Movie Horror

My film opening has gone from bad to worse, as the audio from my videos has been deleted so i cannot edit the sound

Evaluation Question 6

"What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this media product?"

Firstly, I learnt how to use a camera. I have had little to none experience in the field of video cameras, so this has been a completely new experience for me. 

Fortunately for me, getting to grips with a camera is more straight forward as all the necessary parts are clearly labelled and 'fool proof' to a first time user like me. However, it is the actual process of putting the camera to use properly, to get worthwhile footage out of it, that is the hardest part.

Also, I got first time experiences of coming to grips with the camera 'accessories' such as dollies, and tripods, as part of a scene filming set up, this was interesting as you realise how much you rely on them for ease of camera use once you've experienced a practice film with them.

During the process of creating my film opening, I came up against Adobe After Effects. I was completely thrown in at the deep end with this program, being someone who has spent their life sheltered by the internet and Microsoft Word, so I therefore had no clue programs like this properly existed for ordinary computers. However, we had a workshop in which the class was taught the ins and outs of the software and set our own task of recreating Saul Bass' 'The Man With The Golden Arm'.

This is an example of what I came up with...

Progressing on from getting to grips with the software ended up with the production of my Company Ident for my film.

From After Effects, we moved on to Adobe Premier Pro. Premier Pro was the main software program that was used in the construction of the film opening product, and yet again, it was one that I had no past experience in using. Premier Pro contains every part of the editing process that you need. I learnt to crop the videos, add in and remove sound, and match clips together to create my final piece.

Evaluation Question 1

"In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge conventions of conventional films?"

Conventions are used a lot in films. They are the used in the way the character looks, the narrative, the setting, the genre conventions. Conventions often stick to the stereotypes of film but these stereotypes are the sort of things we would expect to see, but not what we want to see. For example, men being the main characters of action films, rather than women.

The genre my film fits in to is Action. Here are some conventions you would find for Action:

• Fast, expensive cars
• Expensive technology/equipment
• 'Goodies' and 'Baddies'
• Mass destruction
• Fighting
• Explosions and crashes
• Cat and mouse chases
• Big city - modern
• Weapons - knives, guns

My film opening uses the conventions of the action genre to attract the mainstream target audience. The camera work was edited in premier pro to recreate the quick cutting of the scenes to display the fast movement that the intense fight scenes of action move at. My media production follows with the action genre by using a setting of an abandoned gravel building, in which the car stunts can be executed without fail due to the reduced grip surface. I also use a wooded are for the scene where my character is being chased, this is so that there appears to be an urgency to get away and stay hidden through the dense surroundings. 

Developing conventions are a lot more difficult. It is a process that involves adapting an already existing convention, and pushing its boundaries, which requires a new way of thinking, as you will need to come up with an idea that is less usual, but still conventional to the genre. My production uses the conventional settings of an action movie, however adapts it to a daytime opening, whereas most productions will have the scene shot at night, where the mood is more eary and allowing the darkness to suppress the spreading of the chaos. If it's shot in broad daylight, it leaves you to half expect the continuation of the chaos bursting into the scene that follows.I have to be honest in that, I don't feel my production develops any further conventions, other than that already stated.

On the other hand, my production challenges the conventions expected of it. Most action genre films are based around some sort of male lead, being handsome, a bachelor or family man, who is devoted to his job. Immediately, we see that the first challenge to conventions is that my lead is, in fact, a female. Rather than the conventions of a woman being portrayed as the 'damsel in distress' or the 'seductress', my production shows the female in a new light. One that involves a past paced life style, filled with danger and daylight shoot outs. According to a 'conventional film', it should typically start at the beginning, then include the middle, and finish with an ending conclusion. Another way that my production challenges the conventions is that it jumps both feet first, straight in to the expected genre, dragging the audience with it. This is a useful way of challenging the conventions, as it automatically hooks the viewer in, they may be flicking through channels and decide to give the film a chance, and so if it goes straight in to what they are wanting, they aren't likely to get bored before the film gets a chance. However, there is a possibility that the film may 'give up the goods' too soon, leaving the viewers with not enough to expect to keep them hooked. So being sure to balance the dosage of the genre that is revealed so soon in, is a key part to master.

Genre in Film

In media, we have been looking in to the varying genres of film and their effect on the audience viewing. Genre is important as it not only guides the film producers, but also the audience through the pre conceived idea of what the film will hold. For example, if the film is labelled 'Psychological Thriller' the audience will expect that the film will be trying to evoke the deep thought in them.
The Genre that I have selected for my film is 'Action'. I chose this genre because i have experienced viewing action movies and have an idea in my mind of where i could go with this genre. Although action is my selected genre, my opening sequence may delve into varying genres in an attempt to capture other viewers, however, i know the risks of dabbling with more than one genre, as it may chase off viewers who are specific to one genre.

To further my knowledge I have looked in to some films which match to my genre.
The first is:

TOTAL RECALL

When factory worker, Douglas Quaid, begins to suspect that he is a spy after visiting a Recall centre - a company that provides its clients with implanted fake memories of a life they would like to have led - he finds himself on the run, and must fight his way to the end, whilst trying to piece together what is dream and what is reality. New to the world of fast pace fighting and avoiding death at all cost, Len Wisemans's remake of Paul Verhoeven's classic 1990 film, opens eyes to modern advancements in technology for the action genre in cinema.

THE MATRIX

When Thomas 'Neo' Anderson meets Morpheus, a near mythical rebel leader, the revealations rip the theoretical rug of reality out from beneath him. What if the reality we think we live in was in fact a synthetical virtual reality, and whilst you believed you were living in the year 1999, it was actually a lot closer to 2199 and the world is run by machines that have unlocked the secret to Artificial Intelligence.
We are never aware of it, but we are born into pods, in which we spend the rest of our lives living a simulated, computer generated, hugely complex life in order to keep our brains pulsing, so that we may be tapped as batteries for the electro-magnetic power that the machines live off.
However, Morpheus and his team have escaped, and exist outside the Matrix, hacking back in to effect high-risk rescues and they've rescued Neo, because they believe that he has the potential to take the fight back to the machines. The potential to win. And the potential to free us all.
The action in this film is amazing, with the main cast training for four months, prior to shooting, in martial arts in order to sell the full potential of this film. The Wachowski siblings bring us a film that opens eyes to the world of psychological fear of reality.

KILL BILL VOL. 1

The lead character, called 'The Bride,' was a member of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, lead by her lover 'Bill.' Upon realizing she was pregnant with Bill's child, 'The Bride' decided to escape her life as a killer. She fled to Texas, met a young man, and on the day of their wedding rehearsal was gunned down by an angry and jealous Bill (with the assistance of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad). Four years later, 'The Bride' wakes from a coma, and discovers her baby is gone. She, then, decides to seek revenge upon the five people who destroyed her life and killed her baby. The saga of Kill Bill Volume I begins.

Teletubbies Re-Created

(The original)

 



We used Adobe After Effects to edit the opening of the Teletubbies. I used a shape layer to shape and blur for the background rays of the sun, then used a face of a baby that i found on the internet, and cropped using the pen tool, for the middle of the sun, just like in the original opening for the Teletubbies.

 

This is my re-creation of the Teletubbies

Preliminary Task

The Man With The Golden Arm

We attended a work shop session that was all together 5 hours long, in which we learnt editing and animation techniques on Adobe After Effects. In one of these sessions, i did a composition of the transformation of an arm, breaking and contorting into a scorpion type creature.

We used Saul Bass' title sequence 'The Man With The Golden Arm', and did our own version of the editing in class in which we animated a shape-layer, changing shape. So my shape went from a regular arm to a crooked scorpion creature.

Company Ident Final

I re edited my company ident so that everything fades out at the end for a better merge in to my film opening.

Pitch

We had to film a pitch for the planning idea of our films in order to establish what is needed in order to achieve our final finishing project.

Film Opening Script - "CityRunners"

Girl in all dark clothing - emerges from the trees

EXT - Dreary, old, abandoned forest. Mid evening. Dogs are barking in the distance.

Girl in all dark clothing, crouched down behind a tree - her phone vibrates in her pocket.

Takes her phone out and 'AGENT A' appears to flash up on the screen.
She answers.

(Everything goes silent as she barks the instructions down the phone.)

Girl:

Get the car ready. I'm at the old site...They're closing in on me.

The dogs' barking and howling intensifies as gun fire begins in the enclosing vicinity.

The girl jumps up and begins to run, pushing her phone carelessly into her back pocket.

As she runs her phone falls out of her back pocket and hits the ground. Not noticing, she continues to run off through the trees, careful to avoid the fallen branches.

EXT - Abandoned building site. No one is around. Mid evening, same day, moments later.

A car comes speeding into the shot, does a 180 degree skid turn on the gravel, and stops parked in place.

Meanwhile, the girl comes running from the trees into shot, and towards the car.

She reaches out and grabs the car door handle, jumps into the car.

The car spins the wheels and racing away out of sight.

Character Vs Characterisation

In character building, there are two aspects that are vital to creating deeper layers to characters in your film.

Firstly, there is Characterisation. Characterisation is the way a character behaves externally to the audience.
e.g
- Speech
- Clothes
- Small traits     

Secondly, there is Character. Character is the distinctive nature of something/someone.
It is synonymous to things such as:
- Personality
- Disposition

An individuals character is made up of the distinctive mental and moral qualities that they possess. It is an internal behaviour. In Robert Mckee's novel 'Story' it says that "If we're introduced to a 'loving husband,' and by the end of the tale he's still what he first appeared to be, a loving husband with no secret, no unfulfilled dreams, no hidden passions, we'll be very disappointed."

Throughout a story, the audience want to see/read that the character is being tested; pushed to the very limit, the very edge of a theoretical cliff, just to see if they would jump. As humans, we, in a way, need to know what makes one another tick, we see someone seemingly perfect, perfect family, perfect job, perfect life. We feel as though it is our job to know what it takes for that 'mask' to come off, even a flicker momentarily..this is why an audience simply will not be satisfied in watching a character that does not progress, and simply does not reflect at all during the journey of the film.

Company Ident

We were given the task to create our own company ident for our film sequence production. I made my ident using Adobe After Effect