4/26/2012

Final Opening: Elements

Below is our final opening, which has been uploaded to YouTube for viewing. We hope to also gain audience feedback from this.


Final: Preliminary Task

Below is the finished preliminary task:

Evaluation Question #7

4/18/2012

Evaluation Question #5

How did you attract/address your audience?


After all the research we put into finding our target audience, we really wanted to target it at this audience and also in keeping with the brief given.


To attract both a male and female audience, as explained in other questions we decided to have female lead characters, as this will likely attract the female audience, which isn't as prominent for other mainstream films. Also the male audience which is already interested in the movie, could be interested in a new twist on the genre.

 

As our audience was aged around 15 - 25 year olds, we wanted an opening that would be memorable and something that they will keep engaged in throughout the opening, for this reason, we really worked on keeping shots short and having a lot of variety in them, we also used up beat music, along with editing the piece, so that not too long was spent on each character, so the audience did not get bored. Below is some feedback we received from some of our target audience members, who gave both good and bad feedback about the piece.




As we were also going to be focusing on a British audience primarily, because of both the distributor we would use and the limitations of filming and marketing. Because of the British audience we were aiming at, we did not want to give a 'cheesy' representation of Britain but something that they could relate to as a British audience, perhaps through the locations, scripting or the characters in the scenes.


The age of the characters is something we also wanted the audience to relate to, as the protagonists were either 16/17 we wanted to really make the audience connect to them, by producing a really realistic story, that could likely happen and show their 'alter egos'. Rather than some really unrealistic story, where the audience could not relate to the characters.

4/15/2012

Evaluation Question #4

                            

3/30/2012

Feedback From First Draft

After a showing of the first draft, we received both positive and negative feedback, to help us improve the opening further. 


Positive feedback we received:

- In the opening there is a good range of camera shots and angles which make it interesting and relate to the characters well.


- The storyline and genre is made clear, which helped really helped by the codes and conventions that we have put in place


- The titles we have used are clear and smart, and fit in well with the opening and don't look out of place.


The negative feedback we received will now help us to improve the film. From the feedback we now know we need to sort the following:


- The diegetic audio is uneven in place, so we need to level out the audio, by increasing/ decreasing audio gain on each clip so all clips match each other. Also music underneath speech needs to be made quieter to make the dialogue really clear. 


- The establishing shot is slightly shaky, so this needs to be stabilised in premiere pro.


- The fire effect needs to track the hand movement better as it looks to unrealistic at the moment.

- Some shots of Jess and Zoe need to be shortened slightly to make sure we keep the audience's attention throughout.

- Music needs to be re -written in places to make it less repetative, as it makes the opening too boring otherwise.

3/27/2012

Music Creation

As we are not permitted to use copyrighted music on our project, I decided to to create the music on an iPod app, called Garageband, as much of copyrighted music either would not fit with our opening scene, or it would not be good enough quality.

To create the music, in the app, I used a variety of music to create a full piece of music, for example below I recorded a variety of string intruments for the main part of the piece, as strings are quite often at the front of super hero scores and we want to keep to the codes/ convetions of the superhero genre.


I also added in a variety of other instuments such as keyboard and synth sounds, drum kits and pads and bass guitars, untill a full soundtrack sounded right. Other effects such as reverb and repeat were added for extra effect.



Pieces were made for both the title cards and for under the opening it's self.

3/26/2012

Title Card: Editing


From the very beggining of our opening, we want to convey the conventions/ codes of the super hero genre. For this, as detailed earlier we have made a title card which is very simmilar to Marvel's title card.

This will make the audience recognise what genre the film is going to be straight away. For this I made the title in photoshop, which was a simple collection of font put together.


After this I exported each layer separatley as a photoshop file, this way I can animate the title in Premiere pro.


After this I imported the files into premiere pro, and combined it with pictures and music. By putting movement in the background and forground separetely, I was able to create something simmilar to the marvel title card.

Below is a copy of the title card finished with music and a copy of the distribution company's logo (Momentum Pictures)

3/09/2012

Production Day 2

Production of Elements has now been completed. The second shoot has been completed with Jess' character: Scarlett. Below is some shots of the opening in production.

During the production, my role as director was to make sure that Jess knows what to do during each shot. Below a shot of the beach telling how to act during the next scene. Copies of the script and story board we're taken to make sure we had the complete amount of footage we needed/


Below we see a back tracking shot with, as the camera  follows the character of Jess as she walks foward. We got this shot tracking from both the front and the back, so we had a variety
of shots to choose from.


Here we see a high angle shot, looking down on Jess' character, we had to use a tripod, but as it was not big enough to get high enough, we both held it, to make sure the shot was stable and looked smooth when we edit it.


During this production day we got everything that we needed to complete the opening of our film. After this we will start on the editing of the piece, once we have impoted everything off the camera (and made back copies of the footage.)

3/05/2012

Filming Re - Scheduled

Unfortunately filming had to be canceled due to it raining for when filming was scheduled 4th March (Yesterday).

We have re -scheduled to film 5th March (Tonight after school).

2/27/2012

Production Day 1

Production for Elements has now been started. The first shoot for both Effie's and Zoe's parts have been completed. Below is some shots of the opening in production.

However, due to business in the town center and music being played, we had to move the meeting place to them meeting on a bridge rather than them meeting by a cafe - as this was a quiter place to film - so sound quality would be better.

Because of this we had to change the narrative slightly, to make the charecter of 'Flo' control the water under the bridge, rather than the water being controlled in the cafe.
Overall the filming went well and we managed to get most of the shots that we needed.


During this scene, we used both the tri-pod and hand held shots to get the feel we wanted for the scene, the shots from the arcade came out really well. We tried to stick to the storyboard to make sure we had all the footage we needed, however we also tried a variety of different shots, which may look better in the edit or we could use to fill in any gaps that came up.


As well as the scenes with Effie we also got some establishing shots, for the begging of each scene. For the very first establishing shot, we needed to shoot the whole of Bournemouth, Joe found a good location for this, on top of primark, which gives a great high shot of the town.





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2/24/2012

Equipment List

Equipment

-          x1 Nikon D3100 camera


-           x1 Tripod

-          x1 Canon EOS 1100D

-           x1 SD card for main camera (8GB)

-          x1 SD card for secondary camera (8GB)











Props

-          Shopping designer bags x 5-6

-          Sunglasses x1

-          Phone x1

-          Handbag x1 (black)

2/20/2012

Production Company Title Card


For our production company title card, we plan to create something simmilar to the marvel title card, seen above but replacing it with our name 'Super Nova'. We do not want to copy the exact same style but have something which is similar.


This is because the title card of the production company will be either the first or second thing that appears on the screen during the two minute opening, so this will enforce the codes and conventions of the genre, as the audience will see and recognise a similar styled title card and will link it to the superhero / comic book genre straight away.

The logo will look like this:

Opening Titles Order

An important part of our opening is to follow the same order/ conventions that the titles are shown in the superhero genre. This is so that our film feels more authentic and so the audience will be able to link this convention back to other films in the same genre. For example, as seen below, during the superhero genre tends to style the director/producer as 'A ---- Film' or a 'A ---- Production', rather than 'Directed by' or 'Produced by'.




During the opening credits of Iron Man 2, the order of the credits is as below. 



1.) Distribution Company
2.) Production Company
3.) ‘A ---- Film’ Director
4.) Names Cast Members / Characters
5.) Producer
6.) Title Card




Again, for Superman Returns, I looked at the order of the credits, these followed a simmilar order and style to Iron Man's. For example the disribution and productions company appeared first and the directors name was styled as 'A Brian Singer Film'.


1.) Production/ Distribution
2.) Co-Producers
3.) ‘A ------ Production’ (Producer)
4.) ‘A ---- Film’ (Director)
5.) Title Card
6.) Names Cast Members / Characters




For a set of titles from a different genre of film, I looked at credits from Buried. Although some of the order is simmilar to these two previous films I have looked at. However, the rest of the titles took a different order and style.


1.) Production Company/ Co Production Companies
2.) ‘A ---- Film’ Director
3.) Names Main Cast Member
4.) Title Card

2/10/2012

Filming Schedule

We intend to film on either the 25th of February, this will be for Effie's and Zoe's characters.

We will also film on the 4th of March, for Jess' character. As due to scheduling conflicts we cannot film all the characters on the same day.

Animatic

Below is a video animatic of our storyboard, for the opening of the of 'Elements'.

2/03/2012

Location for Filming

We will be filming in Bournemouth for the whole of our film opening. For each different section, we will film in different areas of Bournemouth and then for the final scene, they will meet in a central place, outside the cafe in the centre of town.

First Scenes with Scarlett
For the first scene we will start filming on the seafront, next to the beach. For the most part the camera behind her and will be looking out to sea. We will be shooting here becuase, it will be a big contrast to the city scenes and will re-enforce the three different lives we are following.



Second Scenes with Autumn
For the second scenes with Autumn we will be filming in the city centre, in and around different shops/ streets, below is one of the locations which will be in this section. We will be shooting here because this relates to her status, high end class. We will also be shooting some scenes in the park, to show off her powers, which relate to her element power: Earth.



















Third Scenes with Flo/ All Three
This is where we will be showing the final few scenes, with all three charecters in these scenes. This will be at a netrual place, next to a cafe, which has no relation to their status. This will conclude the opening.







1/30/2012

Classification

What classification would your film be and why?


We think our film will be rated a '12' by the British Board of Film Classification. There are a few justification points behind this decision.




1. The '12' Certificate is awarded if it meets the following criteria:







Discrimination
Discriminatory language or behaviour must not be endorsed by the work as a whole. Aggressive discriminatory language or behaviour is unlikely to be acceptable unless clearly condemned. 
In Our film there is unlikely going to be any 'Discriminatory' language or behaviour, although we are looking at three different classes of people - they are not going to be looked at in a 'bad' way or in a way that would offend people who are in a similar class.

Drugs

Any misuse of drugs must be infrequent and should not be glamorised or give instructional detail

There is going to be no drug used in our film.

Horror

Moderate physical and psychological threat may be permitted, provided disturbing sequences are not frequent or sustained.
There may be some horror used in our film, but it will not be frequent or sustained.

Imitable behaviour

Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be copied, or appear pain or harm free.  Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.
In our movie there will not be any suicide or self harm. And any 'powers' used in the movie as weapons - will be prominently fantasy.

Language

Moderate language is allowed. The use of strong language (for example, ‘fuck’) must be infrequent.
There will be moderate language in our film, however no strong language will not be used.

Nudity,Sex &Theme

Mature themes are acceptable
Nudity, sex and theme will rarely if not at all, be used in our film. Mature themes will likely be used, but nothing too extreme.

Violence

Moderate violence is allowed but should not dwell on detail. There should be no emphasis on injuries or blood, but occasional gory moments may be permitted if justified by the context. Sexual violence may only be implied or briefly and discreetly indicated, and must have a strong contextual justification.
Any violence in our film will not be to gory or dwell on detail, there may be fights with their 'powers' but this will all be 'fantasy' and will not be too realistic to be to strong.
2. Many other films from the same 'superhero' genre generally have the same BBFC rating.


For example:


Iron Man Films: 12
X-Men Trilogy: 12
Hulk: 12
Batman Films: 12
Spider man 2&3: 12


If we are using similar codes and conventions in our movie, the likelihood that our movie will be rated a simmilar age rating is very likely.





Distribution Company

What film company would distribute your film?


1/27/2012

Job Roles

Below arew the production roles that we will take on during the production filming of Elements.


Job Roles:
- Pete Wall - Director. I will have responsability for making sure each of the shots are completed and that the whole opening fits together.


- Ashley Hough - Sound / Photography. Ash will be responsible for making sure that the sound will be good during each shot. Also for making sure that photos are taken for evidence.




- Joseph Marhsall - Camera. Joe will be in charge of the taking of each shot, lining up the camera in the correct position and for any camera movement in the shots.





Actors: Protaginists

We are soon to go into Production of our movie opening and have finally found
the actresses who will be playing the main protagonists in our project. The three
girls we have picked take Drama A-Level in our school and we have seen them
act, they seemed to be the perfect choice for the job.


Zoe Chapple as Flo




The character of Flo is the most mature out of the three characters and we needed
an actress who looked like a strong character and able to be a surrogate sought of
mother to the other two. We thought Zoe was the perfect choice due to her look
and off course her acting is very good. I like to relate Zoe's look to '
Invisibility Woman' in the "Fantastic 4" movies who is also a strong character
to the superhero group.




Effie Robinson as Autumn




Effie has a very powerful look to her in which we thought would fit perfectly with
the character of 'Autumn' as the character is a successful woman who earns a lot of money.
Effie was the perfect choice for Autumn due to her acting and also, we want the audience
to be able to understand the characters status (which is high). The character is written and
hopefully performed very stereotypical on rich people, for example the voice needs to be
posh and how she would hold bags of shopping or hold her mobile phone.

Jessica Young as Scarlett






The character of Scarlett is a unemployed young woman who is a bit of a rebel and still acts
like a teenager most of the time. Jessica was our main person to play Scarlett as she is a
strong actress and had the look to her we wanted. The character also is not a very
fashionable person so we wanted to make sure that even though this character was
unemployed and hardly has a living, she still had an interesting look to her.

1/12/2012

Script

Below is our script which has been adpapted from our orignal idea, to form our final storyline. The script follows the tree women, as they go to meet each other. The script has been written so that it leaves the story on a narrative enigma.