FILM OPENING: FINAL DRAFT

This is the final outcome of all our prepartion, planning, and changes. As a group we are happy with the film, we have worked well together and are able to recognise all our ideas put into the piece.

FILM OPENING: FIRST DRAFT CHANGES

We have made alot of changes due to our feedback. For example one thing we were pulled up on was our title 'Stockholm'. So we decided to take an idea that we had previously seen during the opening titles of the film Pulp Fiction where we see the dictionary definition of the work 'Pulp'.

We made our own definition so that the audience will know what the title is about and understand the storyline much better. This is a screen shot of our definition which is made to look like a real dictionary definition. this makes it look much more formal.

 

Also at 00:52 seconds til about 00:58 seconds in the first draft, we had a light continuity error as you could see it in this shot, but not in others and so in order to over come this we had to crop it out of the shot, which made tis shot now become a lot more zoomed in and slightly blurry, however it didn't look too bad and it was better then getting marked down for the light error.

We also re-dubbed the audio by doing what I prevoulsy mentioned in other posts which was to have James speaking in a posher tone of voice to make the news report seem more realistic. We managed to make this work really well and sync the pieces together well so that the audience couldn't tell the movie and audio were two seperate recordings.

FILM OPENING: FIRST DRAFT FEEDBACK

The feedback we revieved was very constant, with people pointing out the same errors and mistakes, and also praising us on the same things too.

Pros

• The use of the boiler room was recognised with people saying 'good use of Mise en scène'
• The shadow on the wall was mentioned a couple of times commenting that it worked really well and added to the tension and eerieness of the piece.
• Also, with regards to sound, people said that the tracks we chose to use worked well.
• Our opening titles were also praised saying that they worked well and looked professional. We used non copyrighted images off the internet and edited them on Photoshop. The idea of Boiler Room Productions tied in with our opening due to the setting however, Red Door Studios was a very random name which we came up with as a group.

Cons

• The main problem that almost everyone mentioned was the background noise on the news report which distorted the sound actually been said by Ethan. However, this was also criticised saying that Ethans voice didn't sound very professional therefore withdrawing from the authenticness of the report. In order to overcome this problem, we re-recorded the audio to cut out any background noise and to allow full focus to be on what was been said. However, to solve the problem of complaints about Ethans voice, we decided that James would speak the news script and we would then have to add this to the video and sync them together.
• Another con which was mentioned was the way Cindy looked saying that she looked too neat etc as she had make up on and her hair was tidy. We decided here that we would have Lauren purposely looking so neat in order to make her look more sexualised to play on the idea of the weird relationship between Cindy and kidnapper.
• We received some good and bad feedback about our title Stockholm. We as a group knew that it referred to the syndrome although our audience did not. "Explain the title Stockholm" was used. So we found a way to express its meaning. This was where we were influenced by Pulp Fiction in having a definition at the beginning of the film. This allowed us to establish and explain the title, so that no one was confused by it.

Below there is some feedback in graph form, allowing us to present our feedback differently.

We used a system where we asked the audience to rate each section from 1 - 5, 1 been bad, five been good. Here you can see that our scores for each element of the first draft ranged from 3.4 - 3.7, a reasonably high score for our initial draft. We were happy with this.

For example you can see our sound has not scored as high as camera shots and mise-en-scene so this was clearly one of our main areas that we had to focus on.

The above bar chart is a clearer way to show and compare the different sections.

FILM OPENING: FIRST DRAFT

This is the first draft of our film opening, it was successful in many ways and overall we were happy with the outcome, however there were some errors and problems which we weren't happy with and intended on changing to achieve the best outcome possible. We did stick to our original storyboard however a few shots were changed as during filming we had new ideas which we wanted to add in.
We intended on making these changes, but first we also wanted some audience feedback and so we made Questionnaires to allow us to find out what outsiders believed needed changing, but also what worked well.

FILM OPENING: STORYBOARD

This is a copy of our storyboard, at the beginning with have the titles including production company and studio names, and over this Ethan's voice begins to fade in talking about an irrelevant news story, like what happens at the beginning of 'I am Legend'. Then, the actual news screen comes into view and Ethan begins to talk about the disappearance of Cindy Lake and provides the details on her disappearance etc. This allows us to provide the audience with the narrative of the story in an unusual but effective way, introducing the audience to the kidnap scene before it has begun. I think this works really well, and is a good idea to also add to the serious and formality of the film.

The news report continues, but the camera begins to zoom out away from it to reveal the news report been played on a laptop. It continues to zoom out and move away from the laptop to eventually reveal Cindy on the left side of the shot, looking over her shoulder obviously meaning that she is watching the news report on her own disappearance. Then, a shot of her hands tied up and her struggling and trying to break free, a tension building shot which signifies she is in captivity and playing the role of the hostage.

Another successful shot which we have used before and decided to incorporate into our film opening is the shot of Brads feet walking towards the camera. We did this in our first practise and our group decided to use it again as it is effective and builds tension, an element that is much needed in thriller genre movies.

The opening ends with a POV shot taken from the antagonists perspective looking down onto Lauren, symbolising that he holds the higher status, he is in charge. He puts his hand onto Cindy's shoulder and the clip ends with the main title of our movie coming onto screen, 'Stockholm'.

FILM OPENING: SCRIPT

News report to be voiced over titles like in the I Am Legend opening sequence:

And we'll talk more about that over the next half hour right here on ABS News. Figures have emerged recently however that point towards a double drop in the recession and could lead to further financial problems for 2012, as the Chancellor of the Exchequers previous prediciotns are looking less likely - with economic growth actually falling but 0.1% in the last quarter. 

And finally and update on our main story this afternoon at the top of the hour, the disappearance of Cindy Lake moves into its 7th day now with volunteers and forensice teams still sweeping the Woodland area around her home. 

16 year old Cindy went missing around 4pm last Thursday on her way home from school walking through the Brentwood area, when her parents reported her missing twenty four hours later a nationwide search party was put in place to help fnd her.

Scotland Yard have released this sttement in regards to the case, "With details still unclear as to the situation surrounding Cindy's disappearance - we would like to urge anyone with information to come forward and assist in the investigation". 

MAIN TASK: FURTHER PLANNING

Genre: Thriller


Narrative:
Who? Cindy has been kidnapped, news reporter talking about it
What? An evil dark figure
When? Present Day
Where? Boiler room as it looks like a basement and somewhere underground and hard to find is a typical setting for the thriller genre. Somewhere dark and vacant needs to be used, dingy and dull.

Camera Shots: 
Close ups on the girls face to show the fear and build up tension, other shots of her include ones looking down on to her, showing that she is of low power, also points that she is in danger and needs help.

Shots of the kidnapper are often medium shots as to not show his face completely to evoke mystery and of course build tension. There is also close ups used on his feet, this sparked nerves and his feet were obviously walking towards the girl. And we also include a couple of POV shots, such as when he looks at her and we have a full shot of here tied up on the chair, and then another one right at the end as he stands behind her looking over her - again establishing power - and puts his hand on her shoulder. 

Editing: 
Low key lighting - used Sony Vegas movie maker to adjust the lighting.

Music: 
Slow, creepy, eerie. Footsteps.

Mise-en-scene: 
Boiler room, low key lighting. 

The kidnapper to be dressed in all black, with a big coat and big black boots to make him look scary. Girl dressed in school uniform to show vulnerability, age, etc. Red connotations of danger. Newsreader to be dressed in smart clothes to show the formality and importance of the news reading. 

Props

Pretend gun

School uniform

Chair

Rope

Costume - Big coat etc

Fake coat

Laptop

MAIN TASK: INFLUENCES

So, in our film we decided it would be a hostage scene, having a school girl been kidnapped and held. 

The above clip is the movie opening for Saw 1. After watching this in sparked off the idea of been trapped and tied up. For example they are chained in this example, and in our movie we intend on having the school girl tied up, hands behind back etc. 

I AM LEGEND VIDEO

In this video we really liked how as the production titles etc were showing, the sound of the news reader speaking was going on in the back ground talking about an irrelevant story, and then as the newsreader comes into view, they begin to talk about the subject of what the film focuses on. And so this is what we decided to do at the beginning of our film, having irrelevant speech about the recession etc, and then when the titles have finished and Ethan comes into view, he is speaking about this kidnap. This allowed us to let the audience know what was going on in an unusual way. 

MAIN TASK: INITIAL PLANNING

For the final, and main task of our coursework, we have to make a two minute film opening. Our group decided to carry on with the thriller genre side of things. We found that typical conventions of thrillers are that they are  deliberately ambiguous, they start with a shocking/ significant event, they have low key lighting and setting, and a non chronological narrative so the consequences happen first. 


So from here, before we could even think more specifically as to what was going to happen in our film opening, we had to watch some film openings in order for us to become familiar with what is included and different approaches/layouts of film openings. 


Things we had to consider and take note on was things such as noticeable mise en scene, camera shots, editing and sound.

PRELIMINARY TASK: FINISHED PRODUCTION

VIDEO HERE

PRELIMINARY TASK: EVALUATION

After having the brief of what we must include in the film, to do an interrogation scene seemed the most suitable thing to do, and I think it worked well overall. We did thorough planning, and stuck to the bulk of it, however did add extra things in as the film progressed as ideas sparked within the group during production and editing, such as the strategic establishing shots at the beginning to be used in conjuction with the opening credits, which obviously included our names etc, but the shots also hinted to the audience what was to follow in the film.
Also during filming we decided to do the point of view shot as an extreme close up, where James is leaning right over the table into Ethan's face, interrogating him to the extreme, giving him big postional power and building yet more tension and fury in the film.
I think successful planning leads to a successful film, as the more prepared for the filming you are, the easier it is as you are following a well detailed plan, but still allowing new ideas to develop during filming and for slight changes to be made.

We stuck to the 180 degree rule, although at times we are right on the edge of it and were very close to going over – more forward thinking in regards to camera placement needs to be addressed in future filming.
Another shot I did like however was the high angle shot from the corner of the room representing a security camera looking down on the suspect (Ethan) – which was actually just James stood on a chair! But we were then able to use an effect on Sony Vegas Movie Studio to make it look like a real security camera and seem more realistic. This also gave the hint that he was weak in comparison to the detective as he was being looked down on in a number of shots. With only 30 secs of footage to fill, we tried to give as many suggestions and conotations to the audience as possible in this short time. We also repeated the sound of a clock ticking by, this repetitive sound builds up and coincides with the multiple establishing shots . We used the clock ticking as an image of a clock going is the first thing we see as an audience. Building tension is essential in the crime/thriller genre and this sound editing was a key element in helping us a achieve that (small) amount of tension.

So far, I think our group has worked very well as a team, communicating easily, listening to ideas, and developing eachothers inputs further to reach the best outcome. We shared the workload evenly, all having different roles within the group. I had the role of Mise en scene, so I put thought into setting, and props etc into making the interrogation as realsitic as possible. Including stuff such as James having the folder and papers which he  slams on the table during the speech, which added to the detective like interview essence. James' main job was music and although we all listened to different pieces of music and helped decide what fits best, it was his call where to put the music and if we couldn't agree he had the final say. Ethans' main job was editing and we all had equal chance to use the editing software but it was his job to think ahead of time how we wanted the finished task to be edited which helped all other aspects fall into place. Isabella had the role of focusing on camera shots, ensuring we had a variation of shots etc.

I don't think we have had any major problems so far, however I do think we need to improve our time management, although we do meet deadlines, we could use our time more effectively, and maybe even do more in our own time and not just in lessons.

THE RULES OF FILM PRODUCTION

DO's

• Always follow the 180 degree rule.
• Storyboard/ plan.
• Avoid continuity errors.
• Make sure you have all props and equipment to hand.
• Make sure you have permission to film where you plan to film in advance.
• Use a tripod for fixed shots.
• Use a range of shot types.
• Film a shot more than once.
• Record lots of footage. It is better to have more than less as a lot will end up being cut down during editing.
• Make sure edited footage cuts well and looks right.

DON'Ts

• Have extra sound in the background. Someone talking could ruin the whole shot.
• Film with the sun or other strong light to the actors back.
• Film freehand with a shaky hand.
• Forget to charge the camera.
• Leave your footage on a shared memory card as it could be wiped.
• Use copyrighted sound.
• Forget to follow the brief.
• Not have an idea of how you want the finished production to look.
• Have the camera man's reflection in shots.
• If you are working in a group make sure your voice is heard but also don't over look people who aren't pulling their weight

PRELIMINARY TASK: SETTING

 Whilst trying to identify suitable places to record our interrogation scene, we found an interview room which was fitted with a security camera which ignited the idea of having a shot of the camera, which acted as a security camera and so audience knew someone was been watched. The above shot is similar to the shot used in the film, however we payed particular attention to the framing of the shot, so that we could use it on the opening credits. The camera is situated in the right hand camera, in order for the titles to be on the bottom left corner.

We then filmed the interrogator walking up these stairs from the top of the stairs, not revealing his face until the point when he walks through the door into the interrogation room. We did this to create tension and mystery as is typical of the crime genre. This shot is also used for credits as a credit name is positioned on one of the stairs.

As the interrogator continues up the stairs we shot from this angle so that we could pan the camera around and continue to follow the interrogator, still not revealing his face

Then, a shot of the interrogator, still walking up the stairs, through this grid printed door which gives the effect of being trapped, which fits well with our crime genre in the preliminary task.

And part of the brief is to have two characters sat at a table so we set up the table and chairs like this. We blacked out the room and used a spotlight as low key lighting is a typical convention of the crime genre.

PRELIMINARY TASK: INFLUENCES

As we decided to do an interrogation scene for the preliminary task, we needed to think about mise en scene. The first clip is taken from "Zoo York". This is a more confrontational scene and we decided to incorporate this into our preliminary exercise. As our preliminary exercise is only short and the characters exchange only a few lines of dialogue we made it as confrontational as possible as a typical convention of the crime genre is a gripping hook. The main shot from this clip we made sure to get into our preliminary exercise was the interrogator standing over the suspect to show his position of power.

Instead of going down the formal route and having the interrogator dressed stereotypically in a suit, we decided he should be dressed casually like in the first clip from "CSI". Similarly to this clip our suspect denied knowing anything about the situation which normally happens in scenes like this.

PRELIMINARY TASK: PLANNING

For the preliminary task, our objective is to produce and complete an approximately 30 seconds long ''continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue." For this, I will be working in a group of four including myself, Ethan Mcnamara, Isabella Ricci and James Gaukroger.

As a group we decided, that we would have a clip as a simple interrogation scene, something like a police interview, with James as the interrogator, and Ethan playing the role of the suspect. In addition to the objective of the exercise, match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180 degree rule should also be demonstrated. After planning the film thoroughly considering mise en scene, camera shots and storyboarding the film we went straight into production.

Boxes 7, 8 and 9 demonstrate the use of 'shot-reverse-shotshowing that it will cut from the interrogator speaking to the suspect speaking and then back to the interrogator speaking. '

PRACTICE MOVIE

Our first task was to make a practice movie which would last around thirty seconds in order for us to become familiar with using the cameras and computer software as a team before jumping straigh into the preliminary task. We were told that our practice movie had to include a 'shot-reverse-shot', stick to the 180° rule and also include the speech 'Where have you been?' The 180° degree rule is a basic guideline that states that two characters in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other. We began the film with an establishing shot of the stairs, to set the scene and which also then framed Ethan as he walked down the stairs. Then a variation of shots were used in the duration of the film including long shots, close ups of the moving feet and medium shots so that we could see the confrontation between the characters. 
After we were happy with the shots we had filmed we were introduced to Sony Vegas Movie Studio which is the editing software we will be using throughout our coursework film productions. Once happy with the editing of the film and shot transitions, we focused on adding music to the clip to add tension and drama. 
If I was to re-do this task there would be a couple of things I would change to improve the final outcome. Firstly, I would re-film the shot at 22 seconds as we have a continuity error here with the linking of the shots. This was made difficult as there was a beam in the way which prevented us from getting the shot angle we hoped for. Also, we had problems (as you can see from the clip) trying to have a freeze frame shot at the end of the clip. Instead of freezing the shot completely, it jumped continuously.
As a first piece, I think our group was successful and I look forward to making more clips and experimenting further.

INTRO

Throughout my media coursework period I will be updating this blog frequently, keeping a detailed record of every step my group and I take in the process of producing our short films. The blog will include pictures, videos, and of course any difficulties we have faced along the way...