Location Research - 'Hope is a Waking Dream'

This is an amaze presentation that I have made to show my location research for Hope is a Waking Dream.

It shows the three potential filming locations; Herne Hill, Brixton and Dulwich.

We aim to filming in Herne Hill over the summer holidays when it is quieter as most people will be on holiday, that way there will be less to compete with in terms of background noise pollution. The area will also be less busy so shop keepers will be more inclined to let us film because it is not likely to interfere with their sales. 

Filming Schedule for 'Hope is a Waking Dream'

We hope to film over the summer holidays, although this is a challenge as both Bea and I have different holiday dates. 
After a while of planning we have managed to find a couple of days when we are both free, we just need to confirm that our actors will be free as well. 
The most likely dates that we will be filming 'Hope is a Waking Dream' will be 15-21st August. 
At the same time as filming we hope to do a photo shoot for our promotional poster. 

This Saturday I will be going to Tesco, in Herne Hill to talk to the manager about filming 'Hope is a Waking Dream' inside the store. I hope that it is going to be possible for us to film, as it is an essential part of our story. 

Filming schedule we are aiming for:

Start filming at 9:30 am.

By 10am aim to finish filming the street scenes and white board scene - we may be a bit longer than this because we are warming up to using the camera and experimenting with different angles. So we may be filming until 10:20am.

The actors for the shop scene should aim to arrive on set by 10:30am, we will explain to them what they will be doing and check their hair, make-up and costume. All of this should be finished by 10:50 am.

Finish filming the scenes in Tesco by 12.

Begin to film the second street scene by 12:20. Finish by 1pm.

Actress playing younger sister should arrive on set by 1:10pm.

Begin filming scenes with younger sister by 1:30pm as we need time to brief our actress on what she will be doing and to ensure she is comfortable.

We are aiming to finish shooting our film by 3pm.

A Piece of Happiness

By completing a preliminary task it has led me to become more aware of what we film and how we film it. As well as vital practice on Final Cut Pro.

Looking at the mistakes from our preliminary I can learn from them and improve in my final piece. 

Aspects such as the exposure and editing sequences are a little rusty but now that I can see this I am aware that I should pay particular attention to them whilst filming our final piece. 

Focus is also a major issue, as always with my work, and I will continue to work on using the camera to help me shoot focused material. 

Potential song for 'Hope is a Waking Dream' - Under

A.O.S.O.O.N - Under 

Under is a song by the musician A.O.S.O.O.N, this song inspired me because of the lyrics can be closely related to 'Hope is a Waking Dream'.

"I don't take things for granted" - this line of song can relate to the situation that the girls are now in, how they had a family and a nice life, now it has all been taken from them and they know that everything they have they should be grateful for because it may never get any better. The girls are seen in 'Hope is a Waking Dream' to make the best they can out of their tragic situation and keep a positive mind. 

"Life is no coincidence, it's what you make it" - the girls in 'Hope is a Waking Dream' are living their lives to the full, they are supporting each other and they accept that they are lucky to be alive whilst their parent are no longer there for them. They are shaping their future and taking responsibility for themselves and their relationship because they did not want to be split up by the adoption system. 

"You can choose to run up or roll down the hill" - In 'Hope is Waking Dream' the girls choose to run up the hill rather than tumble down it after their parents death. They take control of their lives living independently and supporting themselves, in 'Hope is a Waking Dream' we see the eldest sister supporting her younger sister by providing her with a sandwich. 

"Dreams are reality, reality is make believe" - this line can be seen to represent how the girls' lives have changed so much, and sometimes the reality that they are living is better to pretend that its all make believe, I feel that thats partly how they maintain a positive outlook, despite the depressing events. 

"It's a crazy world, you better keep your spears up" - this quote can be a warning of how situations can change. The crazy event of their parents death and how it has meant that the girls have had to 'keep their spears up' in light of the recent disaster. 

I also find the general tune of the song very uplifting and inspirational. When I listen to this song it makes me feel happy and that is how I linked it to 'Hope is a Waking Dream'. 

'Hope is a waking dream' thoughts 1

As we liked the theme of our Preliminary Task so much we decided to continue with it and incorporate it in our final piece called 'Hope is a waking dream'. 

Happiness is used in this through the eyes of a young girl who, although she is going through an extremely difficult time manages to find the 'light at the end of the tunnel'. 

I plan to make a portfolio for all my inspiration regarding the theme happiness and upload it to my blog. 

Research into Happiness

A Piece of Happiness - Short Film analysis for Preliminary Task 

'A Piece of Happiness' is centred around short quotes written on post-its, this is what inspired our use of quotes in the dialogue in our short film and also what inspired the title of 'Hope is a Waking Dream' as that is a quote famously said by Aristotle.

This film follows the story of a series of post it notes and how other people find them. Its simplicity and minimalistic design appeal to me as the audience are encouraged to focus only on the subject, there is no context to the quotes, why they are written and for who. 

The title comes up on a post-it note which Bea and I found very aesthetically pleasing and we hope to mirror this presentation of the title in our final short film in some way. We have an idea of a white board outside a shop reading 'Hope is a Waking Dream'. 

The other post it notes were displaced on the wall in the same way as the title, before they are blown away. 

The use of note books also appealed to us and we kept this element aside as we would also like to include this as a feature in our short film. This has potential as we plan on using narration for most of the short film, this narration can be seen as someone writing in a diary. 

The shots in this film were mostly close ups and medium shots of post-it notes, although in our preliminary we are not using shots like this the central theme of how the quotes surrounding happiness then spread both literally and metaphorically (spreading joy) we decide to do this through dialogue.

Overall the short film has a positive message, that joy can be spread easily through just a few words. In the future with our productions we hope to create a similar feeling.