Throughout our short film sequence “The Interview” we tried our best to incorporate a wide variety of shot types and angles similar to that of a larger production. Most mainstream films in the comedy genre rely little on special effects and so they can spend more money on actors, costumes and suchlike to make the film the best it can be. As the group were doing all the acting there was nothing stopping us from producing a top quality comedy production. Of course we didn’t have the same expertise as someone who had been working in the film industry their whole life and we didn’t have the same technology but we felt we could produce a good production.
We decided in our group that our film was similar to the opening sequence of “the 40 year old virgin”. This is an example of how our sequence is similar to that of a mainstream comedy production. Both the sequence from 40 year old virgin and our opening sequence show the typical morning of one mans less than perfect life. Both the sequences portray the character waking up in the morning and carrying out what is clearly their daily, boring routine before leaving their house and both our sequence and that of the 40 year old virgin have a minimal amount of dialogue.
Of course there were the differences between our production and that of the professionals. For example there are a few shot in the 40 year old virgin that we would be unable to replicate without the correct equipment such as the first shot where the camera is staring down upon the main protagonist as he lies in bed. We also realised after showing the film to the class that our credits were in the wrong place as we put them at the end of the sequence forgetting we were making an opening to a film and not a short film in itself. Of course this problem would never occur in a mainstream film.
Also, we had to produce our own music for the film and so it was just instrumental as we would have found it extremely difficult to do anything else without the rights to a song.
The main character in our film was played by Connor, a 17 year old boy however the suit he was wearing was supposed to give the illusion that he was older, maybe in his 30’s. In the opening of our sequence the man is portrayed as a very happy, fortunate man who hasn’t got a care in the world. However at the end of the sequence the viewer is shown that the opening wasn’t reality is was merely how he wishes his life was. He is in fact very unlucky, unfortunate and unorganised. The way we portrayed the characters unlucky life would have been clearer if we, as a group, were able to get together more often to film for long periods of time. The opening sequence could represent a man in his mid 30’s not enjoying life, living in a plain house, stuck in a dead end job etc.
Large film companies are able to spend lots of money getting there films into cinemas and distributing it worldwide. This can pose a problem for independent film makers as they do not have much if any money and so cannot compete easily with large production companies. However that has all changed now and independent film makers are able to show there films to the world without spending a penny. They do this through online streaming websites such as you tube. As we do not much money this would be the only way we could distribute our film to audiences.
Our target market for our film would be teenagers. This is not because it has explicit content such as violence, bad language or sexual scenes. We would target them only because the humour in our film would be suitable more for 15 year olds up to about 20. our audience would be similar to that of superbad, big mommas house, anchorman, 40 year old virgin etc. These films all already have a firmly established fanbase due to their similar style of comedy.
We tried to make our production appeal to our target audience by incorporating the humour our age would find amusing but also trying to make it funny for older people to watch aswell. We tried to relate to our teenage audience through our main protagonist who, although in his thirties, experiences many problems both older people of around 20 - 25 and our main target audience teenagers can relate to while seeing the funny side.
All through this project I have learnt a lot about the technology involved in producing a sequence to a film. I was keen from the first moment to start experimenting with the equipment and try out new more adventurous shots. The cameras we were given were very easy to use and because they were so small they were easy to use for the awkward shots. The programme we used for editing, imovie was also very simple to use but still worked well. The only problem we came up against during editing was when the editing of the film was done on one mac and the music for the film was done on another. This proved very hard to merge the music and the final film together but we managed to achieve it in the end.
As I look back from now to the end of the course I feel I have learnt a lot about the making of films, camera shots, editing etc. This can be seen from my groups preliminary task where we were constantly using over the shoulder shots and failing to experiment, whereas now we are all eager to experiment with the more adventurous shots and try to make the film all that much more pleasurable for the viewer.
Once we had finished our final sequence we showed it to the class and received some criticisms and some compliments. Some of these were as follows:
Good Points: - The alarm sound fading out to music was done very well.- Music fitted well with theme of sequence, and synced nicely with key moments.- Good variety of shots.Constructive Criticisms: - Some of the shots didn't quite make sense, like flushing the toilet, but these had meant to been edited in a montage like way, but we made the mistake of not making the transition between shots quick enough.- Our titles were in the wrong place as they were at the end of the sequence and not at the beginning, making it look like we ware making a short film and not an opening sequence.- We was also told we could have used more facial close ups, which we did realise but as half of our filming was done in school, the actor was wearing different clothes so most of the filming had to be done from behind.
Sunday, 9 May 2010
Task 1.2 - Filming and Editing
After our storyboard and animatic were finished, we filmed and edited our final video. The only rule we had to follow was the 180 degree rule, so for the rest we had free reign. Unfortunately we lost some of our footage so instead of having the camera cut between people after every shot, we had to put 3 shots in a row twice, which meant there was quite a few shakey transitions, however, this wouldn't have happened if there was a tripod available to use. We also had to use a shot that wasn't even meant to be in the video, at the end as our last shots were also lost. Also, we didn't use the space well in our video. There was lots of empty space above both of the peoples heads in a few shots.On the upside we stuck to the 180 degree rule the whole way through and had a reasonable variety of shots.When we begin our main task, we will take what we have learnt in this prelim task to make our final piece very well filmed and edited.During filming we will take all of the shots from one side, and then from another to save time and effort. Also, we will try and use a wider variety of shots so there's not just 3 shots from the same angle etc. while still following the 180 degree.
Task 3 - construction
Planning
One of the first things that we had to discuss in our group was what type of genre our film would follow and how we could achieve this. We all knew straight away that we would all be happiest following the comedic route. Each of us had different ideas on the story our film should follow and so we decided that we would put our ideas to each other to find the best one. We each had some good ideas and so we decided to blend them together.
Our story consisted of the main protagonist who felt he was extremely unlucky in life and that things can't get any worse. We then put all our ideas into a story board on which we would base all our filming around. We knew from the start that we would not be able to reproduce the story board shot for shot in our filming as things change for example, on the day that we were supposed to be filming the main bulk of our clip I was unable to meet with my group due to unavoidable circumstances. This meant we were left with less time in which to film. Our original idea was to have our central protagonist walking to a job interview. He is happy, the sun is shining and life is good. We then wanted a cut shot with the exact same scene but instead of the sun shining and life being good it would be raining and everything would be going wrong for him. So really we needed at least two days to shoot it. However, because I was unable to attend on one day we had only one day to shoot and so this became impossible. This is just an example of the dilemmas we had to overcome to produce our overall film.
Filming
The first step we had to take in filming was choosing the setting at which we would film the first half of our sequence. We knew it would have to be at someone’s house what we had to decide was who had the most suitable house for the film. Once we had established who’s house we were going to use to film our sequence I found out I would not be able to attend as I had to work however my group was very good at filling me in on what steps they had taken throughout the day of filming but it was still very difficult filming with only two of them.
I was told that the weather on the day was also an issue throughout the day, which meant they had to do the filming outside at different time intervals when the weather brightened up a bit.
When we realised we were going to have to shorten our story we decided to add a montage of the protagonist getting up, getting ready and eating his breakfast. This turned out to be very successful and worked well within our film.
Editing
After finishing the filming, we had to edit. This went relatively well as we only had one major problem. Connor was making the music on one Mac and Dom was doing the majority of the editing on another Mac. When it came to transferring the music over, we couldn't transfer it into Garage Band, so we had to sync all of the music with the film, whilst the files were on different computers, and they copy the song over into iTunes and upload it into iMovie. This proved to be very difficult and a lot of hassle, and we had to try it a few times as some parts of the music didn't sync properly.
One of the first things that we had to discuss in our group was what type of genre our film would follow and how we could achieve this. We all knew straight away that we would all be happiest following the comedic route. Each of us had different ideas on the story our film should follow and so we decided that we would put our ideas to each other to find the best one. We each had some good ideas and so we decided to blend them together.
Our story consisted of the main protagonist who felt he was extremely unlucky in life and that things can't get any worse. We then put all our ideas into a story board on which we would base all our filming around. We knew from the start that we would not be able to reproduce the story board shot for shot in our filming as things change for example, on the day that we were supposed to be filming the main bulk of our clip I was unable to meet with my group due to unavoidable circumstances. This meant we were left with less time in which to film. Our original idea was to have our central protagonist walking to a job interview. He is happy, the sun is shining and life is good. We then wanted a cut shot with the exact same scene but instead of the sun shining and life being good it would be raining and everything would be going wrong for him. So really we needed at least two days to shoot it. However, because I was unable to attend on one day we had only one day to shoot and so this became impossible. This is just an example of the dilemmas we had to overcome to produce our overall film.
Filming
The first step we had to take in filming was choosing the setting at which we would film the first half of our sequence. We knew it would have to be at someone’s house what we had to decide was who had the most suitable house for the film. Once we had established who’s house we were going to use to film our sequence I found out I would not be able to attend as I had to work however my group was very good at filling me in on what steps they had taken throughout the day of filming but it was still very difficult filming with only two of them.
I was told that the weather on the day was also an issue throughout the day, which meant they had to do the filming outside at different time intervals when the weather brightened up a bit.
When we realised we were going to have to shorten our story we decided to add a montage of the protagonist getting up, getting ready and eating his breakfast. This turned out to be very successful and worked well within our film.
Editing
After finishing the filming, we had to edit. This went relatively well as we only had one major problem. Connor was making the music on one Mac and Dom was doing the majority of the editing on another Mac. When it came to transferring the music over, we couldn't transfer it into Garage Band, so we had to sync all of the music with the film, whilst the files were on different computers, and they copy the song over into iTunes and upload it into iMovie. This proved to be very difficult and a lot of hassle, and we had to try it a few times as some parts of the music didn't sync properly.
Thursday, 6 May 2010
Main Task 2.4 - (Generic Conventions)
It is important to firstly distinguish the differences between conventions and iconography as the two can easily be mistaken for one another; often its easy to mistake iconography for generic conventions- e.g. in a horror film an icon of that genre would be a knife and an audience would expect to see that; however, that does not make it a generic convention as a generic convention is relative to the narrative of the film. In this assignment I will assess and analyse the conventions and iconography of 4 different genres.
Horror
Initially, I will research the genre of Horror. Conventions that audiences would expect to see are as follows:
- A central or a group of central protagonists who are usually vulnerable - this tends to be accented by an atmosphere of isolation; which can be in terms of setting or emotionally.
- A central or a group of central protagonists who are usually vulnerable - this tends to be accented by an atmosphere of isolation; which can be in terms of setting or emotionally.
- Usually features themes of the supernatural, illness and death.
- Often all protagonists are killed and there is no explanation as to who/what/why?
- There is on almost all occasions a key antagonist who is out to kill the protagonist - they are usually conveyed as a 'creature' or 'monster' who contrast greatly from the protagonist/s and are unlike anything in society.
The video i have chosen to represent the horror genre is Saw. This is a typical horror film conforming to all the generic conventions including isolation of the characters and the helplessness surrounding them. The film includes lots of blood and gore (often excessive) which to is typical to the genre.
- There is on almost all occasions a key antagonist who is out to kill the protagonist - they are usually conveyed as a 'creature' or 'monster' who contrast greatly from the protagonist/s and are unlike anything in society.
The video i have chosen to represent the horror genre is Saw. This is a typical horror film conforming to all the generic conventions including isolation of the characters and the helplessness surrounding them. The film includes lots of blood and gore (often excessive) which to is typical to the genre.
War
The war genre looks at many different themes including comradeship, courage, emotion and loss. Most war films are based on real life events that have been adapted for the audiences entertainment.
Generic Conventions in a war film include:
- Follow the struggles of one central protagonist, who will usually be fighting a battle with himself emotionally as well as the enemy, and a group of others who will all try to defeat the enemy (antagonist).
- usually action driven.
- The central protagonist's comrades are usually killed one at a time. This is when we see the emotions within the central protagonist and the theme of loss is explored.
- The Protagonists are mostly outnumbered and look like they are fighting an unwinnable battle.
- Before the equilibrium is restored the audience is usually faced with a dilemma that explores the emotions of the protagonist.
Generic Conventions in a war film include:
- Follow the struggles of one central protagonist, who will usually be fighting a battle with himself emotionally as well as the enemy, and a group of others who will all try to defeat the enemy (antagonist).
- usually action driven.
- The central protagonist's comrades are usually killed one at a time. This is when we see the emotions within the central protagonist and the theme of loss is explored.
- The Protagonists are mostly outnumbered and look like they are fighting an unwinnable battle.
- Before the equilibrium is restored the audience is usually faced with a dilemma that explores the emotions of the protagonist.
Science-fiction
A science-fiction (Sci-fi) film is usually set in the future, which is a typical generic convention of sci-fi. Similar to horror, Sci-fi will have characters that are supernatural due to the expectation that the audience has about futuristic people and places. These people could possibly be aliens.
Also, sci-fi may a plot linked in some way to a love relationship between two protagonists. Iconography in sci-fi usually revolves around a special weapon or futuristic technology which in this case is the Lightsabre (which typically in Sci-fi generic convention, the antagonist has the better, more powerful weapon), a spaceship and other science related icons such as planets or the Sun.
Also, sci-fi may a plot linked in some way to a love relationship between two protagonists. Iconography in sci-fi usually revolves around a special weapon or futuristic technology which in this case is the Lightsabre (which typically in Sci-fi generic convention, the antagonist has the better, more powerful weapon), a spaceship and other science related icons such as planets or the Sun.
Task 2.1 synopsis
After a long group discussion with my group members we have decided to go with the comedic genre.
Our film is similar to the one we produced for the preliminary task. However the interview in our film plays only a minor role and we focus more on the characters life leading up to the interview.
The story is based around one main character and he is very unlucky in the way his life is.
It begins with our character getting up to go for an interview and it is a very nice day and he is dressed well and has plenty of time. Cheerful music begins.
On the way to the interview he has many lucky things happening to him, such as finding a £50 note on the floor.
Then he walks into the interview and there is a freeze frame over his smiling face and a narration over the top saying "if only my life was this simple."
there is then a rewind and the character enters the room again but instead of being happy and smiling he is late for the interview covered in rain and looking very scruffy. He then says "Thats more like it", the music carries on and the screen fades to black ending the sequence.
Our film is similar to the one we produced for the preliminary task. However the interview in our film plays only a minor role and we focus more on the characters life leading up to the interview.
The story is based around one main character and he is very unlucky in the way his life is.
It begins with our character getting up to go for an interview and it is a very nice day and he is dressed well and has plenty of time. Cheerful music begins.
On the way to the interview he has many lucky things happening to him, such as finding a £50 note on the floor.
Then he walks into the interview and there is a freeze frame over his smiling face and a narration over the top saying "if only my life was this simple."
there is then a rewind and the character enters the room again but instead of being happy and smiling he is late for the interview covered in rain and looking very scruffy. He then says "Thats more like it", the music carries on and the screen fades to black ending the sequence.
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
Task 2.2 - Production Company Background Research
The production companies i have chosen to look at are Disney and Pathe. To begin with Pathe was a record producing label, established by brothers Charles and Emile Pathe, in Paris in the 1890's. In 1894 the brothers diversified into the film industry and in 1896 their films were exported to America. Pathe was a pioneer in the birth of newsreel footage, which in turn became the forerunner of documentary films. The logo of Pathe has changed a lot over time. the logo shown on the left was the first logo produced by the company. During the time at which this logo was produced Pathe were restricted to the technology of the time that did not allow them to use colour or animation in any of their logos. the rooster below the Pathe logo has now become more distinguished and is immediately reconisable and is more centralised in the newer logos. 
The new logo for Pathe uses much brighter colours to fit in with modern times. It is also written in a more dynamic font rather than traditional text.Pathé, as a production company, has produced family films such as The Two Brothers (2004), The Magic Roundabout (2005) and also co-produced the film Slumdog Millionaire.
The Walt Disney pictures logo has changed over time aswell, but still keeps its same feautures in the same way that Pathe modernises their logo. As you can see the two Walt Disney Pictures logos have kept their recognisable features, but the quality and outcome of the new logo is more well suited for the 21st C
entury.Preliminary Task Storyboard
Our story board depicts our prelim sequence, if we shoot it exactly how our storyboard states then our sequence will have the right feel and style.
The first two shots are establishing shots, this is to show the whole scene and show the 180 degree rule being followed. From there on there is a lot of over the shoulder shots etc where the corresponding characters are on their corresponding sides.As the argument becomes heated the shots become more dominant towards the employer to show he is the one in power.
The shots become lower to make the employer look higher and bigger while the interviewee looks smaller.
At the end it all turns around because the interviewee turns violent before a final establishing shot and fade to white
Tuesday, 5 January 2010
synopsis
After discussing in our group what we should do, we have decided that we would like to go down the comic root.
Our film is based around a similar idea to our prelim but instead the interview is hypothetical and only plays a small part.
The story is based around one main character and he is very unlucky in the way his life is.
It begins with our character getting up to go for an interview and it is a very nice day and he is dressed well and has plenty of time, when he gets to the interview there is a freeze frame and a narration over the top saying "if only my life was this simple".
It then cuts to him waking up in a mess and noticing that he has overslept he rushes all of his jobs and encounters a lot of misfortune like spilling coffee over himself and missing the bus.
He turns up at the interview in a bad state where the employee asks him "what happened to you?".
Our film is based around a similar idea to our prelim but instead the interview is hypothetical and only plays a small part.
The story is based around one main character and he is very unlucky in the way his life is.
It begins with our character getting up to go for an interview and it is a very nice day and he is dressed well and has plenty of time, when he gets to the interview there is a freeze frame and a narration over the top saying "if only my life was this simple".
It then cuts to him waking up in a mess and noticing that he has overslept he rushes all of his jobs and encounters a lot of misfortune like spilling coffee over himself and missing the bus.
He turns up at the interview in a bad state where the employee asks him "what happened to you?".
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