Planning Film Opening - Planning/Generating Ideas

Main Task - Video
Genres
- Horror
- Comedy
- Action
- Adventure
- Crime Drama
- Thriller
- Romance
- Sci-Fi
- Period Drama

Horror
2 Teenagers home alone, having a sleepover.
A psychotic murderer out to kill both of them for their parents wealth. 

Thriller
One person camping out in a forest. Hears footsteps and find out they're not alone.
Has to try to escape the forest. 

Adventure
Young teenager adventuring the forest/city.

Horror (Sleepover) - Movie Opening (Rough Example)
Opening - Scene starts with the two teenagers laughing in a living room with the TV on and candles in the background. The teenagers become bored and decide to play tarot cards. The teens pull the Death, Hanging man and Tower cards to then be greeted by a thunderstorm erupting in the background. Scenes of a mysterious figure can be seen in the background through the windows of the house. Throughout the opening there will be crosscuts of the mysterious figure entering the area and the garden of the house. 

After a short while, the TV begins to static and the candles flicker. One of the teens start to panic whilst the other brushes it off and tries to calm the other down. TV now switches off completely  and both teenagers become anxious. 

The murderer eventually breaks into the house without the teenagers knowing. He begins to taunt and torture them mentally.

Crime/ Thriller - (Rebecca's Idea)

Detective has been investigating the crime of two girls being kidnapped for 11 years. One returns but the family are questioning if this is the right girl. The detective tries to find all three men that are involved and includes his allies to help, but can they be trusted?




Opening - The scene starts with the detective looking at images of the missing girls and looking at the possible suspects. Then the scene changes to a girl in a forest, struggling to walk and end up in a town and collapses. Towns people send her to the local hospital. Diegetic sounds are playing (footsteps and crunching leaves); and non-diegetic sounds in the background (slow, creepy music).

The girl is taken to the family and tries to settle in; there are interviewers outside the house interrogating the family. The family are shocked to see the girl returning and conflict occurs within the household between the parents as one thinks that she isn't the daughter; the dad is always out and the brother is in a gang and always getting arrested.

The detective tries to get answers out of the girl and find the men who were involved, however the girl doesn't want to talk to anyone and isolates herself away from everyone.

The girl fakes a death and runs away as she can't cope being back at home, leaving the family in distraught and horror from the incident. However, the detective still tries to find the men that were involved and doesn't believe that the girl is actually dead, therefore he tries to find her too. He finds clues from newspapers and travels to Iraq and Germany to find the three soldiers that took the girls.

Ryan's opening idea 

A group of teenagers are at a large house party to celebrate on of their 16th birthdays. The scene opens with them all drinking and speaking about the history of their friendship. The scene then cuts to them cleaning up after the party. one of the friends then finds a mysterious looking book that has strange ancient symbols on the cover. One of the friends says to leave the book alone but the friend who discovered it takes it with them and reads if. 

A week after reading a selection of passages from the book the friends experience consistent bad luck until one of the friends decide to interrogate the  friend who read the book. The next day after rhis the friend mysteriously disappears and the scene cuts to them appearing to be possessed by evil spirits and wreaking havoc amongst their friendship group. 

the scene ends with a news report which is informing of the deaths of the three teenagers who were involved with this book and its evil history.   

Evaluation 
As a group, we chose to choose my Horror film opening of "The Sleepover" as the plot for our main video task. There were many reasons as to why. For example: One of these reasons was because of the feedback from other pupils. They said that my Horror idea was very interesting and different to what everyone else presented in the class which is why we chose to pursue this idea. It was also the lowest budget idea as everything that we need to film is already owned by my group and I. 

Roles
All:
- Props
- Schedule
- Resultant Footage
- Script

Rebecca:
- Risk Assessments
- Written aspect of Storyboard

Ryan:
- Synopsis
- Camerman
- Holder of Call Sheets

Tim:
- Director
- Editor (Treatment)
- Locations Sheet
- Visual aspect of Storyboard

Planning for Shoots
Hair and Makeup:
- Teens will have natural makeup, very minimal to minimise pores and imperfections to minimise distractions.
- They may be hit or bruised.
-Killer will be wearing a mask so therefore, makeup is not needed for him. 

Props:
Killer's Props:
- Sharp Blade (Toy Weapon)
- Torch

Teens Props:
- Phones
- Snacks/Drinks
- Torch

Costumes:
Killer
- The killer will be wearing dark clothing, a mask and various other accessories to make him more of an ominous character.

Teens
- The teens will be wearing pyjamas to suit the verisimilitude of the film. Their makeup will be minimal and natural.

Locations:
- A House (Tim's home)
- A large Field (Directly behind the house)

Preliminary Task - Initial Ideas

Storyboard - A storyboard is a comic strip of specific scenes that layout how the scene will look and what's included within the scenes. Things like sound, editing and time would be recorded on a storyboard.

Quick Plan - Police Interrogation

The investigation of a murder is taking place. Two investigators begin to interrogate a suspect of a brutal murder that took place on a college campus.

Sets

·      Dark, Dimly lit room

·      Alleyway

Camera Angles

·      NEEDED – Shot Reverse Shot

·      Close-Up Shots

·      Medium Shots

·      Establishing Shots

Content

·      One person being interrogated. Intense, angry interrogation.

·      Two investigators.

·      A Murder.

·      Narration – The main investigator.

Scene opens with a close up shot of the victim lying dead on the floor of an alleyway. Camera slowly pans out to reveal more of the crime scene to which the camera fades into black. A shot of a suspect cuts into frame where the interrogation of the murder begins.

Dialogue would Include questions such as "Did you kill him?' 'What was your motive?' The basic police interrogations questions. Answers of denial and panic would be used as a response. 

Datenapped

Cast:

Tim - Date Person 1 -Brad /Villain -Gas mask /Director (After Kia left, Editor)

Rebecca - Waitress -Shelly /Kidnapper

Ryan - Date Person 2 -Jack /Kidnappe 

Kia - Camera Girl/Director/Editor (Could not fulfil this role due to leaving)

Script

BLACKOUT

VOICE-OVER - JACK

"It was a normal day, at first. Thought I finally got a chance at love. That was about to Change"

FADE INTO TITLE SCREEN

"DATENAPPED"

FADE IN.

INT. / DAYTIME / RESTAURANT.

A brightly lit restaurant with an open window view in the centre of town. Two males, known as Brad and Jack, are having a blind date. Brad is a dark, nerdy character who seems to have a mysterious aura about him. The other, Jack, has a very innocent appearance: light hair and bright blue eyes. He seems like a genuine, loving young man. 

JACK

"So, do you come here often?"

BRAD

"Yeah I come here.. probably every weekend? Roughly." 

JACK

"Oh? Why's that?"

BRAD

"I come here to do a couple of shifts here and there. Just some extra work."

JACK
"Oh right."

BRAD
"Excuse me! Waitress!"
*Waitress walks over to the table*
"Could we have a glass of bourbon, and a glass of wine please?"

SHELLY
"Of course! I'll be right back."
*Waitress walks over to the bar*

CAMERA FOLLOWS WAITRESS USING A TRACKING SHOT.

The bar is a very simplistic bar. The waitress stands over the bar with her back to the rest of the restaurant. Shelly makes two drinks and slips a mysterious powder into right glass. She collects the drinks and walks back over to the table.

JACK and BRAD

"Thank you!"

SHELLY

"Is there anything else I can get for you two?"

BRAD
"No thank you."
*Waitress leaves*

*Both JACK and BRAD pick up their drinks*

CAMERA CUT TO THE WAITRESS FOLLOWED BY A EYE-LINE SHOT OF THE DOOR. 

Shelly looks over to the couple sitting at the table then looks back to the door. She then flips the sign over from open to closed. Waitress walks away and the CAMERA ZOOMS INTO THE SIGN SLIGHTLY. CAMERA CUTS BACK TO TABLE.

BRAD

"Cheers!"

*Couple bash drinks. JACK takes a sip*

"So, how's your evening going so far?"

JACK

"It's going.. okay.. T-thank.. you."

BRAD

"What's wrong? Are you okay?"

*Audio sounds to dilate as BRAD speaks*

*Waitress walks behind JACK and covers his head with a sack*

SCREEN SUDDENLY CUTS TO BLACK.

FADE IN.

INT. / NIGHTTIME / DARK ROOM.

The scene begins with a CLOSE-UP SHOT of Jack's face which has been covered with a sack. CAMERA ZOOMS OUT to become a MEDIUM SHOT. The sack is viciously ripped off Jack's head to reveal a slightly beat, tired-looking Jack. CAMERA CONTINUES TO ZOOM OUT to become a LONG SHOT. We now see that Jack is tied up on a chair in a dark room with a single spotlight poised onto his face and upper body.

CAMERA CUTS to a TRACKING SHOT of the kidnapper's lower leg and feet, slowly walking towards the light emitting from the spotlight. 

The kidnapper is in fully dark clothing. Mainly leather clothes with black shoes and a dark gas mask. 

KIDNAPPER

*Ominously circles the chair as JACK tries to escape from rope*

*Calming tone*

"Don't try to escape. It'll only end badly for you."

JACK

*Nervous voice*

"Wha-Wha-What do you Wa-Want from me?"

KIDNAPPER

*Snaps to action, throws hand to JACK's neck and begins to threaten in a more aggressive voice*

"You only speak when I tell you to!"

*Pulls away slowly and continues to walk in circles around JACK*

CAMERA CUTS to another kidnapper standing up against the wall who is also wearing all black. 

KIDNAPPER 2
*Speaks in a calm yet enthusiastic manor*
"So, what're we going to do with him?"

KIDNAPPER
"Not sure yet, we'll have to wait and see what he says."
*JACK continues to struggle and attempts to break out of the rope*
"Do you know why you've been brought here? Any thoughts?"

JACK
"N-no.. Of course not!"

KIDNAPPER
"Hmm, thought as much. That's a shame."

KIDNAPPER 2
"Guess we'll have to enlighten him.."

KIDNAPPER
"I guess we shall. Your family destroyed ours, we want revenge. Simple." 

JACK
"Who are you? What does what my family have done have to do with me? They're the ones you should be after!"

KIDNAPPER
"Who I am is none of your concern yet. What your family has done has everything to do with you. You're the one they did it for, to give you an even better life than you would have already got. Spiteful if you ask me, selfish. The rich always want more."

JACK
"Are... Are you going to kill me? Oh god, please don't, please"

KIDNAPPER
"Of course not. How vulgar. And anyway, where's the fun in that?"

KIDNAPPER 2
"I'm getting bored now.. Let's kill him!"

Storyboards

Evaluation - https://youtu.be/9P22OX9AscY

I believe that the final outcome of the video task was a success. There were both positives and negatives to the filming and editing process that may have hindered or improved the outcome of the overall film. Our film 'Datenapped' links to the thriller genre. This is because it features many thrilling aspects such as the use of suspense and also intense scenes. 

There were may positives to the filming process that improved the outcome of the final film. Some of these included the filming itself and also the planning. As all of the group knew how to use the equipment provided before hand, we didn't have too much trouble when recording the scenes. 

Because we planned every aspect of the production before we began recording, we knew what we had to bring into college for recording. This included the props and costumes which increased the verisimilitude of the production. The costumes of the characters played a large role in the establishing of the characters from the audience's prospective. For example: The antagonist wore all dark clothing and a gas mask which brung out his character as a dark, mysterious figure and was also to highlight what role he played in the film. The props, such as the ropes and the cups, added to the verisimilitude of the film because of how they were used. All of these features added intensity to the atmosphere. Also, when filming, we has storyboards at hand to know how the scenes should look. Despite having storyboards, we didn't stick to them 100%. Finally, We had a script at hand so that we knew what we had to say and when we needed to say it. Despite the positives, we also has a few negatives. One of these was that we didn't stick to the script like we should have. This was mainly due to the amount of time that we had to film. Despite this, the miss-en-scene of the film was successful. 

The technical elements of the production, that were extremely important to the electrical aspect of the proaction, were as follows: A Sony 1080p Recording camera - This piece of equipment made it possible to film the scenes. A Tripod - This kept the camera stationary whilst recording. It wasn't used 100% of the time however. A H1 Recorder - As the camera didn't have a sufficient camera built in, we used a H1 Recorder to capture the audio of the film to a huh quality. 

We used a range of lighting within the production which allowed us to control the atmosphere within the scenes. We used bright, natural lighting for the first scene to add to the verisimilitude of the dining scene as it was set in a restaurant during the daytime. Furthermore, we used low-key lighting within the interrogation scene to add suspense and to give a sense of threat to the audience. There were also a range of camera shots which added to the atmosphere of the film. Shots such as close-up shots were used to show character's facial expressions and to also establish what is happening to the audience. Other shots such as establishing shots were used to establish where the scenes were set to the audience. During filming, we had issues with the H1 Recorder as it wasn't picking up sound like it should have been. This hindered the amount of time that we had to film.

As one of our group members decided to leave the College after filming, I took the role of head editor. During editing, with the help of my other group members here and there, I used a range of techniques and editing methods to place all of the scenes together. I used techniques such as fading to transition into title screens and back into the film. This was used so that the film ran smoothly. Whilst editing the audio, I muted the entire audio from the camera's recorder and used the H1 Recorder's audio. Finally, I had the idea of using a video camera overlay on the interrogation scene so that the audience felt more included in the film as it is as if they are watching the interrogation themselves and not just watching a scene within a film. This allows the audience to escape and links to the theory of escapism by Blumler and McQuail. As it was very difficult to line up the audio with the video, there was a very small section of the film where the audio doesn't match up perfectly. 

Overall, the production was a success. However, there are still things that we could've improved on. We could've added more aspects of thriller films to our film so that the audience realises the genre quicker. We could've also practiced our lines beforehand so that we knew what we were saying and when to say it without the need of a script.

Film Openings

Film Openings

Saul Bass - "making a main-title was like making a poster, you're condensing the event into this one concept, this one metaphor·a back-story that needs to be told or a character that needs to be introduced."

The main-title sequence or the opening credits of a movie can be considered the most important piece in a film. Other than trailers and marketing elements, they are the first images the audience sees when the lights go down. These quick clips (all about two to three minutes) outline the filmmaker's intentions and set up the expectations of those watching. 

Factors to Consider

- What EDITING techniques have been used? Pace, rhythm, cuts & transitions etc.

- What is the CINEMATOGRAPHY like? Shot sizes, movements, angles & height.

- What is the MISE-EN-SCENE like? Props, locations, lighting, costume & performance

- What is the SOUND like? Music (& tone) dialogue, sound effects & ambience.

- What are the TITLES & GRAPHICS like? Font, typefaces, colour, layout and movement.

Other Minor Factors to Consider

- Look at the NARRATIVE. What are you being and not being told? Enigmas.

- Introduction to CHARACTERS. What do you find out about them? Like/dislike them?

- Analyse the PRODUCTION VALUES. Does it look high end or low budget.

- Clues to the GENRE of the film. Styles & codes.

- Does the opening GRIP YOU and hold your attention? If so how does it do this?

- Does the intro REFLECT & sell the films content  & themes & ADD something to & set up the film?

Video Auxiliary Equipment

Track and Dolly
A Track and Dolly is a piece of equipment that is used mainly for tracking shots within a production. A Track and Dolly is different from a standard Dolly as it's boosted up onto a railtrack to allow for a smooth and steady motion of camera movement. Additionally, most professional film studio dollies have a hydraulic jib arm that raises or lowers the camera on the vertical axis.
The advantages of a Track and Dolly are that the camera movement is steady and smooth with no bumps in movement.
The disadvantages are that you're poised to one location. The camera can only move within a specific radius as the camera is attached to a rail system.


Steadi-Cam
A Steadi-cam is a piece of equipment that is attached to a camera operator to keep the filming camera stable when filming handheld whilst moving. This allows for steady and smooth filming.

Tripod
A Tripod is a simple piece of equipment used during filming a production. It's a three-legged stand for supporting a camera.
The advantages of this is that when filming, the camera is steady and will not move. Further it allows camera operators to frame a scene perfectly to how they want.
The disadvantages are that the Tripod cannot be moved whilst filming a scene.



H1N Recorder
A H1N recorder is used to record audio to the highest possible standard. A series of procedures need to take place to make sure that the recording equipment is ready for use. TIP: Wear headphones and use a separate microphone, not the built-in one,  when recording audio.
Advantages include a high quality, quick recording device that is portable.
Disadvantages include the possible volume of of speech going into the recorder. If above or below a certain audio level, the sound will become distorted and the quality will drop drastically.
Shotgun Microphone
This microphone is a special type of microphone that is used to capture audio from afar or in a specific direction within a scene. The narrow microphone will not pickup a lot of the surrounding audio, it will only capture the specific audio that you want to capture.

Sound

Sound
Diegesis - A narrative or plot, typically in a film. The relation to Diegetic and Non-Digetic sounds within the film or narrative.
Sound Scape - A soundscape is a sound or combination of sounds that forms or arises from an immersive environment.
Score (music) - A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film.
Diegetic - Audio in the Film that the characters can hear.
Non-diegetic - Audio in the Film that the Characters cannot hear.
Volume control - The level of the volume being controlled during editing.
Dialogue - A conversation between two or more people as a feature of a book, play, or film.
Speech - the expression of or the ability to express thoughts and feelings by articulate sounds.
Language - the method of human communication, either spoken or written, consisting of the use of words in a structured and conventional way.
Accents - A distinctive way of pronouncing a language, especially one associated with a particular country, area, or social class.
Mode of address - Mode of Address simply means how the text speaks to the audience, and involves them. It also refers to how a text influences the audience.
Direct Address - A direct address is the name of the person (normally) who is being directly spoken to.
Voiceover - A piece of narration in a film or broadcast, not accompanied by an image of the speaker.
Ambient Sound - Relating to the immediate surroundings of something.
Sound bridging  (part of continuity editing) - A sound bridge is a type of sound editing that occurs when sound carries over a visual transition in a film. 
Sound perspective - A sound's position in space as perceived by the viewer given by volume, timbre, and pitch.
Sound effects - A sound other than speech or music made artificially for use in a play, film, or other broadcast production.
Naturalistic - Derived from or closely imitating real life or nature.
Non-Naturalistic - Not closely imitating or based on real life or nature.
Foley - Relating to or concerned with the addition of recorded sound effects after the shooting of a film.
Synchronous - Existing or occurring at the same time.
Asynchronous - Not existing or occurring at the same time.
Incidental music - Music used in a film or play as a background to create or enhance a particular atmosphere.
Sound motifs - A sound effect or combination of effects that are associated with a particular character, setting or situation throughout the film.