The Secret - Refilming Shots

Sunday 30th April

In our original shooting of the film, the close up shots of the phone when the character of Will was texting the character of Taylor; in order to focus on the texts, we couldn't use a tripod because of the layout of our location, so already, our shots of the phone were shaky/unstable. Other than this, because we used natural lighting, the angle we shot from wasn't facing the light and therefore the shots were dark. We tried to fix this by altering the brightness on Final Cut Pro, but the shot just became grainy and of low quality so we decided to refilm these shots.

Below, are two screenshots of our original shots after altering the brightness:






As you can see, the two shots are of low quality and the lighting is problem here. This takes away from the quality of the movie, so we decided to refilm the shots in which we used artificial lighting to improve the quality, and shot in the different location but with a similar surrounding. The shot was a close up, so the surroundings were barely visible so this wasn't a major issue.

In order to make the lighting realistic from the refilmed shots to add to our film, we had to alter the brightness by lowering it, which actually worked out really well as the lighting in these new and more clear shots have much better lighting which is much more fitting to the setting of the film. To do this, we used Final Cut Pro to alter with the brightness and saturation until we were happy with the set lighting. These shots are much more clear and better for the film. Below are some screengrabs of our refilmed shots which are present in our final film.

The Secret - Titling

23rd April 2017

We used the title theme 'Typerwriter' for our titles, because it almost looks like the words are being typed onto the screen which resembles the act of texting, which is a major theme within our film. The titles for the creators of the film are presented before the main title shot, in white text in the bottom corners of the shot. The main title shot presents the film name in white text in the top left hand corner, and is typed onto the shot in the same theme, 'Typewriter'. The names of the actors are displayed on the shot shortly after the main title shot, in the same white text and sizing, and also in the bottom corners of the screen.

We decided to keep the text size on the small to medium side, at a text size of 112.0 for each credit and the text white, because we didn't want the titles to be overwhelming and we wanted to keep the titles relatively simple and plain. This was to reflect that the film surrounded a common issue revolving the lives of many teens and that the issue isn't out of the norm.

We took a lot of inspiration from the show Please Like Me considering their titles were white with very plain text, although the titles they used were very large and took up a lot of the shot. We used the font 'Apple Gothic' because it fits the simplistic theme of the film, but the font is also very similar to the font used in the credits of Please Like Me. The main difference between our titles and the titles of Please Like Me is the fact that we kept our titles towards the bottom of the screen, and each title the same size, where as titles in Please Like Me are scattered around the screen and most text ranges in sizes.

We also looked at some films surrounding a similar theme of social media and technology to reinforce and improve their plot, including the 2012 romance/drama LOL, starring Miley Cyrus. This film surrounds the theme of love and friendship, but with the typical fights and fall outs included. However, the plot is reinforced because they heavily involve the use of phones and laptops throughout, similar to our film. The titles to this film are very similar to ours as well as we took a lot of inspiration from films with a similar theme to our own.





The titles in the beginning of LOL are actually more similar to our titles as their titles are also kept closely to the edges of the screen, allowing the main part of the shot to remain focused on the characters or actions going on, which is the aim we were going for.

Below are screenshots of our titles that we inserted into our film. As you can see, they are white in font, with skinny text which highly resembles the credits that we had researched, both in Please Like Me and LOL.

The Secret - Updated Script

12th April 2017

As the filming of our film neared, some changes had to occur through the script due to changes in location. We had to change our location to our actor's home because one of our team, Maeve, wasn't available for the day of shooting due to other priorities, and because we were relying on her home for our location, we had to make a last minute change. This location change actually worked out for the better and enabled us to use a driveway and car instead of stairs, which helped us transition from the title to the actual film much easier and better than originally planned. Due to the location change, we also couldn't use Maeve's mum as an actress for the mother role, so we had to change the family member character to a sister, whom I played, meaning we had to change a bit of the context of the script, however no major changes occurred. The story line stayed the same, just bits of dialogue were switched to fit the sister character more, while still giving the same effect of a homophobic vibe running through the family.

This is our new and updated script we made just before filming. We also decided the change the name of Morgan (Will's love interest) to Taylor because we feel that the name is more of a mysterious, unisex name which would make the viewer initially think that this was a typical love story instead of a gay love story - adding a bit of mystery to the film, and also showing how love is the same no matter what gender.

The Secret - Voice Over Radio Scene

9th April 2017

As mentioned previously in other blog posts, our film is going to include a clip of a discussion about the topic of same-sex relationships/homophobia in Northern Ireland, lowly in the background. Throughout our research to find the perfect clip to include, we constantly encountered a problem of the clips being too long/not quick enough to the point, or being relevant but not perfect to fit our scene. So as a result, we've decided to make our own voice over and stage it as a radio clip, so we can choose exactly what the clip will say, controlling what topics to briefly mention, and which topics to avoid. We can also ensure that the clip will be clear instead of some of the muffled clips we were coming across on YouTube.

We've decided to edit the voice over on Garageband to add effect to make it sound more muffly, and as if it is actually from a radio. This worked well for us after playing about on Garageband for a while, eventually we got the effect we wanted for the radio scene. 

Dialogue:

Radio Presenter: That was Everybody Talks by The Neon Trees here on RTE FM

Radio Presenter: So today we have Sinn Fein's Michelle O'Neill here to discuss her views on DUP's recent promise to block same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland. 

Radio Presenter: So Michelle, what do you think about this reinforcement of DUP's views on equal marriage?

Michelle: Well, as you know, Sinn Fein have made a commitment to campaigning for marriage equality, and although everyone is entitled to an opinion, it's very disheartening that people still disagree with equal marriage. Equality threatens no one, and its time that all parties stand up for our citizens regardless of their sexual orientation. We, as a party, see no reason why anyone should be denied marriage regardless of their gender.

Radio Presenter: Do you think we'll be seeing a referendum for marriage equality in Northern Ireland anytime soon?

Michelle: We've made it quite known that we think a referendum for the North would be very interesting. I feel that the assembly is making itself increasingly irrelevant at this point, so the only way to deliver equal marriage may be to host a referendum, so it's definitely on the cards, definitely a valid option. 

Radio Presenter: Do you believe that marriage equality is realistic in Northern Ireland?

Michelle: I definitely believe that marriage equality is possible and realistic, Just look at the Yes vote in last May's referendum on equal marriage in the Irish Republic. As it stands, the North of Ireland is the only part of the UK and Ireland where civil marriage is denied to same-sex couples. Sinn Fein are making equal marriage one of our top priorities, we are publishing our pledge to actively work and legislate marriage equality. We believe there is a growing demand for marriage equality, as there so should be, and as far as I'm concerned, the LGBT community have been discriminated against for far too long, and I believe they are entitled to be treated as equals, and treated with respect.

The Secret - Filming

5th April 2017

On Tuesday the 4th of April, Eimir and I filmed our film, The Secret.

One of our team members, Maeve, wasn't available for the day of filming due to other priorities, so Eimir and I had to come up with a suitable location change, script and character change to make up for the loss. This is because our film was originally set in Maeve's house, and the mother role was meant to be played by Maeve's mother, but due to Maeve not being available for any days of shooting, we had to use a backup plan.

We decided to film in our actor Tiarnan's house (who played Will in the film) in Glengoland and we decided to change the mother role to a sister role, which I played. For this reason, we had to change the dialogue in the script to fit this role. No major changes were made as the story line stayed the same, just different dialogue to fit the character better and to still emphasise the homophobia in the family with the exception for Will. The location change actually ended up being a positive outcome as the location was much easier to travel to than the original location, as it is very close to our school so this actually enabled us to complete the filming after school with no transport problems.

The new location happened to be a bungalow, so we had to change our opening scene to Tiarnan driving into his driveway, leaving his car and walking to the door instead of using the original idea of him walking upstairs to his room. This actually worked out for the better, as it allowed us to use external lighting and scenery to open our film and show where it was being shot from the outside, and it also helped us to make a smoother and easier transition from this scene, to the opening title, to the next scene while editing. It also allowed us to incorporate the use of a car driving into the driveway, allowing us to use the multicoloured keys as a prop.

        

Our filming went very smoothly in terms of shots we planned and the story line panned out just as we had planned, although we did come into trouble with focusing the camera on the phone during shots where texting took place, as the camera wasn't able to sit on the tripod for these shots as the tripod didn't allow us to capture the shots how we wanted to, so not only was lighting hard to keep the same whilst trying to focus on the phone screen, it was also hard to keep the camera steady whilst holding it instead of using a tripod.

     

We used a lot of successful over the shoulder shots throughout both the shots including FaceTime, and also the shots of the sister coming into the room to talk to Will and make a homophobic remark.
This is the shot in which we had to change dialogue in our script. This updated script will be included in a blog post to come.

       

Overall, our filming went very smoothly and we ensured this by taking two shots of every shot we did to see which shot was better, so we could have an option of which to use in our film, and I feel like this really enabled us to get the best shots we could; so if any shots went wrong and went unnoticed until the filming was over, at least we had a back up shot to replace it.

The Secret - Shot analysation

5th April 2017

 First shot: Establishing shots of house; shows the layout of the location and where the film is set. This enhances the fact that the film takes place in a small neighbourhood rather than a big city; which is relevant to the theme of our film, and breaking the codes and conventions of a typical romance film. This is further explained in my evaluation questions, but this shot is definitely one that helps us to show the audience the general area in which it takes place. We also began to show our credits in these shots, because we had seen before in our research that the credits generally began within minutes of the film beginning, so we decided to place them close to the start.





 Second shot: Track motion long shot- Here, we took a track motion shot, following the character of Will from leaving his car to entering his house. This is the last shot we take before our title screen appears with the film name popping up on the screen. We did this to again, show the exterior of where the film is taking place.






 Third shot: Mid shot - This shot consisted of a mid shot of  Will entering his room and shutting his door behind him. Here, we can see his school blazer and random props such as, files for school, deodorants, and a generally messy desk to help represent the fact that he is your average teenage boy. A key importance to this shot is that you can't see Will's face, which represents how we are almost hiding his identity in the same way that he his hiding his sexual identity; this draws parallels with the fact that he is hiding a part of himself from his family.





 Fourth shot: Close up shot - This shot consists of a close up on some props which were of great importance to our film, including the laptop, keys and radio. This allowed us to show the multicoloured keys; which subtly hints towards Will's supportive approach towards the gay community by having the LGBT pride flag on his keys. We included Will turning on the radio within this close up shot, to show the moment that the interview begins to play, and this also allowed us to fade the music out as if it was coming from the radio.





 Fifth shot: Track shot - We used a track motion shot for this clip to show Will sitting down into his chair and pulling himself into his desk, this simply allowed us to show the moment where he opens his laptop, to the point where he pulls his phone from his pocket off camera.




 Sixth shot: Mid over the shoulder shot: Here we showed Will using the props, and in this shot his phone lights up with a text from Taylor; this enabled us to show Will picking up his phone, allowing us to lead on to the following close up shots of him texting Taylor. This shot was important as it was the beginning of our incorporation of technology into the film, which was a major theme for us.





 Seventh shot: Close up shot: This shot allowed us to show the immediate communication between the two males through texting. Apart from the fact that this was part of our incorporation of technology into the film, this also allowed us to show the relationship between the two boys and show that Will and Taylor are more than just friends. However, the name Taylor acts as a unisex name so the audience isn't aware that the relationship is between two males.   






 Eighth shot: Over the shoulder shot - This over the shoulder shot of Will on video call to Taylor allowed us to not only focus on Taylor and the fact that he is a male despite his unisex name, but this also allowed us to show the importance of technology throughout the film as this is the first and only time we see the two characters in face to face communication with each other. This highlights the fact that for Will, their relationship is a secret, hence the name of the film, and their only communication can be in private, such as through texting or video call.







Ninth shot: Over the shoulder -  This over the shoulder shot allowed us to present a new character (Will's sister) into the film. This is very important for our film, due to the fact that in this shot, the homophobic comments are made, causing the following shot of Will shutting his laptop suddenly to occur.





Tenth shot: Mid shot - This shot is extremely important to our film as this is the first time we fully see and focus on Will's face in a shot, and the relevance of this to the actions in the shot is that we only see his face in focus once he has been openly ashamed and his sexuality has been insulted by a close family member. This could represent how the audience only knows the Will who hides within himself, and has been constantly shut down by homophobic remarks and comments. We see him shut the laptop down quickly just after the homophobic comment was made, which gives us an insight into how Will hides his sexual identity from his family, and is scared/ashamed of what they would think.




Eleventh shot -Close up shot - This allowed us to incorporate technology into the film for the last time, and this also allowed us to add tension to the film by having Taylor send aggressive texts to Will.