This weekends plan for filming.

This weekend we have planned to begin filming the first clips for our project. We have established a cast member in Sean Kim and we have selected from the possible locations that the journey will be filmed on a train (we plan on purchasing a return ticket to the nearby train station of Radley) we will then film the arrival of the journey at a combination of both Radley and Oxford railway station. We have decided to film the final scenes (where Sean is chased and caught at another time)

[Photo inserted after filming was complete]

Detailed Storyboard/ Script

After creating a storyboard for each pitch as a group (rough) we then proceded onto making a more detailed storyboard which is shown here:

[Drawn by Eric Hesselbo]

Locations

Our opening for the film requires us to select Mise en Scene which therefore makes selecting possible locations an important aspect of our project. We have 3 main scenes in our opening. Which basically out are; The Journey, Arrival from journey, Place of attack (somewhere out of site of public where character has to travel.)


The Journey. The opening begins with a character travelling to meet a friend/relative (We have casted this role and it will be player by Sean Kim, a student who attends our school, so I will now refer to this character as Sean throughout the following posts). So we will need to find somewhere to film these scenes on, this could be on a train, bus or perhaps a Taxi.


Arrival from Journey. We also need a location to film Sean arriving from his journey, this of course depends on the first location however the train station is a great location that is situated in Oxford and this may affect our choice of the first location. As well as trains both bus's and taxi's also arrive here so we can effectively use this location with whichever journey the group decides.

Another possible option is "Gloucester Green" a square in the city centre that acts as a hub for Taxi's.

A third location choice would be a bus stop of sorts, obviously there are hundreds that are available options however the following would fit nicely in with our feeling of remoteness required in the following scene.

The final location needed in our film is for the scene where Sean is chased and effectively captured/killed. This location needs to be a remote area and needs to have aspects relating to the previous scene so we can create a match on action. Here are some possible locations.

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Decision.

It was time for our group to make a decision on which Pitch to take forward we have now completed basic storyboards for each pitch so we are all clear of what each pitch's story is.

We had a meeting and as a group we narrowed the pitches down to either Missing or Escape. We decided this because of cast issues (such as finding a large enough group for two hooligan firms) we felt that we could focus on directing and achieve a better project. Another reason we removed this option is because the locations will only be populated during home games which again adds another complication.

We had narrowed it down to two options from the storyboards, we talked about possible locations and casting for both pitches. We could think of a few places for the Escape pitch but casting was once again an issue as we would need a large gang. As a whole group we were constantly being drawn to the "Missing" pitch the advantages outweighed any of the other pitches and we thought that we could get a better project as we thought it was the best pitch and story in the first place.

So we have decided to take forward the pitch "Missing". We each divided up tasks between ourselves (detailed storyboard, cast and locations). We have planned to film this coming weekend.

Pitch 3 - United

Pitch 2 - Escape.

Storyboards

Here are the basic storyboard for each pitch these just show the openings of the films. Here is the first pitch (Missing)

Basic Deadlines for Group.

8th November - Decide which pitch we will create our film opening for, acquire possible locations/cast, review basic storyboard of pitch.

10th November - Decide cast members and locations for first weekend of filming.

11th November - Confirm cast are aware of filming dates and confirm availability of suitable locations, complete detailed storyboard and complete script for first scenes.


12th and 13th November - Begin filming first scenes.

16th November - Confirm cast members and locations needed for scenes filmed at coming weekend, ensure cast are aware of where and when the filming is taking place.

19th and 20th of November - Film remainder of scenes. 

22nd November - Review footage and confirm if any scenes need to be shot / reshot, schedule filming dates and location

23rd- 30th of November - Film any left over scenes (If required)

1st December - Upload all clips.

6th December - Rough Edits completed

Mark Scheme, Construction - Selecting mise-en-scène / Variety of shot distance / Framing shot appropriately.

Once again all three of these aspects can be planned for by storyboarding, which really highlights the importance of storyboards in this project. A variety of shot distances will be fairly easy to do and will not require much planning pre-production however we need to make sure we include varied shot distances in our storyboards so that we carry this out while filming. Selecting the mise-en-scène and framing the shot appropriately go hand in hand and other than storyboarding we can't really prepare for these aspects. We need to remember to make sure that everything in the scene is relevant to the scene including props, locations and costumes.

Mark Scheme, Construction - Editing for meaning to viewer/ Varied shot transitions, captions and other effects.

When editing the clips there are 3 main aspects we need to consider, the first is the length, order and transitions between the different shots. We can use a combination of Sony Vegas, After Effects and iMovie to edit the film. The music used can sometimes dictate the length and order of shots to a certain extent as they have to work in sync with each other. The order will be established with storyboards and shot transitions will vary however for the majority of the time I think we will try and keep a fairly natural feel to the editing with the use of simple shot transitions. The length of shot in accordance to one another is not easy to analyse until we have the shots filmed and uploaded however I like the idea of a difference in shot length to add effect (i.e starting with short quick changing shots as the tension builds up) as seen in the film opening of City of God (which is similar to one of our possible pitches).





I think that the editing in this is amazing, the whole film is about a photographer who lives in the slums of Rio de Janeiro which is heavily populated by gangs, it shows a scene of meals being prepared cutting quickly between this process and a scene of a chicken who is trapped and then escapes at which point the transitions become less often and the scene calms down a lot. I think that this could be a metaphor for the trapped feeling that can come from gang culture, and even when the chicken escapes its death a group of 10+ men chase the chicken through the town violently threatening anyone who gets in their way or fails to catch the chicken. The main character is briefly shown. I think that we could possibly use a similar sort of feeling with shot transitions being fast and quick with perhaps a trapped animal for a metaphor.

Mark Scheme, Construction - Using titles appropriately / Use of sound with images/editing.

Sound is an important aspect of modern day film, another video made by my group member indicates how music and editing can change the feel of a short clip and even the whole genre.

Daniel was in charge of typography in our project and he found various fonts that could be used for our titles, another thing to consider with titles is where they are placed within the scene. By examining other clips of film openings similar to our three pitches I examined The Nightmare on Elm street opening for the Supernatural/Beast pitch. The youtube video has been disabled for embedding by request but the link is here. This is particularly good for analysing titles as almost all of the oppening uses titles in a unique way. Without going into too many details the film is about a murderer who kills his victims in their dreams by stabbing them. A fairly plain font is used in the foreground of the scene however over a dark backgrond the same thing is scratched into the background in a lighter colour. These are often anchored with a scratching sound and sometimes carry on into another clip, showing short clips of children playing and elm street. If you watch the film then you realise that these are clips of the main characters who are being hunted by this murderer's childhood. These clips are sometimes photos or sign's which are scratched up so the typography does really well to link itself with the film. Focusing on where the credits are placed in the film the director has decided to split the clips and credits into two seperate scenes, as opposed to placing the credits on top of the clips he has seperated the two.

Mark Scheme, Construction - Holding shot steady / Appropriate material for task.

Over the next few posts we have been set the task of planning how we will achieve the highest possible marks for various aspects of the mark scheme. One of the sections of construction is how we will keep camera shots steady. Although this is a fairly simple task when using still shots as a tripod can help achieve this, when using a tripod the shot is steady. However when walking or filming a moving shot holding the camera steady is a lot harder, obviously attempts can be made to keep the camera as steady as possible, however without expensive equipment the recording will always have some shakyness.

Example of a stedicam.

A member of our group is considering purchasing a stedicam however as the equipment is expensive we needed to examine alternative methods of keeping the camera steady, many editing programs include an option to "stablilise" the footage, for an example of what this looks like Eric recorded a video with an example of unstabilised and stabilised footage.





We need to make sure that we keep all material appropriate for the task, the task is a film opening for one of three possible pitches. I have looked at many film openings and analysed several by doing this I can hope to get a wider range of knowledge of film openings and this will help me decide whether a certain shot would fit into a film opening or whether it is more suited to later on in a film. Another important way we can keep the material appropriate and relevant is by storyboarding, this can help us plan ahead and make sure that all material links together appropriately.

Shop.

The short film above was a piece I made, we were instructed to focus on editing and particularly in what order we placed our scenes. I chose to edit it in a chronological order, stating with walking up the street followed by picking up items and then paying for them. I used the same Point of View camera angle throughout the film because I think this was the most effective way to portray the task. I decided to use the lively music because it juxtaposes the mundane task of going to the shop and this was done as an attempt to make the film seem more interesting. I synced the music with the film so that it speeds up as I reach for the first item. I chose to refrain from using any special effects as I think that it would look out of place, I did use some colour correction and also stabilised the footage, however it still remained very shaky. This could have added a more realistic feel to the film but I think that it may have been too shaky for this to come across as a realistic point of view.

Story Narrative - Possible Pitches

Below are three pitches for possible films for which we could create a film opening to, I will present these idea's to my group and we will decide which one we feel will be best to continue and develop the opening scene.

Pitch 1 - Missing (Supernatrual/Beast) - People begin mysteriously dissapearing from area (perhaps near train station), supernatrual forces believed to be behind the unexplained dissapearences.

Pitch 2 - United (Hooligan Film) - Swindon Town and Oxford United meet for the first time in 20 years, specialist detective warns police force that there will be more trouble than expected and relates this meeting to the recent Millwall, Westham clash that had a disastrous outcome, however his warnings are dismissed as hooliganism is believed to be a thing of the past.

Pitch 3 - Escape (Gang) - Leader of a youth gang wishes to pass on leadership to his younger brother. Shows the struggle of this younger brother to escape the gang culture with the help of his musical talent.

Initial Ideas for Opening Film. - Gang Culture

Another possible genre for a film opening that I believe we could possibly explore is the idea of gang culture. These films are on an increase in popularity reflecting the real life events and gangs, modern audiences are interested in believable story lines and as the increase of coverage of gangs by the media increases..

Example - The London Riots, below is a clip of a gang of youths robbing another injured man during the riots



The gang mentality was most likely adopted from America, gangs such as the Bloods and the Crips are famous for gang warfare and the increase in gangs in England has been mirrored by an increase in "Gang films" for example One Day..


Another example of a film involving gangs is "This is England" a film following a group of friends who get involved with a number of skinheads who support groups such as the English Defence League and other racial groups.



This is interesting to look at as it shows the change in gang mentality but also the similarities accross all gangs. The switch in This is England from friends to gang is very noticeable and it is an interesting subject to examine, when do a group of friends become a "gang" something that is considered very negative recently and even making new laws allowing gang members to be banned from wearing certain colours if the police feel that it relates to a gang.

Initial Ideas for Opening Film. - Supernatural/Beast

Another idea we had for our film openings was a presence of something supernatural, a death and perhaps the solving of this death, or witness of it. Something that we were keen to intergrate into the opening was the idea of viewing the scene through this evil beings eyes. It's seen in many films for example in the "Witness" opening film. Although viewed in a different context, the basic idea of the shot is still the same (you may want to skip to 2:00 minutes if you only want to view the camera angle).

Initial Ideas for Opening Film.

In the first meeting we had as a group we decided that we would split up the responsibilities between the group I have been given the task of both Casting and Story narrative. We briefly spoke as a group as to what type of film we were going to create an opening to possibly a hooligan film, similar to Green street, The Firm or the Football Factories, etc. We chose to head towards this sort of genre of film because we felt it had an original and recognisable style. As well as previously analysing some other film openings I decided to have a look at two hooligan film openings to try and draw some inspiration to help decide what type of film we were going to create an opening for...

The Football Factories


I really like the way the film shows surveillance images, newspaper cuttings and similar short clips strung together with opening titles, it puts the audience in the position of a sort of inspector trying to decipher who the hooligans are, this led me to consider creating an opening for a film like this following the life of a detective who specialises in tracking down football hooligans.

Green Street Hooligans


The opening of the train station being dominated by the football fans who treat it as if they own it having no regard for other users of the trainline was a really good location, I liked the way the football fans really treated it as there home. They sung at the top of their voices kicked cans about and showed no respect for other users. The whole location was taken over by this group of individuals. This then comes to a clash of two groups, something that rarely happens and I feel that hooligans (or the more broad term of gangs) gives people a reason to fight and argue amongst each other. It creates a tension when people are seperated into two groups and whether or not it is moral to fight for nothing more than belonging to different groups of people, the notion that some people find it acceptable and do carry out fights because of this is not one that is impossible to imagine amongst modern audiences.

Saving Private Ryan - Omaha Beach Scene Part 1 - Super High Quality

I chose this clip because I really like the way it is edited, the way the camera shakes to emphasize the fear shown by the soldiers really creates an atmosphere at the very start of the clip. It puts the audience in a position where they can really consider what might have been going through the soldiers heads at this time. The camera angles and lighting are chosen carefully to keep the enemy anonymous and unseen, this makes them seem less human and enhances the fear of this unknown enemy. Another aspect I particularly liked was where everything slowed down and the sound completely cuts out, this is an extremely effective edit and creates tension, fear and isolates the character from the scene, allowing both the character and the audience to really take in the horror happening in the scene. The transitions are clean and smooth, with a good mix of both shaky camera shots and still shots really makes the audience feel a part of the action. Although not to do with editing another effective aspect of this scene is the background noise, it makes it hard to hear the characters and really creates a feeling of chaos and terror.

Film opening Project.

We have been given a basic idea of what our final task will be, we have been told it must be a short film opening. A mark scheme has been shown to us and there are three main areas we need to focus on, Research and Planning, this is the stage we are currently at, Construction, which refers to the actual filming, editing and creating the opening, and Evaluation.

Cherwell Pre lim

The above embedded video is our updated preliminary task, the main change made was the difference in length between the two videos (this one is shorter)