What we did today

Today, me and jamie started experimenting with our film footage. We decided that we was going to create two opening sequences, one forward and one backwards. This is because we are undecided on which would be the most effective, so we will create two and bring in a few members of our original focus group so they can pick which one interests them the most.  Jamie has been working on the title sequence and has successfully made it, we have decided that we are calling our film, 'Sawston Court' due to the primary location it is set in. 

Next lesson we will continue editing our opening sequence. 

Thursday 26th January

Today, me and Jamie will edit the footage we filmed yesterday as much as possible. Whilst editing, Jamie will be working on the title sequence for our opening sequence and at some point today we will upload the pictures of our filming yesterday.

Effects for our Opening Sequence

We plan to use something like this for our opening sequence, we wanted a CCTV type effect in the opening to our film. However since we are using final cut, i will need to find something similar to the image above.

Tuesday 24th January

Due to unforeseen circumstances, we were unable to film at the weekend as planned. Instead, we will travel to purfleet tomorrow and film everything. Today, we planned every detail for what we are doing tomorrow, so that we are able to start filming and finish filming as quickly and as efficiently as possible.

Soundtrack ideas (2)

Above is another soundtrack we found that will deliver the same desired effect in our opening sequence. The song is entitled mad world and is a very slow paced soundtrack, which will suit with our opening sequence as it will be in slow motion. It also creates the same sense of mystery and sadness as the soundtrack in the previous post.

Soundtrack Ideas

Above is a soundtrack which i think would work well with our opening sequence. The soundtrack is life on mars by david bowie. I think this will suit our opening sequence as it is quite a slow paced soundtrack  and will create strong emotions, it creates a sense of mystery for the audience that makes them want to watch more.

Production Schedule

Locations:

Purfleet

Props: 

Gun

Costume:

Man: Shirt, jeans, shoes (Casual wear)

Woman: Casual wear

Actors/ Actresses:

Stuart (The bald man)

Sharon (The women)

Equipment:

 Camera

Tripod

Apple Mac for editing

Time frame for filming:

Saturday 21st January: Film as much of the opening sequence as possible (shot 1 - 20)

Sunday 22nd January:  Film any remaining shot that wasn't done on saturday or any extra shots

Time frame for editing:

Tuesday 24th January: Edit as much as possible

Thursday 26th January: Finish editing

Inspiration to opening sequence

This video was the inspiration to our opening sequence. Although it is a trailer, and we are creating an opening sequence to a film, we still think aspects of the trailer would make a great opening sequence. We plan to reverse our opening sequence like the trailer does, as it challenges conventions of the thriller genre, well pretty much any genre. It also creates that sense of mystery, and although our opening sequence is the end to our film, it still makes the audience ask lots of question and will make them want to watch the rest of the film

Thursday 19th January

Today, it was decided for our group to split and do our own separate project. While researching for our opening sequence, it was decided that we do our own separate idea and we will come together and choose which idea will best suit our target audience. We all worked very hard, and quickly on our ideas. Me and jamie worked on one idea and daniel worked on another idea. When we came together to choose our idea, we were all very passionate about doing our idea for the opening sequence. After discussion, we agreed to work on our own separate projects, me and Jamie will continue with our idea while daniel continues with his. We also agreed to help each other with filming and anything else we may need help with.
By doing this we we will be able to work quicker and more effective.

Tuesday 17th January

Today, me and my group will come together and choose which screenplay we want to go ahead with. Once we are happy with our choice, we will begin storyboarding and deciding on what stuff we need before we start filming. After today, we hope to be ready to film and then begin editing out opening sequence by tuesday next week.

Sceenplay (2)

No Dialogue Throughout

Establishing shot of a man in a flat, he is looking out of a window. The camera slowly zooms in until we have a side view of the man looking out the window. Shot flips to a POV shot of the man, who see's a woman walking up the street and he recognises her immediately. He turns and runs out of the door, going down a flight of stairs and then out of the flats. He frantically looks around for the women he just saw as the camera pans around him. Shot changes to a waist/hip shot of a mysterious figure, and a gun is visible in their hand. As the man begins calling, we watch the mysterious figure raise his arm with the gun and pull the trigger. Everything is motionless for a second and we see the figure drop the gun to the floor. The man drops to his knees clutching his chest and then falls face first to the floor, he rolls over and the camera begins zooming on his face, where he's eyes then close.

Using editing, we plan to have the entire opening sequence in reverse. So it starts with our main character (the man) already dead, from there, we will reverse the opening sequence so by the end of it, he would be back in the flat looking out at the window. This type of opening sequence will allow us to create a big impact on our auidence from the very beginning and creates many question for the auidence. Once he is back in his flat, a black screen will appear with the words "6 months earlier".

I like this idea as i believe it is effective, gives a very unique spin to the thriller genre and keeps with what out focus group wanted.

Focus Group points:

- Routine of the main character has become too iconic - Because of this point i have decided to remove any sort of routine from the film
- Like the idea of juxtaposition, showing two scenes, a slow paced and fast paced scene - For now i have kept with a slow paced scene to stir p some emotion within the opening sequence, while filming if my group feels the juxtaposition idea will be effective we will add it to our opening sequence
- Target audience is film literate so don't need to entertain them in first 30 seconds, our plot is very sophisticated so pace is very important, can afford to have a slower pace - With this point, i thought it was necessary to create a unique slow paced opening sequence so we are able to create a sense of mystery, fast paced music might ruin the desired effect on our audience

Thursday 12th January

Today, i plan to come up with a movie idea for our opening sequence idea. I will do this by looking at other movie titles for inspiration and try and come up with a title that will suit our opening sequence idea. I will also try and finalise the opening sequence script so we are ready to start filming next week.

What i did Today

Today, i drafted up a screenplay which will be put into consideration by our group. We have all written one and will each vote on which one we think is the best. Since i had spare time, i also completed a production schedule and a shots list. Now me and my group will decide which of our screenplays will be storyboarded for thursdays lessons.

Shot Types

For our opening sequence, we plan on using a number of various shot types to create an effective opening sequence. We decided to just use basic shot types, as if we use to many, our end product may look unprofessional. 

The first shot type we are hoping to achieve is establishing shot, this should be fairly simple as we only need to stand on the other side of the road to the house and do the shot there, since it is a public area we will need to ensure we don't film members of the public as they may not want to be filmed. 

Another shot is an over the shoulder shot of the man running through the street, again this shouldn't be a problem but will just need to make sure we film the public as less as possible. Other than that, we will only be needing shots such as close up and mid shots, these shots will be done in houses or on the car which we can do successfully without any problems. 

Production Schedule

Locations:

Jamie's house (Outside and living room)

Gale street

Props: 

Car

Clothes

Picture

Wedding ring

Costume:

Man: Shirt, trousers shoes (work clothes)

Wife and Woman: Casual wear

Actors/ Actresses:

Undecided

Equipment:

 Camera

Tripod

Apple Mac for editing

Time frame for filming:

2 weeks (maximum)

Time frame for editing:

2 weeks (maximum)

What i am going to do today.

Today, i will be:


- Creating a Final Screenplay draft 
- Production Schedule (We will only have 2 weeks to film, so we must plan what we are going to do each lesson and if necessary, plan some filming time during our study time or even after school. We will decide the role of each member in our group and where will we film the opening sequence
- Shot list (What shots we plan to use)

If i am unable to complete any of the work above i will carry on completing this after scholl and tomorrow ready for storyboarding during Thursday's lesson. 

Focus Group Footage

This is the footage of our focus group, because of the length of the video, we decided to cut it down to the points that we felt would be useful to us in creating our opening sequence. The points made were very useful as along with their answers plus the questionnaire results, my group would be able to successfully produce a suitable thriller opening that would entertain our target audience.

Screenplay idea

(No Dialogue throughout)

(Establishing shot showing a house with a man sitting in a car outside, switches to mid-shot of him through the windscreen)

(Man is sitting in the car, staring out onto the street)

(Soundtrack 1 playing over the top)

(Starts with a slow, calm mood)

(Edit shot to flip to a street, Black and White shot)

(Soundtrack 2 is playing over the top) 

(Over the shoulder shot of the man running frantically from an unseen figure)

(Shot flips back to man in car)

(Different shot, looking at through the drivers window, he continues to stare out)

(Shot flips to a living room, black and white shot, POV shot of the man, he is looking at his wife and she paces up and down, yelling at him)

(Shot goes back to the man in his car, close up of his face as he closes his eyes)

(Another black and white POV shot of the man outside the house, looking up at his wife as she yells from the window and starts throwing clothes out)

(Shot goes back to the man in his car, he searches his car and finds a wedding ring, which he stares at before putting on, he closes his eyes again)

(Black and white shot of a different woman, POV shot of the man, he watches as she also yells and starts to become a little violent and throws stuff at him)

(All the various black and white shots begin to get faster and faster, soundtrack 2 getting louder and louder)

(Loud bang and the man opens his eyes, he looks and sees his wife at the car window, who beckons him to come inside. The man switches the engine off and watches his wife through the rear view mirror as she goes inside, he then looks down at a picture of the other woman, and then gets out the car)