Final Task: Costumes

We have decided that the costume for the hit man character will be slightly more casual than the costume for the character who gets killed. We still want to present the hit man as professional, so we will have him wear a suit but without a tie and perhaps the top button of the shirt undone. This will create the sense that the hit man is both professional but casual in his job, emphasising how to him killing someone is just a daily occurrance. An example of this ideas is the characters Tommy and Turkish from the film Snatch.

Final Task: Costumes

We want the costume for the main character in the opening sequence to be a very ordinary representation of a professional individual. We want the audience to be able to relate to this character and believe that what happens in the film could happen to them, which is why we want a very plain costume. For this reason we will use a black suit for the main character's costume.

Final Task: First Meeting

In class we are deciding on the locations and the script for our opening sequence.

Locations:
One of our first ideas for the locations are Canary Warf Tube station in London. This is where the titles will begin.

We have also decided that our other locations will be a small alley near St.Johns College in Oxford and Joel's house, which will be the scene of the shooting.

We also have a first draft of the script (written by Joel Pickard);

“Being a Hitman is a fine art; it appears spontaneous, impulsive, brash. But what you don’t see,  is the meticulous planning, the perfect timing, the outstanding execution.

A Hitmans job is to get away with murder so you’ve got to be bloody good at it or else, well you won’t. Now I can see why most people don’t appreciate the service that I deliver, but you don’t give the post man a hard time for delivering ransom letters or fake cheques.  

I’m just a messenger, with a gun, a middle man if you will. Don’t ask me about my business and I’ll leave yours alone. I’m just there for the hit.”

Final Task Film Pitch

For our final task, we have to create an opening sequence to a film. The first thing we needed to do was create a pitch for the film that we want to create. 

Final Task - Pitch

Main Task: Brief

Film the opening sequence of a new fiction film, including titles and soundtrack to last approximately two minutes.


Key Points:


Opening sequence- We need to show understanding of what makes an opening sequence. To do this we looked at opening sequences from films such as Dinner for Schmucks, The conjuring, Coraline and Catch Me if You Can.

When we are working on our final task, we need to make sure that we don't tell a short story, but that we introduce the characters and setting.


Titles- We will need to include titles to introduce the principal actors and people involved in the film.


Soundtrack-We will need to include a soundtrack, which means we will have to create an original soundtrack using royalty free sounds, and possibly our own sounds as well.


Fiction-This means that out opening sequence can be any genre we like, as long as it is under the fiction category. This will give us pretty much free reign over what we do.

Preliminary Task

Here is the preliminary exercise that we have made in class.
Preliminary Task Brief

Lighting

In class we learned about different types of lighting and how they are used in film. We had to find the definitions for the following lighting terms:

Key Light: The main source of light in a film.

Fill Light: Supplementary light used in filming that does not change the character of the main light and is used to lighten the shadows.

Backlight: Lighting from behind an actor, object or scene.

Ambient/Naturalistic/Artificial/Low Key: Light not supplied by the photographer.

Chiaroscuro: Strong contrasts between light and dark.

Accent Light/ Spot Light: A lamp projecting a narrow beam of light onto a character, object or place.

Doctor Who Camera Shots Analysis

In the scene from Doctor Who, we see examples of many different camera shots and angles. These are all used to show the viewer the status of the character and more often than not relate to gender roles. 

In the scene, there are many low and high angle shots, which are used to show both the Master’s and Martha’s status. The scene starts with the high angle shot on Martha and the low angle shot on the Master, which reflects the fact that the Master had all the power and Martha was his prisoner. This reflects the gender roles of the male character being in control. This is then turned on its head when Martha gets more control, and the shots are reversed. The high and low angle shots are used in combination with the shot/reverse shot, which shows conversation. 

We also see lots of close up and extreme close up shots, which show the emotions of the characters, and changes throughout the scene. We start with the master looking quite smug, and Martha looks like she is in despair. But later on in the scene, the close up and extreme close up shots show us that Martha still has hope. These shots relate to gender roles as it shows the female character being more emotional, while the male character is charge, until the roles are reversed, then we see the gender roles being challenged, as Martha is in control whilst the Master is reduced to begging. 

A dolly shot is used when the Doctor floats towards the Master, and we follow the Master’s movements as he retreats into the corner of the room. This helps the audience feel as though they too are approaching the Master along with the Doctor, and they feel part of the action. 

WW1 Battle Soundtrack

In class we have made a soundtrack to a battle scene for a film set during the First World War. This was after our lesson in which we learned that 70% or all sound is added after filming. We have used free sound clips from soundbible.com.
Our soundtrack contains sounds such as gun shots, shell blasts and a heartbeat to create a sense of tension.
WW1 Battle Soundtrack

Preliminary Exersise: Brief

We are going to do a continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. The task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180 degree rule.


Match on action:
Match on action is where one action is divided into many different shots, which helps to create a sense of continuity in the scene.


Shot/reverse shot:
A shot that lets us see the scene from the character's point of view. See Classwork: Camera Shot/Movement for examples of this.


180 degree rule:
The 180 degree rule insures that when there are 2 characters talking to each other, the position of the camera is such that it does not look like the two people are sitting side-by-side.

Classwork: Film using only still pictures.

We have made a film made up only of still pictures, and the aim was to convey someone delivering bad news to another person. I believe that this film has some interesting shots, and the cuts between the character running and the character waiting create a sense of tension. The full movie can be seen here. Apologies for the blank screen at the beginning.

Classwork: Camera Shot/Movement

We have been looking at camera shots and movement, and how they influence the viewer's interpritation of what is happening in a scene. We looked at clips from the films 'Caino Royale' and 'Superman Returns'. I have also found examples of how the camera shots/movement are used to similar effect in the film 'Submarine', by Richard Ayoade.

Casino Royale:

We looked at the parkour scene at the beginning of the film, the full clip can be seen here:
Casino Royale Parkour Scene

In this clip, the camera follows the chase, to give viewers a sence of being amongst the action. There is an example of a reverse angle shot near the beginning of the clip, that gives us a chance to view whats going on through the character's point of view. This adds to the suspence.

The shot pans round, giving the impression that we are seeing the scene through the character's eyes.

We then follow the chase, and we are shown medium close ups of the characters, to let the audience feel part of the chase, and this also adds to the tension, as it would seem less real if we were watching from a distance.

We are also shown a number of arial shots, which lets us see the whole picture. It is used when the two characters are climbing the scaffolding and on the crane.
In this scene, the close ups and reverse shots are used to let the audience feel part of the action, and are to make sure the scene is as exciting as possible. This is in contrast with the scene from Superman Returns.

Superman Returns:

We looked at the 'In love with superman' scene. The full clip can be seen here:
In Love With Superman CLIP

In this clip, we are shown many close ups of the two characters as they talk, and the reverse shots create the feel that this is a flowing conversation. When the conversation gets serious, we get an even closer shot, showing only the actor's head and shoulders. The character asking the questions remains in a medium close up, which gives the impression that this is an interigative conversation, and that the character in the close up is under pressure.

Submarine:
In the scene under the pier, the close ups and reverse shots are used to show the same idea; that the characters are having a serious and flowing conversation. However, in this scene, the camera looks straight at the character Oliver Tate, breaking the fourth wall,  instead of of the slightly side on view we get in Superman Returns. This is because the film is meant to be a representation of a film that Oliver has made up in his imagination of his life. This is typical of the unusual style that Richard Ayode uses in this film.