Film Opening Feedback

We presented our film opening so far, getting close to the completion, to the class and received both positive and constructive feedback. Overall they liked it and wanted to see it finished, but we did get some helpful criticisms with some fresh ideas and opinions outside of our group. we will take all of the feedback into consideration as we finish and tweak with the opening to make it the best we can.

We received feedback like some of the transitions were a bit repetitive being used throughout the opening, and some selection of the scenes during the close-up of the helmet were not as effective because of lots of traffic and having Tesco in the background during some of it. They recommended using more obscure and enigmatic backgrounds to keep the full focus on his helmet and to leave the audience wondering where he is/going.

Filming and Editing update 3

The third day of filming was Thursday, after school we went back to Harrison's house for the victim's house scene, we refilmed a few shots because after we reviewed them all we thought that we could improve some of the shots and add some extra shots to make the opening flow better. So we reshot some scenes that we know would not cause continuity errors with the background and acting,
we also spent some time filming various shots of the bike and the deliveryman's journey to the house, we filmed a few long bike rides around market rasen with the camera and tripod mounted to the front of the bike to get close-up shots of the deliveryman in the pitch black streets with streetlights reflecting along his helmet and visor and still keeping his identity a mystery.

We had the task of taping the tripod to the front of the bike for filming the close-up of the deliveryman in his helmet, we had some trouble figuring out how to mount it and make it secure to reduce shaking, but we managed to mount it to the desired effect with some time and testing. We also had a problem during the second take of the helmet close-up where the camera on the stand loosened itself and slipped out of frame to the side and filmed houses and streets instead. We overcame this by keeping the footage we had and stopped filming because he had all we needed for the opening anyway so we finished filming.

In class we designed the film title for the end of the opening, where it reveals the name of our film after fading to black in the end of the opening. we decided on calling it 'The Courier' and its design with the film's themes in mind, based on the use of low key lighting/dark colours and scenes centred around the main character, the deliveryman. We have completed all of the filming for the film opening now, with all of the raw footage on the computer along with all of the audio components, we just need to trim it down and actually piece it together.

Filming and Editing Update 2

Day 2 of filming was on Monday, we organised the next location a while in advance for the victims house scene, it was a good location for filming but the lighting was not as good as we hoped, as we wanted the lighting to be very high key throughout the house to contrast with the darkness of the other character and his environment. We overcame this by bringing in a new source of light, from a lamp, into the darker scenes such as the kitchen. It worked well but meant we needed to take precautions like watching that the shadows aren't seen on camera, and that we keep it consistent for shots in the same rooms. never the less it was a good scene for a home atmosphere and accommodated all of the shots we needed for the opening.

We followed the storyboard to know the general shots we needed to film and what we wanted to get, we tried lots of different ideas with camera position and scene management, taking our time to find what works well and what could be done better in our environment. After the filming we were happy with what we had but still needed one of the most important shots, which was shots close-up from the camera mounted on the front of the bike. We will capture this and possibly recapture any footage that we aren't completely satisfied with in the next and final filming session.

In class we had plenty of footage to use for editing into the final product, this was our first big start into editing the opening, the first big step was to get all of the components we are going to use in the opening and discard the other clips. This is done to reduce the amount of clutter and footage to go through in editing and means that only the best clips are used, once they had been selected we started laying them all down in the video editing program, we could trim the footage down to how long we wanted each shot as well as how to piece the shots together with transitions. basically all of the visuals and sounds are coming together and just need arranging.

Filming and Editing Update 1

Day 1 of filming was on Saturday, we had organised a location for the garage scene in Market Rasen with a large driveway. It was a good place to film as the garage lighting was good for the atmosphere, the garage itself was smaller than expected but it came together well by compacting our ideas for shots a bit more.

We took a lot of consideration into the lighting of the scene, one of the lights was obscured by things on a shelf so we tested how much light we aloud through to light the counter. We also tested many different camera positions and found some very good shots in the process, we have a few scenes still to film that we will film in the next week or so, which includes the go-pro bike shots and a low-angle close-up, as well as the scene in the next victim's house.

We followed the storyboard to be sure that we covered all the shots we set out to get, but as we were experimenting with shots and lighting, we got a few really good unexpected shots that we will try to implement into our opening.
After the first filming session and classes between the next filming sessions we managed to design and complete our production logo as well as record both of our news reporters audio.

Previous Student Film Opening Analysis

I have chosen Lewis Hodson's group's film opening entitled 'Fall of Justice', I will be analyzing its Mise-En-Scene, Editing, Lighting, Costumes and Sound. I will talk about these in detail and discuss why they work well in the opening, as well as what I like and dislike about each aspect.


Mise-en-scene

Costume - The key actor is wearing a suit and tie throughout, with some scenes of him without his blazer jacket on but still wearing a smart shirt underneath. This is used to show him as a formal character playing a serious role as a detective, its effective in making the opening look official and professional as well as fitting the genre of a crime/ film noir. I liked the costume use as it reflects the style and genre of a black and white film noir, with the use of a black and white suit.

Lighting - The lighting used is varied dependent on the location, but it mainly used natural lighting such as from windows or daylight. The film noir genre iconicly plays with shadows and silhouettes to create atmosphere and is clearly taken into consideration in this opening. This is done with the black and white editing in mind to ensure that the scenes are well lit and not over or under lit, its effective in capturing the atmosphere of the scenes for example, the shot of the third victim at night, its lit enough to show the details of her body but have it focused on by surrounding her in pitch black darkness.

Actors - The key actor is a tall, male with a stone, tired face. He was a good choice of actor for the role as he embodies the character very well with the use of gesture and facial expression. I though he was especially good in the last scene where he confronts the suspect with the case file and pushes it towards him confrontationaly but staying calm and reserved, as he has done it a thousand times and has lots of experience in his line of worm.

Make-up - The opening uses make-up to make the crime scenes loot authentic, by the use of blood on the victims, as well as some facial make-up like the third victims dark red lipstick, this is effective as it is iconicly dates the to the late 1940s, when film noir was most popular, making the film look authentic.

Props - The opening uses no note-worthy props.

Sound - The non-diegetic music used is a mellow/blues type of music that you would hear iconicly in a smokey jazz club in the 1940s, and to set create a slow calm pace for the opening. The use of the old fashioned camera flash click is effective in dating the film to the late 1940s film noir time period. The opening also has the key character narrating along side the opening filling the audience in on the case and effectively setting the scene for the rest of the movie.

Editing

The film opening used a variety of editing techniques to fit the desired theme and pace of the opening. The opening uses basic cuts and fades to black to set the pace of the film, also in contrast of this they use a fast-paced montage of still pictures with a white camera flash between each of them, this is very effective in the theme of the crime scenes. 

Risk Assessment

Shooting Schedule

Shot List

 

(BBFC) British Board of Film Classification

The British Board of Film Classification, originally British Board of Film Censors, is a non-governmental organisation, funded by the film industry and responsible for the national classifications and censorship of the films (and video games) within the United kingdom. The BBFC look at issues such as Discrimination, Horror, Imitable Behaviour, Strong Language, Nudity, Sex, Violence and Theme, (drug abuse, sexual violence, paedophilia, incitement to racial hatred) when deciding what age certification the film will be restricted to, also the overall tone of a film (dark or unsettling ) disturb, how it makes the audience feel is an important part of the over arching theme when deciding.







Our film age certification is:

Our film is age certificate 15, because of the scenes of violence and frequent strong language throughout.


This is a table we made for our film to show the different themes that the BBFC investigate into and applied it to our film.


 

Mise-En-Scene In Our Film Opening

Job Roles

Job Roles

Producer

Producers are a key part in the filming industry. They oversee filming projects and are responsible for different elements of a shoot e.g. finance, finding material for the script, hiring actors and crew. They liaise with all members of the crew from actors to directors.

We have chosen Callum Bibby as our producer because of his major input into the storyboard and initial idea. He is also one of the main actors so he would have insight into what would look good on camera.

Director

Directors are responsible for the movie its self, they are responsible for the vision of the movie and has the job of describing that vision to the crew such as cameramen, actors, lighting and set designer. They work closely with the prod cuter when casting and choosing the actors.

We have chosen Matthew Wheldon as our director because he work with Callum when designing the storyboard and inputted a lot when we where filming.

Camera

The camera operator is the person who has to take instruction from the director, they have to work in tandem with the director without mistake. They have be skilful to recreate the directors ideas with a camera.

We chose Harrison Cattell as our camera operator because he is confident with his skill when using a camera work well with people.

Editor

The editor has the job of spending long hour on a computer trying to put the director instructions and idea into a motion picture. They have the responsible of keeping the film understandable and make it presentable.

We chose Shane Chamberlain as our editor because he has the nesaccery skill and understanding to use movie editing software correctly.

Lighting and Sound

The light and sound crew has the job of getting the light levels and sound levels to the director wish. They have to be flexible and have an understanding on lighting and sound equipment.

We decided that all of us should have this role because it allows us to all pitch in idea and make it a better film opening.

Storyboard - Deliverance:First Class

Script

 

Pitching The Ideas

The first idea we pitched was the crime/action film Fed-Ex-ecution, the target demographic of this genre is males over the age of 35.
The reason we wanted to do an action film is because it will apeal to a very wide audience and we feel that we will make a good film because of our joined experience in this genre and in films, as well as the discussion and ideas we have come up with for our film is quite extensive and our idea of enigma and mystery will leave the audience wanting more.

The location of the film would be at one or more of the group members houses as this would make the story and scene look realistic and would also allow us to spend a few days filiming it rather than having to do it in bits where we would risk huge continuity errors and this would make the film opening very flawed if we did it poorly.

The unique selling point of our film idea is the originality of the story idea and the direction the film opening takes by making and following the key character as the murderer (villain), as appose to the key characters usually being the roles of police detectives out to discover the villain and stop him.

The feedback we received from our audience was quite good as one member said "i like the first idea the beast because its original" the other feedback we got was that the name of the film should be changed because it implied that it was more of an action/comedy and did not fit into our genre as well as we wanted it to, so the feedback helped us tweak the film name for a better effect and also that we should use our first idea and develop that one into our film opening.

Film Opening Ideas

The first idea we have for an action film is a poor/ghetto area that's quite run down and is a bad living environment, that is the scene for a group of local teens to start trying to earn some money to leave and get a better life, by gambling and racing in small drag races in the neighborhood. The concept is open to some great action techniques with a fast-paced story and background. In the 2 minute opening we would film around dusk to show the urban setting in a low key lighting, establishing a grungy scene.
We would film the tarmac of the roads facing them straight down and smoothly roll it up the road up to a chalk starting line, and keep rolling up the road to see the cast and crew names written in chalk on the road to fit the theme. The pacing would be slow and building with some music track getting louder and escalating into shots of the teens preparing vehicles.


The second idea our group had was a mystery/crime, action, thriller set in a build up town/city, where the story is based on the police investigating a case of a mysterious serial killer in the city, killing people in their own homes. The murder is a delivery man which is known to the viewers but not the police from soon in the film. Following the case from both sides, or even just the murder, which is quite uncommon in this genre of film. The concept is open to some great mystery and thriller techniques with a range of possible directions the film could go with the large amounts of enigma.
We would film the majority of the opening on the streets with at nights and between dusk, so that there is enough natural light to show the figure but to keep his identity a mystery. With the working title: Fed-Ex-ecution. The camera would follow the delivery man, never revealing his face to the camera, as he does his deliveries and thinks nothing of it.

Target Audience Member Profile

The person iv done a profile on fits our target demographic completely, is a male over 35 and is in the B/C social class. Iv extensively interviewed Kevin Wheldon aged 50 in the B/C social class, We asked him what his interests are, such as films, music, books ect, to get a good idea of what kind of media he enjoys and hopefully our target demographic.


Media- He enjoys watching TV in his spare time, when he does watch TV its usually Sports such as, football, badminton and tennis. He likes it because of the social aspect of his team against his friends team and the rivalry between that, and for the excitement of the game. Or if not sports he watches shows like Courtroom dramas because law and order interests him.

Films- He said his favourite types of movies are crime/thriller and comedies, he likes the action that comes with the crime and thriller genre like the chase scenes and the smart criminal storylines. As well as he likes comedy films because they are enjoyable to watch and always put a smile on your face. He dislikes romances because they are very similar to each other and they all end the same way.

Music- He likes 60s music such as The Beatles, The Cream ect. He enjoys instrumental based music mostly bands, and he dislikes new popular boy bands such as One Direction.

His attitude to our film opening genre - he enjoys action films generally with a thick story line and enigma to keep him interested, he also suggested elements of comedy integrated into the film when appropriate.


After collecting this information, we have concluded that our film opening needs to include; classic memorable music that will set the scene mentally, lots of enigma to involve the audience and make them think, the element of truth about the storyline (e.g.  events that could or have happened) and that are funny at appropriate times.
Marketing our production - we would market our production in news papers and on well-known websites such as news sites. this should appeal to our target audience as they presumably watch and read the news. We could also market our production on sites such as YouTube and Vimeo, this would appeal to a younger audience and widen our target market but we will mainly focus on appealing to our primary demographic.

TA Interviews

We spoke to Chris Higgins as he was part of our secondary target audience demographic of males under the age of 35, and he is a fan of the action genre so he had some interesting ideas and answers to our questions. He told us that he particularly enjoyed action films like The Bourne Identity because of the 'interesting story line about the goings on secretly within the government', as well as the acting by the lead character 'Matt Damon'.




We spoke to Paul Cutts as he was part of our primary target audience demographic of males above the age of 35, He was a good choice to interview as is a fan of some of the older, classic actions films such as 'Speed', he liked how the plot was thick and 'they got a lot out of the concept' he said he enjoys the 'explosions and adrenaline pumping car chases'. He also mentioned a very interesting view on how action films that use the dominant male character and saves a 'damsel in distress' character can detract from the film as its a very traditional story feature, and he likes 'Speed' as it challenges this by the female character doing the hard job.

Box Office Data For Genre

Our genre of Action is a very popular genre. I am going to highlight some of the key films that has proven very successful over the years.
According to this Box Office Performance of action films, the genre of action is very popular and very well established in the public eye. Which is clear to see by the amount of tickets sold.

This table shows the top 10 grossing action films of the year 2012, it shows the date of release for each and other information like tickets sold and the gross profits.

I think that the large audience of action and the majority that it controls in genre means that our choose in genre is a good one which allows for a very wide target audience and will increase its chances of popularity.

These are some of the most successful and iconic action films within the past 15 year.

(2008) The Dark Knight.
The film's Box Office Total was $533,345,358. With over $1 billion in revenue worldwide.
Considered one of the highest rated and most popular action film of the 2000s, and one of the best superhero films by critiques.
The film received eight Academy Award nominations,
The Dark Knight has an IMDb rating of - 8.9









(1999) The Matrix
The film grossed $171,479,930 in its first 50 days after release and over $460 million worldwide.
The film is considered one of the best sci-fi franchises and has a very large fan base and following, which quickly spawn another two movies creating a trilogy. It won four Academy Awards as well as other accolades.
The Matrix has a high IMDb rating of - 8.7

(2009) Avatar
The film's Box Office Total was $760,505,847 overall and is the highest grossing movie of all time, The film also has the highest budget of all time too, which is $310,000,000.
The film quickly broke several box office records and won academy awards for its extremely impressive, ground breaking CGI.
Avatar has a IMDb rating of - 7.9

Analysing The Target Demographic

Analysing The Target Demographic

We looked at audience research carried our by the UK film council to Identify out key demographic
Our Film opening is a hybrid of genres Sci-Fi and Action. As you can see from this diagram both genres are in the higher end of most popular genres.

As you can see from this survey that the two genres; Action and Sci-fi, are rated two of the most popular genres by the general public. The specific gender that is the largest audience is Male 35> as males count for the majority of action favouritism and the age group is 35>

 
 




This graph shows the genres of film that the general public consider their favourite genre of film to watch, the % of people who's favourite genre is action films was 50% which is one of the highest, with the highest being 64%. Also Sci-Fi/futuristic being just one place lower than action at 44%.

This chart shows the diverse audiences and what each of the audiences' referenced genres of films are, for example; the Lesbian, gay, bisexual group and the Eastern European groups are the majority of the diverse audiences interested in the Sci-fi genre.






Our target audience are people that enjoy action/sci-fi and as you can see in the graph above it is a very good choice as our hybrid genre is within the top 6 and has a much higher percentage of people that enjoy watching it and there for our target audience will be much larger then if we we were to produce a film with a genre such as Nollywood.

Film Project Group

Our group for the film opening is; Matt, Callum, Shane and Harrison. I think we will work well in a group and create a good quality film opening, as we all have lots of ideas to bring together and we have the same interests in mind, we will be making a film opening based on the action genre.

GROUP Conventions of Our Chosen Genre

Film Opening Conventions

Selected Film Opening Analysis

Brief

The Titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of two minutes.