A Day Out Researching In Oxford Street
We decided that because our short film is going to be filmed in such a central location we wanted to gather more evidence of the location so we knew where things were and where we wanted to shoot. Niyika and I went to Oxford Street on the 13th October 2013 via London transport. This sparked an idea from Niyika which was to include London transport in some sort of way. I remembered from previous experiances that if you dont have money on an oyster card the screen says " seek assistance" which we though would link into the idea of the fact she needs to conform otherwise will remain an outcast. Also the barriers are shut therefore symbolising an obstacle that she must face as she is clearly not welcome as she is.Their are also signs that read " no entry" which symbolise the same thing and connote a negative impression. as we came out of the tube station we went up these long stairs and at the bottom we noticed we could see the brand 'topshop' at the top of the stairs in the light. We felt this may be an effective shot becuase it shows the main character climbing stairs that represent a journey to better things or more power. In this case the shot could also be seen as a goal that the protagonist secretly wants to fulfill.
After this we walked down Carnaby street because we felt like that would be a more approiate place to shoot because their are less people but still as decent amount to form our crowd. We uncovered a street that had the shop "liberty" in the background. 'liberty' on the one hand represents freedom which is what our protagonist essentially needs. It is also known in its literal terms as one of the most expensive shops containing designer goods in that part of London. This relates to our consept of identity being a source of freedom. This whole idea of 'freedom on expression' yet you are not necessarily free. Also this building is very large and within an establishing shot or extreme long shot the protagonist would look rather small in size suggesting inferiority. The idea occured to me that if we used a long angle shot of her looking at the store 'liberty' we could symbolise the fact that freedom from societies control is out of her reach.
We also decided to take pictures of manikins on the day so we could depict what sort of look we were going to go for. The over the shoulder shot was going to be difficult we noticed because the mankins are behind glass therefore we would have to be very clever in arranging our camera so that we don't see the cameras reflection in the glass.
By Josephine Maxfield
Planning Research Before The Shoot
This page contains our planning to shoot our short film and what procedures we took to ensure we knew what we were doing.
Advantages of this method :
- saves time
- provides us with potential shots we can use before we even shoot ( less pressure to improvise)
The Meeting
In this meeting our group discussed what time we were going to meet to travel to our location and what the stages of production were. This allowed us to plan what we were going to shoot and what order. Then we discussed what shops and streets were going to be using. Due to our location being in the public domain we needed to plan what we were going to shoot first and last to avoid the issues of crowd control.
This meeting also gave us a chance to get in contact with our cast member Tanaka Makoni and get her to sign an Actor consent form along with all the details for saturday's film shoot.
These details included...
- what time we were meeting
- the location we were meeting
- what the each person needed to bring
- costume
- makeup
- travel fare
A copy of the meeting is located on youtube. This was effective because we could track and montier what we had already discussed and what else needed to be discussed. Also the stages of our process and what order of shots we were going to use and the reason behind there to resolve any conflict that may arise between the cast and or crew ( including directors).We decided on discussing the order of shots because Oxford Street is a big location and we wanted to save time by planning a schedule.
Order of shots that will be shot that we decided on in the meeting :
1) Esclator shot (filmed by Niyika) ( long shot panning)
2) Seek assistance shot ( filmed by Josie and Ruby) ( close up)
3) Top of the stairs shot ( Filmed by all) (long shot but with low angle)
4) Mirror shot in the alley way fiddling with clothes ( filmed by Niyika) ( low angle )
5) Phone box shot (filmed by Josie ) ( depth in field)
6) looking at the manikin ( filmed by Ruby) ( over the shoulder )
7) Visual transformation (filmed by Niyika using still camera) (long shot, extreme close up and medium shot)
8) magazine flick ( filmed by Josie and Ruby)
9) looking at magazines ( filmed by Josie and Ruby ) ( Panning eyeline match)
LUNCH BREAK
10)crossing the road shot ( filmed by NIyika) ( wide extreme long shot ,long shot , close up)
11) Liberty shot ( filmed by Josie) (establishing shot)
12) coming out of the station ( long shot at high angle , bird eye view ) ( filmed by Ruby)
13) The barriers of the train station ( filmed by all) ( match on action, medium shot)
14) traffic shots (filmed by anyone) ( any kind of shot ) -- purely something to consider use of.
By Niyika and Josephine
