Further developing our idea

Today our group got together and decided we needed to improve our idea and plan it out step by step so we had some structure.

I recorded a five minute discussion we had (on my phone) and these are some rough improvements we came up with:

• we begin with the girl in the club with blood all over her (this way the audience is immediately hooked
• it would cut back and forth to the girl and then to shots of the club to contrast the shots 
• shots of dead bodies 

We then made a 'most updated' list of our shots:

This will help us create our story boards. 

 

1. girl crying close up 
2. club - bodies in background, not vocal point
3. girl - hands shaking 
4. club -bodies in background, not vocal point (ring) 
5. dress ripped / blood  
6. club - bodies in background, not vocal point
7. her - crying again
8. main characters back 
9. His hands holding hammers / rings 
10. crawling body - above shot 
11. Main character - behind - crack neck 
12. close up of blood dripping from hammer 
13. close up of floor, blood dripping
14. walks over (different angles) 
15. long shot of him hitting body 
16. cut before he hit body to girl screaming 
17. Pan to man looking at girl , standing over body with hammers (he drops them) 
18. walks out casually 

Storyboarding - What is it?

Before you film:

• 
  It creates a precise format that helps you solidify your shots, camera angles, and lighting etc.
• It organizes the order of your shots, the idea and outcome.
• It’s also a communication tool for the director and crew. It's showing the story not telling it.
• It also means that when in a group you can all share the same vision so there's no miscommunication.
• you have time to plan beforehand instead of on set
• you can also experiment
• it allows you to visually see the edit,what order? what happens next?
• how are you going to edit it all together?
  

After you film

• for the editor
• they have an order of the shots
• it's not necessarily set in stone but they can use it as a basic structure 

We learnt how to structure our story boards with the picture on the left and information on the right, if our  pictures/drawings are very visual then we need little description.

What us on the storyboard:

• 
  mise-en scene 
• description of what's happening 
• shot number
• location
• action 
• shot/movement
• sound
• lighting
• transition
• timing of shot

Things to take into consideration

• camera composition and framing: rule of thirds, foreground/background, symmetry and asymmetry- how can it look visually interesting?
• editing: the shot after, how it will work when edited together, either through juxtaposing it or even how the shot types match

Review of test shoot

After editing our first test shoots, we looked back as a group on how we thought it went. I think our idea definitely translated differently in our test shoot to how we envisioned it, however given our circumstances (short amount of time to film, using ourselves as actors, filming on our phones, and no use of mise-en-scene) we still managed to see the potential images and shots that we feel will work really well. For example I thought the hammers dripping blood to the shot of the blood on the floor translated really well, even on iPhone and I can imagine it looking realistic with the props and fake blood. 

I personally struggled to see it being super engaging at this point, (perhaps the water bottles didn't make a fierce enough weapon) although, there were points that I thought build tension. The tracking shots when we follow our protagonist, made him menacing and intimidating. Also, my group and I discussed, after watching it through, certain ways of capturing the audience and making it more engaging. 

Our test shoot was 1 minute long. Our time frame is 2 minutes. We have decided to extend the beginning before introducing the main character, to lengthen the time as well as building tension.

We thought the pace was way too fast at the beginning, slowing it down with girl, and becoming faster with the shots of the man was what our teacher suggested and we totally agreed. We want to avoid it getting boring or slow at any points which may also improve once our editing skills are developed, so we weren't too concerned about the timing of our test shoot because we knew that was fixable.

I believe our narrative came across clearly to a viewer, although it wasn't necessarily realistic, we had a clear storyline from beginning to end.

I do not think we successfully created tension in our test shoot, we actually found a lot of shots funny (mainly due to the lack of actors- that we filled in for) however even our shots without bodys in struggled to scare or shock an audience at this point. Our new idea will hold tension.

We had some good camera angles working effectively with some of the props, blood dripping. Some of the movements didn't translate as well as we'd hoped in our shoot. For example, wide shots, certain close ups of actors. I think we found them awkward and didn't want to step out our comfort zone with trying new ideas and shots and with our time frame we stuck to simple shots just to get them in. However, that will change as we become more familiar with the cameras and how to move them properly and professionally 

For the technicalities within our test shoot, we agreed we wanted to add more of the girl, club, bodies before introducing our main man. it meant prolonging the time frame as well as creating tension as those were the main factors of our shoot that needed developing. The shots of Danny crawling didn't work as well as we preempted. The shots of the club were not effective given we didn't have a club or location that looked like one.

 We thought what worked well was some nice high and low angle shots and the shots of the man sitting alone on the chair, but our imagination is endless to the more ideas and ways of making our opening sequence even better. overall I think we worked well together, especially with short time to do so, and our outcome was better than we thought it would be. I also really enjoyed the process. 

Behind the scenes process of our test shoot:

When filming our test shoot we had very little time (approx 30 mins) and we rushed many of our shot. We were pretty happy with some of the shots we captured, although, many were improvised and experimental.

Here are some photos from behind the scenes:

Danny getting the angles thought appropriate for our shot.

There was a lot of improv used for the test shoot because it was the first time we really brought our shot ideas to life and found out if they worked or not. Once it was edited together, we realised that some shots worked better than others as well as discovered how important aspects of mise-en-scene and sound and editing would effect the overall impact of 

Test shoot!

This is the test shoot we did for our sequence:

Planning our test shoot:

The day before our shoot we did a rough plan of how we thought it would look. Having just solidified our idea, we were thrown into thinking about different shots, shot duration, and actors and set used. This test shoot should help us determine the right order of shots and likely the length too. It also gets our production group used to working together, switching in between various roles.    

                   

I think the shoot went well. Although it was rushed and not what we envisioned our final piece to look like, we ended up with a rough idea of our desired shots and figured out what will work well and translate on film to an audience. 

Research post 2

Continuing the research for our sequence, I thought i'd look at some stage combat as we have one shot in our piece that requires our main guy hitting a body on the floor with a hammer. With a specifuc shot and movement like this it was hard to find a useful video that showed us what we needed. Instead, my friend recommended the 'elevator scene' from the movie Drive.  (3.45 - 4.10)

Having watched this clip, i gained some great inspiration for how I wanted the shot to look in our sequence. The man being hit is rarely shown (which would be hard to film, even professionally) and this also makes it easier for us to mainly focus on the action of the hitting instead of the reaction from the victim. 

It is also shot with the actors back to us AND with a sick jacket on which is an ideal shot we would want. Not seeing the killers face was also useful in this shot as we want to avoid his identity being shown. This scene is shot in an elevator so I took into account that we would have more space and we can be more experimental with or angles.

Doing some further research, I began looking at some clubs we wanted to replicate as well as any cool jackets or accessories we can give our protagonist.The idea is that it's something people (specifically men) will look at and want. Here is what I came up with:

 

Research post 1

After beginning the process of planning our opening sequence it seemed a good idea to research into the trickier parts of our idea and the technicalities of what could come across as tacky on camera. 

To do this I found videos on youtube I thought would be most beneficial to our group:

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In our sequence, we have shots that include blood either from bodies or on the props (hammers) so I watched this video on how to make fake blood. I now know all the ingredients needed, which are simple and easy to get, and can have to hand on set. I'm glad we can add this extra detail to our piece because it makes it gory and realistic and i think we can incorporate some really cool shots with the blood, like these: 

The ingredients:

1. Flour
2. Red and Blue food colouring 
3. Corn or maple syrup 
4. Some water added if needed for consistency 

You get a bowl and add 1 teaspoon of flour. Then half a teaspoon of red food colouring is added. Then 1 tablespoon of corn/maple syrup and pour it into the mix. Finally add a small drop of blue food colouring and it should form a deeper red colour. Then mix it together and take a look at the thickness of the 'blood' and use if needed add a small amount of water to thin it out.  

MOOD BOARD :)

This is a mood board of our sequence I drew:

GROUP PITCH :)

 

Camera Workshop 2

In the second lesson, we learned about the 180-degree rule where, when filming a shot you have a 180-degree radius from left to right, up to down that you can shoot in. Otherwise, it becomes confusing to an audience.

Alongside this, we learned about the 'rule of thirds' which applies to where characters or objects are placed within a shot. We looked at the example of two people conversing over dinner. it's important you keep the person on the left in the left hand of the shot throughout the scene, equally, the same goes for the right. if not, once again, it would reverse the audience's perception of their positions. 

We were taught about the order in which you shoot and the continuity of shooting. usually, the order of shooting begins with a wide shot, then a mid-shot, then a close-up. it begins wide because that is the shot that establishes and sets the location so that when the close-up occurs we have the context to it. We learned about the importance of continuity and that because filming is such a long process, if you had to stop and start all the time it would get tedious especially when in a difficult or unfamiliar location. The continuity of a shot is also dependent on catching details like the opening and closing of a door that you may have missed without keeping the camera rolling. 

We briefly discussed marks, they're used for actors to walk to and look at in their peripheral vision so they know where to walk to and when to stop. 

Towards the end of our workshop, we created a shot and simple scene and we became the roles behind the camera. Matt taught us what is said before shooting a scene. the assistant director will normally call out "stand by" and then "roll camera" the director says "camera rolling".The director also says "action/cut".

We were taught to keep rolling after and before the scene so that the actors don't stop acting and you didn't miss an extra window of entrances and exists on either side of the take.  You should never watch the footage back on set, firstly because you would never get anywhere, stopping and starting all the time. Also actors can get pretty bigheaded when they see themselves on camera and they may change the way they move, act or look on camera- which you don't want as a director!

Feedback and development on final pitch.

When we presented our idea to Matt and Mike they thought our idea was really cool. Danny was off sick so Sienna and I pitched the idea.

They suggested we make our main character more memorable, more iconic for an audience. The costume is significant (a sick jacket with something abstract on the back) or he has a cap or funky boots to make him seem moe iconic. We talked about the audience wanting an influential look they can admire or layer copy.

Matt thought of the idea that he resuscitated one of the bodies only to then kill him again once brought back to life. we also liked this idea although thought about the logistics of it and preferred that he don't speak nor did we see his face. However we really liked the idea he suggested about having a girl in the club, hyperventilating, freaking out because she's just witnessed all this. He gives her mercy and she runs out. i liked this idea because it hints at his personality that may not be totally evil.

We agreed that the shattered glass was too difficult but the mirror was still doable as long as we get the angle right. We thought about casting and what we vision our main guy to look like. Preferably someone with a  muscly back who looks pretty fierce, although we won't see his face. We had to work out the fact that our years above cannot be used in our opening sequences. (although we will look more at casting later)

danny and i talked about when and how we wanted the music to start and we were set on the idea that it was a sound bridge from his headphones to the soundtrack as he kills the first guy 

Here is a relatively solid plan for our opening sequence so far:

• man in club sitting on chair, no shirt on and listening to music 
• shot of his back 
• shot of his his back/side profile (focussing on ear)
• shot of his hands then feet with a hand on the floor. 
• shots of the club, lights, different features
• cut to man crawling, begin on his legs then follows him up with blood trailing him
• camera cuts back to a behind shot of 
• Slight sigh from killer, puts on coat and stands up as he. Music cuts to loud, soundtrack
• One long take of killer putting on coat, picking up hammer and slowly walking to guy crawling
• We saw his whole persons walking through this nightclub esc hallway with pink and purple lights
• We then cut to the man crawling again and the cameras at his level, music cuts back to being played out of earphone
• We see the killer striking his hammer down, (music cuts back to loud and soundtrack) and then cut before impact to girl in the corner gasping
• Cut back to behind of killer, camera pans when he slowly looks over to see her sitting there terrified
• Then cut to bunch of more dead bodies on ground. They are all dead and bloody. Music is still soundtrack.
• Cut to rings as well on dead people, same ring on all of them - criminal syndicate type beat. 
• Silhouette of man walking out with lights. He leaves girl alone, she is alive. 

Camera workshop 1

We went into the studio and were shown various parts of equipment used to set up a film camera. We were shown the tripod, then the spirit, then the gear stick, and finally the camera that sits on top. The camera is called Black magic 4K mini URSA.

We learnt about the "yours" and mine "rule" which is technique used to ensure the camera isn't dropped as it's heavy and expensive. when passing the camera you communicate with the person you pass to so that when the weight is transferred and you have full control. 

The spirit level is on the tripod and the there is a bubble on it you use to centre the camera. It's also where you balance the camera as well as to pan and tilt it.

We learnt how to use a tripod safely and correctly after taking it out it's case. When opening it up in the place you want it, you bring up the bottom section first so the weight is at the bottom of the tripod instead of unbalanced on the top. Key tips we were given were to always click the knobs in so it's secure, and to lift and bring down the tripod together when adjusting the height.

·

To focus on a shot there is a focus lense as there is for zooming in as well. You turn it until you get the distance or focus you desire.

Matt taught us that you need to zoom in and then focus before zooming out on a shot, so that you are guaranteed to have focus. Whereas if you just assumed you did you would zoom in to a blurry shot. He also informed us that when we are filming a person we should use their eyes as a focus point as itis the most detailed facial feature. 

White balancing is in reference to the light source and how it alters the lighting/colour of your shot. how much brightness or darkness is in the lense.

Striking the kit is what we did when we were finished with the camera which is basically deconstructing all the equipment and putting it neatly and correctly into the bag/box. 

FIRST GROUP MEETING XO

 So once we had all pitched our ideas, our groups were chosen and I was pleased to find out im working with Danny and Sienna.

We then created a whatsapp group so we could share our ideas and pictures.

We got together back at house and had a discussion about what idea to do. 

Idea 1

We settled on Danny's idea and decided to elaborate it straight away, we quickly came up with little detailed suggestions like a shot of shards of glass on the floor which show our guys reflection. we discussed how we really liked the lighting used and we talked about possible costumes, casting and camera angles already.

Danny's idea:

One of my ideas for an opening scene would follow a single man alone. The genre would be action / thriller. 

The scene would open on the man putting on a jacket and stepping through a door. I would there to be a short sign of tattoos to show his criminal background. The shot would be from behind. The rest of the scene would be him walking through an empty nightclub. 

This could be done by potentially building a small set, as the scene is set only in one place. The rest of the scene would be a tracking shot of him from behind, with pans every now and then to show a dead body on the floor. 

The colours of this scene would be crucial I think, as it sets a certain tone. 

There could also be certain close ups at the beginning of him playing with a ring, such as moving it slightly on his finger. This ring would have a symbol on it which would be important later on in the film. There could be more close ups of this guy with his ring throughout the scene, further emphasing its importance. 

A ring like this with a symbol engraved into it

The scene would end with him turning towards the camera as he enters a lift and the doors shut on him, revealing the Title of the film.

The rest of the film

The rest of the film would follow one of the friends of the victims of the nightclub massacre trying to enact revenge on this crime syndicate. The symbol on ring at the beginning would be a key symbol in the film, and would regularly come up, as it is important to why the character was at the nightclub and his backstory. 

Feedback from idea (3)

After presenting one of my ideas to my class and teacher i gathered some useful feedback in how to improve or realistically develop  my intentions for an opening sequence.

My classmates really liked how it began fairly happily and innocently with hints of a sad film but then cuts to a disturbing, messed up image of a graphically displayed dead body. 

They questioned how I would realistically display the body, as a decomposing body isn't easy to come across. It would be incredibly hard to show someone who's dead when they could just be asleep or the makeup (blood, and pale makeup) could look naff. My classmates argued the use of well-done makeup and clever camera positioning however, i understood what my teacher was saying. Secondly, my teacher cleverly stated that what the man is doing in my scene means that 90% of it will be filming someone making something. 

To improve, I either pursue that and experiment with the dead body- see whether it looks real or make it so that the girl is alive and tied down with bodies around her and she's almost the next victim. Or towards the idea that he is mentally disturbed due to what he's been through and we see this through what he's making. He suggested he makes a cup of tea to begin with but then say he makes a sandwich, all the foods are moldy and gone off yet he still makes it. buttering bread, off milk, because he's just lost it.

If i followed it through, detail would be key (photo frame etc)

IDEA 3- thriller/horror

 

IDEA 2- opening thriller/drama

 

IDEA 1- horror opening :)

 Horror opening:

dunkirk- war opening scene

From the way it’s filmed behind the soldiers we immediately wonder where they’re going. The wide angled shot displays the short number of men walking together and makes us question how and why they find themselves wandering the empty streets of Dunkirk. The beautiful image of the paper/debris falling around them seems quite elegant and we then appreciate the cinematography of the scene. We get a description of the situation they're in, in intervals they bring up more writing saying “trapped at Dunkirk, they await their fate” which foreshadows the upheaval to come .The sudden attack of gun shots then grabs our attention as we watch the men fall one by one. We are eager to see who makes it out alive. As the camera follows the soldier who did, we’re now set on him staying alive, we’re relieved to see that after a fair amount of running, they're not an enemy.

Given the title of the film we can guess it's set in Dunkirk. Those who know their history would know the true story of Dunkirk and that it was set in 1940 during the second World War. They walk around the empty streets and after the shooting the soldier then finds himself on a beach. 

The tone begins quite peacefully, with each man looking relaxed- they look as though they’re lost or awaiting orders. One of them is drinking water out of a hose and the other is picking up a flyer with ‘we surround you’ on it, so we feel slightly alarmed as we guess it’s aimed at them. The tone then switches to an intense, fast moving sequence where the men are then vulnerable. The war genre is made clear from the beginning as it’s a historical event we know took place in Dunkirk. The costumes- army combat uniform also clearly show us the genre. 

What connotations show us it’s a war film:

• The short camera duration when he’s running and his friends are getting shot

• The tracking camera movement when he runs towards the french base is very war film-like

• When the boys get shot the camera moves past them not taking much notice of the lives just lost which tells us that they’re used to people dying too frequently as it’s war.

• The sound effects of the gun shots

• 
  It’s very quiet at the beginning, only the ambient sounds of picking up helmets, the paper sound of the flyers 

• No soundtrack, makes it very realistic - reminds us it’s a true story

• Their costumes 

We don't get to know much about the characters since they die so soon, however the one that makes it over that gate seems as though he’s going to play a big part in the movie. He looks young and afraid, as most boys were as young as 15 in WWII. We watch him struggle under pressure with his gun, as if fear has taken over him and he decides to run. He seems like he is fit and fast so I'm guessing he uses that to his advantage. As he stands before the beach he looks vulnerable again. I wonder if in the rest of the movie we will watch his character develop and become a great soldier. The storyline seems obvious as we know the story of Dunkirk, however I'm guessing they will go into depth on the characters and show us different people's side of the story and show us things that we had no idea about before.

 I believe it's successfully conveyed the War genre and began the movie in an engaging, interesting format making us want to watch more. I haven’t seen the movie and I look forward to seeing how they display the happenings at Dunkirk.

Mission impossible - action opening scene

 

The second mission impossible of the franchise, directed by John Woo, begins with a man (Tom Cruise) hanging off a cliff that he's climbing. Tom Cruise also produced this movie as well as starring in it. It creates tension in a number of ways and successfully gives the impression you're watching an action/ adventure movie.

A quick zoom in hooks us in right away, while it establishes where our main character is, it also amplifies how huge the scale of this setting is. I believe it’s mainly engaging because of how it shocks us. This man has no harness, no ropes, no safety ties- just a bag of chalk! He is climbing completely free hand (which the idea of is terrifying to me). The slow motion jumps, that seem impossible from the angle it’s shot at, make our stomachs turn. The soundtrack gets louder as he falls which adds to the jaw dropping effect. When the man comes in the helicopter we question if he’s an enemy or someone with a gun about to shoot him, the bomb-like package he shoots then reveals a pair of sunglasses so we are then rest assured. What also engages the audience, especially one of the year 2000 (when it was released) is the high tech screen edited imagery that tells us he’s likely an agent. 

The date is unclear from the opening, we know it’s not old fashioned from the technology they use. It’s most likely present day although because it was filmed around 20 years ago I wouldn't label it as a modern movie. It’s set on a cliff in what looks like a desert somewhere very remote. They mention later in the dialogue that he was ‘on holiday’ so he seems as though he’s alone which makes us more scared for him. It looks like a hot country and as th4e camera pans around him using fades we see a canyon behind him, you can assume he’s very high up.

The genre is action and we already get shots of  him in action on this cliff jumping from here to there within the first minute. Once it’s revealed to us he is working for some secret agent branch, we then assume there will be a lot more action scenes to come like; fight scenes, guns, knives, the whole lot. Even from the title we can gather he’ll go on a mission (probably impossible) and we will be following him as he does. 

The connotations that show us it’s an action film:

• The different angles; high, low, level

• 
  Changes of motion (slow)

• The Soundtrack is quiet and seems overpowered by the wind, the percussion in the music adds tension (like when he falls)

• 
  The change in music to the fanfare (mission impossible music) tells us the action is about to start

• The editing of quick camera cuts on each angle exaggerate the height he’s at 

• His costume looks very casual and not something you’d likely wear when climbing THAT

• His facial expressions show a hint of cockyness to him and his smoulder is quite the stereotypical one for agent like Mr Cruise himself- the look of ‘i’ve got it all under control’ which is the type of character we associate with an action movie

His character is clearly fearless, brave and incredibly strong. We can later see he is not just a climber but a spy or secret agent. The storyline is likely to follow a huge, impossible mission he takes on- given to us in the title. There’s likely to be a love interest as there always is in these James Bond esk movies. I think the beginning is also to show how skilled (the way he's climbing this cliff looks gravitationally undoable to me) so we have some hope for the ‘impossible’ mission and it’s a movie worth a watch.

In my opinion it has successfully displayed the action based theme in this opening sequence. Foreshadowing his big mission to come, I believe this is a movie I'd want to watch. It gets you excited for the lengths they’d go to in the action scenes, seeing as the first one is on a cliff, what else will they do?