PG Rating

The PG film rating means:

• General viewing, but some scenes may be unsutible for children.
• Unaccompanyied children of any age can watch.
• A 'PG' film should not disturb children ages eight or under.
• However parents are asked to consider whether the content may upset younger or more sensitive children.

This was taken from www.bbfc.co.uk. This is a reliable source of information and that is why we used it.

22nd October - second filming lesson

Today we captured most of the joint scenes. We managed to get a lot done in this lesson, so we have made up for the filming we missed on our previous lesson. The shots that we have left to film are simple, easy to do farming shots. Next lesson we will complete out filming and we will have all of our footage left to edit.

20th October - 1st filming lesson

Today we stated our filming for 'The city and the country'. We all agree that the filming could have gone a lot smoother and we could have got more done. The reason for this is because we had a couple of shots that were very difficult to capture, so this took a lot of time so we didn't get as much done as we needed to. This means that next lesson we will have to work harder and get more done so that we can catch up on what we should have done today. Todays footage was mainly of Ben as Ellie and Leah didn't have their equiptment, so we will concentrate on their scenes next time.

Story Boards

These two story boards show the different shots we will use to create out two minute clip. They show a rough outline of how the scene will take place. This will be useful for when we are filming because it gives us a plan to follow.

Soundtrack Analysing

To analyse a soundtrack we looked at the opening title soundtrack for Monsters Inc.
The conventions of a childrens film soundtrack are:
Very upbeat, lots of major (happy) phrases used, hardly any minor (sad) phrases used at all, this appeals to children as the way it makes a child feel is very important to how successful the film is.
The upbeat rhythm keeps them entertained so they don't get bored and begin to complain.
The instruments used are mostly brass instruments as if it was played by a small jazz band. This is quite strange for a childrens film as jazz isn't normally very appealing for children and its target market is more aimed at middle aged adults.
For our garage band soundtrack we will use the upbeat rhythm but maybe use some more modern day instruments.

Timeline for childrens film

This time line shows us a basic outline of the 2 minute scene. we have split it up into three sections to make it easier to capture the different clips. When we film, this time line will help us as it will give us a guide of what we need to include.

Quick Plan

Script

Locations and quick plan:
Zac walking through his old city school carrying all his old books from where he is now leaving. pan shot of him walking past the pond then long shot of him walking towards camera and out of the school doors. Then a close up of Zac throwing his books in the bin.
Switches to Chloe and her friend Ellie doing some farming in the fields. Long shot of the girls walking off of a field. Ellie then leaves Chloe to go home and Chloe carries on walking home.
Split screen of main characters Chloe and Zac both walking along but in their different environments, (Zac in car park and Chloe walking through the forest, Zac on the computer, Chloe reading a book, Zac texting, Chloe going to post a letter)
Screen of The City and The Country and credits with some lively music.
Then music can stop and goes to Chloe and Ellie are walking along through school chatting then Zac comes running through with all his new books and bumps into the girls and drops everything. Ellie says see you later Chloe and Chloe helps Zac with his books and they start chatting.

Final ideas

Our final ideas are that we are going to use ourselves as the actors rather than using lego because we thought it would be less time consuming and funner to make. We will have two main characters, a boy and a girl and another character who is the girls friend.
We will use a series of different locations to complete the clip but mostly ones of the countryside as this is where the majority of the film will be based.

Practice Story boards

We had to do practice story boarding on 'back to the future' in the beginning tracking shot. We had to look at 4 elements of the shot and makes notes on them, they were:
1) camera movement (Ellie)
2) mis-en-scene (Ben)
3) sound effects (Leah)
4) character position (Ben)

Camera movement..
- sweeps over the room, pan
- close up
- extreme close up
- point of veiw
- a low angle

Mis-en-scene..
- lots of clocks that all tell the same time
- we see the character enter, but only from below his knees
- we see the missing Plutonium
- we see his inventions
- we see the news on the TV about the missing Plutonium

Sound Efects..
- clock ticking all the way through the shot
- women talking on the TV
- all the different things that are going on throughout the scene are accompanied by sound e.g. the tin being opened.

Character position..
- We see the newsreader stay in a stationary position while she tells the news.
- We see the character enter and walk along the room.

Initial Opening Ideas
we are going to use animation for our childrens opening.
we will draw a backdrop for the different scenes and we will use either plasticine or lego characters.
our narrative ideas are that we have two main characters, one girl and one boy. they both live far away from each other but get brought together by fate when the boy is sent form the city to a new school near the girls farm, where they become best friends and fall in love.
The boy will be called Zac, he is 15 years old and the girl will be called Chloe who is also 15.
The film will be called The City And The Country and it is a PG.
the opening sequence: split screen of the girl in her natural surrounding and the boy in his both doing similar things but they are actually completely different.
the genre is an adventure/love story.

Continuity task