Ideas Generation
In the first step to planning my opening sequence, I brainstormed ideas as to what my film should be. Firstly we came up with individual ideas, and then we came together as a group and chose a final one. The film that influenced our ideas were the film 'Seven' opening sequence, the film 'Seeking a Friend for the end of the World' and lastly the film '2012'.
I mind mapped two of my own ideas which are below.
My first individual idea
My second individual idea
After discussing mine and Amelia's two ideas we decided to go with one of her ideas. The disadvantages of mine was that both story lines seemed to be quite basic and may not have had much of an impact of the audience. This is crucial when appealing to a target audience. The story lines are also both quite typical and predicable. However, the advantages of my ideas are that the locations for filming would have been convenient and easy to access. Much of the mise en scene would have been easily available also. This would have made my film realistic to to the audience.
Below is my groups final idea:
In conclusion, my final idea has been decided. Me and my group now have a clear understanding as to what the plot of the film is, what characters are involved, what locations we need and music we will include. I think that our idea is going to appeal to our target audience because the target audience age range we have chosen (aged between 16 and 24) would not want to watch boring typical films. Our idea has romance mixed with violence and suspense which means it would appeal to a male and female audience. Although some films already include a similar idea, our idea has a slightly different take on it. The idea we have chosen will also be practical to do, this is because settings are easily accessible, for example, homes and streets. However, one of the ideal settings which will not be achievable is a news studio. We will handle this problem by using the green screen studio we have available at school to make sure we can still achieve the same effect.
The Proposal
Idea Summary:
The end of the world is near (12 hours away) and all hell breaks loose. Banks are being robbed, shops are being looted and the whole world is in a panic. Following an ex-detective, Alex, he spends his last 12 hours finding the one he loves.
Group Roles:
Director - Amelia Bird
Camera Women - Emily Hymus
Writer - Amelia Bird and Emily Hymus
Characters:
Ex-detective - Alex Example of the ideal news studio
Family members using green screen effects:
News reporter
Damsel in distress
News reporter
Locations:
Family home
Streets
Studio - for news report
Costumes:
Police uniform
Casual outfits
Smart suit for news reporter
Props:
Guns
Writing equipment
A mobile phone
TV
Kettle and a mug
Soundtrack:
Tension building music - yet to be decided
Effects:
Fast pace shots will be included in my opening sequence, jump cuts and continuity editing will also be included. Match on action shots will also be in the opening sequence We are going to use dimmed lighting to add seriousness to the situation.
The Script
INT.KITCHEN.
EVENING
ALEX is in the kitchen making a cup of tea, he puts
the kettle on.
(sound of kettle boiling)
INT.LIVING ROOM.
EVENING.
ALEX walks into the living room; his family are
quiet and gathered around the TV.
DAD
Sh, sh, sh, sh..
A news report is playing in the background which
the family are trying to listen to.
INT. NEWS STUDIO.
EVENING
NEWS REPORTER, JAMES
STEWARD
BREAKING NEWS: The government has released a
further statement. Scientists have predicted that in 12 hours the Earth will
come to great devastation, when meteors enter the atmosphere and collide with
Earth.The meteors are estimated to be 440m in
circumference and come at speeds of 100,000 miles per hour.
Complete and utter darkness will come across the
earth and the chance of survival is estimated at 8.2%. Any survivors of the
meteor collision will face extreme conditions, including lack of food and water
and extreme weather conditions. It’s now a case of everyone for themselves.
Government urge you not to panic, and get to an area of comfort and safety as
soon as you can.
INT. LIVING.
EVENING.
ALEX runs
up the stairs in panic.
INT. BEDROOM. EVENING.
ALEX rummages around on his desk for writing
equipment and leaves a note to his family saying that he loves them.
Whilst writing the note, ALEX has a flashback to
happy time with him and his girlfriend LUCY.
ALEX
(Laughing)
LUCY
(Laughing)
INT.BEDROOM.EVENING
ALEX picks up a gun, wallet and jacket and leaves.
INT. HALL WAY. EVENING
ALEX runs down the stairs passing hit family and leaves the house slamming the door behind him.
EXT. THE STREET. EVENING
Set Your Scene
My group attempted walking through our scene step by step. The benefits of doing this include being able to identify problems with our script. Restrictions in our chosen locations may be identified by walking through our scene. This could be things such as lack of space or inappropriate scenery which does not fit the thriller conventions we are hoping to achieve. By doing this we will also be able to learn more about the potential failures of our script or ideas.
From setting our scene we decided on changing the script slightly. We thought it would be a good idea to add more characters to the script to perhaps allow the storyline to affect more people, which in affect manipulates the seriousness of the film.
Another character was introduced by setting our scene as one of the main characters that would be included in the main film, was not included at all in our opening sequence firstly. This meant we added a flashback scene to our opening sequence to introduce the character of 'Lucy'. This meant that Alex's intentions were now explained fully.
By visiting our locations we were able to establish some restrictions. The media studio is difficult to film in as lessons take place in there and lots of people need use of it for their own filming. This means that we had to book time to be able to use the studio to ensure we access was definite.
Another restriction of locations would be time of day and lighting. This means that if we need to film on different days, due to lack of time, lighting may very between scenes. When time after school is needed, outside is usually dark, which means the inside shots will require artificial lighting. This means that if we are filming after school we need to be consistent with shooting the scenes inside with the same lighting.
Step 5 - Location Recce
Permissions - Actors and Locations
For each of the actors we needed written permission showing they knew that the opening sequence would be published on a public blog. Below is four of the actors starring in our production. The signatures have been taken off of the blog for privacy reasons.
Now we have gained permission from each of these chosen actors we can progress towards filming our opening sequence.
Risk Assessment
Each of the individual locations we are using have their own potential hazards. For each of the locations we needed to conduct a risk assessment in order to establish the likeliness of injury of potential hazards. We needed to decide how severe each of the hazards were and how we are intending to control each of the risks. Below is an example of how we filled out a risk assessment for our 'living room' location. We could think of two risk; the first is the corner of the fireplace which could cause injury if not controlled, and the second is any breakable objects causing harm. I decided that the likelihood of injury were both the same scoring '2' but the severity of possible injury was higher for the corner of the fireplace hazard. This meant the overall risk level was slightly higher on the fireplace hazard. It was decided that everyone would be responsible for controlling the risk, such as the director, camerawomen and actors for both hazards in this location.
For both of these risks we need a way of controlling them. The best way for this is to make sure the other door is used when filming the living room scene, allowing the potential risk to be entirely eliminated. For the second risk we are making sure that fragile objects are kept out of the way of filming, and controlling our filming equipment making sure we cannot break anything with them e.g. the tripod is a large object when completely maximised therefore it will need to be carefully handled.
Digital Storyboard
Costume, props and location ideas
The Storyboard
I will use my storyboard to help me film my opening sequence. It will also come in handy when editing my opening sequence and it displays types of shots as well as a small drawing of what I hope each of my shots will look like.
Shot List
I have created a shot list in order to plan and develop each of my shots. It enables me to see clearly what shots I am doing where and what is being filmed in the shots.
LOCATION: KITCHEN
LOCATION: LIVING ROOM
LOCATION: NEWS STUDIO
HALLWAY
LOCATION: PARK
LOCATION: STUDY
LOCATION: STREET
LOCATION: KITCHEN
1 – Close up of steam
2 – Close up of Alex pouring tea
3 – Close up of mixing tea
4 – Close up of sipping tea
5 – Tracking shot of ALEX walking through the hallway into
the living room
6 – High angled establishing shot panning around the living
room showing the family
7 – Close up of ALEX’S dad telling the family to be quiet,
holding his finger to his lips
8 – Focus pull, mid shot of family sitting in front of the
TV
9 – Close up of TV
11 – Low angled close up of ALEX looking distressed
12 – Mid shot from behind showing ALEX walk out of the door
13 – Close up of his hand pushing the door open
14 –Long shot of him walking into the hallway
10 – Mid-shot of news report, displaying full screen
15 – Cutaway shot ALEX walking up the stairs
16 – Close up of his foot stepping up the stairs
17 – Mid-shot of him arriving at the top of the stairs
26 – Close up of ALEX laughing
27 – Close up of LUCY laughing
28 – Close up of ALEX smiling
29 – Long shot of them both sitting together
18 – High angled mid shot showing ALEX rummaging for papers
19 – Mid shot of ALEX finding his pen in his jacket pocket
20 – Close up of his writing a letter
21 – Close up of his face
22 – Close up of his writing
23 – Close up of his face
24 – Close up of his picking up a gun
25 – Mid shot of him putting on a jacket
30 – Long shot of ALEX walking out
31 – Low angled shot from the bottom of the stairs showing
him walking down
32 – Mid shot from behind showing him opening the door
33 – Mid shot of him slamming the door leaning against it
34 – Close up of his face as camera pans around him
The Script
This is my script which I annotated to try and think of ideas for my shot list. Me and Amelia both had individual ideas and then we came together and decided what shots were best for which scene.
Test Shots
News report test shot
Before recording, we took test shots to check the shots we wanted to use. We focused our attention of the shot type and the mise en scene in the shot.
We thought this particular shot worked well and therefore used it in our actual opening sequence. However, later on we decided this was not the shot we were going to use as we wanted a green screen news studio in the background instead of this basic one.
Focus pull of news report test shot
The focus pull wasn't probably the most difficult shots to attempt. It required many attempts and a lot of patience. Above shows one of the attempts of the focus pull scene. It went well up until the point the focus pull was held for too long which meant the news report became unfocused again. To solve this we can edit the footage to cut out where the shot becomes unfocused. Although this shot was difficult it will be included in our opening sequence as it eventually was successful.
Focus pull of news report test shot
Production Schedule
Below is my shooting schedule. This enables me and my group to be aware of when we are filming and what exactly we are filming. This is good because it helps us keep on track of our filming and the shot deadlines.
|
Location
|
Date and Time
|
What is being
filmed?
|
Who is
needed?
|
What equipment
is needed?
|
|
News studio
|
Monday 26th November
1:30pm
|
The news report
|
Amelia (director), Emily (camerawoman)
and Dan (news reporter)
|
Camera, tripod, table, papers
|
|
The park
|
Saturday 1st December
2012 10.00am
|
The flashback – picnic in the park
|
Amelia (actress), Emily (camerawoman),
and Jordan (actor)
|
Camera, tripod, blanket, food and
drinks
|
|
The living room – Amelia’s house
|
Sunday 2nd December 2012
10.00am
|
When family see the news report on
the TV
|
Amelia (director), Emily
(camerawoman), Jordan (actor), family members (actors/actresses)
|
Camera, TV, camera, tripod
|
|
Hallway – Amelia’s house
|
Sunday 2nd December 2012 10.15am
|
Alex running up and down the stairs,
as well as him walking into the living room
|
Jordan (actor), Amelia (director)
and Emily (camerawoman)
|
Camera, tripod
|
|
Kitchen – Amelia’s house
|
Sunday 2nd December 2012 10.25am
|
Alex making a cup of tea before he
walks into the living room
|
Jordan (actor), Amelia (director)
and Emily (camerawoman)
|
Kettle, tea bag, mug and tea spoon
|
|
Study – Amelia’s house
|
Sunday 2nd December 2012 10.35am
|
Alex rummaging around for some paper
and a pen
|
Jordan (actor), Amelia (director)
and Emily (camerawoman)
|
Papers/documents, pens, jacket,
wallet and gun
|
|
Street – Amelia’s house
|
Wednesday 5th December
5.00pm
|
Alex leaving the house
|
Jordan (actor), Amelia ( director) and
Emily (camerawoman)
|
Camera, tripod
|
Shooting Schedule
Monday 26th November
1:25pm – Everyone meet in the media studio
1.30pm – We will start filming the shot 9
2:00pm – Check our footage to see if it is good enough
Saturday 1st December
10:00am – Every meet at the park: Bennetts Rec Dunstable
10:15am – Start filming shot 20 and 21
11:00am – Check Footage
11:15am – re-film anything that may need doing.
Sunday 2nd December
9:30am - Meet at Amelia's house
9:45am - Check location (Hallway) for safety
10:00am - Start filming shots 14, 15, 16, 25, 26 in the hallway
10:30am - Check footage
11:00am - Check location (kitchen) for safety
11:15am - Start filming shots 1, 2, 3, 4
11: 30am - Start Filming
12:00pm - Check location (living room) for safety
12:15pm - Start filming shots 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13 in the living room
2:00pm - Check footage
3:00pm - Check location (study) for safety
3:15pm - Start filming shots 17. 18, 19, 22, 23, 24, in the study
4:30pm - Check Footage
Sunday 2nd December
5:00pm - Meet at Amelia's House
5:15pm - Check location (the street) for safety
5:30pm - Start Filming shot 27 in the street
6:00pm - Check Footage
Audio clips and permission for use
To use particular sound effects or music I need to make sure I get written permission from the owners unless they are not copyrighted. I have used a website that I have stated I am allowed to use their free sound effects, as long as we include there website to say where we got the sound effects from.
For the music (soundtrack) we will have to ask permission to use it in our video. If we do not get permission
it goes against the copy right policy. To get this permission we will have to
write to the owners of the piece of music we want to use.
We have chosen the song 'Eyes' by Sam Young to be in our opening sequence. This will be the soundtrack to play throughout in order for tension to be built. Sam Young is on youtube and he creates his own music. At the bottom of his videos it states that people are allowed to use his music if we contact him and credit him. After emailing him he gave us permission for his song to be used. Below is a copy of the email;
We have chosen the song 'Eyes' by Sam Young to be in our opening sequence. This will be the soundtrack to play throughout in order for tension to be built. Sam Young is on youtube and he creates his own music. At the bottom of his videos it states that people are allowed to use his music if we contact him and credit him. After emailing him he gave us permission for his song to be used. Below is a copy of the email;
Soundtrack Research
Sound
|
Source
|
Meaning
|
Kettle boiling
|
Personally recorded
|
The high pitched kettle noises may startle the audience
adding to the suspense.
|
Crying and screaming
|
Personally recorded
|
The crying and screaming will add emotion to the scene and
invoke emotion to the audience.
|
News report in background
|
Personally recorded
|
This sound will be followed by a news report. This means
the audience will have an idea as to what is about to come.
|
Sirens
|
Internet
|
A sense of danger is implied from this sound, implying
something is happening elsewhere.
|
Soundtrack
|
Internet
|
This will go over the shots in order to create tension.
|
Here are some examples as to what sounds I may include in my opening sequence:
This is the crying sounds that Amelia and I personally recorded;
Film Name Ideas
A good film name will be memorable, appeal to the target audience and relate to the genre, which in my case is a thriller. Thriller films name tend to be short and to the point for example, ‘2012’ ‘James Bond’.
Different name ideas I have thought of are;
- End
- Breaking News
- Descend
- The Rapid Conclusion
- Lust, Trust and Solicitude
- Able Rescue
Technical Diagram
To produce my opening sequence effectively I had to know where the lighting and positioning of equipment would be in each location being film at. For this, I had to produce a technical diagram which I can refer back to in the production stage of making my film. The positioning may change depending on whether they appear to be appropriate at the time, as some positions of lighting or equipment may work better in some places rather than others.
Location: Amelia's living room
Location: Outside of Amelia's house
Location: The study
No comments:
Post a Comment