BBC Media Trip

Us, year 12 media students, created a video of pictures and clips of what exciting things we saw and learnt:



Some of us got invited to be in the audience for the 'One Show' which was very exciting and we even got shown on live TV!

Our Film Opening So Far

After our exciting trip to the BBC, we came back with the footage we wanted for our film opening. We filmed out the window of the train, people walking down the platform at the station, a sign saying 'Welcome to Marylebone' and we filmed people passing us on the escalator.

This is a rough version of what we have filmed already. It still needs editing properly and more needs to be filmed but we wanted to ask family and friends for their opinions on what we have filmed already:

More Filming on Trip to London

When we watched the footage we took from day 1 of filming we concluded we need to include clips of Samantha getting to the office to make it more like a normal day of work. Fortunately, year 12 and 13 media studies students are going to the BBC Broadcasting House for a tour in London on Thursday 20th November. We will be taking the train there so we can film some footage of the train and the train station and include it in our opening as if it was Samantha's commute.

How The First Half of Filming Went

On Sunday we completed filming the first half of our chick flick film opening. Filming went well, we managed to film everything we needed within the 2 hour and the filming location was even better than we expected.

As we had never visited our filming location before we found it difficult to plan what we wanted to film and where, but when we arrived we found out there was a spacious room with a glass table and chairs in, we decided this would be the main office room where most of the filming took place.

Many of the shots took multiple takes to get right and we took it in turn to film different ones. My job was to film the match on action shot of Samantha (the intern) opening the door and walking through and her walking down the corridor. Both took a while to get right and took many takes. When she opened the door it was particularly difficult to ensure I didn't cut her head off whilst walking behind her. Watching the footage back now, I feel the part where she comes round the other side of the door looks unprofessional so I may just use the clip where she opens the door and then cut to her walking down the corridor. When Samantha walked down the corridor, was the most difficult clip to film. The main difficulty was trying to walk at the same pace but a bit ahead of her and keep her head in shot all whilst walking backwards. But I am pleased with how it looks now after the many attempts.

Chaya's job was to film the wide shot of Samantha entering the room and sitting down, this also took many takes. The issue with this clip was also ensuring Samantha's head didn't get cut out of shot, which was proved to be very problematic when she sat down. We then realised we had to essentially 'lead' her with the camera and move it down before she has sat down. Chaya also featured in the opening as an extra who measures a big wall poster against the wall. The use of extras doing odd jobs made the office feel like there was more than 2 people working there and more true to life.

Georgia also made an appearance as the person who brought the clothes rail on and sorted the clothes.  She also had the responsibility of filming the over the shoulder shot of Samantha reading the confidential letter. This also took many attempts as we experimented with the camera, using the tripod to make the camera film higher and lower shots.

Overall, we had a very successful day and used our time well. We need to discuss when to film the next half of our opening.

Prop List for Our Chick Flick Film Opening

Here is the list of the things we will need to film on Sunday:

Equipment

• Microphone and lead
• Camera(s)
• Spare camera batteries
• Two tripods
• Storyboards

Props

• Clothes rail and clothes on hangers - coats, blouses, dresses etc
• Dressmaker's dummy
• Posters to hang on wall 
• Coffee cups
• Posh handbag
• Mobile Phone
• Flowers for decoration (?)
• Laptop
• Magazines (lots)
• Stands for pictures

Costumes

The Intern:

• Smart dress/ skirt and blouse
• Heels / smart shoes
• Handbag
• Smart blazer
• Fur coat (?)

The Boss:

• Smart monochrome clothing (blacks, whites, greys)
• Smart shoes
• Glasses (to look more sophisticated and professional) 

For Us (in case we need to be extras):

• Smart monochrome clothing (black and white)
• Smart shoes

Chick Flick Target Audience

We got together a focus group of girls aged 14-18 and asked them the following questions:

• What is your favourite TV programme?
• Who are you favourite celebrities?
• What are your hobbies?
• Where do you shop?
• What form(s) of social media do you use?
• What are/is your favourite film(s)?
• Favourite genre/type of music?

Asking them these questions allowed us to piece together our stereotypical audience member for our chick flick opening. We created a poster to show the most common feedback we received:

Disney Prezi

My classmates and I created a Prezi all about Disney. We looked at the four most successful elements that make Disney; their media networks, consumer products, parks and resorts and studio entertainment.  Disney was founded in 1923 by Walt Disney and was the biggest film production company of the time, and still is. Its success is due to Disney keeping up with the newest of technology and providing entertainment for a wide range of audiences, it's not just for children anymore.

Finalised Storyline for Chick Flick Film Opening

As a group, we have all decided what our story line should be for our chick flick film opening. We are going to be filming the beginning half of the opening in a modern apartment which re-creates an office environment, which is our intention. We have been allocated two hours to film our opening and we start on Sunday. This part of the opening will be the intern walking into the office and then having her boss enter and demand her coffee. 

The introduction of the opening will be the protagonist (the intern) walking through the door, down the corridor and to the main office. We intend to film using a match on action angle when the intern is coming through the door and tracking when she is walking down the corridor. Throughout this half of the opening we hope to use cut aways and close ups of the props around the room e.g. magazines, laptop, clothes rail etc. In the background of the shot , we would like someone organising the clothes on the clothes rail to make it verisimilitude and give the 'office' a busy atmosphere.  

Once the intern sits down at the desk we will film using a mid-shot of her filing through the magazines on the table and stumbling across a letter with 'confidential' stamped on the envelope. We will then do an over the shoulder shot so we can see her opening the letter, in which the viewer can read 'Court Summons'. We will then quickly cut to a close up of her face which will show a look of shock and confusion of her face. As she goes to read more of the letter, we will hear her boss shout 'Samantha' in the background. The camera will cut quickly back to a mid shot where we see the intern struggling to stuff the letter back in the envelope before her boss appears in the office. The camera will change to a wide shot which will show the room and both the intern and boss walking into the office. As the boss walks in she will demand 'where is my coffee?' and slam the magazines she is holding onto the desk, after this has been said a close up of the intern's face will show the realisation that she forgot to get her boss' coffee.

The second part of the opening will be a wide shot of a busy street where we see Samantha running into shot and into a coffee shop. The camera will stay in the same position until we see her run out of the shop and out of shot carrying a cup of coffee. 

Storyboards

Here are the storyboards for our first film idea that we planned as a class which will be used when filming our film opening: