BFI

On Thursday 2nd December our Media class visited the BFI for a conference. The people talking included Daniel Kleinman, who talked to us about his work on the James Bond title sequences and some of his adverts, and Colin Goudie, who edited the recent movie Monsters. Also there to talk to us was Pete Fraser, the senior examiner for Media A Level, who showed us a few different levels of AS project and showed us a few useful websites, including his own blog for media and a website called Art of the Title Sequence, which has lots of film introductions on  it and is a very useful source for research about a particular genre of title sequence. One of the sequences he showed us was for Catch Me If You Can:

Obviously, this isn't technology we would easily be able to get hold of, but it's interesting to see. The day was very useful and informative, especially Pete's bit, as it showed us what could go wrong with our movies and how easy it is to overlook important things such as good titles and soundtrack.

Update

When I can embed videos again, you will be able to see our thought process behind our video so far on our day of filming. We have now realised, however, that although there's a lot still to do with the editing, we can't really get the higher marks unless we re-film some things. We'll hopefully be able to do this in the holidays, as we have our own equipment that we can use while the year 13s have the school's. This will definitely be worth it, as we can't really progress with our editing until we do it. We're also planning to spend a lesson experimenting with garageband, as we're not sure whether our music is copyrighted or not, and we don't have a way of finding out. We're also going to think a bit more carefully about our titles, as at the BFI on Friday many of the speakers stressed the importance of sound and titles, two things that are usually neglected when people make their AS films. Hopefully all these changes will ensure we get the highest grades we can and make the best film opening we can.

Our day of filming

This is all our flip footage from our day of filming.

Second Draft

This is our second draft. We've now added all of the footage that will be in the final draft, as before we hadn't added that bit. Now all we need to do is cut it down, re-film some bits and make it good. Easy...

Misfits

Misfits is a comedy/drama show on E4, and is one of my favorite TV programs. It's about five teenagers doing their community service after committing various offenses, who then get struck by lightening and develop superpowers. Although the synopsis sounds awful, the show is incredibly well written, and one of its main strengths is that the protagonists are so flawed, yet are somehow more lovable for it. It also portrays young offenders as people who can show compassion and are just people, something that I think strikes a chord with the youth today after we get such bad press.

The first episode of the second series started the other night, and part of the advertising was done on Twitter, with all the main character in the show given their own fake accounts. During the episode, the characters discussed parts of the plot with their followers, and the day after their followers were allowed to ask them questions. This was a really fascinating way of getting the viewers more involved with the show, and was targeted perfectly at its core audience, as E4 as a channel is generally aimed at teenagers to twentysomethings, people who are also likely to be on Twitter.

First Draft

This is the first draft for our movie beginning. We have quite a few things to improve on, for example we need to sort out sound, and we haven't even included all the bus scenes yet, so we'll need to trim the current section down. We also need to decide on the titles and just fine tune a few other things, but as it's early days we'll definitely get all of this done.

Alarm Clock Shots

This is a couple of shots that we did when practicing for throwing the alarm clock. We had Alice and Valentina under the window on the drive trying to catch the items we threw in a blanket, and we experimented with a couple of different objects of varying sizes and weights before using the clock for the final thing.

Helpful Video

This is a video from YouTube that helped us use a freeze frame effect.

Se7en

On Friday's lesson we watched the film Se7en, starring Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt. It was a very good film , and gave us a lot to think about when editing our own movies as it has some fantastic shots and use of sound. Although we as a group are not doing a horror/thriller film, it was still good to see, as it showed us what could be achieved.

I don't think that films really need to use plenty of gore and violence to make the film last in people's memories. Although I didn't get particularly scared by it (which is a miracle considering I get nightmares after Shaun of the Dead), I still found that I kept thinking about it even when I was trying to get to sleep that night, especially the ending.

Filming

On Wednesday the 27th October we filmed for our main movie opening. It was definitely an eventful day, and we all went home incredibly tired, but pleased that we'd filmed it.

We decided to film at Alice's house, because her sisters' room was perfect for filming in. We all arrived there at about 10:00, and we had a quick planning meeting where we decided when and where we were going to film each shot. We decided to film the zoom in/zoom out shots of Andrea's outfits first, because we didn't need it to be very light, and the weather was meant to get brighter throughout the day (which it did!). We also filmed the scenes that involved Andrea looking as if she's just got ready, because we knew that we'd need to make her look as if she'd just woken up later in the day.

We had quite a few shots that were difficult to film, including the shots of me lying on the floor having been hit with an alarm clock. This was a problem because of continuity, so I had to lie in the exact same position for around 10 minutes (I was watching the alarm clock while waiting). This was the kind of thing I wouldn't like to film again, mainly because it was incredibly uncomfortable and fairly embarrassing. We also came up with many shots on the spot, for example we chose to film the scene where Andrea's character grabs orange juice instead of milk from inside the fridge, which is an unusual shot and has the added bonus of making a black screen when the door closes, which is perfect for putting some credits.

After a lunch break, we went to the bus stop to film Andrea's character getting on the bus. This was the most stressful part of the day, because we couldn't use Valentina's dad's bus. We also ended up with a rather moody bus driver, which was unfortunate but luckily we still managed to film all we needed. Even more annoying was the bus driver who waved and smiled at the camera when we were filming Andrea from across the road, which is annoying, but we may be able to edit it out somehow. The actual filming was also difficult while on the bus, because the bus was very jerky, so it was impossible to film without any shakiness. We decided that this was to our advantage, however, because it would give the viewers the feel of being on a bus, and it makes it more realistic. After having gone from Enfield Town to Brimsdown we discovered that we had left the tripod clip on the bus, which was a bit of a pain but not too much of a problem because the rest of our filming was fine to do with the gorilla pod.

We then got back to Alice's house to film the beginning scenes. After back-brushing Andrea's hair and messing up her makeup we filmed her character waking up and throwing the alarm clock out of the window. This was also difficult to do, as it was Andrea's alarm clock and she didn't want it broken, so we first filmed Andrea throwing the clock to Alice, who was behind the camera, and then of me out of shot, throwing the clock out of the window with Alice and Valentina outside with a blanket to catch it. We managed to do two or three shots with an unscathed alarm clock and filmed our efforts on the main camera, so that any good shots we got we'd have them on the right definition. We also practiced before throwing the clock, using a hairbrush and an oyster card holder.

By the end of the day (about 5:00) we were exhausted, and filmed a victory video on the flip before passing out...

Chick Flick research - Protagonists

As we have decided to make a chick flick/comedy style movie, i thought it would be good to do some research into other movies that are similar, so we know where we are going with ours, by looking at examples of protagonists from such films:

Cady Heron, Mean Girls

Cady is smart, but is easily influenced and has a desire to be popular. Embarrassing things often happen to her, for example falling into bins and turning up as a zombie bride to a Halloween party.

Bridget Jones, Bridget Jones' Diary

Bridget is an incredibly flawed character, who is overweight, clumsy, and very prone to messing things up. Embarrassing things also happen to her, for example crashing into a pig pen while filming for a news channel.

Olive Penderghast, Easy A

Olive also has a desire to be popular, costing her her reputation and her friends, similar to Mean Girls. Olive is witty and manages to rise above her bad reputation, based on rumors that weren't true anyway.

Marking Criteria

G321 Marking Criteria This is the marking criteria that we will have to meet for our film opening.

View more presentations from jfoster10

Shots to be storyboarded

This is all of the shots that make up our movie that we need to storyboard as a group:

1. pictures presents..
2. alarm clock
3. alarm clock (shot is closer this time)
4. alarm clock (extreme close up of clock when the alarm goes off) arm reaches to turn it off
5. girl sits up (big hair, smudged make-up, hungover) shot freezes-voice over (meet...)
6. struggles with alarm clock
7. throws out window
8. clock flies out window
9. runs to window (oops..)
10. someone is lying on ground outside (hit by alarm clock)
11. shuts window (embarrassed, doesnt want to get caught)
12. looking in mirror (camera acts as mirror so she is looking into camera instead)
13. brushes hair (over shoulder shot) brush breaks (knotted hair)
14. (camera pans round so that window is in shot, girl unaware) person lying on ground attracts a crowd
15. hands opening wardrobe
16. pulls out different outfits and throws them behind
17. tries on outfit (camera zooms in)
18. (when camera zooms out she is in a different oufit) zooms in again
19. (zooms out) she is again in a different oufit (takes off top, throws, lands on camera, creates black out effect-perhaps some credits here or title may come up)
20. finds outfit (looks flustered) turns around skirt tucked into pants
21. feet running downstairs (point of view shot-camera held by actor)
22. (quick snappy shots) grabs bowl
23. grabs cereal
24. grabs juice (hear sound of cutlery as if getting spoon)
25. grabs bag
26. exits house (long distance shot)
27. close up of her face (discusted at cereal realises she has put juice in instead of milk) looks over at crowd surrounding injured person
28. shot of crowd
29. close up of girls face (shocked)
30. shot of alarm clock on floor and her feet, kicks it behind a bin
31. actor from crowd looks over
32. girl walks over, hands cereal to person in crowd scurries off in a hurry
33. confused face of by stander
34. shot of cereal floating in juice
35. long shot of girl walking down road
36. over shoulder head shot bus in distance drives past
37. bus pulls up
38. girl sitting on bus
39. starts to fall asleep hits head on seat in front
40. (shot of lips) tries to apply lipstick-accidentally draws over her cheek because the bus is moving
41. gets off bus
42. walks down road (point of view shot of feet)

Bloopers

This is what NOT to include in a prelim video!

Prelim for our group

this is our group preliminary video.

Downton Abbey

Downton Abbey is a period drama on ITV set in the 1910's. The storyline begins when the upper class Grantham family find out that their cousin and presumptive heir has died in the Titanic sinking. As the family have three girls they have to find the next male heir to the house and fortune, much to the annoyance of the eldest daughter, Mary. The series is brilliant for showing typical stereotypes, for example gender, disability, class and age, as the storyline is quite old fashioned. Here are some promotional images from the show:

 

As you can see, there is lots done with the mise en scene to represent the era, as well as the character's class, status and gender.

Proposal

this is our proposal for our film introduction idea.

Film Proposal

1. Is your idea PRACTICALLY possible to film? (no speeding trains, sea battles etc)

Everything is possible to film, as we have no special effects or things that would be too difficult to film.

2. Will it show off the strengths of EVERY member of your group?
We will all be in the opening at some point, and we will all have a go at shooting and editing. If we all find we have different strengths, then we'll play to them, but we'll try and make it as equal as possible.

3. Can it be storyboarded okay?
Yes, as there are many different scenes but only one or two things will happen in each scene so it will be easy to show on paper.

4. Is it something you can reasonably shoot and edit in the time available?

Yes, we'll only need a day for shooting, and the editing should be ok in the space of time we have.

5. Can you get access/permission to shoot in the chosen location at the chosen times?

Our idea may include a bus and/or a train, but as Valentina's dad is a bus driver we can probably use his bus. The train may just involve being on a platform, so that should also be possible. Otherwise it will just be in our houses or down streets, so there shouldn't be much of a problem there.

6. Would lighting/sound be an issue on location?

As we are not having much dialogue the sounds on location should not be an issue. Lighting will be a problem as we will do a lot of outdoor filming and the light may change throughout the day we film, but we will make sure we do as much of the outdoor filming in as short a time as possible so that this will not be an issue.

7. Are you going to include dialogue? If so, can you do it on location or will you need to add it later?

We have decided not to use dialogue but if necessary we may use a few phrases so that it fits in with the situation.

8. Who will be cast as your characters on screen? Are they reliable? Will continuity be an issue?
Only members of our group will be cast as the characters on screen so that we will not have to rely on others and continuity should not be an issue as we will be filming over one day.

9. Have you thought about style of credits and soundtrack?
We want the credits and the soundtrack to reflect the genre of the movie, so we may include some comedic effects for the credits.

Film genres

Last monday we looked at different genres of film that we could consider doing for our coursework project. These included:

Comedies

• Hot Fuzz
• Sean of The Dead
• Johnny English
• In the Loop
• Four Weddings and a Funeral

Alternative

• Juno
• 500 Days of Summer

Chick Flick

• Mean Girls
• Clueless
• Sex and the City

Period Drama

• Pride and Prejudice
• Sherlock Holmes

Action

• James Bond
• The Matrix
• Bourne Identity
• Sherlock Holmes

Documentary

• Supersize Me

Horror/Thriller

• Blair Witch
• Paranormal Activity
• Se7en

For my project, I would like to do something along the lines of an action/comedy style film (In the style of Hot Fuzz or Johnny English?) but I will talk to my group and we will decide.

Mean Girls Shot by Shot Analysis

The film starts with a low angle shot, giving the impression that the parents are looking down at a small child. The camera then tilts to their level, as the protagonist of the film, Cady, stands up. This gives the film a comedic effect, as the people watching make assumptions about the age and height of the character, and are then proven wrong. The shot is then projected over the shoulders of the two parents, at Cady's face. A medium shot then shows the whole family, and then medium close ups as the father takes the picture. A wide shot is used to also show the house as well as the family as the voiceover starts.
In the shot of the girl at the spelling bee, the camera zooms into her face until it is at a close up. The shot of the five boys is a medium shot, and doesn't change in that clip. The next clips are stills, as if they are photos of her life in Africa. As Cady walks into school, we are shown another over the shoulder shot, this time only her mum's shoulder. It also does a few brief point of view shots as Cady walks into the crowd, then flicking back to a medium close up with selective focus on her face. As she walks into class, there is another over the shoulder shot of her over a classmate's shoulder. this continues as she talks to the classmate, then goes to an over the shoulder shot of the classmate from Cady's shoulder, then to a wide shot of the two standing in class as people go past.

Step by Step Analyis

Here is an example of a shot by shot analysis of the opening scenes of Jaws.

Jaws Shot By Shot - Part 1

View more presentations from Rob McMinn.

Filmmaking Techniques

This video is very useful for learning about camera angles, special effects and sound effects, all things I will need to know for when I create my movie introduction.

Analysing Film Openings

The movie Se7en has some very effective opening credits:



From the very beginning the music gives you a feeling of unease, because it is vey broken and distorted. You can already tell that this movie is likely to be quite scary. The font used is quite flickery and it imitates handwriting. The use of close ups on the character's hands gives a sense of mystery, because you know what they are doing, but you don't know what the character looks like. The character's use of razor blades and needles also show the viewer that the movie is either horror or a psychological thriller.


I'm not sure that I would like to do my film opening in this genre, because I think it would be too easy to do, and I'm also not a fan of the genre, so I would not have much of an experience of similar films. I also hate being scared, so this type of genre would not appeal to me.

A genre I would prefer would be a rom-com or action movie. However I know this will be difficult to research for because there aren't many examples of these on YouTube.

A good example of a film opening that isn't horror would be Moulin Rouge, because it gets straight to the point, telling you the ending but in a way that makes you want to continue watching. This film isn't on YouTube, but if I find it I will edit this post including the video.