Main Task - Storyboard

Here is the storyboard for our opening sequence, we will most likely differ from it because of lighting and availability of areas but we will try to stick with our original plan:

Sion Roe Visit

Sion Roe visited our AS Media Studies group and taught us how to overlay titles on moving film, this has greatly helped me because in preparation for our main task we now know how to use certain skills like how to rotate and enlarge text; which I didn't previously know when editing my preliminary task.

He taught us about changing the opacity of the title so that we could see the footage behind it, and how to move the clip to be over the footage.

Light Leaks is a gallery of light effects which you can overlay onto your footage to create a more aesthetic feel to your product. This is something that we could use in our main task as well to create more beautiful footage.

I think that this workshop was very useful because I can now access and create effects that weren't previously doable, so we can include them in our main task media product so that it will be more interesting to view.

Main Task - Ident

One of the main parts of the opening sequence for a film is the logo for the production company. I created this logo on Adobe Photoshop where I drew the outline with a stylus on the Apple Mac using a drawing program. I then used the mouse to colour in and do the final touches of the piece. We decided to name our company 'Fat Pig Productions' because it is unique and catchy.

Main Task - Audience Profile

This is my audience profile for our media product. 

This is Lucy, she is a 17 year old student who is studying English Literature, Media Studies, French and Photography. She is from a middle class family who works as a sales assistant in a local clothing boutique and is taking lessons for her driving test. Since she has a job she takes the public bus into the city so that she can socialise with her friends and go to the cinema to watch films. Lucy's favourite films to watch are dramas, foreign films and documentaries, such as Amy, Boyhood and The Circle but she also likes to watch more popular films like The Avengers, The Hunger Games series and the Harry Potter series. Her favourite films tend to have an intelligent story lines that inform the viewer about political and social issues. She particularly liked Star Wars: The Force Awakens for having a strong female lead and that they addressed the way women are portrayed in film as being weak and are in need of being continuously saved.

The audience  profile is important because we can understand the genre and type of films that our audience has and how we can address and attract them. We decided that our audience would mainly be teenagers who enjoy drama films which they may relate to and therefore its important to make our opening suspenseful and emotive.

IMDb

IMDb

The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is a database of information regarding films, television programs and video games, including cast, production crew, fictional characters, biographies, plot summaries, trivia and reviews. 

IMDb is a very useful source for finding out about how films and television programs were produced, distributed and exhibited. This website has helped me learn about the case studies that we are researching e.g Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Grimsby, by doing this I have a more extensive knowledge about both films and will help me in future with my essays.

Main Task - Genre

For our Main Task we decided that we should film our opening sequence  to do a British drama I decided to look online to see what the most popular British dramas, some of the most popular are:

Trainspotting
This film is directed by Danny Boyle and is based on Irvine Walsh's novel, it tracks the adventures of several young men in Edinburgh who are trying to get out of unemployment, aimless relationships and drug addiction.
The film's production company is Channel 4 or now known as Film4 this is a British film company. It is distributed by Miramax, Fox Searchlight Pictures and PolyGram Filmed Entertainment. The film also stars several actors and actresses who are from the United Kingdom.









This is England
The protagonist, Shaun, who lost his father in the Falklands War, earns the respect of skinheads when he stands up to their teasing. He becomes part of their gang however trouble arises when Combo, an ex-convict returns. The gang divides and Shaun sides with Combo. The director is Shane Meadows and is distributed by StudioCanal UK and IFC Films and the production company is Warp Films.













12 Years a Slave
The film 12 Years a Slave is directed by Steve McQueen and follows the life of Solomon Northup, who is a free black man from upstate New York before the Civil War, is kidnapped and sold into slavery in the South. Subject to horrid conditions for 12 years, a chance meeting with an abolitionist from Canada changes Solomon's life forever. The production company is Plan B Entertainment and Summit Entertainment with it distributed by Channel 4, Fox Searchlight Pictures, Summit Entertainment, Icon Productions and Entertainment One. 








Typical qualities of a drama is that it is a narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than comedic focusing on in-depth development of realistic characters who must deal with realistic emotional struggles. Dramatic themes tend to be people dealing with problems like alcoholism, child abuse, coming of age, drug addiction, emotion, hope, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, sexuality, poverty, class divisions and characters in conflict with themselves, others or society. Dramas sometimes have a tragedy and concern the survival of a crisis, like the death of a family member.

Some of these qualities are part of our Main Task so I would consider our task to fall under the drama genre with a British production company.

Main Task - Moodboard

This is our moodboard, it shows how we want our film to look and what we have taken inspiration from.

Main Task - Initial Ideas and Planning

Here is the initial plan for our film, we discussed these ideas as a group and then decided on what we are going to do for our final media product. 

Main Task

The specifications for the Main Task are to create an opening sequence for a film which has to be under 2 minutes.

For this task I am working with Imogen Millard again along with Katie Puddifoot. We have decided to split the roles into Imogen filming, Katie working on the sound and I am editing the opening sequence including titles.

Lighting Workshop

On the 11/11/15, we had a lighting workshop where we looked at different types of lighting and how they affect the scene and tension.

By doing this workshop, it has improved my knowledge of creating tension, also learning about how high-key and low-key lighting effects the shot as well as this I learned how to set up lights.

We explored how different colored changed the mood of the
scene

We learned how to use the different filters on the lights

We then experiemented with using these
coloured lights on the face

We also learnt about using reflectors and white
lights

We experimented with shadows and silhouettes 

Using white lights under the face to create a
spooky atmosphere

We looked at how we could illuminate only a
side of someone's face, this is great at 
creating mystery and tension.

Lighting behind, this creates a silhouette
- perfect for horror films or an action film.

Codes and Conventions

What are codes?
Codes are systems of signs, which create meaning. Codes can be divided into two categories – technical and symbolic.

Technical codes are all the ways in which equipment is used to tell the story in a media text, for example the camera work in a film.

Symbolic codes show what is beneath the surface of what we see. For example, a character's actions show you how the character is feeling.

Some codes fit both categories – music for example, is both technical and symbolic.

What are conventions?
Conventions are the generally accepted ways of doing something. There are general conventions in any medium, such as the use of interviewee quotes in a print article, but conventions are also genre specific.

For example, the technical code of lighting is used in some way in all film genres. It is a convention of the horror genre that side and back lighting is used to create mystery and suspense – an integral part of any horror movie.

Preliminary Exercise - Handle with Caution

Here is mine and Imogen Millard's preliminary exercise for Media Studies AS, Handle with Caution. The editing program we used was Adobe Premier Elements CS4 and used a camera similar to the  Panosonic LUMIX Digital Camera DMC-SZ10 to film.

It was important to experiment and film this media product because we now know how to use certain features on Adobe Premier Elements CS4, how to set up shots and the tripods; this will help us in future with our main task.

Preliminary Exercise - Editing and Costume

For our preliminary exercise we are using Adobe Premier Elements CS4 to edit the opening sequence, I am playing the part of the young woman who is the kidnapper.

After discussion we decided that the text should be inspired by Schindler's List with the girl in red and chose to use the same effect in our task. This effect is to isolate the colour red solely making the rest of the shot black and white, this brings more emphasis to the red coat and the red lipstick that the actress is wearing.

A Screenshot of Schindler's List

Here is a photo of what the actress was wearing in colour:

By bringing emphasis to the costumes we create more mystery to the character since the audience cannot focus on her facial features giving a mysterious aspect to the piece. Isolating the colour red causes the colour to emphasised which can signify blood, danger, strength and power. It also represents love, desire and passion. In our task we made sure that the more positive thoughts of red were abolished by the director telling the actress to stand up straight and rigid with a businesslike posture, also the director said to keep the actresses head up high to show the power over the other character - the actress was also told not to smile and to keep a straight face when talking to the other character.

Black is another key colour in the costume which is connoted with power, death, evil and mystery. Black is a mysterious colour because of fear and the unknown; which is what the hostage would have felt when seeing her as well as this it has a negative connotation for example: blacklist, black humour and the black death. Also black contrasts well with bright colours so when combined with red it gives an aggressive colour scheme.

Photo of Tom Godfrey who plays the hostage:

For our hostage, Tom Godfrey, his costume included a blue, white and dark purple striped t-shirt with black trousers and black converses. Blue can symbolise innocence and purity, along with dark purple which evokes gloom and sad feelings so it can show what the actor is feeling on the inside. Along with the base colour of white which also represents purity and innocence along with goodness. So with his t-shirt compared with the actresses clothing it clearly shows who is the villain and who is the hero.

As a team we chose black trousers and black converses so that it could show a dark side to him and that he has possibly done something bad and that's why the kidnapper has taken him. His clothing is casual to give a first impression of that he is a normal guy on the outside and also that when she kidnapped him when he wasn't prepared.

After discussing we decided not to use the isolated colour effect as it did not always recognise red leaving grey patches and also it highlighted red in other areas which we did not want it to like the curtains and floorboards. However the black and white effect compliments the text and the atmosphere of the piece so we added the effect onto the film.

Using our knowledge of symbolisation to create the costumes for this product will help us because we can choose better costumes in future, therefore improving the quality of our piece.

Preliminary Exercise - Location

For our preliminary task as a team we looked at different locations to film, looking at each with a different criteria in mind. These were the atmosphere, the look of the place and how the accessible the location is.

Originally, when we were first planning and storyboarding our task we had planned for it to start outside panning from a possible thunderstorm and rainy clouds to an alley where you see an iconic walking shot so we searched locally for a similar alleyway that we had initially thought of. I looked at Google maps so that I could find the locations easily and to see if they suited our requirements without having to travel to inspect them first. These were the places we found:

An alleyway in Ottery St Mary, this is next to the Old Mill factory which would allow a pan shot however it is a highly trafficked area with a main road next to it so filtering out the unwanted sound would be a difficulty.

 This is an alleyway in Sidmouth next to the Santander bank, I liked the atmosphere of it - it's very eerie and dark. However it's in the high street and it is very commercialised and clean losing the raw effect that we want.

Here is an alleyway in Tipton St. John, I like the natural and dirty look of the location however we want it to look industrial and not so green also with the public foothpath sign it lessens the effect of danger also the walking shot would not be able to go ahead if I am stumbling over the rocks and roots.

After the alleyway scene we thought that I could be seen walking into an abandoned building, which would have given an eerie and dangerous feel to the piece. The only building that we could find locally which would have suited our needs was the Ottery St. Mary abandoned mill factory however we did look at other buildings to see if they matched what we wanted. This are shown below:

This is what I believe to be the Dairy Crest abandoned factory in Taddiport, nr Great Torrington, it is a big location meaning many places to shoot the film however it would be difficult to travel so far with all of the equipment.



                                         

After searching online for abandoned buildings on www.theurbanexplorer.co.uk I saw a post about Beer Quarry so I went onto Google street maps and found a photo taken by Jim Rider of the quarry. I love the overgrown feel of the location however it would be difficult to create or find an indoor scene because of the natural feel of the location.

When looking through the selection of locations we decided to use the Old Mill Factory with the alleyway next to it to film the scene in, since it's very accessible so we can re-film if we need to.



After discussing we decided not to use the alleyway scene as the weather was unpredictable and as there weren't any thunderstorms near we abandoned the idea, we also decided that if we shot the outside scene and if it was raining or thundering we would need to edit the non-diegetic sound in which would have made it extremely difficult for the editor with the audio clips.

Researching locations to film in will help me and my team in future when searching for locations for our main task because we will be able to assess the problems with the site quickly which causes us to be more time efficient.

Preliminary Exercise

We recently were given the guidelines to the preliminary exercise for the Video section of the Media Studies AS course.

The Specific Guidelines for the Preliminary Exercise:

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. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and 180-degree rule.

I have paired up with Imogen Millard again to complete this project, we are using Adobe Premium Elements CS4 to edit and using a camera similar to the Panosonic LUMIX Digital Camera DMC-SZ10 to film.

Preparation for the Exercise:

I prefer to plan for projects in a list form so I created a document that lists what I need to do for the future.

Andrew Johnstone Talk

On 12/10/15 Andrew Johnstone, the BBC documentary film maker and photo journalist, came to The King's School and gave a lecture about how he got into the entertainment business and how his jobs works.

He has travelled to over 40 different countries for his work as documenting and photographing situations and people. He started his career by making skiing films in France where he would film the skiers and the stunts they performed however he was fired because he had forgotten to tape the camera closed because of this the tape fell out on the snow and was ruined. The next filming opportunity that he was given was one in Yugoslavia where he recorded the civil war in 20, 10 minute films. He then went into photojournalism so that he could more direction in what he was filming, during this time he was in Bosnia photographing the election - these photos were then featured in The Times Magazine. In 2003, the globalisation of photography meant that there were less assignments because "why send a photographer over to India when an Indian person can send the photo to the company?" Because of this he then went back into documentary film making and producing, he now works with BBC Plymouth where he films the Inside Out section. He has recently made a film which linked Napoleon to the South West of England and his film about James Bond has just been commissioned.


After talking about how he got into the entertainment business he then showed us his equipment that he uses when filming. There was a camera, a microphone, a light box and a tripod.

He then talked about a mantra that when filming the skiers in the Alps was given to him - he said it was very helpful, he called it 'The 7 Ps'.

"Prior Preparation Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance."

He also showed us his timetable and how he plans the filming out, with predicting how the interviewee will answer the question - this then helps him stick to a schedule and keep working productively so that he can keep to a deadline. I really like this method and will most likely use it in future.

This visit has made me learn about documentary making and photojournalism, also the amount of work that goes into a film. As well as some techniques that will be very useful in future when film making like the buffering of a microphone.

Mise-En-Scene

Mise-en-scene is the arrangement of everything that appears in the framing of the shot– actors, lighting, décor, props, and costume. Mise-en-scene is a French term that means “placing on stage.”

The Five Key Features of Mise-En-Scene are:

1. Setting and Props
2. Costume, Hair and Makeup
3. Facial Expressions and Body Language
4. Lighting and Colour
5. Positioning of Characters/Objects within the Frame 

Mise-en-scene creates a great movie because it allows the audience to immerse themselves into the action. In some cases mise-en-scene can be used to change the mood or style of the movie for example the set can be given dark lighting, claustrophobic scenery and distorted shapes to create an evil aura and so that they can enhance the horror the audiences feel. The film 'Black Swan' has great mise-en-scene because it envelopes the viewer into the set, because of this I am going to evaluate the trailer for the movie.

In the opening scene of the trailer the set is enveloped in darkness with a spotlight centring on the stage, providing the only light on set. There dancing is a ballerina in a white tutu, this is can be interpreted as innocence or naivety because when we think of a tutu we think of a child. She is positioned slightly off centre which can show that she possibly feels that she isn't the main attraction. When the lighting is evaluated it can show that ballet is the only positive or good thing in her life because it is the only light in the darkness. The shot matches on action and we can see her feet as she dances it then changes to a medium shot which is zooming out that shows her still dancing.

The next change in shot shows the practice room where a multitude of dancers are performing rudimentary steps, they are all dressed in the same of colours of white, grey and black, all of them are in the exact same position this can show that they are all performing as one or that they all think the same and blend into each other. Gym bags are at the end of each barre this adds to the realism of the scene. The lighting is high-key, the sort you would normally see in a studio and the colour is warm.

After this shot you have an over the shoulder shot that focuses on a man and behind him the other dancers are blurred, this shows that the main character only focuses on him and the other dancers don't worry her. He is wearing a white button down shirt with a black scarf around his neck, this can show that he primarily is good but then he has a dark side to him. His body posture is tense and he is looking down on her, this makes the audience feel that he is judging her.

This then changes to a close up of Natalie Portman's face, the background is blurred, and this can show that she feels that nothing matters apart from herself and the man. Her face is focused and taut, Portman's makeup is minimal which shows that she is either in a ballet company that doesn't allow makeup or that she doesn't care for it and that she only cares for her dancing. Her hair is in a tight bun this highlights her minimal style. She is wearing a white top, a dainty gold necklace that we can't see all of and she is then wearing small earrings that are pink, they look to be in the shape of a heart and are crafted from a gemstone, it looks to be rose quartz, this can show that she wants to look natural but still wears expensive things to show that she is superior than others.

The shot then cuts to a woman who looks to be in her mid 40's and is wearing slightly similar style, a neat bun, a dainty gold necklace, medium size earrings and a black top, this shows that she is professional and cares about her appearance by the medium amount of makeup she wearing. The walls in the background are covered in a floral pattern with a green trim; this makes the audience feel that this is an old house. The lighting on the woman is very warm and bright, high-key lighting, showing that she is a very good part in Portman's life whereas the background has quite a cold look to it, meaning that the character doesn't care for the house. 

We then see Natalie Portman's character that is also in a warm light, high-key, in this shot we see circles under her eyes that we could not see in the shot before, this could mean that she doesn't show her weaknesses when at work but at home she can relax.

It then cuts to a shot where Portman is stretching and is rolling her foot; it looks as if she is in pain but fails to show it. Her head is cut off in the frame making the viewer only focus on her stretching this shows that it is important. In the background we see books piled on top of each other, so that she likes to read but doesn't spent a lot of time doing it because she is busy practicing so it is in the background of her life.

After we see her stretching again but we also can't see her face like before, this can mean that people look at her body not her face which in her line of work is understandable because the audience can't see her facial expressions. She is wearing grey jogging bottoms and a pink top, the colour grey represents control so it can show that she is in control of her body and the colour pink shows passiveness, love and feminine qualities. She is stretching in front of a mirror this shows that she regularly looks at her body and evaluates it, this could put the thought in the audiences head that maybe she is too hard on herself.

This is the part of the trailer that I analysed: 

By analysing the mise-en-scene in Black Swan it has helped me notice the intricate details of the scene and know why they have been placed there, this will help when we film our main task.

Camera Angles in Zombieland's Opening Scene

In this post I will be analysing the opening scene from the movie Zombieland because the film is one of my favourites as well as being what I believe to have a great opening scene.

The establishing shot is a close-up where the camera is on it's side with what seems to be a flag in focus whereas the background is blurred. This initially confuses the viewer because we usually view films upright and not on their side. This shot slowly zooms outwards gradually giving the audience more information as they watch the shot, we soon recognise the shot has an upturned car as the main focus.

The camera quickly turns upright and zooms out more this shows a car which is upside down, which we recognise as a car the President of the USA may use - this is further proved by it panning over to the United States Capitol Building which is in Washington, D. C. As the camera pans we realize that it is a POV shot.

The shot then pans down to a gun on the floor another thing the viewer isn't used to seeing because guns are normally handled with care and are locked up but seeing it on the floor shows something bad has happened to the world.

The shot then pans over to some vehicles and suddenly moves to a medium shot of a creature jumping on top of the 'camera man' this is unexpected so it makes the audience jump and be afraid because we believed ourselves to be in the camera man's position.

The creature then proceeds to chase the camera man and then eats him. At this point we see the creature in a close-up shot so we can be disgusted at the once human being. This is all a sequence shot.

The shot then proceeds to an image of where the first shots were taken on a map, that then zooms out to view the whole world in complete and utter chaos, the camera then slowly spins down so we view the bottom of the world which looks destroyed, the camera then zooms in to see a wide shot of a football field.

The shot we then see is a medium, low angle shot of a two pairs of feet running this then pans up to see a fat person running from a zombie, this causing the audience to feel humour because we weren't expecting to see this scene. 

The camera angle then changes to a wide shot where we see the person running again, this gives the audience different view points to see the action. This is a title in the shot called "Rule #1 Cardio" this provides humour the audience. The shot then changes to see the fat person again but this time it's mid shot of the person's face, this is also funny because it is in slow motion and you can see the man emotion's which provide humour to the audience.

We then see a long shot of the duo running again, this then quickly changes to a close-up of the man's face; this creates comedic tension and makes the audience wait.

The zombie then over powers him, we see this from a low angle with a long shot.

To watch Zombieland's opening scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FpdzBfEA2s

By analysing this opening sequence it has helped me learn the importance of interesting shots, and that opening sequences use titles that are edited in.