This is our shooting schedule for our film shoot, attached in a word document.
Thursday, 17 December 2015
Wednesday, 16 December 2015
Contingency plan
Contingency Plan:
This blog was produced by me and my team
member Joe.
As a team we had to plan our film in
terms of what we will do if things go wrong. Some common problems to things
going wrong within a team could be:
* Cast dropping out/ being unreliable/
being bad actors (eg poor facial expressions)
* Crew being late/ getting lost
* Locations not letting you film there/
being too noisy/ having too many people in the background
* Battery running out on the camera
* Continuity problems (eg filming one
scene with a character wearing a shirt with two buttons done up, and
then accidentally filming another scene with the character where he
has three or four buttons done up.
The first problem within our team could
be people dropping out, being unreliable or not even taking it serious. I will
try to make sure everyone is happily contributing to the group and that no one
feels left out at all so everyone is enjoying the work. If anyone isn't a
reliable character within the group then address this to them so that
they know and can hopefully act upon this, and not delegate as important
tasks to them. Anyone who is not taking the coursework serious and
understanding how important it is will be talked to firmly and if no change
then raise a concern with our media teacher to try and sort out the best thing
for the group.
The second problem that we as a group
may face is crew being late or getting lost. This is not as big of an issue as
the first problem, however if the team member has a valid reason for being late
then we will have to work extra fast to get all the footage we need. If it is
due to public transport and only happens once or twice then it can be
overlooked, but anymore than I will speak to them directly and again if no
change, then notify our media teacher.
If a location is not letting us film
there then we will find another suitable venue and thank them anyway. On the
other hand if the place is too noisy or has too many people in the background
politely speak to the manager and ask if the could either quiet down or if we
can come back at another time maybe to use the location by ourselves.
Battery running out is a very common
problem but this applies to groups who are unorganised and lazy.
Firstly as a team we will not only be organised but plan out stage of filming
and what we will need. In the circumstance that we might forget it, then I will
make sure that we have spare batteries ready.
Continuity problems will affect the
finished product of our opening sequence badly. So in each shot we will write
down costumes and set and carefully change scenes once everything is done, for
example: if our character is seen wearing a robe walking out to the ring then
when he enters the ring he cant be wearing a jumper or anything other than what
he is seen in before.
Costume & Props list
Costume & Prop List:
This was produced by myself and Joe.
Props:
Talc - Talcum powder adds an effect to the lighting and
can make a character appear more mysterious.
Mirror - We used a mirror in the changing rooms for when
our main character is shadow boxing. This creates a sense of realisation
between him and the obstacles he must overcome.
Spritz – Spritz to spray on the boxers when fighting in
order o add the effect of sweating and to make the opening sequence look as
realistic and professional as possible.
White Tape - The white tape was
used as an implication of how professional the fight is.
Tape is an extremely important kit requirement for professional
boxers as they use it when they are warming up and wear it underneath the
gloves for extra padding.
Small Stool - This is a generic
convention of all boxing matches as the audience always sees boxers on stools
before and during fights.
Black Marker
Sponge
Headphones - We chose to use
headphones for our scene of Charlie in the changing rooms. As he take his head
phones of the music turns from non diegetic sound to diegetic. So again this
connotes the seriousness of the fight to come.
Water Bottle – This is a generic
convention suited for the opening sequences genre.
Gum shield – Again, this is a
generic convention of boxing matches.
Wardrobe:
Charlie:
Cloak with hood- The reason we chose to give Charlie a
Cloak is because we have a silhouette of him walking out
of the dressing room to the ring in it. This gives our character a
mysterious presence and keeps the opening sequence tense.
Shorts
Boots
Gloves
Joe:
Shorts
Boots
Gloves
Zack:
All black tracksuit - Zack had to
wear an all black tracksuit because he was the coach in our opening sequence.
We thought that using dark basic colours like black to connote that he isn't an
important character in the film.
Referee:
Ref shirt
Bow tie - The Ref wore a bow tie to signify that
this fight is official, and could be a life changing fight.
Trousers
Focus Group
The focus group was filmed in my kitchen.
The whole team took part in the production of this task.
Opening sequence pitch
Group opening sequence
pitch:
This was produced by myself, also with the help of my team
member Charlie.
TITLE CREDITS SOUND: Motivational speech
produced by Paris. (28 SECONDS)
FIRST SECONDS - Jack (Charlie)
has his hands on the sink then looks up at the mirror demonstrated through a
wide shot with intense lighting creating a shadow effect on the wall.
3-5 SECONDS - Jack (Charlie)
takes his hood down and stares at the mirror, again illustrated through a wide
shot with generic conventions featured, for example: a water bottle.
5-20 SECONDS - Jack
(Charlie) is shadow boxing in the mirror getting himself 'hyped up',
denoted through various different angles. These include a wide shot, medium
shot, over the shoulder shot, a close up, an extreme close up and a low shot to
connote power.
20-25 SECONDS – Zac’s (Zack) hands
enter a tight (close up shot) frame of Jack’s shoulders and touches him on
the shoulder. Then immediately pull out to medium shot. Jack (Charlie) looks
round and takes his headphones off. Zac (Zack) and Jack (Charlie) have a slight
conversation, so it doesn’t ruin the build – up of the opening sequence.
25-35 SECONDS - Zac (Zack) is out
of shot but his hands are within the frame. Jack (Charlie) is out of shot apart
from his hands. Zac (Zack) is putting tape and boxing gloves on Jack (Charlie).
Close up of the hand movements. This will be split up into two different shots
linked with a cross dissolve video transition.
35-40 SECONDS - This is a wide
shot of Jack (Charlie) leaving the changing room and opening a door about to
walk up to the ring.
40-45 SECONDS - Jack
(Charlie) is walking out to the ring in a hooded robe, captured through
the use of a silhouette camera technique connoting the mysteriousness and
emotion the boxer is experiencing.
45-48 SECONDS – Cut away of a
pull focus shot of the boxing ring’s ropes.
48-55 SECONDS - Tracking shot of
Jack shadow boxing in the ring but switches between a tight shot to a loose
frame – connected with a cross dissolve editing technique.
55-62 SECONDS – Jack
(Charlie) in the corner of the ring sitting on a small chair, being
spoken to by Zac (Zack). There will be an over the shoulder shot but then
alternates between two point-of-view shots (subjective filming). Charlie bangs
gloves together and stands up – further fades in to the next shot to connote a
small amount of time has passed.
62-67 SECONDS - Jack (Charlie)
fights with Ali (Joe), they throw punches at each other but none land. Again,
this is demonstrated through a tracking shot of this fight sequence.
67-72 SECONDS - Jack (Charlie) is
hit twice by Ali (Joe); there will be an action match between the final two
punches thrown. It will start from a P.O.V shot then change to an over the
shoulder shot of Jack then being knocked out.
72-78 SECONDS - Slow motion shot
of Jack (Charlie) hitting the floor his gum-shield comes out and he is clearly
KO'd, Captured by a floor shot.
78-80 SECONDS - Cut sharply to
black and the titles will appear. Separately emerging on screen, the words
‘One’ – ‘Two’ will appear in big, bold, modern font and in a white colour.
All together the film should come up to just over two
minutes long.
IDEAS FOR MUSIC AND SOUND:
First things first, the motivational speech at the
start of our opening sequence is spoken from the protagonist’s P.O.V directly
at the audience. This is to engage and entertain the demographic. This links in
with Blumler & Katz’s Uses & Gratifications theory whereby audiences
use different types of media to receive a particular ‘function’. In this case
the audience will gain a sense of ‘entertainment’ because the motivational
speech is guaranteed to engage the target audience and could potentially provide
a sense of ‘escapism’ because the speech is directly addressing the audience
and the demographic could become enticed to this speech and be transported into
a thought process of aspirations and dreams he/she wishes to escape to. This
really sets the trend of the mood and atmosphere for the target audience.
The music will be a dramatic build-up, but not too
faced-paced in order to build a sense of atmosphere for the audience. This is
to provide an element of experiential insight for the target audience. Therefore
the use of a ‘drone’ incorporated within the music used will gain the perfect
effect for my intension. Also, the rhythm within the music track can’t be too
fast otherwise it will spoil the experiential factor surrounding the build-up
of the opening sequence into the fight scene.
The sounds I add into the opening sequence are crucial
into gaining an awesome atmosphere for the audience. For example: when Jack
(Charlie) punches his gloves together I must add that sound affect that goes
with it in order for it not only to not look ‘tacky’ but also to feel a real
sense of atmospheric surroundings for the active target audience. In addition,
this also applies to the fight sequence; I need to add in breathing sound
affects in order to gain this experiential atmospheric feel. Furthermore, to
end this atmospheric feel off nicely, it is a good idea to implant a heart-beat
sound when the title appears on screen when Jack is knocked out with a ‘One –
Two’.
There are elements of dialogue in the opening sequence
in order to build-up the narrative as well as the tension. But I must make sure
when editing the dialogue doesn’t become over-whelmed by the powerful build-up
of the music.
Preliminary task evaluation
Preliminary
task evaluation:
The filming
aspect of our preliminary task was encouraging. It allowed me to demonstrate
and experiment with different camera angles and movements. I filmed the
criminal entering using a still, medium shot and maintaining the stationary
position while the door closed slowly, in order to build the atmosphere around
the character, connoting the criminal had another side to him which is
expressed towards the end of the prelim. I incorporated the use of a panning
shot when the detectives and the criminal’s lawyer were talking about the case.
I did this because we had the idea to implement a panning shot in our real
opening sequence and therefore we decided to try it out. Also, I filmed some
over-the-shoulder shots as I thought it would suit the idea regarding an
interview. A birds-eye-view shot was filmed because the whole point of the
prelim task is to enable us to experiment with different camera shots in order
to prepare us for the filming of our actual opening sequence. In addition, I
managed to film a two shot of both the criminal and his lawyer and then there
is another two shot of myself and my college – this was done in order to
connote the bond between the ‘detectives’ and the criminal and his lawyer. Overall,
we as a group had a clear understanding of how to use the camera and how to
execute a good range of angles into our prelim task in order to give the
audience a sense of emotion. The emotion is not only connoted through various
camera angles but also through the criminal’s actions, for example: he explodes
with frustration as he flips then table and knocks the chair. Therefore, the
active audience should feel empathetic towards the criminal because he is
extremely disorientated with the over-whelming emotion passing through him. 
Furthermore,
I and my group purposely broke the 180 degree rule because we thought it was
necessary in order to connote the disruption and disorientation that the
criminal is experiencing. Although, we didn’t break the 180 degree rule because
of that, we broke it because in our real opening sequence there is a
possibility whereby the 180 - degree rule is broken. The rule may not be broken
under the same circumstances in our opening sequence but it was good to
experiment with it.
Also the
tripod was an essential piece of equipment while shooting the preliminary task
because it allowed us to use a wide range of shots and also represents the
overall filming task as a clear, precise and good quality piece of work.
The editing
process during the preliminary task was a lot easier then what my group thought
because as it happens, I know how to edit. We used the editing software called
‘Final Cut Express’ that is very simple, easy and efficient to use; especially
when the timeline and tools were so easy to navigate and understand. While
editing I thought it would be a good idea to incorporate some transitions and
dissolves in order to gain an idea of what it may look like in our real opening
sequence. An example of a transition I used would be the fade in and fade out
transition between certain shots in order to build an element of engagement
between the audience and the characters. I also used a shot, reverse shot
editing technique in order to contrast the detectives and criminals views on
what actually happened; and to connote conflict between the characters and to
allow the audience to see the characters reactions using a close up shot. In
addition, the hardest part of the editing process to execute was the action
match. Although it is very short, it still had the same effect than any other
action match would.
Also, when
editing I used a backing track in order to build, again, a sense of atmosphere
for the audience. The non – diegetic sound really added an element of tension
to the preliminary task and I will include a music track in our opening
sequence. Therefore, it was good to experiment with the sound levels of the
music and it is crucial that you get it just right so that the volume of the
music doesn’t affect the clarity of the dialogue.
Considering
that it was only a prelim I feel confident entering the editing stage
surrounding our opening sequence because ultimately, the editing stage was
helpful for the group into understanding the concept on how to edit our opening
sequence and has definitely taught me a thing or two. Accordingly, I and my
group feel happy now when it comes to editing our real opening sequence!
There were a
few problems we encountered along the way. The location of the preliminary task
did affect the time we had left to film it. In actual fact, we got kicked out
of one place because we didn’t have permission to use it and that forced us to
contact the location we want to film at for our opening sequence and set a time
and day. Therefore, this has helped us in our preparation. Another problem that
we faced was the back ground noise while filming, I used the expressions “quiet
in the house” and “quiet on set please” to try and cut out some of this noise.
To a certain extent it did work but there is still a small amount of background
noise which isn’t noticeable due to the backing track but this will help us
prepare when filming our opening sequence. Also, the mis-en-scene was an issue
because we didn’t have any lighting to set an atmosphere on the set and most
importantly on the characters. This has bought me to the realisation that
lighting is key when filming and will be used when filming our opening
sequence.
The
strengths of this preliminary task was the fact that we gained a better
conceptual understanding of filming and editing. The different camera angles
are vital when shooting a good quality film and using various editing
techniques are crucial when representing a particular character or mis-en-scene
in a specific way.
However,
there are some weaknesses that the prelim demonstrates. There is one noticeable
continuity error when the table on ground doesn’t match the same position when
filming the birds-eye-view shot. Although this is a minor error that not many
audiences will take account for, it cannot be allowed to happen. Therefore, we
have taken it on board on how easy it is to make a small mistake or error like
that and it won’t happen in our opening sequence.
The moments
that I will remember to take with me when producing our opening sequence would
be the camera and editing techniques. The camera work and angles demonstrated
and used connoted many in-depth meanings and this will be incredibly helpful
when shooting our opening sequence. Also,
when editing our final opening sequence, I will remember and use the different
transitions and editing techniques, for example: the fade transition and the
cuts.
Furthermore,
when we broke the 180 degree rule, I must remember the aspects surrounding that
and how we broke it because it is essential for the execution of our opening
sequence that we get it right. Although the breaking of the rule isn’t under
the same circumstances as in our opening sequence, it is still very useful to
remember when practising it.
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