Sofia’s Media Blog

Sarah and I showed the first cut of Seventeen to our Media Studies teacher, Sir Nadeem, so he could highlight where there was room for improvement and give constructive criticism; he pointed out several jumps at certain points that had been overlooked by us in two of the scenes along with a scene where a line of dialogue was being repeated, instructed us to add background music appropriate to our genre in the first scene of the film opening as it was missing, and advised us to get rid of unnecessary shots throughout the film opening. He also appreciated the editing and colourgrading of the last scene in our film opening.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1xja9uiMkGRl6JZ2XJ3hL8cvdy8yoMaDr

Sarah and I had to confront a few challenges during filming, the biggest one being time management as we did multiple takes of the same scene which was time consuming due to which we had to extend filming for another day as we could not film the two scenes, scheduled for the first day of filming as per the shooting schedule, as shooting was halted after sunset. Another thing that factored into this was the use of equipment such as the tripod, which we borrowed from a friend, as we shot on multiple locations for the first scene and had to set up the tripod individually at each location, packing it in between moving locations. Shooting on location was another challenge, albeit minor, as each location was busy and filming had to be continuously paused and then resumed when bystanders were in the frame or there was incoming traffic on the road. Another challenge was the coordination and scheduling of filming days as finding days where both Sarah and I, and our actress was free was an arduo...

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1fcqopzCQOBZALQUsY7I_OYVGgBmGFNbb This is the additional footage shot during filming that Sarah and I did not end up using, due to various reasons like too much background noise, or shots being out of focus, or bystanders in the background of a shot.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1EpNpbdtzM_mf0oioj3S_fJhbqqjwHXoq This is the footage from filming that Sarah and I selected and then used in editing on Adobe Premiere Pro.

The elements of mise-en-scene relevant to Seventeen are the costume and makeup, colour design, properties, and set design. The costume and makeup were key in conveying certain ideas about the age of the protagonist, Sasha, as she is shown as both a 17 and 30 year old in Seventeen so I chose a simple white hoodie with black jeans and sneakers with minimal makeup for our actress to wear, as typical to teenagers, in the scenes where Sasha was 17 whereas I instructed her to dress in all black attire and contoured her face to make her face thinner and to make her look older in the scenes Sasha was 30. The costumes factored into the colour design as their colour was deliberately for added depth and meaning as Sasha wears white and black clothes when 17, signifying her youth, innocence and the balance of light and darkness in her life whereas at 30, she's shown wearing all black, with black symbolising her loss of innocence and the darkness consuming her life.  The properties used we...

                                                                         Me giving our actress Javeria direction on Day 3 of filming                               Day 3 of filming  Day 3 of filming                                      

Me doing our actress Javeria's makeup before filming scene 2  The fake blood used for scene 2 that we made on Day 2

                      Our actress Javeria waiting to resume filming the first part of Scene 1 in between takes                                       An outtake from filming the first part of scene 1 in Loafology Me giving Javeria direction while filming the third part of Scene 1 in Kachnar Park

Sarah and I planned the shooting schedule for Seventeen as follows: 5th February, Day 1: Shooting Scene 1 in (in order); Loafology, Kachnar Park and PAF Complex, and then Scene 2 at my house in my bedroom 6th February, Day 2: Shooting Scene 3 at my house in my bathroom  However, we did not stick to this schedule as intended due to time constraints and being unable to film after the sun had set on day 1 as light was important for the 2nd part of scene 1. As a result of this, we had to extend shooting for another day and change the shooting schedule. The revised schedule we followed is as follows: 6th February, Day 2: Shooting Scene 3 at my house. 10th February, Day 3: Shooting Scene 2 at my house and then going to PAF Complex to shoot the second part of Scene 1.

The properties Sarah and I used during the filming of Seventeen are: a bicycle for the second part of the first scene that we borrowed from my friend, a journal and a cardboard box filled with books that belonged to me for the second scene, and a glass of juice and a glass bowl of food that we ordered at the cafe where we shot the first part of the first scene which was set in a cafe. We also used fake blood, which we needed for the second scene, that we made at my house with the aid of my mother.