Oliver Turner AS MEDIA: Love Actually Task

Wednesday, 9 September 2015
Love Actually Task


We were put into groups and given the task to recreate the opening scene from love actually. We had to think about cast, setting, props, costume and the storyboard. This was the sheet that we were given

Our group -

Laura Walker
Meghan Kelly
Holly Gunton
Ollie Turner
Emma


Here is the clip from love actually that we will be recreating:



The storyboard

Task 1- Finding our Cast

We had many issues with casting due to the fact some people could not make the date and had to pull out because of other reasons. Our original cast was:

* Prime minister- Tom Coath ✔️
* Annie- Miss Tremblay ✔️
* Natalie- Rose Mason ✔️
* Terence- Mr Rowe ❌ Mr Dickerson ✔️
* Pat- Caitlin Woolrich ❌ Charlotte Flaherty ✔️

We asked a range of different students and teachers to step in for the people who pulled out and we finally came to a conclusion on the day of filming. We decided to cast students and teachers so that we could easily communicate with them on social media "Yammer" about details to do with the filming. In addition to this, we also needed to cast people who would naturally be wearing a smart uniform so the fact that our peers and teachers did not need to bring a change of clothes aided the whole process.

We decided to cast Mrs Tremblay to be Annie because of her confidence, charisma and background acting. She is also an A-Level drama teacher so will came across convincingly and professionally. For Natalie and the Prime Minister, we chose two A-Level drama students for the same reason- Rose Mason and Tom Coath.  For the role of Pat, we decided to give the role to Charlotte Flaherty as she fitted the description and also had background skills with acting so had confidence when in front of a camera. Finally, we decided on Mr Dickerson to play Terence- he was funny, abrupt and also very convincing in front of the camera.

Task 2- Setting

* Park Farm

A group of us went down to Park Farm Hotel to ask the managers permission to film on their premises.

We thought that Park Farm would be the perfect setting for our reenactment of love actually because it is grand, large and relatively posh. We planned for the prime minister to drive up to the entrance and then carry out a match on action of him opening the door from the outside and coming in from the inside. Despite the fact the boss said we could film on their premises, in the end, we could not film there as the date we had decided on meant that Park Farm was not free.

Instead, we found a medium sized room which looked a little like a conference room. It looked very smart and modern. We have decided to add props such as papers, news, books, mugs, a kettle and some vases to make it look more realistic and less like a class room. For the start of the scene,  we have used the outside of the backdoor to the sixth form reception as it is the most convincing number 10.

Task 3- Filming and directing

We got set up at about 16:00 and finished at 17:30. We spent the first half an hour going through scripts, laying out props, perfecting the setting and getting the cameras set up. This was a good use of our time as it meant everything was ready for when we started filming. In the room, we layed out objects such as folders, papers and documents to make it look professional, political and businesslike. We also added little touches such as plant pots and chairs. Downstairs, we got rid of the objects that looked obviously school-like and added objects that looked 10 Downing Street like.

Here are some Images of the filming and directing behind the scenes-

Fortunately we did not have to do many retakes as we had planned it all out carefully, however from time to time, someobody forgot a line or we didn't get the shot perfect so we re shot it. I think it went very smoothly due to the fact we only casted Mr Dickerson hours before. I was thankful that Park Farm were unable to let us film there as we would have been under too much pressure to finish filming and may not have tried so hard to get the shots perfect.

The storyboard was also planned precisely so that we didn't waste too much time. We followed it to the most part however we did have to change it around a little bit as originally we had planned to film at Park Farm.

Here is the full cast -

Unfortunately, Mr Dickerson could not be with us for this shot, we had agreed to have him for about 15 minutes as he was busy.

Task 4- The Editing Process

For our editing, as well as putting the clips together we also used many different techniques and effects. This included fading videos in and out, shortening clips and adding audio. For example, we added the 'Beep' sound effect when doing the 'bloopers' and at the start of the short film, we added the 'clapping' sound effect to mimic crowds cheering for the prime minister. We took our sound effects from YouTube and converted them into MP3 using MP3 converter. We also watched YouTube videos to help us work out how different effects work. Although the editing was fun and interesting, it also came with its difficulties. When we first started editing, we were faced with the problem of our clips zooming in. However, we overcame it by researching how to fix it and trying things out on adobe premier pro. We also learnt how to render our clips and managed to successfully export it onto our desktop and onto YouTube.

Final cut exported to YouTube: