Preproduction of Hightail - 1st Discussion

Flashbacks

Pitch

Pitch to Include:

• Title
• Genre
• Synopsis
• Possible Locations - Photos
• Actors
• Strengths
• Potential Difficulties

Our Group and Roles

My group is made up of 3 people. Harrison Lambert George Stott, and myself Kathryn Sammon

We all enjoy watching thriller filmsand before George joined us we already had in mind a psychological thriller. We have decided to split the group into 3 sections. Directing will be done by me as I enjoy, and believe I am good at leading. Camera work and filming will be done by Harrison because he has the most experience with cameras and George will be doing the editing and post production as he have the most experience with that.

Our company name will include the first letter each of our last name. So for Harrison it will be L, for me it will be S and for George it will also be S. So we decided our company name will be "SLS Films".

Film Opening Idea 3

Idea 3 - Framed

Genre: Crime

Synopsis

After being caught on CCTV at the scene of a murder, which was set up by a mystery murderer to frame the protagonist of the film, Jack (a divorced detective) is forced to figure out who was the person that put the blame on him. With no support from his colleagues, who believe he committed the crime, Jack's skills are tested. The film opening will begin with Jack being told he has 48 to figure out the murder, he will then start his investigation.

Possible Locations

- Outside Police Station

- Car

- Office

 

Strengths

The strengths of this opening is that it is of a very popular genre, which is relatively easily to successfully produce. The locations needed are also very basic, as most of the opening will be the main character traveling in a car, to his home, where in his office he starts his investigation.  

Difficulties

It will however be difficult to find a person who is ideal for the character of 'Jack' as I know limited amount of 30/40 year olds who would be available, and there is no guarantee that they will successfully be able to act as this character.

Film Opening Idea 2

Idea 2 - The Move

Genre: Psychological Thriller 

Synopsis

A teenage girl, who's parents have recently died, must travel away from her home town, leaving her friends and all that is familiar behind, to be with her grandparents in the countryside. The Film opening will visually show the both the journey to the countryside, and the journey of her mind, back to her parents death. Throughout the journey there will be scenic routes that will have relaxing connotations that will contrast with traumatic flashback of her parents death.

Possible Locations

- Train 

- Farm/Farmhouse

- Scenic Country roads

Strengths

The strengths of this idea would be that the idea and the plot is relatively simple, therefore attention can be brought to locations and also to shot types. This film opening will be very aesthetically focused. Another strength is that I already have both an actor in mind, and also a singer to record a relevant backing track.

Difficulties

I think the most difficult part of this film opening, to do successfully, would be realistic flashbacks, explaining her parents death. They would have to be clear to the audience that that is what they are, and help them to understand why this girl is making a journey, and where too.

Film Opening Idea 1

Idea 1 - Outside

Genre: Science-Fiction

Synopsis

A young (12/13 year old) boy, is on the search for discovery of extra-terrestrial life on the outside of Earth. The opening would begin with the boy leaving his last lesson of school for the week, rushing out to meet his 2 friends, to plan their night universe watching. One friend will be just as eager as the main boy, however the other friend is less excited to spend his Friday night, the same as every Friday night, looking pointlessly up at the stars. However this specific night will turn out to be different, after hours of watching through their telescope, with their alien spotting devices, on the top of a large hill, they spot something peculiar right at the very end of the film opening.

Possible Locations

- A small classroom in school (Ilkley Grammar) 

- The school entrance (Ilkley Grammar)

- Bedroom

- Ilkley Moore 

Strengths

I have very easy access to the locations (the moor, school etc.) I would wish to shoot in, this makes this film opening quite achievable. I also think that this film opening would be enjoyable to produce and also be involved in as an actor, as it is an interesting and contains unusual happenings. 

Difficulties

It would however be difficult to find actors to play the role of the boys as they are of an age group that may not want to take part. It would also be difficult to clearly bring across to the audience that the boys are searching for extra-terrestrial life, I would have to find props that could be used.

Prelim Task

This is our preliminary task, where we filmed a section of dialogue between the two characters, playing a teacher and pupil, over a table. The conversation was very brief and consisted of the teacher  asking the pupil their opinion on their exam results. 

Analysis of the task

Overall, I think that the preliminary task was both filmed and edited well. Our biggest success in my opinion is the continuity on the clip; each shot flows from one to the other, making the audience least aware of the pauses we will have had to take between takes as possible. To ensure this was reached we made sure that our shots, that were to later to be edited together, contained movement that would then be continued into the next shot.

We also were set the rule of no auto focus, therefore we focused manually before recording each shot,  varying the iris of the shot where it was needed. We also used a Tripod to film our Prelim, which we used to achieve the height of the shot we felt necessary (low long shot at the start and a eye-level middle shot) and also to maintain a height - especially between switching shoulders of the actors.

There are a few things however that could have been altered to achieve an overall better outcome, one of which was the white balance of the shots. We could have altered the white balance better on the camera settings before recording some of the shots so that each clip matched when put together. There was also a moment near the start of the Prelim, where there is a unwanted camera shake as the camera is moved to follow the actor from the stairs, to the door.

To put together the clips and to complete our preliminary task with a full, edited video I used the application Final Cut Pro, which I found was ideal, and I worked with it well.

Hunger Games Swede

As our swede project we decided to reenact, on a very low budget, and within a week, The Hunger Games. We decided on this film as the vast majority of the film is within 'The Arena' that we thought could successfully be represented by Ilkley Moor, a 15 minute walk from school. It would also be a fun swede to do as it contains lots of action and excentric characters. My role in the swede was the character 'Rue' who dies within The Arena, I also filmed parts of the swede as we rotated the role of camera operator.

Preproduction 

- First we made a list of what we thought, as a group, were the key scenes/moments in the film.

- Then we discussed and assigned roles within the group.

- We also had to make a table which contained the scene, who was needed, the props, and when and       where we would film it

- Finally we made props from cardboard, string, and sticks, and found wigs to use whilst filming.

Editing

To Edit the swede together, I used the application of 'Final Cut Pro'. We imported our preferred takes and edited them together, using transitions where necessary. I adjusted the volume of some of clips and also had to use the 'blade' tool cut out sounds of the camera moving and people talking. We initially had quite a calm hunger games theme tune over the swede, however deciding that it wasn't appropriate for the whole video, we added a more tense theme tune to the middle of the swede. Finally, when we were happy with how it looked, I added a title of 'The Hunger Games Swede' just prior to the last shot. Then finally the credits followed by the mocking jay whistle, the final sound on a black screen to bring together the end of the swede.

Challenges

We found, as a group of 9, it was very difficult to get everyone at the location, at the correct time. It was also hard to keep in contact with anyone who was arriving early/late. Another very obvious challenge was the timing of which we were given to complete filming and editing of the swede - one and a bit weeks. Due to this many of the filming was rushed, and some points we had discussed earlier to include in the swede were missed out.

Technical Analysis

Assessment of current attainment and predicted grade

Overall I feel you have made a very positive start to the course. Your written work is very good and I am impressed by your commitment, enthusiasm and desire to do well. You are currently working at a high Proficient level (A/B); in order to ensure your work falls comfortably within your targeted A grade, you should do the following going forward:

Get your work up to date; Your 5th Film Opening should by now be on your blog; please complete this by the end of this week.

Your analyses need to make better use of semiotics. This means describing denotation and connotation. In other words what is shown and what is implied. You understand these concepts but don’t refer to them correctly. See me if you are unsure.

Now that we are approaching production, I would recommend that you start blogging more regularly on everything that you are doing on the course. This could start with your swede; write a blog (or do a vlog) on your contribution to the production and what your challenges/difficulties were in achieving your swede.

Mr VZ