29/09/13 RESEARCH: SCOOP IT

Scoop it: film noir

I did research into film noir and all the information i found I put onto a scoop it page.  I found websites completely dedicated to film noir and then others that had parts to film noir but I put them all on to scoop it

http://www.scoop.it/t/film-noir-by-thomas-stevens/curate

Scoop it: thriller codes and conventions

I also created a scoop it page for the codes and conventions of the thriller genre.  It contained info about the genre and what people believe are the codes and conventions of the genre

http://www.scoop.it/t/thriller-codes-and-conventions/

25/09/13 RESEARCH/PLANNING: FILM NOIR AND PROPS

Production log 25/09/2013

Double lesson

Today I started by going through some film openings which I had watched from a week ago and improved on what I had written for them.

Then once we had finished doing that we got into our groups and started to do some more research into our possible film opening.  So we discussed more about what we needed to do before we could start the more advanced work for the opening such as getting props, making a story board and working out what else we would need for it outside of props.

After we had done this we did research into film noir which is what the film opening is going to be. We all did our own seperate research and then showed it to the rest of the group everything that I researched is on a scoop it page.

24/09/2013 PLANNING: IDEAS, MUSIC AND OPENING

Production log 24/09/2013

Single lesson

We started the lesson by getting into our groups and getting the documents we had made in the double lesson before hand.  After we got these documents out we started to discuss more possible ideas and refine our ideas from the last lesson.  Once we had started doing this we started to think about the type of music we could have in the background off the opening and we came up with the possibility of using the Johnathon Creek theme tune because it sounds suspicious and mysterious.  We haven't made the final choice about whether to use that particular song yet but we should do that in the next lesson.  We also started to discuss whether or not to have the film opening in colour or in black and white.  That again is undecided and hopefully we will finalise that decision in the next lesson.

18/09/13 PLANNING: INITAL IDEAS

Production log 18/09/2013

Double lesson

When we started the lesson we got in to our groups and started to discuss some of the ideas we had.  We put down the ideas we had on a piece of paper in a spider diagram and then discussed them.  After we had down that we started to say which ideas we liked, which ideas we didn't like and which ideas we thought were good and would work as a film opening. 

After we had been discussing that we started to research ideas and then we decided on doing a film opening which was based around film noir/ thriller.  We then started to discuss ideas and thins that we could do for a thriller spy kind of film and we put them all down in a list on paper.  After we had finished with those ideas we started to draw out a basic storyboard idea on paper.

17/09/2013 RESEARCH: FILM OPENINGS

Production log 17/09/2013
 single lesson

I watched the first three minutes to the English patient (Anthony Minghella 1996)

• the film starts with a black screen with names appearing on it with the intro music starting to play
• a hand then appears with a paint brush painting a picture which looks like human figures
• it looks like the hand is painting on a cave
• it then changes shot to an ariel view of a desert and sand dunes which look oddly similar to the background that the painting was on
• a shadow of a plane then appears giving the audience a feeling of flying over the desert
• the top of the plane then comes into shot and the main character I am guessing appears
• the shot then changes again to blew the plane and you see three people who then start firing at the plane with a flak cannon showing that the film is set at the end of WW2

I then watched the opening to the film Made In Dagenham (Nigel Cole 2010)

• we watched this to see about camera angles and what establishing shots where used
• this was to help us decide how we would do the camera angles in our movie opening

We then got into our groups for the film opening and started to discuss ideas.  We started to discuss some of the ideas that we had for possible film openings

11/09/13 RESEARCH/PLANNING: THE BRIEF

I watched The Day After Tomorrow (Roland Emmerich 2004)

· This film opens with a long track shot over the Antarctic

· The shot is long to create the feeling of a remote location and to show that the location is quite dangerous

· It is done to make the audience feel as if they are on a plane travelling

· I wondered if this CGI or real footage, but the way it is done to make the audience believe that it is actual footage of the Antarctic

· The colours used in the opening are dark blue and white to build to the dramatic atmosphere

· All the credits had a reflection in the water to make it look that bit more real

· All the information is up front before it then starts with the live footage

· When it changed from the opening credits of the track shot to the live action it showed a flag and the location of where the place is.

Planning: The brief

I am working in a group of four. The other members of my group are Charlie, George and Kate. We have chosen brief 7 (video). The opening sequence from a new film, including titles, in any genre or mix of genres such as a comedy or thriller together with a storyboard. Maximum length: three minutes
I watched the opening to the television show Spooks
The genre of the show is spy and crime genre. From the first opening and the opening credits I could tell that it was based in the world of spies because of the phone call between two of the characters and the hidden object in his draw. The credits move quickly from one shot to another but not so quick that the audience can’t see what is in the image, they also do split screen images with the image of a person on one side and a building on the other presumably the building they work in

11/09/13 RESEARCH: THE ART OF THE TITLE

Production log 11/09/13
double lesson

The art of the title

I watched Pacific Rim (Guillermo Del Toro 2013)

·        Very dark colours, very technological, very masculine

·        The CGI in the opening credits show scenes of fighting which look like they are going to be in the film

·        The shots that appear in the opening sequence look very metallic to put more emphasis on the fact that there are robots

http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/pacific-rim/



Pacific Rim

I then watched the opening for the film Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (Brad Silberling 2004)

• the opening was very foreshadowing it showed clips of things that were going to happen later on in the movie
• the people in the opening looked like they were puppets which could be saying that they don't have control over themselves that someone else is controlling them
• there is also an eye which keeps appearing in all the clips which could be to say that the children are being followed or watched where ever they go

http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/lemony-snickets-a-series-of-unfortunate-events/
I then decided to watch the opening for Reservoir Dogs (Quentin Tarantino 1992)

• the opening introduces all the main characters that are going to be in the film and who they are played by
• the music is very catchy and makes me want to continue watching to see what happens
• the shots are establishing shots which go one after the other to introduce all the characters

http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/reservoir-dogs/