Task 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Our titles do not challenge forms and conventions of real media. However, our group put a great effort into how to portray them. Because of the fact, our film is rich in mis-en-scene part especially at the first scene we decided to make them stylish but not flashy in case they could draw the focus away from a mis-en-scene in the video.

For example, this title provides us a link between the main actress and who is she playing thanks to iconic picture of Marilyn Monroe and her famous wig.

As you can see then we underlined the main role of Joanne by introducing herself as Marilyn Monroe and all other actors were put just in A-B-C-D order. So this part of our title decision can challenge with other films, which are starring vehicles and focusing on one character who wasn't famous before.

A decision to put the name of Director exactly there was dictated by metaphorical reason of the role of Director and TV so when we can see the screen we know who directed the film and who was actually responsible for the whole visual part of it.

We were going to put the title of the film ‘Monroe’ in the sixties camera as we thought it would be a smooth link of modern days with the past and a nice moment to show the main title. However, it didn’t work well with our video and disrupted the whole flow of it.

Finally, this frame with a distribuation name which appeared at first shows us who financed the whole production process and, as you can see, it’s ‘Fox Searchlight Pictures.’

Post-production process. Part 2

After few days of work in Final Cut Pro application we managed to put all pieces of video sequence in a right order and started to work mostly with sound background which caused some problems. First of all our whole film was overloaded by Marilyn songs, sound effects and some pieces of sound borrowed from YouTube. However we decided to concentrate only on Marilyn songs later so it made our film brilliant in sound part and because of the fact that Monroe’ songs are recognisable in any part of the world and it will give a viewer a massive clue what will be this film about without any words in the office scene.

After we dealt with all songs we added some sound effects as 50’s bell ring and
crowd murmuring when filming crew started to move around in the frame. Then, we tried to transform our sound into two different ways: first one would be a sort of TV noise and then the sound becomes followed by an echo to give a perception that this sound is playing in a large room of film studio. That was a place where some problems appeared because the sound started to be either too loud or quite or absolutely unsuitable for our film so we tried to work in Soundtrack Pro application and with basic Final Cut audio filters. Finally, we managed to get a right sound by using HiPass Filter to create a TV noise during all sound background in the office scene as well as Reverberation effect to create a ‘large-hall’ sound. At the final part of the sound work we fixed all volume levels of the whole sound background to make it more stable and smooth. Then, the next part of our post production went to titles. First of all we decided to move the main ‘Monroe’ title up to the end because no matter how hard we tried our title still slightly moved in a frame which was unacceptable so we put it to the end of the whole film and now it was more look like a real opening of the future film. After this fixing we put all titles at the beginning. Firstly, there was a distributor name ­– Fox Searchlight presents. Then, the name of production company – A Seventh Sky Production and after we placed just created names of filming crew, actors and editor and then our own names with our special roles such as producer role of Heather, mine original score of the film, Tatjana’s mis-en-scene part and Gabby as a director who was placed the last.

Just couple of words to explain why we put all these titles:

According to cinematography rules the name of distributor is appearinf at first because they are the company (or a person) which actually gave money to create this film. Moreover a distributor and a production company which follows as second title provides a promotion and premier of the film in cimemas.
Then, as introduction of the main actress which was unknown before we wrote 'Introducing Joanne de Boer as Marilyn Monroe' and underlining the fact that this film is a star vehicle for her. After the main character name we put other acors names just as A-B-C-D order without any addings and this will also show viewer that Joanne is the main character in the whole film.

Our roles were put in order to their importance as Tatjana came at fist as Director of Photography, then me as responsible for orginal score. Two final titles represented Producer as a main person who provided money for the film and is an actual face of Production company, The last name is the Film Director is the main person who made al this film.
We put them in the order in order to film rules where the less significant roles goes to the most one’s as Producer and Director right before the film itself and the final part which is still should be done is a pasting of the Fox Searchlight intro with their logo.

Finally, the last part of the post prodiction was a colour side of the 1950-60's scene. We used Adobe After Effects application to make a colour of the film more dingy and make it more contrast to the first modern days scene of Detective's Office and the scene of Monroe live performance. This was a real key point which made our opening much more sophisticated and elegant so after the final work with colour filters in After Effects we checked in and out our film to convert it in QuickTime film format.

After that our film was ready to be published in YouTube.
And there is a final result!

MONROE!

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=hurtwoodhousemedia&search_type=&aq=0

The start of post-production process

After our shooting day and filming all material which we needed for a 2 minutes opening film sequence, we went to editing room to continue our work now as editors. The main task was to create a whole sequence from the separate pieces.
Back to October 2009 we remembered some useful knowledge and refreshed basic skills of using Final Cut Server and Pro applications with help of Matt and got to work.
First of all we imported all pieces into Final Cut Pro application and put them in separate folders. In comparison with our October preliminary task our present film and technology of its creating is much more sophisticated and complex because we should have different log bins and much more tracks where were not only video but the sound tracks as well and different pieces of videos should be edited more accurately to fit the whole sequence and provide a smooth transition from one frame and one camera position to another.
So we started to choose every piece of sequence which would fit the best in a film.

After that, when we made our first film draft with all pieces of it we started to think about titles. That was a moment where some difficulties appeared. Fist of all Matt introduced all of us how we actually should do the titles. We had a bit special willing to make a heading title not just in a black screen with white letters on it but to integrate the heading title in the film itself. So the background should be a shadow of an old-fashioned 50’s video camera, ‘Monroe’ title appears and then camera slightly goes down to Director and Producer faces (Luke and Jason) and the title remains where it was. The problem was how to make this title not to follow the camera and remain in the centre of the shadow from the camera because every time we tried to put it where we want to, then it followed with a camera to Luke and Jason faces. After a time we realised how to make it not to follow the camera but we faced another problem. Now our title was floating on the whole frame because we set up different spots in every frame where this title should return.

After all at the last day of half-term our group succeeded in this task and, finally, the title stood still right where we wanted to.
Second part of our post production was a sound background of our film. I managed to find lots of Monroe songs in a good quality and some videos where was useful sound as well, like it was the voice of 50’s broadcaster who declared that Marilyn Monroe is dead so we could enlarge the excitement of potential viewer dramatically if the video frame of Monroes' dead photos would be followed by this very American voice. We experimented with all these things to match the best combination of video and sound. We tried to paste a song before the video and give a viewer a perception that Marilyn Monroe is going to be the main character of the film even before we will show something. We tried to put some creepy sounds in moments when we can see a suspect board and Monroe’s dead photos and provide a crossover between the golden age of Monroe pop-idol and its inglorious end with very mysterious circumstances.
But we refused this idea soon because our film started to be overload by different songs, sounds and effects. We considered to concentrate exactly on Marilyn most popular songs which could be recognised almost in any part of the world and attract attention of viewers in this way. However the real success what we did with a sound was a song 'Diamonds are girls best friend' which perfectly fitted to the video because it was a 50’s filming scene of the video clip for this song and how the sound and heading title matched to each other because ‘Monroe’ title appeared exactly at the time when fanfares started to play so we made the beginning of the film almost triumphal and very exciting
So we managed to paste necessary songs in our film but we still experimenting with sound background field and we still working to make a final version of the film sound.

The sound. Natural or Recorded?

Firstly, we decided to use natural sound during all shooting day so we tried to turn on monitors at time so they played different videos, however the sound was bad so we decided to use them separately in post-production and just paste all appropriate sounds and music background after. So the only one thing was recorded naturally was Luke as Director when he shouted ‘Cut!’ and his small conversation with Jason as Producer. But all other sounds we are planning to put after so we are going to have excellent picture and a perfect sound background so viewer will get maximum satisfaction from that film, and we will try to excite people only by Monroe songs and their contrast with next thrilling sounds because on the first scene sound plays role as main ruler of people emotions.

The Lighting

During all shooting day we had a well-prepared studio lighting set up. On a scene of Detective Office we had a semidarkness light which gave an additional mystery to this absolutely silent scene filled only by Marilyn songs, creepy music and this light. So this scene should really look as we are became an eyewitnesses of a try to solve one of the most confusing puzzles in American history. So this lighting also gave us the perception of thriller.
Regarding the next scene of 50’s stage the lighting was in opposite to previous scene very powerful and spotlights on the studio roof were covered by red plate to give a bit blurred red light on a scene as it was in a video clip. Then, after Director’s shout ‘Cut!’ plates removed and another spotlight behind the Director and Producer turned on to make a bright contrast between ‘shooting’ scene in 50’s with shadowed red light and very bright light after to show a viewer that the game is over and all actors and Marilyn are going to normal life by the time the filming crew collecting hearts, carry elements of studio interior and so on.

The role of props and costumes

First of all I’d like to tell about props and their meaning in our scene. The most important props in the first scene are photos, posters and newspapers about Marilyn Monroe which covered all wall of Detective’s office. These pictures actually gave us the understanding that that film about Monroe without any words. Just pictures and posters of her fame, then tracking to photos of Marilyn fall and her death. So we are telling the Marilyn story without any words. Moreover with help of another props item as Suspect Board we underline that this is office of person who investigating this case and trying to find out the links between public people who were familiar with Marilyn and some criminals of 50’s.
In addition to this we covered another wall with documents and reports in which Detective wanted to find any regularities.
A laptop was used as only thing which actually refers to our modern day to ensure the viewer that this office exists in our days. Finally, an ashtray with smoked cigarette used to represent a stereotype view on Detective profession who are always smoking.
Next scene. Scene of 50’s so all props were chose thoroughly to make, firstly, the exact copy of the stage like in Monroe clip ‘Diamonds are girls best friend’ and secondly – to make the filming backstage look like as we are really in 1950’s.
So we bring old-fashioned Director Chair and Producer chairs. With these chairs the problem appeared when we realised that we don’t have any Director’s chairs the day before shooting; however our Media teacher Guy managed to find them so they were put in a scene and were exactly as we hoped. Another 50’s props were made by our group as old-fashioned camera and red love hearts for dancers as they had in original clip and, of course, make-up for all dancers and Marilyn Monroe actress.

Then the costumes were chosen only for second scene because we didn’t have any people in Detective office scene. Gaby and Heather managed to find a necessary costumes in Theatre department so all dancers wore black suits and the filming crew team had different colours suits because we the filming crew in 50’s wore suits but to differ them from dancers we have them not black one’s.
Monre’s costume caused lots of difficulties because we tried to find exactly the same costume as she had in the clip so for entire week we phoned to different agencies and shops to find them and, finally, Gaby found it – Marilyn pink dress, elbow length gloves, necklace and rings and one of the main parts – curly haired wig so at the beginning of shooting itself we had a stage which looked like from the ‘Diamonds are girls best friend’, 5 guys who had been in black suits and Monroe with all her make-up and dressing and then all filming crew who were exactly as they should be in 50’s.

Preparation and Shooting days. My role

During the preparation work our group managed to generate few key features of our film and I tried to do my best so I generated some ideas mostly linked with a sound background of the film and I managed to make a shooting script of the film and write few posts as what our target audience or which kind of institution is going to distribute our film.
In the process of development of ‘Monroe’ film concept I got a role of a sound director, however we didn’t have much scenes where my direct role would necessary in the shooting day so my main work is still wait for me when we will start to edit our project and there I should work with a background of our film and fill it by Marilyn songs, broadcaster voice, thrilling music, etc.
However I’m participated directly in a shooting day as well because I tried myself as a cameraman in the first scene where we needed to track the camera on a tripod moved through tracked to provide a smooth move. So I tried several times to film this scene with all aspects of the mis-en-scene to give a full picture to our viewer where we are and slightly release Marilyn pictures, newspapers, suspect board and TV monitors with a laptop one after another and it seems to be that I succeeded in it a little bit so in editing room there will be a need to place necessary sounds only.

The team-work of our group on my opinion was very effective and our group consist of two sub-groups: Gaby and Heather who were leaders during all time of the shooting day and had most clear picture in their mind how our project should looked like. And me and Tatiana were mostly supportive characters who helped with decorating studio for appropriate scenes and made some support work.
So I think our team was great balanced and everyone knew what exactly that should do so there weren’t any conflicts or any misunderstandings and we succeeded in filming our project on 100% I think. Now we are ready to cut our film and edit it and fill with appropriate sound background to make a really good opening of the film