film opening technology standard;

The video camera used in my production was a Sony Cybershot point-and-shoot digital camera. This belongs to me and so it was very easy for me to use. The burst function on the camera was most useful for taking my photos, although even with the tripod I still felt I needed more hands to use everything at the same time and get better shots. I used a Gorillapod tripod, which is miniature and very flexible - very handy for stop motion.

While composing my shots I tried to use markers so when changing around my props I didn't move things too much, particularly with the more fiddly scenes. This seemed to work okay, but I guess I should have just used more blutack.

I recorded the dialogue on my camera as I didn't have immediate access to a separate microphone. The quality was not as good as it could have been if I had taken the time to organise this different method.
I gave up importing my images and sound almost right away on the school computers as I had a lot of problems with Premiere Pro, and in the end I decided it was best to do all my editing at home. The importing of my files - especially music/sound files went a whole lot smoother at home.

The song I used came from my large music collection, I spent a lot of time deciding what song to use, narrowing it down to a few choices and finally picking Hedonistic Me - Born Ruffians. I picked this song as it was just the right speed, and the guitar theme was perfect for what was happening in the storyline with the owl playing guitar. Sounds effects were slightly more difficult to find because of the new downloading law but after a wee bit of sleuthing I did find some really good free sound database sites and sourced my sounds from there.

My two major editing programs used were Microsoft Digital Image and Sony Vegas Movie Studio. Microsoft Digital Image played a massive role as nearly all my stills were manipulated in some way so I could fit them together and have them look as I wanted. Removing white backgrounds from all my pictures and making them transparent was a slow and gruelling process but at least it was something I was confident I could do and was previously aware of how long the process would be, having edited images countless times before. Each shot is usually made up of two still cut and edited together. I had never used a professional movie editing program properly before but after deciding on Sony Vegas I quickly picked up how it worked. I found the editing program easy to use and it was preferable to programs such as Windows Movie Maker as it had lots of great tools like the marker function which was absolutely perfect for aligning my music and sounds with the pictures - I believe this really made my film a polished product. I also used Audacity to make the dialogue recording clearer by removing the background noise. Audacity was also used to chop and change my music, cutting out a section in the middle so when playing from start to finish the ending was still included and the song sounded completed.

film opening review;

My film opening is completed, edited and submitted!

Some positive aspects of the process were how it cut together and fit very nicely. I was pleased with how I managed to get the whole film to move exactly in time to the music and/or sound effects. The photos of the letters and the recording of the clicking sounds of them were done seperately and I was unsure if this would work out but I'm impressed it did. I was also happy with how the fishing scene turned out because the props used were so tiny and it was difficult to get them to line up without moving between photos or without the blutack showing. After a few takes I had it looking smooth and effective and I liked this scene a lot.

I was satisfied with most the sunset transitions that I did, but because I did this in an editing program, photo by photo, it took me quite a while per picture and as a result I didn't get quite the effect I was after. I felt it was too jumpy and that made it less beautiful. If I had more time to do it again I would make more sunset shots so that the sunset was more seamless and polished. I also needed to pay more attention to lighting, because when the pictures were put on to the backgrounds there were subtle colour/shade differences between frames because I hadn't properly taken this factor into account. I needed to put a set flash on on my camera instead of leaving it on automatic, and I needed to avoid the sunlight hitting my props.

film opening crew and talent/art department/location;

crew: 
myself

talent:
narrator - Mummy
assistant - Eloise

art department:

• all pictures will be sourced from the internet, printed and then collaged.
• my owl and cat are handmade puppets that my great grandma made a long time ago.
• most/all of the images (backgrounds, boats, fishing rod, guitar, etc.) will be doctored.
• I use Microsoft Digital Image to edit my pictures, I have this program at home
• sound effects (waves, whale chatter, splashes) are found on free sound databases on the internet.

location permission
I give myself permission to use my computer, my bedroom and my brain. :)

film opening script;

The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear

The Owl and the Pussycat
Went to sea,
In a beautiful pea-green boat,
They took some honey,
And plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five pound note.

film opening treatment & style;

The film opens with a white screen and the title The Owl and the Pussycat files letter by letter onto the screen. There are the sounds of the clicking as the magnetic letters hit the board, the letter y hit the board sideways and then squeaks while turning the right way. Waves roll in as the voiceover of the narrator reads "The Owl and the Pussycat, by Edward Lear" This now cuts into a scene of the sea, with a pea-green boat on it, an owl and a pussycat are in the boat as well as some honey, money and a guitar that are visible. The waves move, accompanied by the sounds of waves swishing and crashing as the voiceover of the narrator reads the first verse of The Owl and the Pussycat (here).

The waves get louder as it cuts into a time-lapse montage, accompanied by music - Hedonistic Me by Born Ruffians.Clips are of the owl playing guitar with music coming from the guitar, the cat then has a fishing rod, line goes out into the water, they wait for a few moments, then it the line comes back in with a fish, then with a whole pile of fish. Then they hear a chatter behind them, they turn around and it's a dolphin.One dives up, then another, then a third. they watch them dive. Then the two of them look up to the sky, they watch in the exact same position as the sky changes above them, sunset in colours of orange, yellow and pink, until the moon and stars come in and it is night time. The last frame we see is one of the silhouette of them in the dark on the water in their boat.

I want to do this sort of in the style of a children's picture book. Stop motion helps with this a lot as the lack of smooth flow is like the short break when turning a page.

film opening concept & research;

 

The Owl and the Pussycat

My film is going to be based loosely on the poem The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear. 

My target audience is younger children, or big kids if you feel like :D I am planning to use stop motion and a handmade collage (using edited "stock images") to tell the story. 

I am beginning with the very first stanza narrated by my mum in the classic and original style of the poem and then moving on to a montage set to an assortment of songs. This montage will contain all the fictional adventures of the Owl and the Pussycat.

I have access to most of the equipment to make this happen, photoshop and other photo manipulation programs, a sony cybershot camera (with burst function), a narrator, a large collection of music and a flexible tripod. I need to learn how to use film editing software to complete this.I don't think this will have a high impact on the audience as not much attention is required to understand it. :)

I did my research by looking up the words to the poem and then by reading different picture book interpretations of the poem.

I searched sound effect websites for good ocean sounds and I then spent a lot of time on google images looking for pictures that I can edit into what I needed. I decided to use an origami boat in the end, because it was hard to find a boat that was mostly a straight colour.  I borrowed mum's magnetic letters from school.