Wednesday, 31 March 2010
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:
Tuesday, 30 March 2010
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.
Wednesday, 24 March 2010
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.
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).
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).
Sunday, 21 March 2010
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.
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.
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
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).
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).
Monday, 15 March 2010
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.
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.
Wednesday, 3 March 2010
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