Contacting Hopeless Records for licensing agreements

I have written to Hopeless records in order to gain licensing agreement for use of two songs under their ownership.

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am contacting you on behalf of Gordano School Media productions for use of licensing approval of two "All Time Low" tracks.
For an A-Level course a short film has been created, and the tracks "Weightless - All Time Low" and "A Party Song - All Time Low" Would like to be used, finaliseing the film.
I am contacting you to find out If I am able to get licensing agreements in order to use the songs within the film.

Yours faithfully

Joel Hall
Gordano School
England

This image is from the contact form on the hopeless records website.

Diary of production

Thursday, 18 March 2010

Day 1 of filming
Morning

Decisions

We wanted to film Matt's bedroom shots in the morning, then move into Bristol for the rest of the scenes, this plan was to as soon as we had finished and watched his bedroom shots.
We wanted to add a shower shot of Christopher(Joel) to be cleansed of his nerdyness, this would also add a comical side to the jokes which would add to the style of the film, this shot would be hard because we did not want the camera to get wet through the scene, so wondered what angle and distance to keep the camera.

Tracking or Panning and Tilt?

We wanted to get a feel for the room which Christopher(Joel) would be spending most of his time, this would allow the audience to know what type of person he is, and give some mise-en-scene elements which would add to the marks.
We were thinking about using a tracking shot which we be done on Matt's desk chair, this would allow us to get a smoother shot and transitions in the shots because the camera would be moving around the room instead of stationary twisting.

Matt's computer screen, we thought to add to Matt's computer screen a "World of Warcraft" logo, this is because someone Nerdy would generally be associated with the game, so would again, add to mise-en-scene, this decision was made through a choice of having a video of gameplay shown as if Christopher(Joel) was playing, or the logo. We chose the logo because the screen would have some issues in recording as the screen would be refreshing and a jerky computer screen would look very amateur.

Original ideas
Dream Shot - not used.
Having the female character supposedly in the bed when Christopher(Joel) jumped on top, this would make him be in a dream ~ as she would never actually be in the his bed. We would have then had a shot of Christopher(Joel) waking up when Matt banged on his door.

Matt Knocking - not used.
Waking Christopher(Joel) up by knocking on the door, we thought to use a fun knock which would emphasise the fact they are friends and have a secret knock which they both know. Christopher(Joel) would reply with a joke or "what’s the secret password" which would show them being more friendly and having some banter which no one else would know outside of them.

Revisions
Dream shot
This shot was changed to having a balloon replaced with the female character, this is because we thought that it would be more comical and more nerdy, to have a balloon blown up in your bed to make it seem like another person.

Matt Knocking
The shot tied into the dream shot which was not used, we changed this shot to Matt just walking into the room, although this would not be as funny to watch it would give the view of extreme friendship, this would also be a more American as well because friends within American films seem to appear in their friends house, for pure friendship value I will example, "Friends" the TV show, although not a film the friends seem to just appear and enter each others apartments without question because they are such friends.


Weaknesses to our filming
Matt's room was filled with Metal posters, this was a slight Mise-en-scene failure due to the reality that a nerd will not generally listen to the type of music which was shown on the posters.


Afternoon

Decisions
We wanted some shots which show the character actually changing into a 'cooler' person, through planning this was thought to be of the character changing clothes, so we needed some shots of Christopher(Joel) within a changing room setting so we could show change.

Having some more panning and tracking shots allowed us to help to show the characters walking around and exploring the area, somewhere where Christopher(Joel) did not know and Mike(Matt) did, showing character difference.

The shots of around Bristol allowed us to get some shots which we could put for the voice over allowing the story to progress for the rest of the film.

Original ideas
Changing - Used partly
Having some shots of Christopher(Joel) changing his clothes was an idea we wanted the most, although this was a mjor problem within the shops as there are filming rules which we did not really know about, there was some knowledge, but nothing was really known, through a failure of research we did not know.

Revisions
Changing
The shops disallowed us to film within them because of material/filming property being stolen. So we had to change the place of what we would be filming, Matt thought to go to a smaller business, where the permission values would be down tot he digression of the owner, and he/she would allow us to film withint he shop. This was accepted by a small shop along park street with an alternitive style, which is what we were overall aiming for.

This was also the main disadvantage to the filming on the day.

Weaknesses to our filming

When we first got to Bristol we wanted to film within cabot circus as it was the most american looking place around, when we firsty got in and started, we were confronted by the security, who said we needed a pass for filming, much like what happened within the shops. This haults filming for awhile becuase we needed to gain permission, we did not know of any rules regarding filming because it was an open area and did not think it was governed the same as shops. After we got the pass we were able to film which allowed us to continue. This was a weakness because it stopped filming, and prolonged the day.

Thursday, 25 March 2010

Day 2 of filming
Morning

I filmed this on my own because Matt was not avaliable to film.


Decisions

From a previous comment made from Ms Gregory we thought to add some of the names within the shot, this would allow us to show names within the shot and not have to put them within the title seuqences, it would be a creative way to display the names to the audience, who would subtly takein the names.


I stuck with the ideas of panning across the room, this would allow us the film to follow the same structure of the first edit, because we could focus in on some items which would make the character seem very nerdy.


Original ideas

Chaning to the Wii - Used

I changed the joke of the balloon being in the bed to playing the Wii.


Revision

Chaning to the wii allowed me to have an easier time filming, because my bed is amller than Matt's which would mean it would be more problematic to have multiple in it. The wii allowed us to add a lame which the nerdy character would fall into.


Weaknesses to our filming

During the filming, it was hard to move the camera when I needed to be in the shot, this gives the film a slightly lower quality because I am moving the camera. Although this was a positive for my camera skills alone, I needed some help for the shots were two of my hands would have been better int he shot, although I worked around this somewhat by moving fast.

Afternoon

Decisions
Matt was present in the afternoon which allowed us to add some conversation and some shots with both characters, the conversation would follow a lame joke friend path which would allow the audience to see the friendlyness of the duo.


Original ideas
The slap, we had 2 choices of hwat we could doing the slap, as the slap is a little bit on the edge, due to bullying and what not, we had another edit which would be Matt simply saying "NO!".


Revisions
When watching over the slap, is was more enterinaing to watch it and than simply say "NO!" as it was close to the edge of 'should not be shown' because Mike(Matt) is hitting Christopher(Joel) but it was more fun and would make the film entertaining.


Weaknesses to our filming
Getting side tracked as to what jokes we could add, this lead to multiple random one liners which would bring down the film in general, although we added 2 lame jokes, they fit the ideas of nerdy americans.

Another draft of the film and some research!

Although this turn around is not as fast as I would have liked, I have been previously engaged to complete other pieces of coursework and out of school projects.

I will be uploading it to youtube tonight ~ So should be posted by tonight.

I have changed the layout of the clips and orders, and added some clips together in the same frame.

films which I have taken into account when editing (Not plot) our film have been such as:

Kill Bill Vol 1/2

Within Kill bIll they use some split shots of the characters and actions, this was influenctial because I wanted to use this aspect to get more shots within the intro which allows me to show more information, this also allowed me to learn about the editing techniques of multiple shots within the same sequence.

Youtube Videos - MysteryGuitarMan

Although this is not a main film, this 'youtuber' edits his videos in ways in which allows many many different shots to be shown on the screen all at once, this is very influential to me because he is very good, which is what I would like to add to our film. This would again allow me to learn more about the editing package I have used.

Some research before production!
Research for Creation of AS Course Work

Filming done! :D

Me and Matt got the bulk of the filming done today.
After the inital scareyness of security.....

I will be uploading and editing the film tonight!...
Yay..... ;;

A night of editing for a first draft tomorrow.

I hope.


- Joel

Possible shots and roles within the filming

Paning
Close Up
Long shots
Extreme Long Shots
Tracking shot - Handheld
Mirror Shot
Racking Shot
Repeated in and out changing rooms
Reaction - Slap

This is just for a check list for us to use as a reminder when we are filming and planning.

Roles for the filming

The filming will be split up into 4 different parts;

Camera work
Acting
Editing
Set Design and costume

Although there is only 2 of us within the film, we will split the roles so that it works the best.

Camera work will be done by Myself and Same Austin, who is a media student aswell, this means that he has knowledge of what we will be doing so he will undersdtand what we are writing.

Acting will be done my Myself and Matt Green, this is because it was easier to be our own actors on such short notice.

Editing will be done by myself, this is because I have the facilties and have edited previous projects so would be able to get it done easily

Set design and costume will be done by myself and Matt, this is because we will know what we want within the shot

Directing will be done by myself and Matt again, this is so we can get complete control over what is being done with the camera, allowing us to make the film how we want, having both of us doing it will allow us to check each others ideas to get the best outcome.

Plot, Locations and Why.

Opening : Introduction of the character's Joel(Christopher) and Matt(Mike)

We have thought to start the introduction and opening with Joel(Christopher) playing with his action figures talking to himself. The camera will pan around the room, setting the type of person, fitting into the "Nerd" category. The camera will tilt onto Joel(Christopher) playing with the actions figures, where the shot will pause and we introduce him with a title name.
Matt(Mike) will crash through the door, where the camera will pause on him, introducing his name, and he will say a short sentence about how Joel(Christopher) Needs to change his ways.

This will all be done in Matt's house, within his room.

Matt's(Mike) speech will encourage some edits, where the story or 'what we need to do to get you cool' which will be edited in.

Matt(Mike) will push Joel(Christopher) into the shower and some water sprayed on him.
This will be the 'Cleansing' part....

Matt(Mike) and Joel(Christopher) will travel to a cool place to replace Joel(Christophers) Clothes, this will display Joel(Christophers) clothes choice at that moment in time, complete Nerd.
Should be extreme Mise-en-scene.
This will take place in Topman Cabot Circus where a "Rack Shot" will be used, we will place the camera inside the shirt rack and will shoot out as the characters slide the shirts.

A changing room session will begin and Joel(Christopher) will be shown changing his clothes almost instantly within the changing rooms, this will be followed with Matt(Mike) nodding or yessing the clothes.

The middle bit is to be deicided. Possibly "I'm tired I'm giving up" or a bad "Nerd" joke "I have a raid" or something, this will pull up the topic of "Babe"

A music strach will be heard to pause the story, Matt(Mike) will remind Joel(Christopher) of the reason, "Babe" which will will cause Joel(Christopher) to say something along the lines of "She doesn't need a cool guy" and Matt(Mike) will remind Joel(Christopher) about how many timesher has been rejected, and a short montage of clips will be put together of the rejections which Joel(Christopher) has already encountered with "Babe"

A short clip of "But she is so cute" or something similar will be said, and a shorter clip of Joel(Christopher) and "Babe" will be shown, possibly a wedding scenario, date in a field(Picnic) or at the beach, somewhere romantic.

Although this is not a definite plot line, it is an outline.

We have tried to create an Americans style film, this will allow us to access the buddy comedy in general, as most buddy comedies are shown to be very American. This would allow us to access the common conventions which apply in American film.
We feel that this would be most appropriate because most films have been Americanised which sets the common conventions.

Joel

And so it begins........

So in choosing a plot genre etc we have decided to avoid:

Horror

Gangsters (both american and thugs)

We then thought of a romantic comedy but put a teen twist on it

So we have decided on a american teen romance film much like films such Role models, Super Bad and Road trip.

Our original idea was to do a film where a uncool "nerd" wants to become a skate boarder but we decided that this would mean we would need skate boarders and a skate board for the character.

So now our plot is for the "nerd" to have a cool best friend (as seen in the teen slasher film Jennifer's Body)

Joel will be playing the character of Christopher the "Nerd" who is in love with girl called Babe (actress tbd) but he knows he will never get her the way he is. So his cool best friend Mike (played by Matt Green) has a plan on how to help him get the girl.