Research and Planning: Location change

For some reasons, Uqbah Jiya Khan's house was not available for the shoot anymore so we had to find another location that matched the desired misc en scene, and was available for when we had to shoot. After a lot of searching we finally found a location. We've decided to shoot at a friend's house in Bahria Town.

Here are a few pictures we took as a reference to our storyboard:

Research and Planning: Location

After a lot of searching, we've finally decided on a location for the shoot. We'll be shooting at my group member Jiya's house. Here are the pictures we took to help us in constructing our storyboard:

Research And Planning: Cast

For the film opening, we needed an older looking guy who had a beard. We think Ali fits the role perfectly.

Muhammad Ali

Anosh will be playing the role of the wife.

Anosh Ayesha

Research and Planning: Crew

We have divided tasks between ourselves in a way that best helps the final product in being as close as our imaginations. I'll be directing the Film Opening (Genre: Drama) as I feel I can help enhance the creative process, Sultan will be our Cinematographer, Uqbah (Jiya) Khan and Zain will be the producers. We've decided to edit the project together.

Shiza Wasim (me)

Zain Ahmad

Sultan Rasheed

Uqbah Jiya Khan

WELCOME- SHORT FILM

At the start of the new academic year, the graduating class (A2) throws a welcome party for the new batch of students (AS), in which they prepare dances, performances, videos etc for the new students. Every year students of A2 media class make a short film as their contribution to the welcome party. The most famous genre of the short film in the previous years has been Horror, where our school is shown as a haunted place, and this has somewhat become a ritual among media students.

 As we're the graduating media class (I'm giving composite exams) my friends and I decided to add our own twist to this ritual. We decided to make a short film of a hybrid genre; horror-comedy. We took inspiration from Scary Movie which is a parody of the horror, slasher, and mystery film genres. We incorporated the local humor (like songs by a singer called Taher Shah, which went viral across the nation due to their comedic nature.) in our video so everyone can easily relate to it.

Here's the link to our short film: Trapped

As these projects are just building blocks towards our final projects, we followed the same procedures of pre-production as we would for our final project. First we all came up with an idea, then we made a detailed storyboard, decided on the location (in school), held auditions for the actors, and collected the props. The day for the shoot was finalized and the school administration was informed beforehand. Due to our proper planning, the production phase went smoothly. It taught me the value of research and planning and how it can affect your production. This valuable lesson will help me in my final project, as I can prevent many mishaps from happening on set.

I acted as a Cinematographer along with Awais Buriro, and so I got hands-on experience with the camera. We used a Canon 6D, stabilizer, and tripod. I got to know what camera settings work well for a dark lit scenes.  I got to know more about camera angles and composition and how they represent what they represent. And I learned how different equipment helps refine a shot.

The Post-Production phase was informative too and helped develop my editing skills as the film required both fast paced and slow paced editing. I learned how background music helps elevate the action and create tension.

Overall, this was a very informative and fun experience. It helped refine my thought process, skills, and my ability to make creative decisions. So now hopefully my input in the film opening will result in a much better outcome.

RESEARCH AND PLANNING: STORYBOARD

STORYBOARD:

FILM OPENING: IDEA

25 WORD PITCH: An abusive man's struggle to cope with his wife's suicide and coming to terms with the role he played in it.

SYNOPSIS: The film starts with a man passed out on his bed with a beer bottle in his hand. He wakes up, hungover, and walks out of the room into the hallway, where he sees the aftermath of a fight he had with his wife a night before. He walks into the living room in search of his wife, and finds her there. He soon realizes that she has committed suicide by cutting her wrists.

Now that we have an idea, we'll start working on the storyboard!

BRAINSTORMING FOR IDEAS

 Being media students, particularly those who're interested in film-making, it wasn't that difficult coming up with an idea. In a course of two weeks we came up with a total of five ideas, each one of them had a unique aspect to them so we had a hard time settling on one.

 Our ideas were mainly inspired by the kinds of media products we like to consume i.e the films (and even music videos) that we enjoy watching. For example, I personally enjoy watching Drama or Thrillers with a a psychological vibe to them as I feel like they give us more to think about as opposed to most action films.

 My ideas weren't fully inspired by long hours spent searching the web, but were subconscious, from the various sorts of films I have watched, or the different artsy videos on social media. Films like (to name a few) The Great Gatsby, Fight Club, Memento, Shutter Island, The Sixth Sense, Requiem for a Dream. The combined affect of these films, and of many others, helped shape my conscience, and indirectly, my input in the ideas for the Foundation Portfolio.

In the end we had to be more realistic and  come to terms with the fact that most of our ideas were far too advanced for our level, and that at this point in time, we wouldn't be able to execute it as well as we've thought in our heads. Together we settled on an idea that we all felt showcased our combined creativity and talents in the best way, while also being entertaining enough for our audience.

ASSIGNMENT: RULE OF THIRDS

INTRODUCTION

Hi, my name is Shiza Binte Waseem and I'm doing my Media A levels from Beaconhouse School System. For the Foundation Portfolio I am working with a group which consists of three other members:
                - Sultan Rasheed
                - Uqbah Khan
                - Zain Ahmad

We try our best to get together to discuss our ideas for the film opening, whether it's by coordinating to find a time when we're all free in school, and/or discussing it on our WhatsApp/Messenger group. We realize that this project requires individual work just as much as working in a group and so we were sure to do our homework properly.