MacGuffin and Forest Gump

MacGuffin

A MacGuffin is a plot device in form of a goal, desired objects. e.g. 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of secrets' and the Wardrobe in Nania. It is the driver of a narrative.

Connotations

In class we were given 3 objects, and we had to discuss and write down what these objects made us think of. This shows the different connotations that can be interpreted by only one object (the non literal meaning we interpret of something). The 3 objects and the things I wrote down were;

• A glass bottle: drink, alcohol, drunk, party
• Flower: summer, sun, holiday, garden
• Remote control: TV, gogglebox, technology, lazy

Forest Gump

We then watched the opening of forest Gump with the feather falling and landing on him. We wrote down the connotations of the feather. The connotations I thought of were;

• Birds
• White
• Floating
• Freedom
• Life

We can also use these connotations to predict what might happen later on in the film or signify a main character (Forest Gump)

FInal cut- preliminary task

Final Cut

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMwT_3oUawk

Post Production- preliminary tast

Post-Production

After we had finished filming everything we needed, we were then able to go into the media suite and begin editing. Before we could start editing our film how we wanted we had the convert the footage into MPEG streamclip so that we were able to open it in Final Cut Pro and label all the different shot vidoes in order to begin editing.


We made our own Final Cut Pro user manual so help us use the software and remember how to use it.

Production- preliminary task

PRODUCTION- shooting

The production of our film was probably the quickest process of making our film. 

 

• Process

We has to set up the room to make it look like a restaurant rather than a classroom, to do this we rearranged the tables and seated our extras to make the restaurant look busy. The cast got into their costumes. 

• Rules 

We wanted the cast to learn their lines so they wouldn't have to have the script with them whilst we were filming. This made our film look a lot more professional.

• Issues

The issues we came across when shooting were that the cleaner was hovering the class rooms so we had to work around that; ask him to stop while we shot or wait for him to finish. Also people in out cast were part of the other production team who were shooting at the same time as us so we had to wait for them to do the scenes we needed them for, people from out group were also in their cast so we had to work around that aswell.

Pre-Production- preliminary task

Pre Production of our preliminary task includes

• Treatment
• Script
• Location scouting 
• Story boarding 
• Props
• Crewing 
• Shot listing 
• Booking 
• Risk assessment

Pre production is the longest part of film making, you have to make sure its all completed properly before you can shoot.

• Treatment

Film Treatment

Film Title: Blind Date

Production Name: Production Team B

Film Duration: 1-2 Minutes

 Roles

Director: Chloe Kennedy 

Assistant Director: Grace Chambers

Production Manager: Andrea Simpson 

Camera Man: Maisie Baker

 Characters

Young Man: Jess Balmer

Young Woman: Claire Evans

Waitress: Grace Chambers

 Costumes

Young Man

·         The Young Man will be dressed quite formally, however he won’t appear too overdressed. He will be wearing a shirt and tie, but not a full suit.

Young Woman

·         The Young Woman will be very overdressed, wearing clothes of a rather old fashioned style. She will wear a rather garish dress that is a bright colour. She will have very big hair, and her makeup will be very over the top, with bright red lips that aren’t very neat, with some on her teeth, and heavy eye makeup.

 Synopsis:

A Young Man named Edward, around the age of 21, has been set up on a blind date by his friends. He knows very little about the Young Woman he will be meeting, with all he knows being that the Young Woman is of a similar age to him. The film is based around the idea of dating, and follows different couples as they go on dates across the world, showing the good and bad of dating in the modern day. Dating apps will be used to set up dates, as well as dates between long-time friends, blind dates, and speed dating. The film shows how dating differs greatly to that which was happening only 20 years ago. The film is based around the idea that it isn’t always love that brings us onto these dates any more.

 Setting:

We have chosen to film our scenario in a room that will be dressed to look like a sophisticated restaurant, somewhere that the female character will look far to overdressed to be.

•  Script

Blind Date

by

Production Team B

INT. RESTAURANT – EVENING

A rather sophisticated restaurant in Marlow. It’s about 6:00 in the evening. The restaurant is fairly busy, with people drinking their beverages, and eating their meals.

One of these people is a YOUNG MAN. The YOUNG MAN is sat waiting nervously at one of the tables. He checks his watch, whilst soft music, probably from a piano plays in the background.

At this point, a YOUNG WOMAN walks through the door. The YOUNG WOMAN appears over dressed for the occasion, and a large portion of the restaurant stare at her. The YOUNG WOMAN eyes over the restaurant, before spotting the YOUNG MAN and going over. The YOUNG MAN stands to greet the YOUNG WOMAN.

YOUNG MAN

Hi, I’m Edward, but you may call me Ed.

YOUNG WOMAN puts yellow marigold glove on her right hand in a comedic fashion, with a snapping noise created when she lets go of the glove against her skin. The YOUNG WOMAN then offers her hand to the YOUNG MAN,

YOUNG WOMAN

Well, my name’s Guinevere, but you can’t call me Gwen.

YOUNG MAN awkwardly shakes hand of YOUNG WOMAN. YOUNG MAN sits in his chair. Meanwhile, YOUNG WOMAN stands waiting by her own chair, until YOUNG MAN realises, stands up and pushes the chair of the YOUNG WOMAN in, however too far, and created a large noise. They now sit, staring awkwardly

YOUNG WOMAN

Well, I had an absolutely diabolical time getting here. I had to get on a bus, with other people. I had to pay, whilst all these, what I call elderly simply got on without spending a penny. It was an outrage I tell you.

The voice of the YOUNG WOMAN becomes muffled as the YOUNG MAN zones out of the conversation, completely unaware that the YOUNG WOMAN is still talking to him.

YOUNG WOMAN

What do you think?

YOUNG MAN

Um, no?

YOUNG WOMAN

Do you mean to say that you don’t like my hair?

YOUNG MAN

Err…

At this point, a WAITRESS walks in, ready to take the orders of the YOUNG MAN and YOUNG WOMAN.

WAITRESS

Are you ready to order?

YOUNG MAN

Err, steak and chips.

WAITRESS

And for you?

YOUNG WOMAN

Do you have anything meat free, dairy free, calorie free, gluten free, and nut free? Oh, and fat free.

WAITRESS

I can offer you water, madam?

YOUNG WOMAN

You are unbelievable! You should cater for everyone, especially seeing as I’m not even that fussy. I could name several establishments who are able to meet my needs.

The YOUNG MAN sneaks out of the restaurant, out of view of the YOUNG WOMAN, who is well involved in her argument with the WAITRESS.

YOUNG WOMAN

Have you never heard of (using a bad French accent) ‘Ipsum Dolor’, the famous French restaurant in Paris? I’m certain my date here can assure you. Ed? Ed? Edward?

The YOUNG MAN can be seen from the window running at high speed from the restaurant, and the YOUNG WOMAN can be seen at the window, calling for the YOUNG MAN to come back.

YOUNG WOMAN

Edward!

• Location scouting

We decided that our location would be room five because that is a good room to dress in order to look like a sophisticated restaurant.

• Story boarding & Casting  

Cast

Characters; 

- Young man: Jess Balmer 

- Young women: Claire Evans 

- Waitress: Grace Chambers 

+ Extras 

Roles 

- Director: Chloe Kennedy 

- Assistant Director: Grace Chambers 

- Production manager: Andrea Simpson 

- Camera man: Maisie Baker 

• Props

- Yellow marigold glove  (surprise prop given by Mr Lucus) 

- Plates 

- Table cloth/s 

- Chairs 

- Glasses 

- Pen 

- Notepad 

- Napkins 

- Tie 

- Apron 

- Wine bottle 

- Feather boa 

• Rist Assessment 

Hazards	Person at Risk	Risk Control Measure	Risk	Comments
Lost Crew	Film Unit	Film unit must stay together at all times during filming, and head counts must be done before leaving a location, and when arriving at a new location.	Low	All Crew (Students) under 18 to apply to ALL hazards
Weather	Film Unit/Actors	Weather must be checked prior to filming so that correct precautions can be taken in terms of location and safety.	Low
First Aid	Film Unit/Actors	Production Manager must be responsible for access to all First Aid facilities and have all emergency contact numbers.	Low
Lack of Unit Organisation	Film Unit	Production Manager must oversee all tasks done by crew members. Crew must also be briefed about the day before filming commences.	Low
Running outside/chance of tripping	Actors (Young Man)	Check route of run before the run occurs. Production Manager must move all hazards on route before filming starts.	Medium
Using knives	Actors	Production Manager must oversee the use of knives (cutlery) whilst on set to prevent any injuries.	Low
Using water around electricity	Film Unit/Actors	Make sure that the bottle of water used in the scene is kept well away from the equipment used to film at all times.	Low/Medium
Injuries from trips, falls etc.	Film Unit/ Actors	Production Manager to ensure all equipment is safely out of the way of all members of cast and crew. Tripod must be watched and controlled, and when not in use, must be moved out of the way.	Low/Medium

Shot types

Establishing/Wide shot

A wide shot would usually be shot using a 35mm (wide angle) lens. It would usually depict some form of landscape or wider setting and is used to inform the audience as to where the film of clip is set and give the characters and the storyline a context. 'Set the scene'

Over the shoulder shot

In film an over the shoulder shot is a shot of someone or something taken form the perspective or camera angle from the shoulder of another person. The back of the shoulder and head of this person is used to frame the image of whatever the camera is pointing toward. This type of shit is very common when two characters are having a discussion and will usually follow an establishing shot which helps the audience place the characters in their setting.

Point of view shot

 A point of view shot is a short film scene that shows what a character is looking at. It is usually established by being positioned between a shot of a character looking at something and a shot showing the characters reaction

Close up

A close up is a type of shot which tightly frames a person or an object. Close ups are one of the most standard shots, used regularly with medium shot and ong shots. Close ups display the most detail, but they do not include the broader scene. Moving on to a close p or a way from a close up is a common type of zooming.

Two shot 

A two shot is a shot in which the camera captures a view of two people (The subjects)/ The subjects do not have to be next to each other, and there are many common to shots which have one subjects in the foreground and the other subjects in the background.

There are many types of shots, these are just a few.




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Meaning

Meaning is created by through the choice of camera shot but also by how a shot is constructed. Using the features of a shot: depth, framing and composition  a director can create a set meaning that the audience feels and dictates the way in which they respond.

 In our first media lesson we learnt all the key words you need to use when talking about different shots. We then put what we had learnt into our own picture. Me and Chloe were given this picture from shawshank redemption and our task was to recreate it as best we could. when reacting this shot there was a lot of things we had to take into consideration e.g. the meaning of the shot, the focus, framing and composition. We decided that we thought the meaning do the shot was a mixture of desperation, freedom and weakness, so we tried to create these meanings in our own picture. As you can see the focus of the image is on the boy, the background is soft and he is in sharp, this is the same in our picture. I think we captured the depth of the image quite well (depth of an image is the distance between the subject and the lense). In the original picture from shawshank redemption the depth is very deep as is the depth of our picture. The composition is very plain, in the shot there is just the boy and the floor, no other objects or props.