MAIN Post 12: Evaluation Introduction

MAIN Post 11: Final Opening Sequence

MAIN Post 10: Post-production

MAIN Post 9: Production

At the start of the project we made our choose on what genre we would be doing by the way the questionnaire was answered, we found out that comedy and action was the most popular. Because of this and the fact that we are a group of 2 boys and 2 girls we felt that the final outcome would work for us as a  Action Comedy. This allowed us to spelt the Target audience so that we could bring two groups together to get a wider audience so the film would be a hit. We felt that this would benefit us in the long run if we were all happy with the genre that we based our film on.

 

After sending out questionnaires we felt that it was important to investigate on our chosen genre. We watched opening sequences of films such as The Hangover, clips of Project X, Hot Fuzz and 21 Jump Street. After watching the opening sequences we became aware of the factors needed to attract an audience to a film. The Hangover demonstrated a comedy factor in the opening sequence, following typical conventions such as opening titles and names of the cast and crew. The Hangover seems exciting with the choice of location and the well known actors which create a buzz. We knew that we wouldn't be able to have well known actors but we knew we could have actors that the audience could recognise and connect to in different ways.

Although we knew what our film was going to be like we faced difficulties when it came to actually filming our film, we came across issues such as the following:-

• Finding moments to film - we decided we wanted to film at someones house to build up the party atmosphere. This led us to come across complications as we had to find transport to the house along with being organised with all of our filming equipment, we also had to find time in the day when we were all able to find time to go.

• Ensuring we had 'extras' to be in our film - this was hard as this meant that we sometimes had to film at night so we are able to create the party atmosphere so it was a realistic depiction and also so we were able to get people there at the same time.

• Having to re film - we had to re film a couple of times. After filming and watching our footage back we felt unsatisfied with editing it and decided it would benefit us in the long run to re film. We made silly errors such as cutting actors out of the frame it was hard to re film cause we had to come across the issues previously faced again. 

 

MAIN Post 8: Pre-production documentation

Synopsis of whole film:-  The film is based around an unpopular teenage girl who holds a large party in an attempt to gain popularity, however as the night unfolds a close friend of hers dies and several others go missing. The film shows the seemingly amazing party unfold before the morning after reveals the missing people and deal with the died body before the parents return.

Synopsis of opening sequence:- The opening sequence begins in a trashed garden with one person waking up the morning after the party and questioning what happened the night before. The film then cuts to just hours before the party is due to begin and follows several people as they prepare to get ready for the party. As a small group arrive at the house and the door opens, the title will appear across the screen.

Risk Assessment:

Alcohol - The consumption of alcohol by the actors in the film means that the entire process of filming carries dangers because of health risks and troubles with coordinated movements such as walking.

Setting - parts of the film include using the stairs for filming, this puts both the cameraman and the actors used at danger because a fall could cause serious injury.

Activities - For one clip in the film, a game of darts is shown to be played, though we plan to take maximum precautions when handling the darts, there is a possibility of harm if someone were to be hit by a dart.

Lighting - To improve the quality of our filming we plan to use artificial lighting, though there is little chance of these catching fire it is a possibility in which case they carry a risk.

Crew list -
Jordan Mann: Camera, editing and acting
Georgia Lythaby: Camera, editing and acting
Lily Hawkins: Acting
Ryan Peach: Acting
Shot List:-

Storyboard:-

Location Reece:-

script:-

MAIN Post 7 - Focus Group

MAIN Post 6: History of your chosen genre

The history of comedy films has varied as the technology has involved. Ever since movies gained popularity in the early 1900s, filmmakers realised we love to laugh just as much as we love on-screen drama. Early comedy films were silent and relied upon the actors' talents with timing and physical theatre to get a rise out of the viewers. Technology involved allowing the film makers to get across comedy in a different way, they can now do it through animations and also through more props.

Comedy has grown into a vital genre that people enjoy. Below are the most common sub-genres of the comedy.

• Comedy of manners - A satire on the lifestyles of the social class

• Dark comedy - Based on taboo subjects such as murder or war.

• Fish out of water - The main character finds himself in a strange environment, such as gender-swapping roles or a rural chap in the big city (Crocodile Dundee).

• Gross-out films - Another popular style of comedy film in recent years, these movies focus on toilet humour and are often aimed at younger audiences.

• Parodies and spoofs - One of the most common types of comedies, these films satirise other genres or classic films with sarcasm and mockery.

• Romantic comedy - A comedy centred around a developing relationships.

• Screwball comedy - Most popular in the early days of films, screwball comedies are the most difficult sub-genre to define. They usually involve wacky, almost unbelievable situations and include lots of physical humour.

In addition to the above sub-genres, comedy is often merged with other types of film to produce sci-fi comedies, action comedies, by doing this they can attracted a different audience.

Post 5a: Macro/Micro analysis of an opening sequence from your genre.

Here you have a video of me explaining the opening seen of The Dilemma, it this clip I will be talking about sound, camera work and editing.

 

This next viedo clip will be me explaing the same areas but for the opening sequence of the 21 jump street>

MAIN Post 5 - Title Timeline.

The time line below is for rush hour 3 which I did with Jordan as it enabled us to be able to get and understanding as a group.

MAIN Post 4b - Narrative / Character Research

To help me I had to research how to make a character that the audience would relate to and how to make them realistic. I found a website that helped be with all of this and allowed me to create my characters. The link is below:-

http://www.writing-world.com/screen/film3.shtml

MAIN Post 4a - Plot Development

MAIN Post 4 - Group Meeting

We thought that we need a group meeting to be able to get all our views across and be able to agree on what type of action comedy we will be making. One of the things we discussed as a group was that our opening sequence wouldn't be your typical car chase and fighting but we would make the actions side more realistic and at points funny.

After we discuss about the type of action comedy we want we went onto the idea stage, the ideas that we come up with was: -

• Party.
• Teenagers.
• Out of control.
• People missing and one death.

We put all these ideas together to get that it would be a teenage girl who had a party which is a large party to gain popularity and be known around school, but there is a twist where people get drunk and out of control and people go missing and one dies. The story line is two girls waking up and trying to remember the night before and trying to deal with the death and find the missing friends.

MAIN Post 3a: Further look at opening sequences

I have decided to do some research into title sequences. This time I have chose to look at title sequences of a comedy to help me get an understanding of how a comedy title sequence works.

The first title sequence that I am going to look at is Hot Fuzz, the reason I have chosen to look at Hot Fuzz is because the film is a comedy-action film.

I found out:

 

• That Hot Fuzz used the characters to show that it was going to be an action film with a comedy element.
• It also showed who made the films and who was associated with the film at the beginning.
• Fast, up beat music to set the genre of the film.
• It portrays that they are police officers as well thought the outfits.
• Action.

Below is the video of the opening sequence of Hot Fuzz.

The second title sequence that i have chosen to research and investigate is The Dilemma because I feel that i will be able to get a lot of good information from the clip to help me make my title sequence. This is what i found:-

• I found that the music was helping the situation as it was helping to bring across the comedy element.
• They just took clips from the film and edited them together to create a small story to show what the film is about.
• Good clear link between the characters and the way that they will work together and the type of comedy the film is.
• Names are the last thing in the title sequence.
• Brought me into the film as it is making me laugh and i want to know how the twist ends and I want to see the rest of the film to see if there is another funny moments.

Below is the title sequence for The Dilemma.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By me doing this research i have realise how big Hollywood film companies make the title/open sequence and have now got more of an understanding of how to make my own. 

MAIN Post 3: Research into Opening Sequence Designs

For my research I looked at two Kyle Cooper interviews, whilst I was watching theses interviews I took some notes of how to make a good opening scene, what it should included.

My notes:

• Lead into the film.
• Set an expectation.
• Should make you forget about everything else.
• Link it to your films genre. (For example in sevens Kyle Cooper made the opening sequence around a cereal killer by taking shots of hand writing notes and images on the tables and walls for instance.)
• If you can smash a glass for example instead of editing it.
• Make the title sequence inspire other people into making there own title sequence or film or get them excited about media and talking about media.
• Study your idea's.
• Experiment with different idea's.
• Help people get an understanding of the film by telling them the back story of the film. 

By me watching these interviews I have been able to get a better understanding of what a title sequences are there for as I first thought that a title sequence was there just to show the actor, producers etc. Now me and the group should be able to create a title sequence that is of a very high standard as we have tips and idea's of how to make a title sequence.

http://www.watchthetitles.com/articles/00170-Kyle_Cooper_interview_pt_1_2
http://www.watchthetitles.com/articles/00184-Kyle_Cooper_interview_pt_2_2

Here we have two links that will allow you see part one and part two of the interviews of Kyle Cooper.

Post 2: Choosing your genre

To find out and decided the best possible film genre we decided to do a questionnaire. With this information we was hoping to create a clear range of data that would lead us to the genre of the film, it was also let us get an understanding of what the audience want to see within a film, whether they just want one genre or a misc between two. The results was:-


This survey is at of 25, it is showing us favourite genre's of film from in our media class. From doing this I can see that chick flicks is the most popular choose to go watch followed by comedy and rom com. this made us think that chick flicks would be the best to film as it had such a big margin between itself and the others.

I then went of to get some more information about what people want and what are peoples favourite genre, what I did was go into town to ask people what they thought was the best genre and the results was:-

This survey is out of 50 and was from people on the streets. As we can see comedy is a clear win with action being the peoples next choose, this made me change my mind about the genre of film we was going to pick as this survey was different to the other survey and more people participated in this one.

As a group when then asked people what they like about "Chick Flicks" and they answered:-

• "They are romantic"
• "They are cute and they make me laugh"
• "They always have happy endings"

We also asked people why they like "comedy" and they answered:-

• "It makes us laugh"
• "Exciting to watch"
• "Its just light-hearted fun"

As a group we then decided to ask our class mate a few more questions so that we would be able to make the best open sequence possible.

This questionnaires tell us that majority of people only go to the cinema once a month and normally go with there friends or family.

The last bit of information I asked people was what did they think was to be in a opening sequence, they answered:-

• Film title
• Cast and Crew
• Sightings of Characters
• Creates mood
• Sets the scene
• Make you want to watch the film
• Soundtrack

By collecting this information we should be able to work together as a group to make a film that people will enjoy and that will entertain more than one genre.

2013 MAIN Post 1 - Conventions of an Opening Sequence

I am looking at some opening sequences to get a better understanding of what I will be making and what they normally look like, from doing this I hope it will help us as a group to make the best sequence possible.

The first sequence that I am going to be looking at is 21 jump street, the reason that I have chosen this open sequence is because it is a comedy and it is about teenagers like are sequence/film will be about.

These images are showing us clips of the opening sequence of 21 jump street. What I found out when watching this clip is that it gives you a strong idea of what the film is going to be like without giving away the main plot.

They do this by making the sequence full of action to portray what the film is going to be like, the opening sequence also gives you all the actors names so you know who is staring in the film, how produced it and writer for example.

 Also the sequence let me know that there would be a lot of violence and content that would not be suitable for a young content.


The next sequence I am going to be look at is skyfall, which is an action film. The reason I thought I would look at this sequence is because our film will also have clips of action within the open sequence.

When I was looking at the open sequence I found out that the background music can be a key features as it can cause the tense you want within the sequence to draw people in.

This sequence also showed me that not all sequences have to be fast and full of action but can still be affective.

http://www.artofthetitle.com

This link above gives you all the opening sequences you want to watch and will help you get a good understanding of opening sequences because there is all different genres.

Post 12: Independent Work Towards Targets

 Here is an image of me practising shot size's as you can see from my second post I took more to get the adjustments right when filming because I was the camera man. I personally thought that this would be a good idea because if I get all the angles right filming it would be better and look more professional.

This is an image of me practising the 180 degree rule so that we would be able to stick to the rule to make the film look realistic. By doing this I wanted to achieve full understanding of the rule so that I could master it when filming, when film we put tape on the floor so that we know we would cross the line. It is important to do this because you can make the people/actors look like they have changed sides. this is why i went out and did independent work.

Here I have also practiced a shot-reverse- shot because I know that I would be using it a lot within filming so I thought it would be good to go out and get some practice of the shot to make sure it would work in our film and speaking parts.

What I have done here is gone around all the locations that we will be shooting in to make sure that we have choose the right area's as a group because it is vital to get a perfect loaction.

 

 

 

Post 11 Smart Targets

So that I improve my film and blog I am going to set myself five smart task.

Smart targets

1. Lighting- My smart target is to making sure I use lighting when filming because when filming the preliminary task i didn't take filming into consideration and just filmed with the natural light when it would of been better to use artificial light.

http://www.steves-digicams.com/knowledge-center/how-tos/camcorder-operation/production-lighting-6-tips-for-filming-at-night.html

This link takes us to a website that will show you how to use lighting in different environment.

2. Script writing- What I have to take into consideration when writing the script is weather or not the audience will connect to what we are writing or weather they will enjoy the final articular. what i will do to insure that the script is better than last time is take these details into consideration.

3. Framing- When filming what we have to take into consideration is the rules of framing like the rule of thirds and make sure we include them in the film to make our film better and more realistic.

http://www.surreyborder.org.uk/woolmers-wisdom/woolmers-wisdom-1.htm

This takes us to a website that will show us and teach us about framing so we will be able to improve are filming from this advice and skills.

4. Improving level of ICT in blog- How I plan to do this is be adding more links so that we will be able to look at website that helps us with the area we are looking at, at the time. I will also like to add in more video's because i feel that they help people and me to learn better and it give the blog a different look and will benefit people as well.

5. Team communication- I feel that our group could improve our communication but i feel that we work well as a team last time. What i would improve would be to make sure we know all the times of filming and talk more as a group when making decisions.

Post 10: Evaluation of skills developed

Here we have is a video showing us what we thought went well with the filming and what we also felt didnt go to well.

This short clip will allow us to see what we have done well within the film and what we could maybe improve.

Post 9: Post-Production

rushese	Out code	scene	Shot	Take	Description	Good/bad
00:00 sec	24:13 sec	Scene 1	2	2	This scene was the easiest out of all the scene as it was just Jordan walking.	Good
25:08 sec	35:00 sec	Scene 2	2	2	This scene was only hard because it was found time and we got interrupted a lot.	Good
35:18 sec	01:09:15 min	Scene 3	2	2	This had the same problem as above because the interruptions.	Good
01:10:09 min	01:27:07 min	Scene 4	2	3	This was hard with the height of Jordan and the height of the girl sitting down. Trying to get them both in the frame.	Bad
01:28:01 min	20:08:23 min	Scene 5	3	3	This was hard as we was filming in the road so car was getting in the way which therefore means we had to re-film some.	Bad