Tuesday 11 December 2012

Short recce of lighting + sound


Above is a short recce me and my classmates did. We learnt how to use a directional mic, and made some errors for instance not having the levels high enough. We learnt how to sync the sound with the clapper board. We also learnt how to light certain scenes. There were a lot of errors in this but we have learnt from them and will hopefully be more prepared for the final piece.

Monday 10 December 2012

Sound Planning

For my sound I will have lots of diegetic sound in the background. Most of this will be picked up by the mics and the camera I use so I wont have to worry too much about that. I will also have the sound of conversation between the detective and either the villain or the girl. For this I will have to use different kinds of mics. For the scene between the detective and the girl in the alleyway I will have to either film it twice and use a mic that's in shot for some of it. I could however use a directional mic for when there's a close up of the girl and she speaks as we will be able to hide the directional mic from the shot. For the scene between the detective and the villain I will use a directional mic as I will be able to hide the directional mic from shot.

I will also have some non-diegetic sound. For instance near the end when you hear a gunshot I will add that in later, in editing. This can be found on final cut so I wont have to worry about that.
I'd also like a soundtrack for the background of most of the film. This will be hard to find as it will have to be copyright free. I will have to look on copyright free sites such as:

http://www.royaltyfreemusic.com/

http://freemusicarchive.org/

I will find something similar to the songs below, which are uploaded and made by youtubers but as I can see from the comments other people have been asking if they can use it in a film and he has replied that they can so I could potentially ask if I can use it in the actual film.





I like these songs because I think they'll go with the feel of the film.

Sunday 9 December 2012

Locations - Alleyway + Building - Video

This is the video in which I talk about two of my locations, the alleyway and the building.





Locations - Alleyway - Pictures


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are the pictures of the alleyway i'm using.
I have spoken more about the location during the video of the alleyway and the building.

Locations - Building - Pictures



 

 

 


 

These are the pictures of the building
I have spoken more about the location during the video of the alleyway and the building.

Thursday 6 December 2012

Film industry 4

Q1. What are the main genres produced by the UK film industry in the last 25 years? Try and think of some more recent examples from the last few years. Who do you think goes to see these types of films?

The main genres produced are action films, and rom coms. Teenagers mostly go to see these types of films and maybe some slightly older audience, 15-25 would be the main age gap.

Q2. DNA films last two productions were Dredd 3D (2012) and Never Let Me Go (2010). What kind of films are they? How are they different from earlier films? Have they been successful at the box office?

They're both science fiction drama films. They both did pretty well in the box office and they are different from earlier films because they're more futuristic.

Q3. Summarise in your own words what kinds of films Momentum Pictures look to distribute and why?

They look to distribute thrilling and gripping films that are interesting to their audiences. Most of the films they're distributing at the moment are thrillers but with some comedy or drama. They mainly produce big films that make a lot of money but are possibly slightly less well known about.

Storyboard











Monday 3 December 2012

Graphics Planning

Opening Credits Planning

For my opening I wish to have the title sequence at the end. After the climatic scene of the gunshot and the door slamming the screen will go to blackout. The title will then come into view and then it will fade into the next scene and the opening credits will be on the side of the shots. These shots are of the girl in the film, Morgan, walking along the streets.


The opening credits above are from the TV show the walking dead. This is the kind of thing I would like to create. Obviously there wouldn't be as many shots or as many credits but the quick succession of shots with the credits to the side or above the main part of the shot is what I would like to create.


The above credits are from the film Panic Room. The opening credits in this film are also to the side of shots, however these are all of building and the city. I would like to have something like this except the shots I would have to make would be from ground level.

In conclusion I wish the title to enter from a blackout at the end of the computer room scene and then the opening credits to be present to the side or above the main part of the shot in the next few shots. These shots will be of the girl walking the streets during the day and possibly buildings and parts of the city.

Ident planning

Most idents, like bbc one and channel 4 look really professional and would be very difficult for someone like me to pull off. Because of this i'm looking to do one similar to that off an indie cinema or a perhaps simpler one that's still used by a big company. The ident below is from new line cinema. It looks slick and smooth and is a lot simpler than bbc one or channel 4. Something like this will still be hard to do but not as hard as that of bbc one etc.


I am going to animate the ident myself and so I will have limitations as my skills in this area aren't that of professional standard. There are other options for the ident but these also have their limitations (for instance real life shots with special effects put in). I think I could make something similar to that of the ident above if I practised with animations.

Above is an animation I created using a program called pivot and converted into a .gif format. This program was very simple to use and the ident didn't take that long to do. This is however just a recce and when I create the ident i'm going to use I will spend a lot more time on it and make it look much more professional. I think the ident below however is a very good start and looks quite like something I would want to do.

Friday 30 November 2012

Film industry 3

Q1. Why do you think 3D takings went down when the number and variety of 3D films increased in 2011?

The novelty of going to see a 3D film, except maybe in the imax has worn off. Less people will go and see a 3D film if it doesn't seem to affect the actual plot of the film as it is more expensive. For instance a film like titanic wouldn't change much if it was in 3D or 2D but a film with a lot of action etc. would be affected if in 3D. So even though more films are in 3D, they don't need to be and so people are saving themselves money and seeing them in 2D instead.

Q2. Where do you think these films end up being shown?

In indie cinemas like the ritzy in brixton for about a week. This is so they can say they were in the cinema so it's easier to sell the film. Also if they get good reviews they get publicity and might even extend their stay in the cinema.

Q3. Why do you think there are more people going to the cinema mid - week? Who are more likely to attend the cinema outside of opening weekends?

People who are more likely to go to the cinema outside of opening weekends are middle aged people and people who have no work or no school to go to.

Q4. Why do you think there has been a decline in DVD sales in the last few years?

More websites like Love film and netflix allow you to rent films online, stream them or even get DVDs delivered to your house for rent. This means less people buy DVDs because they can get the films they want when they want at home already so there's no need for DVDs.

Q5. Summarise what has remained the same about the UK film market over the last ten years and what has changed dramatically?

Annual UK admissions hasn't changed. The amount of people downloading and streaming films online has increased massively. This is because of nowadays that the broadband speeds are much faster than they used to be so you can download films easier. There is also many more streaming sites like 4oD and LoveFilm etc. so you can stream films a lot easier also.

Q6. How does film production in the UK seem to be very different from the Hollywood model of large, powerful studios?

Film production in the UK receives a lot less money and investment than hollywood films so UK films are a lower budget and might look less glossy. UK films tend to be quite gritty and hollywood films look glossy and sometimes very fake because the budget is so big so everything is perfect and all the special effects look really good.

Q7. What is the benefit of a film producer to their film being branded as british? What is it about 'Britishness' that is attractive to investors from outside the UK? What is it about 'Britishness' that makes it easy for Hollywood studios to dominate our film market?

If a film producer brands their films as british then they get tax breaks and will make more money. British films are thought of very highly abroad as they have a very good reputations.

Q8. How many of these could be considered British films? How many of them are co-productions where the majority of the money leaves the country? What does this say about the scale of the UK film industry?

The ones where country of origins is just the UK and not a mixture of USA and UK. A lot of the films are co-productions where the majority of the money leaves the country. The UK film industry is quite large because some of the highest grossing films in the world are made entirely in the UK. However the UK industry is nowhere near as big as the american film industry and doesn't make as much money.

Monday 19 November 2012

Film piracy essay

What are the cons (for institution) and the pros (for audience) of digital film piracy?

Film piracy has existed for years. Copies of films could have been copied on to a disk after being filmed by a cheap camcorder in a cinema with lots of ambient noise and shaky camera work. People buying these films will have been ripped off as sometimes these films wouldn't even work properly. The people selling these films have been linked to other more serious crimes and therefore by buying these films you are effectively fuelling these crimes such as human or drug trafficking and even terrorism. The film industry spend a lot on adverts and posters to try and spread awareness of the fact that film piracy isn't a good thing. For instance in 2004 a 1.5 million pound campaign was launched to try and spread awareness of this very thing. This in the big picture isn't that much money to the film industry but on top of all the money they lose from people not buying their real DVDs and buying fake ones it is a blow to the industry. In the UK alone the estimated value of the pirated film market is said to be £950 million. The industry of film loses a lot via film piracy and while nowadays buying DVDs on the streets is a lot rarer there are still lots of ways films can be pirated. For instance nowadays people download the films off of the Internet for free and don't pay anything to the companies. Because the technology of recording devices is developing so quickly it is becoming harder to counter film piracy at the source as they are smaller and harder to detect. However if the file companies are able to stop people downloading and buying these pirated films then you could effectively stop it in a different way as there would be no point in pirating the film, however that would be hard to do because at the moment there isn't a bad thing the audience gets from it.

For the audience there doesn't seem to be a bad thing about film piracy, except possibly the fact that most of the money goes towards more serious crime. The audience get the films for free and don't need to even leave the house to download them. In some countries film and also music piracy is taken a lot more seriously. In these countries if you are caught downloading them illegally you are charged a lot of money and so in these countries less people download these films. However now there are even sites online where you can stream the films or tv programs so they are harder to trace back to the consumer and even harder to prosecute because they haven't actually done much wrong as in some cases the sites have been made to look legal to fool the consumer.

In conclusion the cons for institution are massive money losses and the pros for audience is little to no money loss,

Thursday 15 November 2012

Film Industry 2


Q1. In the UK film market, an increase in the number of screens available to show films has NOT led to an increase in the number of films being shown. Why?

Each film has to be produced individually and the time needed to produce each film has not been decreased therefore the same amount of films are being made even though there are more screens available to see them in. In each of the screens the same films are played just at different times during the day.

Q2. In your opinion what might account for the fact that cinema attendances have fluctuated between 139 million and 176 million between 1999 and 2008?

More people go to the cinema because there are more huge films in recent years with huge budgets from huge production companies.

Q3. In 2011, UK film distributors invested £330 million in advertising their new releases and on 35mm film prints. If around 450 new films receive a theatrical in the UK every year. How much, on average, do distributors spend distributing a film in the UK?

£733,333 per film.

Q4. This spending stirred up an enormous demand – 171.5 million cinema tickets were bought in the UK in 2011. This is great news for cinemas – what’s the downside of all this excitement generated and consumer demand for film PRODUCERS in the UK?

If a producer in the UK was trying to bring out a film then they would have a lot of difficulty because a lot of the big film companies steal the attention away from them and take up all the screens. For instance Skyfall is still in screen 1 in most places and at the end of the week Twilight will be out and in screen 1 everywhere so if you wanted to bring out a film you wouldn’t get much time, if any, to be in screen 1. Perhaps not even in any screens.

Q5. In 2004 the average cost of releasing a US film domestically was $39m, in addition to the average production cost of $63.8m, making an overall average production/distribution cost per film of $102.8m. What effect might this have on Hollywood production and distribution if these increases have continued?

This would have a bad effect on Hollywood because more money would need to be spent on making and producing the film and so less profit will be made and less money will be made. They will also make less films because more money needs to be spent so it puts a lot of pressure on the few films that are being made to make more profit.

Q6. Why are more 'middle aged' people going to the cinema in 2011? Who, in your opinion, are the current most bankable leading actors for the 'youth' market in the UK?

More middle aged people are going to the cinema because more actors are older and from their 'time' so more middle aged people are going to the cinema to see the actors of their day.

Q7. Only about 18, 19 films made their studios a profit.

Q8. Jerry Bruckheimer is still a high concept producer because he produces films like pirates of the carribean. Michael Bay doesn't deserve most of this because the producer isn't going to put in the effects in and do all the explosions and so i think the credit should go to the editors.

Q9.  I think the indiewood films are aimed at a younger audience of teenagers.

Monday 12 November 2012

Shot List



Number

Cut

Type

Visual Content

Sound

Lighting

Time

Location

Actor’s and Props

1

 -

Long shot

Over the

shoulder

of the detective

following

the girl. Both walking

Diegetic 

 Low key natural lighting of the streets

2s

Soho or bromley

streets

Morgan 

& Leo


Pistol

2

Straight Cut

Establishing shot

Across the street of detective following the girl down the road

Diegetic

Low key natural lighting of the streets

2s

Soho or bromley streets

Morgan & Leo


Pistol

3

Straight Cut

Close up

(Static, no tracking)

Face of the girl on the right of the screen whilst the detective is a figure in the background following her, both walking towards camera.

Diegetic

Low key natural lighting of the streets

1.5s

Soho or bromley streets

Morgan & Leo


Pistol

4

Straight Cut

Long shot

Similair to shot 2. The girl walks down an alleyway then the detective follows.

Diegetic

Low key natural lighting of the streets

2s

Soho or bromley streets

Morgan & Leo


Pistol

5

Straight Cut

Long shot

Camera is at the end of the alleyway, you see the detective catch up to the girl grab her and put her against a wall.

Diegetic

Low key natural lighting of the streets

3s

Alleyway

Morgan & Leo


Pistol

6

Straight Cut

Close up

Camera is side on to both the detective and the girl, the detective has her up against a wall with a gun to her face and dialogue insues. When she says “He’s everywhere” the detective looks up and to the right slowly. The camera is shaky showing the action.

Diegetic

Low key natural lighting of the streets

4s

Alleyway

Morgan & Leo


Pistol

7

Straight Cut

Low angle shot

You can see a video camera that looks like a CCTV camera mounted on a wall.

Diegetic

And dialogue sounds.

Low key natural lighting of the streets

1s

Anywhere as you don’t see the full location, can only see the wall.

Morgan & Leo


Pistol


8

Straight Cut

High angle shot

You see what the camera would see, the detective holding the girl against the wall looking up at the camera.

Diegetic

Low key natural lighting of the streets

1.5s

Alleyway

Morgan & Leo


Pistol

9

Straight Cut

Mid shot.

Zooms out from a close shot of the monitor screen showing the shot above.

You see the villain watching the shot above on a computer screen, he’s in a dark room.

Diegetic, loud boom as you pan out

Very dark lighting. Glow of the monitor screen.

2s

A computer room at school

Joe


Monitor, mouse, keyboard, chairs. All props will be on location already.

10

Straight Cut

Close up

Same as shot 6 but the detective lets the girl go and she drops back to the floor

Diegetic

Low key natural lighting of the streets

1s

Alleyway

Morgan & Leo


Pistol


11

Straight Cut

Close up POV of girl

You see the girl and she says “Last clue” and then leans in close to the camera as it cuts

Diegetic

Low key natural lighting of the streets

1s

Alleyway

Morgan & Leo


Pistol

12

Straight Cut

Mid shot

Side on shot as the girl leans towards the detective and whispers something in his ear. The detective then puts his gun in his pocket.

Diegetic

Low key natural lighting of the streets

2.5s

Alleyway

Morgan & Leo


Pistol

13

Straight cut

Long shot

The end of the alleyway, same position as shot 5 and the detective runs off from the girl to the other side of the alleyway. You see her start to smile.

Diegetic

Low key natural lighting of the streets

2s

Alleyway

Morgan & Leo


14

Straight Cut

Close up

Close up of the girl you see her smile an evil smile then it cuts

Diegetic sound and the music starts

Low key natural lighting of the streets, possibly an above light to create interesting shadows.

1s

Alleyway

Morgan

15

Straight Cut

Mid shot

The detective is running along the streets and the camera is following behind him.

Music is playing

Low key natural lighting of the streets

2s

Streets of bromley/ anywhere

Leo

16

Straight Cut

Mid shot

Zooms in slowly

You see the villain in the dark room, you only see the back of him and he’s typing.

Music is playing

Very dark lighting, glow of monitor

2s

Computer room at school

Joe

17

Straight cut

Long/mid shot

You see the corner of a street and the detective runs around the corner and pass the camera

Music is playing

Low key natural lighting of the streets

1s

Streets of bromley/ anywhere

Leo

18

Straight cut

Mid shot still zooming in

Continued from shot 16

Music is playing

Very dark lighting, glow of monitor

1s

Computer room at school

Joe

19

Straight Cut

POV

Running down the streets

Music is playing

Low key natural lighting of the streets

1s

Streets of bromley/

anywhere

None

20

Straight Cut

Mid shot

The detective runs up to a building slows down at the door then looks up

Music is playing

Low key natural lighting of the streets

3s

Streets of bromley/ london or anywhere

Leo

21

Straight cut

Close up/

establishing shot

From the detective’s hips you see part of him and the building from a low angle shot, him looking up at it.

Music is playing

Low key natural lighting of the streets

1s

Streets of bromley/london

Leo

22

Straight

Cut

Long shot

You see the detective start to run again as he enters the building

Music is playing

Low key natural lighting of the streets

1s

Streets of bromley/london

Leo

23

Straight cut

Mid shot still zooming in

Continued from shot 18

Music is playing

Very dark lighting, glow of monitor

1s

Computer room at school

Joe

24

Straight cut

Mid shot/

close up

You see what the monitor was seeing, the villains face working at a computer, typing.

Music is playing, one beat every now and then.

Very dark lighting, glow of monitor

1s

Computer room at school

Joe

25

Straight cut

Mid shot/

Long shot

You see through the doorway of the room the villain working at the desk and the detective is behind him.

Music is playing

same as above

Very dark lighting, glow of monitor, can barely see two figures

2s

Computer room at school

Joe & Leo

26

Straight cut

Close up

You see the villain continue typing on the desk as the detective raises his gun to the back of his head.

Same as above music except building suspense up to a climax

Very dark lighting, glow of monitor on villains face and just a figure in the background

2s

Computer room at school

Joe & Leo

27

Straight cut

POV close up

You see the back of the villains head from the pov of the detective then the villain spins around before it cuts

Same as above, nearer climax

Very dark glow of monitor, possibly in need of filler lighting so you can see some things

2s

Computer room at school

Joe & Leo

28

Straight cut

Long shot

You see the detective holding the gun up to the villain through the doorway

almost at climax of music

Very dark glow of monitor almost no light, see two figures.

1s

Computer room at school

Joe & Leo

29

Straight cut

Close up

You see a close up of the detective, he tilts his head up so instead of seeing just the bottom of his face you see the whole thing, he’s smiling and he says “Game over”.

Music climaxes before game over is heard

Filler lights needed so you can see a shadow of his face until he tilts his head up

3s

Computer room at school

Leo

30

Straight cut

Long/mid

shot

Through the doorway again of the detective pulling the trigger on the villain

Only diegetic sound and the sound of the gunshot

Low key lighting glow of monitors but mainly figures

2s

Computer room at school

Leo and Joe

31

Straight Cut

-

Blackout and introduction of title of the film

One or two bass beats

-

2s

-

-

32

Straight Cut

Mid shot

Front on view of the girl walking along the street in the daytime

Diegetic sound of busy streets

Lots of light, very bright lighting during the day

3s

Streets of Bromley/ London

Morgan


Some type of bag

33

Straight Cut

Establishing shot

The girl walking the streets during the day on her way to a big building where she works.

Diegetic sound of busy streets

Lots of light, very bright lighting during the day

2s

Streets of Bromley / London

Morgan


Some type of bag

34

Straight Cut

Mid shot

The detective walking along similar looking streets also on his way to work

Diegetic sound of busy streets

Lots of light very bright lighting during the day

2s

Streets of Bromley/ London

Leo


Briefcase

35

Straight Cut

Long shot

The girl turning a corner of the streets, perhaps plugging in ipod headphones and turning on a music track that is then heard

Diegetic sound then muffled diegetic when headphones go on and then the music track when it starts playing

Lots of light very bright lighting during the day

2s

Streets of Bromley / London

Morgan


Ipod headphones

Some type of bag

36

Straight Cut

Mid shot

Behind the girl walking along the streets with her music in, catching up on her so moving shot

Music track

Lots of light very bright during the day

1s

Streets of Bromley / London

Morgan


Ipod headphones

Some type of bag

37

Straight Cut

Mid shot

 The girl walking up to a building perhaps tapping a pass against the door and then walking in.

Music track

Lots of light very bright during the day

2s

Streets of Bromley / London

Morgan


Ipod headphones

Some type of bag

38

Straight Cut

Mid shot

Back off from the building where the girl went into of the detective watching her and taking a sip of coffee, putting the cup in the bin and then walking across the road towards the building

Diegetic sound of the busy streets perhaps one or two bass beats

Lots of light very bright during the day

2s

Streets of Bromley /

London

Leo & Morgan


Briefcase

Coffee Cup