Initial ideas for opening two minutes

Firstly, we are hoping to go to a location in London, most likely St Thomas abandoned hospital. We would be doing an action/crime film, which would include some western European smugglers and a group of possibly hired assassins or ex military of some sort. We would have quite a few fight scenes and a villain as well as a few chase scenes which will hopefully be intense.
 we hope to have a narration at the beginning to introduce the audience to the plot. Accompanying this is a chase scene, match and action as well as a wide range of music. During the fight scenes, we hope not to have to add music, but have punching sound effects. however, if there was to be any music, it would have to cover the majority of the audio. I got these ideas from some fight scenes in various Batman films, where there is no music, but only diegetic sounds such as punching and talking.
With fight scenes, there will be quite a few slow motion shots, which will be used to capture some movements which are too fast to film. Slow motion shots also enable the audience to feel encapsulated and would increase the intensity. As I and a few of the actors are black belts in various martial arts, our strong point would hopefully be the fight scenes, but the difficulty would be finding the right angles.  Also, a quick blur of the music when it goes into slow motion. However, because the area we are filming in is quite small, we wont be able to do many tracking shots, so we will have to limit our shots to the basics, close, medium, long, over the shoulder, and some others such as still shots. I don't think that P.O.V views would be best for the fight scenes, mainly because it would be too risky and difficult, but it is a possibility.
With chase scenes, there are many locations we could film, but would have to use certain angles to limit the view so that no member of public is in the shot or walks into the shot. There are some good ideas, as many of the actors and I do a sport called Parkour/Free-running, so we are hoping to do a roof jump and have some large jumps, and repeat it a couple of times for different shots. We are aware of the safety precautions but have done the jump many times, so there is a very low risk of injury.
The story itself will be quite complex, but we have quite a similar story to a usual drug bust, for example, a few protagonists, a gang and a villain, but the story is yet to be developed.

What I am doing on Blogger

What I am doing on Blogger - Richard Marshall.

My name is Richard Marshall, I recently started Media Studies A Level. I hope to achieve a C or a higher grade, this is because I enjoy doing Media Studies and filming. The fun part about filming for me is the fact that you get to experiment with different things, and i have always enjoyed filming, because you always get a freedom, you can choose what you want to do, you can create anything from your imagination. And as many people know, i have quite a large imagination like many of my friends. 

Anyway, on Blogger, i hope to inform all who view this about my future film, which has no title yet, but is hopefully going to be action/horror. Although this may be a easy topic to do, as there are so many inspirations, it does not deduct the fact that it is a great genre to work on. You can follow any plot, make it as confusing or easy to understand as possible, whereas with other genres, you are forced upon a certain story, for example, romance, there HAS to be a love interest, but the thing that makes romance interesting is a form of love triangle, without that, it becomes dull. But... with horror or action, there doesn't have to be any specific ideology to it or plot, you just scramble a bunch of characters together and let your imagination sparkle. 

I hope that to all the viewers, you enjoy my posts in the future and find them interesting, and so far, I need a lot of work on filming, but it's all trial and error. 

The Hobbit Opening Analysis.

The Hobbit Opening Analysis.

Camera Composition: Strangely, the establishing shot is an extreme close up shot of a hand, and then the camera continues to change to a close shot. Then a character is introduced, The camera slowly pans around a doorway to follow the character for a few seconds, then changes into a low angle shot, when a chest is opened, then transfers using a shot reverse shot to a high angled shot, looking into the chest, this keeps transferring from high to low angle three times,  then continues to follow the same scheme of high and low angle shots, but with a eye level shot twice. Further on in the opening scene, when the man is dipping a feather in ink, the camera focuses on the ink in an extreme close up shot, then maintaining a eye level shot for four seconds. After this there is another extreme close up shot of a sentence being written. After this scene, the camera then proceeds to ''walk'' out of the room, and zooming out of the character. At about 1:04 seconds in, a Bridging shot is introduced, which follows a map, which then zooms in to a city, continuing with a dolly shot.

Sound: The introduction has both a narrator and background music, both categorised as non diegetic. However both of the sounds being played do not overlap each other, so it is easy to hear the narration, but at the same time the audience can hear the music well. Diegetic sound is also being played through these clips. For example, when a match is lit, you can hear it well, and it isnt so loud that it disrupts the narration. The narration then becomes louder and dominates over the music. Also, the audience can hear the character picking items from a chest, for example the crushing of paper to a sword shimmering and him picking up a book then continuing to drop it on a desk gently. the next clip includes a clink of a glass container and scribbling noises, which eventually fade out.

Mise en scene: The items in this opening scene are very fictional, which include swords, old books, feather pens, ink in jars, and candles. On the other hand, there are some items which are quite modern looking, such as stacked desks and flowers in jars. at 00:54 seconds, the camera shows the room, which is quite messy, and full of worn books, but the chair shown is quite fashionable. The clothing worn by the characters is also very interesting, where they are quite well dressed, with clothing which looks quite expensive.

The Dark Knight Opening Analysis

The Dark Knight Opening Analysis. 

Camera Composition: The establishing shot begins with a camera moving forwards, but not zooming into a building where action is being taken place, eventually leading to a long shot of a window being shot. This is then followed by a close shot at eye level of a man, and the a high angle shot, not so much to make them inferior, but to show the direction that they are heading. This then quickly changes scene where the camera is zooming in on a man, and when the character moves, the camera suddenly aims up, so the audience can see the actions happening. Another shot following this is a extreme close-up of wires being set, and then a dolly shot for a split second, then transferring to a rotation downwards. The camera then continues to follow the characters by panning across the scene. There is an over the shoulder shot, which is behind a character in a car, with two people in front, the camera moves and bounces with the car as if it was first person. Later on in the opening scene, There is a dolly shot which follows the characters running.
Sound: During the introduction, the non diegetic music is very quiet and tense, but as the scenes unfold, the music starts becoming even more tense, and carries on playing in the background until about two minutes in when characters start talking. Most of the diegetic sounds consist of the explosion of glass and a contraption shooting a bolt and being loaded. Later on there is a car which suddenly pops up and the audience can hear the tyres screeching as it suddenly brakes.. Then some characters start talking, with mysterious voices, whilst they are talking, another man is loading a gun in the background, and another man cocks the gun. When the characters are outside, the audience can hear their footsteps and a door slam open as they enter a bank.
Mise en scene: In the first scene, it is set in a fictional city, much like New York City. Most of the props consist of joker masks, smart clothing, possibly bullet proof armour and a lot of guns, mainly light guns such as pistols and SMGs (which are typical for a robbery). Because the settings are in a city, most people are middle or upper class, so their apparel would be smart, this could include a black suit or casual jeans. However, there are some other props, which are quite advanced technology, such as bank vault drills. Some other interesting props in the introduction are bags being carried by the robbers.

Titanic Opening Analysis

Camera composition: The establishing shot is of the camera panning around a dock, and aiming up towards the titanic, it then follows a slide show style compilation of the titanic being released from the docks, where the camera continues to pan around the environment, however there is no focusing shots at the introduction. |The camera then changes to a medium shot, which still pans around to follow the ship. After that, there is then a close shot of people waving. What is quite strange about the opening is that the camera seems to be from a first person perspective, because the camera is quite shaky, so it must be a designed P.O.V. from one of the people watching the ship. The next clip is a close up weather shot of the water, this time with colour, whereas the clips during the first half of the opening had no tone, this clip of the water eventually leads to the titles' introduction. The camera then fades to black, and a long distance shot is introduced, following a zoom or some sort of panning which follows some submarines which are submerging.
Sound: Like most films, during the establishing shot, music is introduced, and it is also non-diegetic, this music continues and covers the slideshow of clips until about halfway through the opening, the music remains at the same pitch for most of it. Although it doesn't fade out, at about 00:52 sounds of underwater are introduced, as well as the engines of some submarines, which is quite a dark lumber-some sound. There are some other quick sounds introduced towards the ending of the opening scene, such as sonar and an even more intense water sound as the camera has a close shot of the submarines. eventually the music fades out and the diegetic sound takes over.
Mise en scene: Firstly, during the establishing shot, the setting are placed for the 1800's, Most of the costumes worn are quite old fashioned and most of the people range from middle class to upper class, there is also one thing which i spotted, this is a man carrying a camera and taking either a film or a group of photos of the ship leaving. Also, some other props such as hats and handkerchiefs are introduced when the ship leaves. Later on in the opening, some other important props are introduced, such as lights and submarines. The change of setting from lighting of the camera is representing the change of age from the release of the titanic to the submarines.

True Romance Opening scene

True Romance opening analysis.

Camera Composition:  The establishing shot is of a bar at medium shot. During the first few clips, We are introduced to a medium  shot of a man drinking in the bar, and the camera stays there whilst other characters are introduced, however the next clip is of a panning shot, which close up and ''walks'' around the character whilst he is interacting with another. The next clip is a focus shot, where the foreground is blurred slightly ( in this case, bottles or glasses hanging ) and we can see the man's face clearly, so that he is highlighted in the background. Following there there are couple more shots which change from medium to close up, when the character isn't talking the camera is further away, but when he begins to talk the camera then introduces the audience again. There are some shots which slightly try and mimic an over the shoulder shot, but because there are people talking to each other by sitting next to each other, the camera simply just follows a 180 degree rule and keeps on changing angles when each character introduces a sentence. These shots keep changing from medium to close for a big chunk of the opening scene, until suddenly the camera introduces a low angle shot, which is generally to make a character seem more important and high in power, and then goes back to an eye level shot.

Sound: Firstly, there is non diegetic sound introduced, with happy music playing, until eventually the music fades into the background and then the music changes into diegetic sound, as if it was playing in the Bar where the scene is set.There is a lot of diegetic sound, to start off with, we are introduced to the characters talking to each other, and in the background you can hear what you would typically hear in a bar, glasses clashing together and other diegetic sounds being played in the background, but the character's voice is highlighted through everything. when the camera gets closer the the main character we can hear other diegetic sounds a lot better, because the camera wants to place the audience in the characters spot. 

Mise en scene: The settings are in the bar. there are a lot of props through this opening scene, most of them range from bottles, to televisions being played in the background. however there are some other main props which the camera includes a lot, such as a cigarette being smoked by one of the characters, and a man drinking a beer bottle. Most of the clothes which the characters are wearing are quite upper class, especially the actress, she is wearing very posh clothing, such as animal fur and skin, which is very expensive, with lipstick and very large odd looking earrings. However on the other hand the man is wearing pretty average looking clothing, suggesting he is middle class, but he is still dressed smartly, but not posh, e.g. a tuxedo.

The Notebook ( Romance ) Opening analysis

The Notebook: Opening Scene Analysis.

Camera Composition: During the opening scene, for half of the opening, there are quite a few wide shots, which show the scene from quite a distance, there is no focus shots at all, which is quite interesting. The establishing shot is a camera behind a bunch of trees, and looking at the background with a sunset and a person rowing a canoe or a wooden boat of some sort. Most of these shots last for a long time, with the establishing shot lasting about 18 - 20 seconds, whilst other shots mainly consist of being 10 seconds. After the establishing shot we move on to a very wide shot, and then a close up dolly shot of the rower. After this it follows to another extreme wide shot. The camera tends to change every shot from either extremely wide or just to a wide shot, then to a close shot, which is usually following the character. Eventually the audience is led to the house, where a long shot is introduced several times, but suddenly there is an over the shoulder shot of a character, looking out towards the distance, this clip only lasts a few seconds though. After, there is a close shot of the house and birds flying past in the reflection of the windows, and can see a character. And another over the shoulder shot, except a lot closer to the head. Following this, there is ANOTHER over the shoulder shot, where one character is interacting with another, right before the last clip, which is an dolly shot of the rower again.
Mise-en-scene.  There is a very dark lighting all throughout the opening few minutes, however most of the props are water themed, e.g. a boat, a flock of (CGI?) birds. The settings are based on an island, with one house, presumably a couple who are living together and retired.
Sound:  At the first scene, the music starts slowly, with a piano playing in the background, this is the main theme of the non diegetic sound. also, there is no diegetic sound such as rowing or water splashes. For the majority of the opening scene the piano carries on playing, and accompanying the character rowing, as well as the emotions being explored through the music, this is called pathetic fallacy, where the music describes the environment. The piano eventually starts getting louder throughout the opening and then quietens right at the end. The only diegetic sound we are introduced to is an interaction between two characters which is an extremely short clip.

Romance Target Audience

Romance Target Audience.

Most people who view romance films would probably be around the ages of 20+, this is because they are more serious and have a love story of some sort, and most young people would probably be bored from watching it after a while. Also, the gender which would most likely view this kind of genre would probably be females, which is mainly because there aren't many action scenes for males to enjoy, and not many clips of fighting or death, the closest scene which would be fighting is when the two main characters are arguing for some reason. 

Another age group for romance films would probably be 15-18, as there is a lot of light hearted scenes, a lot of kissing and confusion. The reason why females most likely enjoy romance more than males is because they can relate to some of the situations which the main characters are placed in, may that be them trying to chase after someone or them being chased, which could make them enjoy the movie more. Also, most of the people who view romance are upper class, as the films are generally more expensive, rather then action films which are for middle class e.t.c. Romance films are quite expensive compared to other genres simply because of the preference of class. 

Contradicting this point, there are some males who view romance films, mainly because they are in a relationship and want to ''woo'' the girl, or they simply just want to enjoy a film which they haven't seen before or a type of genre they haven't seen before.

Most romance films are generally quite slow, and the story take a long time to build up, and eventually and always ends up in the main characters getting together, but there is also some sort of enigma which the audience has to figure out, it could be a love triangle or it could be another important thing. Most of the actors and actresses are from upper class families, or middle class. they are also very young, either in their late teens or 20's, and most originate from America or Western Europe. 

Hunger Games: Mockingjay Opening Analysis

Hunger Games: Mocking jay.

Camera Composition:  The establishing shot is of a jet flying over a forest, and the camera is panning up, but is also using a dolly shot. following that is a eye level shot, and the camera has a point of focus on the main character and has an increased depth of field because of that. The next couple of shots are called ''shot reverse shots'', which basically follows a 180 degree rule, and is also a high angle shot to make them both look inferior. also at the scene which was filmed it is a close up, so that the audience are able to see the conversation kind of at a P.O.V. there is a great over the shoulder shot as well which also has blurred out the main character so it could define the other character. There is a dolly shot, or a camera whip ( but I'm not sure ) which follows a jet travelling through the forest again.
There are half a second clips of many different shots, including an extreme close up, over the shoulder shot and many panning shots. there is another wide shot following up.
During another scene where a man is shooting a crossbow, we are first shown to be looking at the character raising the crossbow, and when he shoots, there is an over the shoulder shot, and it still following the 180 degree rule, so that the audience can easily see where they are, and so there isn't a great range of changing in lighting. When some military soldiers are introduced into another scene, there is a low angle shot which makes them more dominant over the situation and gives the characters power.

Mise-en-scene : The characters in this movie are wearing very futuristic styled clothing, such as suits and odd looking jester like outfits (worn by the villains). However there is the occasional man or woman who is dressed very poorly, either they are a very low class citizen are a servant of some sort. The suits worn by most of the characters are very tight fitting, In one clip there seems to be a whole group of people wearing identical clothing, to show either show some communism, that they are all equal, either that or they could be the characters who partake in the Hunger Games. Further on in the trailer the main character (female) is wearing a very tight fitting suit which is probably an armour of some sort, whilst the people in the background are all wearing loose short sleeved shirts and saluting the girl, which could suggest that she is about to do something dramatic and that she has high power in that situation. There are several settings, but most of them consist of the main characters talking to each other, as well as being chased or shot at. Again, most of the things in this movie are very futuristic, a lot like Alien Vs Predator, with floating touch screens and futuristic jets. On the other hand, there are some props which go against the futuristic theme, such as a metal badge, some items of clothing, and a bow and arrow.
                   In one clip, with two high class characters discussing something, the audience is shown that there is a very posh looking house, containing goblets, well made chairs and extremely odd clothing, for example, one man is wearing just white, and the other is wearing a ''Riddler'' type of outfit, following along with pink hair and a sophisticated expression.

Sound: During the first few seconds of the opening, we are introduced to dramatic non-diegetic music, and the music carries on through a few of the clips, which co-operates with a narration given by the main character. The music then halts when an important sentence is spoken in a clip, the music then changes to a happier type of music, and gets much louder but then gets dramatic again and quietens but not fully stops when another important character is introduced and speaks and the music then gets louder and continues for most of the opening. During the end of the trailer, the music starts changing and suddenly stops when an explosion takes place, following the logo of the movie and a short whistle.
For the diegetic sounds, there is a narration at the beginning of the film, and then the character continues to narrate through a few clips, and then a man starts talking and informs the main character with wise words, and everything else is silent, no other sounds are introduced, (Other than music). A few clips later after dramatic music, a man raises a cross-bow and fires it, and the audience can hear the rope tightening and then the bolt being released, following an explosion which takes over the music for a split second. Another scene we are introduced to, is A group of soldiers shooting at a large group of civilians charging at them. There are a few sounds in the background, such as a waterfall, guns being shot and the sound of the group yelling at the soldiers. When a building crashes down, we can hear the rubble falling over, for a split second as if we were the characters running away.
      I think the the best scene for diegetic sound is when an important building or dam is blown up, as the audience can hear the massive explosions from a distance (where the camera is placed) and water bursting through the broken walls, following a crumbling sound. The last clip is where an arrow is shot towards a jet, which explodes and crashes into another jet, ending a scene.

Preliminary Task 1 Evaluation

Preliminary Task 1 Evaluation.

For this task, I had to follow the 180 degree rule, which meant that I had to film everything in a 180 degree space, to make the audience feel welcome and so that they can understand the environment. However, our group managed to forget about it so we ended up filming random clips at different angles. Which wasn't a major problem, but it can be easily fixed now that I know what to do.






The main task was to film a room, with two people talking to each other, the main shots were shot reverse shot, close shot, and over the shoulder shot. however the over the shoulder shot was filmed on separate shoulders, so this meant that the room looked different, as the lighting changes from each clip. although I have been taught now to follow the 180 line rule, and the camera should be filmed from the same angle on these type of shots.






Another problem with the filming was trying to get each word to be identical, but we failed to do so, which led us to relying on quick editing to separate the sentences so that we could make the clips shorter and so that they can make sense. What we should have done is made two different conversations which would have made the editing a lot easier, and that it would make a lot of sense.


The editing process was quite good, we managed to use smooth cutting from clip to clip, so that it looked a bit smoother during the filming, which was a good improvement and just sufficed for our project.
 also, the camera wasn't too steady during the filming, but it wasn't a major fault and can be worked on. the cutting from clip to clip made it look a lot smoother, and the over the shoulder shot made it look a lot smoother as there was little camera shake during that scene.
Also during the introduction, where I enter the room, there are two short clips of the door, a close shot and an extreme close up.

Action Conventions.

Action codes and conventions.

Mise en scene.

Many action movies contain a hero, villain and a damsel in distress. however, the main apparel for a hero to wear is tight revealing clothing such as tank tops and long trousers and boots, carrying weapons which would otherwise weight lots and probably realistically wouldn't be able to carry them for thousands of miles. On the contrary, the protagonist is big, muscular and emotionless, with a love interest at the side, but their main aim is to complete a mission they were given. A good example of this stereotype is the expendables. where a group of ex-military go on a secret mission against a Russian or some other foreign company.


However, villains wear clothing which completely contradicts heroes, they wear a mix between feminine and masculine clothing. This can include pink shirts, suits and odd footwear.


There is also a very reoccurring bunch of characters during action films, these have inferior parts in the film, but they also wear similar clothing to the main villain. This is because they need to distinguish themselves from the 'good guys'. this usually includes loose clothing, (jeans, coat, etc..).

Sound.

Diegetic sound  : In action films, there are many voices, but the main ones are the hero's voice and the villains'. Generally, because the villain is foreign, he will have some sort of accent, either from the middle east or Russia, but both of these easily dictate who is the villain, even if it isn't clearly shown in the film and is implied, the audience can figure it out easily. Also, with the hero, they usually have a deeper voice, and are either silent, or heavy footed. This depends on their role in the movie.


There is also a lot of gun shots, explosions, and car tyre screeches, this easily intensifies the situation to the audience because they would feel immersed, as if they are in the situation itself. Especially in cinemas, the sound is extremely loud and can sometimes become overwhelming, again leading to immersion.
Non diegetic sound : There is rarely ever a narrator in action movies, except during the introductions or ending, which is a good technique to inform the audience. On the other hand, there is a lot of mood music, very intense and exciting. A good example of this is during The Dark Knight, there is a narration, but also music which becomes louder during the narration.


Camera Composition.

In most action films, the establishing shot is generally of a city, but occasionally it can be over a desert but it depends on the theme. For example, in The Dark Knight Rises, the establishing shot is over Gotham City, which is the area where the story is at. During an establishing shot, it pans around the city so that we (the audience) get a full perspective. when the characters are introduced or are speaking, it is generally eye level, and at a close shot, so that we are shown who is talking clearly.

Occasionally, there is a dolly shot, which follows the characters and villains are introduced during these scenes. this usually occurs when there is a shootout down a hallway and can cause quite messy camera work without a tripod or bi-pod. There are many other shots in action films, but there are rarely ever any first person views. However, there are mainly long shots of the surroundings and especially if there is a convoy of vehicles there will be a panning long shot.