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.