Filming - Day 2

Saturday 23rd January 2010

Me, Elena and Thegla all met up to begin filming the trailer. We made sure that we were well prepared this time to film. In order to do this, we completed very detailed filming plans (Shooting schedule). Again, Thegla was our actress, and this time round she had to make sense of the notes she had been receiving and look terrified/worried/upset (We will be filming how she receives these notes at a later date). The setting of today's filming was a bedroom. We used natural and artificial lighting (from the window and the bedroom light). We filmed a selection of shots such as:

• over the shoulder shots
• wide shots
• reaction shots

We filmed a selection of these shots so that during the editing stage we can choose the best ones.

We began with the over the shoulder shots so that we could film all the ones showing Theglas face afterwards so that she had time to prepare herself to cry and look scared. The wide shots, reaction shots and close-ups all followed.

Whilst filming, we connected the camera to a TV using a scart lead so that we could all see the shots we were taking and all that was on the screen. This enabled us all to notice different points which turned out to beneficial to our product. For example, Thegla noticed during one of the shots that the microphone had been lowered and was in the shot. We then re filmed this bit.

We did not need to use many props, however, the props we did use were:

• tissues scrunched on the bed (to show the character had been crying)
• a phone (When the character remembers the text she had received)
• the notes

One main problem we encountered was the text on the phone kept coming through too small. To overcome this, we decided to take a photo of the word from a newspaper and leave the picture on widescreen. This looked effective as the image covered the whole screen and looked like a text.

We decided to change around the way the notes were received as this would confuse the audience and create suspicion within the trailer. From the notes forming 'WE KNOW WHAT YOU DID', they first create 'DID YOU KNOW WHAT' then when Thegla finally remebers the text she re-orders them to say 'YOU KNOW WHAT WE DID', then finally 'WE KNOW WHAT YOU DID'.

The camera, microphone and headphones.

The tripod.

Elena filming and me holding the microphone and headphone. The camera is connected to the TV.

Elena filming and the camera and the TV connected.

Elena filming, me holding the microphone and Thegla acting.

Magazine Cover - Final Draft

I have since edited my cover from the image below. I decided to use all original images instead of found images as the one below shows. Below is the FINAL DRAFT of my magazine cover.

This is the final draft of my magazine cover. I am much happier with the outcome of it. I realised that one of the main problems with the drafts was that the main image had the background to it. This is not usually seen on real TV guides. I set about to change this.

I opened a selection of images onto photoshop and practiced with a variety of the tools to erase the background. The first image I edited was the one of Thegla's face. I did this using the 'Elliptical Marquee Tool'. This allowed me to cut Thegla's face into a round shape.

Next to edit the main image I firstly used the magnetic lasso tool which allowed me to cut out the part of the picture I wanted to use. In this case, us. I then used the eraser tool set on a soft brush which allowed me to blur the edges. I had to magnify the image because Elena's curly hair made erasing the background hard. I had to erase it almost pixel by pixel. I then cropped the picture to get rid of the extra white space.

For another image, I used a different method to edit the picture and cut out just the part I wanted. I used the extract tool by highlighting the edges that I wanted to cut and then the programme cut the image out for me. I then tidied the edges with the eraser then used the history brush tool to completely tidy the image.

I chose to use the image I edited with the extract tool as we were all standing closer together. However, once I put the image onto Publisher and tried to make it transparent (so the white background of the picture couldn't be seen) parts of the image went transparent too such as my nose, Elena's hands and the side of Thegla's face. Natalie's silver bracelet and Elena's ring also turned transparent. In order to solve this problem, I had to darken the whiter skin tones and the silver jewellery. I also erased Elena's ring off her finger as it would not darken enough.

Once I was satisfied with my image, I filled up the cover with things seen on successful TV guide covers, such as the straplines and the puff.

I changed the name of the magazine to 'All TV' as I thought 'TV Revealed' was too long, after having researched the lengths of TV magazine titles. Such titles included 'TV Choice'. 'What's on TV' and 'Radio Times'. I used bright, eye-catching colours to draw in the reader. I found that most TV guides use a blue as their background.

Below is the draft which uses found images from the internet.

(OLD ONE!!)

Magazine Cover

To create my first drafts of my magazine cover, I used the programme Microsoft Publisher. I decided to name my magazine 'TV Revealed'. As a group, we had originally decided to base our magazine covers around a magazine such as 'Radio Times'. However, when attempting to do this, I changed my mind and decided to use TV guides such 'TV Choice' and 'Whats on TV'. This ended up being easier.
I started off by placing my chosen image onto the page without editing it in photoshop. I then edited it by cropping down the sides which I did not want. Adding the blue background made the magazine cover look similar to already existing magazines.

I was unhappy with my first few drafts (see below).


Draft 1 - the blue background made the magazine look a bit amateurish and i was unhappy with the layout and the overall look of the magazine. I left this draft unfinished.

Draft 2 - i changed the background from the blue to an off-white as the blue seemed too overpowering. However, this did not make the magazine look much better or like a real TV guide. I also changed the image in the hope it would make the cover seem better. It did not and I was still unhappy with what I had done. I decided to make the magazine a Valentine's Special as the dates on the magazine would cover Valentines Day.

Draft 3 - this draft was still not as good as I had hoped it to be. I moved a few bits around such as the bar code and I removed the TV on the title. These changes still did not make my TV guide look professional.

I will be re-doing my magazine with more changes.