Thursday 24 February 2011

Digital Me: Research

I decided that I needed some inspiration for my website so I did some research online. I searched for interesting designs, each using different layouts. Here a few screenshots from the pages that I liked, I have also included links below each screenshot so that you can have a look and see exactly why I enjoyed each site:


This webpage is quite simple but I like the layout, from the positioning of the navigation bar on the left to the title of the page itself. 

I like this page as I believe that it interacts with the user very well, it's exciting to play around with, but slightly harder to navigate around than the webpage above.


I also feel that this webpage interacts well with the user. I like how you can scroll from the left to the right, travelling through their 3 albums in order of there release as if you were going through time with the band. This page was also designed using HTML 5 which is the latest version of HTML.

New Project: Digital Me

We have been set a new project called 'Design Me' where we have to design a website based around ourselves and our personality. We have gone straight into the project, learning HTML code and laying down the basic layout of our webpage. The first bit of work we have been set is to put together a moodboard about anything that we like including TV programmes, bands and fonts that we could include within our site. Here below is an image of the moodboard I put together:


Friday 18 February 2011

Evaluation Of Our Groups Film: Dog Life


This term we were divided into groups in which each would receive a different script to produce. The aim of the project was to utilise our creativity and originality  in order to develop the script in our own way. My group was given ‘Dog’; initially, we found the story to be extremely outlandish. However, given thought we realised that we could make this film exciting, humorous and interesting. Since I was given the responsibility of Filming and Lighting, my preliminary thoughts were directed to the different camera angles we could use and lighting that would be needed to set each the scene. Moreover, I was forced to consider the time span of the film, whether it take place during the night or day.

During the first three weeks, we began planning; research was conducted as well as formulating a necessary risk assessments. Props were brought in addition to locations identified. As a storyboard was drawn up detailing our exact filming schedule, we invested in an actor to part-take. The original script was about a man who eats dog food, takes ‘a difficult shit’ as he gradually forms the characteristics of a dog. After reading the script, we decided to give the film a ‘comic’ tone as this is the genre we found fit the script best.

We were excited to shoot the film as we had some innovative ideas and wanted to trail their success.  However, we soon faced a problem when an actor was unable to attend; we realised it was hard to rely on other students and trying to fit around their university schedules, therefore we resorted to employing a member of our own group to be in the film itself.  Although he had no acting experience, he knew exactly what persona we looking for. Despite this, I still do not feel this worked to our advantage as he was unable to aid the rest of the group in filming.

I felt my role i was successful; the multiple different angle shots I suggested for each scene looked effective in the final film. It allowed the editor to do a number of cut edits to keep the flow of action constant and entertaining for the viewer. There were a number of issues I had with the camera, such as focus and white balance. This forced us to re-shoot a number of shots, but after mending the settings it allowed us to film smoothly with no mistakes. Nevertheless, I do not feel the lighting was as successful; in one the scenes near the end of the film, there were solid black shadows making a stark contrast to previous scenes. Time permitting, I would of fixed this lighting problem and reshot this scene. Feedback played a huge role in allowing us to refine and develop our film once we had edited a first cut; by uploading it to YouTube, we were able to receive feedback from a wide audience who commented on both the sound and lighting. This constructive critism was beneficial in allowing an audience to give us accurate developments in order to improve our film.

Overall, I felt that for a first attempt at a ‘Short Film’ our final outcome was quite reasonable; it fulfils all our aims set at the beginning of the project. I believe that the different camera angles give the film a diverse and realistic atmosphere as it allows the audience to comprehend the life of this unusual human being. In hindsight, I feel I was not as prepared with imagining exactly how the lighting will look; in future projects I will spend more time predetermining the complete vision of the scene. Furthermore, I believe the use of a more skilled actor would have added to the quality of the film. Another setback we encountered over the five week period was the lack of attendance of members of our group to seminars. This caused us to have a lack of communication. We did however get around this problem by the use of a Facebook group which worked quite effectively. Collectively, I have learnt a number of things while shooting. The most significant being the impact of small changes which can dramatically affect entire scenes and the overall affect of the film. Errors with lighting, costume design and camera settings can all have considerable and distracting influences on the audience. The most vital knowledge I can take away from this project is a sound understanding of the design process when shooting a film. In conclusion, I enjoyed this project thoroughly and it has forced me to rethink about what pathway I would like to follow next year. Below is a link to our film:

http://vimeo.com/20077304

Tuesday 15 February 2011

6 Men and a Camera Present...DOG LIFE

Here is our final edited version of our film, Dog. I will upload a 500 word evaluation in the next few days but for now I hope you enjoy our film because it was enjoyable to make. 

Dog Life - My First Short Film from George Pickles on Vimeo.

First Draft Edit: Dog

Yesterday, we finished shooting and Tom started immediately editing the hundreds of clips we shot to produce this first edit, there is quite a lot of sound missing and a few changes to be made concerning the length of certain shots but this will give the you the basic idea of what we were aiming for. It's meant to be a bit of a comedy as we were given such a strange script. We have received lots of feedback on YouTube which was mainly positive but anymore would be greatly appreciated. We hope you enjoy what we have produced so far and the final edit will be up shortly.

Researching: Dog

I was researching initial idea on YouTube for films about dogs to further inspire me; I came across another version of the same script we have been given but by past first year Trent students. Some are very similar to our groups but I believe we are going to make them look better by using more refined camera angles, scenes and by detailed editing of the film, hopefully making it feel more realistic. In particular, the use of sound effects will promote the films success. In this film, I found the lighting effective and I enjoyed the acting; I thought he did a fantastic job at portraying a dog-like character. Here below is their film, enjoy!

The Shoot So Far: Dog

Today, we started shooting our film. However, the actor we had asked to be part take was no longer available, so our back up actor, Jordan who is a member of our team was utilised at short notice. The set up of the equipment and scenery went well; all health and safety precautions were put in place as shown in the pictures below. We noticed a few problems immediately to do with lighting, space and communication within the team. Once these problems were dealt with, we managed to film all the kitchen/landing scenes. Tom had a play with the edit using Adobe Premier Pro to give us all an insight of what the finished product could look like, which is also shown below.

The Set:






The First Test Edit:

Monday 14 February 2011

The Plan: Dog

We have constructed a plan for the short film we have been given about a dog. We have each been given a responsibility; mine is to be in charge of the lighting and camera. Therefore, I will set up the lights to the create the correct lighting for the shoot as well as making sure the camera settings are correct so we make no mistakes as we film. We have chosen our locations, actor and bought all the necessary props we will need. The next stage was to draw up the storyboards including a written storyboard (as shown below) and to write up the risk assessments. We have now been given the all clear to film by our Lecturer, I am keen to start filming and will hopefully will be able to upload short preview clips soon.


Written Storyboard:


  1. INT . KITCHEN . DAY

Cupboard doors are flung open and rapidly slammed as the cupboards are revealed as empty. Eventually….. one cupboard is opened and shut quickly and then re-opened. We see inside. There is a dog bowl, and a tin of dog food. [Freeze frame]

Man (V/O)

Ordinarily I wouldn’t have considered it but…….

Camera will be in the cupboard in darkness, the doors open to revel the mans face looking in. He will look disappointed for the first 4 cupboards, then face lights up as he opens the fifth. The camera will be half blocked by a tin of dog food, then a reverse shot from the mans perspective of the dog food and dog bowl on the bottom shelf.

INT . KITCHEN . DAY

The plate of dog food sits on the table . The knife and fork are straightened to become perfectly aligned.
The man gently drops a sprig of parsley onto the dog food.
He picks up the knife and fork and stares at the plate.

Directly above view just shows the dog food and cutlery on the table at first, no arms. One arm comes in to straighten the cutlery, and place the parsley sprig. Both arms then pick up the cutlery, scene cut.
  1. INT . LANDING . DAY

From outside the toilet we hear a difficult shit taking place.

Focus on the toilet door, sounds of a difficult shit, and cut to a clock which winds forwards 3 hours, then seeing the toilet flush and the door begin to open.
  1. EXT . STREET . DAY

Our man is walking down the street. He has a distinct, pronounced spring in his step.

Our man will be walking down the street whistling to himself, smile on.

  1. EXT . STREET . DAY

We see our man sitting in a café. He is talking ten to the dozen.

We will be using the student union café (costa part) and have our man speaking really fast and not really making much sense. ( Mr.Bean style)

  1. INT . KITCHEN . DAY

Our man unloads his shopping. Tins and tins of dog food, plus some herbs and milk.

We are going to have the camera in the shopping bag, looking up the mans arm towards his face, trying to portray that it is part of the shopping, then we will see the bag being put down on the table, and the camera will be unpacked and put on the table with the cans of dog food, like it is a can of dog food.

  1. INT . KITCHEN . DAY

What follows is a montage of a series of jump cuts as plates of dog food are eaten, piled up, eaten, plates clean, knife and fork switching sides and spoon and fork. Different plates. Each time a sprig of parsley is left on the plate uneaten, sometimes the plate is a bowl.

  1. INT . LANDING . DAY

From outside the toilet, we hear a difficult shit taking place. It is so difficult our man is still trying to defecate as day turns into night.

We see our man going into the toilet, then we have a shot of out the window, but still with the sound of the man trying to shit. Day turns to night, and then we go back to seeing our man leave the toilet.

  1. EXT . PARK . DAY

Our man studies a pile of dog shit. Slowly he stands and shuffles off, almost under his breath we hear him growl

Filmed from dog shit perspective , very close up shot, just see a nose drop into shot from the top of the frame

  1. INT . FRONT ROOM . NIGHT

Our man sits and watches television, picking up his glass of water he begins to lap it up with this tongue.

Very dark scene, using the television light to flicker different amount s of light onto the characters face. Extreme close up when he laps up the water.

  1. INT . KITCHEN . DAY

Our man slowly spoons dog food onto his plate, the plate is maller than any we have seen before

We will shoot this with exactly the same view as with the bigger plate, so that the plate is noticeably smaller.

  1. INT . KITCHEN . DAY

Sitting at the table our man slowly, reluctantly eats the dog food, as he turns to eat, tears run down his face.

Shot from the opposite persons view so you are looking straight at him, the camera switches between that persons view and an extreme close up of the character chewing.

  1. INT . FRONT ROOM . NIGHT

Our man runs around in a very tight circle, He is trying to see his back, as he runs he barks.

Filmed through the window, a shot for a woman walking her dog and noticing the strange behaviour so come to peek through the window and we get he point of view shot.

Visual Storyboards:


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