Proposal Feedback

We presented our proposal to the class and teachers today, and all went well. I was speaking about our target audience, and also outlined the practicalities of our idea. We were given the green light to start storyboarding etc by the teachers.

I feel that we have a very strong idea, and that we are organised enough amongst our group to get all the prep work done before we begin filming next weekend. Here is what we need to do:

• ongoing research
• storyboard
• shot list
• equipment release forms
  

Influences

• herlock Holmes opening sequence, as it was very similar to our initial idea (but ours came first)

• The titles in Heroes 

• The chase at the beginning of Casino Royale

• Saw, as they are one of the best demonstrations of stalker/thriller

• Rush Hour, for the martial arts

• Die Hard, for its high-octane action and explosions

Opening Sequences

Conventions of Opening Sequences

• Introduce the audience to the setting, showing us where and when the film was set, so that we can begin to build up an idea of what might take place in the film.
• Introduce the audience to a main character so that it is clear that the story will centre around this character.
• Provide information about the production company, director, and leading actors, which may give us an idea of genre. For example, a Jim Carey film is likely to be funny, and an Arnold Schwarzenegger film is likely to be violent.
• Offer hints as to the what the narrative of the film may be. This may be a spy recieving their assignment, or someone being captured, or the hero told about events in the past that must be put right, etc.
  

Narrative functions

• There is always some form of equilibrium at the very start
  
• The protagonist is always introduced
• There is an obstruction which the protagonist must resolve
• It never has any closure as it is just to set the scene, leading on to the main part of the film.
  

Benefits for audiences

• They are immediately informed of character, setting, and narrative
• They can get an immediate idea as to whether or not they will like the film
• If they dont already know, they can get an idea of the genre of the film almost immediately.
• A film has to start somehow; the audience will not understand the film without an opening sequence.
  

Benefits for institutions

• The film makers need to appeal to the audience in order to make money, so they included for the reasons above.
• The film makers must make the opening sequence reveal some basic information to the audience, but not reveal too much so to keep the audience's interest, so they want to watch on.
• The titles allow the film-makers to show the audience who made the film, which in a  way advertises the film

Thats It, Thats All Opening Sequence

This is the opening sequence of 2008 snowboarding film 'Thats It, Thats All'. While it may not seem very relevant to our sequence at all, it demonstrates many of the techniques that I, and the rest of the group wish to use ourselves, such as the use of camera movement, mise-en-scene, music, and titles. 


While we don't have a huge budget, mountains and a helicopter, we can still create effective and interesting camera movement, dramatic music, and we have access to the technology to create almost any title effect we want.

Initial location photography

I took some shots around the area behind my house and all around my house, where we are planning to shoot shot sequence. Here are some, but you can see all of them on the main group blog, linked below.

http://latymermediahughtomatomp.blogspot.com/2010/01/initial-location-photography.html

Before we begin shooting, we are going to need to clear the house of anything we don't want in shot, and add anything we do, but otherwise I think it willl be a good location to film in as it has a mix of large rooms, tight corridors and good places to get interesting shots from.

Initial Ideas

As a group we have decided that we will do an action thriller sequence, and we have all been coming up with some intial ideas. Here are my initial thoughts.


1. A chase sequence

A man comes running through these gates, closely followed by a car (which can be driven by a parent), climbs quickly over a garden fence and runs through the garden towards the house. He picks the lock and runs into the house, and the man climbs out of the car and follows him, but more slowly. The first man runs upstairs and climbs from an upstairs window (very easy to do safely from my house), but falls awkwardly. While attempting to crawl away, the other man appears at the window and shoots him, before leaving via the back of the house.

2. A cop thriller

  

An American detective returning from work, and discussing a case with his wife, who is in the kitchen (like the one above) from the bedroom (like the one above) while taking off his jacket, putting away his equipment etc. After a while, his wife stops replying to him, but he carries on talking, until he realises something is wrong. He walks back into the kitchen, but she is not there, with signs of a struggle. He  hears a tire screech and runs outside, to see a car tearing away down the road.

Coursework begins here people...

Hi everyone

Entry 1 in our film blog 2010 for our coursework proper!

I will be working with Tom Aston and Tom Poffley. Here we are.

           

We are all very excited to finally begin this project, and have loads of great ideas.

I was thinking comedy, but the Toms seem to be fixed in doing an action-thriller, which I am quite happy with.

We have a group meeting planned for Friday, and are all getting on with coming up with ideas for storylines/actors/locations etc. I took some photos of a possible location (my house) today, but I cant find the camera leads just for the moment so I'll post them shortly.