

2A - INT - CLASSROOM

Props Sound FX

(Charlie) Classroom Sounds

Pencil Case

Economics Text Books

Velcro Straped Shoes

2B - EXT - OUTSIDE CLASSROOM

Props Music

Glasses "Just The Two Of Us"

Blackberry (Gabriella)

Starbucks Coffee (Gabriella)

2A - INT - CLASSROOM

Props Sound FX Music

n/a n/a n/a

3 - INT - OUTSIDE CLASSROOM

Props Sound FX

Pen , Paper Common Room Sounds

Blackberry's

Coffee

Half eaten muffin

4 - EXT- SITTING IN THE COURTYARD EATING LUNCH

Props

Tuppa Wear Lunch Box

Picnic Chocolate Bar

Carrot Sticks

5 -INT/EXT - MONTAGE

Props Music

lots of different Shaheen Mircles

clothes , hats , shirts etc

6A - EXT - ROUND THE CORNER FROM SCHOOL

Props Music

New look props e.g Rocky

Blackberry , Watch . Bad Boys

6B - EXT - OUTSIDE CLASSROOM

Props

New look props e.g

Blackberry , Watch .

8 - EXT - CHARLIE IS INSIDE CLASSROOM . GABRIELLA IS OUTSIDE

Props

Text Books

Lunch box , Pencil Case

Script First Attempt

This is our first script. There are going to be many changes to it before we are happy with it and able to start the production.
To make our script, and to make it look professional, we used a piece of software called Celtx. Using this, helps us make a script which is so simple to follow and understand, and the software automatically put each piece of text into a different section (i.e. dialogue and character)

1. Ext.
Charlie is riding his bike in to college. Music in background. Cross cut to shots of Max Sitting in Starbucks waiting for Charlie to arrive.

2A. Int.
Max is sitting down in Starbucks next to the window. Charlie arrives and sits down.

Max:
About time
Charlie:
Sorry, was up late last night doing work, I'm shattered.
Max:
Did you see the new eppisode of Dr. Who last night?
Charlie:
No i didnt i missed it, i told you i had too much work! What happened?
Max:
It was amazing, Dr Who became friends with the evil guy but he didn't know he was evil, but the audience knew. So I was literally sitting there screaming at the television you don't understand I was getting so in to it! And then at the break, there was an advert for a Dr Who Live Show, I've already told my mum and she's booking us both tickets.

Max starts to describe lasts nights episode of Dr.Who, his voice starts to fade out and become a mumble as Charlie begins to stare at Gabriella and zone out.

2B. Ext.
Charlie Imagines himself getting up, marching outside, throwing his glasses, ripping open his shirt then grabbing Gabriella, dipping her and leaning in for a kiss. (Music "Just the two of us")

Cut


2A. Int.
Shot cuts to Charlie sitting back at the table in Starbucks with Max. Max slaps charlie.

Max:
Charlie wake up, your never gonna get a girl like that.
Charlie:
Sorry sorry I am listening! I need to go outside tho and get some fresh air.

Charlie and Max walk outside Starbucks and sit on the ledge.

3. Ext.
Max and Charlie begin to over hear Gabriella and Sophie's conversation. Charlie shakes Max to get his attention.

Charlie:
Oi! Listen!

Cut

Gabriella:
I cant believe me and Brad broke up, hes such a prick.
Sophie:
You know you can do so much better Gab so why do you care so much.
Gabriella:
I just wish i could meet my dream boy already.
Sophie:
And that is?
Gabriella:
I dunno, a boy that's fit obviously, good body, always smartly dressed...and...urm... with a cool hat of course!

Sophie Giggles and Gabriella laugh sarcastically.

Cut

They look over and can see that Charlie and Max and listening in.

Gabriella:
...and he has to come up to me and go "Alright sexy?" I then would want him to smile, wink, and say a really cheesy chat up line!

Sophie and Gabriella are still laughing.

Cut

Charlie and Max together

Charlie:
Did you hear all of that?
Max:
Ye, so? What's your point?
Charlie:
That if I change myself, I can make myself her ideal boy. See! I told you I do have a chance!

Dissolve

4. Int./Ext. - Montage
Charlie and Max in Max's room, looking for different clothes and hats to wear. He tries them on and keeps checking himself out in the mirror. He also tries different smiles to use, and practices his wink. They both practice chat-up lines whilst getting changed.

Max:
Ok, so let's practice some chat up lines. What you got?
Charlie:
I hope you know CPR, because you take my breath away
or Excuse me, but I think I dropped something!!! MY JAW!!
Max:
Do you work for Royal Mail? No? I could have sworn I saw you checking out my package.
Charlie:
You must be Jamaican, because Jamaican me crazy

Charlie looks into the mirror, turns to Max, and presents himself to him.

Charlie:
What about this?
Max:
Ye that should definitely work!

Fade to black

5. Ext.
Charlie walking down the street, dressed very nicely, looking very smug. He approaches Gabriella.

Charlie:
Alright sexy. Nice to meet you, I'm (your name) and you are...gorgeous!

OR

If I could rearrange the alphabet, I'd but U and I together...

Gabriella laughs, slaps Charlie and walks away.

Fade to black

6. Ext.

Next day Charlie comes back, back in his normal clothes. Gabriella spots Charlie and realizes how hard he tried to impress her. Charlie looks up at her. Gabriella smiles at Charlie and scene fades out.

Fade to black

Character MoodBoard

Stereo Typical Geek/Nerd Characters



Stereo Typical Good Looking Girlfriend


Stereo Typical Good Looking Boyfriend



Stereo Typical High School Jock

In our film 'Smile' we have decided to stick with the conventional exaggerated stereotypes typical used in other films. This is to stick with our comical humour which is used throughout our film.

Smile Our Film

Our First Rough Idea For A Scene List

Scene 1. Int
Ryan being beaten up in a dark room by Dami
Scene 2. Ext
Ryan spots girl with his rich boyfriend
Scene 3. Int
Ryan is in the library with max looking at books and talking about the girl he has seen, max tells him the only way he has a chance is by making money. They then spot a book “counting cards”
Scene 4. Int
Fast forward cross cutting of ryan playing cards and racking in chips
Scene 5. Int
Ryan is playing a game of cards, voice over of him counting the cards, hes then grabbed on the shoulder and voice over stops. He is taken into a room.
Scene 6. Int
Ryan being beaten up in a dark room by Dami (Scene 1)



This was one of the first scene lists i created with 1 other member of our group (Gabi Kingsley), it will probably by alterd once it has been discussed with other group members.
We also came up with the film title - Five Card Charlie. We came up with this film title be researching Blackjack slang and terms used in the game. We found these on Ildado.com. Five card charlie in blackjack terms is a blackjack rule variation where if you get 5 cards without busting, you win that hand. We picked this particular term out of all the others because we thought it had a good ring to it and we imagined it would be a catchy film title which related well with out film.
We also came up with the film title - Five Card Charlie. We came up with this film title be researching Blackjack slang and terms used in the game. We found these on Ildado.com. Five card charlie in blackjack terms is a blackjack rule variation where if you get 5 cards without busting, you win that hand. We picked this particular term out of all the others because we thought it had a good ring to it and we imagined it would be a catchy film title which related well with out film.

Group Meeting
We had a group meeting where we discussed our ideas and scenes. We came to the conclusion that there was just to many story strands to narrow down into a short 5min film. So we desided to take the basic idea of a boy trying to get a girl and take it in a new direction.
This is the scene list we came up with



Second Scene List
Scene-1
Max and Ryan are sitting in a room; Ryan is staring out window at girl. Max tells Ryan there is no way he could ever get her and Ryan is telling him if he had certain things then maybe he could.
Scene-2
Max and Ryan walk out room and are standing outside, they hear the girl telling her friend how her and her boyfriend just broke up, and starts to describe her perfect boy. Ryan and max over hear the conversation and Ryan begins to hatch his plan.
(Suite, good looking, nice body, cool hat, laid back personality, charming & most importantly an amazing smile and someone who makes her smile) – Ideal man
Scene-3
Ryan goes out to try and achieve the girls ideal man, with max’s help.
Scene-4
Ryan finally gets everything together, approaches girl with a cheesy chat up line dressed in the way she had described her ideal man. Girl laughs, rejects Ryan and walks away.
Scene-5
Next day Ryan comes back, back in his normal clothes. Girl spots Ryan and realises how hard he tried to impress her. Girl smiles at Ryan and scene fades out.
We desided on the title Smile because the girls ideal guy is just someone who can make her smile and smiles at her too. We also felt it gave a warm feeling to the film and it was a nice simple title.

Short Film And Story Research

This short film followed many of the common conventions of an art house/art cinema/avand-garde short film , you could imagine seeing this type of short film in a modern day art gallery.The narrative of this short films is the words and thier meaning , through out the short film it is always asking the audience questions.The editing has been created in a montage effect with transitional images , the static camera shots also seem to have a rhythm to them.Many of these camera shots comes from archive footage as well as filming real footage , the music used is very easy on the ear and is almost like and advert .



"LUCKY Directed by nash edgerton"




The genre of this short film is clearly action , the director portrays this by using fast pased editing techniques, the camera is mostky handheld with only 3 shot that are static , which creates tension in the film. The narrative of this film is we first see the man in the boot of a car in the middle of the film we see him stopping the car and at the end , fatally the car explodes.



Post it love

This short film is called Post -it Love and is directed by Si and Ad . The narrative of this is Boy meets girl ,expresses their shyness. The story of Post - It love is shy girl meets boy in the office and they find a new way of expressing their affection by using post -it notes. It starts with a smiley face and leads onto a piece of art when the girl comes out for the final time she has the same idea as the guy as she has loads of post it notes in her hands and we see her expression and then a big picture the boy has made of them two out of post it notes on the wall. This shows the true love connection they have as they had the same instinct. It follows the conventions of a Romantic comedy. Todorov: beginning: boy meets girl, middle: post-it picture series, End: The masterpiece. Vladimir Prop:The office: Being the Villain.

Starting Research

Guy Ritchie - snatch , lock stock and two smoking barrels , Sherlock Holmes

I really like Guy Ritchie films , especially Snatch . funny , fast paced and violent just what i like .I thought Lock Stock was great too. although it was made in 1999 it still never seems to date.


Steven Spielberg - saving private Ryan , transformers , eagle eye

Of course Steven Spielberg is one of the most famous directors , his film Saving Private Ryan is arguably one of the most gripping action war movie ever made.


Bryan Singer - x men , usual suspects , superman returns
Byron Singer is another of my most liked directors . for the reason he writes alot of the movies he directs such as Superman Returns and X2 which are both blockbuster hits




what is "auteur"?
An auteur director is someone who believes they are the author of the production . his or her view is more important that the playwright and it dominates their view . An auteur may also make such changes to the textual aspect of the production. the 1950s-era was when the first auteur theory was created. it meant that the directors films reflect that of the directors personal and creative vision as if he were the primary auteur (the French word for "author").



What is Cinema Verite

Cinema verite which is french for truthful cinema is a type of movie style which was a french movie movement in the 1960's which showed people in everyday situations with allot of long and authentic dialogue. Rather than following the usual technique of shooting sound and pictures together, the film maker first tapes actual conversations, interviews, and opinions. After selecting the best material, he films the visual material to fit the sound, often using a hand-held camera. The film is then put together in the cutting room. Paranormal activity (2009) is a great example of this style of filming , it was a huge blockbuster movie .




what is a avant-garde film ?
experimental film or experimental cinema, describes a range of different filming styles that are usually very different from conventional mainstream films and documentaries, they seem to always go against the usual conventions of film making . again the word avant-garde is french for 'ahead of the crowd' , 'ahead of time' or just ' cutting edge'.



What is film noir ?
Film Noir is a cinematci term to describe holly wood crime dramas .particularly those that focus on cynical attitudes and sexual themes.is generally regarded as stretching from the early 1940s to the late 1950s




What is 'French new wave' about?
Was a blanket term influenced by Italian Neorealism and classical Hollywood cinema. coined by critics for a group of French film makers of the late 1950's and 1960s.