Nisserin Bessioua - UCA Television Production

Having completed my project, I feel that my skills have developed a great deal. At the start of the project, I found the task of writing a script quite a daunting idea and I struggled with my story. I found that by talking to other students and asking for their opinions I became more confident in my idea. Writing my script went well and I found that once I got into my story, I was able to write the rest quite easily. The script feedback from Simon and Steve Coombes was extremely helpful in the development stages of my script and I felt that this improved my story massively. I had never written a script before this project so I have learnt many things from just this section of the unit. I now know how to use Final Draft and what a script consists of. In our camera and editing workshops, I learnt how to use the cameras and how to use Adobe Premiere Pro. Our camera workshops were very helpful for me because I hadn't used a camera like them before and the practice we got out o...

Our rough cut deadline was for us to show Simon our projects so far. The feedback I received was helpful for me in that I now have some ideas on how to develop my project further. For example, I have edited my titles to make them zoom in as they play, making them more animated and interactive rathe r than just stills.  I spent last Thursday filming some more for my video. W e set up the crime scene and had Laura lay on the flo or as my dead body and then had Becca preten d to be the forensic scientist in my story. I filmed these clips to add int o my video as it changed from the first 2 minutes to a trailer and I want ed another location in the video. I add the new vi de os in short sections betwe en the titles and clips of the characters spe aking to at ten sion and suspen se .  In the development on my video, I played with the s ound and tested out some different effects that would at some atmosphere and suspense. I found some atmospheric music th...

I used Casting Call Pro in order to obtain actors for my production. I chose to do this because I wanted to work with people who had some experience and could really take on the role of playing my characters. Annie Richards - played by Jodie Shanks I chose Jodie to play the character of Annie as I felt she had the innocent look I wanted for Annie's character. I was aiming for Annie to come across as quite young and naive, which I think Jodie portrayed really well. I also wanted Annie to have a slight temper on her and be quite passionate when she spoke, something that I thought Jodie could put across well from watching some of her previous work. When it came to filming I thought that Jodie portrayed Annie's character perfectly and loved the emotion she put into it. Steph Butler - played by Ellie May I felt that Ellie would be good for the role of Steph as she displayed the ability to be quite serious but still sympathetic which was my initial description of Ste...

Peter Moffat is an English Play write and Screenwriter. H is first play was called Fine and Private Place and was broadcast on BBC in 1997 and has written for shows such as Silk, Criminal Justice, The Village    Peter Moffat began his life as a barrister, and with his knowledge in the field, was asked to write for the show Kavanagh QC. T his then lead hi m into writing other crime dramas such as Silk, North Square and Criminal justice.  His writing career began with plays such as Fine and Private place, which was broadcast on BBC Radio in 1997 and Nabokov's Gloves and Iona Rain.    I found that reading through some of the scripts for Silk and Criminal Justice helped when it came to writing mine because I was able to look for some of the technical terms used in crime dramas and some of the sayings they use to describe crimes. I also found the action helpful because I wasn't sure how much description to include about the location an...

Lynda La Plante is a British screenwriter and former actress , her work includes Prime Suspect and Above Suspicion. She has written many novels and screenplays including Widows which became one of the highest rating series of the 1980's. Before becoming a screen writer, she originally trained as an actress, working with the Royal Shakespeare Company and starring in popular shows such as The Sweeny and The Professionals. PRIME SUSPECT La Plante started working on Prime Suspect in 1990, a police drama set in the Metropolitan Police Service. Starring Helen Mirren who plays protagonist Jane Tennison, a female Detective Chief Inspector who has to deal with sexism in her workplace while trying to rise up the ranks. Series 1 was released in 1991 and La Plante soon wrote series 2 of the  popular show which became a hit.    This video shows Lynda La Plante talking about where her main character in Prime Suspect came from. She says in the interview that she does...

Someday is a surrealist drama about a girl and a boy written by Patrick Floener.  The film makes effective use of the close up shots to make it more personal and draw the audience in to the story. This close up shot of the female characters face immerses the audience in her emotions pulls them into her character. This is something I want to try and do in my project to get my audience into their emotions and what they are saying. The short film uses lots of slow camera shots such as a slow tracking shot and zoom. This adds to the effect of the film and shows that the main female character has been waiting for a long time for the a ble character to n otic e her. The film plays on the contrast of black and white by having the girl dressed in white and the boy dressed in black. The connotations of white are innocence and purity which the the bianry opposition to the colour black. This maybe hints to their characteristics and how they are very different. The films us...

After receiving my feedback from Steve Coombes and listening to his suggestions for developing my script,  I have some ideas that I now want to include .  Steve suggested that I change the beginning of my script. I originally had three different time frames including some flashbacks. To make it less confusing for someone to read, he suggested I keep my script to two time frames - DAY and FLASHBACKS. I have now adjusted the beginning of script so that I now begins with the two detectives at the crime scene, rather than starting with the actual 'meeting' in the script. Steve suggested that I develop my characters more providing detail in my action , for example by giving my victim a name and to subtly reveal hints about her personality and the reason she was killed into my flashbacks will give the audience a good reason to hate her character. I have also given my forensic scientist character more of a personality revealed more about him not only in the ...

Fil min g today went well and I managed to get done everything that I planned. The first thing we did was to set up the camera, making sure to check the exposure, white balance, focus and sound. Focusing my subjects was easy enough and I used the peaking setting on the camera just to make sure. The expose and white balance was fine and it was an overcast day so there were no harsh shadows and the as faces weren't over-exposed - I was able to check this with the Zebra setting.  I chose to use the clip mic and the boom to record the sound. I had no problems using the boom but I couldn't get the clip mic to work. After changing some of the settings we managed to get it working, this was helpful because it was very windy and the sound from the microphone on the boom wasn't very good; however I am still going to use some of the sound recorded from the boom as background noise.  The two minutes I was filming was quite dialogue heavy so when I was filming, I wanted to...

I have drawn out a storyboard for my production, mentioning specific shots that I am planning to film.I found that story boarding my project has helped to work out what types of shots I want to use and which ones would work best with the dialogue and story line. For example, I plan to film some over the shoulder shots and close ups of the characters faces when the say and important line of dialogue in the script.    I have also created a shot list to help me when filming, I can the cross them off as I go, making sure I haven't missed anything out. I chose to film many different types of shots as when I come to editing my project, I want to be able to have a wide range of clips to choose from. This will also help me in the editing stage if I have a shot that isn't quite right, I know I will have other options and will be able to replace it with a shot from a different angle/position.   

#AmeriCan (2014), directed by Nate Parker is drama based on a police officer working for the LA Police Department on the night shift. He responds to a convenience store break-in and when chasing down the perpetrator, he's receives a huge surprise. It is also considered a public service announcement in response to events of violence against black males in America.       This short film uses lots of natural sounds that you would normally hear on the street such as cars passing, footsteps, heaving breathing when people are running and police sirens. They are used instead of music to emphasize the drama and tension.I like the effect this has as would like to do something similar in my project.  I like the films narrative, it has two distinct moments which I remembered after it had finished. The first was the scene where the main character Jim Mitchell is chasing the group of people who robbed a local shop and he shots one of them running. When he falls ...