Source of our story inspiration

This is the video from the news article that caught our interest and inspired our film.

Kickass Themes Research

Kickass was first a comic book, which was adapted to the film Kickass (2010).

Though they are both based around the same story in general, the comic is very different from the film as it delves more into how Dave(Kickass) is a loner and how his super hero double life effects his actual real life( and portrays the situation in a much more negative light then the film). It also emphasizes more on Dave's obsession with superheros and how this drives him to act stupidly by dresses as a hero and going out seeking thrills by pretending to be an actual vigilante. This heavily influenced the story of Ninja Child, as the whole idea of him obsessing over ninjas was inspired by what happens in Kickass.

However Ninja Child is a much more positive film, more similar to Kickass (2010) then the actual comic in conclusion. It portrays the Ninja Child's enthusiasm as positive and constructive, and shows that his life gets better as he continues with his plan, similar to how Dave's life in the film also becomes much better as he gains fame and a girlfriend through his exploits. Kickass (2010) is also focuses more on the actual relationships Dave has with his peers, unlike the comic which shows he looses interest in them quickly after starting his double life. The film shows him gain new friends, similar to how in Ninja Child, the main character gains allies and friends while he is doing his plan, who support him. Although the premise is very different, it could be comparable to how in Kickass, the title character gains allies in the form of Hitgirl, Big Daddy and Red Mist.

Kung Fu Panda Character and Opening Analysis

Kung Fu Panda (2008) is a animated children's film by Dreamworks, centreing around a young panda named Po, who is aspiring to be a Kung Fu Master. The film contains very similar themes to our film, story and character wise.

The main character, Po is very immature but thinks highly of himself- as shown in this opening sequence(which is also a dream sequence) where he imagines himself to be a great kung fu warrior. This is very similar to our own main character, The Ninja Child, who is equally as imaginative and immature. Both films, although concerning very different settings are essentially coming of age stories. Kung Fu Panda watches Po actually begin to live his dreams, and explores why he wants his goal- which is to better his self esteem and feel like he has a purpose. We see him grow from a foolish young Panda looked down on by his peers to a well respected hero during the course of this film. This is similar to Ninja Child, where we are shown how the title character grows from a shy lonely outcast to a leader among the students against the bullies of his school. A similar evolution happens to the Ninja Child's personality too- throughout the story he becomes more sociable and confident, which culminates in his group effort to stop the bullies in his school.

The openings are comparable too, as they both represent the characters and storys in a similar way. The opening of Kung Fu Panda is filmed in the style of an old chinese epic or Anime action film, but the narration makes it comedic as it's not serious and lets people know it's a comedy film. This is similar to what we're going for in the opening of Ninja Child. The opening is very choppy and cuts frequently to build tension, similar to many action films but the mise en scene and soundtrack are supposed to emphasise how it's a comedy. Both openings also represent the character as immature and confident. In Kung Fu Panda, this is seen with how the narration and dialogue frequently uses terms such as "Awesome" and "Bodacious", showing how silly the character can be. In Ninja Child, the props used are fake swords which shows how the ninja child isn;'t really serious and not old enough to have real swords.

Evaluation: Question 7

Question 7

Looking back at your prelim, what have you learnt from the progression of it to the full product??

During the preproduction stage of the prelim task, we came across many problems. First, we learnt that a good script is very important for the film, as if the actors do not say and act exactly the same every time during filming, it creates problems with continuity. As we didn't have a very solid script, it was harder to get the same sort of reactions and dialogue every time we re-shot. We also learnt that it's best to keep the dialogue to a minimum during the filming, especially in short films, as complex, long dialogue makes it harder for the actors to get the lines right every time, and make the process more complex then need be. It also makes the film work better as if you allow dialogue to tell the story too much, then you focus less on the other aspects of the film and it becomes less interesting to watch. Therefore, by using less dialogue, you can create meaning through different shots or a specific prop or bit of mise en scene. When it came to the main ask, our group made sure there was minimal dialogue during the sequence, which meant that the script could be more detailed with the actions and movements rather then words. This means we also got to concentrate more on the actual story telling, which improved our film greatly. Another problem was the location recce. I realized during the prelim that many locations will have obstructions that create problems while filming. Locations are also unlikely to fit into the exact picture of what you thought you’d be filming, so I learnt that it's best to do more then one location recce of various places and pick on that fits the situation for filming, and not the picture you had in your head, This is why we picked the location we did during the main filming- although it had a few obstructions and didn’t quite fit the image we had in mind, it was out of the way and in a place where we'd get minimal interference. It was also in a place where we could freely move about and there weren’t any obstructions to the sun which would have disrupted the lighting during filming and therefore ideal for our film. We also realized during the prelim that the actual date and times for taking the film is key to when you can take shots,. Because of this, before filming the main task, we divided up the shots into groups, which were all taken in the same area or involved the same props and characters, so that when filming, if anything came up and we weren't able to get the correct items for those shots, we still had others we could take.

During our prelim's production, there were many instances when the equipment was either broken or malfunctioning. The worst part was during the production, our camera wasn't picking up sound, and thus the prelim had no sound. There were also instances of missing components and broken tripods, which meant we weren't able to film and had to push back the filming dates, which had repercussion on the rest of the production and the locations and actors we had asked for since we had to reschedule with them too. Therefore, when we got to the main task we made sure that all the equipment was functional before setting out for filming, and because of this, all our equipment was fine during all of the filming. Furthermore, because in the prelim task, our dates changed so many times, we learnt that it's best to always keep tabs on your location, book it weeks before, so that if the day changes suddenly, there's plenty of time to reschedule and make sure there's something available. This is why we made sure the indoor location for the main task was secured weeks before we actually filmed, and then went back and secured them whenever the schedule changed. We also made sure that more then one teacher in the department knew about our filming and that they had it put on their facilities timetable so we were ensured a place. Continuity was also a key part of the production and during the filming there were instances where the dialogue or the actions weren't the same take to take, and this meant that we had less choices when editing. This is why during the filming we kept continuity sheets which kept track of the smaller details so our continuity didn't have any problems.

Post-production in the prelim task was okay with time, as we did have enough time to edit our film and then go back and change things. Because of this, time management during out main task wasn’t much of an issue as we were able to complete our editing in time and then ask for feedback and then rework everything that was wrong. Sound and music was also a big problem during our prelim as our sound wasn't captured properly and this disrupted the film, because of this, we decided to make our main task only have a soundtrack over it. We came across a couple of problems trying to find the best possible soundtrack, but we eventually found one that was perfect and we were able to cut it down to the right length and make it fit our film. In the prelim, we didn't save multiple copies of our film and because of this we weren't able to go back and make changes as easily. Although this wasn't much of a problem since we didn’t have to make many changes, however this would have been a problem in the main task. This is why we saved multiple versions of our film so that we always had versions before the edits we recently made to go back on. We also constantly saved so that if there was a problem wit our editing software, we could easily close the program and get our data back when we re-opened it.  

Evaluation: Question 6

Question 6

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

The technology I used was-

-Canon XHAI camera

-Tripod

-Adobe premiere

-Paint.net

The only time that I had used a camera like this before was when during the prelim task. We needed the tripod and tracks to keep the camera steady and the editing software to edit our film afterwards. As we had done the prelim task, we had used some of this equipment before, but now we were able to properly harness it. I learnt much more about camera movement and positioning the camera to get the best framing. I also learnt about using a tripod effectively in a smaller space, and adapting the tripod to more cramped conditions. One example of this is when we were in the changing rooms and we had to make the tripod as small as possible to balance it on one of the benches, while one of us had to stand behind it and handle and operate the camera.

While filming, we had to take account of the framing and filming techniques we learnt about in class. The technique we tried to incorporate the most was rule of thirds. The rule of thirds is a framing technique that splits up the screen in thirds and arranges the objects on the screen into those thirds. It’s to arrange objects in an order that’s natural and appealing to the eye and this makes a film aesthetically pleasing for the audience. When filming, we used it on several shots, such as the shot where the man looks at his phone, where we tried to film the shot from over the shoulder and place the prop of the phone is the far right third, so the audience’s attention would fall on it. Throughout we tried to frame out shots well, as good framing would make the storyline flow better and help keep the audience interested. To check framing on the shots, we watched all our scenes through the LCD viewfinder on the camera, which gave us a better idea of what the film would look like on screen. 

The 180 degree rule is a filming technique, but as we didn’t have very many shots where there were two characters in the same shot so we didn’t get to incorporate it into our film very often. The 180 degree rule is a rule for continuity, and it says that a camera cannot pass a straight line in between two characters without visually showing the movement. This line is straight, and this called the 180 degree line. It’s an important rule to follow as otherwise the film would confuse the audience and make the film hard to follow. 

The only time we got a chance to do the 180 degree rule was when we were filming the man coming up to the ninja. There were two shots of these, each and over the shoulder shot- one from the man’s perspective and one from the ninjas. In both of the shots, the ninja is always on the right side of the frame while the man is on the left, keeping a sort of continuity and flow between the two shots. Continuity was a key part to the filming as it helps keep the audience on focus as it makes the film look like one continuous storyline and thus allows the viewer to fully immerse themselves into the film. To make sure we had the best continuity we recorded what was happening on continuity sheets which made sure we filmed everything correctly.

Match on action is another filming technique that involves starting one action on one shot and finishing it in the next. It allows the audience to look into detail at certain actions and makes the film more interesting. The only time we really used match on action was in the series of two over the shoulder shots, where the man is seen running towards the ninja in the first, and then stops in the second. This creates a flow in the two shots and looks much better then two stationary shots of two people just standing staring at each other. Also on these two shots, we were able to use Manual focusing, so that the farther away character was more blurred out then the one who was closer. Action reaction shots are similar, as they also tie a story together and create a sense of flow in the film. We didn't get a loot of chances to do these either, although after the two over the shoulder shots, there is a cut to the shot of the word “challenge” which is a reaction to the previous shots as it shows what will come next from this confrontation.

Safety shots are shots which are taken as extras after a good take is done. The term is also applicable to similar shots taken slightly differently, to experiment with the storytelling of a scene. These provide a sort of padding so that when it comes to editing the filmmaker has lots of choices and can get the best result for their film. Total shots are shots of the entire scene taken from afar, and are used as a fall back in case all the safety shots are not workable. If the safety shots don’t work out, then it means that the filmmaker can go back to the total shot and take parts of it to use in the final product. While filming, my group made sure to take safety shots of many of the shots with movement, such as the tracking shot which had over eight takes. However we found that we should have also taken more safety shots of more static scenes as some of these made our film ineffective in some areas. We also weren't able to make many total shots at the area we were filming in was full of obstructions and most of our shots didn't include much action.

While filming we learnt that weather could change everything in filming. There were times whilst filming that the weather was very dark and other times when it was perfect for filming. One of our shots included a time lapse of the sky and we set up the camera to take a long shot of the sky. However it was very cloudy and we feared that the shot wouldn't show enough variation. However when it came to editing, we realised that this was perfect when speeded up. 

There was also times where the weather allowed us to get brilliant shots, such as in the shot from behind the ninja when he walks off into the distance. In this shot, we were able to capture a lens flare as the sun was out and at a perfect angle. Location can also heavily influenced how one films. We realized we had to position our camera on uneven ground which meant we had to maintain spirit level at all times and make sure the tripod was balanced. If it wasn't our shots would be uneven and tilted.

With the editing software, Adobe Premier, we learnt many new things about using it. First, I learnt here are more then one way of cutting a rush- one can splice it with the razor tool or slowly cut it down by dragging it to the frame you want it to stop at. Previously I had only been splicing but I learnt that splicing is best for cutting the rush while dragging is better for fine tuning a shot.

An example of a bin, taken from google images

 I also learnt the value of having a bin to keep all the rushes of film and sound, as it means that there's always a raw of the media to use if you even make a mistake. It also keeps everything together, so you can see that the different things you've been using. We learnt a lot about effects and using the timeline with video and audio layers, which allowed us to easily edit through our work and organize the film. We also learnt techniques of fading opacity of titles to make them fade into the film and lowering the volume of sound so different sound clips faded together.

While filming we make a lot of mistakes, but were able to rectify them. When filming there was the tracking shot. This was the first time using tracks and thus it meant we weren't at all good at using them. To fix this we took many takes of this shot, and in different ways(such as holding the camera still, physically carrying the camera behind him etc). This gave us a good range of shots to use and we ended up with a good shot. There was also the shot of the mask/sword and calendar hanging in the changing room. It was very difficult to position the camera here, and we ended up having many takes of that shot as well, and taking it both on the tripod and off. Finally, the filming of the final shot was very difficult as we first intended on a low angled shot, but this was impossible to do with our equipment. Instead, we took a slow shot that panned up while zooming out, and rested on a midshot of the ninja child, which was quite effective and more interesting then our original idea. While editing, our program crashed multiple times. To help ourselves, we made sure we saved frequently so we didn't loose any work. The time lapse was also a problem as we found the entire shot was too long and we couldn't speed it up more then 10000% of it's original play speed. To make that shot smaller, we ended up cutting a section of it, and it still was ok after, so the problem was fixed.