Shot lists

As a group we all took pictures for the magazine and poster but Sophie made these shot lists with all the information.

To see the shotlist for the magazine and poster click here.

We also needed to improve our first draft of the shot list with the exact dates and times, costumes, equipment, location and details of the shot. This final shot list can be seen here.

First draft magazine

As a group we had deadlines to meet so we decided to split some tasks between us. We had already done a draft copy of a magazine through drawing as a group as seen on the group blog.
I said that I would take on the task of doing two draft magazine covers. This is the first draft, I have layed it out how we discussed so it is eye catching also I have given justifications down the side of the magazine.


Draft Magazine 1 Repaired)

More Justifications:

The Magazine will be called Whodunnit?! and will have its own logo and masthead, the magazine usually accomodates all different soaps however as Helen Howe is a new soap the magazine will have a special Helen Howe edition where the cover is just for Helen Howe storylines and characters.
The magazine will have one main image and one main coverline and this will be on the left hand side, the reason for the main cover line being on the left hand side will be because when shops stock magazines they are on the shelf so only the left side is seen. So the left side of the magazine needs to be bold and not too over crowded. We have taken this into consideration as the main cover line will say 'Who's the daddy?' in bold sans serif pink. The pink connotes femeniity and would therefore attract females howver because it says daddy it would attract males as well as they are being related to. Also san serif block letters will be used as that is the common type of text used for headlines.

The images of men will attract females as they will be attractive on the other hand the images of males will attract men also as they may be able to relate to the stereotype displayed in the image.

The main image of Danielle biting her lip could connote sexuality and vulnerability this would attract men as she will look attractive and also as part of Laura Mulvey's the male gaze theory as Danielle is simply an object which the storyline is based around and the men are the ones who make the storyline interesting as they could be the father.

The images and coverlines on the magazine cover could also be related to Propp's theory of typical characters in the 1920s. For example we have used the 'villian' as the Richard has clearly caused trouble in Stephanie's 'Paradise' also he looks sleazy and suspicious in his image making him look villianous. Stephanie as the ' princess' as she is threatened by the villian as she has to put up with his sleazy ignorant ways. In addition Dannielle could be seen as a 'false hero' as she appears vulnerable and innocent however she is the character who started all the issues by sleeping with lots of different men.




Also I did a post where I uploaded the handdrawn magazine draft this can be seen here.

More auditions

We have done more auditions as we found out after the previous audition video that some of the actors could not make it to our filming dates and therefore we needed more auditions and more possibilities.

This is the post with the new audition video and the details about what happened to the old auditions and new cast members.

Click here to see it.

Audition film

We advertised the auditions with posters that Sophie created but we also approached people who we thought fitted the specific characters aesthetically.
We organised a date and time for out auditions and got the auditionees into their pairs. We gave them time to run through the script with their partners first so that could relax more and concentrate more on the acting rather than reading the script. We then filmed each audition and told the actors we would let them know if they got the part as soon as possible.
After filming the auditions we edited the film as a group and each did a voice-over explaining who the auditionees are and what part they are auditioning for. We did a voice-over rather than using text to make it more digitally advanced.

This is the audition film

Audition Scripts

For our soap we needed to cast people with appropriate roles, we asked certain people who we thought would match the role for specific characters to audition.

As our trailer will not have much dialogue in it we needed material which we could use in the auditions so we could judge each actor.

I created audition scripts for each main character, the scripts are between 2 characters so the actors will audition in pairs, this will not only be more time efficient but it will put them at ease too.

I based the conversations in the script with language based on the characters background for example Danielle talks in slang to fit her 'pregnant teen' stereotype. The conversations in the script are also based on the storylines hinted at in the trailer as well.

This is the script for Danielle and Courtney

Audition Script for Courtney and Danielle

This is the script for Deano and Helen

Audition Script for Deano and Helen

This is the script for JJ and Aaron

Audition Script for JJ and Aaron

This is the script for Stephanie and Richard

Audition Script for Stephanie and Richard

On each script there is a brief description of both characters and the age range to help the actors characterize.

Magazine draft hand drawn

We sat down in a group and discussed how we wanted our magazine cover

to look, from analysing and researching soap magazine covers we had a good knowledge of what stands out and what is a good layout.

We drew a rough copy of how we want our magazine cover to be.

These are the pictures of the draft copy:

The picture on the left is the magazine cover we have a masthead which is Whodunnit?! as the magazine will be only on our soap becuase it is new and unique.

There is a large image for the main cover story which is Danielle and there are images around her of the possible fathers.

We have included the price which is at the top and the barcode which is down the bottom these are both common places for these details on soap magazines.

We have got cover lines down the right hand side as they are not as important as the main storyline but each one is interesting. Two of them are questions the top one being 'Will the fresh start be a good start?' with a picture of the Halls, and the bottom one is 'Trouble in paradise?' with a picture of Stephanie with her arms crossed. The middle cover line is a reveal, it says 'Aaron's secret revealed!' this type of advertising makes the reader want to watch the soap to find out what his secret is. This is a method which is common on soap magazines.

Inspirations

We got inspiration from the Virgin Atlantic advert in 2010. We got ideas for our trailer from 20 seconds onwards. At 20 seconds the man notices the blonde female in the distance in a red jacket. The shot showing this is a point of view shot implying that the man is looking at the female, she is swishing her hair in a slow motion edit, this complies with the Male Gaze Theory as she is being displayed as a sexual object. Also, the high pitched extra diegetic music fades connoting the female is heavenly as the music sounds glory-like.

The following jump cut to the close up of the mans face shows his facial expression which connotes complete amazement.

The next shot inspired us the most, this is an extreme close up of red high heels walking, the red connotes passion and danger which is reflective of the seductress-like women. In addition the non diegetic music builds in pace and volume increasing the intensity of the high heels and denoting their importance.

The advert then has several jump cuts to peoples reactions to the red suited women, these shots are mainly mid shots displaying a facial expression and their costume which connotes who they are, for example there is a punk and children and parents. This displays the impact the female has on everyone.
There is then a close up of 3 airs of red high heels this builds the attention and suspense as the females have not been fully revealed yet. The females are then revealed in a wide shot, there is a second shot of 4 females this then expands to a further shot of many females dressed in red. The overpowering colour red makes the rest of the airport look bland and therefore connoting their importance. Also, the light used highlights the females especially the blonde one, given the impression that the females are gleaming. It is a spot light that makes this effect. Highlighting the blonde hair makes the character the seductress more present.This is the part of the advert which inspired us as we want our main female character to walk through the village making an impression and making the other characters look at her.

Costume, props, lighting and location

As a group we decided we would do this research seperatly so one person did props another did lighting and so on. As there is four of us it was easy to just do one each. I chose costume to do because I had pictured from each of the characters descriptions what sort of costume would match them.

I looked on different clothing sites such as topman, newlook and riverisland and more. I found outfits for each character in the specific colour that would be relevant then described why they would wear that type of outfit and the colour.
Costume

This is the costume research I did;

This is the final costume post which I also did with the change of costumes and details about where they are from. Click here to see this.

Lucy did lighting which can be seen here.

Sophie did props which can be seen here. With the final props post here.

Jade did location which can be seen here. This is further location scouting that I did here.

Soap poster analysis 2

Skins Poster

Soap opera poster analysis

soap posters

Soap magazine analysis 2

Soap Magazine Analysis

Animatic storyboard

To give a clear picture of our trailer we created a storyboard as a group. We used the pictures we took for our photographic and uploaded them to the Mac we then decided what we would say about each shot and include transitions to create an animatic storyboard.

To see the animatic storyboard click here.

Narrative in stop motion

We feel it is important to incorporate all different styles of media in our work, so to show the basic narrative of our trailer we used the mac to create a short video with toys to represent our characters.

Myself, Sophie and Jade printed off pictures for the set of our soap and stuck them onto books so they stood up like a street. We also brought in our younger siblings toys to use as the characters. We took a separate picture for each of the characters so it will be clear what toy is who. So the next post will be a character profile post with these pictures and names.

We created the film by taking lots of pictures of the characters moving them to how they would move in the trailer. We then put the pictures into the Mac programme Final Cut where once the clips were in place we then recorded sound effects with a microphone.

We were happy with how the narrative came out however at one point Stephanie slaps Richard, but it was difficult to see so we had to make that picture longer.

Photographic storyboard

Me, Sophie and Jade went out around the school and picked places such as the carpark to take photos which can be seen as the appropriate location. For example we needed to take pictures of the shoes coming round the corner, so we found a corner in the carpark. We had to use ourselves as the characters so it is a little bit difficult to know who is who just by looking at the pictures but the detailed description under the pictures explains who is who and what the situation is. To make the teenage girl look pregnant we stuffed a jumper up her jumper, so we took into consideration elements like these to make the storyboard easier to understand and establish the characters.
To see the photographic storyboard click here.

First draft of script

When discussing the trailer we had decided when we would have dialogue. The group wrote the first draft. As a group we will sit down and write our final script together.
This is the first draft of the script.