P1. Matte painting comparisons - Wikipedia and The digital matte painting handbook

Things in common 

Things that are unique/different 

Both the cards had a different definition however they did mean the same thing. Both cards defined matte painting as "a painted representation,set or distant location. It is mainly used in film. It also is used instead of building a set and creates the illusion of the environment".  

The differences in the two definitions were that Wikipedia said it "creates the illusion of an environment that is non-existent in real life" but The digital matte painting handbook said that it was "painted on the glass on location". This suggests that the location is real and not non-existent as Wikipedia defined it as.

P1. Production meeting - 17th Jan

Present: Me and Charlotte

Today me and Charlotte talked about the male actor problem. As we still don't have one we was thinking about the alternatives we could do if we couldn't get one. We thought that if it comes down to it we would change our Blake character to a female character and change the script a little.

We also organised when we were going to start filming. As we are all available Thursday afternoons we are going to have practise runs of the script during lunch then film 3rd and 4th. We also printed out a script for each actor and the directer. We will give the actors their scripts on Monday (20th) which will have their lines highlighted.

Then we looked for tutorials for our "jump" scene as we have to film the jump separately and add it to the woods footage.

P1. Risk assessment of location

After the health and safety talk the other day me and Charlotte decided that we would go and speak to Gary about the bike problem and the jumping scene. After speaking to him we decided we would do a risk assessment of the location we are using. We went round to see the main area the bikes are in and whether it would effect our shots. We also looked at the floor where our jumping scene is and the running scene. For the running location there was a lot of sticks around. We then looked around the woods and found a better location to film it. For the jumping scene we realised that there was a couple of pot holes and a ditch because of this we thought about how we could make it safe. We decided that it would be best to have some sort of crash mat so we went and spoke to the sports department. We asked them if we could use it and they said yes. However  we aren't allowed to take it outside so the teacher we spoke to said that they would section of a part of the hall so we could film it there but doing it this way means we would have to edit the jump into our video.

Bikes that are in the woods. Most of them aren't in the way of our scenes.




Panoramic view of the jumping area.



Old running scene                     New running scene

P1. DAC Productions logo

I created a logo for my group. I created it using photoshop. I used the demon eye image we already edited and cropped it. I then added lightning using a lightning brush setting and added text.

P1. Health & Safety presentation notes

- Don't stand or do handstands on the roof
- You always need to do risk assessment before filming
- Don't climb benches or tables. Especially don't skateboard along them. This is dangerous because you could fall of and hurt yourself or even brake a bone
- Be aware of everyone else. Put up signs so people know you're filming. When filming on the stairs make sure theres a sign at the top of the stairs so people know and don't go down them and trip on equipment. Try having someone stand with the signs to warn people.
- Don't put slippery things on the floor e.g baked beans, water
- Don't lay in the middle of a busy corridor. People could fall over you and people could get hurt
- If filming outside and its been raining and the surface is muddy and slippery make sure you're wearing appropriate shoes

P1. The Woods - Script with new camera shots and ending

The woods from DanaLH

P1. Production meeting - 14th Jan

Present: Me and Charlotte

Topic: Filming and effects (what I thought about yesterday), Actor, Risks/problems,Script

We decided that having a character have a camera as well was a good idea. We also decided to do the eye effect I thought of. For the different camera shots we going to have Jay/Blake share a handheld camera/phone. Using a phone we would be using the footage and imbedding it into our camera footage to create more of a "home film". However we will also film from the view of the "creature" to give it more of a mythical effect. For the phone camera to make it a night effect as well we would be using a black transparent thing over the camera. We will also either change the phone around for the face shots using the switch setting or keep turning the phone around. We also talked about the running scene and how we would use the different cameras. For the creature we're going to have someone standing there then wen editing make them a silhouette and have glowing red eyes.

For the other male actor that we still need we will be asking if anyone in our class would be able to play them and if there is more then one person saying they would we could do auditions.

We still have a problem with the bikes in the background. We also have the risk of the climbing and jumping on the tree. To solve these problems we will go and talk to the site manager to see if theres anything we can do. We decided we need to do this after the risk assessment talk this morning.

We will also be adding the things discussed to our script so we all know and can see how they will fit in.