Behind The Scenes

The makings of the behind the scenes was important and enjoyable for our group, because as you will see the numerous photos and videos below were humorous in creation from our group.

Production Diary

11/11/2016 – In today’s lesson we made a presentation based on our opening scene which includes topics like the target audience and the narrative. Then presented it to the class and the class were asked to give feedback and constructive criticism and how we could improve or what they liked about it.

14/11/2016 – In lesson today we made and produced an evaluation for our opening scene presentation based on the feedback we were given by the class to help us understand how audiences feel about our film opening. We also let the audience choose the name for our film which is “Outlaw”

15/11/2016 – In today’s lesson we discussed who would do what planning. Josh is to organize the shooting schedule. Sam is making the storyboard and I am doing the Production Diary. We also discussed specific props and costumes and how to organise the scenes that we are recording.

17/11/2016 – Today in lesson we all worked on research and planning for out film opening. Josh made and completed a shooting schedule; Sam researched film openings and titles, and I made and completed a document on costume research. We uploaded two posts onto our blogs as they were finished then Josh started on music research and I stated primary and secondary audience research.

20/11/2016 - Today we went out to Willingale to do the main bulk of our recording for our film opening. Overall the day of recording went well, everyone showed up and we recorded all the main fights scenes to a high standard that looked very well done and realistic due to the different angles we used we needed but unfortunately we over-recorded the main scenes with different angles that when we looked over the footage at the end of the day we realised some of the transitions between scenes were choppy and the main protagonist, Sam, looked like he was skipping out stepping between scenes and made us wonder how he got there. We have organised a re-recording on Sunday the 4th of December to record filler scenes and even record another fight so that our film opening can be to an even higher standard.

21/11/2016 - In todays lesson we took all the footage off the camera and started to organise the footage and edit it. Josh worked on special effects on after effects and I ordered and cut the footage in Premier. Sam worked on research for titles that we could use for the opening.

22/11/2016 - Today in lesson Josh worked on the special effects of the gun shots, since I already ordered and cut the footage me and Sam worked on research for different aspects of the marketing and titles.

23/11/2016 - In lesson Josh had finished doing the special effects so he practiced editing random clips to makes sure when he edits the new set of recording clips he can do it faster and to a better quality. Sam continued to research and I worked on the production diary.

24/11/2016 - Josh continued practicing his ability to do special effects whilst we waited to record the next scenes. I worked on the production diary and helped Sam record the storyboard to post on our blogs.

25/11/2016 - I worked on editing the storyboard video whilst Josh continued to practice. Sam worked on marketing research for ideas of what we can do after the main editing is done.

27/11/2016 - We were unable to record as the group and actors had problems with work so we had to postpone the recording until the 4th of December.

29/11/2016 - As a group we reflected on Josh's editing and suggested different ways he can add the effects and how he can make the effects look more crisp and professional.

1/12/2106 - As a group this hour was wasted as we where unsure on what to do with lack of footage due to a unfortunate setback. From this we learned that we need to always make the most of our time and when we have nothing to do work on research for other parts of the film opening.

4/12/2016 - Today we went to record our next set of footage but we had another problem, the other actors all decided to leave without notifying us. So me, Sam, and Josh recorded the opening as just us three. The scenes we recorded worked and flowed a lot better than our last set of film, we over-recorded this time to make sure that we have enough footage to be able to edit properly.

5/12/2016 - Today josh worked and a new set of special effects for the new scenes and I worked on the production diary. I will be editing the footage together after josh has finished the main special effects. Sam worked the behind the scenes and finding the footage the we can use to make a good behind the scenes post.

6/12/2016 - Today Josh worked on the first half of the opening scene, he was working on adding the plasma shots to the gun as he had already done the plasma launcher. I worked on editing an d uploading the video storyboard evaluation. Sam worked on risk assessments and made a prezi about it so that it is interesting to look at.

8/12/2016 - As a group today we sat down and reflected on what we have done and haven't done. Me and Sam were caught up to date wit how far Josh was with editing and Josh was told what Me and Sam had and hadn't done. We also talked about what we were planning to do.

12/12/2016 - In today's lesson Josh worked on editing the second half of the opening scene, he was editing a shield on my arm to reflect bullets that Sam shot at me. I worked on the Film poster whilst Sam worked on the marketing for the film.

14/12/2016 - Today Josh finished off the second half of the special effects for the film opening. Sam worked on making a post about audience and I finished of the poster and sent it to Sam so he could add it to the marketing post.

16/12/2016 - Josh has finished the special effects for the film opening and is now working on adding diegetic sounds and the titles. Sam reworked some of the old post to update them of the new plot line. I worked on sending Josh the timings for the titles and the order of the people in the titles.

19/12/2016 - Josh finished off the titles an dis now adding the last few diegetic sounds to the film opening. Sam was not in today so he couldn't update his blog. I worked o genre conventions of our film genre which I made a post about.

20/12/2016 - Josh finished the Final draft of the film opening and has rendered it. Sam worked on updating the blog and keeping up to date with the LAP chart. I re-updated the production diary form the last few days.

21/12/2016 - This is our last day before we breakup for the holidays. Because Josh has finished Editing we all worked on making sure we have every blog post we need. So we split up and worked on all the missing posts we had.

Bloopers 2

Warrior Review

This movie was really emotional, showing the ambitions of two brothers competing in a MMA competition and the underlying effects from their difficult childhood. A member of the cast who played a main character was Tom Hardy, a very inspirational actor who has starred in numerous distinctive movies where he represents a strong character. Two brothers face the fight of a lifetime - and the wreckage of their broken family - within the brutal, high-stakes world of Mixed Martial Arts fighting in Lionsgate's action/drama, WARRIOR. A former Marine, haunted by a tragic past, Tommy Riordan returns to his hometown of Pittsburgh and enlists his father, a recovered alcoholic and his former coach, to train him for an MMA tournament awarding the biggest purse in the history of the sport. As Tommy blazes a violent path towards the title prize, his brother, Brendan, a former MMA fighter unable to make ends meet as a public school teacher, returns to the amateur ring to provide for his family. Even though years have passed, recriminations and past betrayals keep Brendan bitterly estranged from both Tommy and his father. But when Brendan's unlikely rise as an underdog sets him on a collision course with Tommy, the two brothers must finally confront the forces that tore them apart, all the while waging the most intense, winner-takes-all battle of their lives.

Bloopers 1

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl Review

I really enjoyed watching the movie, its unlike any piece I have seen before and can most definitely be described as unique. The basic plot is Seventeen-year-old Greg has managed to become part of every social group at his Pittsburgh high school without having any friends, but his life changes when his mother forces him to befriend Rachel, a girl he once knew in Hebrew school who has leukaemia. The empowering message of the film in my personal opinion is to stay close to those around you, and be there for your friends especially when they need you the most. I expect that eventually the main character Greg will get into the college he wants and pursues his dreams, which in this instance is classical movies.

Van Wilder Review

Van Wilder is one of my favourite all time comedies with famous actor Ryan Reynolds, the storyline involves To Van Wilder, college doesn't get you ready for life, it is life. So when his father puts a stop to his cash flow, 7 years into his time at college, it looks like the party might finally be over for Van. Down, but not out, Van, and his team devise a way to make money from partying. However that soon come to the attention of the college magazine, who send out sexy college reporter, Gwen to do a feature on the infamous Van Wilder, Party Liaison for the graduation front page. But when things start to go wrong for Van, he realizes that this time he may need to do something really crazy... graduate!

Conventions of Action/Thriller

Deadpool is a good example of a action film that has elements of comedy. Deadpool's opening even has comedic elements as the titles are not opening titles are not done seriously they are done so that they don't include the names of the actual people who worked on the film but instead insults or over-exaggerates qualities about them. Deadpool's opening scene is an ideal example of a gore heavy opening that has been neutralised by the comedic effects.

Hot fuzz is another action comedy film that is similar to Deadpool but less gore. Hot fuzz has more comedic aims than Deadpool as it uses action camera angles to enhance the light-hearted scenes. As the opening continues the scenes become slightly more action packed and include more gore.

No Country for Old Men is a purely action film and the opening portrays this. It is a very bland and stale opening that shows just a barren wasteland with who we can assume is the main protagonist. The opening scene shows us its action by making it tense as the man speaking is doing so very monotonous which makes the scene tense and can make the audience worry for whats to happen.

The Road is a thriller/action film that has sci-fi elements. The film opens with a nice flashback scene from the past before the fallout. When it suddenly switches to the fallout world we are shown the man and his dad trying to survive walking along a road after waking in a cave, this helps convey the thriller/action genre as it adds and eeriness to the scene making the audience worry.

In conclusion these film opening will help us build are opening scene for our film as they all include elements that we wish to include, for example heavy action from Deadpool, the lonely walking of The Road.

Evidence Of Planning

 

This is Jamie Hewlett, researching some ideas that he needs to tick of the media checklist.

 

 

Here is our chief editor Joshua Yates who decided to take on the most difficult responsibilities, which he maintains in his free time.

 

 

This is the last of the group Samuel James Hooper who has the rewarding job of motivating his other group members, and took on numerous tasks relating to the film opening.

 

 

Fire Institution

This is Josh's Institution Logo called 'Fire':

This Logo will appear at the beginning of our Film Opening. The Fire flashes on screen with a bright white glow then quickly diminishes into a flame-affect font displaying the title 'Fire'. There is a plain black background which makes the title stand out against it much more. The effect on the title also makes it look professional as well as being of a very high quality. Much like the other titles it was created in Adobe After Effects.

The Warriors Titles Research

http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/the-warriors/

0:04 - 0:09 Paramount pictures presents (production Company)
0:18 - 0:24 A Lawrence Bordan production ( production company)
0:30 - 0:34 The Warriors (Film Title)
0:37- 0:49 Actors
1:50 - 1:55 Music by
2:23 - 2:28 Edited by
2:49 - 2:54 Art directors
3:48 - 3:53 Director of Photography
4:10 - 4:15 Executive Producer
5:10 - 5:15 Screenplay by
5:32 - 5:37 Produced by
6:15 - 6:20 Directed by

Film Opening First Draft

Gun Shot Edit Practice 2

For our Film Opening Task we have decided to use special effects in order to improve the overall look of our Opening Scene. Therefore I decided to play about with Adobe After Effects and see what effects I could achieve. I took a sample clip of someone shooting a BB Gun and layered on top a muzzle flash as well as some smoke to create the effect/illusion of a real gun shooting. This was simple a test and a chance for me to improve my editing abilities in Adobe After Effects, but I now know how to create a realistic effect and have practiced since also which means that the final task should hopefully look very professional and have a sense of realism to it.

Risk Assessment forms/Health and Safety

Everything that I have mentioned in the presentation above must be applied to the production through a risk assessment form to ensure that everyone in the group are prepared for potential outcomes and willing to continue with the film opening; I have created one below:

Class Feedback On First Draft

The peer assessment sheet consisted of two sections:

What elements of this sequence did you feel were successful?

- 'Good locations. It is a good cliffhanger'.

- 'Creates enigma, who is he?, whats he doing? and wheres he going?'.

- 'Liked the gunshots when the camera angle changed, made it more dramatic'.

- 'The pace was very good- got faster as the opening went on'.

- 'Music sets the atmopshere'.

- 'Props good- Location/Setting reall good'.

- 'I liked how the shots were in time with the music'.

- 'The music complemented the sequence'.

- 'I liked how the camera went in and out of focus'.

- 'The different shots used were brilliant, very professional overall'.

- 'Warm feel with colors, especially the sunset background'.

The overall feedback we received for our film openings first draft was very positive even though we had barely completed the editing. People seemed to enjoy the locations that we used in Willingale, the shots were amazing because of the time we chose to film which brought upon a sunset. Also I can see from the audiences responses that the music was well suited, it isn't copyrighted because it has been remixed, so it has been effectively applied to the modern era. The way in which our director Josh Yates filmed some of the scenes going from unfocused to focused received very good feedback, I personally believe he was the visionary of this whole operation. He was able to captivate his audience in a way that intrigued them into wanting to watch more, this has been perceived through the above quotes; which will be beneficial to our group.

Were there any aspects of the sequence which you felt were confusing/distracting/missing, etc?

- 'Who was the character, why was he there?'.

- 'Titles were missing'.

- 'Doesn't explain why he is fighting/in the woods'.

- 'Lacked a full-on story-line could have more context'.

- 'You couldn't tell who the character was and why he was doing it'.

- 'Who was the masked character'.

- 'Was unfinished'.

- 'No speech, so was hard to fully understand what was really going on'.

 These particular responses were slightly unhelpful, they were just stating the things we already knew we were missing. Our next draft will include our titles and all of the gunshots/noises should be edited in creating the masterpiece that is our film opening. People were saying they were confused about the story-line or the characters need to fully understand and appreciate the fact that film openings are supposed to be a mystery in most cases; and to make the audience consider all the different possible outcomes.

Audience- Primary and Secondary

The primary audience is the decision-maker and/or decision-making body.

The secondary audience is the group's of people that you identify, educate and activate to influence the primary audience.

One of the most important concepts within the subject of Media Studies is understanding that of an audience. Every single media text is made on the assumption to receive pleasing views from an audience, in this way success can be measured by this response; and alternatively the opposing views are to be avoided.

Niche Audience
The mass audience is not the only one that can make a lot of money for media producers, for example some media texts with a specific sub-section of the audience in mind. Whilst a niche audience is more than likely to be smaller in number than a mass audience, this way people can appeal to a specific group which can be perceived and experienced as more profitable.

Target Audience
It is extraordinarily important for media producers to recognise and identify who their specific target audience actually is; it is this knowledge that enables them to make choices on what the content of their media texts should be.

Gun Shot Edit Practice

 

This was edit practice for a gun shot that was supposed to look futuristic, this is what was produced and my group is fairly happy with the outcome as we perceive it as an 'cool' approach to our film opening. This pistol that creates a plasma shot was an idea we got from a game named Halo which includes a variety of weapons that fit our chosen genre particularly well.

Suicide Squad Review

Suicide got a lot of bad reviews, and there are certain aspects of the film that force me to agree with that; although it gripped me enough to make me watch it numerous times. The basic story of this movie is as follows: a secret government agency, led by the ruthless, high-ranking official Amanda Waller, recruits some of the most dangerous, incarcerated villains on the planet to execute dangerous black ops missions and save the world from a potentially apocalyptic threat from a mysterious, supernatural entity. If anything goes wrong on this mission, the government will not be liable but rather can place the blame on the villains, who are inherently evil people. A small bomb is implanted in each member of the squad's neck with the capability of detonating any time one of the members tries to rebel or escape. It will be up to this assembled team of villains to prevail over the seemingly impossible events that will unfold before them, in what many deem to be a "suicide mission".

One of the main factors in the making of a truly great comic book movie is the quality of the villain, how about a film in which even the good guys are bad? The most memorable, by no small margin, is Margot Robbie’s minxy troublemaker, Harley Quinn. Will Smith’s Deadshot is also reasonably well defined, though due to either Smith’s inherent likability or the script’s emphasis on Deadshot’s doting relationship with his daughter, it’s easier to accept the humane aspect of his personality than the sociopathic killer. Less well served is Captain Boomerang played by Jai Courtney, who is more a list of Australian cultural cliches than a character. Katana played by Karen Fukuhara is little more than a samurai sword and a grudge. And Killer Croc acted by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje struggles to convey much in the way of personality from under the layers of distracting prosthetic's.

Above is the suicide squad representation of the iconic Joker, played by Jared Leto. The Joker is a supervillain and the archenemy of Batman. He was first introduced in Batman 1940 and has remained consistently popular. The Joker is a master criminal with a clown-like appearance. Initially portrayed as a violent sociopath who murders people for his own amusement, the Joker later in the 1940s began to be written as a goofy trickster-thief. That characterization continued through the late-1950s and 1960s before the character became again depicted as a vicious, calculating, psychopathic killer. The Joker has been responsible for numerous tragedies in Batman's life. This particular modern portrayal of the joker. While no one can blame Warner Bros. for having so much of Suicide Squad‘s marketing campaign focus on The Joker, it’s fair to say that they misled fans when it comes to just how big a role the Clown Prince of Crime has in the movie. The iconic villain has been a big part of almost every trailer and TV spot, while he’s also adorned almost countless magazine covers and posters to boot.

Costume Research

For our film opening we had to research costumes for our characters to wear, we did this so that we could get a better idea for the specific items of clothing that all of the characters will be wearing. Having a page of costume research helps the actor and producers get innovative ideas for costumes and how to make them look better whilst allowing them to picture the scene better.  

Costume Research  <---- Link to Costume Research document.

Overall having a document of costume research helps solidify final costumes and also helps to create a clear images of all the scenes that will be recorded.

WWF-UK Advertisment 2016

WWF's Christmas advert has stolen the show with a moving story of an injured tiger, the emotional advert sees a family wake up on christmas to find an injured tiger in their home. Luckily for the big cat, the family set out to nurse him back to health - by cleaning and dressing his wounded paw. While he’s recovering, the little girl of the family brings the tiger a get well soon card, complete with an adorable drawing of a stripy beast playing outside. Over the next few days, they feed him and read to him until it becomes apparent that the tiger is well enough to leave. The tiger makes his way down the stairs to the back door, and the family are moved to tears as they watch him walk out of the back door, which magically leads to his natural habitat. The advert closes with the line ‘They need our help', which outlines the importance of such an advertisement that I will evaluate below this video; and overall its one of the the most memorable adverts this Christmas. 

On the WWF website https://www.wwf.org.uk/wildlife/tigers here is the intriguing information they provide to convince people to join this noble cause. First of all tigers are affected my numerous things such as illegal wildlife trade, human wildlife conflict, habitat loss and fragmentation; both me and WWF believe in the stewardship of the world that humans must obey, through which we should protect all creatures of this Earth equally. For those who do not know fragmentation is defined as the emergence of discontinuities in an organism's preferred environment (habitat), causing population fragmentation and ecosystem decay. 

In continuation from before, the gorgeous, awe-inspiring tiger is one of our planet’s most iconic animals. But here’s the shocking truth, Wild tiger numbers dropped by more than 95% in the past century. However, for the first time in conservation history, their numbers are on the increase. WWF aim to help double the number of wild tigers to over 6,000 by 2022, which would be the next Chinese year of the tiger. In recent years, conservation work and the commitment of various governments has halted the decline in global tiger numbers, But there’s a lot more work to do. WWF are working closely with governments and community groups across Asia and your support is crucial, as always for the protection of this amazing wild cat that humans have forced into becoming an endangered species.

Music Research

For our film opening task we decided that we would like to include music in our final piece and make it a key part of the opening sequence. Therefore there was a lot of importance in choosing the right piece of music to use and took hours of research. We sat down over three days and simply listened to all sorts of different music tracks. We cannot use Copyrighted music due to the rules of our exam board (OCR). Therefore we had to look through Royalty Free Music and music that was over 50 years old as these songs are not copyrighted.
After looking through Royalty Free Music we found a large amount of them sounded very cheap or poorly instrumented (yet still impressive for a 'one-man band') and they simply did not suit the music style we had in mind. Therefore we began listening to music over 50 years old and found to our surprise that a lot of popular and great music is of the previous generation. We came to a conclusion of three songs that we felt would suit our action-comedy genre/film idea. These were the three songs that we felt were good.

The Rolling Stones - Paint it Black



The Animals - House of the Rising Sun



The Monkees - Daydream Believer



After listening to the beat of the songs and to how we felt they would contrast or match with what was going on onscreen we decided that the Monkees - Daydream Believer was the song we were going to use as it suited the ironic comedic element of our film opening, the happy music contrasted to the killing that ensued on screen, much like in the Deadpool [film] opening.

Deadpool Film Opening Credits



We felt that 'Paint it Black' had been overused by the existing media and despite it having a good rhythm to it and sounding like a good match, we decided not to go with it. As for 'House of the Rising Sun', the overall feel of the song was great but the beat of the song seemed like it would be hard to match with what was happening on screen. Therefore we decided that 'Daydream Believer' was the best song to use. We tracked the scenes to certain points in the song and felt they matched perfectly.

Genre and Audience

The action genre is defined as wherein physical action takes precedence in the storytelling. The film will often have continuous motion and action including physical stunts, chases, fights, battles, and races. The story usually revolves around a hero that has a goal, but is facing incredible odds to obtain it. 

Action film examples:

@ Die Hard- A New York cop gives terrorists a dose of their own medicine as they hold hostages in an LA office building.

@ Raiders of the Lost Ark - an adventuring archeologist races around the world to single-handedly prevent the Nazis from turning the Ark of the Covenant into a weapon of world conquest.

Our film is most certainly an action film with its slow beginning which transitions into a fast pace combat movie.

A target audience is the intended audience or readership of a publication, advertisement, or other message. In marketing and advertising, it is a particular group of consumers within the predetermined target market, identified as the targets or recipients for a particular advertisement or message. In this instance our target audience is ranged at 15 and above, however to be more accurate the audience will be aged between 15-40, simply because the actors in the opening look particularly young meaning the audience could certainly relate to them.

When deciding our target audience, we had to look at what we were going to include, and how discrete we were going to be. We chose this age specifically because the audience is seen as active producers, to make sense of media text from their social position.

The Magnificent Seven Review

I absolutely adored this 2016 remake of The Magnificent Seven franchise which represents such a diverse relationship between seven warriors. Director Antoine Fuqua brings his modern vision to a classic story in The Magnificent Seven. With the town of Rose Creek under the deadly control of industrialist Bartholomew Bogue, the desperate townspeople employ protection from seven outlaws, bounty hunters, gamblers and hired guns. As they prepare the town for the violent showdown that they know is coming, these seven mercenaries find themselves fighting for more than money.

First of all we have Billy Rocks is based on James Coburn's Britt from 'The Magnificent Seven', who himself is based on Seiji Miyaguchi's Kyuzo from 'Seven Samurai'.

Goodnight Robicheaux- Based on Lee from 'The Magnificent Seven', Goodnight has severe cases of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Josh Faraday- The trickster/gambler who dares to challenge death, sorry for any spoilers.

Christolm- the leader of this delightful group, who motivates his group and is one of the strongest above all.

Vasquez- the only Mexican of the gang, very fast with his gun and joined the group in return for hiding his outlaw background.

Jack Horne- the 'bear' of the group, named this for his huge size and animal like fighting style; a ruthless hunter.

Red Harvest- the native American who is hunting for revenge against the people who murdered his family, prefers a bow and arrow over a gun any day; and would still win the fight.

These are the magnificent seven that are presented to the audience, they have altered the original characters hugely in comparison with the last movie of the 1960's. These characters represent the modern age where all cultures and races are accepted in society, I enjoyed each one of these individuals fighting styles in relation to their background. I recommend this film to others and would definitely watch it again myself.

Marketing Campaign

Marketing campaigns promote a product through different media, including television, radio, print and online platforms. Campaigns don't have to rely solely on advertising and can also include demonstrations, word of mouth and other interactive techniques. Businesses operating in highly competitive markets may initiate frequent marketing campaigns and devote significant resources to generating brand awareness and sales.

Marketing campaigns can be designed with different goals in mind, including building a brand image, introducing a new product, increasing sales of a product already on the market, or even reducing the impact of negative news. Defining a campaign's goal usually dictates how much marketing is needed and what media are most effective.

 

This is the poster for our marketing campaign, they can be used well because posters provide a logical and cost-effective way of communicating to a particular target market. When placed correctly, attractive posters can lure nearby people into a specific event and alert them of an upcoming product or service. Posters have the ability to stick in viewers' minds and can be a great tool for small- to medium-sized businesses to use to increase brand awareness. Posters are cheaper than common forms of advertising such as print, radio and television.

The biggest advantage of using posters is that they can be put just about anywhere and seen by almost anyone. Posters can be strategically located to target a particular market sector. For example, take-out restaurants might prefer to situate posters near busy bus stops or train terminals to target hungry commuters.

Bloom Institution

This is Sam's Institution Logo called 'Bloom':


The logo will appear at the beginning of our film opening and tells the audience what the institution is for the film.
The logo is good because it has a unique style to it, it fades on and off screen and is made up of a clear bold font in the centre of the screen. The title 'Bloom' is in a bright pink colour and has an 'electric' glow/effect to it, in which the text is animated. This draws attention to the title as it shows it is a professional logo institution as it is a moving image and is in high quality whilst also looking original.

As well as the title in clear pink text, there are two circles surrounding the title, both of which also move in a natural, cool way. The inner circle is a lightning blue where as the outer circle is more of a smokey effect with a blood-orange glow. These circles add depth to the image and draw the viewers eye to the centre whilst also providing an aesthetically pleasing background.

This effect was created in After Effects entirely by scratch by Josh, he used multiple effects to create this final image.

Shooting Schedule

For our Film Opening Task we had to create a Shooting Schedule so we could organise the date, time and location of which we would be shooting the film opening. We also had to list the props, costume, sets, cast and credits we would be using. As well as this we gave a brief outline of timings throughout the day so we had a schedule of when we could shoot specific scenes, when to take breaks and when to check footage etc.


Link: Shooting Schedule


Overall, having a shooting schedule makes filming much easier as it outlines all of the props we need, and is a basis for timings and dates, it can also be handed out to the cast and crew so everyone has the same information. It was exceedingly beneficial particularly for our film genre which was an action/comedy, because we had numerous fight scenes which required certain levels of pre-planning.

Film Opening Storyboard Evaluation

For our storyboard we drew and wrote down what scenes we would need to record we at the location of filming. After recording these scenes we decided as a group to re-record the scenes in a different way. We did this by changing the plot. This was done by removing all the excess characters like enemy 1 or 2 for example. We did this because we felt like with all the fighting scenes it would take away form the final fight and make it less appealing to watch. it would of also made fitting the in the titles difficult as the scenes were shot or would only stay on one camera angle for a few seconds making the titles hard to read.

 

So we scrapped the old story plot and made a new one that would take less time to record, require less people and the final fight would be more satisfying to watch as the build up doesn't have constants fighting which ruins the final fight as the audience is then used to the fights taking place.

It would take less time to record as we didn't need other actors, so we didn't need to choreograph the fights which meant we saved a lot of time and that we could successfully over-record so that we would have plenty of scenes to choose from so that we can have different angles for each shot which can help create a more intense effect to the film opening.

 

In conclusion we decided to scrap the old story plot and make a new one as it allowed us to make a better quality film opening that would take less time to record, so that we could over record and give us opportunities to make better scenes due to the wide range of camera angles.   

Film Opening Storyboard- Voice Over

This is a video representation of our storyboard which we used to plan making our film opening.We used a storyboard to help plan out the scenes we will be filming so that we don't end up recording wrong scenes which have no relevance. A storyboard for video production is essentially a large comic of the film or some section of the film produced beforehand to help directors, cinematographers and television commercial advertising clients visualize the scenes and find potential problems before they occur. Often storyboards include arrows or instructions that indicate movement. In creating a motion picture with any degree of fidelity to a script, a storyboard provides a visual layout of events as they are to be seen through the camera lens. And in the case of interactive media, it is the layout and sequence in which the user or viewer sees the content or information. In the storyboarding process, most technical details involved in crafting a film or interactive media project can be efficiently described either in picture, or in additional text. One of the many advantages of using storyboards is that it allows the designer to experiment with changes in the sequence before production begins.

Film Opening Storyboard

Inspirational Films

DeadPool was one of the inspirations for our film because it mixed amazing action scenes, that ended both negatively and positively for the main protagonist, thus creating the anti-hero which was a specific aspect that me and my group loved about this movie. Essentially a hyper action film driven by the sarcasm and humor of Ryan Reynolds. Much of which can also be heard in many other Ryan Reynolds movies. Including his early teen geared films and especially Blade Trinity, No one does witty, ribald sarcasm better than Ryan Reynolds.


In DeadPool, he portrays a grossly disfigured anti-hero from the Marvel Universe. One capable of regenerating body parts and healing instantly from any external damage. A character bent on very singular revenge as well. The violence seen in this film makes every other Marvel film seem like a romp in the park. DeadPool is very different from all the others in the Marvel line-up.  Something you will not ever find at Xavier's School for Gifted Children. Moreover, DeadPool is definitely not an X-man. Yet apparently certain of the X-men want to recruit him.

The popular game that is Halo was created into a film in 2012, it received terrible reviews and was a downright overall failure. The basic plot is this: In 2525, as mankind has begun to colonise space, a group of cadets are training to fight against human insurrectionists. One of these cadets, Thomas Lasky, has doubts about his abilities as a soldier and his convictions for this war. Whilst he struggles with himself, the planet is invaded by an unknown alien race. Reeling under the assault, Lasky and his squad mates are rescued by John-117, one of the UNSC's legendary SPARTAN-II super-soldiers. John must inspire Lasky to fulfill his potential as a soldier and a leader to fight against an enemy deadlier than any that humanity has faced before. The specific inspiration we got from this film was the way they presented the weapons because we thought they were really cool and suited our ideas exceedingly well.

Class Feedback On Pitch

We also asked our peers which name they think the film should be called, we asked them to write down their favorite name idea based from a list presented (below) and we came to the conclusion that 'Outlaw' was the most popular name voted for by the class. Therefore our film will be called 'Outlaw'. Something that was not outlined in the presentation was how we were to present the titles of the film, we intend to slow down shots and 'engrave' or embed the credits onto walls and into knives so that they become a part of the scene. We also received feedback from our classmates who commented on the theme, genre, narrative, target audience, institution and whether they would pay to see the movie and any other comments they have on the idea. Here is some of the feedback we received which was necessary for us to evaluate and thus respond to the comments.


@ 'The idea is really ambitious and sounds very exciting. Credit to them if all of the effects on after effects work out. Sometimes super ambitious projects can be a let down. I have confidence in you if you're willing to put in the time for the special effects".


@ "Keep in mind the idea of props and special effects i.e. fire/gunshots etc".


@ "This film takes influence from DeadPool with the anti-hero and a comedy-action genre throughout so I like the idea and would see it, it certainly sounds interesting".


@ "The target audience suits the film well as the action and comedy appeals to a teenage audience".


@ Finally the last comment which was "The film sounds intriguing, I would definitely watch this film".

Overall, our presentation seemed popular among our peers, we received no negative comments and everyone showed clear interest in our project and our ideas for the film opening. We have learnt that they like the editing style and our ambitions for the project so we intend to keep the use of special effects and want to continue experimenting with Adobe After Effects so we can achieve a high standard, professional-looking film opening.

Individual/Group Film Pitch

The task assigned for us was to create a comprehensive film pitch and present to the other groups on our Media class, from these ideas one will be chosen from the results of the class responses. Then we had to include an introduction, practicalities, film inspirations, genre conventions, target audience, representation and finally institution.We had to display our Opening Scene Ideas on an online presentation software and present it to our classmates and explain our main idea for the film opening to them. We also explained what props we would use and how we would edit fight scenes and edit the scenes in post production to get a realistic 'film-look' to our film opening. We also showed an example of the special effects that we would use (below in Prezi) which I made when learning how to use Adobe After Effects and whilst experimenting with the different effects achievable.

   

Film Opening Marking Criteria

Find three student productions of your choice and upload onto blog (post title student film openings) - one to present to the class that you found interesting and two others to mark using the criteria below. What went well, Even better if and give them a grade. It would be fab if you emailed any students' work with queries on their productions or their marks and got a reply. Upload the film you liked and why.

This is the marking scheme for the film opening task, I will observe this and apply it to our production so as to achieve the highest possibly mark.

Level 1 0–23 marks The work for the main task is possibly incomplete. There is minimal evidence in the work of the creative use of any relevant technical skills such as:
• Producing material appropriate for the target audience and task;
• using titles appropriately according to institutional conventions;
• using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set;
• shooting material appropriate to the task set; including controlled use of the camera, attention to framing, variety of shot distance and close attention to mise-en-scene;
• using editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer and making selective and appropriate use of shot transitions and other effects.

Level 2 24–35 marks There is evidence of a basic level of ability in the creative use of some of the following technical skills:
• Producing material appropriate for the target audience and task;
• using titles appropriately according to institutional conventions;
• using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set;
• shooting material appropriate to the task set;, including controlled use of the camera, attention to framing, variety of shot distance and close attention to mise-en-scene;
• using editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer and making selective and appropriate use of shot transitions and other effects.

Level 3 36–47 marks There is evidence of proficiency in the creative use of many of the following technical skills:

• Producing material appropriate for the target audience and task;
• using titles appropriately according to institutional conventions;
• using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set;
• shooting material appropriate to the task set; including controlled use of the camera, attention to framing, variety of shot distance and close attention to mise-en-scene;
• using editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer and making selective and appropriate use of shot transitions and other effects.

Level 4 48–60 marksThere is evidence of excellence in the creative use of most of the following technical skills:
• material appropriate for the target audience and task;
• using titles appropriately according to institutional conventions;
• using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set;
• shooting material appropriate to the task set;including controlled use of the camera, attention to framing, variety of shot distance and close attention to mise-en-scene;
• using editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer and making selective and appropriate use of shot transitions and other effects.

I really liked this film opening created at Hurtwood House academy named 'Simulacrum', as it applied numerous positive factors to their film opening and created an exciting action-thriller. They started with the initial pan shot to produce a exceedingly tense atmosphere. They used a credit to add realism to the sequence which instantly enabled them to make it look like an opening scene of a thriller. Then there was the close up shot of the hit mans finger on the trigger of the sniper which adds suspense and gets the audience on the edge of their seats. The editing technique used which was cross-cutting helps the audience to establish where the new character is, thus it helps them to foreshadow upcoming events. I loved the part where they used non-diegetic sounds which increased the pace and furthermore built tension for the next sequence. Overall this film opening should be marked in the 48-60 marks section because it was beautifully produced and edited, clearly the group that created this film opening were extremely dedicated to this task.

This film opening is called allegiance and I found it particularly exhilarating. It creates a very intense film opening which makes me want to watch more of it and find out where the mystery story will take me. I loved the transition between the credits on black and the van scene, they decided to use a build up in sound to cut between the two; this was effective because as the music spiked and the audience waited for something to happen they were introduced with an energetic scene. This also created a gradual build into a large impact creating a hard hitting tension piece. The walkie-talkie voice overs were to show that this was a serious film opening, we could tell this by the loud booming voices that sounded distressed. The way they filmed the van scene where the cameraman knocked back and forth made the van appear as though it was moving.They decided to have a freeze frame and add the titles, to make it unique from most opening sequences. They they kept the same font style throughout the opening sequence in order to give it a 'punchy' feel.