Second day of filming:

Once I had completed filming with Megan, I started to plan the day that I would film with one of my other actresses, Hayley. We arranged to film on Sunday the 12th of December (yesterday), as Hayley is busy most saturdays. Again, I had organised most of the props prior to the day of filming; however, there were a few things that I needed to create with the help of Hayley (the writing on the mirror, the text message on the phone screen, etc). I met Hayley in the morning, then we began walking to Hayley's house whilst discussing my ideas for the day ahead. Just like Megan, Hayley listened to me, contributed to the conversation with her ideas and opinions, and offered possible solutions to my problems.


Unlike Megan and I, Hayley was serious right from the start. She was eager to start filming, and hardly laughed or behaved immaturely at all. I filmed each shot about 3 times, in order to give me more footage to choose from. This was a really good decision to make, as I now feel that I won't be short of clips. If something doesn't look right, I now have a wider variety of footage to fall back on. 

The bruising created using
makeup

There were moments where we had to stop what we were doing in order to sort out props, which was my fault in all honesty. I should've completed the props previously, rather than finishing them off with Hayley - this would've saved a lot of time. However (as I mentioned above), there were things that I needed Hayley for; the main thing being the bruising shown on the characters face, using makeup. Obviously, this needed to be done on the day, however, I did experiment prior to the filming, in order to get the right look. It took us about 5/10 minutes to create the bruising effect, but I was very pleased with the end result. I made it very dark, so that it would create visible shadows on the camera. I think it looked really realistic!


Overall, my second day of filming was a success. In total, it took us about 4 hours to film everything, but time would've been decreased if it wasn't for my disorganisation in terms of the props! Also, I am quite a perfectionist, so I wanted every detail to be correct. Hopefully filming with Stephie goes as well as everything else has so far!

First day of filming:

On the 9th of December (yesterday), I begun filming for my opening sequence, starting with my main character - Megan Polston (Flo). I had organised all the props that were necessary prior to the filming, so there wasn't much preparation involved when it came to the day of filming. Once I arrived at Megan's house, we sat down and begun discussing the order of the day - what we needed to film, where it needed to be done, and how long we had to do it. As I mentioned previously, Megan has performed professionally in the past, so she is quite used to being told what to do. She listened to what I had to say, offered her honest opinions, and did exactly what I told her to do.

One of the many out-takes

At first, both Megan and I found it very difficult to behave in a serious manner, which did take up quite a large chunk of our filming time. As we are close friends, we do feel comfortable around each other; however, we also find it hard to act seriously when we're together! It took quite a while to sort ourselves out, but once we did, the filming went very smoothly. 

This snapshot shows the darkness
in the kitchen

I didn't face any huge problems during the filming process, but there were a few minor things that I had to resolve - one of which being the lighting in Megan's kitchen. Megan and I had quite a hard time trying to adjust the lighting to make it look like it was clearly filmed in the daytime; however, the editing effects on final cut express will help me to brighten my clip further. We brought lamps into the room, torches, and even a few candles, but none of these things really added to the brightness of the clip. Hopefully the use of effects in final cut express will be successful.


Overall, I am very pleased with how my first day of filming went. Yes, we did face a few issues, but these were quickly resolved with Megan's help and patience. I am very grateful to Megan, as she was willing to give up a large majority of her day in order to help me. She also acted exactly how I had imagined it, which was brilliant. Next step - filming with Hayley and Stephie!

Music:

In my questionnaire, I asked people "what genre of music would you expect to hear in a social realism opening sequence?". My possible answers were:

• A genre that relates to the year/era of the film
• A genre that relates to the characters (age, appearance, etc)
• A genre that relates to the location of the film
• Other

From this, I gathered that most people would expect to hear music from that time period; however, some people also said that the music should relate to the characters, or even the target audience. With these answers attained, I began searching for music that could easily fit into each of these categories.


When we were given a brief explanation of the task by our media teachers, we were told that we had to use  unsigned artists, and in order to use their music, we would have to get in touch with them; however, if this was not possible, we would have to credit them in some way. We were given a few websites that we could search, but I had someone in mind straight away.

Jose Vanders is one of my favourite artists, and has been for several years. She writes her own music, and possesses an acoustic sound. She isn't very widely known, and although she's incredible, she is still unsigned. I decided to tweet her (on twitter), and waited patiently for a reply. Within about two days, to my disbelief, Jose replied, and allowed me to use her music! This was great news for me, as I already had an idea of the song I wanted to use.


I chose a song called '66.9 miles', which is quite a happy song. This already creates foreshadowing, as the audience could gather from this that the rest of the film is going to be as happy as the opening sequence. The song builds up gradually, which suits my opening sequence perfectly, as the girls are shown waking up, and getting ready (building up, in a sense!). My next task was to open the song in Garageband, and cut it down from 3:04 to 2:00. This was a straight-forward task, as the song is quite repetitive anyway; therefore, I took the end of the song, and brought it further towards the start, in order to shorten it. Once this was complete, it was time to start working on my animatic.

Costume:

Recently, it occurred to me just how important costume is, in order to create a clear characterisation for each of my characters. Although my characters don't belong to any particular stereotypes, they do belong to a certain social class - lower class. Costume will be an effective way of showing this.


Flo
Although Flo comes from a lower class family, she is still a teenage girl who cares a lot for her appearance. I can't make my actor wear clothing that belongs to a brand-name, or looks expensive, as this will totally go against everything that my character is. I want her to look casual, and normal; however, I will dress her in clothes that are not branded, and are not overly fashionable. I will allow Megan (my actor) to style her hair and makeup in the way that she desires, but if her choices do not meet the characteristics of the role, I will adjust them slightly.


Amy
As I have mentioned previously, Amy is abused by her depressed, alcoholic father. With this in mind, I plan to dress my actor, Hayley, in clothing that covers as much flesh as possible - long sleeved tops, jeans, scarves, etc. Hopefully my audience will be able to pick up what I'm trying to connote.


Daisy
Daisy is anorexic; therefore, I would like her to dress in clothing that is quite baggy, and ill fitting. If I dressed my actor in clothes that showed off her body, this wouldn't fit the characteristics of daisy, who is trying to hide her illness.

Props:

I will need quite a few props for my opening sequence, as my titles are all displayed on various objects. I looked through my storyboard very closely, and devised a list of every prop I will need whilst filming my opening sequence.

• Megan's house - this is really a location, however it could also be classed as a prop. A large amount of my opening sequence will be filmed in my friend Megan's house, as she lives close to town - convenient for my actors. There are frames where my characters are shown getting out of bed, eating breakfast, etc, so I am glad that Megan allowed us to use her house.
• A bed for Flo and a bed for Amy - as I mentioned previously, these two characters are shown getting out of bed at the start (shots 4, 5, and 6 (a, b and c).
• Alarm clock - when Flo wakes up (shots 4 and 5), she reaches over to turn off her alarm clock.
• Greetings card - as Flo turns off the alarm clock (shot 5), a greetings card is shown next to the clock. It will say something along the lines of "Happy Birthday Flo! From _______" - that is where the title will be displayed.
• Poster - as Amy starts to wake up and get out of bed (shot 6a, b and c), a poster is visible in the background. Amy then stands up, and walks out of the camera's viewpoint, resulting in the poster being even more noticeable to the viewers. A title will be displayed here.
• Clothes tags - There is a shot near the start of my opening sequence where Daisy starts to undress, ready to get into the shower (shots 7a and b). As she throws her clothes off-screen, the shot that follows shows Daisy's clothes landing on the floor, with the clothes tags clearly shown. On these clothes tags, another title will be displayed.
• Toast and alphabetti spaghetti - In shot 8 (a, b and c) Flo is shown walking into her kitchen, ready to make her breakfast. She walks in, whilst styling her hair, and opens the microwave door. She then takes out a plate of toast, covered in alphabetti spaghetti, which is another title opportunity for me. The title of the film, "Here's to Flo" will be spelt out on a piece of toast.
• Hairbrush - this will be necessary when Flo is styling her hair, before she takes her breakfast out of the microwave.
• Magazine cut-outs and photos - I am in need of various magazine cut-outs and photographs, in order to stick these around Amy's mirror. In shot 9 (a and b) Amy sits at her mirror, applying makeup to the bruises on her face. Amongst these photographs and cut-outs, another title is clearly shown, using letters from newspapers and magazines.
• Plain t-shirt - I will be placing another title on a plain t-shirt, which will be used when Daisy is struggling to pick what to wear. She pulls out numerous items of clothing, including a t-shirt with a title sewn onto it, and then walks off-screen in a frustrated manner.
• Tablets - In shot 11 (a, b and c) Flo walks into her kitchen again, except this time, she places her plate in the sink. She then moves over to another part of the kitchen, and takes a tablet.
• To-do list - In the point mentioned prior to this one, Flo takes a tablet, before carrying on her everyday routine. When Flo takes this tablet from it's packaging, a 'to-do list' is laid down beside the box of tablets. This is where a title will be displayed.
• Newspaper - In shot 12 (a, b and c), Amy is shown leaving her house, about to head off to school. As she shuts her door, she picks up the newspaper, looks at it quickly, and then puts it in her letterbox. A title will be displayed on the newspaper.
• Cream paint - As Daisy walks down the street, attempting to apply her makeup whilst moving (shots 13a and b), she collides with a pole, and drops her makeup. 13b shows the makeup spread across the floor, which spells out a title. I will use cream paint to spell out the title, in order to make it look like foundation, and then I'll use small amounts of blusher and eyeshadow, to add to the 'spilled makeup' effect.
• Chalk - Chalk will be needed when filming my opening sequence, as there is a part where Flo decides to walk along a brick wall (14a and b). A title will be spelt out on the wall in chalk, along with some other childish doodles to accompany this title (adds to the social realism concept)
• Advert for window - In shot 15a, Daisy walks past a shop window, and stops to criticise her appearance. As she does this (fixes her hair, checks for blemishes etc.), an advert in the corner of the window will contain a title. Hopefully my audience notice it!
• Mobile phone - Shot 16 (a and b) consists of Amy walking along the street, in order to meet her two friends. As she walks, she receives a text from Flo, telling her to hurry up. On her phone screen, another title will be shown.
• iPod - Just after Amy receives the text from Flo, the shot cuts to Flo, who is putting her phone back in her pocket (shot 17). She then pulls out her iPod, and starts to play the song that will be used as my backing track. The backing track will fade into the sound coming from Flo's headphones, which is a technique often used in films and TV shows.
• School bags and folders - Obviously, as the girls are on their way to school, subtle props such as bags and folders will be necessary.

Although this list looks pretty large, I will be able to get hold of everything on a very low budget. I have a lot of these things at home, as do my actors, so getting hold of my props shouldn't be a problem. Things such as alphabetti spaghetti will obviously come at a small cost, but this isn't a problem.