EMI - Present

EMI is one of the big four music companies, along with Universal, Warner, and Song BMG. EMI Music finds and develops new artists, produces records, markets the records by aiming to get their artists' work used in television, film and branded products. They also have a catalogue of many successful albums from artists such as The Beatles, David Bowie and Coldplay. Emi Publishing owns the rights and licensing to all songs produced by EMI and ensures that the work it represents is used commercially and that proper remuneration is received for the use of the song.

EMI produces CDs and digital downloads of songs and albums recorded by artists signed to one of their many record labels, which currently consist of stars such as Robbie Williams. The company offers its music to professionals in TV, film, radio, multi-media and audio-visual production all over the world. They also make their tracks available to their audience in numerous ways to try and increase popularity and appeal to all audiences. Other ways the music is available other than retail outlets are

• subscriptions

• online jukeboxes

• video jukeboxes

• custom compilations

• kiosks

• digital car stereos

• mobile phone ring tones

• master ring tones.

However, in current years where the music industry has changed drastically, mainly due to the huge increase in popularity of digital downloads and mp3 players, music companies have had to make huge changes and estimations to try and keep up with the times. This has meant that EMI's future has not always been clear and they are struggling to keep up with other leading companies, therefore many of their well-known artists have recognized this, and voiced their concerns about staying with EMI, and its future.

In 2002 one of the main signs in EMI having to make large changes as a company was the closure of one of its main production factories in Swindon which provided jobs for thousands of people in the area. The Dutch operation was said to be much larger, and closer to the distribution hub in Europe.

As the music industry has shifted over to digital, EMI has notably struggled with the change, despite its website boasting that it was quick to realize the importance of digital media and has stayed ahead of its rivals by

• being the first company to release a digital album download in 1999

• launching the first internet video single in 2001

• being the first major company to make new music available digitally at the same time that it is serviced to radio stations in 2002

• in 2007 being the first major music company to make its music available DRM-free, enabling it to be much higher quality.

• later on in 2007 announcing that its music will not only be available from iTunes, but also through iTunes' rival, amazon's newly announced music store, which will offer EMI's entire digital catalogue DRM-free

Despite having achieved the above, EMI was still in major financial trouble for many different reasons, many of these reasons being down to careless standing and failure to estimate and predict the market successfully. It has been said that the company is largely over-predicting record sales and is producing far too many CDs that are going to waste, for example the company overproduced 1 million copies of a Robbie Williams album. All the wasted CDS are sent to be crushed in China and eventually end up being used for tarmac and street lamps. A recent radio interview also confirmed that the company had been carelessly spending money on things such as its offices and decoration, rather than putting away its profits to provide a secure future for the company.

Terra Firma, a private equity firm purchased EMI in 2007 and in 2008 EMI hired top Google executive Douglass Merill to 'drive digital growth'. The company planned to make many changes such as

• releasing songs on Vinyl before CD, as they felt that customers would buy the Vinyl first, and then proceed to buy the CD on release also.

• thousands of job cuts

• the use of more sponsors

• signing less artists.

In 2008, with the arrival of the ex-Google executive, a new strategy was introduced to focus much more on digital downloads, as with the rise in these, the need for artists to remain with a large record label decreases. The company also made plans to digitalize more of its back catalogue, moving its marketing strategy towards digital sales and targeting consumers through social networking sites, an approach many companies have taken advantage of.

Despite the determination behind these plans to make EMI more successful and keeping a firm place in the market, Douglass Merill left the company in less than a year, and without any confirmation of another job.

Evaluation of Artefact 2 - 'The Hand I Used To Hold'

1. Developing and challenging forms and conventions of existing media products.

When I first decided to create a romance film, I researched the genre, its typical characteristics and existing products. From this I found out what most romance films consist of and how different films have used this manipulated it in their own way to make their film original and memorable, yet with the same criteria as many other films. In all the films I researched, and a couple that I went into greater detail about in my research, I decided on the elements of romance that I would use in my film, such as young attractive actors, and obstacles in the plot that the characters must overcome in order for them to be together.





I soon had the idea to make my task a little more challenging but interesting at the same time by adding the film noir element, and setting my story in the past, ideally around the 1940s as this is a period of time I know a lot about after having studied it previously. I researched the main events of the 1940s, and the war lifestyle. I then realised that an appropriate obstacle for my couple to overcome would be the war, with the husband away fighting, as this was a huge issue for most couples throughout this period of time and was a huge tragedy for many families.

After a lot of careful consideration of many different ideas I decided that the first minute of my opening was to be my main character receiving a letter from her beloved, telling her that he will be returning shortly. I then explained this idea to several of my friends and family and asked them what they thought would happen in the rest of the film. A popular response was that he would return, but only to find that she did not love him anymore. I did not feel that this idea alone would fit the romance genre and it did not give enough insight into the story to encourage people to watch the rest of the film. I chose not to use any of the ideas my friends had, as this would make my film predictable, so through lots of diagrams and writing down all the ideas that came into my head, I chose the one that I felt could be created with relative ease, yet to good effect. I decided on a plotline that nobody had guessed; where my character went to meet him; however, for whatever reason, he does not show. This was then developed into a film based around a woman’s search for her missing husband, and her undying devotion and dedication to him. I was happy with this idea, as I felt you could not predict the ending from the opening and decided to stick to it as it suited the romance genre, would have a simple yet interesting opening to film and I was confident that I would be able to achieve it with my available equipment and surroundings.


2. Representing my particular social group.

After choosing my storyline, I then had to develop this idea in more detail, such as my characters social class, location and personality. I had decided that I would not have any speech in the opening 2 minutes of film, apart from a voice over reading the received letter, having music instead. I chose to record original piano music, resembling that music of the 1940s period, and the artists I had researched in my planning. I felt that this would be effective in creating interest in the opening, and would save and extra complications when filming of getting speech correct and acting it appropriately. This decision meant that I would have to portray facts about my character in my opening via her actions, costume and location. By these methods I would also have to show that the film is set around the time of 1945. Luckily, having previously studied textiles and modern world history, I was fortunate enough to have a bit of background information on the clothing of the 1940s and the reasons behind it, such as the rations on material, therefore my research could be done relatively easily, and I had a good idea in my mind of the costume I would like my character to be wearing. I decided that my character was going to be well-off through inheritance, living in a grand house, yet with a down-to-earth personality and putting love and happiness over material items.



I was fortunate to find an ideal dress in a charity shop that represented this well. It was simple with minimal material and no embellishments, yet a rich red in colour that signified romance and wealth. However, I had made the decision to edit my piece into black and white, so although the colour appropriate, this would not be recognisable in my finished piece.




Unfortunately I do not have any pictures of the dress and am unable to gain any as I no longer have it in my possession. However, the dress show to the left, despite the different patterns and colours, has the exact same design and shape as the dress that I used. I also chose a coat that I already owned that I felt could be believed to be 40s style, as I did not have a large enough budget purchase a new one.

For my location of filming, I was luckily given permission from my boss to be able to film on the premises of the hotel where I work, a large, old fashioned building that has been around for centuries. The hotel lawns also run out onto a sandy beach, a location that I was able to use in my filming.






The Best Western, Le Strange Arms Hotel, Old Hunstanton, Norfolk.I chose the most old-fashioned room in the building (bottom right), so that the furniture looked relatively appropriate for my time period. I planned to film one of my over the shoulder shots in a large mirrored dressing table, shown in the picture above. However, on arriving at the room I realised that some of the furniture had been changed since I last saw it, and the dressing table was no longer there. This caused a few minor problems, but after some very careful arranging, we managed to take a mirror off the wall and balance it on a desk, to try and create a dressing table effect. We also had to be careful not to accidentally get the television next to us in the shot, as the television was too modern and would ruin the 1945 effect we were trying to create.



My actress willing allowed me to style her hair and make up before filming, and as she already had the features that I was looking for this was made easier. I decided for her to wear a lighter foundation than her natural skin colour, in order to make her appear paler and fairer. To this we added a light amount of blusher, and a bright red lipstick that is typical of 1940s women. Her hair was lightly curled and her fringe was styled so that it did not cover her face
This is a picture of the typical 1940s, well presented woman that we were trying to achieve. She has a pale, even complexion, with light face make up and a bright coloured lipstick.and get in the way of the shot.





3. Media Institutions that might distribute my media product.


Ideally, if I was to develop my opening into a complete feature film and was looking to get it distributed, I would be aiming to get it shown in cinemas and then released on DVD so that it was easily accessible for the majority of the population, of all ages and all backgrounds. A company such as DreamWorks probably wouldn't be the ideal production company to use as it is mainly associated with animation films, and therefore would not have such specialist realistic sets as some other companies. A company such as Universal or Warner would be a good company to use as they have good reputations and are very well known in the industry. However, living in England this would cause difficulties in travelling to America, and would cause great expense. I would therefore choose a more local company such as Cambridge Film & Television Productions Ltd who are an independent production company whose website states that they 'offer a complete service from conception and creation through scripting and shooting to duplication and distribution'. I would like it to be filmed on the sets and with the facilities of somewhere like Universal Studios, where it would have all the right equipment to reach it’s full potential.


4. Recognising and appealing to my audience.


Romance films can appeal to people all ages, and from many different backgrounds. I intended my film to be appealing and easy to understand for all ages, even for the older generations as they may have memories and an understanding of the war period that they experienced themselves. However, I also intended my film to be aimed principally at females, as it is them who tend to watch more romantic films and find emotional plot lines appealing. Despite these tendencies I did hope that my film would appeal to some males as well, with the war and fighting element and I hoped that with the addition of the male voice over in the opening, this might attract male attention.

With my main focus being attracting female viewers’ attention, I made slight subtle changes in my editing to try and appeal to them, for instance, I used an elegant font for my title and credits, giving it a feminine and attractive appearance that although noticeable, may appeal to females subconsciously and subtly. I had to maintain this elegant and romantic feel throughout my film, so that I did not create any harsh contrast that may confuse or put viewers off watching. The black and white effect already helped me in doing this, as it is often used to signify and create romance, and many romantic films were created in the time that black and white were the only colours

available in the film industry.

To develop on this I used slow motion in many of my shots, to create smooth actions with no harsh movements that contrasted the feel of the film or the timing of the music. I also added cross dissolve transitions between different shots so that there were no sudden or unexpected changes, and each shot flowed nicely into another. For the scenes where Lauren was going down the two flights of stairs, I filmed them both from the top and bottom, so I had to be very careful and precise in my editing in order to keep continuity and make it look natural. This was also used when Lauren exited the bedroom and closed the door, as this was filmed from two different angles also.

5. Audience feedback

When my final piece was complete, I was able to start showing it to different people, and begin collecting some audience feedback. I did this by uploading my video onto YouTube, and gaining responses by seeing how many views it gained, and by any comments that were left on it by viewers. Viewers also have the ability to rate the video on how good they think it was. I successfully uploaded my video and after a week of being online, it had received over 90 views, which I was very pleased with, and had also gained 9 comments, all of which were positive and supportive. The comments included opinions that it looked very professional, and a particular favourite bit of the video was the fading images at the end, showing the passing of time in which Helen waits for James. I was extremely pleased with these results as a lot of them were from people I did not know, therefore they had a completely un-biased view of the film, and there were positive comments from males also, which I was not expecting. So this was a very good sign that my film had been successful in getting audience attention.

Some questions included in my questionnaireThe next way I went about collecting audience feedback was by creating a questionnaire that was to be given to classes throughout the school, and after watching the film in their lesson they completed the questionnaire that I designed and gave any personal comments, so I could get a clear idea of just how successful my film was in gaining interest from people my own age. I designed the questions specifically on certain parts of my film that I wanted to know the effectiveness of, and how they were interpreted by the audience, because if they were not understood or misinterpreted I would know that I had not been successful in creating my desired effect, and with the help of any additional comments in the feedback I would be able to consider where I went wrong and how I could have improved this.

The first set of results I received was from a year 10 English class, consisting of 12 girls and 14 boys. The first thing I noticed was that on the multiple choice question that asked their opinion of what the genre was, every single member in the class had correctly ticked romance, so this meant that my genre was very clear and recognisable which I felt was a good start. I also noticed that every single girl in the class had ticked that she would continue to watch the rest of the film after watching the opening, and every one of them gave the reason that they would like to know what happens next. I was extremely pleased with this as I had very successfully appealed to my target audience, and created interest in the rest of the film from the first two minutes, something that was my overall aim. I was also pleased to see that nearly 50% of the boys that watched my film also said that they would continue to watch the film, a response that was a pleasant surprise as although I had wanted to, I did not expect to create any interest from males in my plot line, as I felt my genre would not appeal to them. I was also pleased that the majority of the boys that had said they would not continue to watch the film had given the reason that they did not like the romance genre, therefore I was pleased that it was not generally my editing or any technical work that had put them off watching.

I gave a multiple choice option on how believable the setting of 1945 was, with options ranging from very believable, to not at all. I found that every answer ranged between a bit, and very and no body had ticked not very much or not at all. The comments as to what their opinions were based on mostly all predictable, or in some cases unavoidable, such as the fact that the quality of the camera I was filming with was too good, and although I was aware of this, and had tried to reduce the quality when editing, it was still unavoidable. I also had to consider when reviewing my results just how much understanding the audience had on the 1945 lifestyle, as some of the reviews stated that electricity was not invented then, and this made my film less believable. So overall I was happy with this result.

For what they felt was most effective in the film, I gave them a multiple choice with options of the music, the voice over, the setting, the editing (i.e. the black and white, fading and slow motion…) and an additional option of other with room to explain. I also gave them the option to tick as many boxes as they felt necessary. I was pleased to see an equal range of results, with no particular option gaining a bad response.

The general response was that the audience felt that my film was aimed at age range 20+, which I think may possibly be because of the war element, and the time period it was set in.
My film was then shown to another class of year 11, and I was pleased to see that their responses were very similar to the other class, with no major difference in opinions.
I was also delighted to find that on watching my film, my grandmother was very shocked and pleased that the music I had chosen of my own accord was featured in the very first film my granddad took her to see at the cinema when they were courting. This was very pleasing as this appealed to her, and with her as a representative of the older generation, she could confirm that it was a good representation of the war period and the lifestyle that she had first hand experience of.

6. Use of Technology

Throughout the entire process of creating my piece, from the initial planning to the final editing and burning of my piece, I was working with technology in order to create the best possible effects that I could to make my piece well presented and easily accessible and understandable. I learned a great deal throughout this process. Although we had worked with the technology in our first artefact, I had not worked behind the camera, only using technology to get to grips with the editing tools. Working behind the camera on my second artefact was a new experience and in some cases I had to film scenes several times to get it correct, for example when attempting to pan smoothly. I was lucky enough to be able to pick up the techniques quickly and could easily work the camera and could most of the time get it to do what I want effectively. When viewing my footage, I began to realise that my setting would have been more believable with an older camera, like those used in the 1940s. However I also felt that my film would have benefited with a professional camera, rather than a hand held one, as although the quality of the footage was too good for a 1940s camera, it was also rather sharp and harsh, whereas professional cameras have a softer effect and the footage has a more airbrushed appearance.

Having used PCs all my life, and having quite a good knowledge of how to use them to my advantage, it was difficult adapting to the Macs, as they have a very different way of operating, and although both computers work well, the Macs were harder to work for a regular PC user. Fortunately some members in my class own Macs at home, therefore they were able to help me when needed, and explain to me how to use the Macs how I wanted, and how to create my desired effect. I now appreciate how well designed for editing and media work that Macs are, and how fortunate we are to be able to use them for our work.





Ideally, if I was to develop my opening into a complete feature film and was looking to get it distributed, I would ideally be aiming to get it shown in cinemas and the released on DVD so that it was easily accessible for the majority of the population, of all ages and all backgrounds. I would like it to be filmed on the sets and with the facilities of somewhere like Universal Studios, where it would have all the right equipment to reach it’s full potential.





7. What I Have Learnt.

Over the weeks of planning, developing, filming, and editing my product I have learnt an awful lot in the way of working efficiently, manipulating cameras, computers and other technology in order to gain what I want, and how to create a successful artefact that portrays what I want it to and has the right effect on the audience. I have learned how to work quickly and efficiently when given a set amount of time, for instance when I only had access to my location for a few hours, creating a shooting script helped a lot, as I always knew exactly what I was doing, and had to do next. I have also learned a lot of camera skills, as this was the first time I have ever properly operated the Media Studies cameras, and therefore had to learn very quickly.

Looking back at our original task, I feel that I have been successful in maintaining the criteria, and creating a product that still fits the original specifications that were set. I am content that my film is a two minute long opening to a feature film, and I can tell from my audience feedback that it successfully gained the attention of my target audience, and fortunately some of other audiences that I was not expecting also. I feel happy that it is still obviously a romance genre, and although not entirely, given the facilities and equipment that I had access to, I still managed to create a relatively convincing setting of 1945.

When comparing my final finished product to my original storyboard, I am quite pleased to see that there are only slight variations in things that were originally on my storyboard, but as I progressed in my filming and editing, I found that these were not possible, therefore alterations had to be made. For instance, things like the over the shoulder shot featuring Lauren looking into a mirror, had to be slightly altered, due to a lack of a large dressing table, and the opening few seconds of the song had to be edited out, as the music did not completely fit in time with my footage, as my footage did not last as long as I wanted it to. However I do not feel that any of these changes caused any great setbacks to my piece, and they were all effectively solved.

If I had the opportunity to redo my film and make changes, I do not think I would make huge alterations as I was able to work quite well with the facilities I was given. However, in an ideal world I would like to be able to have access to better facilities, such as professional cameras, to produce a better quality image, and a large set rather than an actual building, as these are not built for filming and can be rather constricting and uncomfortable at times.

Overall, I am pleased with my finished product in the sense that it has done everything that I wanted it to; meeting both the exam boards criteria, and the criteria that I set myself.

How is the sci-fi drama conveyed through Dr. Who?

How is the sci-fi drama conveyed through Dr. Who?

Sound

The idea that Dr. Who is set in the future is portrayed in many ways. On of the ways sound is used is as diegetic background noise, to show what they experience as everyday life. This includes futuristic sounds during 'time travel', and also the sound of a boat horn to show one of the unidentified objects as being a boat. In scenes featuring the main dinner party, happy christmas music is played, mainly of string instruments to add to the relaxed atmosphere, which not only adds to the scene in focus, but contrasts the mood of the party with the mood of what is happening elsewhere on the 'ship'. In scenes where the plot is tenser, the music drastically changes to add to the suspense, and unpredictability of a futuristic world that we are not familiar with. This music has an eerie feel to it, building on the darkness tension of the scene.


Editing


As most scenes in dramas consist of conversations, mainly between two people, in order to keep the feel of realism, continuity must be kept at all times. This is even more important in futuristic and sci-fi programs as they need to be as believable as possible and have a naturalistic feel so that the audience can almost accept the world as normal. Continuity is kept in conversations through quick and clean cuts between shots, in time with the conversation so that the audience do not miss any character's emotions through their face, or reactions to their surroundings.
Special editing effects are used to add to the sci-fi feel of the program, as the main character comes and goes by a blue telephone box. To show this happening transitions are used to make the telephone box slowly appear and disappear.

Lots of editing work is used in particular shots, such as one showing the 'titanic' sailing in space above earth. Shots like these can be done entirely by computer graphics or by superimposing an image on the ship onto an image of the earth.

Editing is also used to show different perspectives, such as in one particular shot where space is being viewed through binoculars, the edge of the screen shows the shape of binoculars, as to give the audience the idea that they themselves are now the character, looking through the binoculars.


Mise en Scene


To show that the program is set in the future, futuristic style set and props are used in portrayal. For example, in certain scenes there are lots of buttons and wires in the background, reflecting the sci-fi element.

At the dinner party, the elegance and social class of the people involved are shown through colour pallettes and the clothes that they wear.

The men are seen to be wearing very smart suits, whilst the women wear ball gowns, all of rich, deep colours such as gold, red and purple. This same colour pallette is also used for the decor of the room in which the party takes place, such as a deep red for the carpet. When a scene is taking place involving the captain of the ship, darker colours are used to add to the uncertain and myseterious feel, the main colours that are used here are blues and greys.

To show the innocence of the character played by Kylie Minogue, she is styled with not much makeup and with her hair tied back. This shows the audience that she is a gentle character, and does not have anything to hide.

Camera Work

The use of camera work can be used to emphasise particular moments in the episode. One of the scenes where this is used is in the cabin. The difference between the main captain, and the younger member of staff is used through camera shots. To show the awkwardness and nervousness of the younger captain, long shots are used so that most of his body is in the frame, and the audience can see and recognise the awkward body language that he is using. However, to contrast this, close ups are used of the older captain, so that the audience can see his stern features, his emotions, and confidence through his facial expressions.

In conversations, over the shoulder shots are often used so that the audience have a clear view of a characters face when he or she is talking, and are able to recognise the emotions portrayed.

At the dinner party where the doctor subtly causes a scene behind him at the party, the camera is positioned accordingly, so that we are able to see the doctor's face and calmness, whilst over his shoulder also seeing the hysteria behind him. The focus is also shifted between the two events to show which we should be looking at at which particular moment.

Final tweaks and burning!

The next chance I got to edit in lesson, I was able to add the music to my piece. I did this by saving the track onto a usb stick and transferring it onto iTunes on the Mac, and dragging it from there onto my work on iMovie. It took a lot of careful tweaking and fiddling, but i eventually managed to fit my music to my piece, and make it the right amount of time in length, fading in and out at appropriate moments. This was difficult as we had to ensure that our piece was only 2 minutes long, and mine kept accidentally going over.

With the music successfully added, the very final thing I had left to do was record my friend Alex's voice reading the letter for my voice over. We did this in the school music studio and burned the file onto CD which I then ripped the song from and put it into my piece. This was not the exact right length in time that I had planned to fit in with the music, but after some alterations I managed to get the two audio pieces to fit together, along with the film.

When I felt I was happy with my piece, I played it full screen on the computer, so I could get the whole effect, I did this several times to look for any mistakes I may have made, and I also got people in my class to watch too, to see if they could spot anything I might have missed, and what their overall reaction was to my film. This was very positive so I saved my work, (twice just to make sure) and started to burn. Once burning was complete we tested it in a DVD player and luckily it worked okay.

All that is left for me to do now is my evaluation. In preparation for this I have designed a questionnaire that will be given to classes throughout the school when they watch our pieces so that I can gain audience feedback, the opinions and conclude whether or not I was successful in portraying what I wished to in my film. I am hoping this method will work well and I have chosen a range of 10 questions that I hope will give me the answers I need to know how well I did, such as what genre they thought the film was and what they felt was most effective about the film. Most of my questions are multiple choice with the option of writing their own answer so that I can gain more precise answers that can be categorized and concluded on. I will use the answers I gain in my evaluation, and I have also posted my video on youtube in order to try and gain some more feedback. So far I have had over 70 views and 4 comments, all of which have been positive.

I am hoping I will have had some more feedback from that as well by the time I complete my evaluation.

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Editing!

The next lesson after my filming was complete, I was able to start uploading my footage. Doing this took itself nearly an entire lesson, as I had to connect the camera to the Mac, which took several attempts due to a few dumb moments, the footage then had to upload and after that letterbox. When filming I had ensured that I had plenty of footage to work with, so that I did not find that I did not have enough. This meant that all this footage which would then be edited out had to upload also, and this took a lot of time.

I could first start making proper decisions and editing my piece in the next lesson. The first thing I had to do was to put my piece into black and white. However, this proved difficult, as the simple 'black and white' effect that was already available on the Macs, did not give the effect that I was looking for, and I was disappointed that I would not be able to create the effect that I had envisioned in my mind. To try and overcome this, and to get nearer the image I wanted, I had to fiddle and adjust the colour settings on the screen. This ended up taking up a lot of my time, as I had to do this for every different shot I had filmed, as the lighting was different in each location and angle, and I did not want there to be too much of a harsh difference in each shot. It was at this point that I was thankful that I had filmed earlier than everyone else, and this set back did not leave me behind the rest of the class.

When making cutting decisions, and adding certain effects and transitions, I had to make very careful decisions as to what effect I wanted to created and how best to do this. I had to consider this for every decision made, and my reasoning for my choices will be explained in greater detail in my evaluation once my editing and film is complete.

I was fortunate in the sense that I faced few major problems when editing, and did not end up making any crucial errors or losing any footage. It took a few attempts to entire get used to using the editing tools, as I was now doing much more advanced editing than we did in our first artefact.

I found editing a lot easier and quicker once I had learned the keyboard shortcuts, such as delete, which as a lot simpler than dragging things into the bin

I am now halfway through my editing, I have edited all the footage I want, and just need to add my music, and record Alex's voice to read my letter, then I will add it to my film and make any suitable adjustments to fit the music.

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Filming!

I was extremely nervous and excited on the day of filming, I was excited because it was the first chance for me to create my idea and direct everything exactly as I wanted, and have a sense of doing something very productive. However I was also nervous because although I had left plenty of time incase something went wrong and was fully aware that this was a possibility, at this point I did not know what this was going to be, and what effect it would have on my filming.

Despite these initial nerves, both my actress and I arrived at our location in a very positive frame of mind, excited to get underway.

We first went and set up our equipment in the hotel bedroom, and we were lucky enough to have been given access to the honeymoon suite, therefore we had plenty of room to work with and accomodate our equipment. We were well prepared to shoot as I had the shooting script I had already made, telling me exactly when I need to be filming which parts, and what I needed in order to do this, so that was a huge help and managed to help me avoid any extra and unnecessary stress. However, the first problem we faced was that the room no longer had a grand dressing table with mirror as I remembered, so we were unsure as to how we going to film my establishing shot, an over the shoulder shot of Lauren looking in the mirror. We managed to remove a large mirror from the wall and balance it very carefully on the dresser, and with great care and caution, we eventually managed to get a successful shot.

The next issue that came to our attention was that at a certain point in filming I wished to do a shot panning across the room. However as I went to film this, we realised that the room was full of modern items, and these were not appropriate for the time period my film is set in. We then had to stop filming for a while and ensure that everything modern looking was removed from the shot, and the room ended up with most of it's furniture shoved in the bathroom!

After this minor setback I was rather worried as to whether or not we would be able to keep up with the shooting script, as the sun was starting to set and I did not want to be filming in the dark.

After several attempts, making my actress run up and down many flights of stairs over and over again, I managed to get the shots of the staircase that I wanted.

We were then ready to move outside and start filming out there. I found that this went relatively smoothly and most shots were successful after a couple of takes.

I was also very thankful that we had good weather, windy and relatively cloudy, which was the ideal weather I was hoping for to add effect to the loneliness my character is meant to be feeling.

I was very happy once I had completed my filming, and was confident that it had gone well, and I had managed to get some really good shots that would be effective in my piece. I also found that I finished filming an hour earlier than planned, which was fortunate as we did not have to film in the dark.

With my all my filming having been successfully completed in the one day, I was now ready to upload my footage onto the Macs, and begin the editing of my piece!

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Planning our second artefact

For our second artifact, the criteria states that it must be an opening to a feature film, and must be to minutes in length. We watched some examples of the first two minutes of films, and we analysed them to see what we could pick up about the camera work, editing, lighting and mise en scene. We made notes on how this what effect this had on the audience, and what information it gave about the film. We picked up on things like drawing attention to certain characters, colour pallets, costume, and use of music. We also saw if we could guess the genre of the film from the first two minutes.
All the things we noticed from the films we took notes on, so that we could get inspiration from these ideas when creating our pieces.

The first task we faced when deciding what our feature film was going to be about, was choosing which genre it was going to be. We had choices such as thriller, romance, comedy and science-fiction. When deciding on a genre, I had to consider which of these was possible to film with m equipment, available locations, actors and budget. I could then rule out options such as sci-fi. Overall, the genre that I felt I would be able to produce most successfully was romance, as it had no particular specifications, and was a very broad category that I knew lots about, and had lots of different ideas of what storyline I could use that would be interesting, original and appropriate. I then made the decision to add the film noir element, meaning that I would like my entire film to be in black and white, and preferably set around the mid 1900's.

I began researching the romance genre, as well as film noir, and I found out what typical examples of the genre consisted of, and the style in which they were filmed. From this I thought up several ideas for storylines, and in the end I decided on one which I felt would work well. I also managed to find a piece of music that would fit my piece, the atmosphere I want to achieve, and the time period I would like it to be set in. I researched what clothing women wore in the mid 1940s, the time I chose my piece to be set in, and found out many interesting facts that I am able to use and show in my piece, in order to make it look as realistic and convincing as possible.

Once I had completed my research and decided on a particular storyline, I began to storyboard, expanding on my ideas and considering different ways of filming and putting across what I was intending. I was able to get a clear idea of how my piece was going to look, what ideas worked well, and what ideas did not. I then began to think of a location that was easily accessible for myself, the equipment and my chosen actress. After a successful conversation with my boss, who was very enthusiastic about the idea, I was given permission to film on the premises of the hotel and in one of the most old-fashioned rooms that would suit my theme.

I decided I would use my friend Lauren as my actress, as not only is she a media student also in my class, therefore able to fully understand what I wanted her to do, but she also had the timeless look that I wanted so should would suit any time period and costume.
After several attempts I completed a successful storyboard that I felt very happy with, and confident that it would be able to work. I then created the same storyboard but on the computer using software that was allowed me to create a neater copy, and once I had filmed and taken still images, I could then upload the images onto the storyboard to represent each stage.

I then had to create two second-by-second time lines for my piece, one for vision and one for sound, and a shooting script that included details such as what time I was going to film each part, the location and any shot requirements that I needed. Even though both these pieces were tricky to construct, as they required much detail and careful planning, I found that they helped me greatly get a very firm idea of what to do when filming, exactly what I wanted to be happening and when, and exactly how I want my piece to look and appear once it is finished.

With all this completed I was now fully set to film at my location, and simply had to wait a couple of days until the date agreed for my location, in which time I could study my planning, and think of any more ways to make my shooting run smoother and any other requirements or problems I might come across on the day of filming.

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