Preliminary Video: Deadline

Preliminary Bloopers

Practise

Prelim Evaluation- Our Prelim was filmed in a room in the college. The title of the prelim is 'Deadline' and the basic plot is of a man who must deliver an item to his boss on time, he is not able to get hold of the object and is then given an extension by his boss to get the item to him. We edited the clip on Final Cut Pro, we filmed foley sounds and also added them to the editing process in Final Cut Pro. While editing, we added the title and Cast & crew members names. The soundtrack for the clip was created on Soundtrack Pro. After we were satisfied with the whole clip, we converted it to MP4 format using QuickTime Conversion and uploaded it.

Practise

First attempt at SoundTrack Pro:

Research - The Rushes - TBC

Right from the start of the opening there are various wide shots to establish the environment, also there is a use of music to create a scary mood, this makes the audience stand on edge.  The use of close ups gives a warning sign that something has happened and that the director wants us to focus on that specific image.

Animatic Storyboard

This is the storyboard that we made prior to filming, we decided what shot types and camera angles we would use. We then decided what dialogue would be used and then found a suitable location.

Screenshot of storyboard on Final Cut Pro

Photo of Clinton and Nathaniel doing storyboard

       
                                        

Film Audiences

Genre and Subgenre

Film Audiences

An audience is a group of people that watch a certain type of film. Audience is closely linked to Genre, as mentioned in my previous blog about Genre and Subgenre, different genre's appeal to different audiences. A Rom-Com's (Romantic Comedy) audience will largely be made up of Women, from  the age of 18-45.

Here shows how good each genre done in recent year in the UK

Research- Target Audience

A target audience is a segment within the general population in which a film looks to capture by incorporating elements which the target audience will take a liking too. For example, A film like 'Toy Story' is clearly aimed at a young audience. Children like toys, therefore a film about toys will be very appealing to Children.

Target Audience

A target audience is the age or gender the film is set up for, for example a horror movie would be for people over the age of 18 as it may contain graphic which younger viewers may get distraught from also it will be aimed at the male audience whereas a romantic film would be set for a female audience.

Genre and Subgenre

Genre is the term used to describe the type of art. In the film industry it is used to categorize different types of movies, determining the genre of a movie depends on many aspects including, content, pace, mood. Typical genre's in film include, Action, Adventure, Horror, Comedy, Crime, Sci-Fi, Drama, Thriller, Romance. Different genre's appeal to different audiences, which will be discussed in the following blog.

Some examples Genre in movies (Harry Potter, The A-Team, Paranormal Activity 3, American Gangster)

Subgenre is the term used to describe the combination of multiple genre's. Aspects of different genre's are taking to make a subgenre film. Thrillers are often a mix of two genre's, for example, Crime-Thriller, Action-Thriller, Psychological-Thriller etc.

Examples of movies that fit into a Subgenre (The Sixth Sense, Friends With Benefits, Alien, The Departed)

Foley Sound

Foley Sound is the reproduction of 'everyday sound' used in film making. It can be anything from footsteps to putting on a coats. Foley Sound helps to create a sense of reality within a scene.

An Example Of Foley Sound -

Target Audiences

Target Audiences on Prezi

Research

Iron Man

I'm going to show how the film 'Iron Man' uses the Conventions of Film Openings

Introduction to Character

Location

Use of Graphics

Name of Director 

Name of Cast

A target audience is a certain demographic in which a film looks to capture. It incorporates many aspects which the target audience will find interesting in some way; depending on the genre of the film this could be, humour or exciting action. For example, films like 'Exorcist' and 'Saw' are targeted towards a much more mature audience because of the violence and goor. On the other hand, animated films such as 'Shrek' and 'Toy Story' are targeted towards a much younger audience.

The thriller genre contains many sub-genres. Horror thrillers may be aimed at people from about 16+, whereas Action thrillers are aimed at people from around 12+. 

Arlington road

Arlington Road

We re-edited a film opening sequence.

Using final cut pro we arranged the clips to make the title sequence, we then added text over the frame

 The screen shots above are examples of the editing session.

For the text we used transitions for a smoother entrance.

Typical Title Order

In a film opening this is usually the sequence in which the tittles are broadcasted:

- Production Company
-Other Production companies
-Production and Distribution Company
-Film Title
-Main Actor
-Other Actors
-Costume Designer
-Music Director
-Music By
-Editor
-Prod Design
-Director of photography
-WRITER
-DIRECTOR

This is only the order of Arlington Road, in other films the order of which the castings appear may differ.

Genre, Sub Genre

The genre of a movie is the category in which it is placed under, for example a film can be in the genre of Action or Thriller.

'The Others' is under the genre Thriller and the sub-genre Horror.

A Sub Genre is when a film falls under a genre within a much larger genre, for example, the film 'Friends with Benefits' falls under the genre Thriller and the sub-genre Romance, making it a romantic Thriller.

Research

Intertextuality is the borrowing of certain aspects between one film and another. This is done to give a similar feel and effect to viewer in order to keep them engaged in proceedings. The aspects that are borrowed usually consist of camera angles, sound and mis en scene. This may be seen as rather unoriginal but it is well known that people tend to like things that feel familiar to them.

'Psycho' is a film that has influenced many other thrillers. Famous scenes and aspects have been recreated in films such as, ' The Stepfarther' and 'Roomate'. For an example;

The shower head from 'Psycho'

The shower head from 'Roomate' 

The shower curtain being torn off the rail in 'Psycho'

The shower curtain being torn off the rail in 'The Stepfather'

Research

1) How many suspense films were released in 2012?

38

2) In total, how much did these suspense films take, gross, to the nearest million?

£42 Million

3) Which genre of film had the highest gross in 2010?

Action/Adventure

4) What was the most popular family genre in 2010?

Animation

5) Write a short paragraph of about 200 words about how the figures for 'suspense' genre films compare with other film genres in 2010.
Suspense genre films 5th highest figure of movie realest in 2010.

Research

I looked at the opening of the film '300'. It contains many of the various conventions of film openings.

.Director

The name of the director appears in the film opening to promote his name and work.



.Graphics

This graphics style is used throughout the film opening. Its used to foreshadow future evens in the film. The colour theme represents danger and death.

.Name of film

The tittle of the film appears for obvious reasons.

.Name of cast members

Show the cast of actors in the film. Not only promotes their names but allows the audience to seek out other films with their favourite stars. 

Health And Safety Tutorial

. Do not change the preset camera settings.

. Do not shoot in places with too much sunlight, lights will become distorted when shooting.

. Be very careful with the camera and equipment.

. Count 5 seconds before and after filming, for editing.

. Do not zoom in on the camera, just move closer.

. Use a tripod to position the camera

Title Sequence Analysis

Information Given:

Production & Distribution Company

This has been specifically placed at the beginning to show the audience who produced the film and also to help promote them.

Credits

The credits are shown throughout the opening sequence in order to allow the actors to gain popularity.

The short clip is at a slow pace in order to build tension throughout and to match the storyline as it is about a criminal.

Style of font:  Militant style font is used to show order and creates a serious atmosphere for the film. 

     

Title Sequence Timeline : Panic Room

 Opening Sequence Timeline : Panic Room 

Within the first seconds we see the Distribution company, this is to make the audeience aware of them and another form of promotion. Tthe the screen fades out to a black background and is aquiantenced with music.Then the Production company is shown. 

The next titles we are made aware of are the actors and actresses in order of 'popularity' and role played in the film. i think they included the actors names for extra publicty.

Then we see the film's title, followed by another actress - i think this was diliberately put inbetween the actors names, to create confusion beacuse normally a film title would be seen at either the end or the beginning of a films opening sequence as it is a important aspect.

Killers Remake Comparison

Killers Remake Comparison

Our task was to remake the opening sequence to the film 'Killers' which is a romantic comedy action film.

Firstly we watched the original opening sequence, paying mind to the different shots used and the positioning of the actors and how they interacted with one another. 

We then created a story board, our story board was very minilistic and basic as we only wanted to focus on the positioning of the actors aswell as the different shots used.

Comparing to the original opening sequence of Killers the re-make resembled it alot, in the sense that we incorpriated all of the shots used and tried to position the actors acurately.
The only downfall and place where we could improve would be the amount of footage we actually had; we could have got more 'takes' so we would of had more of a variety of clips to chose from.

Film Review – The Help

Film Review – The Help

The opening sequence of ‘The Help’ follows the structure of ‘Titles over a blank screen followed by a narrative opening’.  The Production & Distribution Company logos are advertised  then followed by a blank black background and then the Production & Distribution Company appear again in capitals; the colouring of the text is white – I think this is effective and necessary because white in easily seen on a dark background, also it matches the racial theme of the film (White Vs. Black). No other titles appear, other than the film title which is hand written as the narrative opening unravels.

The genre of the film is Drama, and is based on a best-selling novel by Kathryn Stockett. ‘The Help’ is set in Jackson, Mississippi during the 1960s and about a young woman called Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan just graduated from Ole Miss and is intent on getting a job as a writer, after searching for some times she finds a job as a writer for the local newspaper. She then notices the racial inequality and opts for change by secretly writing a book from the coloured maid’s perspective.

The Help is a well composed film, which incorporates the appropriate language and scenes for the target audience which is 12A. The costumes and locations enables the audience to realise where the story is set.

Overall, I enjoyed the film as it was emotionally moving and lightly humorous; with the themes it focuses on and how it is portrayed. Also because racism is such a heartfelt thing, I felt emotionally attached to the characters in the film as they were overcoming changes. 

Killers Remake

This is the remake we made of the movie killers. We used Final Cut Pro to edit and make a complete clip of our work. We recorded this using a JVC Camcorder. We created a storyboard based on the camera shots used in the actual movie. We then incorporated these shots into a short clip about a minute long adding effects to make transitions clearer and more professional. We had to choose an appropriate location and use props to make our clip similar to the original. We used many complex camera shots like close ups and shot reverse shots. although this tested our ability in editing and producing a clip, we tried our best and this is what we produced. Enjoy! 

Killers Re-make ; Editing process

Editing process

To edit the footage we had, we used the editing program Final Cut Pro.
The first thing we did was select all of our clips and view them over in the order we believed they went in.
We selected the the first clip and added it to the timeline, it was too lonbg and there were excess footage which wasnt necessary so we cut it down using the 'Input' and 'Output' key, and once satisfied we added it to the timeline again. We used this process for every different shot/frame.

Once we had created the sequence, we viewed it all togethr and it looked un-professional, so we added transitions to smoothen the transition to the next shot, where it was needed.

Research & Practice - Killers Re-make

Our task was to remake the opening sequence to the film Killers

Killers is a Romance,Comedy, Action film and stars Katherine Heigl, Aston Kutcher, Tom Selleck and Catherine O'Hara.

Original Frames from 'Killers'

The opening sequence uses various shots:

Frame 1 - Wide Shot, which allows the scenery to be recognised

Frame 2 - Long Shot (OTS)

Frame 3 - Over The Shoulder

Frame 4 - Long Shot

Frame 5 - OTS Close Up

Frame 6 -  Long Shot

Frame 7 - Mid Shot

Frame 8 - OTS Close Up

Frame 9 - Mid OTS

Frame 10 - Reverse OTS

Frame 11- Cut In

Frame 12 - Close Up

Story Board

This is our story board - drawn by Nathaniel Clarke 

Health and Safety Tutorial

There are certain aspects that are required to be followed during filming and camera work, these aspects are to be abided by to maintain a safety environment while using media equipment. 

• Firstly, do not change the pre-set camera settings as you may not only damage the equipment, but you may cause disruptions for the next group using the camera.

• Count down 5 seconds before and after filming, to enable editing.

•  Be very careful with the camera and equipment as it is very expensive.

• Move the position of the camera (and tripod) for a nearer cut.

• Do not shoot in sunny areas as it affects the lights shown in the camera/frame.

•  While shooting, be prepared - borrow a big umbrella to protect equipment if necessary

• It is the group’s responsibility to ensure that any equipment borrowed is returned on time and in working condition.