Rough Cut

Post-Production

We've approached the editing stage by uploading our footage onto the Macs. We were pretty content with the overall footage as we had done dozens of re-shoots for certain scenes. Most of it consists of the dolly shot of the opening credits as we had two idea's for presenting the title credits.

After a quick discussion, our final decision was to go for the back up idea for presenting the opening credits. We thought that this was more practical to place the cards down onto the table than use the dolly to shoot the cards on individual tables. Another advantage is that this technique is also a common convention used in comedies such as "Napoleon Dynamite", so we decided to incorporate it.

However, we did approach a few technical errors in uploading the footage as we decided to load all in one go. So unfortunately we didn't manage to get much editing done at all before half term.

After Half Term

We've begun editing our footage together and one of our main priorities was to find the credit titles and find a suitable font or style for our movie title "Outclassed". The best font we found was "Cracked" which gave us the fine impression that it was suitable for our teen comedy. It had the edgy and juvenile taste which would attract a younger audience. As well as that we included a orange yellowy font color which also stood out for us. We used this title as the very last shot with the penultimate shot fading to black so it would give the audience the indication the opening has finally closed. We also adjusted the soundtrack's volume to bring in the funny moments into play by having the volume at a passive level.

The other task was to import our production logo which we decided to keep unanimated. We also experimented with the negative filter effect to see how the colors would convert with our current choice. For the moment we'll keep that decision on hold whether we want the negative filter since all we want is to get the whole thing done for the rough cut.

Later on, we encountered a continuity error with the lighting with one of the name tags in the opening credits. The clip would instantly cut from a lighter to a darker background table because we had to cut and shoot again so we could move into position. An alternative to fix this was to just make it a still image so and put fades between each title. However we thought that this seemed inappropriate as this would ruin the production value for presenting the credits in a comedic fashion.

Re-capture

After looking through our opening, we found our shot with Ollie getting from his desk to be too long and cumbersome to watch. We remembered filming a brief shot of the classroom clock which we thought would be effective for an interval shot to alter the paste. But in the end we couldn't find the remaining footage on final cut so we decided to order our camera and film it again up close.

During the long shot of Ollie packing up. We managed to find one instance where he gazed up. We decided to use this to our advantage by placing the clock shot in between the long shot so we could keep the pace interesting to follow.

Soundtrack issues

We came across a mistake involving using the incorrect soundtrack as the credit title stated. We planned to use a soundtrack by Offspring with its artist name on the card tag. However when we tested a second soundtrack called "Want you bad", we unaware of the fact that we forgot to use the original soundtrack because both songs were by the same artist and we didn't write down the specific song on the card tag. Another problem we encountered was that none of us had an available copy of the first original soundtrack during the process of editing so we resorted to using the latter song.

Filming

This week we spent Tuesday and Wednesday filming both our credits and opening scene. For this we required the dolly so we could accomplish the tracking shot for credit titles listed as name tags. However, we had trouble trying to film the opening credit shot because the dolly couldn't fit through door. The first shot was going to be of the detention sign outside of the classroom door and eventually the dolly shot would track into the classroom with the door slowly opening.

But considering we had trouble trying to fit the dolly through smoothly. We decided to skip the opening and come up with some alternative later and film the opening scenes first. For this we required a variety of shots of Ollie playing the main character. At one point we required a high angle of Ollie waking up which took a lot of effort by standing on two chairs with Ollie in between. Another technical difficulty we had in doing this was that Ollie wasn't allowed to move because this would wreck the continuity for the next shot. The tripod came in handy for these shots as we required different angles and heights to achieve the desired effect.

For the mise-en-scene, we didn't require any complicated lighting, costumes or props. For the costumes we just wanted the actors to wear normal jeans or tops that would make them look like students at high school. We also took advantage of the blinds at the back of the classroom so we could shave out the sun and use the classroom lights. For the name tags, we printed them off from Microsoft Word and also wrote our own detention sign because it would be tedious to just print off a single word after finishing all the name tags.

During the filming of our opening credits. We decided to film with background noise as having to act silent to aid in concentration wouldn't work as it was difficult to maneuver the dolly without crashing once. In the end, our alternative was to do a simple long shot of the name tags being placed on a single table with different hands exchanging the tags. This would make the opening credits more dynamic by having different hands so that viewers could see a different skin colors to show that we weren't being bland by having one person do all the work.

New Deadlines

Due to wintery weather conditions, new rough and final cut deadlines have been set after half term.

These dates are on:

27th February Friday - Rough Cut
6th March Friday - Final Cut

Test Footage

Today, we decided to film the opening credits to our RomCom, Outclassed. Our first priority was to create the name tags for the cast and producers so they could be laid on the desks during our opening sequence. For this, we required the dolly along with the camera and tripod to be correctly positioned so we could achieve the tracking effect.

However, we did come across a problem with the dolly. The equipment was just too big to fit through the door. So instead we tried doing it hand-held style. But unfortunately, that idea didn't go so well, so we decided to find a way to edge the dolly through the door without crashing it once.

One of these alternatives was to not use the dolly and carry the camera upon the tripod hand held. However, this proved to be tedious as the camera was also slightly shaky.

Music selection for the opening sequence

We tried to find music that would fit the conventions of the teen ROM COM genre and came up with this list of possibilities.

1. The Hives - Hate to say I told you so.
2. Maroon 5 - Little of your time
   
3. The Offspring - I want you bad
   

We eventually chose the song "I want you bad" by The Offspring. This song fits the teen ROM COM genre not just in the style of its music (Punk Rock/Dance) but with the lyrics, the song can be associated through the lyrics with teenagers in love and the feelings that every teenager goes through, this is summed up in the lyric "I want you bad".

This song will play at a constant level through out the opening sequence.