Me selling my film

We were asked to perform a shot summery of the film and were our openings would lead on to. Here is mine.

Audience Evaluation

Once the films were shot we had a premiere viewing for a few fellow students and here is their constructive criticism on my film.

From this I have learnt how I have done and where I need to improve on in my film making. This series of events has really kindled a passion for film making and I hope that there will be many more films to come.

Evaluation Activity 6

Technology

This is a quick run down of all the equipment that I used in the shooting of my film.

Sony Alpha 3000

This was used for all ground shots as it was light and easy place-able. The quality of the videos was good with little blurring and ease of focus.

Standard Tripod

This was only used in the indoor scenes as it was on loan and so I was unable to get it damaged or dirty in any way.

Adobe Premiere Elements 10 (not my screen grab)

To edit everything I used this software as it was easy to understand and very simple. I was easy able to layer the various different sound effects that predominately came for you tube

Parrot bebop drone 3

I used this to get an original establishing shot down the road with Tim running underneath it. Due to bad weather conditions the Parrot became hard to control and the footage was too shaky and blurred. Sadly I had was unable to return with the deadline fast approaching so non of its footage made it to the final edit.

Royalty Free Music was by Bensound

Most of my music came from here with the promise that I mention them somewhere. I would really recommend them as they have a huge range of different styles.

Evaluation Activity 5

Annotating my film

Why will people come to watch my film?

Evaluation Activity 4

Audience for my piece

My audience is primarily teenagers but the audience I'm expecting will be largely Males between the ages 13-30 as this is to me seams the age at witch most men are into spy films such as James Bond.

The typical person that I would want expect to be watching my film would be an active member of society. These people pictured would be ideal as they like adventure and having fun. they like to socialize with one another and so would probably enjoy a trip to the cinema together.

The kind of taste that these people would have would be that they are excited by films designed to make you forget that you are a human being with troubles and just allow yourself to become immersed in the film. My people aren't fancy, they are plain and simple with a creative streak. Nothing too individual is needed as in the film I believe that it would try to at least dabble in to a variety of genera allowing the film to not be restricted to one type of person. 

Evaluation Activity 3

Directors Commentary

Evaluation Activity 2

How dose my media production represent particular social groups?

James Bond is an agent who works for MI5. He is oftern seen in a tight shirt and with an ear-piece witch he uses to talk to M up in London, no matter where he his in the world.

 

 I tryed to represent this character into my piece with someone who is simelar in the ways above but my character wears a black shirt instead of a white one. This is to show that he dosent follow the rule book, my version of james Bond later in the film will be believed to ave joined Sam and gone rouge allong with him but infact will have been bluffing the whole time. At this point he would then wear a white shirt to show that he is true of heart.

Evaluation Activity 1

 My film opens with my personalised company logo of "Skyflash Pictures". The screen starts of black with the clouds in black and white. As the sun rises above the top of the clouds a lightning thunder clap consumes the screen dipping to bright white; this settles and now the sun is in the sky and the page is now in color, after this violent movement the text slowly fades in over the top. Now the entire screen is engulfed in white then back to black; this now separates the film from my titles alienating it from the harsh world of computerised words.

This is Alex Mackles we are shown him first to show that he is the main character. In the majority of shots I tried to have my character stand in the middle of shot to show that he is the centre of the story.
I try to lay down a series of enigmas in the short time that I had, for this I used a telephone conversation over the top of everything to open up as many questions quickly.

I wanted a remote location that wasn't just woodland; I was looking for a road that cut through a forest, this place was the best I could find within an hours walking distance from my house.

This shot also shows the genre of the film as we have running, guns, open locations and a disposable character. All the key ingredients needed for an action film.

Alex is situated in his home witch is lit with natural light to work with the natural light at Buckingham palace and down on Ashtead park. I tried the shots of me in a study room with a work station and artificial lighting. The contrast was too harsh and just gave an uneasy feeling top the piece, so I used my uncles conservatory to allow for the character to be at home but still well lit with natural light.

This scene we are told that this is the bad guy as we watch as he tracks down and kills a seemingly innocent man. The camera stays at his eye level when his face is on screen, only once can we see his head when we are not at his eye level and that is just after he shoots Tim for the first time and walks in slow-motion towards him.

The credits that I used were in a simple and easy to read font that isn't to bold but wont be overlooked, in each scene containing a name I tried to place it on a single colour to assist with reading and so as to not distort the picture.
This is also the only shot from London that made it into the final edit, I needed to keep one in so as to show were Jack was and this was the best shot that showed both him and Buckingham palace. I like this shot as we cant see his face but we can tell that it is him who is talking on the phone.

I wanted to add in a little drama so we choreographed this fight scene, I was desperate for the fight scene to not look fake and so I originally wroth the script without a lot of the fight scene in it but I needed another way to signify that it was an action film over other genre, this lead me to put one in. The original sound footage was corrupted and unusable, therefor I used sound-effect from different places.

This isn't the pinnacle point of the opening as that comes when Alex realises he cant trust his wife but won't admit it. But the gun shot pierces through the audio and I put a slight echo effect on it to leave a lasting impression.

This is the final shot, the camera pauses on his face for a few seconds then it fades to black and the title, defenestration, takes centre stage. On of my favourite shot transactions is when we move from a close up shot of Tim and Sam's feet on the bridge and we see Tim's shoes leave the frame and we then cut to Alex's feet in his conservatory, this is done to show that Alex and Sam are very similar in their personality and behaviour.

My Audience

I have all ways been an avid supporter of the James Bond films and the way that they are able to take you away from the reality of the life that you have become used to living and escape into the world of spy's and imagination, I'm fairly sure that every male, man or boy, inside secretly wishes that their life could become as exciting and action packed as the life of James bond. While that life style may mostly appear to men, the possibility that one day we might defy logic and somehow by freak accident of divine plan obtain a superpower! There can't be one person who has never thought about what life must be like if either everyone had a power in one form or another. The budget that I had access to however didn't really stretch to cover the hiring of wires and cranes so I stuck with half the population of the world, meaning men. I thought that it would have been relatively easier to portray a spy over that of a superhero.

When I was younger and even still now I love watching James Bond films, the most recent being Skyfall unless you are reading this after a new one has been relieved in which case it isn’t the most recent James Bond film but that’s irrelevant, the target audience for Skyfall is male 16-40 so a fairly broad range and I decided to try and follow in the footsteps of 007. I too have gone for the same market as most spy films.

My opening two minutes; Defenestration

www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7YR_zJNoaw

Cast

Name: Matt Wadey
Age: 17
Gender: Male
Character name: Alex Mackles

Name: Ollie Waugh
Age: 17
Gender: Male
Character: Sam Jones

Name: Zach Bean
Age: 17
Gender: Male
Character: Tim Foster

Name:  Jonathan Haywood
Age: 16
Gender: Male
Character: Jack May

Name: Ella Brewer
Age: 16
Gender: Female
Character: Emma Mackles

Target Audience

I have all ways been an avid supporter of the James Bond films and the way that they are able to take you away from the reality of the life that you have become used to living and escape into the world of spy's and imagination, I'm fairly sure that every male, man or boy, inside secretly wishes that their life could become as exciting and action packed as the life of James bond. While that life style may mostly appear to men, the possibility that one day we might defy logic and somehow by freak accident of divine plan obtain a superpower! There can't be one person who has never thought about what life must be like if either everyone had a power in one form or another. The budget that I had access to however didn't really stretch to cover the hiring of wires and cranes so I stuck with half the population of the world, meaning men. I thought that it would have been relatively easier to portray a spy over that of a superhero.

When I was younger and even still now I love watching James Bond films, the most recent being Skyfall unless you are reading this after a new one has been relieved in which case it isn’t the most recent James Bond film but that’s irrelevant, the target audience for Skyfall is male 16-40 so a fairly broad range and I decided to try and follow in the footsteps of 007. I too have gone for the same market as most spy films.

Soundtrack research

From the sound track I wanted a few different features that would come together to lift the feeling of the whole piece. I also needed different tracks to change the mood throughout the opening as I don't want the audience to only be thinking in one frame of mind.

In the opening two minutes I use 4 different songs to create varied atmosphere:

1. Ring tone.
The Phone is the very first thing to be shown and I wanted people to stop what they were doing (talking, rustling packets and being on their phone) in the audience and be paying attention to my film.
The music is loud and pounding and when we see that it is a ring tone we see that our character while he may seem serious dose have a fun side as this is quite a bold ring tone for anyone.

2. Running away song.
Tim is having to run away from Sam, meanwhile Alex is on the phone to Jack laying down hints as to what is and what will happen in the scene that we are also being shown.
This music is fast pace and uplifting as we will on Tim to run faster all the while knowing that he wont make it.

3. Fight scene.
The music changes once Tim gets shot as he is no longer running he has decided to face Sam and take him head on. The music also builds up to a question upon the relationship of the main character and his wife, I left this as an enigma to be answered later in the film.
This music is jumpy and gradually building to a tense moment also it fits the thrill of the fight with it quickening your breathing and heart rate to follow the music.

4. Final title music.
The last music is to bide time until the title is presented as the film seemed empty with no music over laying the end, I chose this piece as it was calming with its steady beat, predominately symbols are used and it fits with looking on at the body of Tim and then fading to the title Defenestration

Most of my music came from ROYALTY FREE MUSIC by BENSOUND
http://www.bensound.com/

Certificate rating PG

PG stands for Parental Guidance. This means a film is designed for general viewing, but some scenes may be unsuitable for young children. A PG film is typiaclly targeted at a typical eight years or older ckild. Parents should consider whether the content may upset their own child.

PG films are able to touch apon almost every contraversial subject they are still told to keep it light and that they must be shown to condemn the act in some way in order for it to warrent a raiting PG. Children are still impressionable apon in their ideas of right and wrong.

Films that are rated U and have done well at the box office:
  Alice in Wonderland
  Bolt
  Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
  Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
  Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Certificate rating U

The U symbol stands for Universal. A U film are designed for audiences aged four years and over. However, different children are upset by different things; it is impossible to predict what might upset a particular child. With children being cared for and kept away from things that could passably scare them, kids are being scared by just the simplest of things thing. In the recent shaun the sheep film shaun and his friend are put into an animal jail with a whole mannor of scary inmates, this to some children is the most scary thing that could happen to their belovid Tv character, on the other hand a child could find this halearious ase they watch them attampt an escape.

Films with the raiting U should have no significant issues in terms of discrimination, drugs, imitable behaviour, language, nudity, sex, threat or violence. This is compleatly understandable when thought of the intended audience.

Films that are rated U and have done well at the box office:
  Shrek the Third
  Finding Nemo
  A bugs life
  Flushed away
  Tangled

Certificate rating 12

Films with a 12A and 12 rating contain scenes that aren't widely suitable for children aged under 12. No one younger than 12 can see a 12A film in a cinema unless seeing it with an adult.Whereas the 12 rating is used on DVDs as you cant check when people watch the DVD at home if they are over 12 or not.

Films that are rated 12 tend not to show gruesome details in fights and also don't have swearing in them. Film rated at a 12a are forbidden from portraying any homophobic or racial ideas unless they are condemned within the movie. Sexual references are made along with scenes that show a couple disappearing into a bedroom as this doesn't directly tell us what is going on; they could just be going in there to "hug".

Films that are rated 12a and have done well at the box office:
  Guardians of the Galaxy
  Divergent
  Captain America: The Winter Soldier
  Avengers Assemble
  The Dark Knight

Title Idears

I wanted a title with a meaning that wasnt obvious at the first glance but could later becom a well known word thanks to the film, my insperation came from "Inseption" I liked the ring of the word and the way it sumed up the film even if you didnt fully understand the word itself.

Big Words
!!Defenestration!!: the act of throwing someone or something out a window.
Fremescence: the grumbling sound of an unhappy mob of people.
Impecunious: having no cash or money.
Witzelsucht: a feebly attempt at humor.

Simple
129/130: Reference to number of kills made by Sam


Base words
Gun
Spies
Betrail
Country
Mission
Rouge
Death
Plan
Violence

Costumes and reasons

In my play I have 4 main characters who will be in need of costumes. For each person I want them to be distinctly different from one another; I'm stitching together two completely different scenes together whilst only one scene has audio. There is a possibility that this may become overly complicated and so I wanted to allow the audience as much help as I can without giving information away for free, I want people to engage with it...

Alex (Played by me): wears a smart shirt, to show that he is comfortably while working. The shirt is a good fit on him as he knows that he will be wearing it and others like it regular. He is however wearing jeans showing that he is still privy to some comforts. Upon his ear he dons a blue tooth head set witch he uses constantly throughout the scene. At time of writing there is one shot, that has been filmed but still waits to be edited, that shows Alexis socks, these are the only colourful thing that Alex is seen to be wearing as i wanted him to be formal while still showing he has a "colourful" side.

Tim (Played by Zach): I needed people to not get attached to this character too much as I have him killed of within the first two minutes of the film. Tim is dressed in a ugly corduroy suit over an old school shirt, finished off with sneakers and tight fit trousers.  These items were all chosen as they were tatty or old a so didn't matter weather or not they got dirty or ripped. He carries a knife as he is a small time operative who wasn't expecting to be set upon by the person who he was assigned to watch.

Sam (Played by Ollie): This is the classic good-guy-gone-bad, for this I used a thick black coat as this is stereotypical of characters in this role. For he is also supposedly out of active service he wore smart but casual shoes to match his trousers. This was all complemented by the slick gun holster that he had by his right hip as a slight personal statement. Designing the look for this character was relatively easy as many films had already laid out the template for me to follow.

Jack (Played by Jonathan): This character was probably the hardest to dress as while he was meant to be the boss in charge he is also passably on an undercover mission as one line talks about how by him breaking character the whole of western Germany gets put in danger. I eventually settled on an out-fit similar to Sam's to show that the characters aren't too dissimilar in themselves, his shoes were smart but I don't believe that there are any shots were Jonathan's feet are visible as most of his shots are either medium to close up or standing behind a wall. Jacks phone is large and sleek showing that he can afford such a phone, I wanted this character to come across as unfriendly but direct, I'm not sure I managed it.

Opening Skyfall

Analysing an Opening Scene to a film

•       Sound:

•       Sound is very important within an opening to help set the tone mood and atmosphere.

•       Non-diegetic music is used to reflect the narrative events such as in times to look back and reflect on what has happened in the past or bringing the audience up to date with what has happened in the characters lives leading to this moment, but in the opening of Skyfall we are left in the dark about what is really going on and only fed breadcrumbs in order to work out a plot line.

•       Diegetic sound is used in the dialogue between the characters Bond and M, it reveals that we are witnessing a backup man sent in to salvage something that has just been lost. This shows that the genre is action as the characters are talking about agents and shootings all whilst obeying orders.

•      Camera Angles:

•      A close-up shot is used to show a character as he walks towards the camera from a long shot through a medium shot and stops just as a beam of light revels his face and we see who it is, James Bond.

•      An establishing shot isn’t used within the first two minutes as a bike chase leading in to a train and car chase will soon revile to us a large proportion of the city that they are in. As a result of this we have to guess for the opening and judging by the furniture and people and dead bodies we see we assume that we are in England as everything seems to be posh and old, as if in a manor house.

•      A two shot is used of the characters James Bond and Agent Ronson to show their relationship as Bond tries to help him by pressurising the wound and M orders bond to leave him and retrieve a stolen hard disk from a laptop discarded in the room.

•      Characters:

•      The main characters are introduced in the opening scene when the silhouette of James walks down a dark corridor towards the camera, the audience recognises that they are the main characters through the use of the dialogue and camera shots that they are involved in.

•      Enigma codes:

•      Enigma codes are used to tease the audience and engage them in the narrative so they carry on watching the film. Certain enigmas are included in the opening such as puzzles about what is so important about the particular hard drive that has gone missing as it seams to be very important, questions are left unanswered about why people are so prepared to just let others die for part of a computer.

•      The audience want to know what will happen to the character and so will stay to watch the film to the end, loosing the worries that have been risen by modern life and so because of this are  then also likely to tell their friends about it eventually bringing a lot more people in to see the film.

•      Symbolic codes are shown in the mise-en-scene:

•      In the opening the audience would identify symbols such as blood dripping from the corner of Ronsons mouth these could make the audience know that he will die from this as that is the Hollywood symbol that this person has gone. Because of this we deliberately don't get attached to this character and instead relate to the way that Bond feels for this character.

•      Props/ costumes:

•      The audience can see that the character is wearing a loos suit with a gun holster to the left of his stomach this shows that he is serious and prepared to kill this is typical of the genre because in action films people seam to always be killing or being killed

•      Props are featured such as guns and pieces of technology this is typical of the genre as it shows what kind of people with passably power over their fellow characters.

•      Cliches:

  Noticeable cliches are used in the opening scene such as the blood form the side of the mouth this engages the audience as they recognise these features and can predict what is going to happen in the narrative.

Targets

Well done Matt, you have clearly been working on your research and planning.


I suggest that you complete the following posts next:


Character/actor interviews - ask the actors about how they fit their character role, what stereotype do they represent in the film?

Props for Opening

 Every spy film needs guns. That's a fact. I gave Sam a silencer to show that he knows what he is doing and this kill isn't fulled with passion but instead need.

I gave Sam (The main Bad Guy) this gun to show that he thinks little of killing but complimented it with a holster that he still thinks it should be done properly.

I also gave Sam this knife only for wielding and making a good sound when it hits the floor, this knife wont be used in fighting as it is a real knife and is only there to be aesthetically pleasing.

 

Mean while I decided not to leave Tim completely defenceless. He was given this serrated knife as a way of showing that he isn't completely incompetent and he knows that he is in danger.

 

Alex is at home in the film so I didn't have many options as to how I could dress up and following a stereotypical good guy. So I had to use something basic and simple. Such as dads old blue tooth headset.

  

To add a little something and to also give a real sense of pain to the film we decided to use copious amounts of blood in order to show our characters aren't immortal.

 

As an added disturbed factor I wanted Sam to be despised by the audience and so I gave him a counter to show that he treats killing as if its a game so by showing him counting the death on a clicker we see that he has already killed 128 people before killing Tim.

 

Story Board

 Start of the opening will have the classic unedited COLUMBIA opening just like all other films that they have done.
[15 seconds]

The scene will be set with Alex and Emma walking their dog (I cant draw dogs) through a park. The shot type will be long shot in order to capture everything in the shot.
[10 seconds]

 Scene will fade to black and the we will be on a dolly shot following a new character over London bridge, The shot will be a close up of his hand so as to not reveal his face too soon.
[5 seconds]

 This scene will interrupt the London setting as Tim runs across a medium shot too fast to see who it is. All the time a phone will be heard ringing but obviously not from this shot.
[2 second]

 The phone is shown along with the back of our mystery London characters head, as the ringing tone continues to ring out the camera will pan away and focus on big Ben to reveal without a doubt that we are in London.
[5 seconds]

 The phone will be picked up by Alex as his girlfriend carries on walking a little way to allow Alex to receive the call from his boss, medium shot with Alex in the foreground and Emma in the background.
[10 seconds]

 With a quick flash to black this time we will return to Tim this time running straight at the camera as a slight jump scare. This shot will only last a second and should be a good contrast to the previous longer shots.
[2 seconds]

 By this point when we return to our London man he will be sitting at a cafe looking through various files and papers still talking into the phone.
[15 seconds]

 Showing that he is human Alex will stop to tie a shoe lace still in a medium shot but as he bends down to reach his lace the camera will follow his eye level showing that he has the prevalence in this shot.
[15 seconds]

 This isn't the camera angle. It is instead a birds eye view of where the camera will travel whth both the camera and Tim be moving forwards. In this shot im wanting to focus on Tim's Emotions and see his face for the first time.
[5 seconds]

 This is then view of a fight that Tim was running away from in this there will be multiple angles but mainly taken from places such as point "A" to show that neither person has ultimate power and that the audience is above such a petty fight.
[20 seconds]

 This shot will be taken through the use of a RC helicopter to watch as Tim's body is thrown over the edge and falls to the floor as Sam disposes of the body. This will be my example of an extreme long shot.
[5 seconds]

 This shot will be taken as if we are underground in a worm eye view, I plan to make this shot work by having my actor resting on three chairs just out of shot supporting his head and legs, he will just have to suspend his arms himself. Same will then peer over the edge of the bridge and quickly disappear from the shot.
[6 seconds]

The final shot before the Title comes up will be an extreme close up of Alex's face as he says a final line condemning his partner Sam for what we have seen him do.

[5 seconds]

[Total time 2 minutes]