The Filmores

Production Meeting

This lesson we have been adding the finishing touches to our opening sequence. Rob has been making the soundtrack for the sequence using garage band. Whilst Jon has diligently been editing the sequence, adding titles and making sure that the sequence is in the right order. Myself and Jordan have been editing the freeze frame titles, inserting silhouettes of the characters in front of a comic style background using Photoshop.
By the end of this lesson we hope to have achieved a finished opening seqences, edited, with a soundtrack and hopefully if achieved with a narration. The narration will hopefully explain the story line and will be achieved by Jordon doing a voice over.

Roughcut

Here is our roughcut. It has just about got all of the editing done, it just needs final trimming, adding the grayscale cartoon effect, to have titles added and to place the soundtrack onto the sequence.

Thursday Work

Well today we started off with 30 minutes of useful information on how to do evaluations on particular questions which proved to be very useful. In response to this the rough cut deadline has been moved to Monday 2nd March giving us some extra time to work! =D


We did a lot of editing work today. Jon has been relentlessly been using gamma, brightness and contrast to make the editing look more authentic. We managed to get a clip from part of our film and successfully put our editing to it. You'll see the editing work on the rough cut on monday.

Jordan came in at 9am, yesterday she was not in. Though, this was not intentional as she has had drama trips. Lottie has come in today and given us some good advice and help on the editing.

Rob has been doing the music and has done 72 seconds so far (1:12). Might need to make it longer which should be hard. =/

We have been looking up different types of fonts from www.dafont.com they have great fonts there and we might be using 'Comic Book' as the font.

Friday 20th February

On Friday we filmed the alleyway scene at Christ Piece. We filmed all of the alleyway scene and the introduction of Antonio Accardo. 

This took us many takes to get the initial running scene and the punching scene right so that it looked realistic as well as not injuring anyone.

Wednesday 18th February

On Wednesday we stated to film some of our opening sequence. We decided to film the last section of the opening sequence which is the indoor scenes before we filmed the alleyway scenes. The only section that we had to change was the scene when we introduced Antonio Accardo. This was because the actor who we were going to film couldn't make it to the filming on wednesday so we adapted this to be able to film it at on Friday 20th February.

Locations

For our Locations we chose to film the most in Christ Peace. This was because we found an Alleyway which doesn't have a time period associated with it but also it allowed us to not give it away that we weren't in the 1930's because there were no cars or modern shops in the area that we filmed. 

Here are some images that we took when we went to have a look various locations across cambridge on Thursday 12th February.

This is the script so far:


The Filmores

OPENING SEQUENCE
Starting out in a dark, narrow and dreary alleyway. The setting is of 1930s style architecture showing little light, a few windows and a few bins. A cold wind shivers through the air as the temperatures drop in what is supposed to be some of the worst economic and financial times the United States has ever had to face.


{ENTER Don}
Don is found running fast past the camera showing half of his face to the audience whilst facing towards the end of the alleyway being chased. He is holding in his left hand a briefcase.
[Don breaths heavily]

{ENTER Mafiaman}
Running after Don because Don has stolen his brief case off him. Wearing a clean cut suit showing off that he means business in these desperate times.






~ Rob

Storyboard Clips

I've spent the last 20 minutes taking shots and uploading the Storyboard Clips. These are important because they depict what we would like to include in our opening sequence.

Here they're in order: (Left Click each image to see them enlarged)
















~ Rob

Risk Assessment

Yesterday we created a Risk Assessment Form to make sure that we have identified some of the potential hazards that we could encounter during production.

Prop-list and costume list

Our props will consist of:
1. Briefcase preferably brown.


2. Pack of playing cards


3. Wallet preferably brown


4. Money (dollars)





Costume list- Our actors will be required to wear 1930's style apparel such as

1. Bowler hat


2. Suits


3. Trench coats


4. 1930's jewelery e.g. pearls and beads.

Contributor Release Form

As part of the filming preparation we have been given forms that we need to get all the actors to fill in to allow us to release footage on them.

Location ideas

We have been looking at various locations that will may use to film. All of the photos are from Google Maps in satellite mode. All of our locations are in cambridge because it is easy to organise transport.

Christs Piece

Mill Road

Apartment Buildings near the Train Station

Blog Feedback

In response to the feedback that we had received after our blog had been shown to other members of the class was that of positive response. We had been told that we had included many in depth analyses; we had managed to convey that of a good amount of research which had had been undertaken into each genre in order to consider which one to choose. Positive feedback was also given for our mood board, as it was said to have had a good use of pictures, which was again able to convey to a viewer the mood of our project, which was to be a jazzy, 1930’s and 'swinging’ mood. Our Ident was also praised, as it seemed appealing to the viewer and interesting due to the animation created by our group.
However, we also received negative feedback. This feedback was given in order for our group to realize areas in which we needed to improve on our blog. We were told that we had too much text and needed more visual aids e.g. pictures and videos as they felt that too much text made the blog more of a task to read and that visual sources would make it more interesting. We were also told that the picture of our mood board needed to be slightly smaller so to see all the pictures. Feedback also helped us recognize that we were missing vital information e.g. a shot list, location list and were missing the information of more specific on props.
We felt as though it was essential to receive feedback as it thoroughly helped us understand what areas were wrong with our blog and planning and what needed be done in order to rectify this. This enabled us to create a stronger blog and help us do a great amount of planning for our practical, which means an overall more achievable blog and hopefully a successful practical due to detailed planning and research.
In comparison to our previous thriller blogs, our opening sequence blogs seem to be easier to comprehend, a lot more organised, aesthetically pleasing and plentiful with information. We feel as though already, our blogs seem to be far greater than our thriller blogs due to having more experience and knowing that we needed to keep updates of our blogs regular.

Analysis of Point Break

http://v.youku.com/v_show/idXMzgwOTcwOTY=.html

For our second analysis for our pitch last Monday, we chose to look at Point Break. The reason we picked Point Break is that the title sequence relates extremely well to the overall narrative of the film.

The title sequence of Point Break is very similar to Oceans 11 in the way that it uses the micro-elements to refernce teh narrative. The sequence starts off with a coastal scene showing a mid shot to close up of the waves crashing on the beach. The camera stays stays still during this scene which allws the audience to read the titles without getting distracted. The title of the film appears embossed over the scene just showing the outline of the text like it has been stamped over the sequence. The mise-en-scene shows one of the main settings that is referenced to in the main narrative as well as setting an atmosphere of a nice, calm evening on a beach with a golden sun colour filling the scene. Everything would make the audience feel relaxed and calm except for an uneasy drone thoughout the whole title sequyence.

The next scene we see a close up of a surfer heading out to see. This is important because it is a key part of the narrative. All of teis scene we see vrious shots of the surfer, surfing on huge swells. All of these shots are slowed down which combined with the drone make an extremly uneasy atmosphere for the audience to watch. The colour of this scene makes the water seem very cold as it is a deep blue , almost grey colour. But throughout the scene we don't get to see the surfers face. This references to teh fact that the surfers are going to have criminal roles in the film.

The scene then cuts to a mid shot of Special Agent John Utah (Keanu Reeves) who is sitting on a car in the poring rain waiting for something. We then hear a whistle as a FBI agent calls Utah to come over. At this point the audience are unsure what he has to do but they understand that he probably won't be a villain because they see his face which allows them to identify with him. The editing then speeds up as Utah begins his training and cuts between various angles of Utah and many clips of the surfer. The mise-en-scene is very similar on both stories because we see a blue tint to them connoting cold tempretures. The training that Utah is doing and the surfers references key elements of the narrative with regards to the FBI, surfers and a gun fight. The camerawork shows mainly mid shots which show the action as well as the facial expressions of Utah.

This allows the audience to get a reflected atmosphere of what the film is going to be like as well as showing various aspects that are key to the narrative.

Analysis of Oceans 11

http://missedashow.net/media/32/Oceans_11/

For one of our analysis for our pitch last Monday, we chose to look at Oceans 11. The reason we picked Oceans 11 is that the title sequence relates extremely well to the overall narrative of the film. This we found by looking at another crime film is a convention of the genre.

The title sequence of Oceans 11 is very short and uses subtle effects, but it is extremely effective. It shows Daniel Ocean(George Clooney) moving towards a chair that is facing the camera. Through this first part of the sequence we see a midshot of ocean. We also hear a voice from 3 other people out of view from the camera. We find out that this is a hearing to see whether or not to release him from prison. This particular scene has many references to the narrative. This is due to the many micro-element features that have been used. The mise-en-scene plays a big part in referencing the narrative. The setting is a prison and because of the genre being a crime caper it shows that this is where the characters could end up, should they get caught. This references the atmosphere of the narrative because throughout the narrative there is always the rick of getting caught. This also comes through the use of costume, lighting, props and colour. The costume worn by Ocean is stereotypical prison wear consisting of beige overalls. The lighting is low key and the colour of the sequence has a blue tint to it. This shows that it is in a prison which is very secure due to very small windows making the low key lighting and grey concrete reflecting back a blue tint due to the lack of light. The props in this scene only consist of a chair. This shows that prison life is very uncomfortable because they don't look after the needs of the prisoners.

The sound of this scene is also important because all you hear is diegetic sound of the panel and Ocean speaking as well as a continuous drone of the ventilation system. With regards to the characters speaking you get echoes every time that they speak showing that they are in a very large and open space. There is no editing effects in this beginning sequence except for a fade at the beginning. And the camera stays still showing a focus on the character.

At the end of this scene Ocean is asked 'What will you do if released?'. The scene then jump cuts closer to ocean who looks smug showing that he already has another plan. A non-diegetic sound track begins to play. This lets the audience know that he has managed to get out of prison.

The next two scenes follow Ocean getting ready to leave the prison. All of teh camera placements are as if the audience are looking over ocean like a security guard or official. This is because the camera looks through bars, chicken wire fencing as well as panning long shots as he approaches a desk. The scene then cuts to a close up of a ring which relates to a narrative because we find out that his wife left him.

The next scene follows ocean out of prison. This is the first time the role of editing comes into play because this is the first time that we get to see the titles. These fly in from different directions.

And the final scene shows the main title of 'Oceans 11' in the bottom right corner. This scene shows a river or bay on the outskirts of a large American city during the evening.

Animatic

Here is our animatic, please enjoy viewing it.

We didn't have enough time to find Jazz Sound but we will try to get some on it as soon as possible.

Sorry about the quality, but this is the biggest size that we can upload to blogger.

More comic book style fonts.

We have decided to have the titles for our opening sequence in a comic book style font.
We are also going to have the date shown in a comic book font in the beginning of our opening sequence like a comic book.
Here are some photos of cartoon fonts and styles.

Research on editing styles.

Cartoon effect from the website using line art and posterize.

For our opening sequence we want to have a comic book kind of look in some parts of our scenes when we are introducing the different characters.
We went on the internet and found a website explaining how to apply a cartoon effect on final cut.

The website is: http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/creating_cartoon_douglas.html

The only problem with this website however is that the person had used final cut pro which we do not have and therefore didn't have one of the effects (line art) that he had used in the tutorial.
So our test footage does not include line art but we looked and added other effects which turned out to give a black and white cartoon effect.

Our Test Footage:

Thursdays lesson.

Today our animatic deadline is due. Myself and Jon have been taking photos of our storyboard using the mac camera and now we are working on our animatic using final cut.
Soon we will be using garageband so we have a soundtrack for our animatic.
The animatic has to be about a minute long while our final opening sequence has to be two mintues.

 

Editing our Animatic

Wednesday's lesson.

On Wednesdays lesson we worked on our storyboards so we could start on our animatic which is due today (Thursday). We also did some research based on the feedback we got. We researched the 1920s and 1930s which our sequence is set in that time.
Jon worked on our storyboard while myself and Rob did some 1930s comic book research.

1930s clothing research.

We have set our crime caper opening sequence in the 1930s so we need to research the type of clothing that was worn in this era so our costumes for this sequence look genuine.

The great gatsby was a book written by Scott Fitzgerald and was set during the jazz age. The book was made into a film and some of the pictures from our research are from the film with the actors dressed in typical jazz age (1920s-30s) costumes. The fashionable haircut for the women was to have it short and crimped (see pictures). The trench coat was also very common for this era.

Research 1930s Comic Books

In response to our feedback we have researched comic books of the 1930s in order to gives us an insight into the life and culture of this era of time. Also to give us a look onto how we can edit our sequence to look like a 1930s sequence.

We have researched into various comic books like the Beano which started in 1938, we also looked at American comic books like Captain America and Dick Tracy.
We want to add some comic book affects to our opening sequence like the action signs such as POW and BANG.

Betty Boop started in the mid-thirties and Betty's style is similar to the 1930s era.

Jordan, Jon and Rob :)

Feedback from our film pitch

We got some constructive criticism from our pitch that we did on monday.
Overall we were told it was a good idea and that the cartoon theme we are going to do throughout the sequence was a clever idea.
Our audience of the pitch said that it will draw a wide age range of viewers because of the cartoon and real action theme.
We were also told that we were suggested to look into 1930 comic books to get an even better insight into our 1930s era and also what the cartoon sketches look like.

22nd January

Today we managed to explore the idea of adding effects to the video using Final Cut Express.

We also finished our mood board!

Jonathon is working on the analysis. It should be ready and done for Monday's Pitch!

The musical instruments represent the Jazz Age and this is the kind of sound we are going to have for our opening sequence.
The hat represents the style of costume we are looking at and for our film sequence as it is set in the 1930s.
The briefcase represents the stereotypical crime caper prop.
The alley represents the location we are wanting for our opening film sequence.

She's All That opening sequence analysis (Rom Com)

The credits in this sequence merge from paint that the main character squirts onto some newspaper. The paint can connect to what happens to the main charcter during the film(she has a makeover). The painting shows that this character is very artistic and by what she is painting shows she is different and sort of an out cast from her 'normal' stereotypical peers. This is very conventional of a romantic comedy, because the out cast is always the main character and is then transformed into a 'popular' person and also falls in love with a person who is completely opposite from them in the 'social school scale' and usually a jock. This is exactly what happens in this film and it can be seen by the opening sequence. The main character's appearence for examle her glasses shows the stereotypical out cast character.
In the opening sequence the location is shown and it's a high school which is again typical of a teenage romantic comedy, because this is where most teenagers spend most of their time. The other typical stereotypical characters are also shown in this opening sequence such as the 'bitch' and the popular jock chacter.
The music in this sequence is very typical for a rom com too. It's very up beat and appeals to most teenagers tastes.
Finally during the whole opening sequence each character/stereotype are introduced subtly like in conversation so the viewrs are aware of the socal stereotypes.
:-)

Opening Sequence Analysis of the Italian Job

For my opening sequence I analysed the title sequence of the Italian Job (2003 version).

http://tvshack.net/movies/The_Italian_Job__2003_/

Some details about the film:
The film was directed by - F. Gary Gray
Ensemble Cast of - Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, Edward Norton, Seth Green, Jason Statha, Mos Def, Franky Go and Donald Sutherland.
Brief Narrative Description: This film is about an organised crime gang who plan and implement stealing millions of dollars worth of gold from the Italian mafia. The start of the film focuses mainly on this. Then a scene in the Alps turns the whole storyline upside down. During the Alps one of the organised crime gang turns out to be very selfish and have his own agenda. He takes the gold from the other members by force, using his own gang, and then kills the member who cracked into the safe. This leaves the other members extremely angry so, teamed up with the safe crackers daughter, plan to get even at the man who stole their money.

Description fo title sequence: This title sequence relies heavily on editing and camerawork to produce certain effects. The sequence starts off with a small horizontal gold line across the screen. This expands to fill half of the screen with an extreme long shot of Venice. The start of some percussional track is heard and overlays the whole sequence. The scene then cuts to a point of view shot of someone on a boat which is moving slowly through Venice. This appears in a small window of the screen. We then see different bars move across the screen revealing a map. This cuts to a shot of a boat with an over laid shot of the map. This technique of using bars and small windows to display images of a map and Venice continues throughout the opening sequence.

Analysis of title sequence: This sequence gives many references to the beginning of the narrative. The map that we see throughout the sequence seems to have various stickers and string added to it. At a glance the audience can't quite understand what the stickers say but they can focus on the times. This reveals to the audience that a crime is being very precisely planned. But although the title sequence seems to give away the whole narratve, it actually gives away a very small part of it, because this sub-narrative leads onto a much bigger and complex plot.

The camerawork in this scene is very clever in the way that it uses many different shots. During the title sequence we see midshots of travelling down the rivers of Venice, close-ups of the plan and close to midshots of Mark Wahlberg's Silhouette. But the camera also doesn't stay still. Every shot has a panning motion that moves across the map, to the side of Venice and up to reveal the silhouette of Mark Wahlberg. The shots of the map vary a lot as they show different angles of the map, with each revealing a little more about the sub-narrative.

The editing of this scene really helps to add subtleties to the camerawork. It does this by using small windows, horizontal bars and vertical bars. This makes the text less readable on the map but still allow the times to be clearly shown. The bars are also used as masks to only show the actual footage through the bar, almost like the audience are looking through a whole in the wall at the map. The pace of the editing changes depending on the speed of the percussional sound track. This combined with the panning and swirling of the shots of the map make it seem like the audience ar getting a sneak peak of the plan that its going into action. The titles themselves are positioned in normally dead areas of the scene or next to the bars/windows in the scene. This means that they aren't quite as noticeable as if they were covering the footage, which adds to the sense that not everything is going to be as it meets the eye.

While on the boat there is a relaxed atmosphere because the music is slower and quieter than on other parts of the scene. But there is also an anxious atmosphere due to the fact that the boat is moving along the rivers of venice by the unpopular channels through the buildings and staying in the shade, which isn't the normal path that people would take.

The staging of Mark Wahlberg is also very clever because the scene mainly has him in silhouette form making it harder for the user to identify it is him to start with. This makes us think he is a criminal by the way that he tries to keep himself disguised. But when he emerges from the gloomy shadows of the room by moving over to look at the final part of the map which is in a lighter area. We see a pleased look on his face as he looks at what he has accomplished. This then makes the audience identify with him more.

The percussional piece of sound that overlays the whole scene plays an important role. While the camera is showing the boat ride, the music has a more sinister and slower atmosphere to it, which tells the audience that something is going to happen and the characters are taking a risk because the camera is from the point of view of one of the characters. Then while we see Mark Wahlberg and the map the music speeds up creating a more tense atmosphere with elements that the character is trying to get this done quickly but also make sure that he hasn't missed anything.

So in conclusion, this sequence uses three micro elements of sound, editing and camerawork to portray hints and clues of the narrative.

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Jon

Rob's Opening Sequence Analysis

Opening Sequence of Quantum of Solace
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Mise-en-scene – At the start of the scene the main character upholsters his handgun from his pocket and points it ready to shoot. A gun used so quickly in the opening sequence is a figure of power and also seriousness. He fires a bullet from the pistol in which then the bullet is slowed down to watch its journey. This can signal to the audience more on the serious side of this movie, throughout the sequence the bullet and pistol is used.
Also, women are used to imply a lustful loving area within the movie.

Sound – The soundtrack to the opening sequence is called ‘another way to die’ the lyrics can be implied for reasoning within the movie but also the music itself has a catchy baseline which sounds very cool but also again, serious.

Camerawork – Extreme Close Up is used at the start, Long Shots, Birdseye, Mid shots, Extreme Long Shots, Tilts, zooms etc. These are all used to great effect.

Editing – Huge use of editing, slow motion used on the bullet (at beginning and end), on the shadows of people falling. Flames coming from the bullet, the backgrounds look all done on VFX (special effects)

Our Finished Ident Logo

Here is our final logo. It has been created in photoshop and then animated in final cut express. Rob edited the sound to make it fade in and out in garageband.

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Jordan, Rob, Jon

T2-61 - The Group

Hello everyone we are group T2 61 and we consist of 4 members which are: Jordan, Lottie, Robert and Jon.

We haven't yet come up with a idea as to what genre we are going to do but we have created a logo and today we are going to work on animating it.

Our production company is 61 STUDIOS.

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Jordan, Rob, Jon, Charlotte