G321Media

Final Film Opening- A Dame With A Clue

This is our film opening which we completed- A Dame With A Clue:

Question 7- Evaluation

Question 7-Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product ?
In this question we looked back at our previous task, as in the preliminary task, where Georgia and I created 'Show Must Go On'. We looked at how we have improved in our final task since then and why we think that our final task was much more successful. This was our first time using and editing with a green screen.

Question 6- Evaluation

Question 6- What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
In this question we had to look into the technology that we used throughout the final task. We also looked into what we learnt from using this technology as well as any problems we came across using it as well as how we managed to over come these problems.

Question 5- Evaluation

Question 5- How did you attract/ address your audience?
In this question we looked into how we attracted our audience to our film and why they were attracted to our film. This was finally helped with a survey of what people thought about our film.

How We Attracted Our Audience?

Relating back to the codes and conventions of Film Noir

To attract our target audience, we had to focus carefully on the mise en scene. Firstly, the use of the colour red on the title will appeal to the younger audience because it symbolises the modern era – we did this to convey the idea that this film is set in the 1940's but is created in the modern day. As we are teenagers ourselves, we know that generally people our age are hesitant about watching black and white films because black and white films are uncommon nowadays – the ‘normal’ and ‘typical’ type of films that we are used to are colour films therefore we added colour in the title with the purpose of appealing to a younger audience.

Another way we attracted our younger audience was through our marketing online, with our website and social media. This attracted a younger audience to our film because now stereotypically a majority of young adults live their lives online, so through having online marketing these people are more likely to hear about our film and therefore see it. On these modes of marketing we were also able to release previews for our film. By doing this people will see these previews and then be encouraged to go and see our film.

Click Here to see the website in full

Additionally, this will also attract the male target audience because red symbolises blood which can be associated with crime and this colour also represents the traditional femme fatale red lipstick.

In the exterior shots, the femme fatale acts suspicious – she looks around as if she is hiding from someone which links to the ‘being followed’ theme of Film Noir films. Additionally, most exterior shots are of her back and there aren’t any clear close ups of her face which gives the impression that she doesn’t want to be seen; we did this to create an enigma code – the audience is left wondering who the female is and why she looks so suspicious. The creation of mystery will attract the male target audience because it adds to the dark and crime concept that males prefer.

Another enigma code that we used in the opening is the ‘you’re next’ note – Lana Lombard hands it to the detective without any details therefore the audience will wonder who and where it came from and it adds to the mystery surrounding the female character - this note will either present her as a victim or a masked/lying perpetrator depending on the audience's judgement - thus luring them into wanting to see the rest of the film.

Enigma codes are useful in terms of attracting the target audience because these codes get the audience thinking – it creates many questions and as humans, we feel more at ease when our questions are answered therefore the target audience will want to keep watching the film for their questions to be answered. The reason why we chose an older target audience because older people are more experienced and intellectual so they will more likely notice enigma codes.

Mise En Scene

Film critics will be focusing on how we are going to be able to portray the 1940's therefore we focused carefully on the mise en scene by using props such as a rotary dial telephone, old fashioned film cameras and typewriter to convey the time era the film is set in. We also used character costumes and the actors use old American accents to portray the time period. Jazz music is a vital part of film noir therefore we used a jazz piece for the majority of the opening.

In addition to this, we used typical Film Noir shots: long shot of Lombard walking towards gate, match on action – zoom on window and zoom out of lamp, entering the office, shot-reverse-shot – during conversation. We also used low key lighting throughout the opening.

Another film noir code is the use of a list to display the titles which can be seen in films such as Brute Force – we included this to be able to show the genre clearly.

Brute Force Opening

A Dame With a Clue

This will attract film noir fans as we have included a variety of film noir conventions that the audience will look for and this will hopefully appeal to film critics as we are showing that we have understood clearly the codes and conventions of the genre.

Feedback from the audience:

We set up a survey using Survey Monkey with the purpose of getting audience feedback. We sent emails to people in sixth form as well as people we work, family members and friends. The email included a YouTube link to the opening sequence and the survey.

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/LTQCTMK

How old are you?

The majority of the people who did the survey are teenagers and adults - these groups are our primary and secondary audience. This shows that these age groups were interested in filling out the survey therefore the opening sequence attracted our ideal target audience.

What is your gender?

As shown above, most of the people who filled in our survey are female which shows that our film goes against the stereotypical male film noir audience. 15% of the people who took part are still male so it still managed to attract that group.

Could you tell that the genre was Film Noir?

Everyone could tell that our film was Film Noir meaning that we have managed to use the codes and conventions of the genre effectively. We are relieved by this because we focused carefully and worked hard on the mise en scene by setting up the props and choosing the correct costumes and location.

What did you like about our film?

People said that they liked the unique choice of genre which made our film stand out in comparison to modern films. They also praised the mise en scene which again, we are pleased with because we really worked hard on this. We made sure to focus on small details such as the titles and the costumes to attract the audience.

What could be improved?

A few people stated that we need to improve on the voice-over so next time, we will use a better quality microphone instead of our phone to record the voice over. Additionally, the editing could also be improved by making the pace more consistent and we could have also included more camera angles during the office scene which would have made it more appealing.

Did you like our film opening?

The majority of the people said yes meaning that we managed to attract the majority of our target audience. This may be due to the enigma codes that we used in the opening which made them interested about what direction the rest of the film will take.

Question 4- Evalution

Question 4- Who would be the audience for your media product?
In this question we had to look at our primary and secondary audience and think about how/ why our film would appeal to them, as well as look at the type of people they are. We also began to look into how we developed our audience and increase the following.

Question 3- Evaluation

Question 3- What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
In this part of the evaluation we looked at the institution that we chose to distribute it and and why it was correct for us to do this. We also looked into how as well as where it would be best to distribute our film and the final part that we looked into is how we would see our film being shown in the future.

Question 2- Evaluation

Question 2- How does your media product represent particular social groups?
In this question we looked at the type of characters within our film opening and how they were represented and applied into our film opening. We further looked into how we displayed in our film what representation of women was like, and how we were able to show this in our opening due to the conventions of film noir.

Question 1- Evaluation

Question 1- In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge form and conventions of real media products?
In this question we looked into the main codes and conventions of a film noir film, and how we maintained, developed and challenged these conventions. We also looked at the inspirations we had for our film opening and how they influenced us.

Production Diary

This is the production diary to show what we have been doing over the past few weeks. It includes what we have completed and the evidence to prove this. It also shows behind the scene pictures from when we were filming to show what those who weren't on the screen were doing. Each part also includes the actual date that they happened, showing how we met deadlines and maintained a high intensity of work.

Marketing- Interview with Elona

We also completed another interview with the Directer of the film. We completed this because many people who are interested in the film would normally want to know what is going on behind the scenes and therefore though having the interview with the directer the public can have this.

Also with this interview we reveal why our film noir is different to other classic film noirs. The question is asked at 1.05 minutes and the answer consists along the lines of how we are giving the woman more power than ever before.

Marketing- Interview with Georgia

When thinking about more ways to market our film we decided that interviews would be god, as then it can allow the public to get to know our actors and this could make them like the type of person they are and then want to go and see them in the film. The first interview we completed was with Georgia Alliston who plays Lana Lombard.

This interview is also going onto the preview page on our website and is released on there first for fans who are interested in our film, this therefore encourages them to go back to our website to see more previews.

Here it is on the website:

We have completed our interviews using the Film 4 logo because on the TV channel they complete interviews about up and coming films that are mainstream or independent. Also as we have decided to have Film 4 as our distributor it links the film and the marketing.

Marketing- Poster

Now that we had all of the photos we put them on on Photoshop and edited them to have the film noir feeling we wanted them to have. We created 3 posters to be released, two individual character posters and 1 overall film poster.
We created individual character ones as well as our main one because we are going to release them separately at different times, this well help increase the excitement over our film and will also introduce the characters to the audience before they see the film.
This is how we have designed them to look like:

For the poster we made there be a blind/ blocking effect in the background as this is a classic film noir convention.
We have also used the same font as we have in the actual film titles, this is so that this particular font becomes iconic and like a logo to our film as the audience will start to recognize this font used.
Finally we made our film a 15 which is shown on the bottom left of the poster. This is because our film will contain scenes of a violent and at times of scary nature.

Marketing- Photoshoot

Whilst we were filming in the office we decided to have a photo shoot in the break between filming, this was so that we would be able to create our posters with adequate setting and lighting to match the classic film noir posters.
Here are some of the photos we took, they include prop and setting shots as well as character shots:

Marketing- Website

As for our film to be a success we would need to advertise our film, especially as ours is low budget, to try and get more people to go and see our film. As well as posters and other physical ways of advertising and marketing our film. We thought that it would be also effective if we created a film website. Through having this it means that people worldwide will be able to hear about our film, 'A Dame With A Clue'.
This is our website link:

www.adamewithaclue.wix.com/adwac

Through having this website it also allows us to have a base for the fans of the film which we gain. To encourage the fans to go the website we are releasing short previews of music and voice overs as well as behind the scenes interviews on the website first, so those who can't wait want to go and see the film even more in cinema.
Also on this website there are links to our social media pages which we are also creating.

Marketing Research

Now that we have nearly completed the editing of our film opening we need to market it to be able to get the hype up and get people to come and watch our film when we have completed it. So that we would use the correct marketing for the audience which we are trying to gain we have completed research on it.

We have also included our own ways of marketing as well, as it displays where we got the inspiration from and that we have completed it too.

Student Feedback

This is the feedback which we received from the other members in the classes, they marked us out of 60 and based it on how good the sound was, how the effects on the film were and how the transitions were. We will take this on board along with the teacher's feedback and edit and adapt our film opening to follow the recommendations and therefore improve our final opening and grade.

Teacher Feedback

As we have created our first draft we had our teachers watch it to then help us by giving us feedback on what they thought and how we could improve the first version of our film opening.

Here is what they said:

We have taken all of this feedback on board and we are going to apply these improvements suggested to our opening. Through doing this it should help improve our overall mark at the end of this coursework.

First Draft

After collecting all of our footage and editing it we have created a first draft of our opening sequence- A Dame With A Clue.

This first version of our film opening will be observed by our teachers and classmates who we will eventually get feedback from. We will also watch the other groups openings and give them feedback too.

Final Title Order

This is the finalised list of the order in which we are putting our titles in. We considered how titles were displayed in 1940s-60s Film Noir films by including an actors list and showing the film title straight away but we also considered how titles are shown in modern films by including individual titles so that we can show that our film is being made in the modern era. We mixed the two elements together in order to display a Film Noir film in 2015.

This is the order we have decided upon:

Production Company
Film Title
Actor Name - Individual
Actor Name - Individual
List of Actors Names
Casting by
Co-Producer
Costume Design
Music by...
Director of Photography
Production Designer
Editors
Writers
Executive Producer
Producer
Director

Shooting Schedule- Interior

As we are going to be filming the office scenes over the next couple of days we need to make sure that we are going to be as efficient as we can be, due to us having to travel to our location and it having to be dark outside. So to ensure this we created a shooting schedule and through having a shooting schedule, it will tell us what we should be filming, when and this will make us concentrate properly and get the shots we need done.

Interior Risk Assessment

The next part we are filming will be the part of our opening which is inside in an office. To make sure we are safe we must include a risk assessment and take the precautions we mention if anything happens.

As in this presentation the risk assessment isn't very clear, here it is on its own:

This risk assessment includes the risks that we face and what we are going to do to limit the risk. We have also included the nearest A and E hospital as well as the first aider who will be on site. Then to approve our risk assessment is sufficient our media teacher signed it.

The Maltese Falcon Timeline

As we are starting to film and edit our opening sequence we decided that it would be best that we did further research into the correct ordering of shots as well as what the outline of the conversation that takes place in classic film noir films. This research has given us therefore given us inspiration with which shots and ideas from our storyboard should be ordered where.
The classic film noir film which we have taken this inspiration from is The Maltese Falcon, we watched the opening sequence to this and made short notes about each part.

Script

Now that we've completed our first set of filming, our next filming will involve the speech and therefore this speech will need a script for the actors to follow. So today we finalized the script so that we would be able to give it to the actors in order for them to be able to learn it in time for the filming of that scene on Saturday and Sunday.
Here is the script:

This is page 1

This page 2

Shooting Schedule- Exterior

Today we have also created a shooting schedule for our filming which we will be completing throughout the week. Through having this schedule it allows us to make the most of when we are filming. This is because it makes it clear to us when and where we are going to film and this will make sure everyone who is needed is there in the right place at the right time.

Risk Assessment and Location- Exterior

As today we are going to be filming, we had to fill out a risk assessment to make sure that we stayed safe and were aware of what hazards could be around us. This risk assessment had to then be signed by our teacher to show that we had filled it out appropriately and hadn't missed out any key hazards for us to be careful of whilst filming.

Also as we were filming outside of a school setting we needed to see what the location would look like on camera, so we put together location shots of the type of area that we were going to film in. These are our location shots and will make our film process much more efficient as then when we go there we will already know exactly wear to go and what it will look like.
Below is the PowerPoint which includes our location shots and the Risk Assessment:

As the risk assessment isn't very clear on the presentation here is the original photograph of it:

This enables you to see more clearly the initial risk and how we plan to control this as well as where we are filming and the nearest hospital to this location.

Shot List

So that when we come to filming we are able to make use of all the time we have we created a shot list and through having a shot list we are able to know exactly what we need to shoot to have enough footage in order to make our narrative make sense.

This includes not only shots we need but where we need them and also the order in which they will be shown in our opening sequence this will help us realize at what point each of our parts are coming together when filming and this will help us maintain consistency in our mise en scene and also assist us when directing the actors.

Preparation for Filming

This evening we are going to start our filming in Brentwood. We are planning on filming the exterior shots and the individual outside shots of the female character, who is going to be played by Georgia Alliston. The people filming these shots are Angel Duncil and myself. Through having two people filming it enables us to film from two different angles at the same time and will therefore give a greater variation in the shots that we have.

However as we are filming around an estate where many people live we have to be careful not to annoy or get in the way of any residents. To avoid any misunderstanding that might occur we have a letter from our media teacher to give to the people if there are any problems.

This is the letter that we will use. our teacher also left his contact details (email address) so that the residents are also able to contact him if here are any problems.

Audience Research

When creating a film we need to consider who we are creating it for and how we are going to make our film enjoyable for these audiences. This is important as if we do not think about our target audience whilst creating the film opening then not only could it no longer appeal to them, but this could then mean that less people would then want to come and see the film. This means that it would then not do well in the cinemas and this would mean that we haven't achieved the goal that we want to complete, of bringing film noir back to cinema.

Institution Research

Today we completed the institution research and his shows the type of film we are as well as the budget we hope o maintain. This is important as if we don't have the correct distributor then the audience which we advertise and encourage to come and see would be wrong for our film and would mean that people wouldn't enjoy it as much as others would, meaning it would do as well as we would hope in cinema.

Prop List and Research

Today in the lesson we researched the types of props which we would need that were specific to creating an accurate mise en scene for our opening. This was maybe slightly more difficult for our group because we have chose to set our film in the past rather than the present day. So the props that we have in our shots have to be appropriate to the time period of 1940-50.

Through having this list it means that we go and start filming this week it means that we will remember everything and be able to create the most effective mise en scene that we can in order to make the audience believe the era which we have set the film in.

Representation Research

Today we looked at the classic look that each of our characters should have in order to further portray across to the audience the genre of film noir. As the characters are an extremely important part of our opening sequence, it was important that we took our time in getting the appropriate influences and examples for the opening which we are creating- 'A Dame With a Clue'.

With this research we will therefore be able to make our opening even more realistic and more correct to the time in which we are setting our film. This further helps to avoid any anachronisms be revealed.

Music Research

Another part of research which was completed by our group today was the music research. The music in a film noir film is vital in creating the right setting and feel to an opening sequence, as if the music isn't right the wrong mood will be portrayed to the audience.
For our opening sequence we wanted quite a serious and old fashioned feel to be cited for the audience and in order for us to create this we had to look deeply into what music was classically found in the 1940's-50's as well as in other film noir films.

We will only really need this information for when we go and complete our editing as this is when we add on this type of non digetic sound. So when we go and complete the editing we will put this information towards choosing our own modernistic orchestral piece of music. Through adding this type of music to our opening it will add tension and suspicion as well as a slightly seducing sense to our shots.

Final Task Storyboard

Today we started to create the storyboard and put together each of our ideas of shots that we should include in order to help us put together an opening sequence which resembles that of a film noir genre,
This meant that key types of shots we thought we should include, that are classic to film noir were:

Reflection Shots
Tracking Shots
Dutch Angle Shots
Blocking Shot

Through having this storyboard it enables us to know exactly what and how we are going to shoot each scene, so therefore gives us a guide as to the filming. This will help us to make our filming sessions more effective and this means that we can make the most of our time that we have in the setting.

This is quite vital as to get to our settings we have to travel, which takes time and to fit the mise en scene of film noir we have to film at night which again only gives us limited times of the day to film.

Film Noir Mood Boards

Today in lesson I created the mood boards. These showed inspiration for the key parts in Film Noir, such as, costume and classic shots. Through completing this mood board it means that when we go to complete the filming of the opening sequence we have ideas in our minds as to what we would like each of our shots and characters to look and feel like.

Titles Research

In the lesson today I researched the opening titles of film noir in more detail. I looked at both old and modern influences of titles and how they looked on the screen. This then helped me to come up with the ideas and suggestions for our 'A Dame With a Clue' titles.

Film Noir Codes and Conventions

The thing that I decided to complete first, once the feedback was completed, was to look into influences for our narrative, what types of ideas you get throughout a traditional film noir and how we were going to try and make ours original. I did this because at first I did not completely understand what went into a film noir. This is due t the fact that it is no longer such a popular genre to be in the cinema. I therefore decided that it would be extremely important for myself to research the genre and learn as much as I can about it.

After I finished this gathering of information, I then found it much easier to understand what needs to be in a film noir for people to be able to recognise the genre. This therefore made it easier for me to then research and decide upon key factors in our final opening sequence, for example the titles and audience which we should aim our sequence at.

Film Pitch Feedback

After completing our film pitch we were given feedback from our class. We had to carefully look through all of this feedback and look at what we could do in order to help us improve the opening sequence. There were 6 main sections which we were given feed back on, these were:
1. What is the genre?
2. Who's the target audience?
3. Does it introduce the character and setting?
4. Does the mood and style fit?
5. Is the narrative interesting?
6. What films is it similar to?

This was our feedback which we received:

Now when we plan and begin to actually shoot our film opening we will concentrate on all of the mentioned above an through doing this we will be able to make our film opening as realistic, professional and able to fit the genre as possible.

Film Noir Film Pitch

In this lesson we pitched the film idea to the rest of the class, all the other groups also had to pitch their ideas to us.
For the pitch to be accurate we had to agree upon a name and a final narrative. We decided that an appropriate name for the film was 'A Dame with a Case'. We decided this fit well with our narrative, because it is the female character that goes to the detective about a murder. The pitch which we showed to the class is below:

After we completed the pitch we collected in all of our feedback and started to look through it together and this helped us to get a general idea as to what we needed to improve whilst planning and filming.

Once we had a quick look through our feedback we had to then watch the other groups and give our personally feedback on theirs, so that they could also have others opinions.

Film Opening Pitch

This lesson we were put into our groups. My group consists of Georgia, Angel, Luke and myself and then we each had to each pitch a film opening. Angel pitched a Si-fi film and Georgia pitched a Film Noir film and I pitched a Romantic Drama film. This is my pitch:

In the end we chose to go with Georgia's idea of Film Noir. We chose to go with this idea because we together thought that it was original and different to what many people would do and we further liked the idea of bringing an old genre into the modern day.
After we had decided upon which film opening we were going to complete we then begun to delegate tasks so that we would be able to create a informative pitch for the rest of our class to understand for and help us improve our opening.
This final film pitch to the class will take place next lesson, but it will be different to the first round of pitches as our pitch will be in more detail than before and we will complete the pitch together, taking it in turns to talk and explain our film idea.

Opening Titles

Whilst in lesson today we begun to concentrate on how and in which order the titles in films are shown. We also looked at the font and graphology and how this was vital in helping the audience understand the feel and the genre that the film is going to have for the rest of it.
We then had to go away and look at a title of titles of our own choice and the film that I chose to look at the titles from was The Addams Family.

Sound in Film

This lesson we looked into more detail the sound that you find within films. Even though previously we only learnt about the main two of digetic and non-digetic sound, today we looked into more depth about the types of sound you hear within these two categories.

Synchronous Sound- This is where the sounds heard in the scene match the image which is being viewed. E.g. If you see a character playing a piano, you hear piano music.

Asynchronous Sound- This is where the image on the screen doesn't actually show the thing that is making the noise. E.g. A heartbeat being heard in the background, but you don't actually see a beating heart.

Ambient Sound- This is the background sounds that help establish a location, these sounds together create a soundscape. E.g. In a scene in a park, you hear children playing, leaves rustling and birds in the background.

Sound Bridge- This is when sound from one scene can help lead in and out of another, so acts as a transition. E.g. Background music blending into an alarm clock going off.

Voice Over- This when you add someone talking on top of a scene, but the characters can't normally hear them. They are normally saying the narration of the story or they are saying whatever the character is thinking.

Film Music:
Symphonic- Performed by a large orchestra. Normally used in Dramas.
Melody- This is a distinctive tune played. Normally used in Teenage/ RomComs.
Atonal- This is music with no established key. Normally used in Horrors or Thrillers.
Rhythmic- A percussive sound which forms a beat. Normally used in Actions.
Dissonant- This is music lacking conventional harmonies. Normally used in Horrors.

We then had to choose a film opening and then focus in on how they use the sound to portray the feeling/ emotion and the genre in that opening sequence. The opening sequence that I have chosen is from the film The Holiday.

The music used in this opening sequence is melodic as it uses a distinct Christmas song whilst the production company is being shown this starts to reveal the type of genre that it is- Christmas and that it is also a light-hearted happy film. This then blends into a symphonic tune further revealing that the film will include romance throughout as that type of music has a romantic feel when played slowly. This music in the background is non-digetic sound due to the characters not being able to hear what's going on and this shows how it is for the benefit of the audience to set the scene for the rest of the film. However as the setting which they are in is a park, ambient sound is used which is also digetic so the characters can hear it, this also continues to add to the mise en scene for the audience. However as it zooms out you realize that the whole thing has been has been digetic sound as it is on a computer and then it goes into the rest of the scene where a phone conversation starts which includes asynchronous and synchronous sound.

Student Film Openings

Today in class we started to look at many examples of different film openings that were created by various students over the past couple of years under the same exam board as us.
We looked at what we enjoyed and thought looked professional and also looked out for what they could have improved on as well as deciding upon the mark that we would have given the film out of 60 according to the mark scheme. After looking at a couple of examples we had to next find three of our own.

Roses are Red:

I thought the way of displaying the titles was really clever, as they must have taken a lot of time on it and they paid fairly close attention to detail, for example with the title in the magazine they photo shopped it to look realistic and glossy. However the main display of titles I liked were the actors names that were shown as Polaroids and this really added to the mise en scene and therefore fits the genre really well, of a teen film as many teenagers would have photos and other items shown in this opening in their bedroom.

However at times the camera was shaky and occasionally went out of focus specifically in the title about the music and this therefore made it extremely hard to read what the title said and this also made it a little bit unprofessional. Another improvement that could happen is that there could have been better music in the background because even though it fits the genre, it seems very dull and repetitive and finally there was a filming mistake as at the end on the mirror behind her the title of 'Roses are Red' suddenly disappear.

The Edge

I thought that the whole of this opening sequence looked extremely professional as the editing made the transition between the scenes very smooth and easy to watch. I also thought that the positioning and the movement of the titles was good as a majority of them fit well on the wall or side of a building for example and when they were in line with a character the moved with the character that was also in the shot. There was also a good range of ages, so it wasn't all just teenagers and this helped to make it look more believable and therefore professional as a film opening.

Although there was a couple of times where I thought that diegetic sound could have been used, for example the sound of his skates when he was talking or a muffled sound of the man shouting in the background with the music. This would have then made the opening even more realistic and make the view feel like they were actually there. Finally there was also one title that was repeated and this created a editing error.

Christopher

I thought that there was a good variety of shots and that the camera transitions and movements were very smooth and I especially liked the transition to the breakfast table as it was cleverly edited and looked very professional. Also I thought that the narrative of the opening was quite original and that made it quite refreshing and enjoyable to watch and as the narrative was a important to follow in this opening it was good that the titles were quite subtle and simple so that they weren't in your face or in your way when trying to follow/ understand the narrative.

However the title of the film 'Christopher' was shown right at the end which is where you would but the title in a trailer rather than a film opening. Also in the conversation that happened at the end the background noise of the wind was too loud and this made it more difficult to hear what they were saying and this therefore took away from the professionalism, especially as the rest of the speech and sound is so clear.

The Preliminary Task and Evaluation

We have started to complete our preliminary task over the past couple of lessons and we will continue to plan, edit and film our short films for the next couple of weeks.

The first thing that we had to do was be put into groups of 3 or 4 and then as a group chose a genre. After much deliberation, my group, we chose to have the genre musical.

Once we had our genre of the short film which we were going to create we had to begin a brainstorm into what other musical films we liked and were popular. These therefore influenced how we decided upon our narrative. We then came together and created a narrative or plot for our film, with this we also came up with the characters, the settings we needed and the props and costumes which we would used to make the film more professional and effective. All the details about the Preliminary Task is in this presentation below:

Pete Fraser Talk

On Friday 2nd October we had a speaker come in called Pete Fraser and he is involved with the BFI (British Film Industry). He was speaking to us about how we can create a successful film opening for our final project and what type of information we should look out for when creating the opening.

The first film opening we focused on with him was 'Catch Me If You Can' we specifically looked at how the titles were revealed and how the order at which they are shown is not random but carefully thought out. Also we found out that certain actors will request that their names are shown at a specific point, (e.g. before the film title.) This is due to their lawyers and others making sure that it is in their contract.

Pete Fraser then showed us this image above which is a picture of a timeline showing when specific titles came up and the order in which they came up and this further proves that they are not random and that when we are creating our film opening that we should concentrate and take care when deciding upon and adding the titles into the sequence.

After looking at how titles are added, we then discussed how you don't have to reveal the main characters in the opening sequence in order to portray across the idea and narrative of the film. A great example of this is in the opening of the film 'Dawn of the Dead'. In this opening it uses flashes of zombies and what seems like news broadcasting filming mixed with shots of petri dishes and over voices talking about the zombies and a disease. By doing this the audience is still able to tell that this is a horror film and that the film will be about defeating the zombies but doesn't reveal the whole narrative. Another point that we learnt through this opening sequence was that the font and animation that goes with the titles is key to further revealing the genre, which was shown in 'Dawn of the Dead' as the titles were made of blood.

The final part of the talk from Pete Fraser was him giving us 'Top Tips' on what to do and what to avoid when creating our final film opening piece. Whilst he was telling us that the small things add up to get you better marks he went through these nine steps for success:

Take Stock- So we need to think about what the task set is and how it will be assessed, what equipment we will need and what our time frame is.
Blog- We should continue to blog and keep evidence of everything we do, even if it is just explaining what you did that day in class.
Work on Skills- So that when we get to our final piece we are prepared, beforehand you should practice working with the camera, editing software and creating the sound through foley.
Investigate- We should look at film openings from the genre that we have decided upon for research and look at successful student examples to get an idea of what quality ours should be. Also we should be aware of the titles and think about how our film can be original.
Brainstorm- To get all our ideas together in a group we should brainstorm and present short pitches, react to feedback given to you and remember to be realistic in your expectation.
Planning- Plan what props, costumes ect. that you might need and think about what risks might be involved in your filming. Also experiment with your shots and lighting so you can get the best one and we need to think about logistics.
The Shoot- Make sure to have everyone and everything in the right place at the right time, rehearsed and prepared to be directed by others and keep a record of the filming while you go.
Editing- Continue to take screen grabs for evidence on the computer of your editing, listen to feedback from others and make sure you clean up the sound, lighting and use more than just a song in the background.
Evaluation- Follow guiding questions and look in depth at your final piece.

His final key points before he left were:

Plan everything
Keep all evidence
Avoid the obvious
Pay attention to detail
Make your blog varied
Learn from other pieces of work

Juno Filming Practice

Over the past week we have been planning, filming and editing our recreation of the opening sequence of the film Juno. We did this so that we could practice filming, creating our storyboards, and editing in transitions or effects with a basis for us to compare ours too. Also by completing a recreation rather than our own film first, allowed it to be controlled and this made it easier to learn the steps which will be needed when creating an opening sequence.

Planning
This was our first task for this project. We had to watch the opening carefully and fill out a storyboard for it. In this we had to fill out what happens in each shot and which type of shot each one was, with this we also had to include how long each shot be around.
This was my storyboard:

When we went out to complete the filming we took these sheets out with us and this enabled us to know how to film the required scene and what it should look like. I also used these storyboards whilst I was editing as without these it would become quite complicated because I further wrote in between each scene what the transitions should look like.

Although if I completed these story boards again I would note down more information on each shot so that it is clearer to the people acting and filming as to what it should look like as the final product, because a couple times whilst we were filming the scenes, we got a little confused as to what the finished product should look like in comparison to the story board.

The other thing which I would improve in my storyboards would be the terminology which I wrote down to describe the shots. I think that this needed to be improved if I did this again, because a couple of times I didn't use the correct terminology. For example a few times I wrote that the camera should follow the character as they walked, however I should have called it a tracking shot.

Once the story boards had been filled out, we begun to think about the Mise en Scene and what props we would need to bring in for the filming, such as the juice carton, the red hoodie and the black shoes, as well as where the best place to film each scene would be. We decided this now so that when we went out to do the filming we could go straight out the next lesson and film from the very beginning.

Filming and Editing
After we had the lesson to complete the planning above, we then had to go out and collect the filming footage needed to recreate the opening sequence. (I took the story boards out with me, so we could check as we went along.) We only had an hour to complete all the filming needed, so we had to use all of our hour effectively to complete it in the time limit. Once we got all of our footage we went back inside and uploaded it all onto the computer. I then imported it onto Adobe Premier and this is when I started to edit and decipher the filming we had completed.
The editing took me the longest of each of the sections as I had to be very focused on what I was doing in order for the editing to be precise and as similar as I could make it to the original.
The thing that I found most difficult about the editing was making it the same as the original. This is because the editing programme which we use at school, obviously, isn't as high tech as the professional one which the Juno producers would have used and this meant that not every transition which was completed in the original was able to be completed in ours due to the software simply not having the effect needed.
Below is my final edit of my recreation of Juno's opening sequence:

I thought that by adding the cartoon effect which was called 'Find Edges' onto the film, it made the shots look a lot more like the shots in the original therefore making it look more professional. Also I thought that the way I cut the clips was fairly effective because you couldn't tell when she stopped and started the walking from when we were filming the scenes. By these cuts looking clean it enabled the opening that I created to flow between shots better and, again, therefore look closer to the original which makes it more professional.

However it could do with improvements. If I was to complete the task again I would improve the timings in certain shots. This is because in a couple of the shots in comparison to the original the length was too short, and this caused the next shot to be out of time and as a result, longer than it should have been in order to compensate for the previous short shot. The other thing which I think would have made my sequence better would have been to make the first two scenes just one long one as in the second section the tree isn't in the same place as before making it a filming mistake meaning that I have to use a blending transition, in order to cover this mistake up, which isn't in the original filming. The final improvement I would make on the video is on the tracking shot at the beginning, this is because in the original version the movement is smooth along in the shots. However when I flmed this part the camera jolts up and down, so you can see where I walking with the camera. Therefore if I did this again I would use something like a wheely chair to sit on and slide along so that the shot taken has a smoother feel to it.

Institution

Throughout the last two lessons we created a practice film pitch for a horror film called The Lurking.We decided and envisioned every detail of the film including the narrative and the cast. The main points which we had to concentrate on when creating this pitch were:

Characters- Whether we have Antagonists/ Protagonists, who do we want to cast, who will be our supporting characters.
Mise en Scene- Do the decisions fit the genre, does the setting portray across the feeling we want, do the costumes show the personality of the character.
Audience- What would they want/ expect to see from a film of this genre, will people in the target audience enjoy the narrative and character choices.
Genre- What would people expect- how does your film match genre conventions and does it go against them in anyway to make it niche.
Plot/ Narrative- Have you used binary opposition, 5 stage narrative analysing, does the plot make sense, can it be followed.
Title- Does it fit in and make sense with the rest of the film.
Marketing- What type campaigns will you use, will any be aimed at your target audience.

While creating our pitch we tried to answer as many of these questions as we could so that our ideas could be understood in the clearest way possible.

The Film Industry

In class today we began to look at film companies and major companies which produce a majority of the blockbuster films. At first we looked at 'The Big 6'. These are the enormous multimedia companies who can afford to produce high budget films with special effects, as well as low budget films. The Big 6 are:

20th Century Fox
Paramount
Walt Disney co.
Universal
Warner Brothers
Sony

You also find Mini Major film companies which also have film franchises but are never going to be as big as the other six. These include companies such as, Lionsgate and MGM.

I then looked at how much low budget and high budget films are. We found out that a low budget film is classed as anything up to $2 million and a high budget film is around $150 million. The higher the budget of the film the more it is going to cost the cinemas a lot to show it. This is due to the production costs so the company charge the cinema to show it. This means that the cinema then has to take most of its profit from the food and drink which they sell and therefore cover the showing costs.

There is also a 'film year' that occurs, so that means that you can predict when certain types of films are going to be released into the cinema.

Mid October- February = Academy Awards Nomination Films
Half Term- Christmas = Christmas Films and other Children Films
Easter- Summer = Big Blockbuster Films

After looking at the typical film year we begun to concentrate on how the audience, ourselves, consume, understand and watch films. These were my answers:

The final part of our lesson today was us creating our film industry's logo. I called mine 'Top Hat Productions'. In this I used a upside down top hat as the 'T' in Top and a black bow tie as the line that crosses the 't' in Hat. Here is my logo:

Film Language

In lesson today we learnt about different film language and how is used in order to help portray across the narration. The four types of language which we have learnt about are:

Camera: For this we look at the frames that have been shot, the angle at which it has been shot at and the movement of the shots shown.
Editing: When looking at the editing we concentrate on this acronym:

Transitions, so how well it moves between shots and frames.
Order of the narrative, which is how time is shown throughout, whether time is passing and whether it is in order of the characters life.
Pace in which we decide how quickly the cuts are in succession of each other (e.g. an action film will have faster and more cuts than a romantic one).
Special effects, so we look at whether any special effects have been edited into the film (e.g. editing in animals that don't exist in reality).

Sound: Then we look at what sound has been used and chosen. So you concentrate on the dialogue, where we analyse what and how the characters say things. We also look at what music is being played in the background and whether it is parallel or contrapuntal to the context of the scene. The last part of sound that we focus on is if they are using diegetic sound (the sound taken in during filming) or non-diegetic sound (the sound added onto the clip during editing).

After being taught about the various types of film language, we then took the opening to the film UP and looked out for these specific types of language.

Throughout this clip of the film the same piece of music plays in the background the whole time, however to portray across the emotions during each part of the clip the speed/ mood of the music changes, the sound is parallel to the emotion shown by the characters. This variation in the tone of the music is vital to the audience watching because there is no dialogue, so the audience has to receive the emotion of the scene through the music rather than speech. So the happier the music seems, the happier the characters are.

During the animation they show the time passing by the actions that they are completing, so they complete the stereotypical actions you'd expect a couple to go through. (E.g. marriage and then moving into a house together etc.). It is further shown through when only the ties are shown, these continually changing display the days continually changing and going past. Also another way the producers showed time passing is that the characters slowly older so by the end of the clip they are elderly.

Finally due to the clip being an animation the producers would have wanted to make the clip look at realistic as possible for an animation. To do this they have created natural and high lighting on the characters so that it looks more like they are in reality.