This is a servey that I did at the beginning of the project, I passed it around both adults and teenagers to get a mixed response as to what film they would like, as you can see Horror got the most votes which is what we had decided to do anyway. Action did come close however, so we were thinking of including that into the film also.

This was good feedback since we were dithering and had basic ideas for a horror movie aswell as other films so it was a confirmation that we were going in the right track.

Film Distributer

http://www.bountyet.com.au/

Bounty Films could be a possible distributer for our film. They distribute small films, for cheap prices and normally specify in the Horror/Thriller genre. The production has also produced some succesful films, such as 'The Human Centipede' which became a viral hit around the world.
This would be perfect for our film since we are planning to do a zombie film and they have produced a lot of films that genre, they also advertise their films well and give them good reviews.

Storyboard Video

After finishing the images drawn on Paint Tool SAI, I imported the images into Adobe Premier Pro -which should be the programme that we use to edit our own film opening - and added them together in sequence, this should show more succesfully what we plan to do.

Unfortunatly the programme has cropped some of the clips.



Movie and Production names

This lesson we decided as a group what would be our film name and the name of the production company. We had thought of a few names previously but decided against them, finally today we settled on 'State Of Emergency' as our film name and 'Dead Cell' as our Production Company name.
I think that both of these fit well with our film and hopefully what it will be about.

Starting to create video storyboard

Started to work on a more detailed storyboard by drawing using Paint Tool Sai and my Bamboo Tablet, then I will put it all together on Windows Movie Maker since that is the programme I have at home to make a video. This will show what we plan to film, and will work as a guideline for us when we get down to filming.

Story Board

I designed the storyboard for the film using the plan/timeline that we created last lesson, these are just rough drawings but hopefully this is what it will look like somewhat.

Hopefully from this I can create a storyboard video to upload.

Recce shots

Went out this morning and took some more possible location shots, although I don't think they will be as good as the previous one because the wooded area isn't as big, and since what we had in mind had a lot of walking it wouldn't be that suitable. It could come in handy if we needed somewhere extra though, as it isn't far to get to.

Plan/Timeline for filming

Since we had decided as a group, from both our own ideas and from that of the feedback to do a zombie film, we dicided to make a plan for how we would start the opening. Since a lot of zombie films begin the outbreak through the spread of a ficticious virus, we were thinking along the same lines. The main sections of filming will be done as if the main character is shooting a video diary, where he will be explaining into the camera that he had invented a cure for the virus that had spread but it had not worked, and he would hope that someone would find the video diary if he was killed. These sections will be a mixture of handheld filming and shooting the character filming himself from afar. The other sections of the opening will be 'flashbacks' thats will cut in every so often and give further explanation to the events that led to the zombie outbreak (during these we can also name directors, actors and other people included in the movie). At the end a title frame will appear with the words "6 months later" leaving what would be the rest of the film to continue.
I think by doing it this way we can get a range of different camera shots and there will be a huge variation of lighting and angles, since there will be many completely different scenes mixed in.

Location research

James went out at the weekend to search for possible locations as to where we could film our film opening as I suggested we could use a forrest-like area. This place is close by, so we could get there easily and fits the desired setting.

This week I will also go out and look for places to film in other locations so we have a wide choice.

By going out and taking recce shots we can see the advatages and disadvantages of all the possible locations and find out which one will be best for us. This place is good because we were thinking somewhere that would have lots of trees/foliage so that the lighting would look interesting, there would be both shadows and natural light. The trees can also conceal other actors until they are needed.

Distributers and other information.

Distributed by: Screen Gems 

Distributed by: Millenium Films

Distributed by: 20th Century Fox

Fox Searchlight Pictures

Information on three popular zombie films which could help us when considering our own film.

This includes the distributers, budget and box office results.

Images from the presentation.

Whilst presenting our idea breif, we took photo's to use as evidence. Here are the images of us telling the group our ideas from which we received feedback.
The powerpoint was englarded onto the board for everyone to see, whilst me and James expanded on the initial ideas we had.

Feedback from powerpoint presentation breif

This afternoon we presented our ideas for our film opening to the class, we told them our main idea, which would be to create a horror/zombie film. The feedback we got agreed with our own ideas that we had about the advantages and disadvantages, this is what was concluded:

Advantages

• A wide range of storylines, allows us to be creative,
• You can use a wide variety of locations to shoot the opening
• The film would be open for a wide audience

Disadvantages

• Makeup: Characters would need to look like zombies, it would have to be realistic and it would be difficult keeping the makeup looking consistant throughout the filming.

This is what we had already discussed prior to the presentation so it backed up our initial ideas. The group thought that the locations around peterborough would be useful for the type of film we wanted to do (e.g, lots of small woodland areas, rural areas, buildings - all these acceptable for a horror film) since the genre has a wide use of locations.
The group generally agreed with our idea, saying that they were interested in horror movies which seems to be a popular movie choice.
Although there was a worry about makeup, I am positive that this will not be a major problem and makeup allows us to be creative and overall not much is needed.
From the feedback we have settled on the plotline that a virus has spread, causing the victims to become zombies, and the main character will be the one with the cure. We shall use a mixture of handheld filming, where the character will appear to be creating a video diary of the events (this can show POV shots and a range of establishing shots and close ups of the character) and we can also film the character filming himself/the zombies as they chase him.

Overall the conclusion was that the rest of the class agreed with out idea, and the feedback was positive, which is good for us as we do not have to rethink our idea or change the storyline.

We are creating a powerpoint that we will eventually present to the class breifing our idea for our film opening, from this we will receive feedback from other people and be able to receive other responses to the film other than our own. From this we can incorperate other peoples views and ideas into the film opening as we create it and this will hopefully help us with the final outcome.

Timeline for film opening to 'Edward Scissorhands'

From the clip that I had posted in the previous blog entry, I have created a timeline to the film opening 'Edward Scissorhands', it details the main people of importance that appear in the opening titles. By analysing other film openings it will alow us to plan the timing of how certain events and titles appear in our own film opening.

Edward Scissorhands title opening art and opening credits

Here are 9 still frames from the opening of the film Edward Scissorhands.

And this is the actual intro as a video which I have taken from Youtube.

Top Ten Most Seen Horror Movies At The Cinema

Using the Box Office UK Website I have taken a print screen of the 10 most watched Horror movie films at the cinema, this will give us an idea of what things we could incude into our own film intro by taking similar ideas from other horror movies and interprertating our own. The audience we are aiming for will be more likely to enjoy the film opening then.

BBFC

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), is a non-governmental organisation, funded by the film industry and responsible for the national classification of films within the United Kingdom. It is an independent, non-governmental body which has classified cinema films since it was set up in 1912 and videos/ DVDs since the Video Recordings Act was passed in 1984.
The BBFC rates theatrically released films, and rated videos and video games.

U - should be suitable for audiences aged four years and over. ‘U’ films should be set within a positive moral framework and should offer reassuring counterbalances to any violence, threat or horror.

PG - General viewing, but some scenes may be unsuitable for young children. Unaccompanied children of any age may watch. A ‘PG’ film should not disturb a child aged around eight or older. However, parents are advised to consider whether the content may upset younger or more sensitive children.

12/12A -  the material is suitable, in general, only for those aged 12 and over. Works classified at these categories may upset children under 12 or contain material which many parents will find unsuitable for them.
No-one under the age of twelve may be permitted to see a twelve rated film at the cinema, unless the parents or guardian thinks the film is suitable for their child and accompanies them.

15 - No-one younger than 15 may see a ‘15’ film in a cinema. No-one younger than 15 may rent or buy a ‘15’ rated video work.

18 - No-one younger than 18 may see an ‘18’ film in a cinema. No-one younger than 18 may rent or buy an ‘18’ rated video work.

R18 - The ‘R18’ category is a special and legally restricted classification primarily for explicit works of consenting sex or strong fetish material involving adults. Films may only be shown to adults in specially licensed cinemas, and video works may be supplied to adults only in licensed sex shops. ‘R18’ videos may not be supplied by mail order.

This information was taken from the official BBFC website

I have made a mood board of horror related images since we were thinking of a horror theme, as you can see the colours are all quite dark, as is expected of the genre. There are lots of blacks, dark blues, reds and dark greens, which we will need to consider when thinking about lighting, costume and setting.

I have been looking at examples of other AS Media projects that were openings to a film, to see what previous students had done for their introduction. This film I watched is good for the type of film opening we could possibly do, because it has elements of a horror/thriller and talking as a group we think that horror's allow you to be quite creative and they are also popular with a large audience.

The Nightmare Before Christmas Opening

This is the opening to the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas, I think this is a good opening since straight away you have a narrator giving you an insight to the film without really telling you much about it, which gets you interested and then it goes straight into the opening titles. The titles do not lose the viewers attention because as soon as it starts there is a song which is obviously designed to be quite catchy, and it tells you lots about what the film will be like aswell as introducing almost all of the characters individually.

This is a stop motion film, which is where you make objects appear as if they are physically moving through individually photographed frames. I think the film actually attracts more interest by using this technique since it is different from real life actors and filming.

Juno film opening.

This is the opening to the film Juno, I think this is a good opening because it suits the aimed audience of the film, which would be teenagers and young adults because the scenery is drawn rather than real, and art is a huge part of young culture for this generation. Also the music, although thought by some people to be quite old fashioned suits the atmosphere and is a song that would probably appeal to teenagers and young adults, especially since music is hugely popular wth those generations.
From this into we instantly see the type of scenes where the film will be set and the main focus is on the main character, Juno McGuff.
I think that if the opening didn't have the scene beforehand, and just went straight into the opening titles then it would not attract as many viewers, as they could possibly get bored since it is just the character walking.

The technical codes of the opening are the lighting, which is quite bright and generally 'happy' which gives off the impression that the film is going to be a positive one that people will enjoy. It is mainly medium shots to get in part of the main character, Juno (who we know will be the main character now, thanks to the opening) and the background.
Symbolic codes are that the colours are bright and friendly, again giving off the impression that the film is going to be a generally happy one and that the main character is perahaps quite easy going. Clothing on the main character is very casual, showing this is not a formal film and appeals to the aimed audience. Body language is very relaxed, yet again showing the easy going nature of the character and how the film is going to be a happy, positive one rather than giving the impression it is going to be a horror or an action film.

Codes and Conventions

Codes are generally signs that have a meaning to convey. Codes can be divided generally into two categories which are technical and symbolic:

•  Technical codes are for example, the camera work used to make the film. The features and equipment that are used to tell the story, but this could be from anything from a film to a piece of media text. Technical codes could include camera techniques, framing, depth of field, lighting and exposure.

• Symbolic codes are the things which tell us the meaning behind what we are looking at, the "secret messages". This could be as simple as the characters actions or expressions that show what the character is thinking or feeling. Symbolic codes can be the setting, objects, clothing and colour.

Conventions are the generally accepted ways of doing something, and in the case of media texts, they are the accepted patterns of code that communicate a certain message. When looking at conventions in the genre of the film we can see that the conventions in each type of film are quite specific, for example in Romantic films, there would be a lot of close ups to show the expressions of the characters and the sounds included could be melodic music, or laughter of the couple. Both of these things are conventions.
 
Codes and Conventions are vital in the opening of a film, because the opening of the film is the part that draws the audience in, and interests them in the movie. This is also the part where you find out about certain main characters and you begin to discover the plot of the movie, if the movie does not grasp the audience's interest within the opening then the film would have been a waste of time. Codes and Conventions will help with this because they will help the audience to understand the plotline and what type of characters they will be.

These area few codes and conventions explained for a magazine cover.

Continuity

A continuity exercise, which is what we shall be producing, is where different shots that are filmed, are put together smoothly so that the different clips do not look odd, and so that the storyline of the film still makes sense. It takes the story forwards, without having to shoot hours and hours of film to show what is happening; this would take far too long to watch, and is not practical.
The different clips could be from different angles, and even different scenes, but aslong as they are edited together to make sense, then this is known as continuity.
Directors would have to look out for mistakes though, for example if a person was shown eating a sandwhich in one scene, and in the next something different, then the clips would not look right added together.

This video explains the reason why video's and films need continuity, and why things are a problem without them.

180 Degree Rule

The 180 degree rule is a filming guidline where two characters who are shown in the same scene should always have a left/right relationship to eachother. An Imaginary line is created when shooting, and the two characters can only be filmed on one side of the line; if the camera was to film from the other side of the line then it would not look right because they would be facing the opposite direction to the clip beforehand, and would confuse the viewer.

Shot/Reverse Shot

Shot/Reverse shot is normally used when two people are engaging in conversation. The camera would film the first person talking, and then the second. They are however, filmed facing opposite directions; this gives the impression to the viewer that the two people are talking to and looking at eachother rather than at someone else.
The camera is sometimes shot from over the persons shoulder, further showing that the two people are talking to one another.

Match On Action

Since we are creating a continuity excercise, one of the features which we crucially have to use with be 'Match On Action', this is basically where the character being filmed doing something, this could be anything from cooking a meal, catching a train or playing a game, is filmed from various angles, or the camera is focusing on various parts of whatever they are doing. These are normally only a couple of different shots, which are then edited together smoothly so that they still easily show the storyline.
Even if the clips are filmed at different times of the day, they can still be added together (match on action/cutting on action) to give the impression everything was happening at the same time.

This video clearly shows an example of  'Match on action' to explain further.

First Post

Hey, I'm Lauren.

I'm 16 and currently attenting Post 16, taking Art, Media Studies, Psychology and English Language.
Although my main career choice should hopefully be somewhat related to Art, I have always been insterested in Media and actually a huge hobby of mine is Photography and casually filming things that happen in my life. I have a love for films, and actually was hugely inspired to take Media Studies by my favourite movie director, Tim Burton.
I also hope that the subject will be fun and fairly interesting and so-far have enjoyed it.

This blog will be for my AS Media Studies progect at Ken Stimpson Community School, where I will record everything that happens during the course.
For this project we will be creating a short film/video and I will post every now-and-then about how it is coming along and what me and my team have been doing.
Let's see how this goes!