California Here I Come: Production Project - Individual Presentation of Ideas

So here is my presentation for my individual production project idea. Ideally I want to work by myself so this process has helped me realise a schedule and what I want to do in terms of story. Have a read through and just see what I gave to my tutors to show where I am currently with my project.

Working Titles

I wanted to have a fun and relatable title that depicts what the film will be about but also entices the audience in; so here are a few ideas:

When Salt Met Pepper - (When Harry Met Sally)

Love and Other Utensils - (Love and Other Drugs)

Salt and Pepper - (Romeo & Juliet)

What Happens in Kitchens - (What Happens in Vegas)

27 Appliances - (27 Dresses)

Eat Poach Love - (Eat Pray Love)

The Condiments of Love - (Just something I came up with)

Description of Project

For my final production project I am going to create a 8-10 minute stop motion animation. The stop motion is going to be the story of a kitchen that comes to life when the family leaves each day. The main story line will be a romance between 2 of the kitchen objects (yet to be decided but most likely to be the salt and pepper shakers). Secondary storylines will be various relationships between appliances and objects such as arguments over pride of place and also friendships among the items. The idea is that when the family are at home the kitchen is silent; the family has no idea, but when they leave the kitchen is alive with many personalities and narratives.

I have researched into many different forms of animation; object animation, stop motion animation and general computer animation. My main influence for the project is Pixar Animation Studios and in particular their short film 'The Blue Umbrella'. This film brings to life objects that you would not usually give personalities to; for example in Toy Story the toys have faces and are meant to be people, animals or characters. They bring to life grids, gutters, windows and anything that could be given life around the streets of the story world. That is what I intend to do within the kitchen. I want to animate objects that don't necessarily have faces but could be given emotion through movement, sound and music.

I would like to give about 10 objects main roles in the stop motion; I think any more and this would be too much of a challenge as I would like to do this project alone. I will also have stock characters that will fill the backgrounds of scenes; these again will just be general items found around the kitchen such as herbs and spices. I think having these background characters will flesh out the story world; from what I have researched, in Aardman Animations such as the Wallace and Gromit series this really gives a sense of depth and reality.

Parameters

I will need 2 or 3 actors to be the family in the short live action scenes of them entering and leaving the house and occasionally interacting with the objects in the kitchen. The family will be a husband, wife and one daughter (teenager).

I will also need to choose the main object characters using kitchen appliances, utensils, foods, etc. I will script the story and then choose these objects accordingly. I may have to buy some of these components.

I will be shooting the whole project on a Canon 7D from the university equipment store over my own camera; this is simply because I can get a better quality from the 7D than I can with my personal 1100D. I have already enquired about booking this camera for a long period of time as I will need it for the whole project duration and this is definitely possible.

Format/Platform of Delivery

Before I release my short stop motion animation film, I will create some sort of advertisements through various social networks. I can create posters and release short teasers through my Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and more. I can also blog about the progress of the film making process which may also captivate more of an audience. Getting people interested in what is to come will be the aim and doing so will give me a chance to receive feedback through the YouTube comments or on other social networks after the release.

I intend to release the short stop motion film on my personal YouTube account which already has all of my work uploaded. I will also blog about my film on Blogger using the account that I keep up to date very often. I also have a Vimeo account that I can upload this film to; giving it a wide range of platforms as well as sharing it to Facebook and Twitter.

The idea would be that the story is the first of a sequence of storylines within this household. I would release this short film and then create advertisements on my Youtube, Vimeo, etc to tell the audience that I will be releasing other short films that will be coming soon. I can then release other short stop motion animations that follow the same structure; objects coming to life in an empty household. This would allow me to carry on using the same family and same house to show the connection between the first short film and any that follow.

Another story could arise within the short films through this format as people begin to see the characters of the real life family develop and move forward in time.

How The Project Will Be Shown

I will do a short introduction of the project; talking about inspirations and the techniques used because these are important components to me during this filmmaking process. I want people to know where I am coming from and what the project means for me personally. This way I can ask for comments and feedback afterwards to see if people saw what I want them to see.

I will be showing the film on a projector through a DVD link because this is the quickest and most straightforward way to do so to a large audience. This means there will be no buffering time and no waiting for any programs to load.

Schedule

I would like to finish the Creative Media Practice module before I begin the Production Project so that I have only 1 practical piece to concentrate on at a time. This way I can focus all of my efforts in to this final piece of work. The timetable here shows everything that I will need to do leading up to the start of filming and also the shooting and editing schedule.

I have tried to schedule everything around my university timetable and also my part time work and activities. I have also left time to do the academic work that is required of me in this final year.

Date	Time	Action	Outcome
09/11/13	10am - 6pm	Scripting	Have a basic script set out for fleshing
10/11/13	10am - 6pm	Scripting	Fill out script and have it proof read
11/11/13	10am - 6pm	Scripting	Finish script and have the final copy for storyboarding
18/11/13	12pm - 4pm	Casting and Objects	Choose objects and send out casting notices
19/11/13	10am - 6pm	Storyboarding	Begin storyboard process and development
22/11/13	1pm - 2pm	Casting	Have casting day and choose actors for live action scenes
23/11/13	10am - 6pm	Storyboarding	Carry on with storyboard process and development
24/11/13	10am - 6pm	Storyboarding	Finish storyboard and have it arranged in order and displayed
25/11/13	12pm - 4pm	Set	Buy anything needed, complete check list of objects
26/11/13	9am - 2pm	Book out camera	Practice using 7D and choose settings for shoot
28/11/13	9am - 4pm	Lighting (book lights)	Practice lighting the location and shoot without characters
29/11/13	12pm - 5pm	Rehearsals	Have rehearsals with live actors to run through the script
30/11/13	4pm - 8pm	Rehearsals	Rehearse using objects in the set - practice movements
09/12/13	12pm - 4pm	Shooting	Shooting live actors scenes
10/12/13	10am - 4pm	Shooting	Shooting live actors scenes
13/12/13	12pm - 4pm	Shooting	Shooting live actors scenes
16/12/13	10am - 6pm	Shooting	Shooting objects scenes
17/12/13	12pm - 6pm	Shooting	Shooting objects scenes
19/12/13	10am - 4pm	Shooting	Shooting objects scenes
20/12/13	12pm - 6pm	Shooting	Shooting objects scenes
22/12/13	12pm - 6pm	Edit	Stitch together photographs in After Effects (each scene)
23/12/13	12pm - 6pm	Edit	Stitch together photographs in After Effects (each scene)
06/01/14	10am - 4pm	Shooting	Shooting objects scenes
07/01/14	12pm - 6pm	Shooting	Shooting objects scenes
08/01/14	4pm - 8pm	Shooting	Shooting objects scenes
09/01/14	10am - 6pm	Shooting	Shooting objects scenes
10/01/14	10am - 4pm	Shooting	Shooting objects scenes
11/01/14	12pm - 6pm	Shooting	Shooting objects scenes
13/01/14	12pm - 6pm	Shooting	Shooting objects scenes
14/01/14	10am - 6pm	Edit	Stitch together photographs in After Effects (each scene)
15/01/14	10am - 6pm	Edit	Stitch together photographs in After Effects (each scene)
16/01/14	10am - 6pm	Edit	Stitch together photographs in After Effects (each scene)
18/01/14	12pm - 6pm	Edit	Stitch together photographs in After Effects (each scene)
19/01/14	10am - 4pm	Edit	Start full edit of film
20/01/14	12pm - 6pm	Edit	Continue with full edit
21/01/14	10am - 6pm	Titles	Create title sequence and credits
23/01/14	10am - 4pm	Edit	Full film edit
25/01/14	12pm - 6pm	Edit	Full film edit
03/02/14	12pm	Rough edit finished	Have a rough edit to present for feedback
21/02/14	5pm	Finished product	Have final edit complete for screening

Risk Analysis and Contingency

Here are some general risks that could happen, the likelihood, severity, level of control and also a contingency place for each of them.

Risk	Description	Likelihood	Severity	Level of Control	Contingency Plan
Location	Not available	2/10	4/10	8/10	Have timetable shown in advance and allow for rescheduling
Missed scheduled event	Accidental schedule mishap	1/10	5/10	6/10	Allow room for rescheduling in the same week or even day
Loss of files or photos	Deletion of files or technological fault	4/10	7/10	7/10	Have a constant back up of files. Use home computer as it is more reliable than university
Lighting	Not consistent throughout shoots	3/10	7/10	8/10	Practice lighting before shoots. Compare first take to last shoot. Allow use of post production tools
Objects	Objects are moved from position	2/10	5/10	9/10	Shoot takes in chunks so they don't need to be left. If they do put 'do not touch' signs in place
Actors	They don't show up for shoots	2/10	6/10	8/10	Allow for rescheduling but constantly remind them when they are needed for filming