My Chosen Producer And Distributor

This short clip explains my chosen distributor for my film in my own words.

Practice Timeline

Recce 2

Recee from lisadors

Recce 1

Recee from lisadors

Credit List

Credits List

Production Schedule

Production Schedule

Filming Time Line

Animatic

This is a step by step shot of each of our seperate frames in our storyboard. The images show a closer image of each shot to generate a greater understanding of our final piece plan.

Story Board

This is our storyboard. This shows our original plan for what we wanted our opening sequence to look like. The storyboard acts as a rough guidline to the making of the footage and helps to give support in forming the film as the basics are already planned and constructed.

Censorship

Censorship

Film Production And Distribution Research

Dreamworks was founded in 1994 by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen. It is owned by Reliance ADA Group and owns Dreamworks Records (former), Dreamworks Interactive (former), Dreamworks Television (current), Dreamworks Home Entertainment (current) and Go Fish Pictures (former). Dreamworks is a producer of films and is worth an approximate amount of £3.5 billion. Dreamworks pictures highest grossing film is Shrek 2 with $919,838,758 made worldwide. Dreamworks produce comedy films that appeal to children and subtly to adults.

Twentieth Century Fox was founded in 1915 by William Fox in which he merged two previous companies. It is owned by News Corporation and has been since 1985. They are the owners of Fox Searchlight Pictures, Fox Atomic, Fox Interactive, 20th Century Fix Home Entertainment, Fox Television Studios, Blue Sky Studios, 20th Television/20th Century Fox Television and Fox Star Studios. 20th Century Fox is a producer of films and in 2006, their total assets were $40,790,188. The highest grossing film Fox has distributed is Avatar (2009). They mainly produce films of action/adventure genre and television programmes/series.

 

 

Working Title films was founded in 1983 by Tim Bevan and Sarah Radclyffe. Working title is a subsidary to Polygram (1991-1999) and then Universal Studios from 2000 to present. This company is a producer of films and produce mainly comedy films. Some of their films include 'Love Actually', 'Johnny English' and 'Nanny McPhee'. The highest grossing film of Working Title is 'Four Weddings and a Funeral' in 1994 starring Hugh Grant. Their films ae also mainly British with Hugh Grant starring in a large amount of them. Working Title have grossed $4.25 billion since working under Universal Studios.

 

 

Universal Studios (aka Universal Pictures) is an American motion picture studio which was founded in 1912 by Carl Laemmle, Mark Dintenfass, Charles Baumann, Adam Kessel, Pat Powers, William Swanson, David Horsely and ules Brulatour. The parent of Universal Studios is NBC Universal. The subsidaries are Universal Animation Studios, Focus Features and Illumination Entertainment. In 2011 Universal Studios had a revenue of $4.239 billion. Films of Universal Studios include aws, Jurassic Park, E.T, Bridesmaids and Scott Pilgrim. E.T was the highest grossing film at $359,197,037 and Jurassic Park a close second at $357,067,947. Universal Studios do not produce a specific genre but more of a range including sci-fi, horror, thriller and comedy.

Lionsgate was founded in 1997 by Frank Giustra. It is an American entertainment company that distributes independent films. Subsidiaries of Lionsgate include: Celestial Tiger Entertainment, Debmar Mercury, Grindstone Entertainment group, Mandate Pictures, Pantelion Films, Roaside Attractions, Sea to Sky Entertainement, TV Guide Network, Epix and Codeblack Films. In 2011, Lionsgate total assets was $1,557 billion and their highest grossing film is The Hunger Games at $408,010,692. Some of the genres that Lionsgate disreibute are action, horror, thriller, comedy and fantasy.

Warp Films was founded by Rob Mitchell and Steve Beckett in 2002 and is based in Sheffield and London in the UK. They are also the owners of Warm Australia and Warp X. Warp Films is a production company and is famous for producing one of the most popular independent films: This is England. This is England was released in 2006. Its budget was a mere £1,472,500 and made a huge £5,058,600 in the box office alone.

 

Costume And Props

Costume

Risk Assessment

Risk Assessment Copy

Treatment

Treatment on Prezi

Character Profiles

Character Profiles on Prezi

Target Audience For Genre

Target audience notes from Chloe1312

My chosen genre is thriller and this is a brief over view of what the typical viewer of my genre would be.

Script - The Debt

Script - the Debt

Our Synopsis

John and Nicole have arrived back from their holiday. They think everyone is perfect. They innocently walk into their road when suddenly John spots two familiar figures that he doesnt want to see. He sees them and they see him. He sweeps his girlfriend up and continues to walk towards his house unaware that in a split second he would be knocked out and waking up on his living room floor. There wherabouts of his girlfriend was unknown, all he knew was that she was kidnapped by a threatening note that was left behind. John then makes it his mission to escape the debt of the gangsters and get his girlfriend back. However, John does not know what problems lie just around the corner.

My Synopsis - Thriller

Robert is 15, everything in his life is perfect. He couldn't ask for a better family, better friends or anything better in his conscious life. However, there is one thing wrong with Robert. Every night when he goes to sleep, his recurring nightmare continues to haunt him. The ones he love, the ones closest to him, encounter a devastating death. When Robert soon discovers that his deams are a de ja vu he takes it upon himself to help save the lives of those that are about to die.

Evaluation Of Three Preliminary Tasks

What is good? This piece used the 180 degree rule appropriately.

What can I do? Ensure that I use the rule correctly.

What can be improved? There was a brief shot of an empty space, ensure that there is always something going on in the shot. Use more dialogue as there wasn’t enough. Make sure that the purpose/genre of the task is apparent.

What will I avoid? I will avoid unnecessary camera shots and also make sure that my dialogue is clear and involves more than just 2 lines of speech.

What is good? The match on action shots was very tight. Also, the music suited the action of the character walking down the stairs. (Synchronised sound)

What can I do? I will ensure that my matches on action shots are carried out appropriately. I will also use music to my advantage by giving it a style to parallel my action or my genre.

What can be improved? Use more dialogue within the task as not a lot was said.

What will I avoid? Not using enough dialogue to explain what is happening.

What is good? Camera angles were constructed correctly.

What can I do? Use a range of camera angles to express characters, feelings and genre.

What can be improved? The 180 degree rule was broken. The shots weren’t very focal. The use of camera angles didn’t suit what was being portrayed. The dialogue wasn’t very clear and so needs more detail.

What will I avoid? I will avoid using too many different angles within one short period of time. I will also avoid using dialogue that provides no meaning to the sequence.

Thriller - Codes And Conventions

Analysis Of A Film Opening Sequence - Rambo: First Blood

The opening sequence that I have decided to examine is from ‘Rambo: First Blood’. I like the opening of this movie as it doesn’t expose any of the content of the film or even the genre to an extent. This stands out to me as it isn't conforming to the conventions of a title sequence. A title dequence is supposed to expose the genre to the audience whereas this does not.  In the opening, Rambo is walking through a forestry area towards a house. As the audience, we do not see his face close up, only the clothing that he is wearing. From seeing his clothes it is not apparent what he is like or what his profession was.

Towards the end of the sequence there is a close up of Rambo’s face. Even from this shot we cannot tell that he is a ‘dangerous’ man. In the shot, he looks calm and peaceful. He looks innocent and seems to be a genuine person. He also smiles at one point. His smile denotes happiness. Given his situation, the smile, for Rambo, could connote a sense of belonging or home; he feels accepted again.

The music in the opening scene also makes the film appear to be calm but also sad. The music seems to be sorrowful. This connotes that Rambo could get upset in his near future or that he has led a sad life.

Rambo is an action film. The conventions of an action film include: fast, upbeat music, bright colurs such as red and yellow that would connote danger. Fighting and violence are key to action movies along with guns and weaponary and maybe even explosions. Rambo goes against the conventions in the opening scene by using slow, sorrowful music that does not indicate an upbeat film. The colours are also very natural which indicate and calm and laid back person. The natural colours connote a peaceful and non violent man. Also, in the opening scene there is no sight of danger or violence. Througout the rest of the film, each of these conventions are expressed which then shows conformity. As the movie progresses it becomes more upbeat and violent.

The credits in the opening are a verbal code. The font and colour of the text are symbollic codes. The font used is large and bold. This could connote the type of character that Rambo is. He was an ex war fighter which therefore meant he was brave and extremely physically able. This font may have been used a subtle way to introduce Rambo. The content does not indicate much about the genre so instead the producers chose to do it this way. The colours used for the text is red and white. The red connotes danger, death and blood and the white connotes innocence and surrender. These together connotes that Rambo has a mixed personality. It suggests that he is an innocent person however, his dangerous side over writes that and that is how people percieve him. It could also connote that he is a violent and dangerous person and that he targets innocent people to make them surrender. The use of these colours has enabled the auience to generate their own opinion of what they think Rambo is like. There are multiple ways in which codes can be percieved and this helps the audience to make their own idea of the film. 

Both the filming and the music together in the opening give nothing away about the film. For someone who has not watched or knows anything about Rambo, the story would be a surprise.

(The permission for the video does not allow me to embed to the blog so i have posted a link to the video) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur-dWpyb7ww
 

Codes And Conventions Of 5 Film Openings

Title sequence work sheet from Chloe1312

Analysis Of 'Se7en' Opening Sequence

In the opening sequence of ‘Se7en’ it is clear that there are several codes and conventions present. There are three different types of code. These are: technical, verbal and symbolic. Within the title sequence, there is a lot of jumpy editing. This is a technical code. The jumpy editing represents a fast paced film which also adds to the tension building process. The sequence is also very grainy. This connotes that the story is complex and it is difficult to understand as the audience cannot ‘see’ it clearly. It could also connote how we see the situations or events through a particular characters eye. It could show that a character has difficulty making sense of what is going on before them and that is how the audience must experience it too. The use of grainy image also hints to the audience that the film is sent in a generation older than the present and it may not have modernised aspects to it. The use of overlapping and duplicated scenes is almost like a visual message to the audience to pay attention to those particular scenes. Moving on to verbal codes, one of the most prominent ones is the scream that can be heard. The scream connotes fear, or even torture given the content of the clip. The scream is also a typical convention of a thriller film. The sound of scream could also be seen as a type of ambient sound as it makes the scene seem more real for the audience. Within the sequence there is also text that appears to be highlighted by an unknown person. The words highlighted are pregnant and transsexual. The highlighting of these words connotes sexuality and gender. It could also be an anecdote within itself. It could make the audience believe that the film is based around a person that has made mistakes. Pregnancy could be a mistake and wanting to be a transsexual could connote a mistake that was in the makeup of your body. It could also hint towards femininity. Only a woman can become pregnant and a transsexual may want to become a woman. The final codes are symbolic. In the sequence, an image of a woman is presented with a red like going over her face. The colour red connotes blood, death and danger. The fact that it is passing through the woman’s face could connote that she is in danger. It may be that she could get severely hurt or that she might die. It may also connote that she herself is dangerous and the person that marked her face needs to be careful of her. Another symbolic code is the use of a razor blade to scrape skin off of a person’s fingers. The use of this connotes identity and that who you are in the film is an issue. It could also connote that people are afraid that their identity will be exploited so they are trying to remove it from themselves in any way possible. A convention from the sequence is that there is no sight of a protagonist; the audience do not know who the main character is. Another is that the camera uses filters to change the appearance of the sequence. Instead of normal colour being used, a red filter is used again connoting danger, death and blood. The use of shadows and dark lighting suggests a mystery in the film. It also connotes a lack of trust and that people have dark sides that not everyone is necessarily aware of.

180 Degree Rule

Evaluation Of Preliminary Task

I feel that my preliminary task was succesful. I was able to use a range of camera angles to express the content of the task and how the characters were feeling.

In the beginning of the clip there was a match on action shot where the character turns a corner on the stairs. I think that the shot was matched very well as there was a very little gap between each shot which made it look accurate. The shot in my opinion was difficult to edit as it was such a small section that needed to be cut however, I think that the final piece looked good.

In the sequence, the dialogue scene was made up of over the shoulder shots. This therefore links to the 180 degree rule. Although there wasnt a clearly defined establishing shot, the 180 degree rules was still used appropraitely and I feel that the shots were used effectively. However, there was one minor issue with the shots. When the camera was focal on the person on the right, she wasn't always central to the camera which they led the audience to focus on the background. In my future tasks i would make sure that my characters are in the centre of the camera shot so that the audience don't get ditracted my unecessary objects.

In the video, we used music to help explain the character of the student. I thinkt that the music went well with the video. I have pleased with the use of fading in the video both in the beginning with the fade out and the ending with the fade in. The music was also synchronous with the knocking on the door. This was a good affect as it showed that we considered how the music would fit with the action in the scene.

One other issue with the video was that in the very beginning, one of the characters could be seen standing. This was not intentional and did not look professional. In my future videos I would ensure that all characters are behind the camera and that they cannot be seen unless they are meant to be in a shot.

Overall i feel that the preliminary task went well. I think that the shots were taken accurately and that the characters expressions were easily recognised. I also feel that the music was used effectively and the use of synchronous sound was a good way to prove that we thought of technical editing. In my future taks I will ensure that characters are used appropriately in my filming and that they are the focus of the shot and not unnecessary background objects. I will ensure that i adhere to the 180 degree rule and use various shot types to express my scenes.

Preliminary Task

For our preliminary task we made a short film consisting of a person entering a room via a door, having a conversation with someone and once again leaving. Within the short clip i used various shot types including: shot reverse shot, over the shoulder shot and close ups. I also ensured that stuck to the 180 degree rule.

The idea for my task was a student having to see the principal for getting into a fight. She is a very rude student and doesn't take an interest in what the principal is saying.She simply gives attitude and leaves the room, slamming the door behind her.

Introduction To The Brief

Today we were introduced to the main task for our media coursework. The task itself is to produce a title and an opening of a new fiction film to last for a maximum of 2 minutes. I think that the task sounds exciting and i think it will be a great experience. I think it will allow me to gain a lot of knowledge about filming and has really inspired me to want to do this task well.