From my previous research into film openings, I made several notes about different aspects of the opening, In the aspect of sound, I noticed that most sounds that are made are digetict and occur within the opening, This is mainly because the producers wanted to create a sense of realism and used physical props and environments to maintain the effect of realism. For our opening we don't have the correct resources or any to develop this same effect, Therefore we have to use non-digetict sounds to keep the effect the same. For this our software programme Final Cut Pro X has many Royalty-Free music and sound effects for us to use for our opening.
Lighting
Mostly for our opening, we knew we wanted a majority of our opening to occur outside, although our location is in the open, it did grant us the light we needed. Light effects are the most major importance during scenes that occur indoors, we wanted to create a scene where it takes place in a secret location, we want to use a small room with a table with a single light that can give the effect that the whatever is on the contents is regarded as highly top-secret.
Screen Effects
We have mentioned that we wanted to make our opening scene in black and white, One of the last spy films to take place in black and white was The Manchurian Candidate, The film was produced in 1962, one year before Dr.No was released, The entire film is shot in black and white, it is about a prisoner of war who is brainwashed into becoming an Assassin for the Communist party. The film itself is rather good despite being rather old and in black and white, meaning it can still do good. Another important film to note that is in black and white is Schlinders list, One of the highest rated films of all time, it gained credibility for it being in black and white and used it signify the time period and later in the film, the colour red.
Every film in the world and throughout history have always had a unique title that has represented the semiotics of the film and what it is about and what genre it belongs to. We have mentioned in previous posts that we are taking a classic take on the opening, including a black and white opening as well as typewriter Font for our opening.
We looked older films from the late 60's s and 70's which mainly consisted of the old Bond films, each bond film has a unique title based around the time period, the later the bond film the bigger the change...
Typewriters were used to write up manuals and important documents up until the 1980's until the invention of the computer. This is why I wanted to use Typewriter font to make it seem more realistic.
Recently after collecting all research, props and knowing our location we are discussing our production schedule. The most difficult challenge is to make it look like a sunrise is taking place and gives us a much better atmosphere as well as professional and realistic. Our main draft so far includes:
29th December
On this day we will begin filming the end of our opening, why? well because we are having our opening act like it is morning (but we don't want to film at 4am in the morning) and going into daylight. However we are having a flashback within the opening which will take place during daytime. We will begin filming when the sun is at its best point and we will film in Dunham Massey park. Once we are finished here we need to make our way to Devisdale park and this has to be completed before 2pm when the sun begin to go into a sunset. 30th December
During this day, Alex and I will head off to record the main part of the opening that takes place on abandoned railway tracks. This is important as we need to get it right as we would like the sun to be almost coming over the horizon. This should be around 3-4pm.
1st January-10th January
During this period this is the time to catch up on dates where the weather or personal issues has occurred. 90% of this part of the scene heavily relies on the weather being accurate as possible, The main dates only occur WITHOUT snow, To make things more realistic we would like snow but their has not been any reliable dates of snow during this period of time.
NOTE- These dates are the best suited time for us when we do not have any problems of work or personal matters
Looking for our distributor for our film, we have researched some of the current and most popular distributors for action films, These are the three most popular distributors.
The first distributor is called lionsgate, A popular company that has been distributing since 1997. A modern company that has been distributing some of the most popular titles recently including the Expendables trilogy as well as the Hunger games. They have access to some of the most modern technology they we could use for our film.
Universal are part of the 'big 6' corporations in the media world, on rival to Disney, they are responsible to be part of a successful company that has access to a large sum of funds that can be beneficial to a film.
Paramount is possibly the most obvious choice I would choose for my opening, They have plenty of experience in distributing as they have been in transformers and Iron-man. They are also part of the big six and have experience with Action-thrillers
In any film you will need props,why? because you will not be able to construct your film without any object to signify or create a motive. Some important characters in films have a significant object with them, for example Indiana Jones with his whip or Knightrider with his car Kit.
For our opening scene we several props to make our scene look realistic as well as professional. Firstly we will need binoculars as for our characters will be trying to infiltrate and exfiltrate without being detected, In most Films involving infiltration will use binoculars to investigate the area and to find a route that suits them best. Luckily I already have several binoculars in my possession already which can be useful for filming.
Secondly, we will need some costumes for our characters to make the scene more realistic and professional. Most of our filming is entirely dependable on the weather, if it snows during our production schedule then we will wear winter clothing, i.e white clothing, if it does not snow then we will have to wear clothing to match the environment, i,e woodland clothing.
Thirdly, In order to make our scene effective we are going to use a chair with duck tape that has been snapped in order for the audience to question what is going on in that context they will continue watching to find out why that has happened. Also in this part we will be using a table with a laptop to act as the Intel that we require and what the opening scene is about.
Lastly, since this is an action thriller we will need to have some sort of weapons, obviously we cannot just use sharp objects or any kind of weapon they will inflict harm, instead we are trying to find something that looks real but is actually fake.
In the context of fonts in cinematography and film, The type of font that is used in a film is important and essential to the audience as it gives an impression of the film and its genre. The text is normally shown in the opening to show the director and other crew of the film respectively. For example in the film Fury It has a large yellow title that is shown to have been "War-Torn", this is shown by the amount of smudges and scrapes on the title to signify the impact of war.
Throughout the world of film, nearly every major film in the past century have a unique or symbolic type of text that is used to con-notate the atmosphere and the role of the film in its selective genre. A good prime example could be The Fast And The Furious. The title clearly indicates its a high-adrenaline action packed car film.
The design of the title could use different types of text to express the film type, For example in films where their are sequels, they mostly continue the same type of font and text to give the film an image and well known to the audience and is used as an identity. For example the harry potter franchise has the unique harry potter text to show the iconic title and become recognisable to the audience.
As I have previously mentioned our opening scene is based within the Soviet Union in 1980's. Although we have not fully selected a year we still will use and portray our characters to match the appropriate era.
Representations
The main representation is that of the uniform the soviet soldiers wear, A normal stereotype would be the big hat with the hammer & sickle along with a large trench coat which our characters would wear. Because we are making the film look like it is in the soviet union the biggest stereotype would be that it is cold and snows a lot which is something we hope will happen to create a more sophisticated atmosphere.
Secondly because our protagonists will be British covert operatives meaning they will have to be wearing some tactical gear with winter camouflage as they will not want to be caught. This may vary on what the protagonist will wear because of the fear that it might not snow. Thus resulting in changing the camouflage to woodland to match the environment of black in case we might take after different style.
Lastly our location in devisdale Altrincham, is mainly to represent Russian countryside when it is during winter, Winters tend to be devastating to Russian homeland as it ends to drop to-27! Our bunker is a small reference to the amount of bunkers the soviets constructed all over Europe during the cold war, in total the soviets built 15,000 nuclear weapons before they were illegal to make. They had to store them somewhere without the west finding them. So the bunker is to represent the bunkers built by the soviets.
Actors
In total we only include 6 different people in our opening scene, This is our two protagonists, antagonist and three other 'extras' that our protagonists will encounter throughout the opening. We plan to only use just us two during filming as most of the characters will be wearing masks to not show our identity's until we show our protagonists and antagonists.
Styling For our protagonists we will want them to look at lot older and make them see down as they would of been away from home for a long time, some stereotypes include scruffy beards and maybe a few battle scars. For our Antagonist we will want him to look old as He is a rouge General and we want him to look evil in his own way, we are putting an Eye-patch to give the stereotype
of evil as well as the a story behind the character.
For our Opening scene we have to be selective when it comes to choose the correct location. For our opening scene we tried to find a location that has a good forest line within the area of where it would decent to film. So far the first location we have found is the Altrincham Devisadle situated in the middle of an Urban area allows us to easily access the place as it is open to the public. The main feature we wish to exploit is its good tree line which will allow us to film it to a good standard.
The second area we have looked at is a World-war 2 bunker situated not far from my home town in south England. The main benefit of the bunker is it allows us to create a much more powerful insight into making the opening scene much more realistic as well as give us the opportunity to make a very good opening scene... We are using this location mainly because of its ease of access as well as the opportunity to have a rare location that is completely open to the public. However it is a bit of journey to get here taking 45 minutes on foot.
After our collaboration task we concluded that our film will be based around the time of the 1980's...In the Soviet Union. A quick summary of our story will take place in locations where it is snowy as well as an abandoned Bunker to hide in the tease of the amount of bunkers the Soviets created to protect their 'Fatherland'. After doing some research I found some films that take place in the Soviet Union which are linked to our genre...
These Two films both involve action in the U.S.S.R which after some research of viewing can we get a glimpse into what Attires will be suitable for Filming.
Although Goldeneye's title is based on an object within the film whilst bridge of spies is a reference of the bridge that connected west and east Germany where exchange of spies were held. Our title will be based on the action of our film, linking to historical context my first initial titles include 'Breaking the Iron Curtain' or 'The Hunt for the Red wolf'.
Content
Every title has to be unique, Something that has an image to allow to audience to recognise it as an icon. It cannot use similar fonts or design to another film, For example the Harry Potter logo has the signature strike on the logo to signify that it is harry potter, No other company or production company can do this as it is trademarked and copyrighted. This is why it has to be unique like nothing else unless it has not been copyrighted, For example the two posters above have every different title designs and are trademarked to refer to that film respectively.
Our title has taken a very different style, We are taking the design of old typewriter font and placing into the style of a document. This is to signify the time period of the film and to generate a sense of realism and the uniqueness of the title.
When We were given the focus group task, We were also asked to produce a consent form. A consent form is a small list which you give to people on who you will be doing a questionnaire on. For example it had to include questions like 'do you understand the information that has been given to you?' This used because it makes it legal to allow you to present your name publicly without breaking the law of revealing someone's identity.
Here is an example of our consent form, Each question is used to certain example so that all areas are covered in terms on a legal case. At the bottom is two signatures, one is the person who this form was given too and that we have verification to use their names overall. The second signature is my signature that is used to show that I have seen their answers and that I understand that I cannot use their information without their verification.
For our chosen genre we have selected the action thriller sub-genre as our main focus point on what we would like to create our opening scene on. A good example of an action thriller is the Batman trilogy, But specifically the dark knight opening scene. I can learn a lot from this opening scene by the use of revealing the villain early on rather than later.
The scene open with a crane shot of a skyscraper in the heart of a city. This type of shot is a high angle which gives a landscape shot of the city and the main focus of the bank, this shot can raise questions such as why is this building significant? the use of non-digetict sound which is a sort of eerie noise that is high pitched, this is used to create tension and make the audience feel that something is going to happen, and sure enough it does. The Large sound of glass breaking (digetict) gives the audience a shock as this is unexpected, the use of unexpected events can be useful in my opening scene because it can create a sense of tension and keep the audience interested in the film.
The next scene shows a mysterious figure located on the corner of a path. This particular shot is interesting as it can allow the audience to wonder who this is? The shot that is used is zoom in shot and the use of this is the tease of if it is going to reveal this figure or not. The digetict sounds include the car screeching when it picks up the figure. This character is clear representation of a villain by the use of a large duffel bag and a mask could be stereotypically used to the fact that he is going to perform a bank heist.
The next several scenes include plenty of action and use of firearms, Most of these Scenes include crane-shots which show a better angle at the action to make it look much more realistic. Most of the other sounds in these scenes such as the Gun noises are non-digetict whereas the glass breaking is digetict. Scenes where they follow the character, i.e the Banksman with the shotgun use a tracking shot to follow where the action takes place. The banksman could be a representation of a guardian angel as he is trying to save
The final part of this scene shows the audience the mysterious figure, This scene could be significant as it creates a psychological effect of how clever the joker is at beating the law. The camera shot that is used is a zoom-in and the lighting used is dark one side and light the other side, This could be very significant as it could fore-shadow future events such as Harvey Dent becoming two-face. It could also be significant that the bank they robbed (as said by one of the robbers) is owned by the 'Thugs' of the city, which could create an idealistic view of the Joker as he could be the hero and Batman could be the false hero as said in Vladimir propp's theory of film.
Overall this opening scene creates a very tense and questionable atmosphere for the audience which is something we could develop when it comes to the time of filming. The Idea that the dark knight could be represented that of a villain than a hero because of the context of a dark knight is that of a warrior of the darkness and darkness be the representation of evil. Something we could develop is the importance of representation and that not all villains are the bad guys.
The demographics is for all races and anyone who is above the age of 12-50. The psychographics is that of people who enjoy action and/or a thriller which this film brilliantly portrays. The classic Binary opposition of these kind of films are good vs evil but also could be argued that of light vs dark. This is because batman is considered a 'superhero' and the classic stereotype that all villians and heros fight against each other. However this film looks heavily into the idea that the darkness is sometimes the good side.
Filming Overall the filming of the task was relatively easy even though it was our first major attempt at a high-standard filming. We used two Cameras(which were both encased in an IPad) to allow us to effectively use the shot/reverse shot and the match-on action shot, When researching the 180 degree rule I found that an easy way to mark the line was to use masking tape along the floor so it allowed us to make sure we did not break the rule. The most difficult problem we encountered was trying to film this scene without getting the other camera in the shot. In most filming for films they have highly advanced cameras and tripods and cranes to allow for better shots. Acting
The most important aspect about an effective film is the acting, most of our shots we had to re-take was because we laughed and overall we overcomed this obstacle and we eventually got it correct.
Use of props For our additional props we used a variety of different props to allow us to make our scene very effective and realistic. We used A chess set to make the scenario effective. We used a Halloween mask to allow us to create a sinister protagonist. Lastly we used a soundboard to create additional digetict and non-digetict sounds in the environment to make it much more effective. Editing
Recently we have begun editing our main feature, Our task on what we would like to achieve is to experiment and learn new features so we can put maximum knowledge and put dedication into our main feature. Already the main problem we have discovered is on one of the scenes the opposite camera is clearly seen, why the camera has done this we don't know. The main feature we have difficulty with is the cutting the clips and putting the transition into them to make it flow. Currently our clip is approximately 1 minute and 30 seconds, we plan to add plenty of effects such as non-digetict sounds and for it to be enjoyed by everyone no matter what their psychographic is.
Evaluation To evaluate, this task has allowed us to understand the use of camera angles and shots and that they are important in order for our opening scene to look effective and for us to gain high marks. Not only is the use camera shots important but our acting and props that could be used to signify important information and the use of semiotics. One of the problems we encountered was the how hard it was to produce the shot reverse shot, you can see the other camera in one of the scenes. When we were filming, we came up with some many ideas that we couldn't possibly create our ideas. However for some the ideas that did make it through allowed us to make our short film humorous as well as psychological. We were limited for time filming this as we came after school and the cleaners wanted to clean the place we were filming, thus making the final scenes
We were given a task to complete which entailed us to create a group to discuss the topic of films and how we could make ours to become one of the greater ones. We had some good ideas presented to us such as how it should be memorable and that it should have nothing to do with the story because in that case you can show off the importance and skill of the protagonist. My group consisted of only 4 people despite having six forms, this was due to the fact they did not want to be filmed or they had something important to do.
In the UK our current film certification is the BBFC (British board of Film classification). The current symbols were introduced on 1 january 2003, replacing the previous one that had been in place since the 80's. Currently these are the folowing classfications:
Universal
All ages admitted, Nothing unsuitable for children under the age of four.
Parental Guidance
All ages admitted, although some scenes may be unsuitable for young children. they should not disturb children under the age of 8. A parent may want to check its content before allowing children to play/watch it.
12A
This category applies to cinema only releases since 2002. Films under this category are considered to be unsuitable for young children. Cinemas in the UK are only allowed to submit tickets to children under the age of 12 with an adult.
12
Films under this category may contain mature films, discrimination, soft drugs, infrequent strong language, very strong language and moderate violence, sex references and nudity. Sexual activity may be briefly and discreetly portrayed. Sexual violence may be implied or briefly indicated.
15
Only suitable to people aged 15 or older. Films may contain adult themes, hard drugs, regular use of foul language and limited use of very strong language, strong violence and strong sex references, and nudity without graphic detail. Sexual activity may be portrayed without any strong detail. Sexual violence may be shown if discreet and justified by context.
18
Films under this category do not have limitation on the foul language that is used. Hard drugs are generally allowed, and explicit sex references along with detailed sexual activity are also allowed. Scenes of strong real sex may be permitted if justified by the context. Very strong, gory, and/or sadistic violence is usually permitted. Strong sexual violence is permitted unless it is eroticism or excessively graphic.
R-18
Ok lets just say (without revealing any of its pornographic contents) its that restricted that only people over 18 can view its content. It contains more cuts than any other catergory.
In every film there are certain standards and styles that a film is signified as, These are called conventions. Genre conventions normally consist of the characters, Plot, setting, theme and effect. For my opening I have selected the action-Thriller genre, This genre has a good range of these conventions which allow us to design our film the way we want to with ease.
Characters: Portrayed as a heroic symbol to the audience, They normally have the ability to defeat 'Bad Guys' and the antagonist and come out as the ultimate victor and save the day. You could in some cases relate this to the 'Final girl' theory, An example would be in scream where the female protagonist is left alive and defeats the villains st the end.
Plot: Normally the plot of the film would be for the protagonist to venture of to recover or save an object or an individual ( Most commonly/ Stereotypically it would be a female)
Setting: the setting can be diverse in the action genre as it contains multiple sub-genres, for example Martial arts or spy films. A martial art film would stereotypically take place in a legendary Asian location whereas a spy film would take place in a Popular city in Europe.
Effect: The morale of the story, Is there a hidden message to the story or does the ending affect the audience to think differently to a set of characters or a corporation.
Theme: The plot defines the outcome of the theme, If it is a superhero film then the theme would a superhero location, Costume and backstory, For example Superman has his iconic red and blue costume along with his origins in the planet Krypton and his earthly home of New York where he becomes Clark Kent.
Today I decided to test some of my skills when it comes to getting ready to film my opening scene, Here are a few examples That I Tried... Steadicam
This is mainly used in all films to prevent the camera from shaking all the time. Most film makers put the camera on a sturdy Tri-pod to stop it from falling over as cameras are quite heavy. On my attempt I used my IPhone to place this on a suitable Book to take the picture.
Zoom
This camera shot is normally used in films to look into more depth of a building in a background, or a person within a city centre. To do this the lens on cameras have insane resolutions, meaning it can zoom in very far without the quality of the shot becoming blurred. For my attempt I mainly moved the camera forward. Super-Zoom
This shot is used in some films to express the facial features of a character on how they react to a certain event. They normally do this in a similar way to a normal zoom but they may move the camera up to the point of point-blank. For my attempt I mainly just again moved the camera as close as I could get it. Shot Reverse Shot+Use of the 180 degree Rule
For these two shots are the Shot-reverse shot which looks at the perspective of two People/objects as they engage in a conversation, this is always used in films as their is always dialogue to present the characters feelings or attitudes. Also the most important rule of filming is the 180 degree rule which means that you can only Film in the area of a semi-circle, you cannot go pass a certain line or it become confusing for the audience of the actors surroundings. High Angle
This shot is sometimes used in films to imply or suggest power or inferiority, sometimes it could be a crane shot to allow a large landscape to be filmed etc. For my attempt I used my camera and placed it above the Model which can imply that it is very small whereas if you zoom it can show that it is quite large.
As I have mentioned before my chosen genre is action. But what some people may not know is that most action films full into a sub category. So this post is to expand on what I'm going to pick for my sub-genre respectively. Action Comedy
Very simple, a mixture of action and comedy. it became popular in the early 80's, mostly because of actors who began to start to make a reputation for themselves, for example Eddie Murphy. Comedy films such as Dumb & Dumber and Big Momma's House, that contain action-laden sub-plots, are not considered part of the genre. Action scenes have a more integral role in action comedies. Some of my favourite examples include films such as Beverly Hills Cop, Bad Boys, Rush Hour, and Lethal Weapon. Action Horror
This sub-genre combines the intrusion of an evil force, event or supernatural personage of horror movies with the added gunfights and frantic chases of action. Themes or elements often prevalent in typical action-horror films include Gore, demons, viscous animals, vampires and most commonly Zombies. My favourite examples include the Army of Darkness, Resident Evil, Ghost rider, planet terror and dawn of the Dead.
Disaster Film Having elements of thriller and sometimes science-fiction, The main theme of this genre is an element of a natural or artificial disaster such as floods, earthquakes, hurricanes or volcanoes. Some of my favourite examples are Independence day, 2012, Poseidon and Armageddon.
Martial Arts This genre contains many fights between characters. They are mainly the films primary appeal and for entertainment. Sometimes can be used for the storytelling, character expression and development. Stereotypically most characters in these films are martial art experts in the arts such as Karate, Kung-Fu and Aikido. However most actors are actually martial art specialists, My favourite examples include The karate kid, Big trouble in little china and The forbidden Kingdom. Science-Fiction
Sharing many of the conventions of a science-fiction, Sci-Fi action films emphasizes gun-play, space battles, invented weaponry, and other Sci-Fi elements weaved into action film premises. This is one of my favourite genres as it includes all my favourite films such as Terminator 2: Judgement day, Star Wars, The Matrix and Serenity.
Spy In which the hero is generally a government agent who must take violent action against agents of a rival government or (in recent years) terrorists. They often revolve around spies who are involved in investigating various events, often on a global scale. This sub genre deals with the subject of fictional espionage, either in a realistic way or as a basis for fantasy (such as James Bond). It is a significant aspect of British cinema. It mainly showcases a combination of exciting escapism, heavy action, stylized fights, technological thrills, and exotic locales.Not all spy films fall in the action genre, only those showcasing heavy action such as frequent shoot-outs and car chases fall in action, spy films with lesser action would be in the thriller genre. My favourite Examples includes The Bond series , xXx, The mission impossible series and The Bourne series.
Action Thriller One of the best genres and my chosen sub-genre for my opening scene this genre features guns, cool explosions, and amazing set pieces,These films often feature a race against the clock, lots of violence, and a clear often flamboyantly evil antagonist. Though they may involve elements of crime or mystery films, those aspects take a back seat to the action. Most of The story takes place in limited location; a single building, plane, or vessel - which is seized or under threat by enemy agents, but are opposed by a single hero who fights an extended battle within the location using stealth and cunning to attempt to defeat them. So of My favourite Films include Die Hard, The French Connection, Bullitt and Speed.
Superhero Film Usually having elements of science fiction and fantasy, they focus on the actions of one or more superheroes, who usually possess superhuman abilities and are dedicated to protecting the public. These films are almost always action-oriented and the first film of a particular character often includes a focus on the origin of the special powers, including the first fight against the character's most famous super villain arch-enemy. Some of my Favourite Films include Batman, Iron Man, X-men, Thor and Captain America. Our Chosen Genre We have decided to choose action thriller as our main genre because although we would love to attempt something like a superhero film with plenty of action and explosions but due to our limitations such as expenses and locations we cannot produce the high-quality standard as other films do. I take a lot of my ideas for action thriller from Fury, American Sniper and Terminator 2.
What is a Convention of a genre? A genre convention is a typical or standard trope of plot, character, setting, icon, theme, or effect in a genre story.
For my Chosen Genre I am doing an action, Action can be very simple, for instance:
Plot- When a hero needs to rescue or recover a person or an object, For example the most common one is when the hero rescues the princess, they should be a battle between the villian and the hero. Charcater- The character can be anyone, it may be Steve who works at the hilton who gets given superpowers or it could be an ex-special forces soldier who needs to save his daughter from kidnappers, They will need to have something unique about them that makes them able to defeat the villian. Setting- The setting could be anything from the modern day to World War 2. Icon- The Icon is something that makes the hero(s) unique about them, it could be an object from a symbol or an ability. For example it could be Supermans Signature S and the ability to perform almost anything or it could be the Fury Crew with their signature M4A3E8 Sherman with decals and colour that stands out to other shermans and their ability to somehow survive an 88mm(This is very Difficult to do by the way). Theme- The theme could be anywhere from a Superpower theme to a Fanatsy style of film, For example the Avengers is a superhero Theme or The lord of the rings is a Fantasy film. Effect- What does this film deliver us? The fact that superheros always have a villain or the fact that during the second world war was such a significant affect to the world we live in today?
