Final Opening Sequence - The Case

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Preliminary Task Evaluation



1. My group was myself, Simon, Aarti and Tanya. While me and Simon played the role of the two classmates in the film, Aarti and Tanya were in charge of filming, directing and sound. However on a couple of shots such as my entering the room, Simon filmed and for Simon's speaking shots I took the role of camera man. When we edited we took it in turns to do a few shots each to fairly distribute the task at hand.

2. To plan our shoot we made a rough script of the scene on paper. We then drew a diagram of the room and decided how many different shots we were going to use and where we would position the cameras. From this we established that we would have 4 linking shots of one character entering the room and 4 different angles of the conversation meaning we'd need to film it 4 times. Once we had done this we storyboarded the script into 16 individual frames and made notes on the dialogue, sound and timings of each shot as well as the shot type. We then made up a shooting script from this so as to make an easier filming process. We also planned all the cuts in advance so that when it came to editing it would be a lot easier to make the clips into one continuous scene.

3. We used a mini-DV camera and a mini boom mic on our shoot. There was no lighting as we filmed at daytime and only wanted natural light in our shoot. We used the mini boom mic with headphones for the speaking clips to check that the actors were speaking clearly throughout so as not to lose any important moments of conversation. To make sure we had steady shots we used a tripod which also greatly helped when doing the pan at the beginning of the clip. To edit we used Adobe Premier Pro, which allowed us to arrange the clips in a linear time line and cut and trim them to the right length. It has multiple editing lines which made it easy to edit our clip and also the source monitor so we could constantly refer to the original clip. We put in titles and a fade at the end using the editing tools on Premier.

4. During the planning process it was important that we thought about what the characters looked like. For instance I dyed my hair half way between planning and shooting so we had to re-do bits of the storyboard to fit the actors involved! We also planned in advance what clothes we would wear on the shoot. We did not need to worry too much about background noise or weather as we were indoors but to insure we were not interrupted while filming we put on a red light while filming to indicate to other students not to enter the room. This was useful as we didn't have to redo any shots due to distractions or extra noise. We also had to make sure we left room at the end of takes for editing purposes and also planned any action carefully so that we could match it between cuts.

5. I think in general our clip went very well. It runs smoothly without any noticeable continuity errors (there is one where the book is taken out of the bad where if watched a few times doesn't quite work). All the matches on action worked out really fantastically which was a great relief and these include when I open the door and walk through it, when I retrieve the book from the bag, and when Simon glances at the book over my shoulder. A couple of the beginning shots weren't too steady especially the pans which we would need to work on better next time. Although mine and Simon's acting talents may not be up there with the rest of Hollywood I think we spoke clearly throughout so the dialogue works very well which is useful as it is the main point of the clip. I would have liked to say no in a slightly more horrible voice and get the entering the room sequence even more smooth in hindsight but other than that I was genuinely very pleased with the whole task and how we worked as a group.

6. From this task I have revised shooting and editing techniques as well as learning the importance of matches on action and continuity. I have learnt how to use Adobe Premier Pro which is what we will be using for our final project and so hopefully next time the editing process will be even quicker. It is clear that due to a good plan, storyboard and shooting script we were able to film everything very easily and know exactly what to do which I will definitely take on board when filming a more difficult and more complicated clip. I think it will be useful to have practised all these techniques and methods so that I can have a really successful group project.

Monday, November 24, 2008

BLK feedback

Please keep up with your Stage 1 posting Nick - you need to show how the project is developing from your own perspective. What you have so far is fine, but try to avoid long-ish gaps between posts.

Please see the main blog posts for advice on how to proceed with your individual blog if you're not sure what you should be doing.

Your evaluation and continuity sequence link? What's going on?

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Watchmen - Alan Moore 1986/Zack Snyder 2009

When I think through our Group Project, only one thing goes through my mind. That is that not only do I want people to think of Sin City, Blade Runner, and Film Noir when they watch our opening, but next March when the legend to be Watchmen invades our screen on 03/06/09, suddenly everyone will go "So that's what inspired them."

So what is it? And why is it that I can safely bet most people reading this blog won't know what it is?

Watchmen is a comic book/graphic novel by esteemed writer Alan Moore and pencilled by artist Dave Gibbons. It was rated one of Time Magazine's 100 Best Novels and most comic book fans will tell you there is nothing that can challenge it. A single 12 part story arc set in a post-Vietnam America where Nixon is still president in 1985, where Nuclear War is on the brink and costumed heroes are banned. From the violent, vigilante detective Rorschach's first speech to the tremendous plot twists at the end the comic book world has not seen anything else of the sort. Heroes, with no powers, who have to fight for a better world. A genius with a plan to save humanity, a detective searching for the truth, a man who can move the very atoms inside him yet has nothing at all, an inventor longing for love. These characters are hardly the hero types, yet together it is up to them to stop something terrible from happening.

The reason this comic has inspired me in this project is through the character Rorschach (for a brief character analysis look at my group blog here). His concealing appearance, lack of morals, and general bad ass character make him such an amazing influence for both our protagonist and villain. He dresses like a film noir detective but rather than puzzling over problems will run into a building with a spray can and a lighter setting fire to policemen, or smashing a fellow prisoners head into a wall. He fights dirty, and that is why he wins. He understands the world far more than everyone else seems to simply because he sees its worst and lives to better that. I want to take all these aspects and use them to make our villain and hero have similar yet entirely different traits as we want part of our plot to be that at some time they may have been friends.

To finish off this brief review on how Watchmen has influenced our film opening I thought I'd leave you with the inspiration for our voice over, and the new trailer for Zack Snyder's 2009 film adaptation of this graphic masterpiece.

"Rorschach's Journal. October 12th, 1985. :



























Dog carcass in alley this morning, tire tread on burst stomach. This city is afraid of me. I have seen it's true face. The streets are extended gutters and the gutters are full of blood and when the drains finally scab over all the vermin will drown. The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout "Save us!"...
...and I'll look down and whisper "no."
They had a choice, all of them. They could have followed in the footsteps of good men like my father, or president Truman. Decent men, who believed in a day's work for a day's pay. Instead they following the droppings of lechers and communists and didn't realize that the trail led over a precipice until it was too late. Don't tell me they didn't have a choice.
Now the whole world stands on the brink, staring down into bloody hell, all those liberals and intellectuals and smooth-talkers...and all of a sudden, nobody can think of anything to say."


Feelings about today's Location Reccy

Today myself and Simon went on a location reccy for our film opening, "The Streets Run Red". We initially set out to find an alleyway with some sort of high access so that we could get a master shot where we could zoom in from far away to establish the scene (once I have posted the final script and rough storyboard this will make a lot more sense). We thought an obvious place to search would be by car parks as these are often multi storey and so very high. We checked by the Quasar in Ponders End and the old car park by the old Enfield Town Library.

Starting early afternoon and finishing late evening, it was a very tiring day and I found it difficult to be patient as most of the locations we sought out were far from perfect. It took us a good hour to find our initial "Location 1" as named on the group blog. And even when we found this an hour of searching for an entrance to the car park ended up showing we would not be allowed to use this location. When we finally found "Location 3" and decided that after consulting with the group possibly we could change the script slightly as this location was perfect, I felt quite accomplished.

Today we also started our video documentary which we will be running throughout the course. We are taking digital stills and digital film of the entire process so that it will be easy for the examining board to see what we have been up to and also to make it more interactive for other students interested in the blog. From this so far I have learnt that we need to practice speaking in front of a camera and planning out what needs to be said as a lot of the video was hesitations and confusement!

All in all we had a successful reccy and it has only made me more excited about the upcoming project. I can't wait for the test shoot next week and finishing off the storyboards and scripting.

Now I'll leave you with a few of my favourite snaps from today;















Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Group coursework project


Leading up to our upcoming coursework on opening sequences Simon and myself have started doing some research. We will wait to post it on the group blog once created
but for now I'll leave you with a tasty sample of the title text so far!

Monday, November 3, 2008

Sound in films

For individual research I have studied the use of sound in films, and have summarised the work that we did in class.

Diegetic and Non-diegetic sound
-A film's world is known as the diegetic
-Thing's in this world are it's diegesis
-On and off screen sound is used to create a 3 dimensional world
-Off screen sound used to give us clues, for example smashing glass, or a scream
-Non-diegetic sound is added after the film, for example music or a voice over

Sound Bridges
-Used to link scenes together
-Will often hear the sound from the next scene before we see the image
-Gives the effect of a continuous world rather than a disjointed one

Contrapuntal sound
-These are sounds that do not match
-This can be the soundtrack or on screen
-Contrasting emotions e.g. sinister music in a seemingly happy scene
-Also called asynchronous sound

Parallel sound
-This is when the sound matches what is on screen
-Music fits with emotion of the scene
-e.g. suspenseful music in a stalking scene, loud fast paced music in a fight scene, beautiful slow music in a love scene

Foley sound
-SFX sounds
-These are added sometimes to enhance sounds or to create sounds which don't exist
-In Star Wars III they mix the sound of a lion and a zebra for one of the animals!
-Often gun shots will be enhanced to sound much more dramatic


All these different effects are used in films to add to the overall experience. They are useful things to think about when planning my own opening sequence, for example:

-The soundtrack
-On and off screen sounds
-Dialogue
-Foley effects
-Clever use of parallel and contrapuntal sound

Public opinion on films

In choosing what film genre to make for my opening sequence I decided to look at some opinion polls on film. For this I went on IMDB and Empire to try and find top lists.

IMDB:

RankRatingTitleVotes
1.9.1The Shawshank Redemption (1994)382,951
2.9.1The Godfather (1972)325,037
3.9.0The Godfather: Part II (1974)185,268
4.9.0The Dark Knight (2008)294,436
5.8.9Buono, il brutto, il cattivo., Il (1966)109,661
6.8.9Pulp Fiction (1994)318,268
7.8.8Schindler's List (1993)210,675
8.8.8One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)160,747
9.8.8Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)221,383
10.8.812 Angry Men (1957)79,144
11.8.8Casablanca (1942)134,466
12.8.8Star Wars (1977)262,513
13.8.8Shichinin no samurai (1954)76,231
14.8.8The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)281,773
15.8.7Goodfellas (1990)174,194
16.8.7Rear Window (1954)91,110
17.8.7Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)197,820
18.8.7Cidade de Deus (2002)115,895
19.8.7C'era una volta il West (1968)53,012
20.8.7The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)310,922
21.8.7The Usual Suspects (1995)212,965
22.8.7Psycho (1960)111,207
23.8.7Fight Club (1999)285,371
24.8.6The Silence of the Lambs (1991)190,134
25.8.6Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)126,566

Empire:

1. The Godfather (1972)
2. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
3. Star Wars Episode V: Empire Strikes Back (1980)
4. Shawsank Redemption (1994)
5. Jaws (1975)
6. GoodFellas (1990)
7. Apocalypse Now (1979)
8. Singin' in the Rain (1952)
9. Pulp Fiction (1994)
10. Fight Club (1999)
11. Raging Bull (1980)
12. The Apartment (1960)
13. Chinatown (1974)
14. Once Upon A Time In The West (1968)
15. The Dark Knight (2008)
16. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
17. Taxi Driver (1976)
18. Casablanca (1942)
19. The Godfather: Part II (1974)
20. Blade Runner (1982)
21. The Third Man (1949)
22. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)
23. Back to the Future (1985)
24. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
25. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (1967)



From these lists I see action, sci-fi and thrillers dominating the top spot with not a single comedy to be seen! It is very useful to see which sort of films dominate these charts as to what to choose for my genre

Plot 7 actor choosing

I have decided to choose actors for Plot 7, set in a post-apocalyptic future where people have special powers. I have analysed 5 leading roles to which famous stars can be applied. The main character, the evil dictator, the rebel leader, the love interest and the toad like enemy.
For each I will say the actor I have chosen to play them and give backing as to why.

Main Character : Will Smith

I have chosen Will Smith as the main actor as he is generally a very good all round actor. He can be funny, serious, violent, peaceful, intelligent, dumb and sometimes all at once! He has a good repitoire of sci-fi films such as Men In Black, I Am Legend and Hancock. Hancock is most similar to this plot as he had super powers in that film and so he obviously will be able to fit the role. He is a widely loved actor and has a huge fan base in both music and movies so will attract many fans to the film

Evil Dictator : Sean BeanAnother flexible actor who has been in a variety of films. His performance in Goldeneye and The Lord Of The Rings is what drew my attention to him. In Goldeneye he plays the main villain and so obviously has had a past experience with this role. He is very good at playing sinister roles and has a look to him which suggests he is a good deceiver. A big trait of these sort of films is a leader who deceives his people into thinking he is good when really his motives are evil. Also in LOTR as Boromir he was drawn to the ring which brought out the anger and hate in him and gave him an aspect of betrayal. I think all these qualities will go well for an evil dictator and as he has a history for action films fans will know he is suitable for the role.

Rebel Leader : Bruce WillisFrom his performances in Die Hard, Unbreakable and Sin City it was obvious to choose Bruce Willis for this role. Action hero extraordinare, he has played the role excellently on so many occasions. Sin City, a comic book film, and Unbreakable, a comic book style film both portrayed him as a hero and he has the typical do good sense to him while also being able to appear rugged. He looks very well built in most of his films which would be good for this kind of film and I see him as a sort of Riddick like appearance from Pitch Black, but with the same Star Wars like persona as the rebels, leading the good side to victory. I think he will be a perfect supporting character for Will Smith and the two would work well together.

Love Interest : Jessica AlbaBesides being constantly polled as one of the sexiest women in acting, she has managed to pull of age ranges from 18 in Sin City to mid 30s in other films. She is a very attractive actress and so will obviously appeal to a male audience but is also a very talented actress. After being in the Fantastic 4 films and Sin City it is also obvious that she has played this sort of role before and will therefore be well suited to this role, being flexible to many different personas. I also think that she will contrast well with Will Smith and the two will create a good romantic interest. Also having worked with Bruce Willis on Sin City the two have a good on screen connection.

Toad like enemy : Owen WilsonAs soon as I saw this character I was reminded of the character Toad from the X-Men comics and films. He is a witty character and brings comic relief to serious situations. Therefore I think Owen Wilson will be great for the role. He hosts a massive list of past comedies that he has starred in but has equally proved he can be semi-serious. He will be a good contrast to all the other characters and actors who are all quite serious in their careers and he will bring some good humour to the film. Also I'd love to see him looking green and toad like!

The Mummy (1999) Stephen Sommers

For my individual research I decided it would be good to watch a film in the genre I wish to make for my opening scene. Currently I am undecided between action/adventure and thriller so I chose the family adventure film The Mummy to watch.

The film takes place in Egypt where ancient priest Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo) murders the Pharoah and is therefore sentenced to a fate worse than death. In 1923, adventurer and soldier Rick O'Connell (Brendan Fraser) finds his tomb and along with other treasure hunters awakens the Mummy. He is joined by librarian Eveyln Carnahan (Rachel Weisz) and her brother Jonathan (John Hannah). Eventually they find a way to defeat him and all is well. For a full plot synopsis go to: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120616/plotsummary

I am going to now examine part of the opening scene from the film and make analysis on the camera angles and techniques used.



I am using from 1:11 until 2:43 to establish the main shots used.
Unlike in the Dark Knight clip that I analysed before, there are not many consistant angles as most of the clip is characters moving into the room and from it. Therefore I cannot analyse the way I did before where I analysed each camera's individual use. I will analyse each shot as a separate thing.

1:11 : Mid Long shot to Close up, forward track/crane
In this first shot we see Imhotep on a balcony looking over the city and the camera starts from behind him but as he turns goes into his face from a MLS to a CU.

1:21 : Mid Long shot to Mid Close Up, Reverse track
We see Anck Su Namun walking through a big gold door towards the camera.

1:29 : Very Long Shot, High Angle
We see her continue down the corridor and there is a match on action from the previous shot. We see her from a diagonal angle. The shot pans down slightly at the end of the clip.

1:31 : Mid Long Shot, side angle, crab
Another match on action, she continues down the corridor and we see the back of some priest's heads in the foreground and at the end of this shot we see a priest's face and it becomes a CU as she looks at him and he watches her walk off.

1:36 : Long shot, reverse track
This shot shows Anck Su Namun from behind walking towards the curtains and draws back to show the size of the room.

1:39 : Close up
We return to the previous shot of the priest and we have a pan left which turns the shot into a long shot as the priests close the door at the end of the corridor.

1:42 : Long shot to Two Shot, Track left
As Anck Su Namun walks into the room the camera also goes left and zooms in as she goes up to Imhotep and they kiss.

1:59 : Close Up
This shot is used to show Imhotep smear the paint on her arm which is how the two of them are found out. It starts slightly further out but zooms in as he rubs the paint.

2:03 : Long shot, zoom to MCU
This shot shows the priests closing the door but the Pharoah bursting in and the camera zooms in on him into an MCU as he talks. He then walks out of shot and we pan left to see the priests close the door behind him.

2:24 : Long shot
Pharoah behind the curtains and then starts to sweep them

2:26 : Over the shoulder shot
Match on action as he opens the curtains and then a forward track as he walks towards Anck Su Namun.

2:30 : Over the shoulder shot
Anck Su Namun's shoulder, looking at the Pharoah as he talks.

2:31 : Close Up
Anck Su Namun standing by the cat statue

2:33 : OTS shot, shot reverse shot
We go back to the previous shot of the Pharoah over Anck Su Namun's shoulder as he points at her to shout "who has touched you?"

2:35 : OTS shot
Looking at Anck Su Namun over the Pharoah's shoulder. We see her glance behind him

2:39 : OTS
Shot reverse shot again, and we can now see Imhotep in the corner of the frame which is obviously who Anck Su Namun was looking at in the previous shot. The Pharoah turns around and we pan slightly left

2:42 : Mid close up, OTS
We can see all 3 characters in shot and the rule of thirds is used to space them out equally to show the reaction as Imhotep takes the Pharoah's sword.


Overall I think this shot demonstrates some basic but effective camera techniques which will be useful for making my own opening sequence

Mood Boards

For my individual research I have made 2 mood boards both to do with film genre. In each I have shown popular films from the genre.

My first Mood Board is for films of the Comic Book genre. I have taken both mainstream, cult, old and new films in this montage to display common conventions. Most of the characters are in costumes or wearing masks to conceal their identities. Many show extraordinary qualities such as the Human Torch and Hulk. Many films of this genre already have a cult following before they come out, but often the release of a comic book film will bring a new generation of readers to the comics. For example, not many people knew of the Sin City and 300 comics by Frank Miller until films were created, although they have a large following in the comic book world. Other films such as Spiderman, Superman and Batman are world known characters who have had their own television shows, merchandise and more. The comic book genre is both easy and hard to be audience pleasing. Although the films have many pre made stories for them from the comics themselves, writers can often end up upsetting fans of the original comics for "not staying true" to the original content. However, they will draw in new fans which keeps the industry going.

My second mood board is for Sci-Fi. Again, I have taken many classic sci-fi films and shown famous scenes or characters from them. Obviously Star Wars launched a whole new breed of sci-fi and most futuristic space films today can be related back to the Star Wars films. Not only was the sound company THX created for Star Wars but they advanced special effects greatly bringing in a new age of computer animation making many films possible to make. You have your typical sci-fi/thriller films such as Alien, Predator and of course Blade Runner, but also many cult classics like Back To The Future and Planet of The Apes. Sci-Fi is one of my favourite genres as it delves into the realms of the unknown and almost anything is possible. I find them more interesting than films like comedies as they can easily break so many boundaries which is why they have such a large appeal and fan base.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

BLK feedback

Nick, I'm concerned that there hasn't been any blogging action on here for over 3 weeks??? this blog should represent ongoing independent research and big gaps in time are really difficult to justify with this kind of project.

You have such little time left to present your research findings, it's making me rather nervous, please calm my nerves with some fab posts asap