Risk assessment

We had to have a risk assessment for when we were filming. I asked the rest of the group and they came up with the same ideas as i thought or a bit more. For example:
-keep cables tidy
-Don't have drinks near electricals

And other things like this.

Feedback of first draft

We shown our first draft to our teacher and part of the class to gain feedback. Overall the feedback was great, however someone pointed out that from a certain point it looks more like a trailer than an opening. We will take this feedback into consideration and improve the way it looks.

Filming outdoors- Skateboard

We had a bit of a problem while filming, While trying to move the skateboard with the camera on it, the shots used to be jumpy due to the bumbs in the path which made the camera move about. Fortunitly Shaun had some tape which he used to attach the camera to the skateboard so the camera wouldn't jolt about as musch.

Acting-Extras

Seeing as there are more characters in our opening scene then there is in our group, we have thought about hiring people from an acency, however we dont have the time, and more than likely we wont have enough money, we will ask some of our friends to be the extras in our opening scene.

Ideas for main project

Costume ideas
The things that we will be wearing will be suits, so things like ties,
-Jackets,
-Trilby/Beanie hats,
-Smart shoes,
-Red heels.

                   

Opening to films

Here is some opening to films



The Godfather is a classic opening of a gangster film. The setting is dark to represent badness in the gangsters the light shows a little bit of the gangsters face shdoesnt fully reveal hte face of but gives an idea of that the gangster isnt isnt up to to anything good. The gangsters were pretty much all black to blend in with the darkness, this is done to show that they blend in the darkness to hide.

Codes and Convensions

Codes and Conventions are what makes up the film.

Here is what the codes and convensions are in a ganster film:

The opening scene in a ganster film :

• Sets the scene of what is going on  
• Introduces main characters. What they are like, the sort of things they
• Creates an enigma/suspense to keep the audience interested
• A crime happens to set the story for the rest of the film

Codes Of A Ganster Type Film:

• Dark nightclubs
• Lots of money
• Normally film-noir
• Fast cars 
• Tommy guns
• Crowded city
• smoking (cigars, ciggerates etc)

Conventions Of A Ganster Film:

• Characters are usually operate outside of the law.
• Characters are usaully criminals (normally tend to be bank robbers) 
• Criminals struggle to Gloryfy against the other rivals
• A crime happens at the beginning and the storyline of the film follows how the victim's/criminal's trebulations which follow after the crime
• The criminals are always caught at the end  of the film

Characters Of A Ganster Film:

• They are Matrialistic and Street-smart
• They are Immoral
• They are criminals who work in gangs, Every gang has a 'history' and rivalry with another gang or criminal
• Most(If not all) of the criminals are tough on the outside, however they can express sensitivity

Main ideas

Here is a powerpoint slide which Shaun harrison has created to show our idea for our main project.

Juno Editing

Today we are editing our version of the Juno opening.
We will edit our own versions and then we analyse them when we have finished.

Juno

To practise filming and getting used to the acting and the way the camera works etc. We stated to film our version of the opening to Juno. I brought a 4 pint carton of juice and on friday afternoon we started filming. Laura is playing the part of Juno. We havent finished yet but we are going to meet up after school one time this week to finish it.

Goodfella's-Opening

Even though this clip is 10 minutes long, I am only want to look at the first 3 minutues of it.
In the opening scene the main lighting is dark and they have done this by putting a defuser over the light to produce a darker shade. They have done this to give sense of badness and something bad is going on. The darker shade gives sinsister impressions to the viewers.
When showing the credits, it shows that it will start off on a moterway because the credits come onto the screen like a car moving and they have added car effects to make it look like the titles are cars.
The camera angles in this clip include:
Establishing shot, this is used to show people where the scene is set.
Close up, this is used to give the sense of the persons facial features to show how they are feeling.
Extreme close up
Medium shot

If the camera is close up to the actor and there is darkness around the characters this gives a sense of evil and tension within the scene.

Sin City opening title sequence

This is the opening title sequence to Sin City.
Lighting
The lighting in this opening tiltle sequence is animated lighting, this means that there is lighting in this but it has been drawn in. (this also applies to most animations).
The colours used in this opening sequence include black, white and red. This resebles plain and simple, the black and white draws attention to the red. The red in this may represent evil, this is because something bad is going to happen in the film.

Opening scenes part 1 intro and Sin City

In the next few blogs i upload, i will show the opening to some of the American Ganster films i listed in one of the blogs i posted earlier.


This is the opening to Sin City.

There are different camera angles and techniques used.
Different camera angles/techniques include:
Establishing shot, this is to show where the scene is set. In this case it is set in a city lots of things are going on and it is a relly busy atmosphere.
Long shot this shows where the character(s) are in the scene, this shows what they are doing, where they are going etc. This may show what sort of person the characters are. Evil, good etc.
Medium/Long shot. This is to show what the character(s) look like from the whole body, how they walk talk, etc.
Medium shot, this is mainly used for dialogue,
Close up is used to show expressions which is being
Medium close up
Shot Reverse Shot
180 degree rule

Lighting
There is not much light to this scene.
It is mainly dark. A key light is used with a defuser to dim the light on the characters faces.

This also has low key lighting to create a mysterious atmosphere which keeps the viewers attension. The red draws attention to certain areas because it stands out from the black and white.

Camera shots in Gavin and Stacey

there is a variaty of camera angles shots used in this five mins of Gavin and Stacey
The camera shots that were used include:
Establishing shot- shows audience that they are in London
Medium close up *
Medium long shot  *     Lots of these are used throughout the scene    
Medium shot *
180 degree is used
Long shot

Camera shots/angles

We have learned different camera shots/angles.

ES- Establishing shot- ELS - Exteme Long Shot
An ES is a camara shot that is shot extremily far from the character. This shot shows the character in an area to show where they are and what they are doing(e.g walking down a street in a city).

LS- Long Shot
A LS is a shot that is shot far away, but not as far as a ES.This shows them in relation to their surroundings.

MLS-Medium Long Shot
This shot shows more details of the chracter than the previous shots. Also, the mise-en-scene is shown quite clearer.

MS-Medium Shot
This shot shows a character from between round about the knees- waist area to just above the head. This shot is sometimes called 'mid-shot' or 'three-quater shot'. MS is similer to MLS

MCU-Medium Close Up
The MCU is from the mid-chest to just above the head. This shot shows more detail of the character (what they look like etc). It can also contain two people talking.

CU-Close Up
CU is even more detailed than the shots before. It shows the head and shoulders of the character.

ECU-Extreme close up
This shot shows a small part of the face or an object. This can also show extreme emotion if the camera is extreme close up on the eyes.
BEV-Birds Eye view
A Birds Eye view is a camera shot which is filmed from directly above (overhead ) the scene.

There are lots more which are used within the filming industry

Premiliany Exercise

This is our groups Premiliany exercise.
In this exercise we have used Match on action, the 180 degree rule and shot reverse shot.

Here is our video of premilimany task. We used Dan's Premilinary exercise.

180 degree rule

The 180 degree rule is a guideline when making a film or tv programme. This guideline is that two characters (or other elements) that are in the same scene should have the same right/left relationship to each other. If the camera passes over the invisble axis which connects these two subjects, this is known as "crossing the line".

See this example of the camera on the left hand side, the person with the orange shirt will always be on the left hand side of the camera and teh person with the blue top will always be on the right hand side because the camera on the right hand side cannot pass the imagenary line running between the two people.

This is a clip of Dodgeball: a true underdog story film and see how the the camera always stays on one side of the "Imaginary Line" where Vince Vaughn is on the left hand side and Ben Stiller is on the right hand side.

                                      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhKQ-whmSBA

Match On Action

Match on action is a technique that cuts from one shot to another shot which matches the pace and action of the first shot. This gives an impresson to the audience that comtinnuity is happening even though the shots may have been filmed weeks apart. If a character is doing something in one shot (e.g walking or driving) and then completes it in the next shot, a visual "bridge" is created. This acts to disguise the cut from one to the other.

In this example of the t.v hit series F.R.I.E.N.D.S watch from 7:00 mins and watch the different camera angles as they walk across the room to put their keys on the worktop.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYQ0G1Szhh0&feature=related

Shot Reverse Shot

Shot Reverse Shot Definition

Shot reverse shot is a technique used in film/tv where it shows someone is shown looking at someone else but who is off screen, then the other person looks back towards at the first person. since both characters are looking in opposite directions to each other. The viewers assume that the characters are facing each other.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-RJrTNLAbw

Watch this example of Shot reverse shot in hit T.V series F.R.I.E.N.D.S. In this example Joey is talking to Erica when Erica is not on screen and vise versa then it shows that Joey talks to Rachel Monica and Chandler when they are off set and vise versa. 

Continuity part 1

In the next few blogs i am going to decribe what three different continiuty principles which me and my group will be using in our preliminary exercise.

Continuity means showing a story but not being able to watch every single detail but still understand what is going on. for example if a man is going to london by car the first shot will be him getting in is car and going, the next shot will be him pulling up at a car park in london. People who watch this knows that the man is going from his house to London without being able to watch the whole car journey.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYQ0G1Szhh0&feature=related

In this video of F.R.I.E.N.D.S watch from 1:40 untill 2:15 and you will still see continuity been used because in the first shot Ross and Pheobe are at the airport then the next shot Pheobe is walking through the door of the apartment. this shows that they drove back from the airport without actually showing the car journey