Character Profiles

Lewis

• Lewis' character is called Daniel Smith a.k.a 'Bone'
• He is 32 years old
• 6'4 and weighs 12 stone

Simon

• Simon's character is unknown, we know that he is a terrorist but do not know his name
• He is 5'2
• Age unknown
• Simon's character is suspicious

The character profiles are important to our opening sequence because it gives our group an idea of how to present them and make them look when we are filming.

Costume Ideas

These are possible costumes for our characters, we do not know if we are having all of the characters in the paragraph but this is a rough idea. For our Action opening sequence costume will play an important part to tell the audience what sort of characters they are in a short space of time. Our main character is Lewis who is the chaser and will be wearing casual clothes as he is the chaser and is meant to blend in with the people around him, our second main important character is Simon who will be wearing very smart clothes as he is an important character. Amy and Alex are less important characters as they are not in the whole film as much but are needed for the opening two minutes. Amy is Simon's personal assistant who will also dress smart. Alex is the enemy and will be wearing casual/smart clothes, this shows that he did not expect to be chased.

Actors in Action films

Here is a list of actors who star in Action Films

• Harrison Ford (Star Wars and Indiana Jones)
• Daniel Craig (James Bond and Defiance)
• Mel Gibson
• Matt Damon (Bourne Films)
• Johnny Depp
• Orlando Bloom
• Sylvester Stalone
• Arnold Schwarzenegger

Different Types of Action Films

There are afew types of Action films. Such as Action, Action Comedy, Action films that take place in one scene, Animation action and heroic and gore action.

Action- This is the main type, which tells a story using more physical stuff than dialogue. eg, Terminator

Action Comedy- This involves Action and Comedy, in the action scenes they are more humourous than violent and rarely the characters die. Such as Charlies Angles and Rush Hour.

Female Protagonist- This action type is action but a female lead instead such as Lara Croft.

Genre Action

Action

Action in films is very popular because they keep you on the edge of your seat and are very interesting to a range of audiences. The story is more told and shown through physical action and faced paced music rather than dialogue. It also involves a hero and a "bad guy".

The Genre Action is also linked to horror and thriller.

List of different types of Action Films:

• Charlie's Angles
• James Bond
• Bourne films
• Die Hard
• Matrix
• Terminator
• Shooter
• X-Men
• Fast and Furious
• Rush Hour
• Transporter
• Hellboy
• Batman
• Rambo

Other Images

Images of Location

These are images of the location we would like to film our piece, it is down the road from where i live and is a good location for our filming, It suits the genre well as there is plenty of space to run and film in different parts of the woods, When it is nearly dark it will look very effective and help add tension for our filming. These are images I have copied from Google Maps, I will go to the loaction to take some pictures of the scene to show the different parts of the woods.

Location Ideas

These are some lookalike ideas for our opening sequence.

We would like to film it at dusk, just before it gets dark so you can still see but it adds to the tension.

Action Films

Action films.

Examples of chase scenes

This is an example of a car chase scene.

Another example of a chase scene

James Bond Trailer- Genre Action

We have added this trailer to our blogs because it is the same genre as our film, it has quick images and fast paced editing to show the action.

Film Institute

We have chosen this producer for our opening title sequence as it is short and fits well to the film. It will give us more footage of our filming aswell. They make big films which include some Action. Overall, I think that this is the best one for our piece.

Film Treatment- Full film

We will film the start of the film with a lot of action, we will do this because it will draw in the audience with lots of short sharp shots and with music that fits into the film which we will find when all the filming is finished, they will also want to know what is going to happen after.After the very quick start, we start to learn more about the past of both of the two characters and what they have done in the past and the problems they have had and what they have done to overcome them and how each affects them now e.g. one may have a problem like wife leaves him for another man and this makes him a very frustrated person and unable to trust anyone. We then learn the plot of what is happening, we learn who they are looking for and why (prime minister has been kidnapped and is being held.) The "bad guys" want £5,000,000 and for everyday that they don't get it, they order a terror attack to happen around the country and if they don't get anything in 30 days they say they will kill the prime minister. After three days they bomb Buckingham palace, House of commons and Heathrow airport and they agree to meet with the money and track him to the warehouse that they are keeping him, they bust trying to save the prime minister before another day comes. They under estimate how many men they have in the warehouse and mange to get the prime minister to a new secret location and they punish them by setting out to destroy everything.At the end they manage to save the prime minister and kill the leader of the "bad guys" just before the country is about to go into absolute chaos, after millions of pounds is lost in damages and the two main people that were mentioned at the start were considered heroes and the saviours of England.

Film Treatment-Opening 2 minutes

Opening 2 minutesWe are going to start our opening 2 minutes, with a low angle shot in a forest by the bottom of a tree. Then we see the first character running past, who is closely followed by the second character, they are both males one will be the good guy and the other will be the bad guy. The shots will be quick to show speed and intensity and also there will be a fast soundtrack over the top, which will engage the audicence and make them interested. They then have a scrap on the floor and the second character pulls out a weapon and then takes him to their office. We may use a sound bridge to make it flow from the forest to the office block. We will use either cars outside, a phone ringing or men shouting. Inside the office block we see the man who is tied to a chair, and out of him. The main guy who is in charge will be in a suit so will be shown as very powerful, with lots of low angle shots. We then hear that they have captured him because he knows where someone is, that they are looking for and at the end we find out that the guy they captured has secretly eaten poison and has died so they have no leads anymore.It is set at dusk, so there is little light. The characters are wearing (one tracksuit, other maybe suit.) Shows which characters are in charge. Props are a chair, rope, weapon (Gun-fake), make up and fake blood to create a beaten up effect.Set in a local woods.We will use a non copyright fast paced music.

Second Idea- Genre Action

As I could not find people to be in my romantic comedy, I am doing an Action film as it would be easier and more types of shots can be added.
Lewis, Simon and Me are going to look at action films and analyse them.
We are also looking at chase scenes and images suitable for our Action film.

Images for Location Ideas

This is my house and the park behind my house. These are the locations for my filming.

Working Title Productions

Working Title is a British film production company. It produces feature films and television productions. It is owned by Universal Pictures which distribute its films. Films from Working Title:

• Four Weddings and a Funeral
• Bridget Jones's Diary
• High Fidelity
• Atonement
  
  
  
  

This suits the type of film I am going to make because they produce lots of Romantic Comedy's and this is my genre

It appeals to American and British audiences. Working Title was founded by Tim Bevan and Sarah Radclyffe.

Some Working Title Films

Richard Curtis wrote quite afew Romantic Comedy's, He then became well known and became a Director. He directed the films Love Actually and The Boat that Rocked.

Rodeo Productions- Our Title Sequence

Romantic Comedy

We looked at a few Romantic Comedy opening sequences, we have already looked at Notting Hill and Definitely Maybe.

Love Actually- This is a romantic Comedy. This film tells a few stories in one film but they all link in some way. It starts by showing the producers (Universal Pictures and Studio Canal) and then the main producers (Working Title), who it associcates with ( DNA Films). We then see lots of people hugging at the airport. Lots of different camera shots were used to show all the events happening, Non digetic sound was used to hear Hugh Grants narrating. We could tell this is a romantic comedy because we see people hugging and kissing at the airport, Hugh Grant is also talking about love. There is very slow editing as we are meant to focus on the story and whats happening.

While You Were Sleeping- This film is about a woman who is alone and the only thing she has to come home to is her cat, over Christmas she is asked to work over time at the train station she works at and one day when she is working a man comes past and gets pushed onto the train tracks and she saves him. It starts with following a train track as it is an important part to the film, The actors, actresses, producers, film name and directors are shown when we are following the track and then we have an establishing shot of the city its set in.

How they meet in Romanic Comedys

In Romantic Comedy's the main couple in the story meet in different ways for most films, whether it is they bump into each other, its by accident, its very unlikely, they fall over and silly incidents in everyday life.
In 101 Dalmations the couple meet through the dogs, which is a good film to use as an example because it is similar to my first idea. The two main male and female characters are walking there dogs and the dogs meet each other and bring the couple together.
In Notting Hill the characters meet when the woman walks into the mans bookshop and over time they fall in love.
In How to lose a guy in 10 days they meet at a party

Ideas For My Film Opening Sequence- Film Treatment (Opening 2 minutes)

One of our first ideas is a romantic comedy. Our idea is set in the park, the female is walking her dog in the park and a group of boys are playing football, there is happy music playing in the background as she walks around the park and they are playing football, the ball then accidently gets kicked into her face and she goes flying to the floor. The music stops as she gets hit.
Props-A dog, a football.
Costume- Football kit/ Tracksuit. Casual Dog walking clothes
Sound- Happy upbeat music
Sound Effects- Ball hitting face or Dog Barking
Location and Scene- Park, House
Editing- Slow paced editing to focus on story

Script-
Starts with a black screen and the happy music plays in the background(Non digetic sound) the producers appear and then the film name actors and actresses and then the director. We then see shots showing both stories happening at the same time ( Girl at home getting ready to take dog for a walk and seeing her in her house and Boy playing football in park with his friends) We see the girl walk out her house and towards the park in a good mood, then we see boy playing football and having fun with friends. She reaches the park and starts walking round, we have an establishing shot of the park and see all the people. The dog runs faster and pulls her towards were they are playing football as she gets closer the ball hits her in the face we see her fall to the floor and says Ouch. Boy who kicked it runs over to see if she is ok and they start talking.
(Approx 2 mins)

Camera Angles- Equal Angles to show that the characters in the story are equal.

I think are idea and the romantic comedy will be a good idea for us as it will be different from other genres people will choose. There is plenty of music to find to fit with the genre as the theme of music is very popular, location and setting will be easy.

More Title Sequences

I looked at different Genre title sequences to help me understand and give me inspiration to my own title sequence, I have looked at Horror/Thriller, Science Fiction and Romantic Comedy.
Another title sequence I looked at was Night at the Museum 2 the Genre of this film is comedy and is aimed at families.

• Producers
• Actors and Actresses
• Film Name
• Music
• Make Up
• Etc
• Director

In the title sequence for this film we see a key event that happens in the film, it shows us all the exhibits being packed away. Which is very important to the film because thats what it is about.

Media Language

A list of media language

• Lighting- Film Noir
• Colour- Dark and Light, used to draw attention.
• Sound- Effects, Voice, Music
• Camera Angles- Moving around, tilted/canted
• Camera Shots- Where its taken from, Long Distance, Short, Close Up, Point of View etc
• Costume and Props- Time period, personality
• Setting- The scene, time where it is
• Editing- Key part for putting everything together, flow.
• Script- Words and story, role.

The Maltese Falcon Bullet points

• Big bold title


• Close up on falcon


• Establishing shot of city


• Setting, looking into office


• Converstaion shots used- Two shot,close up, Medium shot


• Does not break the 180 degree rule

To do checklist- Research and planning

• Film Treatment
• Storyboard opening scene
• Photos of locations
• Photos of costumes and actors
• Mindmap of different ideas
• Powerpoint Presentation
• Questionairre
• Actors and Scene
• Recearch other blogs
• Music-Upload videos and ideas
• Script
• Other opening of 2 minute films
• Shot types
• Practice films
• Props

Title Sequence- Juno

Juno is about a teenage girl who has got pregnant by one of her friends.
The genre of this film is Comedy but could be a Rom Com.

• Happy/Funny music to create a feel good theme.


• The title sequence for this film is that it uses sketchy drawings half way between animantion and real life and we see Juno walking down the street drinking a bottle of Sunny D. The music goes really well with the images shown as it keeps you interested.


• The actors and title of the film are shown in the same way Juno is drawn walking down the street.


• This is a very different title sequence but looks good and works well for the film.

Opening Title of Films-Horror/Thriller

One of the first genre's we are looking at is Horror. We watched the beginning of Scream and made notes on the Sound, shots, titles used in the first few minutes of the film.

• In the title sequence the producers (eg.Dimension films for scream) is shown, some producers do a certain genre of film.


• It starts with eerie music to set the mood of the film, and Non-Digetic sound of screams which engages the audience right from the start


• There is a black screen for suspense and then the title SCREAM appears in the centre which makes the title our main focus, the writing has blood around it which fits the horror genre well.


• Sound Effects-We then hear more sound effects of the phone ringing, we have a close up on the object which shows the audience this will play an important prop in the film.


• We then see an establishing shot of the house with trees surrounding around so we know the house is not on a busy road and could be in the middle of nowhere. We can also see that it is night which helps set the horror genre. We can also hear crickets in the background that symbols silence so where she is is very quiet.


• She is alone in the house.


• The phone rings again and the girl who is home alone answers and there is a creepy voice down the other end, the man starts having a conversation with the girl and starts asking personal questions. She hangs up and we hear the popcorn in the background popping, this is a very unsettling sound and makes people very umcomfortbale.


• The phone rings and she answers again and they have another long conversation, she is the typical victim and her "attacker" is drawing her in to his plan.


• A point of view shot is used to see outside her house, the attacker starts to threaten the girl and sound is used to create tension.

Another film which has a simliar genre is Se7en, a thriller. In the start of this film lots of flashing images of horrible things are shown to make the audience feel uneasy, we see images of a man crossing peoples eyes and faces out and then him slicing his own fingers so he has not got a finger print and then later we see them bandaged up. We also hear tense music which creates a horrible atmosphere to the film. We can also hear a heartbeat which is very commonly used in horror/thriller films to create an uncomfortable feeling.

Things you will see in a title sequence.

• Production company and Logo


• Actors/Actresses


• Title of Film


• Casting


• Music

Preliminary Task-What have we learned?

What have we learned about technology from the process of constructing this process?

I have learned that the easiest thing for us is the filming, we were good at using the camera and stands and held the camera steady. The thing that we found hard to do was the uploading, the editing was good. The sound was a problem though. Its hard to get the sound loud enough of quiet enough and we needed to learn how to fade it out.


Preliminary Task- Class Evaluation.

• Continuity comes with editing
• Shoot double footage so have more to work with
• Sound problems- Inconsistent sound, fading music in and out difficult
• Variety of camera shots
• Think about actors
• Costume and make up
• Tightly editied

Preliminary Task-The Question

For our preliminary task we had to film a 2 minute clip or under with a conversation in it, we had to use different shots and show that we could use the cameras and equipment.
Conversation:
Alex:Did you get it?
(Lewis shakes his head)
Alex:(Sighs) Go get it.

We used lighting, camera angles and sound to create and eerie scene.
The start of the scene is Lewis walking down the corridor (eerie music plays in the background all through the scenes) he turns to walk out the door and the clip changes we then see him meeting Alex in the center of the scene the camera is behind a tree so it looks like someone is watching. We then have a medium shot of there conversation and the music fades out. We dont
see Lewis' face all through our film. They walk away and then the clip changes to see Lewis walking to a door the clip changes again so its tight and works well. We have used quick shots and made the editing quick and flow. Lewis then pushes the door open and I am standing there on my phone ignoring the fact that Lewis is there until he walks past then I look at him as he walks past like he is suspicious. We then see Lewis walking up the stairs from above so it looks like a CCTV camera. After he has passed the stairs the clip changes and we see Lewis walking to a room and see his body. Then we see Lewis' feet in different shots and his hand go for the door. The clip finishes with the music stopping as the door shuts. Overall i think we have used camera shots and music to create a mysterious/Suspicious theme.
Lewis is our main character with Alex and Amy as background characters.
Directors Amy and Simon.

The Question

Goodfellas

Definitely Maybe

Children of Men Trailer

Preliminary Task

For our preliminary task we filmed Lewis walking through the school with his hood up, it was nearly a gangster theme but in the footage we have there was no theme given away properly, we hid the theme to remain it a mystery. We used lots of different shots to create our clip, for example Long Shot, Medium Shot, Close Up, Point of View and Extreme Close Up. We have improved from our practice task by making the shots better and making the editing quick. Something that has not worked in the clip was the conversation, we could improve by making it flow better. We will practice filming other short clips to improve for our next task.