Animatic Storyboard

This is my animatic video that I produced to help the planning of my final film opening. This was incredibly helpful while filming as I could use it to make sure that the shots I was filming matched up with the shots on the animatic, in this sense, it acted as a shot list.

It also helped me plan how long my opening would be, after producing my animatic I knew that my video would be too short so I knew that I would have to add more footage, I could then bear this in mind when filming.

Generic Conventions - Props and Essential Scenes

The film opening I am making is an action film, I have researched generic conventions for action films to help improve my opening sequence.



Guns, action films are well known for having lots and lots of guns. Almost every character carries some form of weapon usually and they play a vital role in the fight scenes.





Secret missions, the protagonist is usually tasked with completing a very dangerous top secret mission, normally involving infiltrating a certain group of villains.




Explosions, every action film will include a scene where something explodes, it seems that many action films try and fit in as many explosions as possible as they give a sense of awe to the film and get hearts racing.





Chase scenes, an action film will include a scene where someone, most likely the protagonist, is being chased by a group of official looking bad guys.





Fight scenes, action movies always have to have lots of these, well co-ordinated fights scenes are essential for an action film and are good to get adrenaline pumping and define the protagonist as the hero by defeating the villains.

Actors and Characters

For my film I will only need one actor; the person sitting on the bench who is also the person getting chased. My friend Dylan will act the character who walks into shot in the forest and sits on the bench, getting up and leaving near the end of the clip. Dylan will also act the character who is involved in the action/chase scenes, running away from something we don't see. I have asked a friend to act the character in the action scenes so that I can be behind the camera, constantly moving, doing follow shots and changing angles, running with the main character. This means that I can be more creative with the use of cinematography in the action scenes and use quick cuts with short clips edited together to fit the feel of the action scene.

Originally I was going to play the character in the forest scene and Dylan would play the character in the chase scene but I changed the film last minute so Dylan would play both characters and the chase scene would be flashbacks as Dylan, (in the forest scene) finally came to rest but couldn't relax, flinching and twitching as he remembered the chase. I preferred this because not only did it make the narrative more interesting but it also meant that I could be in control of the camera for all the shots, this allowed me to be more creative with the camera shots and be able to see how a shot is going to look at all times instead of placing the camera in the hands of someone else and risking not having the shot exactly as I wanted it.

BBFC Rating certificate research

Costume and Props

For the scene where the character is in the forest sitting on the bench, I will have him dressed in stereotypical normal clothing for a teenage boy, this will consist of casual clothing, dark jeans and a white t-shirt with a hoodie on but the hood down. This to create the idea that this character is a normal person, making the audience wonder why they are in the woods and how this could possibly be related to the chase scene. 

For the chase scene I will use costumes more carefully, I will have the actor dressed in shabby clothing, trying to create the look that he was caught unaware and has been wearing these clothes for days. I will use clothes that are torn and dirty in order to make this seem realistic and make him seem rugged and worn out.

Location Research

Location Research
I will need to look into two locations for my research, one for the forest scene and one for the chase scene. I have planned both locations so they are local in order to make filming easier and so I have a good knowledge of the area. For the forest scene I need a bench surrounded by forest, I want to find an area with no signs or bins so the area seems more natural and relaxing as if it is untouched by human kind even though it is obviously not. For the chase scene all I need is a quiet road near school, the houses along the road do not matter so much as most shots will either be close ups where not much of the road is visible or soft focus shots so you cannot make out details on the houses. There will also be motion blur from the quick movement so the focus will not be on the houses. This means I can use the same area of the road more than once from different angles and it will not be obvious.

Forest Scene

For my forest scene I have chosen to use a park, their are two parks nearby that have large areas of forest, I have chosen to use Cheam Park as it is very close to the school and has everything I need for the shots I have planned. In the park there is a small clearing with a bench in the centre, this would be the perfect place to film the forest scene.

Chase Scene
I have  chosen to use the roads outside my house as they are easily accessible and are not very busy so I will not have to worry about looking out for cars when we are filming. This means we can have someone keeping an eye on the road and warning us about cars while we film someone running down the middle of the road and manoeuvring as he needs to.

Soundtrack Research

I needed copyright-free music to use for the soundtrack of my opening, I looked around alot of copyright-free music websites but couldn't find anything so I looked on youtube for small independant artists who create music that you can use for free without having to worry about copyright. I found someone called Josh A on youtube who produces the kind of music I was after, I found a song called This Is War that is upbeat and would fit some of my scenes well.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4n6rcyL2eI
I plan on using this music in the background of the sequence where there is fast paced action with quick shots and movements so the quick tempo of the music fits with the action. I also found another piece of music that is copyright-free produced by a youtube soundtrack creator called Winside, the song, Reapers, would fit well with the action of the scene also but is more chaotic which I think will fit well with the chaotic nature of the chase scene.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZnzcJNPP3c


I also found a range of websites dedicated to royalty free music, some of the sites have categories to make it easier to find certain types of music with different tempos and pitches so I can choose soundtracks that fit with the scenes. Here are some of the more useful sites I found:

freemusicarchive.org

freestockmusic.com

bensound.com

Font Research

I researched some fonts that I could use in my opening titles that would fit the theme of the film, I used some different font websites using the word 'Action' to test how each font looked. Here are some of my favourites:

They each fit the film but they each represent the film in a different way, the top right one is very bold and would fit a superhero movie becuase of its big letters, the bottom left one would fit a horror film more because of its font, it looks like someone has written it very frantically. The bottom right one would fit the film quite well and I like how it has little sections cut out of each letter so it is not your usual font.

Peer Assessment.

Targets.

• Do more analysis and detail on "The Proposal".
• screen grabs of Kamini's blog. 
• Opening of films analysis. Use YouTube video then evaluate.
• Font research explain why the chosen one would be the best. 

Strengths.

• Well detailed analysis on age certificate.
• Detailed explanation of opening of the film.
• Sound research well analysed and explanation of why you chose them. 
• Detailed analysis of Institution, good use of Youtube video.
• Good use of technological convergence. 

Film Opening Ideas - So far

My film opening will consist of a mixture of two very different scenarios cut together, one is a slow, peaceful and relaxed scene of a boy sitting in a forest, listening to music and relaxing. The other is the same boy but beaten up, cuts and bruises with dirty and torn clothes, running as fast as he can down a street, sliding over car bonnets and swerving around people, trying to get away from something.

The opening will start with the credits which I will choose carefully to create a dark, serious and tense atmosphere and it will fade out to a still, quiet scene with subtle quiet noises such as the wind in the trees and birds singing as the shot fades in, a bright shot of a forest in daylight with a bench in the centre. The boy walks over slowly and sits on the bench, putting earphones in and listening to music. I will edit the music in over the top as a non-digetic sound and try to make it sound as if it is coming through his headphones. 

It will then cut to the next scenario quickly of the same boy in the chase scene. This scene will consist of very quick cuts from quite extreme low or high angles to create the sense of confusion as the boy runs quickly navigating obstacles and dodging the odd person. The music for this scene will cut into the fastest, loudest  part of the soundtrack I have chosen to make it seem as if the viewer has been thrown in to this scenario with no idea what is going on and make the viewer feel like they are being thrown around, wondering why the character is running.

Quite suddenly it will cut back to the scene in the forest where the main character, the boy, is still sitting down, listening to music and relaxing, creating the idea that the boy is oblivious to the horror that is happening/has happened/is going to happen by using extreme opposites. The sudden calmness after the fast paced, loud chase makes gives the viewer time to relax again and form questions in their mind as to what is going on.

These cuts continue with no explanation as to what is happening and how these events are linked until a cut of the person on the bench changes slightly. The person checks their watch and sighs, putting their headphones away and pulling out something from their pocket, typing into it and placing it on the bench before walking out of shot.

Kamini's 18/20 research and planning blog

This is an example of a blog that got 18/20.
http://thrillerblog2011.blogspot.co.uk/

Film opening analysis

Opening credits analysis

Editing analysis

Look into sub genres

                                                                     

Target Demographic

The demographic for the films Taken and Taken 2 are both male between 15 and 34. Seeing as I am basing my film around these ideas my film will probably appeal to these demographics most. I can use this data to help decide who to target if I decide to interview people or ask people to fill in surveys. I would target males and females between 15 and 34 as they are the majority of my potential audience. Bearing in mind I am aiming this film at this demographic, they will be able to help me improve and add things that will make the film appeal to them so the film will be more popular.




My film fits in with the action genre, after researching I can see that most action films (including those I am comparing mine to) are aimed at males aged 15-34. This is evident in the two tables shown above. In both there is a slightly higher percentage of males than females and the majority of people are in the age categories of 15-24 and 25-34.

This is a picture of my typical audience member. His name is James, he is 20 years old and enjoys meeting up with his friends to go out. He enjoys drumming and has been playing for years. He wants to go and see my film at the cinema because the visual effects and fight scenes appeal to him as he likes the adrenaline fuelled fights and stand-offs between hero and villain. He wants to go and see the film with a group of friends as he thinks he will like the film.

Moodboard

This is the mood-board for my film. I have taken snapshots from Die Hard, Taken and Pulp Fiction as I am taking ideas from each of these films. I have used lots of pictures of guns as guns will play a large role in my film as a danger to the main character. I have also used a picture with "DANGER" next to a small picture of fire to show that the main character will constantly be in danger, linking to the guns. The characters I have used are Bruce Willis, Liam Neeson, Samuel L Jackson and Vincent Vega. I have chosen these characters as they are representative of action films involving the police and I may base the outfit of my main character off one of these characters.

I have chosen photos that fit with the action movie conventions such as the photo of Liam Neeson fighting in the middle. This shows one very well known action convention which is violence. Action movies are known for well co-ordinated fight scenes where the hero must defend against an attack from the villain's minions. Lots of these pictures show the main character, the protagonist, in the very centre of the shot which shows how the film followers one character, idolising him and presenting him as the hero in order to aid the character development and make the spectator want him to succeed, taking his side.

Institution Research

For my institution I have chosen Lionsgate. I chose Lionsgate because, after watching the opening titles pictured above, I felt as if it fit with my film and so I decided to research into the films Lionsgate have produced. Some of the films currently available to purchase include Divergent, The Expendables 3, You're Next and Escape. These all fit within the same genre and feel of my film and so I felt that Lionsgate were a suitable choice for my film opening. 
Lionsgate have been responsible for a range of classic action films including some which I have taken inspiration from for my film opening and films I have used to look at the conventions of the action genre when creating films. These include; Transporter 3, Abduction, Blitz, Rambo, The Bank Job and The Condemned. Not to mention the Hunger Games films which were an incredible success.

While looking at other possible production companies I noticed that many of the logos were very bright and often had quite long clips at the beginning of a film, both things I didn't want in the opening credits. In the first 30 seconds of a film the viewer will make assumptions about the feel of the film based on the colours and sounds used. In the Lionsgate titles there is a lot of dark colours used with the majority of the opening being the darkness of space. The complete titles take up roughly 21 seconds but I plan on bringing this down to about 15 seconds when editing allowing me more time for the actual film opening which I have produced.

180 degree rule

The 180 degree rule states that the camera must stay one side of an imaginary line, this is most used in over the shoulder shot/reverse shots during a scene where two people are conversing. If the camera crosses over the imaginary line then it appears as if the person in shot has moved because it is filming from a different angle with a slightly different background. The line is drawn perpendicular to the cameras establishing shot of the scene, this rule helps keep continuity in the film. Breaking this rule can confuse the audience and make them lose focus, distracting them from the media and possibly causing them to miss essential details or lines of dialogue in the film.

Match on action

Match on action is an editing technique used for continuity where one shot cuts to another shot where a similar action is taking place, e.g. a shot of a paper plane gliding to a shot of a real plane flying, making a scene match. This creates a feel of continuity, the action carrying through creates a "visual bridge" which distracts the viewers from the cutting between shots. This is different to a graphic match or match cut as it portrays a continuous sense of the same action rather than matching two separate items of a similar shape. 

Film Ideas - Prezi

Shot reverse shot

Shot reverse shot, also known as shot/counter shot is a film technique where one character is shown looking off screen at another character and then it cuts to the other character looking back at the first character. Since the shots are in opposite directions it gives the impression that the two characters are looking at each other.

Diary Post - First Filming Lesson

In my first lesson filming I learnt alot, it was very helpful to have some time where I could get to know how to use the cameras and play around with different shots and angles to see what looks good. We had to film someone, me, walking down a corridor, opening a door, entering the room, sitting down and exchanging a couple of lines of dialougue with someone before leaving. We decided to try and make it slightly more interest than just "Hello." "How are you?" "Good." So we had the two characters act out a breakup. This helped us to learn to think creatively so we could make our pieces of film more interesting.

One of the most important things I learnt was that you should always shoot too much footage. It's much better to have too much footage and to have to delete some or just not use it because once you reach the editing stage it is too late to go back and shoot some more footage as you will be wearing different clothes, look different and the continuality will be ruined. We made sure to try and film multiple takes of each scene incase something messed up or so we could choose the best one and we had two different people filming different angles of the same action at the same time. If I was filming this again I would make sure to check that all the areas we are filming in are appropriately lit as some scenes are darker than others and don't fit together very well.

Film Opening Analysis - The Dark Knight

Film Opening Analysis:
The Dark Knight






One of the films I analysed was the Batman film 'The Dark Knight'. I analysed the opening of this film as an example of a stereotypical action movie intro.

The film begins with a series of titles, it begins with Warner Brothers and then Legendary Pictures and then, finally, DC Comics. All of the titles feature the same colour scheme consisting of dark blues, black and a little bit of white. These dark colours set the feel for the film before it has even begun and help determine that the film is going to be a dark, action film that maybe is not suitable for younger audiences. This matches the target audience as a lighter colour scheme would have been more suitable for children so they have avoided this in order to attract only the correct audience.

The film begins with an establishing shot, it appears to show the city of Gotham at peace, there is nothing going on and it is simply setting the scene. I feel like this establishing shot has a similar effect to the establishing shots of my short film, luring the audience into a false sense of security as everything appears normal at first.

The first character we see immediately throws us into the action/thriller genre. He is holding a weapon of some kind which he has used to blow out the window and is wearing a mask which seems to be inspired by horror films. He appears intimidating through his masked identity, weapon and his actions. We can identify him as an enemy or bad guy because of his scary mask.

Within the first two minutes of the film, we are thrown into the action with a bank robbery, a gang of people wearing the same masks as the first character shown storm the bank, stopping any guards and threatening everyone in order to stop them moving. This fits the generic conventions as often action movies are associated with crime and gangs, similarly to Die Hard.

Film Opening Analysis - A good day to Die Hard

Film Opening Analysis:
A good day to Die Hard







When getting inspiration for my film opening, one of the films I looked at was Die Hard. I watched the opening sequence (first two minutes up till the titles) and took screenshots of important frames.

The first screenshot shows the first titles over a black screen, these display the production companies behind the film but do not play an important role in the story in the film or tell us about the characters.

 The second screenshot is of the first bit of footage we see, in this shot we see a plane landing on runway and another title appears on top. The title names the director of the film and the scene behind it helps set the feel of the film and introduce what turns out to be an important part of the first scene, the plane.

The third screenshot introduces the main character and the other character in the scene, it cuts from an outside view of the plane landing to this shot to help the audience realise that the characters shown are in the plane we saw in the first shot. The main purpose of this shot is to introduce Bruce Willis' character and show his fear of flying as he talks to the person next to him.

The final screenshot end the opening two minutes and end with the title of the movie, in this case, "Die Hard". This is used to show that the opening had finished and now the main part of the film had begun.

This opening follows generic conventions to some extent but the narrative of the story is not typical of that of an action movie. Normally movies from the action or thriller genre start with an action sequence or contain a fight scene, this isn't seen in the opening for Die Hard as it is meant to be more tame and family friendly that movies like The Dark Knight and Shutter Island.