Evaluation - Question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

Looking back at our preliminary task piece I now realize how stupidly simple it was, we used very, very simple editing techniques that I took care of at home on Sony Vegas Pro 11, techniques limited to literally cutting down clips and adding in music. I also looped the noise of a cricket for too long and held still frames. for our preliminary task we used side angle shots, we had a big close up on a door handle, wide angle shots and and incredibly shaky panning shot done by putting a camera on my skateboard.

We thought a lot about how to present each of characters through mise en scene and lighting especially but also through the use of editing and sound in our film opening. However during the making of our preliminary task piece we didn't really think about any of that, instead we just focused on the representations of costume, whereas use of lighting was very important for use especially during the villain scenes which needed to be dark with one small, low key, white light source. I feel that body language and facial expression were presented quite well in our film opening as we had to concentrate on making our hero and villain completely opposite in every way. However in our preliminary task body language was not important as all there was, was a small amount of dialogue in which and a small amount of pacing, this was fairly easy to create.

The editing I did for the Preliminary was very basic and i feel I have really stepped up my game when it came to editing the film opening. I feel I've learnt a lot from editing the Film opening because if you compare the editing techniques use from that with the techniques used in the Preliminary task you can see I have matured greatly from that. Previously I used Sony Vegas Pro and edited it all together in a mere hour and a half whereas the editing for the Film opening took weeks to complete. For the Preliminary task all I did was trim shots and put them together. I managed to hold still frames and add in cheesy sound affects both downloaded from youtube. However for the Film opening I used Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 and learnt loads of different techniques.

We relied solely on dialogue to get our plot across to the viewer in our Preliminary piece as there was little other sound and there wasn't much important mise en scene, sound or camera techniques to focus on except for the fact that it is obvious that our main character is a young girl in a classroom and the fact that she is on her own, this is also emphasized by the used of the cricket chirping sound effect as it dramatizes the fact that the plush toy not responding as it is not alive.

I think we have come a long way and have learned a lot and gained a lot of skills from creating our Film opening by using with more advanced editing software and using more editing, mise en scene, sound and camera techniques. 

Planning - Shot Timings

• Opening shot of Matt putting costume away - 4 sec
• Wide angle shot of Matt, action match from previous - 4 sec
• Close up of clock - 10 sec
• Villain with pocket watch - 5 sec
• First shot of Matt with breakfast - 4 sec
• Peter looking at news clippings - 10 sec
• Over the shoulder shot - 8 sec
• Back to Matt eating - 3 sec
• Girlfriend enters - 4 sec
• Matt gets up and goes after her - 3 sec
• Conversation, shot revers shot - 25 sec
• Girlfriend walks out the door - 4 sec
• Matt walks out of the shot - 4 sec

We have had to allow some time remaining as between the shots of the different personalities we intend to add in a edited effect, these will vary in time from 2 - 5 seconds.

Film Opening - Character Names

Ma'at is the Egyptian Goddess of justice and order, so we thought Matt would be suitable for the hero's (secret identity) name as he brings justice and order to the people of his city.

The Egyptian God of chaos and war was a bit more difficult to interpret into an English name. His name is

Apophis, also known as  Apep. After some thought we decided that Peter would be the closest.

The Girlfriend of Matt's name  was never really finalized however it sort of has to be Ashleigh as it is written on the back of the door in the first scene because we used my sister(Ashleigh)'s room for this scene as I don't have a wardrobe, just drawers.

Film Opening - Script

We decided the only Matt and his girlfriend would be speaking our opening. This would emphasize how socially withdrawn Peter is in comparison and make him much less likable. The Dialogue is a simple every day conversation to connote that Matt has no idea of anything being wrong.

               (Girlfriend appears in doorway)

Girlfriend - I'm going now, I'll see you later.

               (Matt gets up to see her off)

Matt - Ooh, wait!

               (Conversation in hall)

Matt - We got plans tonight?

Girlfriend - Yeah we're going to that meal tonight with my parents remember?

Matt - Oh right, yeah, have a nice day.

Girlfriend - Alright, I'll see you later.

Second Scene Setting and Props

 

In the first shot of this seen we see the hero putting his costume away into the wardobe we used my sister's for these shots as she has a wardrobe in her room with good space infront of it with a lot of good natural light

We got two angles of this area as we ar going to do an action match of my character putting the outfit in the cupboard, the match on action with start from side on and then moving to a shot from behind me. Hopefully we will be able to make this action match smooth like we did with the scene where Kirby sat down in our preliminary task peice.

An important prop used is my sister's alarm clock which never seems to get her up despite going off loudly enough to wake me up from the opposite side of the house. This prop links the two characters together with time as the hero has the power to control time and the villian is trying to also get this power.

Harry Webber's morphsuit is what we used for our hero's costume and he's awesome for letting us borrow it. The costume is good because it show the cliche of heores always wearing spandex it's also good as it breaks the colour connotations we've built up ie. the hero is shown wearing white and the villian wearing black, this costume is interesting as it is the superhero's costume but it is black, not white

Planning - Costumes

The Hero's and villain's costumes are supposed to look completely identical despite this colour of the shirt. The costumes are this similar to indicate these 2 people have the exact same style as they are in fact the same person.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The shirts are different colours to inicate the differences between good and evil; The hero is wearing white to indicate purity and hope whereas the villain is wearing all black to show his dark life and cruel intentions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Hero's girlfriend is shown in a simple black dress with tights and high-heeled shoes. The costume along with curly hair and a hangbag make her out to be feminine. the shoes and tights indicate she is going to work like she would on a normal day.

Planning - Opening Storyboard

Film Opening - Planning

Our main, end of year media task is to produce a film opening for one of the following genres

• A "relationship" comedy/drama made by an independent production company, aimed at young adults.
• Science fiction British adult audience.
• A mainstream action film that will appeal to both 15-25 year old males and females, based on a comic book. (The comic can be either real or fake as long as it has not already been made into a film of course)
• A film that is based on real event from the last 10 years, that appears to be independently funded.

We are allowed to do pretty much anything we like as long as it fits within one of these genres, here are our ideas for each of the genres

1.We tried to of different story lines for this genre rather than stick to the common RomCom convention of 'Boy meets girl...' For example I proposed the idea of a bromance themed film similar to 'I Love You Man' (possibly the funniest film in the world). We also discussed the idea of a relationship between gay people or even the relationship between an owner and his/her pet. We're trying to be different and expand the relationships genre by thinking outside of the box.

2.Although we wanted to be seen as different when presenting our film opening we wanted, with this genre to take this subject extremely literally by using stereotypes, codes and conventions to show things such as space and technology. We would like to focus on something related to either aliens, space or time travel as we think this would make an interesting and exciting film opening. We would have to seriously consider our settings and costumes to make our genre choice as obvious as possible and to make our story line clear if we were to choose this genre. 

3.When we thought of action within comic-adapted media I immediately thought of the old Batman series with Adam West, I suggested we could include creativity into the film opening by making our own sound signs of things saying "pow" and "wham" in a sort of pop art technique. We then started to think about using stop motion and create a comic book sort of layout or have scenes with comic book images in to give you the retro action superhero feel. Imogen being a Psychology student thought back to something she learnt about Dissociative Identity Disorder/DID (formerly know as Multi-Personality Disorder/MPD) and suggested we could create a typical comic book superhero with a twist, he has DID and is also the villain but doesn't know, however she later told us about something else she learnt about, The Three Faces of Eve, in which a woman, Eve had multiple personalities some of which knew about the others. We decided that if we picked this topic our hero would also be our villain but only the villainous personality would know about the disorder. We haven't thought much into the powers or names of the villain or  the hero but we can decide this at a later date. We have to try to make this so that it isn't at all funny as it could be seen as mocking DID and people with DID.

4.We like this genre as we have thought of a lot of story lines and techniques we could use to present scenes and can even indicate that flashbacks happen. The story line we have came up with is an ex mental patient who had a diary during her time in her ward. If we choose this genre we'll use an inner-monologue to make a personal connection to the audience as she tells her story. We then want to include cut away shots of the scenes she is talking about which had previously happened in her ward to give the impression that she is having flashbacks and is often thinking about the events that took place during her time on the ward. We'll also have a councilor character so that we can see the events from two perspectives.

Analysis - Romantic Comedies

RomComs are the love child produced when romance and comedy made disgusting love to each other in the 1920s, I wont go into detail but Romantic Comedies/ RomComs/ Romedies were the result. Romance stories generally emerge and are presented in the way that a comedy film would be presented

The narrative of a RomCom is a typical three part structure. A boy and a girl will meet, and for some reason, they will be torn apart. Throughout the film, they will realise that they are meant to be together, and try and back to each other. In the resolution of the film, although it might not be a happy on, the characters will meet again and work out went wrong between them. Throughout the film, there will be an implied theme of true love conquering all barriers. 

The audience must be able to connect with, and relate to, the characters in a romantic comedy. They need to be likeable and down to earth, so that the audience support them ans their relationship. We are usually introduced to the best friends, and maybe some family members, of the two main characters. Although they are there to offer their support, they are usually the main source of humour in the film.

Horror films tend to have a score, where music (e.g. orchestra) is used instead of songs. In romcoms, there will only usually be songs used. The songs that are used in the film will usually be well known pop songs, so that the audience can recognise them easily. They must relate to the story being told in the film. The songs can even assist in the story-telling process. 

Romantic Comedies are commonly set in big, well known cities such as New York, Paris or London, this is done because these cities are quite well known as romantic settings which helps to set the theme of the film very early on. They also do this so that whether people have been to these places or not they can recognise the places from memories or from other media such as television and feel comfortable watching a film set there.

 

Film Opening - Brief

• A "relationship" comedy/drama made by an independent production company, aimed at young adults.
• Science fiction British adult audience.
• A mainstream action film that will appeal to both 15-25 year old males and females, based on a comic book. (The comic can be either real or fake as long as it has not already been made into a film of course)
• A film that is based on real event from the last 10 years, that appears to be independently funded.

Preliminary Task - Planning

Initial plan plus ideas for individual scenes

Incredibly drawn storyboard done by myself including shot type information plus dialogue and other information 

These photos suck, blame it on Apple.

The plan and the story were thought of by Imogen which is why the video is going to be so weird. This is what craziness goes through her mind