Production Documentation

16th February 2010

We began filming the opening scene and opening three shots which include Amelia waking up in her bedroom, getting up and walking over to the mirror. Upon arriving at the location, I firstly had to set up the bedroom to meet my design. I began by looking at my set design for the bedroom, and focusing on the particular area where the opening shots are focused. I put up posters which reflect certain aspects about Amelia's character, especially her age, making evident the time in which the film is set, for example the Twilight poster reflects present times. The poster also displays how she is just like any average teenage girl, as the Twilight phenomenon can represent a majority of teenage girls today. The posters of male actors and musicians represent her sexuality and again reflect the mind of an average teenage girl. The idea is to convey Amelia's previous personality before her massive workload took over, forcing her to grow up faster than her time and neglect her other interests.

This is an image of just one area of the bedroom, which is in the background of the opening shot.

Secondly, we set up the lighting for this scene. As the natural light at this particular time of day was fairly dark, and yet the scene we were shooting is supposed to be early morning, we had to set up artificial light in order to make the scene look naturally light.

In order to do this, we set up a Pro Light, on a tripod which stood about two feet off the ground. We tried various techniques, various gels and placements of the light to achieve the desired effect. We found that opening the "barn doors" completely and using no gels was far too bright, and through the camera the lighting appeared too artificial and too bright. We tried using a half blue gel, and closing two of the "barn doors" and found that this was also too bright for the camera. Using two blue gels we found was too dark.

After trying out various techniques, we found that the best way to achieve our desired lighting effect was to turn the Pro-Light to face the wall, and hold a half blue gel and a white gel together infront of the light, which gave the scene a cool, early morning feel.

This is our final decision of lighting arrangement for the opening scene.

Finally, I had to get our actress made-up for shooting. In this scene she is waking up with mascara strewn down her face, looking pale and as though she's just woken up.

Film Festivals Research

A film festival is an organised event in which filmmakers show their latest work. Short films are most commonly shown at film festivals, and the most common audience for a film festival are film enthusiasts. Each festival can have a specific theme, for example, film noir.
The most popular and noble festivals are;
Cannes, Venice, Toronto, Berlin, Shanghai, Moscow, San Sebastian, Montreal, Locarno, Karlovy Vary, Mar del Plata, Cairo, and Tokyo. These are referred to as "A" or "Category one" festivals by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations.

Other film festival categories; Experimental films; Ann Arbor Film Festival.
Independent films; Telluride Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, Austin's South by Southwest, and New York City's Tribeca Film Festivals. Raindance Film Festival is the most significant, and the biggest festival for independant films.
There are numerous other specific categories of film festivals such as ones with Asian significance, for example, The Kara Film Festival held in Karachi, Pakistan, Animation, Environmental significance, International Digital Film Festival which is in Romania, and Traveling Film Festivals.

To enter a film into a festival, generally a fee is required to have their works screened. This is especially common for the larger festivals, and also smaller "boutique" festivals, such as the British Urban Film Festival in London. However, not every festival needs an entry fee. For example the Rotterdam Film Festival is one which does not charge to have your film screened. Also, smaller festivals in the US are free to enter. Some festivals only accept films from makers in a certain region or area.