Planning: Soundtrack

Jake and I will be searching for different soundtracks on incomptech for specifically rock genre music to add to the overall atmosphere in scenes within our opening film. We have already found a few soundtracks that match what we are looking for and of which we shall decide which ones to use and whether they shall be edited or left as they are over our final film.

Team Meeting Notice

It has come to our attention that the current storyboard is far too short for the specified time, this is due to it being too vague in terms of a running scene and and uncertainly on how many shots for the dialogue will be needed. This will need to be extended to two minutes. The actual content required for our film will easily take up the specified time but this needs to be expressed in our storyboard in order to be helpful. 

Planning: Make-up

The representation - which is a crucial element of making our film opening effective - will be mainly reached by a combination of special effects in post-production and make-up. 

In terms of make-up the demons will specifically be relevant to our demons, who will have defined jaws and cheekbones etc. as well as heavy black make-up around the eyes without being over the top. Whereas in the case of the angel he will have limited make-up as a character but fake-blood will be needed for scene 1 and 3. The fake blood is likely to be made from food coloring and corn-syrup which will be applied as cuts and in enough consistency to drip over the feathers for our opening shot.

Planning: Target Audience Research.

In order to establish the potential success of this film I put six questions to seven people that suit our target audience in order to establish whether our planned idea meets the relevant codes and conventions and audience pleasures they would like to see. The results have helped us understand what works and what doesn't in our film opening and also what needs to be worked on in terms of problems they think might happen with an understanding of the specifications we have.They were given a brief detailed outline of our opening two minutes and the responses were as follows.

Question.	Response.	Extra Notes.
Do you think that the name given to our film is appropriate?	Yes: 5 No: 2	·         Could be more specifically relevant to story line. ·         Could chose a name to have darker connotations.
Does the synopsis given suit the Supernatural-Thriller genre?	Yes: 4 No: 3	·         More accurate to an action genre. ·         Comes across as more Fantasy based.
Does the opening synopsis suit the age rating of 15 – 18?	Yes: 6 No: 1
Do you think the pitch heard is an accessible idea for the time frame and budget we have?	Yes: 3 No: 4	·         If representation is simply but adequately done it will look effective. ·         Seems like a lot of content to fit into two minutes.
Would you be interested in this film?	Yes: 5 No: 2	·         Not their sort of genre. ·         If they were interested in this genre of film then they would have agreed.
When should the main plot line be introduced in a Supernatural-Thriller?	Immediately: 4 Beginning: 2 Middle: 1

Planning: Call list.

In order to make the production portion of our film easier and more organised to be executed swiftly. This may change as filming transpires and different requirements present themselves but this will be given out to everybody due to be involved in the production.

Date.	Crew members.	scene	shots	props	Location
Sunday 11 January.	Jake Haines, Laura Harris, Ton Wentink and Joe James.	Scene 2.	Running/chase shots 3 - 10	Camera equipment. Angle and two demon costumes.	Newbottle woods.
Sunday 18 January.	Jake Haines, Laura Harris, Ton Wentink and Joe James.	Scene 2.	Cylus dialogue shots  11 - 22	Camera equipment. Angle and two demon costumes.	Newbottle woods.
Sunday 25 January.	Laura Harris, Jake Haines, Ton Wentink and Alfie Russell.	Scene 1 and 3.	Opening haze and closing angel-demon interaction.	Camera equipment. White feathers, fake blood, rope chair.	Near Chipping Warden.
Sunday 1 February.	Laura Harris, Jake Haines, Ton Wentink, Joe James and Alfie Russell.	Missed shots.	Anything previously missed on filming dates.	As needed at the time.	---

Planning: Storyboard

As part of our planning I have created this storyboard as an initial rough draft to work with during production and to follow as a guideline.

Planning: Permission for Location

Although there is no direct owner of Newbottle woods Jake contacted Northamptonshire county council and promptly informed them of our filming plans and requested permission for filming. There is no reply as of yet.

Planning: Classification

Upon research for the classification of our film and with consideration that their is pain inflicted on the angel and substantial blood and injuries we found that our film would be best fitted to a 15 as according to the British Board of Film Classification that shows our films atmosphere meets an equivalent to a lot of the listings for a 15 film rating. 

Planning: Special Effects.

The representation - which is a crucial element of making our film opening effective - will be mainly                      reached by a combination of special effects in post-production and make-up. 


In terms of special-effects a lot of the representation of location (heaven) and supernatural powers will be mainly created through post-production and editing. Specifically the representation of the entities will be done by high speed running as a way of exploiting supernatural abilities and meeting expectations of our genre. The flashback in heaven will be differentiated through something of a flash transition from scene 1 to 2, with scene 2 edited with an effect to create intense high key lighting to represent heaven.

Planning: The Script

In order to establish the exact dialogue, action and narrative for our actors as well as for Jake and I. There was detailed discussion on what each character should say specifically despite the limited dialogue because it is important to get the desired footage exactly how we want it and necessarily representing the detailed characterisation needed for an angel and a demon. 

Planning: Health and Safety Risk Assessment table.

Risk or Hazard	Risk or Hazard rating (low/med/high)	How to avoid risk or hazard.
Falling over, tripping on branches etc.	High.	Issue shoes with good grip, remind all crew members etc. to look where they’re going.
Getting to location	Low.	A reliable designated driver will be acquired for all filming days.
Stings or various other wildlife themed disasters.	Medium.	Ointments and bandages etc. will be brought to location in the form of a health and safety kit.
Rain and mud.	Medium.	If rain has been substantial in

A number of safety hazards could present themselves during filming. The table above has acknowledged these points and has discussed them accordingly in preparation for when our production begins. 

Costume: Supernatural-Thriller Project

The colour schemes in the costume department are particularly key in representation to distinguish the angel and the demon within the set up of this two-five minute opening scene. (As and similar to that of the picture above) Black leather will symbolize demons due to it's rebellious and rough connotations, similar to demons, and will be opposed in the angels with smart white and bright coloured clothing which connotes high class, intellect and power that angels will also be associated with to equate each icon of the characters.The angel having a smarter consume to be smeared with mud to show that the collect and powerful representation is being destroyed by this demonic break in and that the power between angels and demons are shifting for the set up of the films narrative.

Make-up: Supernatural-Thriller Project

Make up - particularly with the demons - will also be used to represent angels and demons by heavy eyeliner for demons that will represent the black eyes that demons are iconic for. As seen in this picture is one of my practices in darkening the space around the eye to notable amount for this purpose, more of this may be needed as well as a darker black in order to be picked up notably in camera if it is to successfully be used as a piece of representation but is subtly effective. Furthermore, mud will be used to smear the angels clothing as a way to symbolize the rough and tumble of the situation he is in compared to the demon and in contrast with the costume to give the impression of having fallen from power before the angel literally does so. Food colouring and corn-syrup can be mixed together to make our blood for the interrogation scene also.

Locations: Supernatural-Thriller Project

The choice of location with this will be Newbottle woods considering forestry hold connations of purity which is shared with heaven and angels, but the interrogation part of the opening will be an abandoned building - unspecified on whether this is earth or hell proceeding the fall from heaven.The abandoned place seen in the last picture is likely to be our final interrogation scene filming location and lies just outside Chipping Warden. The forestry outside has been noted as perhaps too similar to that of our heaven location but the filming of this scene will be sure to keep outer details of the environment that might confuse matters out of shots.

The Treatment

Action: The "Family Omens" opening idea will consist be an interrogation that leads to a flashback of a chase scene in the woods of heaven, ending with a demon pushing the angel from heaven as was the act that created the first demons initially.

Themes: Whilst trying not to be too over dramatic, the basis of the opening story of our project is centered around the foundations of good and evil within biblical lore considering the narrative derives from the justification of the creation of the first demons, whether it was blown out of proportion or not skewed by the petty turn the break in to heaven will be seen as in our project.

Narrative: The narrative may require some set up through titles considering the detail of the history of angels and demons, but the actual point of the angel falling from heaven to be tortured by the demon. This being structured with the interrogation scene which would chronologically occur after the chase as the very first scene of the opening and will carry these events as a flashback in a way to produce a more immediately interesting film.

Characters: The central protagonist will be the angel, named Silas and will be the only angel in question the opening focuses on despite their being two demons chasing him in the woods to represent an unbalance in power. Secondly, however, their will be a main antagonist demon that is yet to be named - this being the demon the chase focuses on until the second takes over by its orders and the one that stands at the interrogation scene.

Setting and Location: The film will mainly be set in Heaven, albeit one that is being taken over, but the choice of location with this will be Newbottle woods considering forestry hold connations of purity which is shared with heaven and angels, but the interrogation part of the opening will be an abandoned building - unspecified on whether this is earth or hell proceeding the fall from heaven.

Mise en Scene: The mese en scene requires to be adequately detailed with a narrative so rich in representation and the colour schemes of black leather for demons which holds rebellious and rough connotations, similar to demons, and will be opposed in the angels with smart white and bright coloured clothing which connotes high class, intellect and power that angels will also be associated with to equate each icon of the characters. Location is of particular interest with heaven where the main chunk of the opening will transpire, a forest has been chosen to represent this because as I have already mentioned is an icon of purity as heaven is. Make up - particularly with the demons - will also be used to represent angels and demons by heavy eyeliner for demons that will represent the black eyes that demons are iconic for.

Camera work: When it comes to such a stereotypical opening as a chase scene through a woods it will be required to storyboard numerous shots put into a fast paced edit to keep the audience interested and the film fundamentally more individual. For instance, extreme close ups may be put as quick shots as they as well as in the dialogue scenes (e.g. in this case, eyes?) by way of not only making the overall scene more interesting to watch but also to really focus on the characters which is what the film will really be about

Editing: Editing will also play a large part of representation, lighting will have to be filtered in within post-production to identify the case scene woods as heaven as well as to signal the beginning and the end of the flash-back. In terms of the power balance between the angel and the demon (the angel having a smarter consume due to the stereotyping we are using for the collect and powerful representation being smeared with mud to show that this is being crumpled) will further be exploited by the giving of the power of high-speed running to the demons that will ultimately be what wins the fight between them; tutorials have been studied on this effect and an understanding has been gathered.

Genre Research Opening: "The Sixth Sense"

Due to problems with finding the video clip to embed, I have had to resort to using the link to the video of the opening scene of the sixth sense accordingly: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLeYDl7ggrk

Institution Information:

• The Sixth Sense (1999)
• Director: M. Night. Shyamalan.
• Production Companies: Hollywood pictures, Spyglass Entertainment.
• Distributed by Buena Vista Pictures.
• Rated PG-13
• Opening weekend:  £257,479 (UK) (5 November)

Title and Credit.

Notably the majority of this short clip of opening is made of opening titles that appear on a black screen with a fade in and out animation that deprives the audience of any actual footage and makes them focus on the detail of casting, production companies etc. The quite score is beneficial to an eery atmosphere that is created by not only the mese en scene but the other factors such as the diagetic and non-diagetic sounds etc. The darkness of the background creates a good foundation for the ebbing light to turn on as the first extreme close up which is effectively calm but looms with a preferred reading on an audience that has the knowledge of the fact that this is a thriller film thus having the audience on the edge of their seat, waiting for something drastic to happen. 

Camera and Editing

This shot being used for the entirety of this opening segment, presenting an immediate lurking atmosphere as well as an effectively interesting shot.The drift between the titles and darkness of the cellar with the flickering on of the light introduces the setting with a remarkably effective and immediate "creepy"atmosphere which is already a connotation of cellars to a certain extent. This gives the effect similar to that of my last point in the previous paragraph as the woman walks down the stairs as scene from behind the shelves and what they carry - presenting this character as one that the audience should look out for in terms of someone is danger as well as a likely important character. With nothing but the non-diagetic sounds of the door opening and the footsteps as this character comes down the stairs the silence adds to the preferred reading of being in suspense with the "hair on the back of your neck" feeling of being watched, fitting with the atmosphere created by the composition of the shot initially. 

Genre Opening Research: "Now You See Me."

Institution Information:

• Now You See Me (2013)
• Director: Louis Leterrier
• Production Companies: Summit Entertainment, K/O Paper Products.
• Distributed by Summit Entertainment.
• Rated PG-13
• Opening weekend:  $29,254,674 (USA) (31 May)

Camera and Editing.

   The immediate close up of the first mans face leaves the audience assuming this the or one of the main antagonists, as well as focusing immediately and solely on his actions as is common place of a card trick which in terms of trying to figure how its done. Camera work is similarly shown for each new character in a specific way relevant to their talent (e.g. Zooming out of a picture of the hypnotists eyes and leading to the older version of the character, the quick cuts and range of shots for the escape artist with a high action routine) these camera movements and editing choices not only lead the audience to be more interested in the characters but equally with the film itself.
     Cutting through each of these characters locations and other areas of the mese en scene as well as over-viewing their ability proves an effective way of covering the characters that - being in this format - are the most important ones or at least ones to pay attention to, as well as proceeding with something that could have caused problems in terms of amount of set up.This making the scene a dynamic one overall, not lingering on specific tricks and going onto a new character quickly to prevent making the sequence boring.

Genre Opening Research: "The Bourne Identity."

Due to problems with finding the video clip to embed, I have had to resort to using the link to the video of the opening scene of the Bourne identity accordingly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vw9DhUhUCeU

Institution Information:

• The Bourne Identity (2002)
• Director: Doug Liman
• Production Companies: Universal Pictures, Kennedy/Marshall Company, The Hypnotic.
• Distributed by Universal Pictures.
• Rated PG - 13
• Opening weekend: $932,960 (Japan) (24 January)

Title and Credits

   The opening title within this sequence does not appear until a good minute and a half into the film. Instead the dark screen of the idents is broken with a sudden flash of lighting and the low long shot of the body floating in the water. This same shot, or a similar one considering this is taking place in something of a dual narrative, is what cuts away from the title and therefore focusing the author on the impressing bleak connotations of this body floating at see on the laughing sailors in the boat. Furthermore the animation on the title fits the genre well, with subtle flashes rather than an outright bang that might be better fitting a more prominent action based film as well as the curious flickering animation that also fits well into the codes and conventions of a Thriller film in this respect. 

Camera and Editing.
   As previously mentioned the initial low angle long shot is a dramatic way of opening the film, as with the connotations of drama and the diagetic crack of lightning. This shot and the close ups of the bodies as the narrative switches between these and the sailors on the boat create tension over the way the two plot points will intertwine thus quickly establishing part of the appeal fans of thriller might find one of the most enjoyable features within a film of "being on the edge of their seat". More specifically on the shots of these sailors the close ups and high angles of shaky footage do well in making the shots more intimate as well as stressing the locations cramped quarters and the shaking part of the boat onto the audience; the preferred reading and effect of this on the audience being intended to sum the characters position at this point and including the audience into this - leading the dread of the body to be even more prominent and almost personal.

Film Opening Team Meeting Notice.

More discussion over possible locations for our "interrogation scene" in the follow up of our Big Pitch this week. Dark and small locations that are big and light enough to film in have been particularly hard to come by as easily accessible. However, as we've progressed for the casting of our demon (Joe), he has given us a list of numerous abandoned buildings he is aware of that we are considering if there is no other more suitable alternative considering that most of these places are situated somewhere surrounded by trees which may lead to confusion on the differences between these scenes and those that take place in "heaven". If we do end up using one of these locations I've expressed the need to try and avoid shots that would avoid suggesting the angle and the demon might be in the same place of the chase scene. Further problems with this will be dealt with in Locations research.

The Big Pitch

Film Opening Team Meeting Notice

On the 28/10/14 a classmate and I joined as partners for the project of planning, producing and post-producing a film opening; it was on that day that we decided our chosen genre would be a Supernatural-Thriller which henceforth spurred my recent research. Subsequent meetings over this past week saw the mind map on possibly narratives we could structure effectively into our opening, we decided to work on the bare basics of supernatural lore and are going to work with angels and demons portrayed in simple representation through the mise en scene - particularly costume. Casting has already started and although we don't have too many roles, we are still working on confirmation even if this part of the project remains under control. Location has already been dealt with considerably, although the inside locations are still under discussion. We have both eventually come to an equal understanding over the mix of both of our ideas and our pitch and any other developments will be uploaded immediately as they are available.

MOOD BOARD Genre Research: Supernatural Thriller mood board.

My own production plans to be a Thriller film, meeting the codes and conventions also of a supernatural sub-genre. Due to this I created a Supernatural Thriller mood-board (<-LINK)of common camera shots within these genres that I have found within my research as well as instances of lighting I feel work and other individual things I myself find inspirational for planning further in my research.

Genre Research: What does this word mean?

Steve Neale has said that "genres are instances of repetition and difference" and this is basically true. Genres in film have adapted from instances in cinema that have been proved popular being recreated to gain a high amount of money again. For instance, Charlie Chaplin was massively popular, so they made more Charlie Chaplin films until basic forms of the Hollywood etc. we have today realised that having different actors doing the same thing would get the same money in, because an audience existed that enjoyed watching people slip on banana peels. This is a process that has spurred on multiple other genres in the same way; if a two minute film full of creepy dark shadows goes down a hit, more production companies will be willing to invest in a three minute film of low key lighting and characters sneaking up on people because they're more likely to make a profit out of the investment.
       Their becomes a point, however, that difference in the repetition creates something that isn't quite what the audience was originally interested in and subgenres were created. Although this is more complicated than someone asking what would happen if you gave Charlie Chaplin a bigger mustache, meaning their can be complications in where a genre ends and a sub-genre begins, similarly seen in how action-adventure has merged into one. Put simply sub-genres are identifiable sub-classes of genre with their own codes and conventions. Fundamentally, however, sub-genre created the opportunity for fans to be even more certain on the sort of films they wanted to see and in turn opened up producers into a more specific target audience. This is an evolution clearly scene in the horror genre that split into slashers, supernatural, zombie, occult and science fiction films that still carry codes and conventions of the main horror genre.

TITLE TIMELINE Film Opening Research: "Goodfellas" Opening title timeline.

In part of preparation for editing my own film opening I recorded the information included in the "Goodfellas" Title Timeline (<-LINK)to gain an understanding of what is credited in the opening titles of movies.

Film Opening Research: "Goodfellas"

Institution Information.

• Godfellas (1990)
• Director: Martin Scorsese
• Production Companies: Warner Bros.
• Distributor: Warner Bros.
• Rated R
• Opening weekend: $6, 368, 901
• Won 1 Oscar.
  
  

Target Audience.
   Goodfellas is easily appointed to the category of a primary audience of gangster movie fans. here is perhaps one of the best instances of setting up the opening scene immediately onto the audience pleasures of these genres. It is in this light that it is probably more accurate to say that the primary audience is for fans of the gangster genre - at the time of release this being 18-20+ year olds and the secondary audience remains to that of a male audience of the same age range.

Title and Credit Analysis.
   The opening titles for Goodfellas are also one of the most clear representations of not only the entire film but the opening scene specifically - the sound effects of the cars as the titles appear on screen creating a sound bridge into diagetic sound of the road in the first scene. The animation of the titles is equally impressive in how it represents the whole tone of the film as fast paced and stylish.The entirety of the credits is well suited to the audience pleasures of a gangster film. Similarly the minor use of a mixture of the diagetic and non-diagetic car noises and the diagetic sounds from the action on the screen with the casual dialogue of the body in the trunk all create an eeriness over the already clearly shady business.

Camera and Editing.
    The transition between the credits and the initial footage is as sleek as the title animation was, with a smooth panning establishing shot closed in on the stylish car, this sort of car being stereotypical of gangsters and a glamorous life expected in film adaptations and thus introducing a detailed part of the mese en scene - equally shown in the costume area of the mise en scene with the classic suits and clean cut appearances that are equally part of the stereotypes of this genre and this class of criminal. Also notable is the choice in editing by which the camera freezes on the shot of Henry Hill to hold the voice over of "As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster." This efficiently pulls the focus onto the character as the main protagonist and with the addition of the iconic 50s music that taps into the audience pleasures and that of what is connotated with Gangster movies.All of this kicks of an opening to a film that appeals to its target audience in multiple ways immediately.

Film Opening Research: "Lord of the Rings: the Fellowship of the Ring"

Institution information.

• Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
• Director: Peter Jackson
• Production Companies: New line cinema, WingNut Films
• Distributor: New Line Cinema
• Rated PG-13
• Opening weekend: $5, 163,034

Target Audience.

    This film, being based of such an infamous series of books and having a well known title and content to even those who perhaps had not read the books, therefore the title and mese en scene are iconic enough for most people to take note of the films existence. Primarily this leaves the target audience to the existing and extensive already existing fan base. There is little other genre this film shares aspects with other than fantasy and the secondary audience would be one that appeals to fans of such.Although there is nothing specific of the fantasy genre within the opening monologue besides the mention of elves, dwarves, battle scenes and the set up itself being a fairly fairy-tale like explanation but being so well known as a book it affords a less conventional opening.

Title and Credit Analysis.

    Before even the title emerges the film starts with a black screen and the voice over of the introduction adequately resorts the focus onto the words in order to keep the audience informed enough to understand what is going on. When the titles do appear the typography in question has a style that is in a font that is especially connotative to the fantasy genre. With the voice over being spoken by Galadriel we see the first suggestions of who the main characters are going to be or at least a character important enough that the unaware audience immediately begins to question the purpose of (protagonist or antagonist?).

An impressive wide range of locations is set up, especially considering the broad expanse that is middle earth, all through cutting into the different parts of the build up of the information. This simultaneously connects the locations with the species as the voice over progresses, further detailing the knowledge the audience needs in set up.

Camera and Editing Analysis.

   Quickly mentioning that within the introduction of the elves to the "one ring" story, Galadriel stands in the foreground of the shot and that this could both be used to continue with outlining her as an important character but also by confirming to the fans that it is the connection of the name between the voice and face. The shot types continue to outline important characters throughout the entire opening through close ups or continuous returning to those specific characters.

Due to such a detailed opening and so much information to be absorbed within these three minutes it notable that the range of shot types and the first use of the iconic animation of the middle earth map is used to make the experience enjoyable. Whilst also using this to - as previously mentioned - highlight the most important, and narrative crucial parts of the opening, namely the close ups of the rings.