Media Work Diary

16 December 09

Today Amy drew the storyboard pictures and then we made an Animation of them put together.

Storyboard of shots

This is our storyboard of the images. Its an animation of them

Storyboard- shot 1-12

Shot 1

Shot 2

Shot 3

Shot 4

Shot 5

Shot 6

Shot 7

Shot 8

Shot 9

Shot 10

Shot 11

Shot 12

Questionnaire

This is our questionnaire, we are going to give it to people to see if we can get some information on our target market and find out more information of what they want.

Final script choice

In the end we came to the decision of using script 3. We think this would be the best script to use for our group because it gives a little bit more information into our film, but not too much so it encourages the audience to watch more.

The other 2 scripts also are a bit too vague for our film and may make our opening not make much sense.

Possible Script 3

(Conversation during chase scene)
Lewis: Hello! I'm after him.
Voiceover: Ok i'll be there in 5, remember we need him alive.
Lewis: I'll try.

Gun shot and conversation on black screen
(Conversation at the end)
Sound effect: Phone ringing.
Lewis: Hello?
Voiceover: Got him?
Lewis: He was a dead end.
Voiceover: We still need him, he has information.
Lewis: Not anymore.

Possible Script 2

We may choose this idea to be in our film, or possible script 1.



What we would like to have is instead of me and Simon having a converstaion, is me and the people i work for having a conversation.

It could be like this:

Voice:Have you got him?

Lewis:Yeah i got him

Voice:Good, bring him in

Lewis:Dead or Alive.

Media Work Diary

14th December 09

I went to the location we are filming and with amy took photos and videos of the location. These will help us with our work.

More Video's of Location

This is where we would like Lewis to look one way and Simon is running the other way.

Videos of Location

This is a video of the location we are filming.

More Lake Images

These are more images of the lake

Location Images-Lake

Image of Location

Images of the paths we will run through. Top image maybe where we will throw Simon's bag and see my feet run past

Images of Location-OTS

This is what our OTS shot will look like.

Images of Location

These are more images of our location

We would like to have this as our chase scene. (Top image)

Simon will throw his bag (Bottom Image)

Images of our Location of filming

These are images of our location of where we are filming, this is our very first shot. We would like to have the tree covering half of the screen and see Simon and Me running past.

Interesting Opening Credits

Images of opening credits for inspiration

Opening Credits Idea 2

We would like the credits to appear on a black screen after all the filming has come up. After the title appears we would like the director and actors to appear then and finish it on that. While this is happening we would also like to have a voice over.

Opening Credits Idea 1

We would like the credits (Names of Actors/Actresses, Directors and Producers) to appear while some of the video is happening, we would also like them to come up when the character runs on the screen. We think this will look quite effective.

Opening Credits

We will need to think of ideas on what we should do for our opening credits, we will have to look at films and look at what colour, font and how they make the titles appear on screen.

This can be very effective and we will use Adobe to help us make them, we practiced making one (Rodeo Productions).

Final Idea- What we will need to do

For our final idea we are going to edit our storyboar, we are still using our idea but we will need to add more shots. We will experiment with the camera and see what other ideas we can come up with.

Media Work Diary

9th December

Today we wrote out our storyboard of the shots we are going to use. We also wrote roughly how long each shot will be and we also wrote the sound used

Mind Map of Ideas

Terminator 2- Opening 2 minutes

This is my analysis of Terminator 2

• Long shot of busy roads, lots of cars driving by.
• Titles appear white writing (Shows producers and directors).
• The next shot is a mid shot of people walking around the cars infront of the camera, makes it feel more realistic.
• Non-Digetic tense music, very slow.
• Slow editing so you are meant to concentrate on what you are watching.
• Cuts to a shot of a girl on swing.
• Busy Playground.
• Medium shot of her on the swing.
• Camera follows her movement on the swing backwards and forwards.
• Producers and Directors appear- same font.
• The titles are in the center of the screen- main focus-important.
• We see girl swinging backwards and forwards starts to go in slow motion as nuclear bomb is reaching her.
• The sound builds up.
• Sound effects-Girls happy laughing turns to echoed scary laughing.
• Music builds up like a cruscendo.
• The image is saturated.
• Fades into white background.
• Girl Dissapears behind white screen.
• The sound stops-silence.

Music Ideas

We will need to research music used in chase scenes, the music is very important to adding a mood to what you are seeing, for our chase scene to feel more tense we will need to use fast paced music, with a beat to match the characters running. It can be modern and sound edgy.

Image of a chase scene

These are some images from chase scenes, we will need to get our ideas of making our chase scene look more realistic when watching other action films.

This is an image from a Bourne Film

My Favourite Action Films

These are afew of my favourite action films

• James Bond- I like this film becuse it is very modern and there a nice cars in it. It also has plenty of chase scenes which is a relevant film to write about on my blog as we are doing a chase scene.
• Die Hard- These have plenty of action and keep you entertained through.
• Bourne Films- I like the Bourne films becuase they are very clever on how they are made. There is plenty of action.

Target Audience

We will need to have a target audience, as our Genre is Action it will be mostly targeted over 12's but mostly adults.

To make sure that it will be aimed at adults and over 12's we will have to do is do a questionnaire.

What you will expect to see in an Action film:

• Explosions
• Fast Movement
• Chase scenes
• Computer generated images (Not for us)
• Fight scenes
• A villian

A List of Action Films

About Action

Action is a popular Genre becuase it is faced paced and keeps people interested, it uses fast modern music which people like. It keeps the audience on the edge of there seat

List of Action Films

A list of different Action Films

• Transporter
• Rush Hour
• Bourne Films
• Die Hard
• James Bond
• Matrix
• Rambo
• Shooter

Character Profiles

We will need to create character profiles and write about the characters:

• My character is tall, he is the good guy and is chasing Simon, he is after Simon (terrorist) as this is his job.
• Simon is shorter than me, he is the bad guy who is being chased. He is trying to get away and has important information that I need.

Images from Action films

Costume Ideas

For our first idea we had afew characters and needed costumes for them such as casual/smart clothes for Lewis, Simon wears a suit and Amy wears smart clothes.

For our Idea 2 we only have 2 characters involved Lewis as he is the person trying to catch Simon (Who is bad) will need to wear casual clothes to blend in with everyday people, and Simon will need to wear clothes like he is trying to hide himself so eg. a hood.

Opening sequence of Bourne Supremacy

In the opening sequence of Bourne Supremacy flashbacks are used, this is very effective as it shows the audiecnce what happened in the previous film. Fast paced and quick shots of the past are shown and are blurry so that some parts are not revealed. He then wakes up and is all sweaty like he has had a bad dream and goes to the bathroom to put water on his face. His girlfriend then walks in and sees if he is ok and that is the opening 2 minutes.

Lots of different shots were used but not much happened in the opening sequence.

Problems that may occur

There are afew problems that we can have when filming, as we are filming outside the weather and it getting dark early could be a problem. We need to film it at a certain time or it wont look right.

Media Diary

I am going to keep a log of what i have done and what i need to do, this will help me with time management

7th December

I looked at some action title sequences to help us with our action title sequence, I also looked at Sound, and what i will need to put in my title sequence

Sound Effects

We will need sound effects to make our piece suit the action genre.
Key Sounds

• Heavy Breathing- This is very important to our action genre as we are including a chase scene, it adds to the tension aswell as making our piece sound good, to create the heavy breathing sound effects we will have to record someone breathing heavily afew times and see what ones sound good.
• The sound of someone running through the woods, this will be easy to do as it will be in the background of our filming
• We will also need to find a gunshot and a gun click as these are sounds we would like to have in our piece. We will have to research them and find one that fits our work well.

Sound is very important to the opening sequence as it helps enagage the audience into what they are watching, it is also good to help create a mood.

Action Checklist

• Chase Scenes
• Fast Music
• Props
• Guns
• Running
• A good location
• Phyiscal action
• A main character

Possible Script

(Speaking into bluetooth headset)
Lewis: Im after him, bring the van.
Voice Over: Ok

Simon and Lewis conversation
Lewis: Where is he?
Simon: I know nothing about him.
Lewis: You do.
Simon: Even if i did, do you expect me to talk?
Lewis: Yes, with a bit of force.
Simon: No amount of force will make me talk?
Lewis: Well if your not going to talk, then you'r no use to me.
(Gunshot over title)

Order Of Shots

The order of shots are as follows:

• Medium- low angle shot with tree in part of the screen, we see simon run past, who is shortly followed by Lewis.
• We then have an over the shoulder shot from Lewis running after Simon.
• We have a long/medium shot showing them both running.
• We have a longer distance shot of them both running.
• We see Simon chuck his bag into a bush and w see it go over the camera.
• We then have a close-up of the bag, until we see Lewis run past.
• We then have an establishing shot of the lake and can see Simon on the other side, on his own.
• Then we have a shot of where Simon turns clockwise looking for Lewis, while the camera circles him anti-clockwise.
• We then have a point of view shot of Lewis in the bush watching Simon.
• Then we see Simon turning around and sprints towards the lake and see him take out a few pieces of paper and throws it in the lake.
• We then have a close-up of Simon and then a gun makes a clicking noise.
• We then have a medium shot of the gun to Simons head.
• He then turns around and we have lots of two shots while they have their conversation.
• At the end Lewis lets go of Simon and pushes him slightly backwards and has a close-up of Lewis and the gun.

My evaluation of research and planning

I have given my work on research on planning so far a mark of about 12/20, which falls only just into a level 3. I have done quite a bit of research on other films in the same genre as mine. We have also got pictures of the location and have thought about our props and our costumes. Our opening scene includes a chase, so I have researched some chase scenes to see how they use different techniques of how they get the audience interested e.g. Music and how they use the camera.

Final Choice

We have decided to film our second idea, because we think it will be easier to film and is overall more effective than the old choice. Also this new idea has new ideas and views on our other team member (Amy) who wasn't in our group originally.

Film treatment Opening 2 minutes (idea 2)

The film location for our second idea is Oxshott, this is because there a plenty of woods to film in. It will suit our action film because we plan to have a chase scene through the woods.


The opening sequence starts with a black screen and the fast paced music starts. We then see Simon run past the camera as this is a chase scene and then Lewis then follows behind. We then see a couple of shots of us chasing each other. Simon then throws his bag into a bush and they both keep running. Simon then reaches a lake and looks around for Lewis to see where he is, we then have a point of view shot from Lewis looking at Simon and we can hear heavy breathing, after a few seconds Simon hears a twig snap and then Lewis jumps out and "rugby" tackles Simon to the floor, they have a fight on the floor then Simon chucks the important information (piece of paper) into a river. Lewis then gets annoyed with him so pulls out his gun and threatens him. We then cut to him tied up in the van, with tape around his mouth. Then Lewis will pass a bag to the other character and tell them they might need it. They then look in the bag, they look surprised and intrigued then shuts the door of the van together, which is when the name of the film will come up.

My Opinion on Action Films

I prefer the Action genre because they have interesting story lines and instead of the film being slow paced and dull you can get into the film more. It keeps you entertained all the way through and has more to watch than listen to which I prefer.

One of my favourite Action films is the James Bond films, I like these films because they have very good storyline to follow and they leave it on cliffhangers so you want to see the others, they have plenty of action to keep the audience interested and the fights they have are more realistic than other Action films i have seen, they also have plenty of chase scenes which keep the audience on the edge of there seats. This also links to my work because we are including chase scenes in our opening sequence.

History of Action films

Action film definition:
Action movies are a film genre where in the story is largely told through physical action as opposed to dialogue. The action typically involves individual efforts on the part of the hero. While action has long been an element of films, the "Action film" as a genre of its own began to develop in the 1970s. The genre is closely linked with the thriller and adventure film genres.

Location Images

Our Final Film Institute

We have decided to go for MGM as our producer, because it's a shorter intro, and also does some big films. We think that overall this would be the best choice because it gives us more space to actually film our piece.

Film Treatment

We will film the start of the film with a lot of action, we will do this because it will draw in the audience with lots of short sharp shots and with music that fits into the film which we will find when all the filming is finished, they will also want to know what is going to happen after.
After the very quick start, we start to learn more about the past of both of the two characters and what they have done in the past and the problems they have had and what they have done to overcome them and how each affects them now e.g. one may have a problem like wife leaves him for another man and this makes him a very frustrated person and unable to trust anyone. We then learn the plot of what is happening, we learn who they are looking for and why (prime minister has been kidnapped and is being held.) The "bad guys" want £5,000,000 and for everyday that they don't get it, they order a terror attack to happen around the country and if they don't get anything in 30 days they say they will kill the prime minister. After three days they bomb Buckingham palace, House of commons and Heathrow airport and they agree to meet with the money and track him to the warehouse that they are keeping him, they bust trying to save the prime minister before another day comes. They under estimate how many men they have in the warehouse and mange to get the prime minister to a new secret location and they punish them by setting out to destroy everything.
At the end they manage to save the prime minister and kill the leader of the "bad guys" just before the country is about to go into absolute chaos, after millions of pounds is lost in damages and the two main people that were mentioned at the start were considered heroes and the saviours of England

Chase scenes

This is the chase scene that happens at the start of Casino Royale.

This is the start which is action packed (which we are intending to do with our opening two minutes of our film) also we think this is good because it's quite a simple chase scene, but is very effective and draws the audience in straight away. After this scene it also slows down like we are planning on doing as well. This i why we think that James Bond is a good outline for our film to be on.

This is also another chase scene that is used at the start of a different James Bond film, this one is something we can't do, because we don't have cars to ruin or even drive but we can draw inspiration from it e.g. what type of music they use to attract the audiences attention and what they do on the chase scene.

James Bond Image

Other Location ideas

These are other ideas for our scene after the scrap and he is tied to a chair.

Location Ideas

These are some images of what we would like to use as a look alike location for our filming.

They look eerie, scary and fit the theme we are going for. It helps make the chase scene more intense and fast paced.

James Bond- Genre Action

Our Genre is Action, this film is very similar to our story and has the same genre

The Maltese Falcon

Close Up of a Falcon with big writing over it to show that its important
Establishing shot, shows city
Cuts closer to show where action happens
Two shot, OTS, Close Up
Never crosses the 180 degree Angle

Preliminary Task- Evaluation and other ideas

• Continuity comes with editing
• Shoot about double footage you actually need
• Sound could be inconsistent, fading is key
• Variety of camera shots
• Actors and posture
• Props
• Tight editing
• Costume and Make Up

Research and Planning to do list

• Film Treatment
• Storyboard opening scene
• Photos of location
• Photos of actors and costume
• Props
• Use mind maps
• Powerpoint to class
• Questionaiire
• Research other blogs
• Music
• Script
• Practice film
• Evaluate Everything

Se7en

I looked at a little bit of Se7en and wrote about some of the things in the opening sequence

• Music is scratchy and a heart beat, which keeps you on edge.
• A Razor used on his own fingertips, which is used to stop himsef being caught
• Disturbing images

These are just afew of what was done to create a horrible theme to the put the audience on edge and feel uneasy about the film.

Scream opening sequence

I looked at Scream and had to write about the sound, mise-en-scene and what is done in an opening sequence for a horror film.

• Dimension films (horror genre)


• Dark Music


• Black screen, and scream in white which turns to red in a locking nosie, scary.


• Screams over the top (Non Digetic Sound)


• Establishing shots of the house outside, very quiet and dark. Perfect for horror genre


• Close ups on important objects in the film eg, Phone


• Phone keeps ringing, scary man voice


• Popcorn and knives props to make the audience uneasy


• Point of view from girl, makes audience see through her eyes


• Sound and images unsettle the audience


• Non-Digetic scary music is used alot

Coursework Ideas-Info

Location and cast has to be careful
Digetic and Non Digetic sound, music
Clear about genre
ONLY HAVE 2 MINUTES
Time management
Location and Pictures
Double check your check list

Film Treatment

Opening 2 minutes
We are going to start our opening 2 minutes, with a low angle shot in a forest by the bottom of a tree. Then we see the first character running past, who is closely followed by the second character, they are both males one will be the good guy and the other will be the bad guy. The shots will be quick to show speed and intensity and also there will be a fast soundtrack over the top, which will engage the audicence and make them interested. They then have a scrap on the floor and the second character pulls out a weapon and then takes him to their office. We may use a sound bridge to make it flow from the forest to the office block. We will use either cars outside, a phone ringing or men shouting. Inside the office block we see the man who is tied to a chair, and out of him. The main guy who is in charge will be in a suit so will be shown as very powerful, with lots of low angle shots. We then hear that they have captured him because he knows where someone is, that they are looking for and at the end we find out that the guy they captured has secretly eaten poison and has died so they have no leads anymore.

It is set at dusk, so there is little light. The characters are wearing (one tracksuit, other maybe suit.) Shows which characters are in charge. Props are a chair, rope, weapon (Gun-fake), make up and fake blood to create a beaten up effect.
Set in a local woods.
We will use a non copyright fast paced music.

The rules for achieving a good opening

Set the scene- Location
Give genre
Shows main characters
Grab audience attention
Background Information
Purpose of the film
Credits
Voice-Over
Introducing Characters
Shots that fit the genre
Titles and black screen

Film Institutions

We have choosen universal because they have produced films that will be similar to ours.
They have produced films such as the bourne films, which is mainly an action film. It is one of the leading flm producers in the world.

Rodeo Productions- Title Sequence

This is our first try of making a title sequence, we use Adobe Premiere Elements to create it.

Film Openings

The purpose of this task was to look at different beginnings of different films. All the films we watched were from different genres e.g. Romantic comedy's and science-fiction. Here are some of the films we watched.









Children Of Men




The genre of this film is science-fiction, we can see this because it shows that the year is in the future and it showed computers that had much better technology than we have in the present day.

The start of the film is used to tell the audience, what the film is about and what problems there are in the future, (humans are infertile) and how serious it is for them. At the start it shows that the youngest person in the world, baby Diego who is 18, and how upset everyone was when the news broke.

We followed the main character into a local coffee shop and that is where we see the news about the teenager dying, then he walks out there is a big explosion in the shop he was just in. They use a hand held camera to show his point of view when the first bit of action happens.

Notting Hill

The genre of this film is Romantic comedy, we can tell this because, We can tell this because the male character tells some jokes and he talks about 'the girl' . They have a shot of the main women in it, in slow motion with love music over the top to show that she is the main women and that she is shown as a very important person, you can tell this because she is smiling at the many people that are trying to take photos of her.

On the other hand Hugh Grant who plays the other main character is shown as normal and not a very significant person in the local community. You tell that he isn't important because he walks through the whole market and no-one really notices him, and talks like he has been there for a long time by explaining everyone throught the market.

Definatly, maybe

The Genre of this film is a Romantic Comedy. You can tell it is a romantic comedy because happy music is used, he jokes and the first few minutes are about getting to know the main characters in the film. We find out that the main character is having a divorce, he has a daughter. We can tell it is set in New York because there are yellow taxi's and tall buildings and it is very busy. Establishing shots are used to show the location of the city, a clever way it is also shown is having multiple images which show him walking down the street. He talks about happily ever after which suggests that it is about romance. We see him working which shows us his job and more about him and that he has an everyday life because after work he has to pick his daughter up from school.

Goodfella's

It is a gangster fim. They start by talking about him always wanting to be a gangster, there is shooting, stabbing and some blood which shows that this is not a happy film. We see a body in the boot of the car which they stab which shows that they are not nice people. The red break lights cover the whole of there bodies which makes them look like they are drenched in blood, red is not a nice colour and reminds the audience of blood. The main character is shown by being the main focus of the camera and he is closest. It also tries to hook the audience in because saying that it is a true story. The purpose of the opening sequence is achieved by the use of colour, red and black are bad colours which shows these are bad people. It is set in the night which is very dark and makes it seem they are in the middle of nowhere. It helps create a menace and terror mood.

Preliminary Task- The Question

For our preliminary task we had to film a 2 minute clip or under with a conversation in it, we had to use different shots and show that we could use the cameras and equipment.
Conversation:
Alex:Did you get it?
(Lewis shakes his head)
Alex:(Sighs) Go get it.

We used lighting, camera angles and sound to create and eerie scene.
The start of the scene I am walking down the corridor (eerie music plays in the background all through the scenes) he turns to walk out the door and the clip changes we then see him meeting Alex in the center of the scene the camera is behind a tree so it looks like someone is watching. We then have a medium shot of there conversation and the music fades out. We dont
see my face all through our film. They walk away and then the clip changes to see me walking to a door the clip changes again so its tight and works well. We have used quick shots and made the editing quick and flow. I then push the door open and Amy is standing there on her phone ignoring the fact that I am there until I walk past then Amy looks at me as I walk past like I am suspicious. We then see me walking up the stairs from above so it looks like a CCTV camera. After he has passed the stairs the clip changes and we see me walking to a room and see my body. Then we see my feet in different shots and his hand go for the door. The clip finishes with the music stopping as the door shuts. Overall i think we have used camera shots and music to create a mysterious/Suspicious theme.
I am the main character with Alex and Amy as background characters.
Directors Amy and Simon.

The Practice Task-The Question

This is our practice task, we filmed a conversation. We had to get use to the cameras and equipment. We also had to include different types of shots.

I think we have done well for our first try and we can work with the equipment.

Problems occured- Laughing.