Bibliography

The music we used in our film was all from copyright free sources. The music from the start throughout the chase was "Killer" (www.freeplaymusic.com) then the heartbeat noise when Rory thinks he has escaped is called "Threatening Behaviour" (www.audio.lgfl.org.uk) and finally the "boom" sound at the end when the person opens his eyes is from iMovie.
We also downloaded "Philly Sans" (www.dafont.com) font a copyright free text.

Evaluaion

Main task evaluation

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Final Piece

Withholding Information. Our final piece, with titles and music.

The Original Plan

This was our original idea before we changed it. Piyal on the left, Matty on the right and myself in the middle. Sorry it has come on late but we had to wait for our teacher to download it.

Editing

Firstly we uploaded the clips we had taken, onto the school macs. We then selected the clips we wanted to use and merged them together so they looked right (this was made easier by us filming it in the correct order). Once we made our two minute piece we found suitable music to go with it. However we realised later on that we should add music last as otherwise it would be affected when we did editing for the titles.

The next stage was to add titles. Matty was feeling better at this point and had the software at his house to add the titles. We selected a graffiti style text to suit the crime genre of the film. Matty then added the titles making sure there was a constant pace between each name (every other clip). He also made it so the chasers ran in front of the names to look as if the names were written on the walls. I went to his house to see how the editing worked and I also had a go at making the names 3D.

Finally we uploaded the edited version of the film onto the macs and re-added the music. For the chase we had tense/fast paced music to get the audience straight into the pace of the chase. We then had a heartbeat sound start as he came to the phone box which carried on through the title of the film and onto the shot of someone opening their eyes. Finally we had a sharp explosion noise (similar to the "Lost" opening shown earlier on my blog) as he opened his eyes to end our piece. We added the final clip of someone waking up as we were told our piece may lose marks for looking too much like a short film rather than an opening, therefore we showed the beginning of the next scene.

Filming Plan

This was the plan I drew up the night before we filmed to help us film quicker in the limited time we had.

Change to filming

During the holidays we have filmed the whole of our opening 2 minutes. Though not without difficulties.
Firstly we filmed as planned using the storyboard to get the clips of Matty waking up, the flashback triggers and also the chase involving Matty, Jonny and Sam (which was filmed at 7am in the morning so we wouldn't have as many problems with passers by being in the shots). We got a few good shots though there were plenty that needed re-filming as they didn't work together when we tried to connect them.
The day before the next agreed filming time I was called by Matty telling me that he was unlikely to be able to make the filming session as he was ill and may need to go into hospital. This meant I had to plan around his absence. Our actors said they would only be able to stay upto midday, which left us an extremely short amount of time to re-film what we had previously done and make the rest. Therefore I chose to make the decision (after consulting Piyal) to make the film predominantly a chase as this was the main part we had previously filmed so hopefully the actors would pick it up quickly. I also wrote out a plan of which shots we were going to have in the order we were going to take them to make sure we were as quick as possible to fit into our time frame.
The next morning one of our actors didn't arrive, meaning I had to step into the role of one of the chasers and give Piyal the job of being cameraman. Though before each shot I positioned the camera using the plan I had made the night before.

I am very happy with the clips we have come out with. I feel that re-filming the chase scenes helped us develop the clips we made before.

Filming Timetable

These are the days we are going to use to film and what we plan to do in the time:

Saturday 10th April
We are going to film the parts which only involve Matty in them.
-Rory waking up (not in a bed, somewhere outside)
-Rory walking to shops (leaving area he woke up in)
-Rory texting his girlfriend

Sunday 11th April
We are going to film the chase scenes which involves 2 chasers (Sam and Jonny).
-Rory getting spotted by gang
-Chase (in locations I have shown)
We may also film the flashback triggers, however our priority will be to finish the chase scenes whilst we have the chasers with us, though if we do not get them done then we can use Wednesday.

Monday 12th April
We are going to film the flashbacks
-Head being pushed under water
-Being shut in a car boot

Wednesday 14th April
Do any parts that we have missed out or need to redo for whatever reason

Saturday 17th April
Filming with Esther
-Scream for the start of the film
-Tied up
-Her receiving message from Rory

Running up stairs

This video helped us test the use of the stairs in one of our locations and was also practise for me using my camera to upload the video onto my computer.

Locations 2

After going out yesterday and looking at locations, today I went out with my group to show them the locations I found and also to look for more.





















The final image was taken by an abandoned toilet, we thought this may be a good place for Rory to be leaving his squat. However the smell around this area was HORRIFIC which would make filming in it not very pleasant.

Research for main task

This is a video clip from Lost. We see a close up of a mans eye as he is waking up, he is panting and looks scared. He then stands up and starts running. This clip could give us ideas as to what camera shots to use as our character Rory wakes up from a nightmare. The programme also has a very similar target age range as the one we are going to aim our product at and it is also the opening 2/3 minutes of their series showing how they immediately got the attention of their target audience.

Locations

I went out after school today to get some photos of possible locations we could use for the chase scene. I felt we were looking for closed in dramatic areas, these were the photos I came back with:

Storyboard

This is the storyboard we have drawn out in the last couple of lessons. Though they are not the best drawings they still give us an outline as to how we are going to film it. However for the chase part we have only written down a few suggestions for camera shots though I feel we will have lots more shots to add in as we will want to make it fast paced with quick transitions between each shot.

Building on 2nd Idea

This is the way I can see our second idea turning out, though I feel as a group we tend to come up with lots of ideas that may conflict with one another. Therefore I have decided to write down what I am thinking of as an idea at the moment and we will then be able to see which ideas are taken forward:

Opening Scene
Sound of female screaming over black screen. We then go to a close up of Rory's face. He is sweating and breathing heavily. The room is dark.

Second Scene
We see Rory leaving his squat and starting to walk down the street. We then go to a side view of him (through a car window?). We then see from another angle Rory walking along at the same speed as the camera and in the background we see 2/3 men who spot Rory. He then sees them and starts to run away, so beginning a chase. Some music will start here which will indicate times of action/tension.

Third Scene
The titles for the film then start over the sound of footsteps, someone out of breath running and the music we have selected. These titles will mention only production names and not yet the title.

Fourth Scene
He is still running and we may leave 5 seconds in this before he starts to see flashbacks. He will have three flashbacks, the first of a girl getting chucked in a car boot, the second of her tied to a chair and the third of her head being dunked in water.

Fifth Scene
He then gets to somewhere he feels he is safe and texts his girlfriend telling her to "GET OUTTA THERE NOW!", he then spots the gang and starts running again.

Sixth Scene
This is the longest part of the chase we have seen so far. It may involve jumps, running round corners and/or chucking obstacles down in the way. The whole piece then ends with him looking behind him seeing nobody there and then turning forwards and getting hit with a bat going to the blackness of the bat touching the camera lense (we may film this part by doing it slowly and then speeding it up).

We then go to the title of the film. I thought "Withholding Information" would be a good title.

2nd Idea

As we felt the location would be hard to find and availabilty of getting a car when we needed it would be a problem we decided to create a new idea with a background to it.
Rory Slain and his girlfriend are witholding important information from a gang. The gang is not identified though is not government related. They have been on the run for a while and have been moving from place to place until they feel the gang will give up looking for them. They are currently living in Oxford. Rory is on the way out to get a newspaper when he is spotted by two gang members. They both recognize one another and a chase begins. As soon as Rory thinks he has escaped he texts his girlfriend to warn her ("GET OUT NOW"). After he sends the text he is spotted again and the chase restarts. A while later he looks behind him an he sees nobody there though when he turns to look forwards again he gets hit by a bat (which will be seen through a point-of-view shot).

Testing

We wanted to test ways we could film a chase scene so we tried with me on my bike holding the camera following behind Matty running. I feel it worked a lot better than I had expected as I thought there was going to be a lot of shaking as I was holding the handlebars with one hand and the camera in the other. However we did find it hard to get the distance between Matty and me constant, this may be a problem in the real thing.

Research for opening 2 Minutes

Hot Fuzz (Action/Comedy/Mystery)
Starts with titles (Universal and Working). Gradually during the titles we hear the noise of whistles and sirens. These are the noises we associate with police and action so it immediately gets our attention.
The first scene is of a man walking rapidly through a very clean modern corridor. We dont see his face until he gets very close at which point he flashes his badge at us and narration starts. We then are shown how amazing he is by seeing his training records and qualifications he has received. It includes a comical moment when they say how he excelled in advanced driving with him skidding towards the camera, which then goes to a clip of him skidding towards the camera on a bike saying how he excelled in advanced cycling.
This opening immediately gets the audiences attention as at first they are trying to recognize the person walking towards them and then they are trying to keep up with the fast paced film of his qualifications. I like the way they built up suspense at the start with the sound of sirens overlapping the titles and also the delay of the audience having to wait to see see the person properly.

Death Race (Action/Sci-Fi/Thriller)
Starts with the noise of a car drifting over the titles. The titles then merge into the inside of an engine. We then get written narration with tense music in the background telling us how in 2012 the world collapses and audiences watch prisoners fight to the death. They then become bored of this and so begins "Death Race".
We then go into an action shot of two cars firing at each other they show this through many different camera angles with the sounds of engines revving, wheels squeeling and bullets being fired until eventually we see an over the shoulder two shot of the driver getting shot, his blood hitting the windscreen and then a side view of then smashing into a metal pillar.
Again this film has sound over the titles which helps gradually bring you into the action. It also uses a good selection of shots during the chase. I like the use of written narration with music running alongside. This may be an effect we could use.

The Bourne Identity (Action/Adventure/Mystery/Thriller)
Starts with quiet high pitch noise over Universal titles. Then goes to black out and then the noise of thunder which then takes us to the view underwater of somebody floating motionless in the middle of the sea. We then go to a clip of fishermen on a boat playing cards having fun though still with the high pitch noise in the background which is keeping the tension. We then see writing at the bottom of the screen over the picture of a stormy sea telling us that it is taking place in "Mediterranean Sea 60 miles south of Marseile". The sound of thunder and rain foreshadows a climax point ahead. A fisherman then goes onto the deck trying to keep his balance then chucks rubbish overboard. He then spots the body in the water. The title of the film then appears on a black background. This is used to show time passed so when we go back to the film we see all the crew from a birds eye view on the deck hauling the body onboard. I like how they have used the sound of thunder and rain to create added tension alongside the high pitched noise and though we may not use the idea of rain to add tension we could other sounds to create tension.

Iron Man (Action/Adventure/Sci-Fi/Thriller)
Starts with Marvel and Paramount titles. We then get an extreme wide shot of the deserty landcape, this then cuts into a wide shot of two armoured jeeps moving with "Back in Black" playing in the background. We then go to a close up of a man in a suit wearing sunglasses inside the car holding a glass of whisky. He is sat in the car with 3 soldiers who all look very serious (big contrast). He then jokes with them and makes them laugh. The ideas we could take from this opening are the way they showed the setting before they showed the action happening within it and also the way we could hear the music before we got into the car where it was playing.

Ideas for main task

In our media lesson today we discussed possible ideas for our main task. We want to include a chase scene so we were thinking about how we could create a storyline behind it.
Our first idea was to have a deal going on between two cars with something perhaps being transfered. From this a gang would then spot the dealer (maybe due to the fact it's his item the person is selling)and a chase would start. The chase would then end with the person being caught and chucked into a car boot. We were thinking we would also be able to use the closing of the car boot as a way of ending our piece into a black out with the slam adding an extra effect.
Our idea we then came up with today was that this person has already been captured and manages to get away. We thought we could do this by seeing the boot close to start with then go to an over the shoulder shot of the driver and passenger(s). We would link in the titles through this and have the sound of the car driving to create the effect of a distance travelled. We would then have a shot as the car pulls up with the driver telling the man in the boot to shut up. He would do this by coming around to the boot and opening it. As soon as it opened the person in the boot would punch them and run off beggining the chase.

We also discussed the idea of the location for the chase being Shotover woods and the characters we could use (Sam, David, Iaonnis and Ireneos).

Preliminary Evaluation

Our preliminary task was filmed in a deserted old shop. We felt a crime/thriller genre would suit the location as it was very dark and parts of the walls were torn down making it looked abandoned and therefore a perfect location for a criminal deal to take place. This makes our location conventional as it is the sort of place you would expect to see this sort of meeting.
We then had to decide how to portray each character. As it was a criminal meeting we thought that one person could be bringing an illegal item which we could keep anonymous and the other person will be waiting for their item to arrive. Therefore we dressed the dealer in a suit which signifies his seriousness, though we partly un-tucked his shirt to make him look less formal as if he was off duty. We then made the recipient dress casually though we also wanted him to seem serious so he wore a smart long sleeved t-shirt. The clothing is conventional for a criminal meeting as usually the dealer will be offering an expensive object meaning that they and the recipient would both be dressed smartly, usually in expensive clothes. However if I was to film this again I would make the recipient smarter as they would be the one with the money to buy the product.
At the beginning of the clip we started with a door slamming shut, this took a lot of time to make sure we got the correct sound from the door to immediately get the attention of our audience; they now want to see what just happened. The dealer was kept anonymous as he walked down the corridor and up the stairs and you could see different parts of him though not his face. We then used a match on action shot (shown in pictures below) as he came to the door at the top of the stairs. This worked well for us as a cut to get through the door and we used the suit and the door frame as recognisable objects so the audience didn’t become confused as we changed camera positions.



We then had a brief pause as we were introduced to the recipient through an over the shoulder shot. Then from another perspective using the 180° degree rule we saw the dealer over the shoulder of the recipient, though not wanting to instantly reveal his identity we kept him at a distance out of focus until he came close enough to the camera for the audience to see his face for the first time. We then used the shot reverse shot technique where firstly we used an establishing shot to show the dealer sitting down next to the recipient and then we used a series of over the shoulder shots as they were talking.




We made the dialogue very brief and formal to make it feel like they had never met before and also made the dealer look like he was in control. We achieved this by making the recipient hold his fingers to make him look nervous and also by making the dealer talk in a confident way. This may not always be how a deal works with the dealer being in control, though it depends on the product he is receiving and how he went about getting it.
Our media product represents the criminal world with deals going on in discreet areas. It shows how deals in the black market may go through, though this is only how we understand they happen from what we have seen through other media products. Hustle is a good example for criminal deals as for most cons they need an item made so they have to pay somebody to make it; they then have to meet them to receive it which will usually happen in a discreet area.
Media institutions that may distribute our product would be companies like Film Four as they have a reputation of taking on young promising film producers and making them recognised. “The company develops and co-finances film productions and is known for working with the most innovative talent in the UK” (Film4 Productions webpage). They may choose to take on a younger age range as they will be cheaper and perhaps more willing to try new techniques/ideas in their productions than more experienced producers.
Our preliminary task is aimed at an audience aged between 16 and 40. The mysterious start to the task will mean the audience has to have patience as the slow start helps builds up tension. The “deal” will then appeal to a teenage/young adult audience as this is more action/crime based tension, though may put off older viewers as they feel threatened by the criminal activities that are taking place. We used this genre in our preliminary task to see if this would be the genre we wanted to use in our main task.
From the preliminary task we have learnt how key attention to detail is. For example when we filmed the last few clips you could notice the lighting change as it got darker outside. This may not have been a problem for a real film crew as they would be able to adjust the lighting levels using lamps and umbrellas. We also learnt that before starting a new shot we needed to look back at the last clip and check we had not taken anything out or put anything into the shot that was not there when we ended it.
Overall I was very pleased with the outcome of our preliminary task. I felt we accomplished the objectives we needed to and more. We managed to build up tension in the first 20 seconds which I was wandering whether we would be able to accomplish in such a short period of time. We also managed to keep the identity of the dealer a secret until he met up with the recipient.

For our main task our 4 key areas for focus are:
• Sound - make sure we minimise/eliminate the amount of white noise you can hear as it makes the film look amateurish.
• Match on action shot - if we have an opportunity to include this in our main task I feel we should as I feel we used it well in our preliminary task as a cut between clips.
• Lighting - make sure we keep constant levels of light or at least if there is a change then make it gradually fade.
• Minimise Dialogue, as we do not have access to top actors we want to reduce the amount of clips with dialogue in as if they are not believable it may ruin any tension we had originally built up.

Preliminary Task

I was the cameraman in this peice of film.

Storyboard

Shot Reverse Shot

A shot reverse shot is a technique used when a character is looking (possibly talking) to another character and then the other character is shown looking "back" at the first character. Since the characters are shown facing in opposite directions, the viewer assumes that they are looking at each other.

Film Ideas

During the holidays (Friday 19th February) Piyal, Matty and I met up at Cafe Nero to discuss ideas for our film. Firstly we went through all the different types of genres there are which we thought were possible to do and also which we'd like to do.

-SciFi, relies too much on technical skills that we are not sure that we have. Also we don't have that much knowledge between us about this particular genre.
-Westerns, we feel we dont have the right area to film this in or the money for the costumes that are needed.
-Musicals, none of us are fond of this genre and to make it look and sound good we would need to a big cast of singers and dancers which we do not have access to.
-War, again like western we do not have the right sort of set as we would need to make one from scratch and we would also need a lot of costumes which are expensive.

We then had the idea of doing a con-man style production. This was discussed to be our favoured idea at the time. We wanted our film to be aimed at a target audience of 15 to 28 year olds as we have the most knowledge of this age range.

How Are Hospital Staff Represented In the Opening of Bodies

Immediately from the start of this episode we get a sense of seriousness with the black vignette and very deep music in the background. We then go straight into a collecting of zoom transition shots (medium shot, close-up and extreme close up) getting closer to the new doctor (Rob Lake) who looks very serious. Our response to this as an audience automatically makes us focus and engage with the text as it is very fast paced. Now we have been introduced to the main character we then have a front view tracking shot of him walking down the corridor past patients with non-diagetic music still playing in the background.
We then start to get introduced to the other characters. We get a short time to see a couple of the characters as they have to unlock the door to let him through into the gynaecology ward. They are viewing Rob on a high angle shot through the security camera. This gives the audience the impression they have a higher authority than the new doctor. There is lots of diagetic noise around the hospital making it seem busy. As he comes through the doors he has brief joke with the nurses and then jokes with the trainee doctor Maya who is looking in her doctors journal saying “what would we do without it”, this shows Maya has a level of incompetence and foreshadows the mistake that she is going to make later on.
Rob is then introduced to Roger his boss by Sister Donna Rix. They all then go on rounds to view the patients they are going to operate on. One patient is prioritised to first on the list as they are diabetic, though as this information is transferred onto the new order list Maya types it incorrectly and a woman who was struggling to get pregnant is almost made infertile. Non-diagetic music is played from the moment the mistake was made until the moment they discover it. During this period we are shown a tracking shot of the order list as it is passed from person to person. This alerts the audience to what has happened and also creates tension. After the surgery Rob goes to speak to Maya asking her why she didn’t check the list and her response was “shit happens”.
Later on in the episode we get more in depth into the personalities of the doctors. Roger dumps a dying woman onto Maya the least experienced doctor out of the team whilst he goes to a presentation explaining how the hospital could save more lives. Maya then calls Rob to ask for help as the woman is struggling to breath and as he comes to help Maya disappears. This emphasises the fact that Maya does not want to take on any responsibility and shows that Roger doesn’t want any bad reputation for having someone die under his care. Rob and Sister Rix are the only people left working on the patient and neither of them has the skills necessary to help the patient and there are no other doctors around that could help them. Rob tries what he could but in the end the woman dies. Again during this scene there is the same non-diagetic music playing in the background as before to create added tension. There is a black out transition at the end of this scene to show a time lapse, this is different to the other transitions we have seen throughout the episode as we have been used to starting new scenes with somebody entering through a door.
From the first 30 minutes we can tell this programme is aimed at a young to middle aged audience as it is quite a raw drama, containing lots of swearing, rude jokes and sexual scenes. There is lots of tension created throughout the episode which is often eased off by slight comedy. The doctors seem relatively normal though at the same time you wouldn’t really want to be treated by any of them as we tend to see the worst of them through deaths of patients, lack of interest and dirty jokes.

Avatar

Today I went to go and see the new, very highly rated film Avatar. It is the start of a new generation of media involving 3D technology.

Avatar is about humans adventuring onto another planet. The army that was sent there had aims to go back rich with a resource worth 20 million dollars, per kg, whilst the scientists wanted to discover information about the planet and its inhabitants by merging in with their species as Avatar's. However once these interests collided with each other all the army was interested in was getting their money even if it involved slaughtering an entire race to do so. The film shows how one marine and a few scientists stands up for the existence of the inhabitants and fights back against his own race.

It is an action packed film with a solid story line which entertains all ages. The graphics are amazing and these are emphasised by the amount of luscious scenery we see. There are moments when the action kicks you back into your seat as you avoid being hit by a huge dinosaur being flown by an avatar. I would recommend this film to anyone that is into action and I will almost certainly go and see this again.