Filming & Editing: Making of Shot by Shot Remake

Overview

During the video shoot of the shot to shot remake, my skills to perform under pressure due to timed conditions were put to test. The atmosphere became very chaotic and stressful, however the job had to be done. 

We had to improvise with our shortage of props, i.e. real cars, graffiti on the walls of the building, etc. But we found alternatives like toy cars, and instead of using a wall of grafitti, we used a board. We tried to make them look as realistic as we could.

What I learnt?

The shot by shot remake enhanced my knowledge of shot types as we had to replicate the shot type accurately from 'The Breakfast Club' film. For example, for the photo below, we had to use the exact same shot type of the school corridor which is a long shot.



We also learnt how to edit films using the professional technology used by experts in pro-production. We used three different computers that were all connected to the one film we were creating but each had a separate functions. We also got to experience the pressure professionals do when making a film with a publicised release date. 

What will change when making our own opening?

Unfortunately, my group ran out of time and had to be given an extra few minutes in order to complete our shot by shot remake, showing that we struggled to cope with the pressure successfully as it was our first time shooting under timed conditions. I think one of the reasons that contribute to why my group and I didn't finish on time is because we took on each task/shot together. What would have been more effective is if we had given each other individual and different responsibilities which would have been much more faster and efficient. For example, if one of us had the responsibility of filming the shots while the other prepares the following shot simultaneously. And then switch responsibilities in order for each of us to have a go at everything.  

Review of teen film- The breakfast club

The breakfast club is know to be as one of the pioneers of teens films as it kick started the teen film genre with other iconic films such as 'grease' , 'back to the future' etc. The breakfast club follows a group of five  teenagers who come from a vary of different cliques each one of them representing one  such as the jock, the princess , the nerd ,the basket case and the criminal. All five of these characters are forced to sacrifice their Saturday and spend  eight hours in after school detention. The films main target audience is projected at teenagers of all ages and groups, the reason why this film did so good in the film industry as it was able to include all the stereotypes within teenagers which meant most teenagers where able to relate to  at least one characters in the film.

The Criminal.

The Nerd.

The Basket case.

The Jock.

 The Princess.

During the film the school principle requires the students not to talk , move from their seat or sleep through the detention. After the  teenagers slowly get bored the criminal decides to  break the silence by annoying each member of the group, which slowly causes tension  between each member of their clique which the director is able to show how each clique differs from each other.  As time passes by group begin to become more friendly and develop conversation from time to time, the criminal then proposes that the group should smoke cannabis in which they all finally agree to. When smoking  they all become friendly with  each other and they start to reveal their dark secrets to each other , it is then at this point the director John huges is able to breakdown each clique and show how really alike all of them are to each other but due to things such as  stigmas each clique are hostile to each other and ignore each other rather than showing compassion and friendliness.

Overall I enjoyed the film very much as i was able  to relate to some of these characters and enjoyed how the film use the codes and conventions of a standard teen film.It was very interesting as this film was made during the 80's (quite a bit before my time) and i was still able to see that this film was  the kick starter for the teen film industry and it is also interesting being able to compare and contrast with later teen films such as 'mean girls' '10 things i hate about you' etc. and how they borrow similar features from the early generation of teen films.   

'The Breakfast Club' Storyboard Template

Travelling and Arriving - Storyboard

Donnie Darko blogging task - characters

CHARACTERS -( Donnie Darko)

 
In the beginning the first character that is show is Donnie Darko who is shown to be the main character as he is in the middle of his friends showing he is the leader within the group, but he is also shown to walking at a much faster pace than his friends maybe implying that he is not  as close with them.

During the 0:23 the evil antagonist who is also the bully is shown to be walking through the hall his appearance has a evil smug look on his face and then he is shown to walk very close to Donnie almost nudging him when passes him this shows that they clearly don't like each other , this also links back to binary oppositions as these two characters are clearly opposite from each other with one being the protagonist and the other being an antagonist . Lastly he gives an evil grin to the headteacher which shows conflict as she clearly despises him due to the fact on ignorance on her face.

At the 0:40  the camera pans across to show a young youthful teenage girl looking at the mirror with the use of this action we can clearly see that she is a 'pure'due to her having hardly any make up and a innocence face and  the  fact that she is on her own implies that she is almost like a 'undiscovered' beauty as she is not exploited by popular girls as she doesn't  heavily use make up and wear revealing clothing to make her look beautiful but instead shes relies on her natural looks 

lastly at the 2:00 we are shown a group of young girls who are cheer leading they mostly follow into the appearance and stereotype  of the popular girl as they follow the typical codes and convection's such as having blonde hair Caucasian skin etc. also they adopt the norms of a popular girl by taking part in the activity cheer leading. however the girls look really young around the ages of 12-14 this maybe because the director wants to show how fast young girls are willing to group into women and transform their looks so they can feel pretty and popular. 

DONNIE DARKO ANALYSIS - EDITING AND CAMERA

CAMERA

This mid shot is used to show that life at this school may not be like a normal school, it suggests that things at the school are different and twisted. Also its part of a continuos shot which may show that school life flows.

The use of mid shots in the corridors helps show the audience the characteristics of each character shown. for example here we see two wonderful students casually snorting their cocaine in the corridor with a teacher looking onwards in the background.







EDITING

The majority of the scene is a continuos shot which helps show that the life in the school just flows no matter what. Slow motion is also used to helps showcase each character in a more detailed way allowing the audience to analysis them in much more detail.

Travelling and Arriving Analysis - The Breakfast Club

Breakfast Club Analysis

How does mode of transport establishes each different character?

Princess - Driven to school by her dad in a BMW, moans about missing shopping for detention, doesn't say bye to her dad - spoilt.

Athlete - Driven to school by his dad in a pick-up truck. Father cares about him and his success in sports, he pressurises his son to succeed.

Criminal - Walks to school alone, walks in front of a driving car - careless. An outsider. No family.

Basketcase - Girl is driven to school by her parent. When she arrives, she leans on the window, attempting to say bye to her parents, they drive off before she gets a chance to say bye - detachment. Expensive car - rich family. Parents may be more involved in their professions as they do not seem to care that their child is in trouble.

Brain - Hardworking. Is driven to school by his mother and younger sibling. Mother is very strict and eager for her son's educational success - 'find a way to work.'