Preliminary Task- Filming

Today we filmed for the preliminary task, in this task we were told to focus on and demonstrate Match on Action and the 180 Degree Rule. This was a relatively straightforward task however, we wanted to challenge ourselves and do something a little bit different. We came up with the idea of having different scenarios where we could have a bit of fun and make it entertaining to watch. We thought it would make a change to the norm where someone walks through a door and has a ten second conversation with someone.
We first thought of a scenario where two people would have an awkward conversation, with us looking at developing convincing facial expressions in relation to someone who has actually been in that situation. We thought that this would help to develop our characters for the real thing.
The second scenario involved a disruptive student and a librarian who was getting extremely agitated by his immature conduct.
The third and final scenario was based around speed dating, between a male (Tom) and a female (Me). It involved another awkward exchange in eye contact between two characters using the 180 degree rule. 

We will start to edit the raw footage when we get back after Christmas.

Questionnaire Results

Below are the results to the questionnaire.

 

The purpose of the questionnaire was to find out what people thought of our ideas with our film and if our film sounds good on paper.

 

The questionnaire was put up on the 2/12/15 and was emailed out to the other students in our media class to complete.

Below is a hyperlink to the survey so you can have a look at it and complete it yourself.

 

The survey

 

Progress Report

Tom put together a report stating our original ideas for our production.

After doing the initial research, I have come up with a few ideas for the plot, camerawork and editing of my production. The ideas that I have got have all been thought of with our textual analysis' in thought, as they helped us come up with these ideas.

Our initial idea for the plot of our production is something that would work with an action/horror hybrid as the genre, so we are aiming to produce a horror film opening, but with some aspects of action in there. The plot idea we have is to start off with the protagonist tied to a chair, which is in a dark room, with only a light on him. We wanted the light to either be a spotlight or light from a television screen, as part of the opening is the protagonist being forced to watch a news report that talks about the murderer, which would give the audience an insight to the back story of the film. The protagonist is then going to manage to slowly move backwards to a counter in the corner of the room, with various torture instruments on it. The protagonist will then pick up a knife and cut slowly cut himself free and escape from the antagonist.

When we make the production, we will need things like knives, scissors and other sharp objects that would make the counter look like it has a realistic torture set on it. As this would be a health and safety risk, we would make sure we handle everything with care, and that we make sure that we do not include them in any other shots then one that looks at the table, all other shots will be done with some sort of model that looks like a knife or scissors. Other props we will need is an old wooden chair and an old TV. We want these props to make the room look older and less clean. The TV that we use should also be old so it doesn't look like the antagonist would have the newest technology in a torture room. We would also use fake blood around the place too so that the torture room looks like it has been used before the protagonist. Another shot we would like to do is a shot of the antagonist pouring gasoline into the room, to burn the protagonist to death. The way we are going to do this is with a gasoline can, but instead of gasoline, we will pour water, with a little bit of apple juice in it to give it a slightly yellow hint, like gasoline.

Some of the shots we want to do will be easy to pull off with the sort of technology we have access to. We will mostly keep the camera fixed to one point, but it can pan and tilt for different shots. Our establishing shot will be a shot along the floor, looking at the protagonist in the chair, looking lifeless, as the camera slowly moves into the room. We can also use a GoPro to get any POV shots if we would want any. POV shots are good to use as they show what the character can see. We also want to do an over the shoulder shot of the protagonist looking at the TV as it plays the news report. The camera that I will use for the rest of the footage will either be a camcorder or a camera.

For our production, we do not want to make it like a normal and generic horror film, with monsters and other things, with a weak and vulnerable female in it, and the action genre conventions help us slip away from that, as it allows us to have a stronger and more defensive protagonist that will not easily be killed.

Research Appliaction

Directing and Story Writing

 I feel that, in this case, applying some of Quentin Tarantino's methods would be beneficiary, as his style allows the audience to engage with the characters while maintaining a non linear storyline in order to keep them attentive as there is no wasted run time, only necessary character building and the occasional well choreographed fight scene. This has inspired us to make our horror/action short confrom to less of the cliched techniques of horror in general, instead. 
Applying techniques created and inspired by highly rated directors can allow our short production to less generic and to stand out in it's own right.

Today we decided to split up some tasks which in theory meant that less time would be spent on each of the tasks. I have been given the task of completing the Technical Research task, which means that I will have to look at how technology is used behind the scenes when making a motion picture. I am also looking at Audience profiling for which I have to find a relevant target audience for the Action/Horror genre.

Today I completed my Influential Figures on a Prezi and I will upload it soon.

I am Number Four- Tom's Textual Analysis

The film ‘I Am Number Four’ starts off with idents of Touchstone Pictures and DreamWorks that fade in and show in the title sequence.

The establishing shot of the film starts off with an extreme long shot of Earth, non-diegetic music is building up in the background with drums and strings. The camera then starts to zoom into Earth and then follows it round to then zoom in on Central Africa. The camera then rushes over the forest and the non-diegetic sounds build up with a bigger tempo and brings a sense of panic in, making the person watching think that the camera may be a POV shot of someone or something. As the camera is rushing over the forest, the diegetic sounds of monkeys, birds and various other species of jungle animals are heard as the camera flies over. Smoke is seen coming through to canopy of the rainforest, showing where wooden huts are, as they are being lit up by a glow from the fires. The camera then flies down under the canopy and then comes almost to a halt at the front of one wooden hut, keeping it in a long shot for a brief seconds before slowly moving towards the door handle and the lock below it. The non-diegetic music is building up a tempo like something is about to jump through the door and grab the people inside the building. The camera then starts to go through the lock in the door and into the house, the music suddenly stops and fades out as the camera stops for a brief second and starts to pan around the little wooden hut, showing the viewer the contents. Inside of the relatively messy hut are two men, both are asleep in makeshift beds made from the jungle.

There is a cut to a close up on the lock of the door and the piece of wood that keeps the door in place so it doesn’t open, the piece of wood starts to move and makes a quiet diegetic sound as it scratches at the other bits of wood that makes the door and the wall. The camera then cuts to a long shot of a futuristic dagger, and the non-diegetic music starts to build up again, but only with slow, high pitched strings. The long shot of the dagger slowly zooms out to a medium long shot of one of the men as he picks up the dagger and starts to walk slowly and cautiously towards the rickety door, the camera tracks him as he does this. There is another cut to a close up on the side of the man’s face as he looks out the gaps of the door. The camera cuts to a long shot of the man as he acknowledges that there is nothing there and nods to the other man to say it is okay and lowers the futuristic dagger. As he does this, the diegetic sound of wood snapping and collapsing is heard as a jet black wing crashes through the wall and pulls the man through the wall, the music suddenly build up with drums and strings to tell the viewer that the man is in danger, the camera then cuts to an extreme long shot of a window in the hut as he dove through the window.

Today I worked on making a Prezi which included information on some Influential Figures I've chosen. I plan to get this finished by the end of next lesson

The Dark Knight- Textual Analysis

I may look to improve this in the future:

 

 

 

Intro:

The Dark Knight is an action motion picture and the second film in the Christopher Nolan Trilogy, which was released in 2008. It starred Christian Bale, as Batman and the late Heath Ledger, as The Joker. The Dark Knight is considered one of the best Action Adventure movies of all time and that is why I have chosen to analyse the first scene. I think it will be good to look at because it gives our group ideas for our Horror/Action Hybrid regarding the Action aspect.

Genre:

The Action genre convention is stereotypical and tends to follow a similar structure. They tend to involve a hero(s) who has to overcome multiple challenges, struggling against all odds, which may are life threatening for the ‘hero’ in order to defeat a villain; with an ending that concludes in victory for the ‘hero’. This hero in The Dark Knight is Batman as he battles to defeat The Joker.

The Adventure genre involves an adventure, well done, in which the protagonist goes on a journey which often involves them risking their lives. In The Dark Knight this is Batman because he risks his life for the sake of others even though he is expected to get out of these situations.

So the Action Adventure Hybrid genre works very well for a film of this sort as it features a main protagonist trying to defeat evil.

Uses and Gratifications Theory:

The ‘Uses and Gratifications Theory’ can be applied to this film and it is fairly obvious because of the genre of Action Adventure, which primarily focuses on fictional stories. The audience will use this kind of film for entertainment purposes and also as an escape from their lives.

Film Opening Analysis:

It starts off with an establishing shot of the Gotham skyline and draws attention to a glass building which is zoomed in on. As the building gets closer, the window smashes, meaning a diegetic sound has been implemented. This causes a change in camera shot, which changes to an over the shoulder shot of someone wearing a mask, holding a weapon and dressed in black. This leads the audience to think that something bad is about to happen, which can be established from the ‘villain’ in all black as well as the weapon as these are typical of the action genre. So it is very stereotypical so far. The over the shoulder shot then tilts down as the two ‘villains’ make their way across the building on a wire, to communicate the height they are at. The shot then cuts to an aerial shot, to again emphasize the height they are at and to make it look more dramatic. This is all happening while the non-diegetic music in the background which is typical of a film in the action genre when something dramatic is going on.

The camera then changes to a figure in a suit, holding his mask by his side and a sports bag in the other. This gives the impression that he’s fairly relaxed and not bothered if his identity gets found out. The background music that has been added is non-diegetic sound and is fairly quiet at this moment. It then switches to three guys masked in a car talking about how the Joker is in charge of what is about to happen. The audience can then figure out that the Joker is going to make an appearance at some point in what seems to be an attempted robbery. This becomes clear when they go into a bank and take hostages. Then switches outside to the guys that were in the first part of the scene and one of them shoots the other so he can have his share. Indicates to the audience that they are greedy and driven by money, which is often associated with people who commit robberies. The rest of the crew kill each other leaving one who turns out to be the Joker. He drives the bus out of the bank and the camera shot changes from a close up of the bus which pans out into a long shot of the Joker amongst school buses.

In this scene there is a single plot because their objective is the same, to rob the bank, with a parallel plot which involve the guys on the roof, and The Joker. These come together at the end when the guy in the safe crosses paths with The Joker, who gets shot for his troubles. Leaving all the money to The Joker. The plot of this scene is linear because everything runs in chronological order. This helps to tell a story because if it was full of flashbacks then it wouldn’t make any sense.

It is difficult to apply Propp’s theory to this scene because there are no protagonists displayed in the opening scene. However the Joker can be seen as the antagonist because he’s just robbed a bank. The money could be considered the princess because that is what The Joker gets as a reward so pulling off this heist.

Influential Figures- Christopher Nolan 

Christopher Nolan, is a successful Director who gained fame for the Batman Trilogy which he wrote, produced and directed. Nolan is known for entrusting foreign actors to play American roles. For example, in The Dark Knight he recruited Heath Ledger to play The Joker. He studied English Literature at University College in London. Nolan was a member of the U.C.L.'s film society where he learned guerrilla techniques that he used in his first feature, Following (1998), with a budget of around $6000. The noir thriller received good reviews at a number of International Film Festivals. 

The success of this lead him to get enough funding to make his second motion picture Memento (2000). Which was a neo-noir Psychological Thriller, starring Guy Pearce.
The film was a success and won several honours, including Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations. 

His next film was crime Psychological Thriller Insomnia (2002), which starred Al Pacino, Robin Williams and Hilary Swank. This achieved a 78 out of 100 on Metacritic.
Nolan was then offered the opportunity to revive the Batman series, with an origins story in Batman Begins (2005) staring Christian Bale as Batman. The story was more dark and serious in comparison to Tim Burton's Batman (1989) interpretation. This change was welcomed by fans and critics alike.

Before working on a sequel to Batman Begins, Nolan directed, co-wrote and produced The Prestige (2006), which was a mystery thriller starring Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale, who had just finished the filming for Batman Begins. The plot is of two magicians whose tense rivalry leads to tragedy and murder.

After The Prestige, Nolan began working a sequel to Batman Begins. This was to be called The Dark Knight. He directed, wrote and produced it and it was an international success. It grossed over £1 Billion Dollars at the box office and is considered by many as the best Batman movie because of the performance of Heath Ledger and The Joker. Nolan was nominated for a Directors Guild of America Award, Writers Guild of America Award and Producers Guild Award as well as the film receiving eight Academy Award Nominations.  According to the Internet Movie Database (IMBD for short) The Dark Knight is the fourth top rated movie ever behind; The Shawshank Redemption, The Godfather and The Godfather: Part II.

In 2010, Nolan directed and produced Sci-Fi thriller Inception in which its origin came from a screenplay Nolan had written years earlier. The thought provoking drama, which starred Leonardo Di Caprio, was a global success and grossed $800 million dollars and became one of the most discussed films of the year because of how unique it was. Inception received four Academy Awards and eight nominations.


What followed Inception was The Dark Knight Rises (2012), the sequel to The Dark Knight and the final part of Nolan's Batman Trilogy. It again starred Christian Bale as Batman with Tom Hardy as Bane, a former member of The League of Shadows and Anne Hathaway as Catwoman.

Saw II- Textual Analysis

Response to the Brief

We as a group of three have selected the brief of creating a motion picture based primarily around the action genre. After conscious consideration, we decided we also wanted to include various aspects from the horror genre. So I guess this could be considered a hybrid, as we’re basing our motion picture on not one, but two genres. 

 We didn’t want to follow the ‘typical media studies route’, we wanted to have something different to everyone else, which had a big influence on our decision to select the Action genre. We wanted to allow ourselves to expand on ideas in our heads, without thinking of something that’s impossible to do on a low budget, i.e. Sci-Fi, and this again influenced our decision to pick Action as a genre.  
The reason why we included the horror aspect was because it’s relatively easy to do and no advanced technology is required, for example, CGI. Selecting Horror also adds simplicity to our film planning because all the other groups producing a motion picture have selected the horror genre too. Which means that we can look at similar things relative, for example, we can all analyse one film opening together and pick out different aspects; as others may spot something the others haven’t seen. The main reason why we decided to select a hybrid of Action and Horror is because we don’t need a massive budget to produce something of a good quality. 

 I believe that production will be targeted towards audiences around the fifteen to late twenties mark. This is because if we are including horror aspects, then people of a younger age may be frightened of the film. This means we could adapt it so that it becomes appropriate for those of a younger age or we could not bother about them. 

 There are a few films that really grasp me that are in these two genres. One of them I would definitely like to consider including is: 
 Saw- this film created a brand new kind of horror, Torture Porn, which has inspired several additions to the Saw franchise and the Torture Porn genre in general. I believe that we can include aspects from the different films in our eventual film opening, like the lighting on and around the characters. Another thing that I like from Saw is that tension that it gives you, with a variety of different camera angles and non-diegetic sounds edited in.

Media Homework- If Films Were Made On A Low Budget- YouTube

Straight Outta Compton Prezi