AS media

Evaluation question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

I can see that I have learnt a lot from the preliminary task to now. I have developed a lot more skills in both filming and editing. When I first used premier to edit footage I struggled and found it difficult where as now I feel a lot more confident when using it as I have used it a lot. When editing 'Saving Santa' as a group we all contributed so even though I didn't edit it all, I still learnt a lot from how we edited by watching the others in our group as we also helped and taught each other.

I believe that when filming I had also improved, in the prelim task I was in the scene therefore I couldn't practise filming and using the camera so this task taught me most about filming. I got to use the camera a lot in our opening scene as I filmed the end few shots which used a tripod. I also learnt by this task about using other new programmes such as Photoshop, slide share and prezi, I had never used any of these before which shows I have developed new skills which may help later on when I need to use the programmes.

I think I have also improved in confidence when working with a group as in other tasks by luck I had been put with people I talk to a lot so it was easier, where as this task had put me with different people but it still worked well. With contributing ideas and skills, I believe we worked well as a group as we enjoyed filming and got on well.

I have also learnt more about how the film industry produce films and how much hard work is involved, in the preliminary task we learnt just about how to work a camera and premier where as for this we had to plan in a lot of detail and film everything so perfectly so it came out good so we didn't have to repeat the filming again.

Overall I have developed many more skills involving camera work which will help me in the exam, and has helped me work as a team to produce an opening scene to a film.

Evaluation question 6

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Camera- We used a camera to record the actual filming. It was difficult at times to use as it didn't always focus so we had to move the camera slower for it to be able to stay in focus. We also used a camera to take pictures of our progress which we then put on our blog.

Tripod- We used this to keep the camera steady. It was sometimes better not to have the tripod when moving as it gave us less movable capability when walking round the room.

Computer- We used this for lots of different programmes such as; YouTube, Adobe Premier, blogger, Photoshop and others like slide share and prezi to create presentations. We used YouTube to look at similar film openings and to find music. Sometimes it didn't always give us music we could actually use so we had to search through a lot of results to find a good one. We used premier to edit our film. Some features were difficult to use so we had to learn by trial and error and from what we used in the prelim task. Blogger was used to show the process of all our tasks for filming, planning and editing and used Photoshop to create the film poster, again features were hard to use but we learnt as we went along. Prezi and slide share (Power Point Microsoft) were used in all stages to present ideas and results.

Evaulation question 5

Evaluation question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The main audience for this film would be teenagers, although we would put an age of 12 or 12A. This is because some younger ages may not like the change in the genre as it has action and some crime involved. Younger ages may prefer happy, cheerful films to enjoy with family but our film is more for teenagers who are a little bit older.

Our 'Saving Santa' film has a certificate of PG because it is aimed at families so has to be suitable for children. Everyone can watch our film, apart from very young children because of the comic fight scenes. We thought that our main target audience would be teenage boys and older children because the comic fight scenes would appeal to them and they would be the ones to enjoy the storyline the most.

We have learnt a lot about audiences whilst making this film and have discovered what genres might appeal to what people. Our film has a comedy genre as well as the obvious Christmas film genre which, unlike Romances which is likely to appeal to women, appeals to everyone and is a good genre for a family Christmas film.

Evaulation question 3

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

dia institution might distribute your media product and why?

Evaulation question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

How does your media product represent particular social from fitchb09

Evaluation question 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of film openings)

Genre

The genre of our film is first seen as festive. We made this clear when filming as the very first image seen is a bauble on a Christmas tree with tinsel and sparkles which are objects associated with the time of year. However, an aim we tried to stick to was the fact that there was a twist. We wanted the audience to believe that the film was like any other festive happy film which went with a predictive narrative. We decided to make it have a different beginning, one where Santa gets taken away by someone dressed in black.

Looking at the film opening we produced, we took this plot twist and created what looks like Santa being kidnapped which changed the genre from a happy cheerful story to a quick and dark one. We did this when filming by having two parts, the first was the upbeat, decorative view then we added in a 'fight' scene where Santa (who normally is a large loved man) who is then dragged away by a more powerful person.

Looking at the two screenshots below show images that suggest the happy narrative at the very start, then the image later on in the opening when Santa is being punched and taken.

These two images are both showing the same genre, yet the left shows a more pleasant side of the genre where as the image on the right shows a less predictive image, Santa being less powerful than someone else. The lighting in the image on the left is bright, where as the image on the right is darker and has less lighting by Christmas decorations.

What we did to show the genre

As explained with the images above, we used props and costume to show the audience it was a film for the Christmas festive period. Traditional colours are shown for Christmas, green and red which are seen clearly in both photographs. We have used a cosy family home to set the scene for the film, which is typical for a film with this genre. When we planned Saving Santa we were not sure about what location to use, i believe this location worked really well. The one room we used throughout was the perfect size to work with as it had room for the titles at the start and the characters to move about, any bigger or smaller and it wouldn't have worked as well.

Location

Choosing a location when planning was a struggle, we couldn't decide between a few of our houses some didn't have room for all the scenes, and we couldn't find a house with a fireplace big enough for Santa. In the end, we asked to use a lounge area of a friend which she agreed to. As seen in our final opening, the room was perfect. We had everything we needed in the room plus extra props and of course, our costumes.

We could have used many other houses but this one was just right. Also, there were a lot of rooms to choose from but we decided to use just one room to make it a realistic setting.

Costumes and props

The costumes and props we used created a great real media product as we used very detailed costumes which even included the eyebrows and glasses of Santa. We used actual Christmas decorations instead of little cheap ones which made it so much better (we know this from our poor practice when we used a tiny tree that looked silly in the room and random decorations that we had all bought separately. The second time filming improved our film opening incredibly and props improvement was the main cause.

Titles and fonts

When we planned our titles, we didn't think too much about the font, we thought we would just create simple and basic fonts for labels to make them more realistic. When it came to feedback for our first draft, we had negative comments which said 'titles were boring' and 'could have a lot better fonts'. We decided we needed to change this straight away. We changed the person who wrote them, they wrote them with extra time and care to produce what looked like Christmas font with different names.
Looking back at the draft and then looking at the final opening, font has improved dramatically which has played another big part on improving the film opening to make it more like a real media product.

(Shown below is a variety of labels and titles we created.)

Camera work and editing

When we planned, we really didn't think about camera work. We knew ways we could use the camera to make certain shots but we didn't plan enough which became an issue when creating the first draft. When shooting the draft, we took the first long shot which was too quick, the lighting was poor and there were shadows seen in the shot.

When we got feedback, people picked up on the lighting and shadows so we knew we had to re-do the scenes. When we re-filmed, we improved the lighting by shining a torch on the objects in the shot so they stood out and were lighter. Although this was improved hugely, it was difficult to cut out shadows so there are still a couple in the opening which we didn't have time to fix.

How characters were introduced

In the final opening, we introduced Santa a lot better compared to the draft. Shown below is the first image of Santa (not the filming image, a photograph taken whilst filming.) He is in the centre and takes up a lot of room, his arms are spread out which makes him look important.

Our final film opening!!!

Final film opening scene!

After several weeks of planning, discussing, creating and editing we have produced our final film opening scene. We have changed things many times to improve such as music which we have changed quite a few times. We changed props as well to improve the setting and took along time editing to make sure we had a good final scene.

This is our final scene which we will then evaluate.

Saving Santa Film Poster

Saving Santa Film Poster!

Shown below is the film poster for our film 'Saving Santa'. We created the poster for the marketing of our film. We can use it too advertise in different locations such as sides of buses, bus stops and banners around shopping centres.

It uses big bold text in the colour of green which is associated with Christmas (red being the other colour) we used the person in the centre as Jack Frost who is the main character of the film and used a starry background to show mystery and a setting of darkness, when Santa is normally seen.

Our film poster is different as it doesn't have Santa on the front of it, this shows that it is a unique film idea.

Titles updated

Our new titles

As we had to re film our opening scene, we changed the titles that were shown as the text wasn't good and the names were repeated to many times. We decided to change the names to make them all completely different to before and the changes we made are shown below.

(In order of appearance)

Baubles-

5 names:

-Lucy Fitch

-Olivia Frain

-Oli Wong

-Katie Jones

-Tom Lee

-Sam James

Books-

Casting by: Dan Amato
Written by: Tom Richardson

Special effects by: Bonnie Johns

Stockings-

Delilah Tulips

Lee Hart

Card-

Costume designer: Lucy Harding

Production designer: Issy Payne

Cookies-

Music by: Phil Carp

Present tags-

Produced by: Bessie Hawkins

Director of photography: Chay Pollinger

Music updated

When watching the draft of our film opening, we received feedback which suggested that we needed to change the music. They said the pace fitted the film but it went on for too long and should be changed when Santa is seen.

After editing our final draft, we chose some more music which is shown below... We may not use this but it is an idea.

We decided to use this music as it fits the part where the elf appears and when Santa is taken.

Re-Filming

Re-filming

On Thursday 11th December, our group decided to re-film. We got to the filming location after

school at about 4.00pm and it took about 2 and a half hours to re-film. We decided to change a few things which we discovered needing improving when we got our feedback back. This included title font as it was too unneat, I took the job of re-writing the titles to make them more festive and neat. Another thing we had to change was the Christmas tree as it was too small, we used a newer and bigger one for the second time filming which had lots more decorations on. I bought the outfits again and we re-did everything as our filming is one long continuous film for the titles.

We managed to capture everything we needed as the lesson after (Friday 12th) we saw that we had filmed everything correctly.

What went better this time was shadows, last time we got too many shadows in the background and the lighting wasn't good as it was too dark. Second time round, we avoided shadows and got some really good shots.

Second time filming photos

Shown above are some photographs I took of Chay, Tom and Bonnie getting ready to film once we had decided on positions.

Below are some photos I took of the scene where Tom (Santa) is taken by Chay.

After re-filming, we managed to capture a much more improved scene. Shown below is the final footage but we may change music.

Text updated

Text updated

When we looked at our feedback we realised that a main issue we needed to consider changing was the text. We received a few comments which suggested we wrote them out neater so the audience could read them more clearly. One comment said 'make the text more exciting by spending more time writing it'. when we filmed for the first time all we did was wrote them as if they were actual labels on presents therefore we didn't spend much time writing them. We need to improve this when re-filming to make them more interesting to read, they need to be bold and we need to pick an exciting font type to do this.

I said I would focus on re-writing the titles as I had a few good ideas of how to present them as I had the job of looking at text when we were planning. I had come up with some ideas which the group liked and this also included writing on baubles.

I practised writing out some titles and took some images below...

The images above show the baubles I wrote on, we chose different text which was clearer then before and also chose different names as another suggestion we got was to change names as we kept repeating the same names. I used tipex to write on the baubles and took my time so they were neat.

These images show other labels we used, I had the job of writing these out too as I had neat handwriting. I used the same props as before (Christmas card and present tags) to write the titles and took time making the handwriting more suitable for the genre. When I was researching text when we were planning, I came across a few that looked good, one of them looked similar to the text I used above.

Here is an image screenshot of some of the similar fonts I looked at when planning.

We decided it looked best if we used the writing that curled such as the second ones down because it is suitable for Christmas and it was quite easy to copy. We decided to use different text font for the baubles because it was already difficult to write on them as they were small and a difficult shape so we used a simple text like the last font shown above.

Draft feedback

Feedback from draft

Feedback sheets are shown below, people gave us feedback on what went well and what we need to improve/change.

Overall, people really liked our title ideas, most people said they look creative the way we have presented them on objects in the room. They also liked the upbeat music that played over the top of the filming, however they suggested we used different music for the scene where Santa appears.

Many people liked the part where we used cookies to show one of the names. They said they liked our idea because it is different and original.

However, although we received some really positive feedback, we also got some comments which we need to improve. This included changing the titles so they were more readable but to do this we would have to re-film as the filming is one long shot. They suggested we spent more time writing the titles as the text was too simple and some were unreadable and someone said that the baubles were not good as we wrote on paper instead of on the actual bauble. If we do re-film we would have to write on the baubles, write neatly and make sure we use a range of names as we repeated a lot of the names a lot which was said to improve.

Saving Santa first draft

Saving Santa first draft!

We created a first draft of our film to show the rest of the class, we then received some feedback to see what they thought of our ideas. They wrote down what they liked and what we should change, the feedback sheets are shown on the next blog post.

Our film starts at the time of 13.42

Shown below are some photos taken when we were looking at everyone's film openings (drafts). As we watched them we wrote what we liked and disliked.

Filming images- Evidence

Filming photos...

Shown below are some photographs I took when we were filming, I took them when we were filming shots, when people were acting and getting ready (e.g. setting up and getting into costumes).

These photos are of us getting ready, myself and Bonnie were setting up props and Tom and Chay were sorting out locations and costumes.

Shown above are photos of Chay having a go at filming, he filmed Tom (Santa) coming from the chimney/fireplace.

Photos of Chay helping Tom with the Santa costume and when Tom was ready to act.

I took these photos to show some of our props we had (left) and some of our costumes we had which were the elves (right).

Here are some more images to show the filming we did. On the left is Tom practising the first shots and on the right shows where we placed the tripod, it was in the corner of the room so it showed all what went on in the scene. When I had a go at filming, I used to the tripod to put the camera on to keep it still, I then had to pick it up really slowly and carefully as I had to bring it back to show the movement of Chay and Tom in the 'fight' scene. this was hard as I had to move the camera really slowly so the camera remained still.

Planning and filming- What we all did

What we all did

I think our group got on really well together. We all had our own different strengths and weaknesses which worked really well because what someone wasn't great at, someone else was. I believe we worked really well a group because we also had fun whilst completing the filming. It went how it was meant to which shows we worked well together. We all gave what we could to the task before and during filming; Lucy and Bonnie provided the outfits and many props, Tom gave us the Christmas tree which was needed in the film, helped produced the storyboard and was a great actor for his role (Santa) and finally Chay worked really well with the camera and captured some really accurate shots and was also a good actor and helped with the storyboard.

Editing

Chay and Tom mostly focused on the majority of the editing as they were best at it, Bonnie and Lucy continued to write up things onto the blog which included the production diary and how well the filming went. Tom and Chay were best at editing because they were good at working on little bits that needed fixing and Bonnie and Lucy set the order of the videos.

Production diary

Production Diary

Monday 10th November

On the 10th we began our planning for our film opening task. Before this lesson we had to come up with our own film pitch idea to show the others in our group, we did this so we could agree on one of our ideas which we would then plan, film and edit. In this lesson both Tom and Chay were absent so it just left Bonnie and Lucy to show each other their ideas. We had to discuss good and bad things about the ideas and thought about which one would work best.

Tuesday 11th November

On the second day, Tom and Chay were here again which meant we could show each other our ideas and agree on a final film opening. We told each other our film pitch but couldn't decide between a couple of them so we presented them to the class to see what they preferred. After this we had decided to go with Tom's idea which was a Christmas themed film but with a different audience to the normal genre, teenagers rather then young children.

Wednesday 12th November

On the Wednesday we got together and started thinking up some narrative ideas, looking for music to use in the film opening, possible locations and unique title ideas. These titles included Christmas decorations which told us we need a lot of props but this was good because at this time of year they can be easily found. Later, Tom and Chay thought a lot about the storyboard, characters and narrative whilst Bonnie and Lucy discussed locations, costumes and props needed.

Thursday 13th November

Today we thought about timelines for other films. We went on the computer to do some individual research to look up other films with a similar genre to ours and saw what order they put their titles in. Our opening scene focuses on the titles so this was an important task for our group. We all watched different films so we didn't all do the same. We wrote down the time at every title that came up and who was mentioned. For example the films title was shown early on but was not the first name that came up. We learnt which order these names usually appear in which will be a big help for us.

Friday 14th November

On Friday we looked at the 'art of the title' website which had lots of successful title sequences from well-known films. We chose a title sequence that related to our films genre and created a timeline for the film. We spent the whole hour taking screenshots from the title sequence, cropping them and putting them in order on one photo to add to our blog. We had to screenshot every time a name appeared, wrote down the time and took a photo of it. This took time as it was a long process but it was needed to help us.

Monday 17th November

In this lesson we were given a list of over 20 planning tasks to do which we organised between the four of us by giving each person a number of the tasks to do. These tasks were to help us plan, they included the storyboard, music, prop list, recce shots, planning photos, a mood board and a risk assessment. We all took on the jobs we thought were best for us so we all had something to plan for the week.

Tuesday 18th November

Today we started planning our own individual tasks, Lucy looked at text fonts and sixes for the titles, Bonnie made a prop list and Tom and Chay began creating the storyboard together. To communicate we have made a chat on whatsapp so we can share thoughts easily and share photos for our task.

Wednesday 19th November

Lucy was absent on the Wednesday so Chay, Bonnie and Tom wrote a title list of who was what role in the production of our film. The logo was chosen which was Bonnie's because it was the best as it looked professional and had a good name.

Thursday 20th November
(No media lesson)

Friday 21st November

We carried on with our individual jobs and peer assessed our blog so we got a second opinion for our work. This was good as we gathered new ideas for our blog and we found what we still need to do.

Monday 24th November

Chay started the risk assessment for our filming and Tom carried on drawing the storyboard and added some text to it. We also told our media teacher our final ideas and discussed when we will film. We worked out when we could all film which was going to be the following Friday (28th) as we all have a free period last lesson.

Tuesday 25th November

Today Lucy brought in the Santa costume for Tom and Chay to try on to make sure it fit them, we needed to make sure it fitted so we knew if we needed to get anything before filming. We also continued to work on our individual tasks. Chay worked on the risk assessment, Tom worked on the storyboard, Bonnie made a title list on her blog and Lucy did the production diary.

Wednesday 26th November

Today Tom finished the storyboard and Chay begun writing the script, Tom has also added timings to the storyboard so it is completely finished. Bonnie worked on her blog writing up prop lists and uploading photos and Lucy added more days onto the production diary.

Thursday 27th November

Today Tom started writing up representations, Chay started the script, Bonnie wrote up about the music we will use in the film and Lucy also looked at music, production diary and worked out what props people needed to bring as our filming day is tomorrow (Friday 28th).

Friday 28th November

Today is filming today, before this Tom and Chay filmed the storyboards and made a voiceover, Bonnie added more to her blog and Lucy added the risk assessment to the blog which included all the possible risks that could occur when filming.

Filming:

When it came to filming, we left school at 1.30pm to go to film. We left at this time so we had plenty of time to film as we had the whole afternoon/evening. We got to our location around 2'o'clock which meant we had about three hours to film. First, we looked at the room we were using and figured out where we were going to place all the props. We used the fireplace, two tables and the mantle piece on top of the fireplace. Bonnie and Lucy decorated the mantle piece with props we had bought and Chay and Tom decorated the tree and picked out tinsel and baubles.

After this we did some practise filming which got us used to the camera and how we were going to film. We didn't actually film this but we looked through the camera to check it looked good. We then checked the lighting, our film is supposed to be dark as it is set in the evening/night so as it was daytime we shut the curtains and dimed the lights. This lighting was good because it created the scene we wanted. We then stared filming the first shots of our film. We practised many times and got many videos so we had enough to edit and eventually created a long duration shot for the title sequence which lasts about 2 minutes which is what we hoped for.

Once we had filmed the first bit, we started to plan the second part which was when Santa gets 'kidnapped' by the robber. This took time as we had to get all the acting and filming just right. Whilst Tom (Santa) and Chay (robber) acted their small fight scene, Bonnie used the elf costume to be in the foreground who was oblivious to what was happening behind her, Lucy was filming at this point using the tripod in the corner of the room.

Once we had filmed the second part, we then filmed another shot which will appear before the 'fight'. We filmed the 'fight' before because it was going to take longer. The third thing we filmed was when Santa (Tom) is emerging from the fireplace. Chay used the camera to film this from the side of the fireplace so it looked as though Tom (Santa) had travelled down the chimney. Santa then stood in the room ready for the following shot (which we filmed before this- the 'fight scene'.

All our filming took about four hours in total which included setting up which took about half an hour. We managed to film everything which was great because we only have to film again if we missed anything or if something isn't right. This means we have even more time to edit which we will need as it is especially important for our film.

Monday 1st December

Today in lesson all we did was watched our shots we had filmed on Friday, we looked at what went well and what could maybe be improved if we have time. Lucy looked at lighting on premiere as the camera had made the footage look dark, we should have made lighting more bright in the room but we thought it was okay as it needed to be set at night, however we could easily adjust lighting on premiere to make it look less dull. Chay and Tom also put the footage onto a computer to see what could be done with editing.

Tuesday 2nd December

Today Tom wasn't in so we continued to work on our blogs instead of editing. Lucy uploaded storyboard photos to the blog and wrote up about them. Bonnie finished the shooting schedule and Chay added some more to his blog.

Wednesday 3rd December

Today Lucy and Tom were not in school but Chay and Bonnie started to edit the draft of our film. They managed to arrange shots in the correct order and add the music. They also added some more to their blogs, but mainly used the lesson to add and edit on premiere.

Thursday 4th December
(No media lesson)

Friday 5th December

Today Lucy added more to the production diary which included what happened on filming day, Tom spent the whole lesson editing the filming and Bonnie and Chay added more to their blogs such as the risk assessment and the shooting schedule. Tom had watched the editing Chay had done the lesson before and then added to it eventually making our draft copy to show to the class, this will allow us to receive feedback for our film and see what we need to do to improve it.

Monday 8th December

Today we watched all the film drafts and gave feedback, we commented on what went well and what needed to be improved. This was good for our group as not only did we get to see all the other film opening ideas, we got to see what people liked about our film.

Tuesday 9th December

Today we received our feedback sheets and Lucy and Bonnie looked through them to see what people had said. Tom and Chay were both absent for the lesson so Bonnie and Lucy sorted out the good and bad comments we got from the class.

Wednesday 10th December

Today we carried on looking at the feedback sheets and looked at what had gone well and saw what we needed to improve. We discussed re-filming as some people had commented on the titles being unreadable. We decided we needed to re-film or do a lot of editing, we then made the decision of re-filming which would then happen the next day (Thursday).

Thursday 11th December

Today in lesson Lucy wrote on the baubles with tipex to show some names for the titles, Bonnie helped with names and what titles to use and Tom and Chay thought about new shots to use for a slight change in the film opening as the props will have to be moved when we re-film.

Filming

When it came to filming for the second time, we went after school to the house we were using and got there at about 4.00pm, we took about 2 and a half hours to get all the footage we needed. Lucy re-wrote the labels for titles whilst Tom and Bonnie got changed into their outfits. Chay worked out where everything needed to be filmed and worked out what props we could use.

When we were ready to film, Chay filmed the part where Santa (Tom) comes out of the chimney, at this point the elf (Bonnie) was in the background.

We then filmed the fight scene (when Santa is captured) and carries him out the room which will lead to the final part where the wreath is shown.

After this we filmed the title sequence, when doing this Chay filmed the whole shot and to avoid shadows, Lucy shone a torch above to improve the lighting.

We then filmed the final scene where Santa is taken and they leave the house, the door then shuts behind them which reveals the title of the film on a wreath on the door.

This time filming went a lot better than the first time as the props and tree were improved, the lighting was much better/brighter and the titles were different.

Friday 12th December

Today we looked at the footage we had filmed the day before and made a folder of what we liked and what we didn't (good and bad footage) we then put the best filming onto premiere and started to edit. Tom did most of the editing and got a lot of it done. We need to add music to make it better and edit some of the shots. Bonnie, Lucy and Chay added more to the blogs.

Monday 13th December

Lucy was absent from the lesson so Bonnie took in the outfits so that Bonnie Chay and Tom could make the film poster. Using the drama rooms and a tripod, they produced a few images for the film poster. Although Lucy managed to catch up writing and adding to the production diary to keep it updated.

Tuesday 14th December

Today Bonnie and Lucy added to their blogs whilst Tom and Chay looked for a classroom to film another shot. Lucy added more to the production diary and Bonnie added the shooting schedule to her posts.

Wednesday 15th December

Today we added to our blogs, Tom wasn't is school. Lucy added to the production diary, Chay added to his blog and so did Bonnie.

Thursday 16th December

(No media lesson)

After school, Lucy and Bonnie stayed for a couple of hours completing final editing for the filming. We changed music and adjusted some timings to make finishing touches. We then uploaded I to Lucy's YouTube to then put on our blogs, this took a very long time as it had a lot to process. Whilst we waited we added some posts to our blogs, Lucy added more to the production diary and Bonnie added more to her blog. Our film is now ready and up on YouTube.

Representations

Representations of Saving Santa

There are many representations for our film as the genre is Christmas, Christmas films always have the same characters and settings such as Santa and elves in a house or in a street. We have used a middle class house to use the large lounge which follows the traditonal cosy warm setting, this follows the religion of a warm christian home.

The robber and Santa are both male and are different ages, Santa being older and the Robber being young and strong. Santa follows the usual Santa role as he is jolly and the robber follows the normal role by stealing an important role in the film.

There is also an elf which is played by a female actor which shows another representation of the male role (Santa) telling her what to do to show he is superior.

Shooting Schedule

This is our shooting schedule which we followed, we shot all our scenes inside and filmed them all on the same day (Friday 28th). They were all filmed in the same location of the same room and involved the characters of Santa and elves.

Research from garden centre

On the 26th November I went to Perry Wood garden centre in Tip Tree with family, I decided it would be a good idea to look for props for our film as they had their Christmas decorations on display. The garden centre had many sections for these decorations organised by colours, I had a look for any props we could use such as tinsel, ornaments, baubles and lights. I actually bought a few things to use which we could then use for filming, these props included tinsel, some Christmas cards and some ornaments for the fireplace such as a reindeer. Our location is a friends lounge which needs to be decorated by these sort of decorations so I thought it would be good to buy them as I can also use them after.

Below are some images I took in the garden centre.

In our film we end it by showing a wreath on a door which closes, here is an image that shows our idea.

Shown above are some tree decorations which will be good to use.

Here they had lots of lights which we could maybe use for our film.

Many Christmas trees were used to show decorations which I then decided to buy a few to add to our props list.

There were many ornaments such as letters, we had the idea of spelling someone's name from these but they didn't have all the letters to spell out any of our names.

Risk Assessment

Risk Assessment

Shown below is our risk assessment which we will have to consider when filming. We have four main possible risks when filming.

The main possible risk we should prevent is the Christmas lights, when using them we need to make sure they do not stay on for too long and make sure they are not near any other objects such as tinsel because they could over heat and catch on fire. We can prevent this by keeping an eye on them and only turn them on when we need to use them.

Another risk is the fire place, when we are filming we will not set the fire so this is not a huge risk but we need to be sure it is safe.

Costume

Costumes

For our film it will require a lot of costumes as the genre is festive and has many characters. Although for the film opening all we need is a Santa costume and two elves outfits. It was my job to get the costumes as I knew it would be easiest and quickest for myself to get them as knowing someone in a pre-school fancy dress is used a lot for adults too so I was able to access the three costumes we needed quickly so we had them in time for the filming and they didn't have a high budget.

Below are some images that show the outfits we will need.

Shown above are some ideas for a Santa costume, it needs to look professional but it doesn't matter too much if it lacks detail up close as we will not be using a close up shot in our film opening.

Shown below are the ideas for an elf costume, again detail is not needed but a simple elf outfit would be great for our film opening.

Storyboard

Storyboard images

Shown below is the storyboard we followed. Tom was the best at drawing so we decided he would be the best one in our group to draw the storyboard. He drew what shots we will use and gave an explanation below.

The first three shots are of the institution and the beginning of our title sequence. Below shows the order we will use including our names on the Christmas tree.

In the next three boxes there are more titles we will use including stockings, cards and cookies. This shows we have many props in our opening scene.

Below shows more title sequence names we will use, these include books and presents. Also shown is the first character which is an elf listening to music which will be heard over the top of the filming.

The next three shots show the first view of Santa coming from the chimney, he has a red coat over him and the third shot shows him throwing off the coat revealing who he is.

Below in the next three shots is the scene where Santa is stolen by someone wearing all black. The three shots will guide us when it comes to filming so we know where Santa is dragged which is away from the fireplace.

The last shot on the storyboard is the wreath on the door with the words of 'Saving Santa' our title of the film. As the door slams the camera zooms out which is explained beneath the image.

Our storyboard will become useful when filming so we know where to shoot, what to do and where to place props.

Also shown on the storyboard is the timings we will use, they are seen in the smaller box below the image. This will be a good guide because we will know roughly how long the shots will have to be.

Changes along the way...

Changes we made along the way...

One change we had to make was the storyboard. We changed this a few times due to certain titles we weren't going to be able to use; an example of this was the use of exterior filming, this was because snow was included which was very unlikely to happen so we had to have a re-think which resulted in taking out the exterior shots.

Another change we made was the narrative, we changed this a few times to fit the audience better. For example we thought about having a fight scene where Santa is beaten up but we then changed this as it was too difficult to film without making it look silly.

We changed our music after we had filmed as feedback suggested we had to, the music also didn't fit the speed of which the elf was dancing to so we had to have a new piece of music.

A massive change we made was when we received feedback, this resulted in re-filming which took about 2 and a half hours after school. We changed a lot which made our film opening a lot better, we changed the titles, writing, the tree and other props and what happened in the scene. We firstly had Santa being dragged away but we changed it too him being lifted so it was more exciting to watch.

Institution research

Producers and Distributors for other films of this genre...

New Line Cinema-
The Mask and Elf are examples that used this production. New Line cinema produced the Oscar Award-winning 'The Lord of the Rings' film trilogy, which generated a combined worldwide box office of almost $3 billion. New Line became a unit of Warner Bros. Entertainment in March 2008. New Line Cinema company maintains separate development, production, marketing and distribution, but coordinates those functions with Warner Bros.

Dimension films-
Dimension films is a major American film production and distribution studio formerly owned to the Walt Disney studios and now owned by the Weinstein Company. Bad Santa is an example of a film produced and distributed by Dimension films.

20th Century Fox-
20th Century Fox is an American film studio. It is the worlds second largest major film studio after the warner bros. Examples from 20th Century Fox include Miracle on 34th Street and Home alone, these films are larger and use a larger and more-well-known production company.

Warner Bros -
Being the worlds largest production company, Warner Bros owns New Line Cinema and many others. Examples of Christmas films by Warner Bros include Fred Claus and National Lampoon's Christmas vacation.

Audience Research

Who would want to see our film?

Who most likely to see it?

Any ages above 12 can view it but the most common ages will probably be around 13-17 to find out more precise age recommendation we could produce a questionnaire which would be completed by different ages to see who would watch it, this may also change the BBFC.

Audiences of other similar films?

Home Alone- Home alone has a typical Christmas audience of families as it is described as a family comedy. It has the BBFC as a PG which may recommend very young children may have to have parents permission.

Bad Santa- Bad Santa has a different audience to a lot of other Christmas films as the BBFC is a 15, this is shown as well as being a comedy and crime drama. This shows that the audience is not suitable for anyone younger than 15 meaning the film is meant for teenagers.

Elf- Looking at the genre of this film (fantasy/family/comedy) this movie has a target of families considering its genre is family. This shows two possible ages/generations to watch this film, the younger children in the family and the parents. In this case the main audience is the children and the second main is the parents. The film is a PG suggesting young viewers.

Miracle of 34th Street- This film has a genre of family and fantasy and has a BBFC of U which shows it can be viewed to absolutely any age making the audience very wide but suggests its main audience is young children.

Overall from these four well-known Christmas films the main audience is aimed at families and is comical. Some films make the narrative more suitable for older ages but the majority of this genre is aimed at young children as the main age certificate is U or PG.