R&P = 15
Production =32
Evaluation = 13
Total = 60 C
Targets:
Evaluation activity 5 - can you explain how your fight scene is similar to/not similar to the other fight scenes you have posted? Explain why you made those choices.
Evaluation activity 6 - can you explain what you have learned about how the film industry relies on technology and link this with audience expectations of seeing a high quality product?
Evaluation activity 7 - more screenshots needed to show specific examples of where your skills have developed.
Tuesday, 16 April 2013
Thursday, 28 March 2013
Evaluation Activity 3
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
This is the director's commentary, the whole group (three of us, Aran, Nadib and I) did the research and planning, produced the script and I did the voice-over. In the voice-over I have spoken about the financing of the production of the film, film production companies, which one we chose, and why, the film distribution company we chose, and why and other elements as to who, how and why our film should be considered for distribution.
This is the director's commentary, the whole group (three of us, Aran, Nadib and I) did the research and planning, produced the script and I did the voice-over. In the voice-over I have spoken about the financing of the production of the film, film production companies, which one we chose, and why, the film distribution company we chose, and why and other elements as to who, how and why our film should be considered for distribution.
Evaluation Activity 5
How did you address/attract your audience?
By using different types of sound, fast-paced rhythms and impact beats there was a good effect on how to orchestrate the audiences' pulse. Fight scenes at the very beginning from films like Rush Hour 2 and Skyfall played a big part in how we would produce the opening two minutes. This also made us include certain techniques and elements to bring out the best of the fight scene. This opening two minutes had the copyright music, but we had kept it on to show the differences we have made to the latest final version of the opening two minutes, the final version can be found at the bottom, and you will notice the changes, even though some of the changes are small they are noticeable, which has made the difference.
This is a fight scene from Rush Hour 2
This scene from Rush Hour 2, is a fight scene where Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker are involved in an outnumbered fight situation, this influenced our decision to keep the victim handicapped, we intended to show the audience that the victim (Tom) was inferior to the main actor (Aran), this was shown by Aran holding a weapon such as the knife, this helped the audience differnetiate as to who was more superior in the situation. Another element we included in our opening two minutes was that we tried to convey to the audience who the story line revolved around, after the murder in the film, from the audience's view it looked like a murder, whereas form Aran's point of view it was just an assignment, this was showing some kind ruthlessenss in Aran's character.
This the fight scene from Skyfall
This scene from skyfall showed the audience that it was an action blockbuster, the fight scene is very intense, fast-paced and flawless. The stunts were very elaborate, some of which are not able to be performed without a stunt double, this was very precise, whereas in our opening two minutes we did not have access to such vast resources, our cast was so small that it limited us to what we could do and what we couldn't do. On the other hand, if we had the access to such a vast array of resources I think we could have pulled off professioanl movie making easily. This was one of the reasons as to why we kept along the lines of having fast paced, thrilling fight scene, right at the beginning, to set the tone of the movie, and give the audience the feeling of suspense and excitement. By implementing the main elements of an action movie such as blood pumping action scenes, adrenaline rushing fight scenes we created a miniature version of an action opening two minutes compared to an opening of an action movie such as Skyfall, which made more than a $1 billion at the box office.
We were influenced from the Skyfall fight scene when the main character (007) had more prevalence in fighting, Aran was the main actor, so we gave him more prevalence in the fighting scene by making Aran inflict more pain onto the victim who was Tom. This was also emphasized upon when tom spat out some blood onto the wall, he was being tossed here and there by Aran, a couple of punches were thrown at him (from Aran), this further shows that the fight scene we implemented was influenced by intense film fight scenes such as Skyfall.
This is the final version of the opening two minutes, where as I have mentioned before some changes have been made due to the feedback we received, this has been very productive and has also helped us as a group and as individuals be more critical of our work, this has enabled us to bring out the best in our work, and make the differences we need to make in order to achieve high standards.
By using different types of sound, fast-paced rhythms and impact beats there was a good effect on how to orchestrate the audiences' pulse. Fight scenes at the very beginning from films like Rush Hour 2 and Skyfall played a big part in how we would produce the opening two minutes. This also made us include certain techniques and elements to bring out the best of the fight scene. This opening two minutes had the copyright music, but we had kept it on to show the differences we have made to the latest final version of the opening two minutes, the final version can be found at the bottom, and you will notice the changes, even though some of the changes are small they are noticeable, which has made the difference.
This is a fight scene from Rush Hour 2
This scene from Rush Hour 2, is a fight scene where Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker are involved in an outnumbered fight situation, this influenced our decision to keep the victim handicapped, we intended to show the audience that the victim (Tom) was inferior to the main actor (Aran), this was shown by Aran holding a weapon such as the knife, this helped the audience differnetiate as to who was more superior in the situation. Another element we included in our opening two minutes was that we tried to convey to the audience who the story line revolved around, after the murder in the film, from the audience's view it looked like a murder, whereas form Aran's point of view it was just an assignment, this was showing some kind ruthlessenss in Aran's character.
This the fight scene from Skyfall
This scene from skyfall showed the audience that it was an action blockbuster, the fight scene is very intense, fast-paced and flawless. The stunts were very elaborate, some of which are not able to be performed without a stunt double, this was very precise, whereas in our opening two minutes we did not have access to such vast resources, our cast was so small that it limited us to what we could do and what we couldn't do. On the other hand, if we had the access to such a vast array of resources I think we could have pulled off professioanl movie making easily. This was one of the reasons as to why we kept along the lines of having fast paced, thrilling fight scene, right at the beginning, to set the tone of the movie, and give the audience the feeling of suspense and excitement. By implementing the main elements of an action movie such as blood pumping action scenes, adrenaline rushing fight scenes we created a miniature version of an action opening two minutes compared to an opening of an action movie such as Skyfall, which made more than a $1 billion at the box office.
We were influenced from the Skyfall fight scene when the main character (007) had more prevalence in fighting, Aran was the main actor, so we gave him more prevalence in the fighting scene by making Aran inflict more pain onto the victim who was Tom. This was also emphasized upon when tom spat out some blood onto the wall, he was being tossed here and there by Aran, a couple of punches were thrown at him (from Aran), this further shows that the fight scene we implemented was influenced by intense film fight scenes such as Skyfall.
This is the final version of the opening two minutes, where as I have mentioned before some changes have been made due to the feedback we received, this has been very productive and has also helped us as a group and as individuals be more critical of our work, this has enabled us to bring out the best in our work, and make the differences we need to make in order to achieve high standards.
Wednesday, 27 March 2013
Evaluation Activity 6
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
While constructing the whole media assignment, in it's production I was familiar how to produce my own beats of sound, but one thing which I really improved on was editing the clips at the right time, producing and uploading onto the internet, via blogger and YouTube. We used one camera which was a samsung HD camcorder, for the editing I used two laptops/computers a Lenovo laptop, to take on the go and one at home because it was more powerful, processor wise, that laptop/computer was a Dell. I used the two software applications Traktor and MixMeister Fusion 7 to produce my own sounds and beats for the media assignment. I had also used Cyberlink PowerDirector 11 to edit and reconstruct the film frames, sequences where it was needed and the editing was also carried out on that particular software because it was easy to use. I also used blogger to update my blogs and post regularly and I also used YouTube to upload the videos one after the other.
We used a HD camcorder to film the opening two minutes, this camcorder was very easy to use, uploading the clips onto the computer for editing was very easy, simple and clear.
We used two laptops for editing for editing, one for using at the scene of filming and the other for using at home, mainly because it was more faster holding a more powerful processor. One easy part of the editing was that we could carry out multiple tasks efficiently. One of the advantages of using two laptops was that we had two copies of each film, so we had a back-up for each of the clips we filmed.
On the course of this journey into filming, before and after, since the preliminary task right up to now I have gained the knowledge of uploading work in video format onto Youtube, another key skill that I have gained is how to embed the video into the HTML format on Blogger, then compose into the finished product. This particular skill has enabled me to become much more comfortable in analysing different openings of different genres and genres relevabt to my opening two minutes. Another skill editing-wise that I have gained is how the smooth transitions and effects had to be, and how precise thay had to be in order for smooth playback, which is a major factor in film-making.
While constructing the whole media assignment, in it's production I was familiar how to produce my own beats of sound, but one thing which I really improved on was editing the clips at the right time, producing and uploading onto the internet, via blogger and YouTube. We used one camera which was a samsung HD camcorder, for the editing I used two laptops/computers a Lenovo laptop, to take on the go and one at home because it was more powerful, processor wise, that laptop/computer was a Dell. I used the two software applications Traktor and MixMeister Fusion 7 to produce my own sounds and beats for the media assignment. I had also used Cyberlink PowerDirector 11 to edit and reconstruct the film frames, sequences where it was needed and the editing was also carried out on that particular software because it was easy to use. I also used blogger to update my blogs and post regularly and I also used YouTube to upload the videos one after the other.
We used a HD camcorder to film the opening two minutes, this camcorder was very easy to use, uploading the clips onto the computer for editing was very easy, simple and clear.
We used two laptops for editing for editing, one for using at the scene of filming and the other for using at home, mainly because it was more faster holding a more powerful processor. One easy part of the editing was that we could carry out multiple tasks efficiently. One of the advantages of using two laptops was that we had two copies of each film, so we had a back-up for each of the clips we filmed.
I used another skill to produce some of our own beats, by starting off with a simple tune, I firstly layered other types of sounds onto each other, then by adding beats at their designated times, I played around with a few guitar like strings, but that was jus experimental. After adding different layers and fine-tuning the piece of music, I then started mixing a bit of other elements, such as slow sounding tracks with other fast sounding tracks, this helped create altogether an intense, fast paced action piece of music to fit well with our genre of urban/action. The software that was used is called Traktor and Mix Meister Fusion7. The reason as to why two types of software was used was because there were different ways to produce different beats and tunes, this enabled us to experiment and make the right tune to fit in with the scene in the nopening two minutes, because using just one type of music would obviously just bore the audience so we used a variety of music that fitted in with our genre of urban/action.
Evaluation Activity 7
Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
When we started to do the preliminary task, we were close to panic, we were not that much aware in how to get to grips with the camera, there were quite a few shakes, stopping, stuttering where it was unnecessary, but after all the research, planning and learning the positive results are visible in our media assignment, we sometimes used to jump cuts, make foolish editing errors, break some of the camera rules, such as the 180 degree rule. I feel I am very confident in analyzing a piece of film very critically, I can for example identify the problem and give a suitable solution, and make sure it is a very positive change. I feel that I can edit, film, create sound, and be more thorough in every aspect of film producing, they may not be of world class film standards yet, but if I continue to work hard, I think I will be able to achieve greatness. I have also become useful for filming because, the good editing would consist of a wider range of ways to end shots as this would be more effective and look more professional in film making. In contrast with our opening two minutes, there's clear difference in this matter as our opening two minutes contained a good range of fade in/out shots, dissolve shots etc. which proved to be more effective and made it a better piece of film overall, which wouldn't of been the case if we followed what we did the with our preliminary, so we have learnt from our preliminary in this aspect. In terms of camerawork, I feel that I've learnt that it's more effective to use a wider range of camera shots. It's more effective to use a wider range of shots because it helps to show that you've been more creative in your filming and helps improve the overall quality in many cases it also adds variety to the audiences' eyes, in the majority of films, certainly for our film as it's an urban/action film. In our film opening, we used a wider range of shot types than our preliminary task (low-angle, ECU, extreme long shot, over the shoulder shotetc.). When you compare the two when watching them, it's easy to see the difference in quality and level of professionalism with the use of more camera shots in our film opening rather than the preliminary task, displaying an array of improvements which I have developed as working as an individual and as a team member. It was good that my group and I made the mistakes we made in the preliminary task, because it helped us stay alert all the way through the production of the media assignment, another key factor which made me improve the quality of filming was to take more shots and add different transitions, to keep the audience away from boredom. Breaking the 180 degree rule is unprofessional and is considered low level quality filming, so it was key this didn't happen again for our group, so we therefore learnt to not do this in our progression which was good, and it helped us learn off each other and keep ourselves on the right track of mind.
The pictures above are screenshots from the preliminary task where we made the unforgivable and an unforgettable mistake in breaking the 180 degrees rule, but from this we have learnt so much. We have learnt how to abide by the 180 degree rule, as Tom is running towards Aran, and the low-angle shot looking up to Aran which is also an over the shoulder shot shows superiority to the main actor, making Tom the victim look weak and vulnerable.
When we started to do the preliminary task, we were close to panic, we were not that much aware in how to get to grips with the camera, there were quite a few shakes, stopping, stuttering where it was unnecessary, but after all the research, planning and learning the positive results are visible in our media assignment, we sometimes used to jump cuts, make foolish editing errors, break some of the camera rules, such as the 180 degree rule. I feel I am very confident in analyzing a piece of film very critically, I can for example identify the problem and give a suitable solution, and make sure it is a very positive change. I feel that I can edit, film, create sound, and be more thorough in every aspect of film producing, they may not be of world class film standards yet, but if I continue to work hard, I think I will be able to achieve greatness. I have also become useful for filming because, the good editing would consist of a wider range of ways to end shots as this would be more effective and look more professional in film making. In contrast with our opening two minutes, there's clear difference in this matter as our opening two minutes contained a good range of fade in/out shots, dissolve shots etc. which proved to be more effective and made it a better piece of film overall, which wouldn't of been the case if we followed what we did the with our preliminary, so we have learnt from our preliminary in this aspect. In terms of camerawork, I feel that I've learnt that it's more effective to use a wider range of camera shots. It's more effective to use a wider range of shots because it helps to show that you've been more creative in your filming and helps improve the overall quality in many cases it also adds variety to the audiences' eyes, in the majority of films, certainly for our film as it's an urban/action film. In our film opening, we used a wider range of shot types than our preliminary task (low-angle, ECU, extreme long shot, over the shoulder shotetc.). When you compare the two when watching them, it's easy to see the difference in quality and level of professionalism with the use of more camera shots in our film opening rather than the preliminary task, displaying an array of improvements which I have developed as working as an individual and as a team member. It was good that my group and I made the mistakes we made in the preliminary task, because it helped us stay alert all the way through the production of the media assignment, another key factor which made me improve the quality of filming was to take more shots and add different transitions, to keep the audience away from boredom. Breaking the 180 degree rule is unprofessional and is considered low level quality filming, so it was key this didn't happen again for our group, so we therefore learnt to not do this in our progression which was good, and it helped us learn off each other and keep ourselves on the right track of mind.
The pictures above are screenshots from the preliminary task where we made the unforgivable and an unforgettable mistake in breaking the 180 degrees rule, but from this we have learnt so much. We have learnt how to abide by the 180 degree rule, as Tom is running towards Aran, and the low-angle shot looking up to Aran which is also an over the shoulder shot shows superiority to the main actor, making Tom the victim look weak and vulnerable.
Evaluation Activity 4
Who would be the audience for your media product?
We chose the certificate of our film to be a 15 rating. We used this rating because it suits the genre and the assignment was able to appeal to our target audience. The assignment does have some explicit language but not excessive amounts, there is a knife utilized and some blood (which is fake), overall the rating is perfect for our type of film genre and has helped us plan in accordance to our target audience.
One of our priorities was to target the audience of our opening two minutes and purposely try to target 15,16 and 17 year olds as well the slighty older audience. We were initially going to aim the film at 18 year olds to an audience in their late 20s. However, with careful consideration we felt that the film would also appeal to a younger audience because of the genre and other elements. The underground/hip hop style music and sound utilized that would attract a large proportion from this higher youth, young adults as this type of convention appeals to an audience like that. Therefore ensuring that the film would appeal to a wider audience than initially planned to increase recognition.
We chose the certificate of our film to be a 15 rating. We used this rating because it suits the genre and the assignment was able to appeal to our target audience. The assignment does have some explicit language but not excessive amounts, there is a knife utilized and some blood (which is fake), overall the rating is perfect for our type of film genre and has helped us plan in accordance to our target audience.
One of our priorities was to target the audience of our opening two minutes and purposely try to target 15,16 and 17 year olds as well the slighty older audience. We were initially going to aim the film at 18 year olds to an audience in their late 20s. However, with careful consideration we felt that the film would also appeal to a younger audience because of the genre and other elements. The underground/hip hop style music and sound utilized that would attract a large proportion from this higher youth, young adults as this type of convention appeals to an audience like that. Therefore ensuring that the film would appeal to a wider audience than initially planned to increase recognition.
All of these picture represent 15-17 year olds, young adults, such as students and people in their mid 20s to 30s, as we wanted the opening to appeal to a wider audience. They would be expected to be interested in these types of films, such as Taken, The Dark Knight, Iron Man, Never Back Down, Unrivalled, as all these belong to the action movie genre. These films are quite similar to the media assignment film genre and this will only contribute in taking a keen interest in our film.
Evaluation Activity 2
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
The character Aran portrays (the contract killer/hitman/antagonist) is a key figure in the film opening. He could be compared to someone like Liam Neeson form Taken . This is because similarly to Aran's character, he doesn't say much and he lets his actions do the speaking, he only speaks when he needs to. He is also similar in terms of the role he has in the film, where Liam Neeson is the main character, Aran is who the storyline revolves around. However, they both differ in a few ways as well, where Liam Neeson is not that protective or concealed for his identity, Aran, in the film keeps his identity sealed. This is mainly due to both characters being involved in different genre films and different motives as well as intentions. However, as Aran's character is part of urban/action films, whereas Liam Neeson is known for American action films, this also has a huge influence on what and how both behave according to each other. This definitely divides the two in terms of props, costume, location etc. As Aran is shown as a guilty killer at the beginning, Liam Neeson is shown as a loyal body guard, this shows the differences.
The character Aran portrays (the contract killer/hitman/antagonist) is a key figure in the film opening. He could be compared to someone like Liam Neeson form Taken . This is because similarly to Aran's character, he doesn't say much and he lets his actions do the speaking, he only speaks when he needs to. He is also similar in terms of the role he has in the film, where Liam Neeson is the main character, Aran is who the storyline revolves around. However, they both differ in a few ways as well, where Liam Neeson is not that protective or concealed for his identity, Aran, in the film keeps his identity sealed. This is mainly due to both characters being involved in different genre films and different motives as well as intentions. However, as Aran's character is part of urban/action films, whereas Liam Neeson is known for American action films, this also has a huge influence on what and how both behave according to each other. This definitely divides the two in terms of props, costume, location etc. As Aran is shown as a guilty killer at the beginning, Liam Neeson is shown as a loyal body guard, this shows the differences.
Evaluation Activity 1
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. film openings)
Title of the film: The Pursuer
The film title The Pursuer, has a simple font, very straightforward and in block letters. The implementation of the black background gives off a scent of mysteriousness, one other reason as to why the dark background is used is because just before the title fades in the main character (Aran) is shown wearing black colour clothes, this has the effect on creating a direct link between the main character and the film title. The colour of the letters are metallic grey/silver, this has been implemented to show differentiation, for example in the film Taken (2008), you see the film title in white and the background in a black colour, and by now this technique has been used by many film makers. One reason to avoid the same action movie title-cliche was to add a bit more to the title, a bit more solidity with the metallic colour, it also conveys to the audience that the main character is a hard-man-game-changer. The colour of the title and the emergence of the title, fading into the film shows added depth and suspense, giving off the feeling to the audience as if they had just witnessed a significant, brutal murder. As well as making the film title the metallic grey/silver colour, we also wanted to display a more modernized style, to show innovation as well as originality to a modern audience.
Setting/Location:
There were two locations used for filming the media assignment, the first one was underneath a brief tunnel in Waterfields, Leatherhead. The second location for filming the media assignment was on top of a bridge looking over the busy fast-moving M25 motorway. The minimal lighting in the very first beginning in the point-of-view perspective, shows that there seems to be no escape for the character, and causes the audience to feel closed and blind to what is larking around the corner. There is a brief spell hope when some of the darkness becomes consumed by some growing light, this helps give the audience a false sense of security. The graffiti also connotes the fact that it is not a nice place to end up in, especially if you are running away from some sort of danger, films such as Kidulthood and Adulthood show very similar elements to make the scenes an even more daunting place to be in, especially in the time of desperation.
The second location for the media assignment, which was the bridge over looking the fast-moving M25 motorway, could be considered to being unconventional to other urban/action films similar to assignment genre, but it is a way to show the intensity of the fast-paced, critical scenes within the film. We also decided to do this to actually make the audience feel it is an actual opening of a film, because most of the time in other cases there is a lot of action and then the assignment clip finishes, sending messages to the audience that it was only a trailer, hopefully and surely we have avoided this common mistake. Below are pictures of the first and second location used for filming:
First Location:
Second Location:
Costumes/Props:
As Aran was the main character we decided to keep him as close to the film theme as possible, when he is introduced into the first scene, with immediate impact going straight into fatal blows and brutal violence on the the 'target', he is seen wearing a black scarf, black hat, black jacket and black shoes as well as black trousers and not forgetting the black gloves. This is to convey to the audience that Aran is a secretive, concealed character, the black colour also helps to surround the character with negativity where on the other hand he is actually the main character. The scenery and film shooting was at the tie of evening/night, so this worked really well in blending the main character with mysteriousness making the audience continuously speculate as to who the main character belongs to or what his identity is.
Camera Work and Editing:
As I took charge of what type of music should be implemented where and when, I had also asked the group to do more research into more sound, because it would be more productive, as well as the group putting me in charge of producing the beats, editing the core parts of the film because I was so familiar with using the mixing software. We incorporated a wide array of shot types and some camera movement for greater effect of purpose for our chosen genre. We utilized shot types such as low-angle, ECU, two shot etc. We also used panning camera movement twice in the opening two minutes(of the knife shown below and overlooking the M25) to help widen use and effect of our filming ability, this had a great effect on the outcome of the film, which was positive, it also allowed the audience to view more through the eyes of the camera.
The use of camera shots were quite conventional compared to other urban/action genre films,as our use of camerawork has met common cliches of action/urban films to be fast-paced and highly tensed scenes, action/urban films like Dark Knight Rises(2012), Shank(2010), Taken (2008) etc. Have high use of camerawork/shot types in its opening to their films, by using these techniques and skills we were able to produce a good opening two minutes.
Story and How the Opening Sets up:
The story of the film is all about Aran(the main character) and him pursuing and finishing people down under bosses demands, as he is a contract killer who gets paid for pursuing and killing particular individuals, the opening suggests the the type of storyline of the film through Aran's use of dialogue, and the envelope containing a photo of Nadib with a price tag of 12million underneath the picture of Aran's target. This helps to slightly portray the storyline to the audience as it makes it speculatively clear to them about what the film is about, setting up the rest of the film for the audience to find out what will happen. We didn't want to reveal too much in the opening two minutes which is why we structured our opening two minutes the way it was. Another element of the opening two minutes as regards to the price tag on Nadib, shows it is a very high price tag (as shown below) and that maybe it is his last and final piece of work before finishing forever.
Genre and How the opening Suggests it:
As the genre of the film was urban/action, there had to be a fast-smooth-paced, intense fight scene, showing brutality and murder. This immediately show the audience that there is something serious going on, and why the murder happened, something which the audience will have to carry on watching to find out all the answers to their questions. he genre of my film is action/urban which inevitably led to us having to include a fight scene. Films of this film genre don't and do usually include fight scenes in the opening two minutes, but we decided to use one in the opening two minutes to help link to the films plot and portray the film as the film is based around Aran (main cahracter) being a contract killer targeting specfic people on assignments. But we also decided to use the fight scene to meet common action/urban film cliches like have high levels of suspense,thrill action etc. and all action films at some point feature fights and conflicts and high levels of drama so it helps make my opening two minutes conventional. Another element which we decided to out in was fear, by making Aran (main character) look menacing, and by blending him into the darkness we clamped down the emotion of fear within the audience's hearts.
Examples such as Taken (2008), Unrivalled (2011), Never Back Down (2008), films show that there is the urgency to show a fight scene to keep the pulsating heartbeats of the audience consistent and full of ecstasy.
The pursuer (Aran) is shown way ahead of Tom (Target), this shows the encounter between the two. Te main character (Aran) is shown near total prevalence, with him being the one afflicting the pain, it becomes hard to guess who has the upper hand and dominant force in the scene itself. We've purposely utilized a lot of screen time towards the main character using various different camera shots like high low-angle shots,ECU, close up, long shots etc. in order to show that he's the dominant, main character in this film. He's first introduced during the opening fight scene in the film as shown above(0:11) in which he consequently kills his target, saying only a couple of words "job done". His introduction at the beginning of the film is the typical perception and concept of what his character is like in terms of personality and role he has for the synopsis and the film itself, another main factor in introducing the main character's role by showing him waiting for the victim conveys a strong but bitter message to the audience that there is no escape from death itself.
Special effects:
In the opening two minutes of our film, we used some great special effects.
We used special effects to emphasize on the damage and suffer and because we wanted to further effectively emphasize the significance of the attack to the audience and felt that it was needed to make the fight scene look slightly more complex.
We specifically used x-ray style special effects for the two shots shown below.
Firstly using it for the shot after Aran (main character) punched Tom(the victim) to show further impact of what the punch caused for the victim, and secondly used for the ECU shot of the knife after being used against Tom to help highlight the specific detail and state of the knife after the attack to show that it's of higher importance to the audience.
These effects could be but wouldn't be conventional of action/urban films of such, but would probably be more conventional to other film genres like psychological thrillers etc. One other reason as to why we implemented x-ray/flashing effects was to make the audience feel intense, and in a state of emergency.
Both of these screenshots from the film worked great, giving off some real spine-tingling sensations, making the audience feel captivated and weak, putting them in the position of the victim in a suffering state of decline.
Title of the film: The Pursuer
The film title The Pursuer, has a simple font, very straightforward and in block letters. The implementation of the black background gives off a scent of mysteriousness, one other reason as to why the dark background is used is because just before the title fades in the main character (Aran) is shown wearing black colour clothes, this has the effect on creating a direct link between the main character and the film title. The colour of the letters are metallic grey/silver, this has been implemented to show differentiation, for example in the film Taken (2008), you see the film title in white and the background in a black colour, and by now this technique has been used by many film makers. One reason to avoid the same action movie title-cliche was to add a bit more to the title, a bit more solidity with the metallic colour, it also conveys to the audience that the main character is a hard-man-game-changer. The colour of the title and the emergence of the title, fading into the film shows added depth and suspense, giving off the feeling to the audience as if they had just witnessed a significant, brutal murder. As well as making the film title the metallic grey/silver colour, we also wanted to display a more modernized style, to show innovation as well as originality to a modern audience.
Setting/Location:
There were two locations used for filming the media assignment, the first one was underneath a brief tunnel in Waterfields, Leatherhead. The second location for filming the media assignment was on top of a bridge looking over the busy fast-moving M25 motorway. The minimal lighting in the very first beginning in the point-of-view perspective, shows that there seems to be no escape for the character, and causes the audience to feel closed and blind to what is larking around the corner. There is a brief spell hope when some of the darkness becomes consumed by some growing light, this helps give the audience a false sense of security. The graffiti also connotes the fact that it is not a nice place to end up in, especially if you are running away from some sort of danger, films such as Kidulthood and Adulthood show very similar elements to make the scenes an even more daunting place to be in, especially in the time of desperation.
The second location for the media assignment, which was the bridge over looking the fast-moving M25 motorway, could be considered to being unconventional to other urban/action films similar to assignment genre, but it is a way to show the intensity of the fast-paced, critical scenes within the film. We also decided to do this to actually make the audience feel it is an actual opening of a film, because most of the time in other cases there is a lot of action and then the assignment clip finishes, sending messages to the audience that it was only a trailer, hopefully and surely we have avoided this common mistake. Below are pictures of the first and second location used for filming:
First Location:
Second Location:
Costumes/Props:
As Aran was the main character we decided to keep him as close to the film theme as possible, when he is introduced into the first scene, with immediate impact going straight into fatal blows and brutal violence on the the 'target', he is seen wearing a black scarf, black hat, black jacket and black shoes as well as black trousers and not forgetting the black gloves. This is to convey to the audience that Aran is a secretive, concealed character, the black colour also helps to surround the character with negativity where on the other hand he is actually the main character. The scenery and film shooting was at the tie of evening/night, so this worked really well in blending the main character with mysteriousness making the audience continuously speculate as to who the main character belongs to or what his identity is.
Camera Work and Editing:
As I took charge of what type of music should be implemented where and when, I had also asked the group to do more research into more sound, because it would be more productive, as well as the group putting me in charge of producing the beats, editing the core parts of the film because I was so familiar with using the mixing software. We incorporated a wide array of shot types and some camera movement for greater effect of purpose for our chosen genre. We utilized shot types such as low-angle, ECU, two shot etc. We also used panning camera movement twice in the opening two minutes(of the knife shown below and overlooking the M25) to help widen use and effect of our filming ability, this had a great effect on the outcome of the film, which was positive, it also allowed the audience to view more through the eyes of the camera.
The use of camera shots were quite conventional compared to other urban/action genre films,as our use of camerawork has met common cliches of action/urban films to be fast-paced and highly tensed scenes, action/urban films like Dark Knight Rises(2012), Shank(2010), Taken (2008) etc. Have high use of camerawork/shot types in its opening to their films, by using these techniques and skills we were able to produce a good opening two minutes.
Story and How the Opening Sets up:
The story of the film is all about Aran(the main character) and him pursuing and finishing people down under bosses demands, as he is a contract killer who gets paid for pursuing and killing particular individuals, the opening suggests the the type of storyline of the film through Aran's use of dialogue, and the envelope containing a photo of Nadib with a price tag of 12million underneath the picture of Aran's target. This helps to slightly portray the storyline to the audience as it makes it speculatively clear to them about what the film is about, setting up the rest of the film for the audience to find out what will happen. We didn't want to reveal too much in the opening two minutes which is why we structured our opening two minutes the way it was. Another element of the opening two minutes as regards to the price tag on Nadib, shows it is a very high price tag (as shown below) and that maybe it is his last and final piece of work before finishing forever.
Genre and How the opening Suggests it:
As the genre of the film was urban/action, there had to be a fast-smooth-paced, intense fight scene, showing brutality and murder. This immediately show the audience that there is something serious going on, and why the murder happened, something which the audience will have to carry on watching to find out all the answers to their questions. he genre of my film is action/urban which inevitably led to us having to include a fight scene. Films of this film genre don't and do usually include fight scenes in the opening two minutes, but we decided to use one in the opening two minutes to help link to the films plot and portray the film as the film is based around Aran (main cahracter) being a contract killer targeting specfic people on assignments. But we also decided to use the fight scene to meet common action/urban film cliches like have high levels of suspense,thrill action etc. and all action films at some point feature fights and conflicts and high levels of drama so it helps make my opening two minutes conventional. Another element which we decided to out in was fear, by making Aran (main character) look menacing, and by blending him into the darkness we clamped down the emotion of fear within the audience's hearts.
Examples such as Taken (2008), Unrivalled (2011), Never Back Down (2008), films show that there is the urgency to show a fight scene to keep the pulsating heartbeats of the audience consistent and full of ecstasy.
This knife used in the film shows fear and danger
How Characters are introduced:
The pursuer (Aran) is shown way ahead of Tom (Target), this shows the encounter between the two. Te main character (Aran) is shown near total prevalence, with him being the one afflicting the pain, it becomes hard to guess who has the upper hand and dominant force in the scene itself. We've purposely utilized a lot of screen time towards the main character using various different camera shots like high low-angle shots,ECU, close up, long shots etc. in order to show that he's the dominant, main character in this film. He's first introduced during the opening fight scene in the film as shown above(0:11) in which he consequently kills his target, saying only a couple of words "job done". His introduction at the beginning of the film is the typical perception and concept of what his character is like in terms of personality and role he has for the synopsis and the film itself, another main factor in introducing the main character's role by showing him waiting for the victim conveys a strong but bitter message to the audience that there is no escape from death itself.
Special effects:
In the opening two minutes of our film, we used some great special effects.
We used special effects to emphasize on the damage and suffer and because we wanted to further effectively emphasize the significance of the attack to the audience and felt that it was needed to make the fight scene look slightly more complex.
We specifically used x-ray style special effects for the two shots shown below.
Firstly using it for the shot after Aran (main character) punched Tom(the victim) to show further impact of what the punch caused for the victim, and secondly used for the ECU shot of the knife after being used against Tom to help highlight the specific detail and state of the knife after the attack to show that it's of higher importance to the audience.
These effects could be but wouldn't be conventional of action/urban films of such, but would probably be more conventional to other film genres like psychological thrillers etc. One other reason as to why we implemented x-ray/flashing effects was to make the audience feel intense, and in a state of emergency.
Both of these screenshots from the film worked great, giving off some real spine-tingling sensations, making the audience feel captivated and weak, putting them in the position of the victim in a suffering state of decline.
The Finished Product - Opening 2 Minutes
This is the final production of the opening two minutes, we re-recorded Aran's dialogue and incorporated them into the film as best as we could, there was the issue of having one track which was copyright, but that has been replaced by non-copyright sound, also by cutting off a few seconds at the end (which was the panning shot) and making a few tweaks here and there such as delaying the credits, I thank my classmates who put their work, effort, dedication and time into this, thanks.
Video Diary
10/1/13
This evening the group got together and got filming, we all had everything in order, camcorder, props, costume, script, fight scenes and the location was also 'empty'. So it was the perfect time to film, as the weather had just begun to get a little chilly, and the sky turned dark, after showing each of the actors how the fight scenes would be carried out, there were a few practice shots which we needed to do first, and the practice shots also made our job easier in the filming sense. We also used fake blood to show some serious real-life action, which would have an effect on creating a reality for the audience.
Video Diary
15/1/13
Today the main scene, known as the 'fight scene' was filmed, I took my laptop to the shooting place and I started some of the editing with the group, I was showing them the different effects and how integral editing was to our media assignment. I showed Nadib how to use the software and basically taught all there was to know, as he was getting to grips with the editing I was on set helping with the filming, and as I had already identified some of the music we would implement within our media assignment, I asked the group to do more research and planning, just in case.
Nadib gave instructions to Aran and Tom on how to dress, well he sorted all the prop, costumes out, and he did an excellent job of that.
The first shot type was when Tom was limping and trying to run at the same time,with heavy breathingto emphasize on the pain. The shot type we used was a point of view shot which really helped show or even make the audience feel what he (Tom) is going, almost feeling sorry for him in the process.There were a number of shots during the actual fight part of the scene where the main intention was to give Aran as much prevalence and domination as possible in order for the audience to identify him as the main character. The good thing about Tom and Aran is that Aran is significantly taller which made our job much easier in giving him this 'predator' status. We also see Aran use his fists on Tom where he falls on the ground and tries to recover using the walls of the walkway as salvation.
Monday, 25 March 2013
Friday, 22 March 2013
Our Audience
We used this rating because it suits the genre and the assignment was able to appeal to our target audience. The assignment does have some explicit language but not excessive amounts, there is a knife utilized and some blood (which is fake), overall the rating is perfect for our type of film genre and has helped us plan in accordance to our target audience.
No one younger than 15 may see a ‘15’ film in a cinema. No one younger than 15 may rent or buy a ‘15’ rated video work.
Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse. The misuse of easily accessible and highly dangerous substances (for example, aerosols or solvents) is unlikely to be acceptable.
Strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic or sexualised.
Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be copied. Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.
There may be frequent use of strong language (for example, ‘fuck’). The strongest terms (for example, ‘cunt’) may be acceptable if justified by the context. Aggressive or repeated use of the strongest language is unlikely to be acceptable.
Nudity may be allowed in a sexual context but without strong detail. There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.
Sexual activity may be portrayed without strong detail. There may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour, but the strongest references are unlikely to be acceptable unless justified by context. Works whose primary purpose is sexual arousal or stimulation are unlikely to be acceptable.
No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate for 15 year olds.
Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Strong sadistic or sexualised violence is also unlikely to be acceptable. There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence but any portrayal of sexual violence must be discreet and have a strong contextual justification
Editing
The sound utilized in the Media Assignment was all non-copyright, and on top of all that we produced some of our own music using the software: Traktor 2 and Mix Meister Fusion 7, I was familiar with using the sound development software and it has worked well for us. Here are a few screenshots of the sound software we used to produce some of our own, original beats.
Traktor 2:
MP3 Direct Cut:
Mix Meister Fusion 7:
Thursday, 21 March 2013
Video diary
22/1/13
There has been a full weeks gap after the filming because we had the intention of taking our time and doing some editing and research in the time between filming, such as sound- type of music and the week break also gave us the chance to take inspiration from other assignments and produce ideas of our own, which we would utilize and implement within our own media assignment. In order for our assignment to at least achieve perfection we thought that we would take our time and be careful to produce the best quality of work possible, finishing before the deadline of course. While filming the first half of the media assignment, we experimented a number of shots and angles to give the audience the best view of the action, as there are many fast paced action scenes such as fighting and moderate violence, this was necessary.
I took my laptop to the film shooting scene, and showed the group some of the effects we could implement within our assignment, some shots as i had experimented before were shown to the rest of the group as well as different types of sound. As the first three quarters of the assignment was mainly action and the main part for the audience to watch, it was vital that we had everything timed to perfection as this scene where the hunter kills the victim was the centre piece of the assignment.
As soon as we finished the actual filming we knew the editing would be a long process, because of the magnanimous amount of shots we took.
We have been discussing possible names for the film, there are three to choose from, 'The Hunter', 'The Final Assignment' or 'The Pursuer'.
Video Diary
5/1/13
The filming of the urban/action media assignment started today. We were feeling rather confident after our preliminary task which we done in October but the mistakes and problems that we encountered then helped us gain the experience when filming. As we have gained valuable knowledge from the criticisms of our preliminary task, we have been able to avoid certain errors or causes of errors to ensure the filming process runs smoothly. For example in the preliminary task, we had failed to abide to the 180 degree rule where I looked to have suddenly switched positions. Now we are being extra cautious of our positioning when filming.
7/1/13
Today, we decided to start filming the end of our opening two minutes where Aran receives a phone call for his next mission. We started with the ending because the rest of the filming had to be at night and we were all available during the day so we could at least make a start. Filming itself only took about an hour for this specific section but costume was as important today as we needed to make sure Aran's character didn't giveaway too many clues so we decided to dress him in all black. Our location for the ending of our two minutes was on a bridge located in Leatherhead over the M25. Aran was the only one needed in this scene where he received a phone call giving him his next target. We used a number of shots including close-ups, extreme close-ups and medium shots as well as long shots. The reason for this is because we want to have that element of choice when editing where we can see which shots better as opposed to having one standard shot.
Here is a picture of the bridge at the time of filming overlooking the M25.
What today was also used for was getting grips with the camcorder which I had acquired. The good thing about this camcorder was that it has a specific feature called anti-shake which reduces the amount the camera shakes but we will find out whether this is an effective process during the editing stage in a few weeks. We do have a trigram but thanks to the anti-shake, we didn't really have any use for it but we may need it when we actually begin filming the action scenes.
This is the camcorder we used which also had HD as well as anti-shake.
The filming of the urban/action media assignment started today. We were feeling rather confident after our preliminary task which we done in October but the mistakes and problems that we encountered then helped us gain the experience when filming. As we have gained valuable knowledge from the criticisms of our preliminary task, we have been able to avoid certain errors or causes of errors to ensure the filming process runs smoothly. For example in the preliminary task, we had failed to abide to the 180 degree rule where I looked to have suddenly switched positions. Now we are being extra cautious of our positioning when filming.
7/1/13
Today, we decided to start filming the end of our opening two minutes where Aran receives a phone call for his next mission. We started with the ending because the rest of the filming had to be at night and we were all available during the day so we could at least make a start. Filming itself only took about an hour for this specific section but costume was as important today as we needed to make sure Aran's character didn't giveaway too many clues so we decided to dress him in all black. Our location for the ending of our two minutes was on a bridge located in Leatherhead over the M25. Aran was the only one needed in this scene where he received a phone call giving him his next target. We used a number of shots including close-ups, extreme close-ups and medium shots as well as long shots. The reason for this is because we want to have that element of choice when editing where we can see which shots better as opposed to having one standard shot.
Here is a picture of the bridge at the time of filming overlooking the M25.
What today was also used for was getting grips with the camcorder which I had acquired. The good thing about this camcorder was that it has a specific feature called anti-shake which reduces the amount the camera shakes but we will find out whether this is an effective process during the editing stage in a few weeks. We do have a trigram but thanks to the anti-shake, we didn't really have any use for it but we may need it when we actually begin filming the action scenes.
This is the camcorder we used which also had HD as well as anti-shake.
R&P
How has research impacted the decisions I have made while film production?
My research has helped me with film production in many ways and here are the main elements of influence:
1) Audience Profiling
I have done 5 different blogs on audience profiling with a similar genre and it helped me in a number of ways.Firstly it helped my group and I decide what age rating would be appropriate for our movie as similar films such as Hot Fuzz and Green Street had ratings of 15 and 18 but all the others also had a rating of 15. This helped us make the decision that our movie will be a 15 rated movie.
Another thing that audience profiling has helped me with is to find what my target genre was going to be and the film that helped me the most with this is Green Street. This is because I believe that our movie would best resemble Green Street in the sense that there won't be any female characters. The majority gender that watched this movie was male so we knew that our target gender would be mainly male as we also wouldn't have a female character. If the movie were to be longer than the opening two minutes, we would probably have a female character but one wasn't really necessary for this opening scene as it will be an action scene.
A final thing that I have identified from my audience profiling is that all classes would be interested in watching my movie which I was rather surprised about. I will use Green street as an example again. This is a movie that I personally won't associate wit the upper class but the upper class watched it as much as the middle and lower classes.
2) Opening 2 minute annotation.
I have done about 7 blogs annotating the opening two minutes of other movies. It has helped me understand what should be included in the opening two minutes of a movie. For example Hot Fuzz would open via giving an introduction of the main character; Sergent Nicholas Angel played by Simon Pegg so this piece of research effectively helped me gain some ideas about my movie way back in September.
Something else this has helped me with is to identify different camera angles, movements and mise-en-sine. From these opening two minutes, I could see different camera shots being used in practise and also films abiding to certain rules such as the 180 degree rule.
3) Film Certificate Research
What I found from this is reassurance that my the certificate rating for my movie should be 15 as my movie would include moderate language but it does involve an action scene which includes a knife.
Film Production Companies - Which One and Why?
As you can see the revolver entertainment logo at the top, it is our chosen film institution to use because it helps justify the film we are going to produce another reason as to why e are going to use this film institution is because it has specialized in other action films such as the 'imposter' and 'the revenge'.
Editing- AS Media Assignment
This screenshot is the editing of the actual clips with transitions and effects to smooth out the time between the different frames.
This is a screenshot of the video editing as well, this clip was one of the hardest, because the knife with the blood was quite hard to capture and keep timed to perfection, so that the fake blood didn't drip off so quickly.
There were many effects and 'special effects' to choose from for the title sequence, but we chose a bold title entrance to make it fit in with our genre of action urban/thriller.
AS Media Assignment
This is a near finished assignment, as there are a few more adjustments to make such as cutting a few seconds off, and pulling some of the music a few milli-seconds.
Wednesday, 20 March 2013
Script
As our film is of an Action genre and the opening two minutes consists of an
action scene, we have no need to include much dialogue as we wanted to show that
it was fast paced and I believe that dialoge would slow down the pace of the
movie as it is a chase scene.
Aran: Stay on your fucking knees
This will be when Aran catches up with Tom and punches him to the ground. This shows that he is strong.
Aran: Job done.
This is when Aran has killed Tom and confirms that he has killed him.
Aran: Yes, Yes, I'm Ready
This is towards the end of the movie where Arans next assignment is set.
Aran has a few dialogue lines to say, this is because as the film genre is action themed, Aran being the main lead, he has prevalence in film time aswell as dialougue-wise, there is a lot of action and we wanted minimum words spoken aswell as maximum action doing the talking to the audience. By using this guideleine, we want to deploy the effect of actions speaking louder than words.
Aran: Stay on your fucking knees
This will be when Aran catches up with Tom and punches him to the ground. This shows that he is strong.
Aran: Job done.
This is when Aran has killed Tom and confirms that he has killed him.
Aran: Yes, Yes, I'm Ready
This is towards the end of the movie where Arans next assignment is set.
Aran has a few dialogue lines to say, this is because as the film genre is action themed, Aran being the main lead, he has prevalence in film time aswell as dialougue-wise, there is a lot of action and we wanted minimum words spoken aswell as maximum action doing the talking to the audience. By using this guideleine, we want to deploy the effect of actions speaking louder than words.
Cast
Tom is the victim of the film, whereas Aran will be the main actor, Mohamad will be shooting the film with the camcorder, and Nadib has supplied the cast wioth props, such as knives, fake blood, make-up, costume, and the whole group will have a definite input of the media assignment.
Another factor in choosing who would play what role, was to do with how effective which person would be in which type of role. For example, Mohamad was chosen to be the secretive 'bossman', Aran was already chosen as 'the hunter' as he was the tallest and we wanted a 'big, tall' figure to fit the bill. There was some tough competition in choosing between Nadib and Tom, for playing the role of the 'victim' at the very beginning of the 2 minutes. After taking into consideration on how which person would be the best for the role, we evntually opted to choose Tom, mainly because he had been more effective in showing how the victim should be portrayed.
Another factor in choosing who would play what role, was to do with how effective which person would be in which type of role. For example, Mohamad was chosen to be the secretive 'bossman', Aran was already chosen as 'the hunter' as he was the tallest and we wanted a 'big, tall' figure to fit the bill. There was some tough competition in choosing between Nadib and Tom, for playing the role of the 'victim' at the very beginning of the 2 minutes. After taking into consideration on how which person would be the best for the role, we evntually opted to choose Tom, mainly because he had been more effective in showing how the victim should be portrayed.
This is Nadib
Aran
Wednesday, 6 March 2013
R&P - Costume
There was a lot of coordination and communication needed to have the correct costume and make-up, such as fake blood for the media assignment. Nadib provieded the group with all the necessities and which helped the filming immensely
Tom is the victim in our media assignment, so he will be wearing casual clothes, such as jeans, jumper and trainers
Aran is the main character, who is a hunter/assassin, he will be wearing black clothes to hide his identity, and the dark clothes will show mysteriousness and secrecy. He will be wearing a black coat, black scarf, black shoes and black trousers, to show some kind of uniform, which could make the audience think that he is part of a fraternity or group or something.
Tom is the victim in our media assignment, so he will be wearing casual clothes, such as jeans, jumper and trainers
Aran is the main character, who is a hunter/assassin, he will be wearing black clothes to hide his identity, and the dark clothes will show mysteriousness and secrecy. He will be wearing a black coat, black scarf, black shoes and black trousers, to show some kind of uniform, which could make the audience think that he is part of a fraternity or group or something.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)