Construction Post 7: Our Production Kit

Hiya! Welcome back! In this research and planning post you will be able to find out what technical equipment we used to shoot our opening sequence.

The equipment that we used includes:

• Canon 700D camera x2 
• Tripod x2
• Telephoto lens
• Rode Microphone

By having a microphone we were able to record our sound in higher quality, making the dialogue of our characters clearer for the audience. 

Also by having a telephoto lens we were able to zoom in more on certain shots with the same quality, improving the quality of our shots. 

Overall we had a range of equipment available for us to use and with this we were able to ensure that our film was of a high standard.

Construction Post 6: Filming Day!

Hey there! Welcome back to my blog! This post is a rather exciting one as it is about our filming which took place two days ago (25/2/17). In this post you will learn about how our filming went overall, how we planned our set, what happened behind the scenes of filming and more! Enjoy reading!

Summary of how it all went: 
Overall our filming was successful and went well. We all met up at our planned meeting point on time and got to McKenzie's boxing gym for the right time as well. Once we were there we began setting up our camera equipment and positioning it where it was required. Whilst we prepared this equipment, the actors rehearsed their lines for a final time and the different shots which they were needed in. Once everyone had finished their preparation we began filming. In general the whole process of filming ran smoothly and went well throughout the shoot. On the other hand there were a few minor technical problems, for example one of the batteries of the cameras died during filming which was a slight difficulty but luckily, as we had another camera, we were still able to complete our filming on the day. In conclusion, our filming was successful and we worked well together as a group to solve any technical difficulties that we faced.

How we could improve:
One way in which we could have improved our filming on the day is by taking less time to position our shots. This frequently took a little longer than necessary and meant that we gradually had less and less time to film. Apart from this, we worked well together as a team to solve any minor problems that we encountered.

Construction Post 5: Filming Arrangements and Mise-En-Scene Planning

Hello again! Welcome to another research and planning post. In this post I will be talking about our filming arrangements and how our group plan to organise ourselves when it comes to shooting our opening sequence. Enjoy!

When our group decided on our exact location we chose a date for shooting our opening sequence. The manager of McKenzie's Boxing Gym gave us the 25/2/17 to film from 2 PM to 6 PM. 

In terms of our mise-en-scene planning what we need to have on the day of shooting includes...

Technical equipment: 
We are borrowing a camera and tripod from the school but Destinie is also going to bring her own camera and tripod, so if one camera does not appear to work properly or its battery dies, we have a back-up. Additionally, this also means that if we become limited for time we can potentially film different parts of our opening sequence at the same time (provided that the shot only requires one or two characters and not all three).

Props: 
For props our group will not actually need to bring any of our required props to the location. This is because all of the boxing equipment we need is being supplied by our actual filming location and the actress who is playing Maya is bringing the props that she needs to use during filming.

Costumes:
Like our props, the costumes that we need our actors to wear are being up supplied by themselves and  the plan is for them to turn up at the location already in their required costumes.

Lighting:
Again, like our costumes, for our lighting we are planning just to use the in-built lights of the boxing gym itself to reinforce the natural and everyday feel we want our film to have. We want it to have this feel in order to show the audience how our main character, Maya, may just seem like everyday people training to box a little, but in fact she is going to go on to be a champion boxer which they will learn as the film goes on.


As well as this, when it comes to the actual shooting day we are going to go together as a group to ensure that we all get there safely and on time. This will also mean that we all arrive at the same time so we can begin filming quicker. The actors will make their own way there and we will meet them at the venue.

Now what we need to do is a test shoot to check that everything is alright before we actually film our opening sequence. For information about our test shoot come back again soon!

Construction Post 4: Costume Planning

Costumes:

In terms of costumes we are only going to use quite simplistic, everyday clothes to give our opening scene a more natural and realistic feel to give a sense that our film is about someone's real life. When deciding what exact costumes our characters should wear, we looked at what people wear to the gym in general. For example:

We also looked at what clothing boxer fighters wear:

As our film project is only shooting the opening sequence of our feature film and we want this to be about the beginning of Maya's story as an aspirational boxer, we have decided for our costumes that we are going to use gym clothes instead of traditional boxer fighting clothing which you can see just above. Later on in our film we will build up to a big fight scene where you see our characters wearing this particular type of clothing to show how our main character, Maya, is really aiming to be a professional boxer. 

The costumes that we are planning to use for each character are relatively similar; this is  an outline of what each character will wear:

• Maya: sport leggings, hoodie, waterproof jacket (only when entering the boxing gym)and trainers.

• Drew: jogging shorts with sport leggings underneath, vest and trainers.

• Coach Stiles: tracksuit bottoms, hoodie/sweatshirt and trainers. 

Construction Post 3: Prop Preparation

Hello there, welcome back! Our group have now decided on which boxing gym we are going to film our opening sequence at. Keep reading for more information:

When we got together as a group and looked at the different possibilities for our filming location, we decided that as Left Hook boxing Club was in South-East London, this was too far for our group to travel. This left us with Miguel's Boxing Gym and McKenzie's Boxing Fitness. When we phoned up Miguel's Boxing Gym they told us that we would not be able to film there because they could not permit filming on their premises. This meant that we only had two options left.

So we then tried McKenzie's Boxing Fitness. They were very helpful and enthusiastic about our project over the phone and told us that we would be allow to film there. As well as this, they also gave us a date and said that we can film on Saturday 25/2/17 and that if we need another Saturday we can have it. This is perfect for our group as a whole and we have all made sure that we have no plans for this day, just filming.

Construction Post 2: Location Planning Update

Hello there, welcome back! Our group have now decided on which boxing gym we are going to film our opening sequence at. Keep reading for more information:

When we got together as a group and looked at the different possibilities for our filming location, we decided that as Left Hook boxing Club was in South-East London, this was too far for our group to travel. This left us with Miguel's Boxing Gym and McKenzie's Boxing Fitness. When we phoned up Miguel's Boxing Gym they told us that we would not be able to film there because they could not permit filming on their premises. This meant that we only had two options left.

So we then tried McKenzie's Boxing Fitness. They were very helpful and enthusiastic about our project over the phone and told us that we would be allow to film there. As well as this, they also gave us a date and said that we can film on Saturday 25/2/17 and that if we need another Saturday we can have it. This is perfect for our group as a whole and we have all made sure that we have no plans for this day, just filming.

Construction post 1: Location Planning

For our location planning we looked at various different boxing gyms to film at. These are the different places we looked at: 

Miguel's Boxing and Fitness Gym:

Miguel's boxing gym is situated in Brixton, South West London and caters for people of all abilities. It would be a good place for us to film our opening sequence because the gym itself is a wide, open space with many punch bags which we will need to use for our filming.

Left Hook Boxing Club:

Established in 1992 by professional boxer Enzo Giordano and amateur boxer Oner Avara, Left hook Boxing Club provides boxing training for abilities; for both recreational and competitive boxers to train and compete. It is located in South East London. As well as this, this particular boxing gym has lots of equipment that we could use for our opening sequence including punch bags, uppercut bags, skipping ropes, medicine balls and more, and it also has boxing ring which we need for our last scene.

Photo of the interior view of Left Hook Boxing Club

McKenzie's Boxing Fitness:
Situated in East Dulwich, London, McKenzie's boxing gym which was founded by Clinton McKenzie, a former boxing champion who represented Great Britain in the 1976 Olympics which took place in Canada. This boxing gym also has a variety of equipment available, such as a range of punch bags, speedballs, cycling machines and it has a boxing ring as well. The range of speedballs available in particular will be very useful for our opening sequence as we have storyboarded our opening shot to be of Maya practicing her technique at a speedball. Here are some photographs of McKenzie's boxing gym:

Overall from this research into various different locations for our opening sequence we have now got three different possible locations for our opening sequence. Come back next time for an update on our location planning!