Evaluation

We have both written an evaluation for this project, these can be seen at the links below:

Amanda:
foundationproduction-amanda.blogspot.com

Laura:

Call Sheets

To help us organise our filming sessions, we have created two call sheets, one for our external filming, based at the garages, and another for our internal work, based within Waingels. By creating these documents, we were able to easily timetable our filming, as well as work out who needed to be where, and when, by also having the contact details of the participants, we could easily phone them, without having to search for their details. The two call sheets can be seen below:

Shooting Script

This is the shooting script; which will be used on the set when filming. It provides an easier way to shot the film. As there are many camera positions, rather than shot them in the same order as the story board we will shot them one camera position at a time, to make the filming process quicker and easier. The shooting script provides the order in which we will shoot the film.

Location Plans

For our locations we need plans to instruct people were everything will be placed including the camera positions. Below is our location plan for the interview room, which shows Alyssa and Jackson positions around a table, and the cameras.

 

Our second location, at the garages and alley/path, we will have 5 different camera positions for various shots, you can see these on the plan below:

Script

The script was created by the director with help from the other group members. It will be used by the actor/actresses to help guide them to perform in the correct way, as well as being instructed by the director. It is important to put as much detail in as possible so they have enough guidance to help them interpret the script correctly.

Draft

We decided that our first attempt needed improving, as the ending seemed too brief, so we decided to develope the ending so that the exchange between Jackson and Alyssa would last longer and so it would be clearer to the audience; as they would  have more dialogue and more time to take it in. We also found that the speech needed to stand out some more to make it easier to read when filming, so we moved the speech towards the centre of the page.

Final Draft



Location Photos

Now we know where we want the opening scene to be set, we need to find the appropriate locations, the first location will be an alleyway and a rural area where we can stage a fight scene. We found an appropriate setting, an alleyway/path with a warehouse and fences around it, which will look good during the evening, at the end there is a large area with garages. We think that this location will suit the first part of our opening scene well, although we think that it will be better in the evening, when it is darker, as it will create more tension and confusion.
These are some photos of the location:

The pathway that we will be using to film the cut-ins of people running

The area where we will film our fight scene

We also needed a small, plain room, where the conversation between Alyssa and Jackson could take place, we decided on a plain, small room, as it is supposed to be set in a prison or police station. We found a suitable room at our school, which can be seen in the photos below:

This is one half of the room, and for part of the shot, this door will be seen.

This is the other, more bland side of the room.

We feel that these two location are suitable, as the garages will be a good background for a fight and will also be seculded. Also, the small meeting room has nothing on the walls to show that it's actually in a school, so we can create our own location with it.

Storyboard

This is our storyboard. As a group we have all contributed to its making, as it is one of the most important pieces towards our project, so it needed everyones influence. It will be used by the director and camera operator during the filming to help them establish the correct shots; it will also be used by the editor when it comes to editing so they can know the order of the film, and produce the film to the director's taste.

The opening scene

Now we have decided on a plot and know our characters, we need to plan our opening scene
This is out basic plan for the opening scene 
1. Watch gangs arriving – cut ins of feet running and hands holding weapons.

2. Cut to production company introduction
3. Fighting – hand held camera, shaky. Over top of scene – names of group
4. Dialogue between main character and villain – see gun pointed at main character
5. Black out – hear gunshot, noise fades, film title appears on screen
6. Fades into next scene – main character and brother talking – establishing situation. Over top of scene – actor names

We will also need to plan our opening scene in more detail, including the camera angles and settings.

Here is a more detailed plan for our opening scene

We have decided that for our opening scene we need 3 locations, an alleyway/path that can be used for the gangs to run through, a rural area where we can stage our fight scene and a plain room that could be used as a visitors room in a prison.
 

 

Main characters

We then had to start inventing our main characters, we know that the main character will be called Alyssa, who has a brother called Jackson, but we needed to think about their backgrounds and what sort of people they will be.
These are our main characters:

Our plot ideas

We came up with 3 plot ideas, so we could choose the best one, below are our 3 ideas:

We decided to go with our first idea, as it seemed more intriguing and we would be able to explore the characters more, we also liked the ending we came up with, as it would be quite fun to film. But as we are only creating the opening, we are thinking of showing the end at the beginning which has been used in other action films such as Mission impossible 3. We have also decided to call our film Justice, as it seems appropriate, as the main character is on a mission for justice.

Action film opening analysis's

To help us get ideas for our own opening, we have been watching other action film openings and analysing them, to see what techniques they have used and how they have drawn the audience in.
To analyse them we have focused on 4 main areas:
  - Mis-En-Scene - everything in shot, costumes, props, lighting etc
 - Editing - the pace of the scene and how this affects the overall mood
 - Camera - the camera angles used and the affect they have
 - Sound - there are 2 types of sound :
    - Diagetic - sounds that are real, that the characters can hear e.g. footsteps, wind etc.
    - Non-Diagetic - added sounds, that characters can't hear e.g. background music, voiceovers
The five action films that we have analyised are Salt, Lethal Weapon, Casino Royale, The Bourne Supremacy and Law Abiding Citizen - these are all popular action films, but from different times, for example, Lethal Weapon was realeased in 1987 , whereas Salt was realeased this year (2010)
Below are our analysis's of these films:

Lethal Weapon (1987) 

Salt (2010)

 

 Casino Royale (2007)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Bourne Supremacy (2004)

 Law Abiding Citizen (2009)

After analysing a wide range of action films, our group created a mind map about what was included in them to help us create an opening of our own including some of these conventions. In the mind map we explored different areas of an action film, which we ought to consider when creating our short film. this is shown below:

Brief

For Media Studies we will be creating, filming and editing a 2 minute opening sequence for an action film. To help us get ideas for our opening and characters we will be analysing other action films and trying to see the techniques they used effectively to get the audience to react.  
Our group is Sophie, Laura and Manda, Sophie will be taking the role of producer, so will be organising the group, Laura is the editor and camera operative, so will be in charge of setting up the camera to get the right angles and making sure the whole sequence flows, and Manda will take the role of director, so will be working with Laura to ensure we get the shots we need.