Our filming needs to be done all in one day ideally as the weather and lighting needs to be exactly the same throughout the shots. The day we have chosen to film Monday 19th November 2012. We have chosen a sunday because the train station will be less busy on this day which would be the best day for filming. We will go to the train station around 4pm to make sure the lighting is quite dull. As it is a melodrama we need quite a gloomy rainy day to show danger, rather than a bright sunny day which would suggest happiness.
What we are filming:
1. Ticket machine
2. Ticket falling out of ticket machine
3. Money falling out of ticket machine
4. Ticket going into barrier
5. Walking through barrier
6. Taking ticket from barrier
7. Walking onto platform
8. A puddle
9. Stepping into puddle
10. Looking at the station's platform
11. The train tracks
12. The barriers on the road going down
13. Girls laughing (not paying attention)
14. Train dashing past at an extreme speed
15. Camera dropping
16. Character in bed with eyes closed
17. Eyes open
18. Sits up breathing heavily
Risk Assessment
We have to be very careful whilst filming at our chosen setting, as being a train station it can be a major hazard and dangerous place. Even when we are filming one of the characters being too far over the yellow line this is a major risk, as it only takes a loss of balance for devastation. Also whilst hanging off the bridge filming the characters from a distance could be difficult, as it would be easy for the camera to slip out of my hands, so I need to ensure I wear the safety strap.
Friday, 16 November 2012
Wednesday, 7 November 2012
Planning
Plot
Cast
Emily Hamer is playing the role of Beth
Sacha Wyatt is playing the role of Charlotte
We chose Emily to play the role of Beth because she suited the type of person we wanted Beth to be like; fashionable, sociable and 17. Sacha plays the role of Beth as she is the same age as Charlotte (Emily) and looks like an average teenage girl.
Font of the Titles and positioning
We have chosen our font tiles to be Cambria, as it is quite a simple font that will not distract the viewer from the actual film. The titles will be either in the corner or in fairly discrete places that will be noticeable but not too in the viewers face. We will edit the titles on final cut express;
The opening of our film will be at a train station, where a teenage girl called Beth faces a tragic accident where she loses her friend. It will begin with the two girls walking into the station; buying tickets and walking through the barrier and onto the platform. They will be talking and not paying a lot of attention to their surroundings. It will not be completely clear what is happening as we want our opening to be tense and leave the audience wanting to know more. However, it will be clear enough to know that Charlotte gets hit by the train. The over all film will consist of Beth dealing with her traumatic past and meeting a boy named James who helps her through all of it despite her pushing him away.
Opening setting
The setting will be a train station, where the accident was. We will film on a dull winter evening, so the station looks more intimidating and gloomy. The best day to film will be a sunday, where there will be little people around as we want a near to empty station. We will also film the character waking up in bed so a bedroom is another setting needed. Due to only having one setting; we may be limited to what we can film, but we will try our best to get the best shots possible.
Cast
Emily Hamer is playing the role of Beth
Sacha Wyatt is playing the role of Charlotte
We chose Emily to play the role of Beth because she suited the type of person we wanted Beth to be like; fashionable, sociable and 17. Sacha plays the role of Beth as she is the same age as Charlotte (Emily) and looks like an average teenage girl.
Characters
The main female character is a 17 year old called Beth, she was an average teenage girl who loved socialising, until she lost her best friend which left her emotionally insecure, depressed and paranoid.
The main male character is a 20 year old called James. James is a good looking boy and is described by many as a 'ladies man'. However, as soon as he meets Beth he soon makes her his main priority and doesn't leave her side. Beth's friend Charlotte who dies, is the same age as Beth (17). She is from a working background and loves shopping and socialising with her best friend Beth.
Font of the Titles and positioning
We have chosen our font tiles to be Cambria, as it is quite a simple font that will not distract the viewer from the actual film. The titles will be either in the corner or in fairly discrete places that will be noticeable but not too in the viewers face. We will edit the titles on final cut express;
Music
The music we are using for our opening is an upbeat house track called what i might do by Ben Pearce. We are editing the song ourselves to slow it down, trim it and add extra beats. We wanted an upbeat song for the start of the opening as it's just two girls at the train station on a normal day, however there is a drop in the song which we will slow down towards the ending of the opening to show something has happened.
Film certificate
A film certificate acts as a guideline for ages in which the film is suitable for. For example a PG film would not contain any bad language, discrimination, sexual explicits or drug taking. However a 12 may contain some mild cases. On the other hand an 18 could contain all of these which is why only a person over the age of 18 should be watching the film. Our film will be a 12
Bad language, discrimination, sexual explicits or drug taking
Our film will contain only mild bad language. There will be no discrimination or taking of recreational drugs. There will be a few intimate scenes between Beth and James towards the end of the film which will not display any nudity or sexual intercourse.
Film certificate
A film certificate acts as a guideline for ages in which the film is suitable for. For example a PG film would not contain any bad language, discrimination, sexual explicits or drug taking. However a 12 may contain some mild cases. On the other hand an 18 could contain all of these which is why only a person over the age of 18 should be watching the film. Our film will be a 12
Bad language, discrimination, sexual explicits or drug taking
Our film will contain only mild bad language. There will be no discrimination or taking of recreational drugs. There will be a few intimate scenes between Beth and James towards the end of the film which will not display any nudity or sexual intercourse.
Monday, 22 October 2012
Animatic Storyboard
These are the animatics for our film opening, The animatic storyboard is an important part of the planning process as it tells us exactly when the settings change, different cuts are used, when text comes up and the types of shots we want to include. We did this by sketching the main shots we are going to include in our opening, these shots consisted of close ups and long shots and a variety of other shots. We know that our actual film opening will not be exact to this as these are our initial ideas and we have tried to portray them in these animatics. Our inital ideas are that the setting is at a train station and an accident occurs, we have drawn our animatics to show the main things that will occur, for example buying the tickets, the platform, the tracks and the train coming which is the hazard. The music we added to our animatics is something we like, but are still unsure of therefore we will not decide anything until we have our footage. We simply added it to get a better feel of the planning and shots we are going to have.
I think creating an animatic storyboard was useful as it acts as a plan for our filming, and if our music will suit the opening. We had a few problems such as the settings and shots were difficult to draw especially the platform which was hard to make into proportion and we wanted it to be as realistic as possible. However over all our animatics was successful and I think it will help us a lot when it comes to filming.
Friday, 19 October 2012
Target Audience
We decided to come up with a questionnaire so we could find out our target audience. We did this as we thought this is the best way to pin point exactly who would be the most interested in our film. The first two questions are 'what is your age group?' and 'what is your gender?' These two questions will find out more about the person and how they answer the other questions will find out which age group and gender prefer Melodrama films which is the genre of our film. If a person's favourite film genre is not Melodrama but they say they would still go to the cinema to see a Melodrama film then they could still be classed as our target audience. One of the questions asked is what the person thinks is a good film opening, which will give us additional for our film opening to ensure it will capture the viewers attention and be the best it can be.
This is our Questionnaire:
Sample of results and analysis to our questionnaire
We asked a total of 60 people, 10 of each age category. 5 Male and 5 Female of each.
What is your favourite film genre?
The results of this question show that Romantic Comedy was the most popular film genre. However Melodrama is still quite popular. It is clear that the most popular gender who favour Melodrama is Female. And the most popular age group is 41-50, and the least popular gender is Under 16's.
Would you go to the cinema to see a Melodrama?
The results of this question show that the majority of females would go to see a Melodrama film, not as many males would but still a very large proportion of the men asked. This suggests that Melodrama is favoured more by females as it is more emotional. The most popular age groups that said they would go to the cinema to see a Melodrama film was between the ages of 21-50, although all the age categories had a high amount of people saying yes. The lowest category was Under 16's which could be due to them preferring cartoons and fantasy films.
Describe what you think is a good film opening?
Sample of results:
- "The best film openings are the ones that build up tension, the ones that will you leave you wondering what is going to happen next." Male aged 28
- "When watching a film I like to see flashbacks, I enjoy watching a film opening which is a little confusing, then will become clearer throughout the film." Male aged 45
- "A good film opening is one that will capture my attention, it has to be interesting and make me want to watch more. It has to have good music as well." Female aged 31
- "I like happy film openings that set a good positive vibe. I'm not much of an action-film lover but I love a good romantic comedy." Female aged 52
- "I like film openings that are funny and will make me want to watch more." Female aged 15
These results show that people have a very different taste of film openings. A popular choice was one that will make the viewer want to watch more and may be a little confusing but will build up tension at the same time. This suggests that my film opening needs to be really interesting and capture the viewers attention as soon as it begins.
Wednesday, 17 October 2012
Dear John opening
Click here to watch Dear John
In the opening of this film the first thing you hear is a piece of music in which is very gentle, the audience can instantly tell that the film will be a romantic film rather than an action film. The first shot is a slow motion over the shoulder shot of a injured man in the army. As this shot occurs a voice over begins saying: "There's something I want to tell you, after I got shot..." The audience instantly know that he is talking in first person meaning the injured man being displayed is him. The shot is then followed by a high angled long shot which is still slow motion of the soldiers, this could suggest that the two soldiers are vulnerable. The voice over then states "you want to know the very first thing that entered my mind, before i blacked out- Coins." as he says this a number of coins rush across the screen. Following this is a head shot of a boy almost like a freeze frame as coins rush down in front of him, the boy is portrayed as him as an 8 year old. There is then a sequence of extreme close ups of coins being made in a factory which shows important detail to the audience, which makes it clear that coins are very significant to what the film is about and may be referred to throughout. During this part the voice over is explaining how they are made which gives extra information to the viewer.
Following this the voice over says "I am a coin in the united states army, I was mended in the year 1980, i've been punched from sheet metal. I've been stamped and cleaned, my ridges has been rimmed and bevelled. Now i have two small holes in me, i'm no longer in perfect condition" This is a metaphor the voice over uses to relate his life and personal circumstances to coins. The last shot you see is a close up that fades out where the opening of the film ends.
In the opening of this film the first thing you hear is a piece of music in which is very gentle, the audience can instantly tell that the film will be a romantic film rather than an action film. The first shot is a slow motion over the shoulder shot of a injured man in the army. As this shot occurs a voice over begins saying: "There's something I want to tell you, after I got shot..." The audience instantly know that he is talking in first person meaning the injured man being displayed is him. The shot is then followed by a high angled long shot which is still slow motion of the soldiers, this could suggest that the two soldiers are vulnerable. The voice over then states "you want to know the very first thing that entered my mind, before i blacked out- Coins." as he says this a number of coins rush across the screen. Following this is a head shot of a boy almost like a freeze frame as coins rush down in front of him, the boy is portrayed as him as an 8 year old. There is then a sequence of extreme close ups of coins being made in a factory which shows important detail to the audience, which makes it clear that coins are very significant to what the film is about and may be referred to throughout. During this part the voice over is explaining how they are made which gives extra information to the viewer.
Following this the voice over says "I am a coin in the united states army, I was mended in the year 1980, i've been punched from sheet metal. I've been stamped and cleaned, my ridges has been rimmed and bevelled. Now i have two small holes in me, i'm no longer in perfect condition" This is a metaphor the voice over uses to relate his life and personal circumstances to coins. The last shot you see is a close up that fades out where the opening of the film ends.
Wednesday, 3 October 2012
The lion king opening
Click here to watch The Lion King
In this openings the first thing I noticed was the film titles were sunrise colours such as orange yellow and red, these are specific to the country the film is set in which is Africa, and the wild. The next thing you see after the film titles in a sunrise which is an establishing shot. The sunrise could be a metaphor for new birth as its the birth of new day. The next couple of shots you see are mid-shots and long-shots of various animals, which appear to be stopping what they are doing and looking up at something. Following this are birds-eye views and landscape shots which display herds of animals travelling somewhere. The music used in the opening can be classed as light-hearted and is about new lives and new beginnings which links into the idea of the sunrise and the wild. There is a significant shot of the elephants moving towards the camera, the camera angle is pointing up-wards to make the elephants appear larger, this shows the larger animals over rule the smaller mammals as there are birds running away in fear of being stomped on.
In this openings the first thing I noticed was the film titles were sunrise colours such as orange yellow and red, these are specific to the country the film is set in which is Africa, and the wild. The next thing you see after the film titles in a sunrise which is an establishing shot. The sunrise could be a metaphor for new birth as its the birth of new day. The next couple of shots you see are mid-shots and long-shots of various animals, which appear to be stopping what they are doing and looking up at something. Following this are birds-eye views and landscape shots which display herds of animals travelling somewhere. The music used in the opening can be classed as light-hearted and is about new lives and new beginnings which links into the idea of the sunrise and the wild. There is a significant shot of the elephants moving towards the camera, the camera angle is pointing up-wards to make the elephants appear larger, this shows the larger animals over rule the smaller mammals as there are birds running away in fear of being stomped on.
Monday, 1 October 2012
Seven pounds opening
This is one of my favourite films because it is so touching, and I think the beginning of the film really captures the viewers attention and makes them want to watch more.
The opening scene begins with a phone call, which is actually what happens at the end of the film. It's not long before you see after the credits an extreme close up shot of a man making a phone call. He is breathless and looks distraught, it becomes quickly clear that he is in a serious situation when he asks for an ambulance. The character then reveals he is committing suicide and this makes the viewer want to know more. As the camera shot is still an extreme close up it does not give away any idea of where he is or the situation he is in which builds up tension.
The opening scene begins with a phone call, which is actually what happens at the end of the film. It's not long before you see after the credits an extreme close up shot of a man making a phone call. He is breathless and looks distraught, it becomes quickly clear that he is in a serious situation when he asks for an ambulance. The character then reveals he is committing suicide and this makes the viewer want to know more. As the camera shot is still an extreme close up it does not give away any idea of where he is or the situation he is in which builds up tension.
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