Evaluation 1

In what ways does your film opening use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real films?

My film borrows some ideas from many films, such as sin city and watchmen. One of the ways I did this was making my main character, the detective, much like that of the character rorschach in watchmen. The clothes he wears are very similar, with a trilby like hat and a long trench coat. I've also made sure that you don't properly see the detective's face until the end of this sequence, much like rorschach who wears a mask and doesn't show anyone his face either. This is an archetypal character that's present in various different films. Another way in which i've attempted to make my film similar to sin city is playing with colour and effects. I've added a graphical effect onto all of the shots to make it look more like a comic. In sin city you can see this is done much more effectively as they have better equipment and editing softwares and more skill. However I think i've added enough effect that a viewer would make the connection of the two films. The font I decided to use is a font called Mistral which I found on final cut pro x. I believe this font looks comic like and is similar to the sin city font. This adds to the comic book feel. In many noir films there is a stereotype of a woman in trouble and a man saving her. In my film i've attempted to subtly challenge this idea. At first the detective follows her into the alleyway but he needs information off of her and so she is in the power place here and looks more in control. I've tried to keep to a conventional genre of thriller, a villain against a detective who uses a girl to get information about him. However i've added a slight twist to this genre by introducing the game idea to my film. The idea was that the detective needs to find the villain by using a series of clues and pursuing him. This isn't entirely obvious but with the dialogue of "Game over" and the film title "Game Plan" I think it's hinted at enough to give the viewer an idea that this isn't just a standard thriller film.

Rough cut 3

In this roughcut i've added a soundtrack I found on a copyright free music website. I've also changed the positioning and wording of the title sequences. For instance the title now comes in later when the gun shot is heard and the title's near the start show the actor's names. I've also added nearer the end a sound effect of someone's heart beating to add tension, but i'm not sure about how it sounds. This is not a fine cut piece and things need brushing up. I might for instance change the soundtrack and see how it sounds with a different one.

Rough Cut 2

This is the first rough cut i've done after I got all of my filming done. I finished editing all the footage together in about 2 hours and this is the very first piece of rough cut I have. I need to do a lot with sound, for instance add a soundtrack, delete the sound completely off of some clips and add in some non diegetic sound for others. There are also some shorts which looks slightly too dark or slightly too light compared to the shots next to it so i'm going to add some effects to play around with the lighting on these ones. I'm also not sure about having the title come in so quickly. Originally I was going to have the title come in after the blackout but before I had the scene with the gunshot I put the title in when the bus goes past the screen. I however might change this to my original plan as I think it may look better and look less like a trailer. I will do this over the next few days hopefully and upload a second rough cut with these improvements made. I will then fine tune the piece until it's how I want it.

A rough cut of the first few scenes

Above is my first rough cut of the first few scenes. I have a lot more to add to this and the black frames you see throughout the video are place holders for other shots I have yet to film. I like a lot about this footage, the first few shots with the soundbridges and the way the girl turns around and some opening credits comes in at the same time as an SFX sounds, this is similar to the shot after where the detective enters the screen and more opening credits and another SFX. I also like the way the title comes in as it comes in at the same time a bus goes by. The shot after this I really like as well because you see a police car go past and it gives it a noir feel which a red tinge of the nightlife. There were however a few issues that I had to correct. For instance in one of the scenes the lighting is too light because the shot before it it looks much much darker. I have tried to fix this by deleting some of the scenes I don't necessarily need and adding effects to some scenes I do need to keep but I think the best thing to do is to reshoot these few scenes at a later date. There was also an issue with the light in the tunnel. In the few scenes in which you first see the alleyway the tunnel is almost pitch black and in the next scenes there's a light so you can see her face. I've tried to fix this by adding in the light turning on but I may reshoot these as well, or add a shot of the actual light in the tunnel turning on. I also like the final shot we see of the detective running up to the building as I like the diegetic noises in the background and the redness of the shot resembling the night time.

Plan for half term and the next week

Over the next week I need to have completed my filming and my editing. I require some more film to complete my filming. On tuesday 12th I will complete another scene of filming after school with two of my actors, then the weekend of that week, the 16th / 17th I will film my last scene. Altogether there's not that much more footage that I need but they are necessary to complete the editing or even a rough cut. I will then edit over the week after half term and possibly during half term if I have time to come in and start the editing.