Our film opening includes many different codes and conventions; the first very image at the top resembles an ordinary school boy for example the setting, costume and prop help to embrace the realistic genre, but also help the audience to know the character behind the hoodie. The mise-en-scene reveals part of the characters life style and it also interacts with our intended audience; teenage boys. The setting for the second image was carefully chosen as the alley way shows danger, the characters body language shows that he is careless but also portraying the view of a criminal. The next image shows the news reporter, the black curtains compliment the isolated profession and it helps to focus on the person that is speaking. The blazer and the black turtle neck helped me with my character. The sophisticated look, was chosen because it matched the profession.
The hacking images show a laptop with a fluorescent green keyboard which worked well because it gave the realistic look and it complimented the first very shot; our Hooded Hero being a Geek; the keyboard really stood out as it revealed more about the character and his abilities. The gym image resembles the strength he has and how he seeks to make the world a better place with his willpower.
Our media product challenges the media now as it uses ideas from which have been used before however it is an original and unique storyline. It goes against all odds when the hero is shown at the start being killed and then follows his story up to that final moment. It uses idea from films such as kick-ass by being based around a normal school boy around 17 years old who is focused and likes to be kept to himself but once he became involved with fighting a crime he became obsessed with fighting crimes for the better. The hero is then like batman in a way when he dressed in a way to keep his identity from being revealed. He trains like any other hero to gain strength and intelligence whilst working on his skills to be improved. He challenges himself to the max and will keep going whether it becomes too much or not. This then contrasts from different films as the hero loses his last battle shot and appears to be killed.
Both of this characters are similar and different in many ways. Firstly they are both main characters. The main character in "Kick Ass" is young; our main character the "Hooded Hero" is also a teenager nonconformist with the cruelties that happen around the world. Another similarity between our character and the very well-known "Kick Ass" is that both characters hid their identity for safety and a normal life, yet our main character does not use a heroic costume as we decided to convey realism. But, our character wore a hoodie to distinguish himself from the others; we wanted to keep our character simple and casual, living a normal life yet "Kick Ass" wore a costume as he joined another team of Heroes. Also, both characters are really smart and have potential in school. As we decided to remain our product realistic, our character did not have any super powers just like "Kick Ass", both characters are also Anti-Nihilists; they decide to be nice, heroic, caring, loving and compassionate even though they see the world as a bad place. Both characters are geeks yet we chose our character to have a more casual look, to take
I learnt that Cameras are a really easy technology to use , it was a big challenge to film but it was successful. We used the camera for everything, to film, take pictures of locations and we all took part on the film so everyone learnt something from it. I have never worked with a camera before, so all the features and tools were really new to me; for example, the gallery button we use it to refer back to videos and pictures taken but you can also access your deleted footage and also change the settings of the camera. Furthermore, I also used YouTube and Google as a main resource for the planning of the final product; I used both to research music, locations and costumes. Google was mainly used for film research and cats, and YouTube was a really useful technology as I used it to watch other Media Studies film openings. Photoshop was used to make the fighting scene even better, but we decided not to incorporate it in our footage because we wanted to keep our Action film opening believable and original.
The genres chosen for our film opening sequence was action and crime; so we started to research the genre conventions and put together our mood board where we would later on get all the ideas from to begin shooting the scenes. Our intended audience was teenagers aged 14-18 mainly boys, so an action film would perfect to attract the intended audience. The genre conventions of action movies helped us a lot as a group to decide the props and costumes for our opening sequence. I watched "Irobot", "Batman" and "The dark knight" which gave me various ideas for the film opening but also helped me to put together some of the genre conventions such as;
Explosions and crashes
Fights
Weapons - knives and guns
Killings
Our film opening would have to include any of this features or props in order to be an action film, so we decided as a group to have a hero and a villain, also have weapons and a fight in order to attract the younger generation to watch it; the music chosen by all of us also helped to compliment the film genre and help to build the atmosphere and keep our target audience focused. The music was strong and it created a realistic theme. Our film opening has a lot of similarities to other actions movies such as the "Irobot" because it shows the main character at the very beginning of the film,
The audience research taken around my school was really effective because it helped us to improve and also get feedback from our intended audience. The feedback given was processed and we changed everything and improved the camera angles and shooting. Written by Nayma
The target audience attracted to the genre of the opening scene of our movie is particularly aimed at teenagers who have an interest in work by Marvel and DC comics. Most age ranges enjoy watching action movies but for most it's white males between 13-25. Genera differs by hero which determines what category the film would fall under. Teens all around the world have an interest in movies and television shows that convey a very prominent message of how to live, and idealistic expectations which influence the music they listen to and the films they watch.
This is a typical representation of teenagers who may be fond of common interests such as social media and shopping habits. They tend to spend a lot of time watching Netflix and discovering new releases of their favourite movie or television genre. In our opening, one of the scenes consists of the main character listening to dub-step which is a popular choice of music for teenagers. This automatically modernises the film and entices the target audience to feel engaged.
To start our main exercise (opening scene) we needed to do a location scout. The areas in which we intend to film in would be a confined dark room (interrogation scene). We got inspiration of films such as batman when he was interrogating the joker to find out information. We decided that this would be a great idea to use in ours as it will help create the tension and drama that is happening between the villain and hero.
We then decided that we should use a place within our school to represent the hero's age. As the hero is considered to be smart and represent a teenage boy, the common room seemed like the best option to film as that is the room in which everyone would gather in whenever there is free time or work to do. Just like the image below:
In addition to this, we needed an area that was quite and dark which most people would instantly recognise as a scene of a crime waiting to happen. An alley way or small street/road would be ideal as in many films that is were any fight scenes happen.
1st
Shot: (Film Noir) Look at watch (1 month
after start of Film).
High
angle OTS shot of executioner pointing
gun at Hero (Vigilante) (Don’t see executioner’s face), about to be executed.
Non Diegetic Sound High pitch (Similar to Post-Grenade)
POV
(point of view shot): splattered blood around edges (Vignette)
(low angle shot) looking at barrel of gun.
Cut
to Black (Maybe static): Diegetic Sound of Gunshot (High Pitch Sound Stops)
Look at newspaper: Crime Increasing,
Significant date (1 Month before last scene)
Shot of Common room.
Walking
Home: See person being robbed in distance
jumps in to stop criminal.
(Action
Shot) Knocks out the criminal (Roundhouse Kick) (Spinning Back Hook Kick) (Muay
Thai Knee).
Hero
realises he can save more
people.
The
News come on TV “Hooded Hero Saves Man” (M2S)
Shot
of Hero watching News (excited, emotional)
High
angle OTS, hero hacking into police database (Sees wanted list)
This is our final product. From watching this i can see the effort in which everyone has put into it to make it look as professional as possible. It followed our storyline of a ordinary young school boy who life had changed when he ended up stopping a crime and got to involved with that lifestyle. The first scene which is shown shows the hero being killed. This is a spoiler as to what will happen in the film but it helps the storyline. It shows the hero being killed when usually when thinking about a hero you would expect them to be almost indestructible and win every battle they face. However, we wanted to show that our hero was different and be original. There was the use of a close up on the watch which showed the time which could allow the audience to believe that there is a point to the time on the watch. Shortly after it changes to a deep shot with a guy (hooded hero) looking scared and worried about his life. This would make you wonder who this two men actually are and why this is happening. It then quickly cuts to black and it is silence for a few seconds and all you can hear is a gun shot. This adds to the tension and suspense we wanted to keep in order to gain interest. The next scene was the scene was the hero who had been shown before leaving his school after doing school work. This would present the image of him being smart and focused. It might confuse the audience as they would wonder why the hero was shot 2 months later as he doesn't look like the type to be involved in a crime. Therefore, it gives the idea that he is a victim later on. This scene never shows the hero's face. This is to protect his identity and whilst he was shown in the first scene it may not be him in the following scenes. This conveys the idea that he like to be his own persona and keep his life to himself. The use of the wide shot establishes the scene in which the character currently is. This helps create the realism in which we wanted because it shows that he lives an everyday life - due to it being a school room. We then used a long take as well and a panning shot watching the hero as he walked out the room which is used to signify his importance whether the audience know it yet or not. The 3rd scene is the fight scene where we used the establishing shot to show the alley way portraying the idea of danger waiting to happen. We showed the villain leaning again the wall and his body language was enough to present that he was about to commit a crime and considered to be a criminal like how you would expect a criminal in reality to be like. As it turns into a long take we witness a girl walk around the corner. The mise-en-scene of the character clothing and body language is then proven further and he pulls out a knife and the camera shot changes to a two medium close up showing the girls fear as she is robbed of her possessions and the villain still not being revealed. The music plays an important part of this scene as when the hero is walking up behind the villain after witnessing what happened the music begins to speed up to help create the tension of the moment and keep the audience engaged. It also makes the scene become faster paced as the hero and villain become more intact with each other. The 4th scene is a simple close up of the new reporter with some music playing on top of her voice. This helps create the idea of danger that whilst the hooded hero is out fighting crimes more danger will be happening to stop him from doing so or to catch him. The close up is used to create more realism as you would expect to see on TV. Finally the last scene uses a darkly lit room to help generate the effect that it is almost like an interrogation scene in which the hero is able to take control and research into different crimes. With the tracking shots showing the hero typing it conveys that the hero is trying to fight more crimes and because stronger in different skills in order to do so. However, whilst the scene gives this idea with the music playing the background it suggests that what the hero is doing will put in danger rather than fighting it.
This is the rough cuts for the news reporter, and interrogation scenes. We re-shot this as this were just testers on if the room was suitable, if it all flowed if the character used were the right choice.
This was the first take Nayma did for the news reporter. We wanted to giver her chance to find what she was actually going to say and do it in a way that appeared natural and sophisticated just like a normal Tv presenter. We decide that the room was the wrong choice as it didn't look anything like a news room so we would have to go on another location scout to find the next best thing. We then decided that we didn't want Nayma to be holding a script as it didn't look professional so this scene needed improving.
Both of these are the rough cuts for the interrogation scene. We used Matthew the villain for both of this and tried showing him in different costumes and what would be best. We decided that instead of the villain it should be the hero. Moreover, we decided that whilst we wanted it to be an office which we used, we wanted it to look more like a place where the hero would hide himself away with better technology.
Unfortunately i was off school due to illness however, my group was able to improvise to get the last scene filmed which was the fight scene. They managed to convinced another member of our media class (Rebecca Salmon) to fill in as the victim. In addition to my absence Nayna was missing too due to school exams but she wasn't needed to film this scene unless she was going to film. Luckily Sofia was able to film, Jamie was able to play the hero and Matthew as the criminal. After being shown the rough cuts of what they had filmed in the little time left, i am impressed from what we have filmed and happy that we can now focus more on getting our blog done as well.
After planning to film today, we had some trouble due to our main cast either not being fully equipped (i.e. forgetting to bring a camera to use due to the school supply being low) or because of illness. However, as the time we have is becoming shorter, we have rescheduled to film tomorrow during our media lesson in order to get some more footage.
After 3 attempts we finally managed to film something. The first scene was going to be the hero in the school common room leaving to go home. We had managed to film multiple shots. After we had all of these shots filmed we decided the best idea was to film some more scenes as we didn't have a lot of time left. We went on the shot the future scene were the villain kills the hero. However, we split into to groups so i was filming Matt and Jamie in order to complete this whilst Sofia worked with Nayma to work on the news reporting scene. A few hours later and we had finished both scene and were able to move on.
Due to Jamie wanting to do most of the editing for our movie me, Sofia and Naymaa were left to come up with the company name. We decided that it would be best to make a name which suggested the film we would produce would give the sense of action and adventure. We found the quote "the sky's the limit" which helped us. We wanted to use the word sky because we thought that it give the idea of dreams and what people wish they could be doing like their in a world of there own. This helped us come up with skyzone. We thought a bit more and wanted it to have some sort of terminology to do with media due to being a media production company. In the end we used productions. Our company was then going to be called SkyZone Production. The production company was then going to be edited and created by me to be put into our final product.
After looking at logos such as Avesta films and Javahead Productions, we decided we should use the colour scheme they all had which was the basic black and white. This is due to it being simple and will stand out. After many attempts of looking for different fonts and images of what we could put into our final logo, we came up with the following ones.
We all had a group discussion about which one would be best for us as a company. We wanted to chose one that was again simply and basic just like the companies we previously looked at and one that showed we are a production company. We eliminated the skyzone films written with the film reel as it suggested that our films could be old fashioned as most films now use digital features to film not film reel. We then were left with two and we decided that a simple animated camera projection skyzone would not only look better but also suggest we are a new company. Our final logo choice is:
In order to film, we needed a risk assessment of any problems we will have whilst filming, how likely they are to happen, the effect and how it can be resolved.
1st Shot: (Film Noir) Look at watch (1 month after start of Film).
High angle OTS shot of executioner pointing gun at Hero (Vigilante) (Don’t see executioner’s face), about to be executed. Non Diegetic Sound High pitch (Similar to Post-Grenade)
POV (point of view shot): splattered blood around edges (Vignette) (low angle shot) looking at barrel of gun.
Cut to Black (Maybe static): Diegetic Sound of Gunshot (High Pitch Sound Stops) Look at newspaper: Crime Increasing, Significant date (1 Month before last scene) Shot of Common room.
Walking Home: See person being robbed in distance jumps in to stop criminal.
(Action Shot) Knocks out the criminal (Roundhouse Kick) (Spinning Back Hook Kick) (Muay Thai Knee).
Hero realises he can save more people.
The News come on TV “Hooded Hero Saves Man” (M2S)
Shot of Hero watching News (excited, emotional)
High angle OTS, hero hacking into police database (Sees wanted list)
Hero – Jamie Criminal – Matthew Victim – Naymaa News Broadcasters – Charlie and Naymaa Extras – tbc Director – Sofia Camera Crew – Charlie, Nayma, Sofia Editors – Charlie and Jamie Make up – Leonie Childs Costumes – Nayma and Sofia
Basic and casual, to give the idea that it is an everyday life creating realism. This will be used for the Hero as we want people to see him as an ordinary school boy who life was changing.
The villain will be wearing a black hoodie also dressed completely in black to look like a criminal whilst staying hidden from the rest of society.
The news reporter will be dressed smartly as if they are appearing on TV like so below. This will help gain the realism which we are trying to create.
Due to having lost part of our story board. This is all have. This is for the first scene were the 'hooded hero' is scene being killed and then goes back in time as to why it happened. The story board is a rough copy of what we are hoping to make our film look like, the shots and lighting to which help create the scene and any mise-en-scene we used.
As peer our ideas on where to film, we found the best available locations around school which would be perfect for us to use and meant that we were able to meet up and film during our free time to get the final product ready. We agreed on small alley way for the fight scene, a drama room which had a black curtain to be used during the news report, and the common room to show the hooded hero's everyday life.
This is our main pitch which we presented towards our teacher Mr DeVita to see if it would be successful and reach the right audience. The Feedback we were given was to work on the storyline to make sure it made sense as it appeared quite confusing. We were also advised to check that the people we had put to play a role would be able to do so as this was just a rough copy. Furthermore, we were told to be careful when choosing where to film as the fight scene with a fake knife might look like a danger to the public.
The protagonist sat by a desk in the dismal and obscure room, observing the time on his watch.
(Film noir-esque lighting)
(Unknown character held at gunpoint by the antagonist in a mask)
(Cut to black, gunshot – silence)
(ears ringing/shellshock)
Shot 2:
(Set at the school in the common room, reading a newspaper about a crime involving him)
(OTS) (The protagonist then leaves the common room)
The antagonist violently took a knife out of his back pocket and screams at the victim (muffled voices)
Protagonist: (Walking, he spots the happening from a distance) (yelling) WHAT… WHAT ARE YOU DOING? STOP IT RIGHT NOW!!
Antagonist: (Quickly turns around) F*OFF.
Protagonist: (Running towards the situation) (fighting off the roadman, the victim lays on the floor unconscious) (the antagonist uses his weapon of a knife to intimidate the protagonist, provoking him even more) (the hero finally knocks villain and then calls the police) Shot 3:
The news announces a report of an incident involving a hooded hero saving a robbery victim
News Reporter: the knife crime occurrence in Peterborough has unfortunately gained another victim. Earlier this evening a teenager was violently attacked by an offender at Avenue Park.
(Tension building non-diegetic music, focusing on the hero’s facial expression)
Shot 4:
(Dim lighting, only spotlighting on the characters movements) (zoomed on typing/information appearing on screen)
(Over the shoulder shot of the hero on his laptop, hacking into the polices database to research for further information on the criminal)
(Non-diegetic tension building music) Shot 5:
(Night vision camera of the CCTV video with tension building non-diegetic music in the building)
(High angle of the protagonist held at gunpoint) Scene 6:
(Dim lighting)
(Wide shot of the hero training)
Shot 6:
CCTV of crime
(High angle)
(Dark lighting with tension building non-diegetic music)
Shot 7:
(Medium shot of the hero training in dim lighting with tension building non-diegetic music) Shot 8:
(Over the head shot of the hero training with tension building non-diegetic music)
As a group we decided that our company log should be something that can stand out and be recognised by our main target audience. We all agreed that it should be straight forward and simple. We looked into different film companies and found some that gave us ideas such as the companies displayed below:
All of these have given us ideas for which we will then be able to use into producing our own company.
Below is our schedule for what we plan to film, where we will meet and on what day, people who are need and any props/equipment needed. The days said are the days in which we will be filming unless we have any problems such as people missing or bad whether conditions which will make our film not have continuity. These dates are essential to use as we don't have long left to film and edit before it has to be finalised
After looking at different examples and trying to decide what to do, we decided to revolve it around serious crimes. We came up with the idea to base it around an average school boy so it will attract people who are in the younger generation. The
film is about an average guy, who is currently in school and witnesses a
robbery on his way home. He jumps in and stops the crime. He sees himself on
the news with the headline “hooded hero saves man” and makes him start to
realise he can help more people and does so. He goes on fighting crime and
becomes interested in bigger and more serious criminal cases.
We sent out a questionnaire to people in our school, family, workplace and people on social media to answer the following questions:
What is your age?
What is your gender?
What is your favourite genre
Do you skip the titles based on how interesting they look?
What makes your most likely to watch a film?
What is your favourite film and why?
After a week of waiting for responses, we finally received results from 18 people.
What is your age?
I asked this question because it would allow us to see what our age audience was and what kind of genre was most popular based upon that. It would also allow us to find out what would mainly be associated with them. This would then lead to giving a better opening scene and hopefully gain there full interest. From asking this question we found out that most people who answered this questionnaire were aged between 15 - 25. This would help as we would then plan our opening based around teenagers to young adults.
What is your gender?
This question was asked to find out if the main people who answered our questionnaire was a male or female and this would then help us to plan. This is because it would mean our main target audience would be based mainly around male
What is your favourite genre?
By looking at these result the most popular genre was action followed by thriller and crime. Due to these results we are able to focus on a film based around these. We want to focus on the most common response as it would be the best way to reach a high target audience and get more views to for what will be our opening scene.
Do you skip the titles based on how interesting they look?
The majority of people asked said they would. this would mean that our opening scene must be able to grab the attention of almost everyone watching as it will display possibly a main part of the storyline. Furthermore, we want our opening scene to be eye catching and not bore the audience before the film has started.
What makes you most likely to watch a film?
This question could be considered important as the most common response would be something we would focus on. In this case the most important answer was genre. From and earlier question the most common answer was action,crime and thriller so that would be something we would defiantly make sure our film was based on. Another important factor is then the actor/actress, so because we didn't have anyone famous or well known in our school, we are going to use people within our media group who are skilled at drama. In addition to this, the movie title seemed like an important aspect towards our opening scene so we made a title we considered to be simple but eye catching such as "hooded hero".
What is your favourite film and why?
Some of the responses back were:
Terminator because its different and
exciting
White house down because its had little
moments of comedy whilst action pack
Dead-pool because hilarious and dangerous.
Batman Vs Superman as its amazing
turnout and keeps you on edge through till the very end.
Fast and furious 7 it’s thrilling,
full of adventure and has heart felt moments
Star wars as suspense and tense are
constantly being built and the technology is incredible
Back the future because the adventure
between the doc and Marty McFly keeps you wondering about what will happen to
them both and if Marty will get back to their normal time frame.
The fault in our stars because magical
moments with a sense of humour.
The conjuring because slow to start but
after a while it was moment after moment of heart racing scenes.
As most of these films are action, crime and thriller we are able to look at them and get ideas as to how to make our film interesting and focus on how these films are popular and filmed shots so we can try to make ours in a similar way.
Before starting to plan what our film opening is going to be about we need to do some research. In order to do this I sent out a questionnaire consisting of the following questions:
What is your gender?
How old are you?
What is your favourite genre?
How often do you watch films?
What makes you most likely to watch a film?
Do you skip the titles based on how interesting they look?
What is your favourite film and why?
This will all help when it comes to finding which genre has the biggest audience. The more responses we get the easier it will be for us to plan our opening scene and what will considered successful.
Typography is the way in which things are written in films. For example, when it comes to the title of a film it can say a lot without the viewer knowing anything about it.
Take the writing on this title. The way it is presented suggests horror. It looks old fashioned and like a basic font, this could be implying that the storyline could be one in which most people have heard of or can have background knowledge on. In this case underneath it stated that it is based on true stories. This could mean that the audience is of an old generation depending on if its an old case study or not. The writing of a horror title would be very different from the title of a children film. You would expect them to look fun and colourful which are the main things that gain there interest for example postman pat uses a cartoon style and written in yellow which would look both fun towards a younger child and expecting most children to be watching cartoons and allow them to automatically get a feel for the film.
The opening scene to the start of this film is something that cannot be skipped. If it doesn't have the audiences attention, the rest of the film will make so sense as it tell the reason behind the story and the main characters journey through his life.
At the start of this film it uses the written code of a heading, stating a year, this is implies the time frame they are filming within. As it is year 1988 you would expect to see things around that time period. However, due to it stating the year the audience can assume it is either a flash back or it will soon change from the past to the future. Furthermore, it says Earth suggesting that it is based on earth for this scene but will soon change to either a different galaxy or planet.
There is then a close up of an old fashioned tape recorder (based around 1988) which plays a specific song. It then changes to a medium shot to a young boy who we can see is around 8-10 years old who is holding the tape recorder. This is can be used to symbolise that boy are important and as the boy is the first character we have seen/meet we can assume he will be the main character. The long shot of the boy just listening to music creates the effect that something bad is happening, which is then established a few seconds later when it changes to a wide shot of the young boy in the hospital. he is then followed using a camera from his point of view as he walks into a crowded room where a women (his mum) is laying. In the first few seconds of seeing this and it being slowed down, it creates the effect of a sad moment and as the women in the bed appears to have some kind of disease we can assume she doesn't have long left. AS the women in the bed passes away she gives her son a gift which now becomes another important factor of the film.
As the boy run out of the hospital a flash of light is focused on his as he is then the centre of attention again and appears sacred as he vanishes with the light. it then changes to a comic book theme, automatically letting the viewer know it is a marvel film and this boy is going to become something either heroic or a villain.
Our preliminary task was a first chance for all of us to have a go at filming and editing. task. The group was the exact same for our preliminary task as for our project. In this task we only did the basic shots (shot/reverse shot, match on action and 180 degree rule). This was to help us understand the most used and easiest shots. From using the 180 degree rule it allowed us to follow through with the continuity which was the whole point of the task. This meant that we would have to be consistent so we wouldn't confuse the audience.
The preliminary was a chance for us to experiment and find out how we worked as a group and who was best at doing what, therefore we could focus on doing our own part. This would then help us when it came to our main project. From the preliminary it was more of a mess around and no one really knew what we were doing and we went with the flow as there was no planning or research which went ahead with this. However, by looking at this it could have been much worse.
Research and planning
To get to our main project we had to do some research. This is because we wanted to know who would be our target audience. After sending out a survey we then received some results in the following weeks which we where then able to compare and found out that crime, action and thriller were the most common. Based on this information everyone came up with a rough idea on what would be a great initial idea that we could then all develop into something better. Finally after a long discussion we decided that Jamie's idea would be the best. This then lead into having to pitch our idea to see whether or not it would be a successful film opening.
This is completely different from the preliminary as there was no planning or research involved as we were just giving the simple task to go out and complete. However, The preliminary task didn't have a a target audience as it was a basic beginners task to give us an insight into what will be needed for our main project
Pre-production
Before we could start doing any sort of filming or editing there was some things we needed to sort out. We needed to design a storyboard which both Jamie and Sofia completed whilst Charlie and Nayma were working on the script. We were all working co-ordinately in order to make sure everything was being matched up and everything that was being said on the script was happening at the right time on the storyboard. After the story board and script were finished everyone had to decided on what part they wanted to play in our project whether it would be on camera or off. Once everyone was happy, we were then able to ask for extras to play parts we needed to fill ( other characters). We saved the film name for last as well as the production company as we agreed at the pre-production stage it was the least important. As soon as everything was agreed and everyone was happy we were then able to proceed with our project.
Compared to our preliminary it was a lot more more work simple because it was our idea and how we worked as a group that would count. It was easy when we first started the post-production for our preliminary as we had to learn 3 simple techniques (shot/reverse shot, match on action and 180 degree rule) and how to edit them after being sent of to do so.
Production
The production side was considerable one of the harder parts to our project. Everyone was either having to try and change around their schedule or unable to meet, no areas were we needed to film were available, members of our groups missing or the weather wasn't any good to film in (rain or snow). On the first few days of shooting the first scene we were able to film it multiple time and using different shots to decide what would be best. However, after we started getting further into the filming side of it, we gathered many issues and people were starting to become stressed as time was running out and we were still needing to film and edit whilst completing the blogs all at the same time. In the mean time of trying to do everything our teamwork started to worsen as many fall outs occurred. The group would agree at different time on what scene we wanted to film and how we wanted to shot it or when we were unable to film anything due to meet up problems. However, everyone had shortly after gotten over it and arranged another time when it was possible to get the last bit of filming done. It was a relief for everyone when we had finally finished the last scene to film.
The production on the main project was much harder than the preliminary due to us having to take it more seriously and being on a time limit to make present it to the best of our abilities. We had to focus on learning knew camera angles such as over the shoulder shot and high/low angle shot, camera movements such as panning and tracking and camera shots such as establishing shots, long take and close ups. As learning more about these weren't learnt how they are effective and not just used because they can be for instance close ups are used mainly to show emotion and wants the audience to engage with how the character is feeling. These were all useful when filming as they helped us decide on what would be the best way to present what our story was.
In our main project we used a variety of shots ( more than our preliminary). However due to Jamie being the main character and needed in almost every scene we did, Charlie, Sofia and Nayma filmed. We all worked productively and worked numerous days and hours to get this to the perfect standard to which we were all happy with. We all had to constantly be conferring ideas as to how we could make it better. It took a lot longer to film this compared to the preliminary and was a lot harder to make sure that everything was going smoothly. However, we were constantly rushing and trying to work around being kicked out of rooms and areas around the school. Post-Production
The editing was something in which we were all shown how to do using the software Premier Pro. The editing was done by mainly Jamie however, everyone else did pitch in if needed. Whilst we worked on other group tasks that needed to be completed such as the production company which was to be designed and edited into our final piece, the rest of our blogs, evaluation and helped Jamie complete his when needed as well. This part of the process was what i think considerably the hardest part as we were really rushing against time to complete all of the tasks. Moreover, we were having to make sure that any shots that needed to be done where and allow everyone to see what we had accomplished within the last few months of hard work. The post-production was harder again from the preliminary simply because we had to know more and whilst we had a longer deadline to make sure we knew what was doing, who would be doing it and when it had to be done by, the quality of it had to be so much better. Whilst we only knew the basic shot/reverse shot in the preliminary we had to expand our knowledge into other editing techniques such as fade, cut to black, jump cut, the use of ellipsis and cross cutting extra and whilst some weren't used they were still useful to know and understand what they can portray towards their audiences.
From looking back at our preliminary from our main project I can see the difference. In the main project we use a variety of bigger and better skills such as camera angles, we also took it more seriously and made sure that every part of what we did was done correctly and broken down to be as simple as possible. We had to take into account if music would be necessary, if the cast was al; doing the right task, the different shots,angles and movements which could have a better effect than the ones we had taken and the lighting had to be taken into account as well. Overall, we can see that our knowledge towards media and techniques have grown tremendously and we have also learnt about the benefits and reasons behind the filmig used by directors. Written by Charlie
Our production company is called skyzone films. We called it this as we believed that the name skyzone gave the impression of an action themed genre as we thought of the quote "the sky has no limit". we want the audience to think that our films will be unique and filled with action and adventure with jaw dropping scenes.
In addition to this, we did some research as to what our logo should look like. As a group we thought that should be simple and basic yet is recognisable. So after looking at other basic logo that are commonly known such as film 4, we thought we should use a simple font and possible something related to film. After carefully putting together different logos our finished logo looks like this:
What does a production company do?
They are responsible for the production of a film. They will help with the funding, distribution and investors. if they believe the film is not worth anything or will not succeed they can turn down the film. Production companies can be well known and work with the best and well known actors such as Marvel has recently worked with Vin Diesel on Guardians of the Galaxy however, so have Universal studios on films such as fast and furious. Therefore, if they accept to fund your film then you can have a famous star staring within them, which will help boost views along with profit.
Where might the movie have come from?
Due to our film being an independent film, the funding for it would not be very high. I would roughly estimate that we might receive around £2 million. This is mainly because we are not well known and would most likely be classed as beginners in this world of business therefore, producers and production companies will not be completely convinced by our idea and mainly not the major ones. If any production company was to run our film, I think our best chance would be with a company like BBC or film 4 or even lionsgate if it was to a high standard.
However, as we don't have any production companies to fund our film we were on a low budget which meant all the props and equipment were to be provided by ourselves. We were able to improvise as a group by using Jamie's camera due to the quality being far better than the ones in school, but the ones in school would still be there as a backup. Furthermore, any props were most likely going to be available to borrow from our drama studio, if not it was down to us to find one which would be good enough for our filming purposes.
Why are people named in titles?
This is because they are part of the crew which have made the film and hopefully turned it into a success. All the roles such as producer, director, cast, music producer and costume designer etc. must credit not only so they can be congratulated on the work they have done but also be noticed and will most likely be hired by other companies for their honourable work.
In our final product, we displayed the director first as he played the most important role to some extent as he was in control of the entire movie. We then displayed other crew member such as camera crew was Charlie and Sofia, news reporter was Nayma, the hero was Jamie and the victim was Matthew. Everyone is to be stated in the credits as it shows their participation and how everyone worked in the time in order to create the film piece.
What is our film similar to institutionally?
Our film is similar to batman, this is because whilst it is all about the action between the villain and the hero that engages the audience. We wanted to start from the end of our film first which might be classed a spoiler towards the the audience but it lets them see our characters story. In 'batman the dark night rises', there is an interrogation scene where the villain is being questioned. We wanted to use this kind of idea based on the lighting in the seen. We thought it was a create idea to use dark lighting when the hero was hacking as it helps creates tension and mystery. In addition to this, there is a close up of the villain which shows his pain and his emotion which allows the audience to connect with him and feel sorry. This was used in our final product as whilst it wasn't the villain killed it was the hero. We used a deep shot which showed the hero in the background and the audience could see his fear. Written by Charlie
