The Reluctant Blogger

The team decided to interview a range of children between the ages of 7 and 18 upon realising that a diverse choice would provide various answers and give more insight into a child's mind and imagination. The team went in expecting the younger children to be more imaginative and flamboyant than the older kids. But what happened in the interviews turned out to be something quite different. Each section was approached in a specific way: Boys Brigade    The Boys Brigade is a uniformed organisation that is made up of 4 sections: Anchor boys (5-8 years old) Junior (8-11 yrs) Company (11-15 yrs) Senior (15-18 yrs) To cover a more diverse range of children, the team decided to interview boys from the junior and company sections, along with two senior members. The boys seemed quite happy to be interviewed, though some were shyer than others. Since aliens and space is seen as a 'boys subject' it was thought that these kids would have much wilder and more imaginati...

How to interview children and young adults Introduction: There is much taboo about working with children in film. As W.C. Fields once said: “Never work with children or animals.” Sometimes they are too lively or energetic for a director to cope with; they may have short attention spans; they are unpredictable. "The audience always looks for the adorable young child or animal - they steal every scene. "many stars will never appear with animals or children in the belief that no adult can compete" has been cited in print since 1931, in a newspaer article indicating that this film tradition carried over from the stage."        - Barry Popik (2012), "Never work with children or animals" (Show Business Adage) But something special happens when you place a child in front of the camera, when you let them take centre stage and unleash their imagination. In taking away the pressure and the script, a filmmaker can use that unpredictability to cre...

Production The reality sequences were filmed over two days in West Bromwich Central Public Library and The Pavilion Café in Stoke-on-Trent. These scenes made up the beginning and end of the film. THE LIBRARY In the library the character (Kim) introduces the audience to her world. Scenes of books and pages are shown, and a ghost-like  time-lapse  was created.   Extra sounds were recorded for the library scene in which Kim hears whispers coming from the books like the moment in Inkheart. We had to create a sign for the cafe as there isn't yet one at the library, which then cut to the location in Stoke. The library was really helpful when it came to filming, and the whole scene was shot in about 2 hours. THE CAFE The cafe scene was filmed on a different day to the library. In the cafe Kim meets the Barista, or Atsirab, and orders a cup of tea and a muffin. The timing for the shoot was limited and as we worked on the lighting outside les...

The concept for this assignment was to create a one minute film using two characters and 1 light. The camera was handheld throughout, and captured one character’s point of view for the purpose of building an atmosphere of intensity. The chosen light source was a torch – which directly interacted with both characters – and was used to reveal things hidden in the darkness and create ghost-like reflections. Sound effects were recorded on location using radio mics, and additional recordings were made (such as footsteps) for foley design. These were the intentionally added in order to achieve the desired effect. In post-production, a static effect – which both incorporated the visual and audio aspects of the film – was added to help achieve a ‘poor quality’ look that also provided a way of piecing the footage together. As we filmed the short in a ‘haunted’ part of an old Pub, it was a little terrifying at times. There was little natural light to film with, so we had to ens...

THE BRIEF:   Advanced Film Production Module - Assignment 1: 'For this assignment you will need to shoot, edit, grade and sound design a short film detailing the journey from dawn to dusk.' Dartmouth Park Considering that 2014 was the 100 year anniversary of the end of the First World War, I wanted to create something that tied in with that theme. Although I wanted to concentrate on the First World War, I also wanted to remember every soldier who fought for our country in the many wars previous and since. I researched many of the cenotaphs and memorials around the Black Country, and decided to visit and 'catalogue' each one. FILM DESCRIPTION: Dawn till Dusk is a short 2 minute film that takes the audience on a journey around the Black Country, visiting all of the War Memorials in each borough over a period of time. The phrase 'Dawn till Dusk' is taken literally in several ways: the period of time; the beginning and end of the First World War; the na...