Filming and pickups

Filming went smoothly apart from choreographing the fights, which took some time to get right. It was also rather lengthy due to the use of a single camera rather than 2 or 3, this created frustration between my actors to get the choreography right and the fact that they had to repeat it again exactly the same.

My actors (for the most part) were ok with costume. I chose my costume according to actor and to plot, Ben is wearing black in this scene against Will who is wearing white, this was not only to create contrast between characters but as a hint to the coming story. It basically being Ben turns evil, this is highlighted in the mise-en-scene because he is wearing black

I think a lack of pre-shoot fight choreography created problems, especially among the actors and me as they wanted to add stuff in and I wasn't completely sure how to shoot it. A lack of before and after also created problems as the shoot went immediatly into the fight.

I think a pickup shoot is necessary, this is where the director spots gaps in what has already been done and fills those gaps with extra filming. An example would be the fact that despite filming for 2 hours we only obtained 3-4 mins of useful footage, another would be despite me wanting the fight to be EPIC, the fight only became around 30 secs long and i came stuck.

If necessary and i cannot piece together the footage i have well i may consider a total re-shoot where i literally film everything again. I made sure I had all the footage I needed before calling it a day for filming 

After uploading the pictures onto my computer i have noticed there are some gaps that need to be filled in my film. My pickup shots will include:

• A more lengthy chunk of intensive fight
• Better planning and idea of camera shots
• Another camera man (to reduce time taken to film a sequence)
• Rehearsing of choreography
• A second shoot of any shots I didn't like

Storyboarding

Instead of doing full on storyboarding instead i have made a short animated storyboard feature including the fight with a short commentary

As you can see once you have viewed the finished product, the film is very different to that of the storyboard, due to the fact it had little story and meaning to it , and i also had to get rid of the bits that were not feasible without a effect creator such as the flying leaves etc. 

I dropped the idea of the staff as it provided too much confusion, and once filming it made sense that they wouldn't stand around for minutes as it just gets boring and less appealing to the audience. 

The opening of the eyes however remained present in the film and was made choppy due to influence from anime.

Mise en scene

In my film the Mise en scene is primarily used to differentiate between characters.

Costume: The costume is used to create subconscious semiology between characters such as black is bad white is good. This helps the audience to also determine between characters.

Lighting: In general as the film is outdoors the lighting will be nothing out of the ordinary

Actors: Largely as it is teacher and student one will be made to appear older than the other

Make up: Not a lot of make-up if any other than perhaps a bit of dirt

Props: The swords, that staff that is significant to the plot

Setting: A woodland

Theme of the Main Film

Largely as the main portion of the film is action orientated in the context of the fight my original plan is to make to audience believe that this fight in the opening sequence is a full on fight to the death, what can attribute to these would be the sound, camera shots and editing. Largely the purpose of mise-en-scene in these fights is to help the audience determine who is the bad guy and who is the good guy.

As the fight progresses the audience is told that the fight is simply a fight between teacher and student, but can also provide a forshadowing for later in the film. These fights should also tell the audience something about the characters, such as mannerisms and attitude towards the fight and in turn this affects the audiences first impression of them.

Largely one of the few comparable scenes in this fashion are a scene from Troy where Achilles is training Patroclus, also there is another in Eragon, however the film was unsuccessful and so i don't wish to compare.

Largely the mood is set in this fight by there being continual breaks of dialogue in the swordplay with the close ups being in these breaks and there being long shots during the fighting. However this banter is what keeps the audience interested, as it helps give an insight into the characters.

However as the fight originally is made to feel like a real fight i should study real fights in the context of films, and so the music changes alongside it along with camera shot and editing.

Largely what can subconsciously fool the audience into thinking it is a real sword fight is the pitch and volume of the sword clangs, also the presence of the "ughs" in the fight create a sense of realism with the audience

Musical score

The musical score will affect a great portion of the fight as it changes subconsciously the mood and feel of the action taking place.

Largely during a fight the greater portion of the music is a strong bassline that largely corresponds to the rythym of the fight. Similarly in order to attract attention the musical score can be taken away, an example of this would be in 300 when the fight changes into slow motion or a tense causing action occurs.

Also the music usually corresponds to the theme of the movie, being that 300 in the past has more battle drums as with the theme of a battle. Overall a general convention of a film being set in the past is in general associated with classical music. If i wish to copy this convention the film will feel more at home to the audience.

I will create the musical score using garageband, possibly including deep chinese drumsn to create the bassline.