Ben Dufton's Evaluation

http://prezi.com/9mh9788tbj_f/

Evaluation Discussion

Final Cut

Evaluation Audience Feedback

In order to help gauge how successful our finished project had been we designed a short audience questionnaire to be answered by a group of 30 other students. The five questions were:
1. Gender M/F? (19 male 11 female)

2. Did you enjoy the sequence? Y/N (21 said yes of which 18 were male and 3 female)

3. What aspects of the sequence made it more like a real film opening? (12 referenced to music opening and credits 4 said thriller opening getting you interested in watching rest of film *narrative hook* other comments were to do with character introduction and relative ease in following the sequence *editing*

4. Would you pay to see a similar film at your local cinema? Y/N (15 said yes all of whom were male)

5. If you replied yes to the above what aspects would attract you to watch similar films? (all made comment about action thrillers being entertaining and 10 referencing interesting plot twists, a couple also mentioned they are likely films with famous actors they enjoy seeing)

Overall these answers gave us a good indication towards the success of targetting a male audience identified back at the beginning of our project with expected results of little interest from female audiences. The results show our concept worked relatively well in using conventional thriller techniques (narrative hook/suspense) to entertain and engage the specified audience.

Just after we had finished the filming of our sequence, Wesley (a member of our group) dropped out from the sixth form and therefore we had to spread his roles out between the rest of the group to ensure everything got completed.

Filming

Looking back, the filming procedure was a success even though we had a few problems. The first problem we faced was with our equipment. The tape we were given to use was damaged and so we had to return to school to change it before we could begin filming, also the tripod we used was quite unsteady and therefore made the shots untidy. Our first day of filming was hugely successful however on the second day our actor failed to turn up and so we had to cancel any filming on that day and reschedule. We started filming again the following week and managed to get all the shots we needed ready to be edited.

Once edited, we watched the film back with the soundtrack over it and discovered a few problems. Firstly we needed to re-film any shots that we’re unsteady due to the tripod and secondly some of the props we used weren’t correct e.g. the alarm clock had no display on when it was meant to be going off. We also had to re-film parts where the actor’s clothing can be seen as they changed and broke continuity of the film.

On the day we decided to re-film, we ended up filming the entire sequence again for continuity purposes. We also cut down the sequence quite a bit in places and added a range of different shots.

Animatic

Locations

Due to the “intimacy” of the film e.g. waking up in a bed and raiding the cupboards for a bowl of cereal it was hard to find a location where the residents of the house were willing to let us film. The ideal location for our film was a big house in a nice looking estate, preferably a cul de sac. The place I had in mind was my gran and grandad’s house. They live in a nice area and have a nice, big, tidy house, the kind of house a scientist would live in. However, our actor said he would find it hard to act in a total strangers house so we collectively decided the best option was to film at my house however I would have to make some changes to the house before the filming began. One change was to move all my mums clothes out of the way. My mum and dads room is relatively untidy and my mum leaves her clothes around the house so I needed to clear them out of the way as a scientist wouldn’t have womens clothes in the house. Also, I had to lock my dogs in the spare bedroom and clear away all the stuff lying around on the floor where we were shooting so we had room for the tripod etc. Also, by my house there is a set of derelict flats which was a really good place for the “sniper” point of view shot. All in all, although my house wasn’t the place I originally had in mind but it still worked out fine.

Creating Fake Blood

Preliminary Exercise

Filming Diary

Overall filming of the sequence went well taking roughly 3 hours with a break one main gripe being the tripod being unstable for some shots that may need to be refilmed dependant on how they look after editing. There was also an issue with the alarm clock not working for the sequence which looked unnoticeable on the camera but at the start of the cut it is obvious so this will have to be refilmed for the final cut.
(Alex Taylor)

Wesley put extra padding under his clothing to help make his death look more realistic as there was no space with the long shot we used to hide a fall mat.


Wesley adding Ben's fake blood to the labcoat.


Nicole did most of the camerawork, as director we spent about 2 minutes for each shot sorting the shot type/angle/exposure etc, before actually filming.

Script

As a group we decided a script for our opening scene would not be required as in this introductory scene we only see charaters on their own and we believe adding much dialogue would be detrimental and wouldn't fit the scene. One line is spoken by "the hitman" at the end of the scene on the phone to his employers explaining his work is done. This will be added in during editing as the microphone would not give a clear enough sound in the rain in which it was recorded.

Shooting Schedule

Face Blood Recipe

There were many fake blood recipes to choose from on the internet, but I chose this one due to ease of making and effectivness. Here it is:

Combine one part water with 3 parts glucose syrup.

Add red food colouring and mix gently by stirring. add as much colouring as required.

Add sifted flour to the mixture to thicken it.

let stand for 10 minutes at room temperature.

Prop List

On the day of the shoot, we are going to need the following:

Lab coat

Fake blood

Laptop

Folder

Alarm clock

Mirrored cabinet

Toothbrush

Dog

Suit

Gun

Bed

Pyjamas

Shower

Ident Research

E1 Entertainment

E1 Entertainment is the largest independent music, television and film distributor in North America. It began in 1975 as Koch Entertainment and changed to E1 in 2009.

Warner Bros. Pictures

Warner Bros. is one of the major film studios. It was founded in 1918 in Hollywood. Warner Bro. Pictures is one part of the whole Warner Bros. Studios.

Paramount

Paramount was founded in 1912 and is subsidiary of Viacom. It’s the oldest existing film studio in America.

DreamWorks

DreamWorks was founded in 1994 and is an American film studio. It develops, produces and distributes film.

Music Ideas

My first main idea for the music to be used during the title sequence is that it had to be slow and quite a low tone. This is because the music will start when the character gets out of bed in the morning, and it had to match the sleepy unhappy, possibly even grumpy mood of getting out of bed. Then for the title sequence, I wanted something loud to demonstrate the impact of the character dying. The tow types of music would offer a great juxtaposition. I thought in between the two sets of music (quiet and loud) it’d be great to have a silent spot with no music, and this would help elevate the impact of the character dying. To pick all the music ideas I thought of, I looked at the storyboard and had the selected music playing in the background while I pictured the opening sequence in my head.

IDEA 1

My first idea for the music was “Just a phase” by Incubus. This song was everything I wanted; it had the quiet part at the start of the song and then at about four minutes into the song, it turns into the loud heavy rock music I wanted for the title sequence. With some clever editing, I could have really made it all fit together. However, when putting this song to the storyboard, it just didn’t feel right. The whole loud part of the song when I imagined it on top of the title sequence just seemed totally spontaneous and random. It seemed only Incubus fans would understand and see how it worked with the opening sequence. The other members of my group agreed and so the idea was scrapped.

IDEA 2

My second idea involved using the start of “Just a phase” for the getting up scene and then using a different song altogether for the title sequence. I felt that the start of “Just a phase” was perfect for the getting out of bed scene and I just needed to find a song to match the title sequence. However it seemed no matter what song I tried with the title sequence, it just didn’t sound right. Some of the songs I tried using for the title sequence were “some kind of wizard” by Biffy Clyro, “Try Honesty” by Billy Talent and “A beautiful lie” by 30 Seconds To Mars.

FINAL IDEA

After my second idea I realised if I was going to have the two types of song I would have to use the same song for both, as I’d previously found using two different songs doesn’t work. One day I had my MP3 player on shuffle on the way to school and I heard this song, “Secrets” by the Zutons. The start of the song is fairly slow with maybe a happier tone than “Just a phase” by Incubus which wasn’t originally my idea but nonetheless it still sounded great. Then after about a minute it turns fairly heavy. But, the important part is that it sounds heavy enough to emphasise the impact of the character dying but not overly heavy, which was a problem with “Just a Phase”. Also, the lyrics “secrets are for keeping and if you tell them they lose their meaning” very much match the plot of the story; the character who died had a secret and it’s no longer a secret, as the man who killed him stole it. My group and I decided this song was perfect and so that’s what I went for.

Ident Development

This is the first idea I had for our production company Fire Exit. It is a furry effect writing, with a film reel symbol in the middle. There are a few things wrong with this ident: The furry lettering has nothing to do with a fire exit, it doesn't look very effective and i'm sure i could make something better.

I prefer this ident slightly more to the last one. The chrome effect writing, alongside the simple layout looks more like an existing ident, I think that there is something missing from this, as if the text said 'test' for example it wouldn't remind me of a fire exit at all.

This is my final ident, I decided to use the clean-cut look of the second ident, but using the look and feel of a real fire exit sign, adding the word 'production' underneath explains what the company is all about.

Opening Sequence Analysis

The Day After Tomorrow

The film starts with a black screen and slick silver titles. There is slow, sad music playing (non-diegetic). Then there is a high angle shot going over the sea moving very quickly with the title “the day after tomorrow” at the bottom of the screen which is reflected in the sea. We then see some floating bits of ice while more titles are appearing at the bottom of the scene. More unhappy music begins to play. We then see an ice shelf as the camera moves towards it. We then realise that all the floating ice was once part of the ice shelf. The camera then moves from the high angle shot to a normal shot and continues to surface the ice shelf. It almost feels like the camera is a bird, majestically flying around the ice shelf, possibly this is to give the film a natural feel. We then see a small camp and can suddenly hear the howling of the wind as the camera moves closer. We then immediately see an extreme close up of the US flag blowing in the wind as the words “Larsden B ice shelf, Antartica” appear at the bottom of the screen. The camera then floats down to ground level to reveal people. The two people are stood around a drill and one person is teaching the other how to use it. The “teacher” asks him how he feels and the other man says “yeh I think I’ve got the hang of it”. The teacher replies with “the boss would chew my ass off if these cords get messed up. At this point, we know something bad is going to happen. We then see a close up of the teacher picking up a tube. The music has just started to stop. The teacher then walks into a cabin where we meet a third man looking at something under a microscope. This third man says “you let Jason operate the drill?” we definitely know something bad will happen. We then see a closeup of the drill and the man operating it. These shots are quickly followed by a closeup of a crack in the ice that is quickly spreading towards camp. The sound of the cracking gets louder and some deep trumpet music plays. We later see that the ice has split the camp in two and Jason (the drill operator is caught in the middle. The other two men rush to him and save him while the drill and ice he was stood on breakaway. We then see the man who was previously looking under a microscope jumping across the huge gap in the ice. He picks up more of the tubes like the ones we saw earlier. He then jumps back across the crack and makes it to the other side, only to slip down and be left hanging off with one hand. The other two men rush over to save him. He is clearly a main character. The camera then pans out to show a longshot of the whole ice shelf splitting in half.

http://www.novamov.com/video/4a71c96636757

Opening Sequence Analysis

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

At the beginning of the film we briefly hear some eerie music, which is closely followed by a shot of a car driving through the desert, while the passengers in the car are very happy and can be heard laughing. The eerie music will have been used to keep the viewer guessing on what the tone of the film will be. The car looks like an old ford car, and there is an elvis presley song playing in the background. It is unclear whether the sound is diegetic and coming from the car or is non-diegetic. Either way, the song and model of the car tells the viewer that the film is set in the past. The titles are superimposed over the film, rather than having a separate title sequence. You then see the car in the desert pull into a road, alongside a set of army trucks. The way the people in the car are having a great time and the army trucks are really serious again keeps the viewer wondering what the tone of the film will be. We then see the car drive alongside a car driven by an army person. We see a close up of the driver of the army cars face in his wing mirror, from the black cars perspective. The driver of the army car is smiling, showing he isn’t deathly serious about his job. The people in the black car challenge him to a race and he accepts and off they race, again showing he isn’t serious about his job. Or possibly, he could be highly ranked in the army and thinks because of that he can do what he wants. We then see a medium-longshot of all the cars and trucks from the army. Later on in the scene we see the army vehicles drive into an army base and the words “Nevada 1957” appear on screen. The people in the army car that was racing are told by army men at the gate to the army base that they aren’t allowed into the base due to weapons testing. We then see the people that are guarding the gate turn to salute somebody. Just as they tell “colonel” what’s happening, the colonel that they soluted crouches down while his men kills all the guards. We see a close up of the colonel’s face and we instantly know he’s a bad guy. The colonel then walks back to his car while his men clear the dead bodies aside. We then see a sign saying “restricted area” and the army vehicles carry on through the gate. We immediately know after seeing the closeup of that sign that these army people are up to no good.

http://fairyshare.com/watch-5e1c0ff14e485c4bf#

Final Storyboard idea

This is the first screen shot from the storyboard for our thriller opening. It begins with a black screen and faded thuds sound every second. As each thud sounds, block capital, white credits flash up, coinciding with the writing. The thuds soon become the shallow tick tocks of a clock.

The first shot depicts an extreme close up of digital clock radio. As the camera zooms out, the clock ticks over to 6 A.M. The alarm-radio sets off and an up beat song plays, sound goes to being diegetic.

High angle shot of a man waking up to the alarm-radio music, that Ben Dufton (Music Director) has chosen. The moment he switches it off, the sound goes from being diegetic to non diegetic and the music is played throughout the scene.

Next shot main character is brushing his teeth (seeing him through the mirror) Then an over the shoulder shot. Ben's chosen up beat track continues to play. Music goes half volume to allow for diegetic sound.

Three cuts of the main character walking down the stairs. First: Tracking shot Second: Close up static shot Third: Dolly/ tracking shot. Then the next shot appears.

Long shot (fly on the wall) From the top corner of the room, shows the main character walking in and seeing a virus that has infected his laptop, the small camera light is flashing red. Inclusive to this, he spots something in his scientific notes that trouble's him, alarmed he runs outside to his car to tell someone about his discovery.

A gravelly P.O.V shot from the laptop's camera shows the man finding his discovery and running out of the shots view towards the door of the house, he is clutching a folder of important scientific notes. (This is the reason for the laptop showing a virus message.)

Dolly shot of the man running out of the door, suddenly a sniper cross-hair shot, the music gets louder and a shot is fired into the scientists head. Three men in black go over to the body and steal the folder of notes from his hands and get into a black van driving by. Music fades and echoes, leaving a sombre tone.

Opening sequence analysis

Vanilla Sky

Vanilla Sky is a psychological thriller film, which was made in 2001 by paramount. Its opening sequence begins with two flashing, moving images, extreme long shots, shots from a bird’s eye angle of New York City. It proceeds to flash through the view of New York, panning the city and central park etc. Further viewing reveals a diegetic whispering sound, which perhaps connotates someone’s thoughts, therefore the flashing of the image perhaps shows someone blinking, or opening and shutting their eyes. Then the only distinguishable words ‘OPEN YOUR EYES’ are spoken. The overall haunting and murky impression given off by this opening makes it clear to the audience of a psychological film ahead. Link to film below.

http://veehd.com/video/2398275_VANILLA-SKY-2001-Tom-Cruise-Kurt-Russell-Cameron-Diaz-Penelope-Cruz

The silence of the lambs

The silence of the lambs is a thriller movie made in 1991 by MGM. The opening starts with a medium long shot of a misty, murky woodland. Minor key classical music is playing in the background, non diegetically, adding a sombre tone to the opening. Block Capital credits are flashing up of the actors' names. It then cuts to a tracking shot of a woman (Jodie Foster) running, which makes the audience question what she is running fromm already building up audience tension.

http://www.megavideo.com/?d=NAI0UOCJ

Quantum of solace

Quantum of solace is the second of the newest James Bond films, made by MGM in 2009. The opening sequence starts with a fast moving panning shot of a majestic lake in Italy, it is headed towards the mountain side. Classical music is playing non diegetically. It then cuts to a clip of a car moving at speed for a little less than a second and returns to the lake shot, it repeats this, but showing someone has heavy artillery inside the car, this leads the viewer to expect high speed cars and weaponry use, which hints at a future car chase, and an action/thriller film ahead. The classical music builds to a climax, getting louder and suddenly a diegetic revving car sound kicks in, the shot leads to a small road on the mountainside, Gunshot fire is heard.

http://xtshare.com/toshare.php?Id=395

Frames Exercise

I chose this first shot as it shows the ident for the film. This is the first shot. It is in black and white, as are the first few scene of the film before the title sequence begins.

This shot is an establishing shot, the first shot after the indent. It tells the audience where it is so they can begin to follow the film.

This shot is where we are first introduced to the main character, in this case Bond. The events in these first scenes set the plot for the rest of the film. The black and white sets the mood of the scene and adds mystery.

This is the iconic Bond shot. Almost every James Bond film has this shot and is widely recognised. This is the last shot before the titles begin.

The title sequences are all animated. This shot shows one of the actresses on the film on the head of a queen, like a playing card. It all fits with the theme of casinos as the film is called Casino Royale.

This shot shows another iconic, widely recognised Bond image. The term 007 is Bond’s licence number and therefore relevant to the film. This again follows the Casino theme, with the gunshots being fired through the playing card.

The title of the movie is never shown on the film.

By Nicole 'Coal Train' Farrar

Analysing Opening Sequences

Casino Royale

The opening to the film is in black and white, this adds a stylish effect to the film. It also makes the audience think that maybe it is a flashback. The opening credits open with quite an upbeat, heavy choice of music, this fits the genre well as it is an action movie. The title sequence is all animated. It’s quite abstract and busy so therefore the text displaying names of the actors and director etc can afford to be simple and boring.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tj2MBLsAVbY

Die Another Day

The opening scene for this film gives us an immediate introduction to the main character and goes straight into the action. The credits do not come until about 15 minutes into the film. These are quite surreal and use optical illusions while the text is quite simple and plain. The music is very futuristic and “cool”. At the beginning of the title sequence, the well known Bond shot is shown, so the audiences know immediately that the film is Bond.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zu2tOPtpG-A

28 Days Later

The title sequence runs over the opening scene of the film. The text shows over the scene. The audience is given some ideas of what the film could be about and are left asking questions. The music playing is quite emotional, it makes the viewer think about what is going on. The images in the first scene are quite controversial and so the music aids the audience’s thoughts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwUI7IJqNwo

By Nicole Farrar

Target Audience

Our film is aimed mostly at men who like the excitement and danger of action/thrillers. Our film would be rated a 12 to try and allow as much of the young male teenage audience who would also enjoy seeing the film. This demographic limits the appeal to young audiences as complex plot and violent scenes might make it unsuitable for younger viewers. The male-centric target is concurrent with other action films research has proven women are not as interested in.