Shot List - Part 1

After planning out what our film is going to be about we started a shot list which derived from the first draft we did to get used to what were going to shoot. The shots in chronological order:

1. Point of View - Main character being dragged onto a chair. We used a coat to mask the camera and make it look like we had put a bag over the characters head.

2. Point of View - Using the black background created by the coat we will slide a new shot into here, it is a point of view of the character slowly looking up at one of the henchmen.

3. Mid Shot - A mid shot being used whilst one of the henchmen walks towards the main character.

4. Mid Shot - Another mid shot from a different angle showing one of the henchmen walking towards the main character.

5. Mid Shot/Two Shot - A mid shot of the henchmen reaching the main character and and over to the other henchmen. He proceeds to punch the main character.

6. Point of View - The punch hitting the main character with a point of view shot to show the effect and movement.

7. Long Shot (Moving Forwards) - The camera will move through the henchmen now showing a new character (the antagonist) slowly walking up some stairs. So essentially starts as a mid-shot and moves to a long shot.

8. Mid to Long shot - A cut back to the main character just to give it a more full effect and not to bore the viewer with the long walk the antagonist does while proceeding towards the main character.

9. Over the Shoulder - An over the shoulder shot of the antagonist which turns into a mid-long shot as he will move away and stand in front of the main character.

10. Mid Shot - A mid shot of the antagonist taking out a weapon.

11. Close Up - Close up shot of the weapon so the viewers can see it clearly and acknowledge it's a weapon.

12. Mid Shot - Another mid shot of the antagonist hitting the main character.

13. Point of View - Just like before we use a point of view shot to show the character being hit with a gun to the face, from his own eyes, also makes it look more realistic.

14. Two Shot/Panning - A two shot of the antagonist getting ready to shoot the main character, we will have the camera following the guns movements.

15. Close Up - Close up shot of the main character about to get shot, we need this shot to show his facial expressions reflecting fear.

Storyboards

Above are images of our storyboard which we created before our initial draft, after having created a written shot list and self drawn storyboard we decided to make a digital copy of the storyboards. The storyboards show the rough idea we came up with as a group before our first shoot. Whilst all of us had contributed to the decisions made within the piece we assigned the storyboard drawing to Rene. Having assigned a lead artist was a great advantage as it both relieved others in the group to work on other parts of the project as well as having presented to us professional artistic pieces to look at when filming our actual piece.

Pulp Fiction

This is another film we researched, we wanted the audience to be intrigued by why the main character is being horrifically subjected to torture and so we kept the suspense going for most of the clip. We then planned to shoot another scene which is set 12 hour prior to the main event with the main character finding a bag or briefcase, this will leave the audience wanting to find out what is actually in the briefcase that will set the movie in motion and subject the main character to such beatings. This idea was taken from Pulp Fiction because of the mystery surrounding the briefcase in the film. Unfortunately this is the only clip we could find from the 'Pulp Fiction' briefcase scene, please excuse the mere idiocy displayed near the ending of the video with the toy inside the briefcase.

Costume - Part 2

Mask

 

Hat

In regards to the first draft of our piece we had no hats, one group member then suggested the use of hats to break the scene down from the simplistic thriller it was becoming into in order to reflect the idea of our piece being a 'gangster' thriller and therefore in the final decision to the costume section we decided we needed to use hats, keeping a gangster element present within our piece. Without the hats the gangster stereotype would be incomplete leaving the negative characters to turn our piece into a horror due to the other props involved such as the masks. We all agreed on this use of costume and carried it on to the shooting. Above is an image of the masks we used as well as the hats which we later decided to use.

First Draft - Part 1

This draft was just a rough idea of what we wanted to do, we wanted to get to grips with our piece and just pre-film some of the stages that we were certain we wanted present in our main piece to see the outcome of how each individually selected shot worked in order to give us an insight on how our actual piece would look like. Furthermore this helped vastly when analysing which shots we were certain we wanted to keep and which we would discard when it comes to filming our actual piece. Thankfully the sinister look we attempted to uphold worked out favourably for us.

Equipment - Tripod

Naturally we used a tripod for our filming when not using the crane nor Rene's steady handheld ability, this tripod helped us holding the camera in fixed positions and allowed the shots to look more professional. It also made sure that we could achieve some of the pans and movements that we would find more challenging if using the crane or handheld, and make them become more fluid altogether helping the film to become more satisfactory as a whole to the viewer.

Equipment - Shoulder Crane

We knew from our planning that we would utilize the point of view shot as much as possible to allow the viewer to feel as though they were in the film. We also needed it for certain shots of violence so that we could make things such as punching look more realistic and professional. We then got hold of the shoulder crane, the crane itself worked by having the camera attached in a fixed angle directed to the front. By having the shoulder crane we were able to make swift movements seem more realistic whilst at the same time less shaky which was exactly what we wanted. This shoulder crane proved to be very useful.

Equipment - Camera

We will use this camera to take stills for specific parts of the blog such as the costume whilst we already used it to take stills of the locations that we scouted for to film. It is a very good high quality camera and belongs to the school, therefore although we are allowed to use it to help us with our media work we are not allowed to take it off site without permission and in some cases supervision. Using still images will help us to plan and explain more proficiently and get certain aspects of our blog completed to better a degree.

Equipment - Camera Recorder

Above is the image of the Exemode DV580HD camcorder which we will be using when filming all of our raw material. This high definition camera is currently available to us through our schools equipment and funding. We hope we'll also able to record, upload content to the computer to later edit and so forth with ease. This hassle free camcorder made everything a whole load simpler when constructing our preliminary piece, hopefully it will be just as effective when filming our main project.

Battle Royale

In regards to the sound and as a group wanting classical music for our piece we looked at various films including this film which also utilized classical music to its violent themes. Although on the other hand, this trailer was more direct and didn't tend to use the music in an ironic sense but all the same it had very well crafted scenes with classical music backing it up to a point of visual perfection. Being a fan of the film in general i personally liked how little disregard it had to human life and wanted that to reflect upon our film with the dehumanization of certain characters as well as the swift nonchalant view on human life.

Planning The Draft

Today we decided to film a rough draft of what we want our actual piece to look like to contemplate the shots we had in mind and used to make decisive decisions as to which we should keep and use in the final edit. Due to how amazingly pleasent some of the shots in this rough draft turned out we may use one or two of the shots from this draft for the final piece when in the editing process although unfortunately most of it will have to be replaced and re-filmed and therefore a heavy amount of filming is due for this upcoming week. Later on next week we will be uploading this draft as well as analysing what we have so far including a shot list and how these shots work for our piece.

Costume - Part 1

Due to our plan to film a gangster-thriller genre film we really wanted that classical aspect to the costume and because of the lack of dialogue and sound we wanted the audience to be able to notice the difference between the mobsters and their boss hence why we plan to put the henchmen in shirts and ties in comparison to the boss whom will be well and fully suited in something along the lines of the image above.

A Clockwork Orange

In regards to searching for music we decided that orchestrated music for our piece would add the effect of irony in response to the violence as demonstrated in the clip above from the film 'A clockwork Orange'. As a group we agreed that we equally enjoyed the effect it had on the violence within the clip and the sort of ironic and weird style of the scene, the music creates this atmosphere and without it the scene would just look like a simple brawl.

Organising Dates

Today we may start filming providing everyone is available which still needs to be sorted out fully. We will create a timetable to make sure we can organise what dates we can film and the times. We also need to take into account when we can actually film since some of our locations may have background noises due to the other pupils within the school. If we aren't able to film today we will plan our piece further and may even just film a rough draft which will be deleted later, this will be done just so we can organise which shots would look good at certain intervals and how many shots we can fit. We can then film it properly with full costume and in more preferable conditions at a later date.

Carlito's way

As an idea for our media piece we studied the opening scene of 'Carlito's Way' thoroughly and we liked the slow opening with the classical music to the extent where we wanted to produce a piece similar to this opening scene of the movie. One aspect we very much liked was how the ending of the film was the opening scene, so we put together an idea of a gangster/crime thriller themed film and then set out to develop the storyboards before going to our chosen site to begin the filming process. Linked above is the opening clip from 'Carlito's Way' which greatly inspired our piece.

RocknRolla

We also looked at this film, it carried the gangster element we wanted but with the british aspects such as the cockney accents and the dialogue they used. We liked this opening scene quite a bit, if we later decide to add dialogue to our piece its going to be in that of a comical British accent. Furthermore we very much liked how the film title was a still image from the film and we would like to incorporate this style either in the film title itself or for the opening credits.

Goodfella's

When looking through films which could influence us this opening scene came up as one of the films which caught our attention, this was due to our initial idea to make a gangster themed thriller. We wanted to primarily add dialogue and a slightly comedic aspect but with a british twist. We then established that we needed good actors for this to work otherwise the effect would look weak and not very professional. Despite avoiding dialogue and comedy as a whole what we want to take from this opening scene are the costume ideas as we all liked the classic feel.

Timetable

We created a time-table for our filming, editing and blogging sessions. The time table is as followed:

Monday: (9:15am - 10:55am)
BLOGGING
We all have a free first period and period 2 is a media session dedicated to blogging the morning of school, excellent for blogging.

Tuesday: (9:15am - 1:30pm)
FILMING
This is a good day for filming as the actors have free periods on this date at around roughly the same time as us.

Wednesday: (11:00am - 4:00pm)
FILMING + EDITING
This is also a flexible day for the majority of us, it means we can re-shoot any problems within our piece as well as also being able to edit most of the day.

Thursday: (1:40pm - 3:10pm)
EDITING + BLOGGING
Most of the people in our group have free periods 5 and 6 during the end of our lunch break until the end of our day meaning this is invaluable time which we will use to either edit or/and blog.

Friday: (3:10pm - 5:00pm)
EDITING + BLOGGING
This is the only day of the week where the majority of the group have a full day of lessons although some of us plan to stay after school until around 5pm the latest (which is the time at which the school closes) to catch up on any blogging or/and editing.

Scouting the Location

We previously scouted the school in order to decisively choose which locations we are going to use while shooting our media piece. We also took still images to help us better comprehend how were going to shoot the film and better decide what shots were going to use. We will be fully shooting the main piece very soon and make the most of the time we have.