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.

What i've done today

Today I did some more of my rough cut edit. I added a few shots that I previously filmed. I added a few colourisation effects to some shots to allow continuity between one shot and another, before I added the effect the orangeness of one shot was contrasting with a greyness of another but after the effect was added both shots combined nicely. I also reversed one shot in which the girl looks to the left and then straight on so instead she looks straight on and then to the left which works well with continuity as in previous shots she is looking straight on. I deleted a few of my shots in which the lighting was too light as it was meant to be light, I may reshoot these scenes at a later date but for now I've removed them to see how the continuity goes without them.

I have now changed the positioning of my titles back a couple of seconds so instead of the music coinciding with just the titles coming into screen it also coincides with what's happening in the scene, for example now the title and the sound come in at the same time as the detective enters the screen.

Explore the representation of gender in this extract

Explore the representation of gender in this extract

The tv show scott and bailey revolves around two detectives, scott and bailey. In this extract a woman is talking to a man at a dinner table, the woman is wearing plain clothes like she has come straight from work and the man is wearing a suit with no tie, showing he dressed up quite smart but not overly so. She is slouched over and leaning on her hand. Her body language is relaxed and casual. His body language is tight and he seems nervous. He keeps up straight and talks very carefully. He breaks up with her and his voice stays calm although it stutters where as she is confused, she seems taken aback and upset. The background is all out of focus so we can see that the focus of this part is on the two people in the middle of the frame. The lighting is quite low key and keeps natural, it is at the side of the man, splitting his face into light and dark, perhaps showing that he has a dual personality and is possibly hiding something from her. Whereas the light on the woman is the same throughout her face. The next scene is the workplace, the overall lighting is quite light, natural. Most of the people in the scene are wearing normal black/grey work clothes except a couple of the girls are wearing quite vibrant colours like blue, to make them stand out. The men in the workplace are preoccupied, they're all listening to the boss but they're not giving their full attention. For instance one of the workers is throwing and catching a coin and you can see via editing that one of them is checking out another girls legs. The editing shows this by cutting from the man bending his head to the right to the girls legs and the camera is panning up the leg. There is also another man looking at the pictures she mentioned in this scene. The idea of this scene with gender isn't to segregate them, the stereotype being that the men are the powerful ones or the woman are all sexualised. The piece shows the variety quite well because even though the men aren't paying much attention and one of them is checking out a coworker the big boss is a woman and the only input comes from a woman. In the next scene the woman is wearing a leather jacket and jeans again all in black and the man is wearing a casual dressing gown. The woman is banging on the door then enters his apartment. The lighting is again across half of the mans face and the womans face is lighted evenly. She is big with motions and seems violent towards him. He takes it as he knows he deserves it.