Storyboard

This is the second part to our Storyboard and it basically shows the final part in our opening sequence where the Protagonist is in the kitchen after killing the two Antagonists. This scene is quite important to our opening sequence as it establishes who the character really is. Throughout most of the opening we do not see much of him as a person and so these last few shots are really important for showing the audience who the Protagonist really is and why he is killing these men. 

MT

Animatic

This is our storyboard in cinematic form, which was nice as it allowed to us to almost see our film in motion and meant that we could pin-point any areas that might not work in our opening sequence. It was extremely helpful for us to see our film before we started the filming process.

CM

Voiceover Draft

No one ever told me

How hard it would be to lose someone you love

But then again

They also didn’t mention the rush

Of taking the life of someone

You love

These thugs and criminals in the night,

The ones that took my family,

Theyre no different from anyone else

They are just as fragile

Die just as easily

The only difference is that no one cares

When they find a murdered murderer

I suppose then,

That if I die, they wont care

If some thief in the darkness stabs first and asks questions later

Itll just be another criminal gone

No one will shed a tear

Who would?

Because that’s all ive become

Just one of them

Im no better than a common mugger, or your run of the mill drug lord

We’re all the same

Men in the shadows

There because we’re ashamed

Of what we’ve become

Still,

It feels good, this.

Revenge.

CM

Film Production - Part 5

Production - How films are produced

1.  

• Angelina Jolie.
• She is a very well-known actress and so is likely to attract a large audience.
• She would also attract a large male audience.
• She has been in movies such as, 'Tomb Raider', 'Mr and Mrs Smith' - these are all action movies and would certainly attract a specific type of audience. 
• Many people would attend a movie just to see her in it. 
• She won an Oscar for her performance in, 'Girl, Interrupted' - made her more well-known as an actress and would have increased her 'fan-base' massively. 
• Married to Brad Pitt - more publicity and more popularity. 

2. 

• Grown up's 2 - heard about it from a friend who said that it was funny. I had already been aware of the film but was going to wait for it to come out on DVD to watch it. However, after hearing that it was good, I decided to go and see it with a friend. I am also a fan of Adam Sandler.  
• Wolverine - I saw this movie because I am a big fan of the X-men movies. I enjoyed the previous X-men movie and so decided to go and watch it. 

3.

•  1. Paranormal Activity - $15,000 budget - made $107,917,283 at Box office (in USA alone) 
•  2. Blair Witch Project - $60,000 budget - made £14,901,157 at box office (in UK alone)
•  3. Avatar - $237,000,000 budget - made $760,505,847 at box office (in USA alone) 

4. 

• Never let me go - $15,000,000 budget and some of the Producers are DNA films, Film4 and Fox searchlight pictures. 
• The Kings speech - $15,000,000 budget and some of the Producers are The UK film council, Momentum Pictures, Weinstein Company. 
• Skyfall - $200,000,000 budget and the producers are  Eon Productions and Danjaq. 
• The budget's for films has certainly increased in the UK since the 1990's. (four weddings - 2.9m - Skyfall 15m)
• Many of the successful British films in the 90's were co-produced television companies such as channel four and the BBC. Many of the recent popular British movies have been produced by bigger companies such as Momentum pictures. 
• Still doesn't have the financial backing, similar to that in America. 

5. 

• Drive Soundtrack - fits perfectly with the film and creates the atmospheric mood, wanted throughout. 
• Moulin Rouge - extremely memorable and without it the film would not be as popular as it is now. 
• Kill Bill - many of Tarantino's movies have memorable soundtracks - they create the mood he wants to have in his film and are essential for keeping the audience engaged. 

6. 

• One way in which Lionsgate have attempted to survive is by releasing horror films that have become popular franchises, such as Saw and Hostel. They cleverly combined these films with more sophisticated movies, such as the award winning 'Crash', which was extremely popular. Lionsgate bought Artisan along with other companies and this improved their success. Artisan have produced films, such as 'it's a wonderful life' and 'reservoir dogs' therefore improving the buyers (lionsgate) portfolio and making them into leading film entertainment company. They have grown into a successful producing studio, through, "the combination of organic growth and accretive strategic acquisitions". This diversity has meant that they can survive in the Cut-Throat world of film production. 

A History of British Film - Part 4

A History of British Film Since 1984

1.       

·                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              1980’s to 90’s – independent art cinema grew increasingly in popularity (directors such as Derek Jarman produced innovative works)

·         The costume drama/heritage film rose to, ‘great prominence during the 1980’s’ (a room with a view etc.) – Four weddings and a funeral

·         Gainsborough melodramas have been around since early 40’s.

·         British social realist cinema seem to withstand Thatcherism (harsh economy) – Riff Raff (1992)

·         Two different directions in 1996 – Sense and Sensibility (Jane Austin novel about Love and Trainspotting (Irvine Welsh’s novel) – helped ‘enhance its international profile (Britpop)

·         Moved away recently from ‘portraying Victorian and Edwardian aristocracy at home and abroad’ – started to reflect, ‘elements of contemporary society’.

·         Trying to capture youth market more.

·         Comedy has always been a favourite genre but not as much as recent times – Notting Hill, Bridget Jones Diary and Love Actually all made great success in Britain and across the world.

2.       

·         Dredd 3D – Crime, Action and Sci-Fi. It is a film set in the future, with a lot of action but not a huge amount of substance in terms of storyline. This film was very unsuccessful at the box office, making only 13 million from a 50 million budget.

·         Never let me go – Drama, Romance and Sci-Fi. Similar in terms of the fact that it is set in the future but much more heart breaking than the aforementioned. It is a romance story, so completely different to Dredd 3D. This film, however, was not very successful at the Box Office, taking only 1.5 million in UK box office. (15million budget)

·         Many of their earlier films, such as trainspotting, Shallow grave and Twin Towns are far more violent and involve Drugs etc. and are certainly aimed at a different audience than the likes of Dredd and Never Let me go. There original films produced more at the Box office (trainspotting made over 16 million from a relatively small starting budget of 3 million).

·         They seem to have become slowly more commercial over the years. However, they are still producing films like ‘Sunshine on Leith’, which is certainly more of an independent style movie.

3.       

·         Looking at some of Momentum Pictures recent distributions, they have released films, such as ‘Insidious Chapter 2’, ‘Dark Skies’ and The Women in Black’. These are all horror films. The reason as to why I think they have distributed many Horror films is because the ‘Horror’ market is very big, especially in the UK.

·         Despite, the Distribution of many horror films, Momentum Pictures are extremely diverse and have distributed films, like ‘The Kings speech’ and ‘Welcome to the Punch’ and this is why they are one of the leading forces in  the UK film distribution market.

·         They have distributed films that fall into many categories, such as Sci-fi (Enders game), Crime (the Raid), and Horror (The women in Black).

Film Noir Influences

The Big Sleep - Opening sequence

• Opening credits - man and women silhouette in the background - create suspense as we don't know who they are.
• Orchestral music throughout opening credits - establishing the film (excellent when fades to mysterious music) - We want to create this effect whereby we have Film noir style music playing throughout opening credits and then a quick switch to mysterious music down the alleyway. 
• Instantly see a man open the door and hear a voice - we don't see the man speaking outside the door, which creates tension and suspense - we ask questions like, "who is he", "why has he come" etc. 
• Man walks threw the door (Humphrey Bogart) - stereotypical film noir, suit and hat. 
• ambient music keeps the scene flowing but also creates tension as we don't no why 'General Stern' wants to see him - We want to create a similar effect in our opening sequence (mystery to start with until voice over reveals more) 
• Pan to establishing shot of room that 'General Stern' is in - establishes scene and genre of film (crime)
• The Big Sleep is another classic Film noir and although I have analysed the opening the sequence here, the whole film highlights a lot of great noir style techniques that we want to include in our film. Many of Bogart's films have influenced us and he was ultimately the man who got me interested in Film noir in the first place.
• Other examples of Bogart's Film Noir's - 'The treasure of the Sierra Madre' and 'The Maltese Falcon' 

(This is the trailer, not what I analysed)

MT

Film Noir Influences

Maltese Falcon

• Starts with establishing shots of San Francisco - similar to the kind of thing Charlie and I want to do in our opening sequence. 
• Loud orchestral music during establishing shots and then switch to more mysterious style noir music - pan of Bogart spinning around on his chair (tension created by music change).
• Close up of Bogart's face - we know he is the protagonist in the story and feel an instant connection towards him (mystery is still created).
• Depth of Field shot - we want to use a wide range of camera techniques in our opening (also adds suspense). 
• Use of shadows on the wall create a sense of mystery - Despite the use of shadows, Charlie and I want to have a darker feel than this opening and so will use more shadows. 
• Slight music change when lady walks in and Bogart stands up - creates tension as we don't know who she is and what has happened. 
• Classic film noir - sets up story before the film has truly begun. We want to produce a similar thing in our film as we are suggesting that it is a 'revenge story' but not revealing why to the audience and therefore adding the modern twist to the classic film noir style. 
• This opening sequence does employ far more 'conversation' than Charlie and I want to include but is nonetheless an important influence, especially when deciding what kind of film we were going to do. 

(this is the trailer, not what I analysed)

MT

Film Noir Influence's

Double Indemnity 

• Low key lighting is used throughout the opening sequence to create tension and to focus the audience attention to a specific character or figure. 
• Shadows are used throughout the opening sequence as in all Film Noir films.
• The Shadows are used to create that sense of suspense and fear that something bad has or is going to happen.  
• The main character in the opening sequence, Fred MacMurray, is dressed in your typical film noir style costume of a suit and panama hat, that was common of the time (1944).
• Fades are used throughout the opening scene to suggest that time is passing.
• There is ambient noise in the opening to create tension and the keep the audience wondering why the man has been shot. 
• Orchestral soundtrack plays throughout the whole opening scene - suspense is created as it builds.
• flashback - often used in Film Noir and makes narration seem acceptable (very effective effect). 
• lack of colour in the opening scene sets up the genre and creates an enigma (Walter Neff).
• the opening is played as though it is in the past and setting up the rest of the film, which will explain why the enigma character got there. Our film is quite similar to this and this is why we have been increasingly influenced by it. 
• Double Indemnity, has been commonly described as one of the best Film Noir films of all time. We have undoubtedly used ideas from it in our opening sequence to add that sense of original Film Noir style but with a modern twist. 

(this is the trailer and not the opening sequence)

Film noir (black film) has often been described as a genre to represent many Hollywood Crime Dramas, especially in the 1940's to 50's. The Film noir genre has undoubtedly influenced many movies across every decade. Many directors in our modern film market use Film noir influences in their films to create specific effects but the genre has certainly dropped off since there 40's and 50's standards. Film noir is often associated with its low key lighting and black and white picture that creates a wide range of chiaroscuro and silhouette effects and this style originally derived in German Expressionist cinematography. We want to bring back the suspenseful atmosphere that many noir films created in our opening sequence and by studying the genre in more detail we have certainly helped with our understanding of the subject.

MT

Shot List

Shot List

M.T & C.M

Research - Drive influence

Influence's 

I recently watched 'Drive' again for the second time and after studying Media Studies for a term, I realised just how good the opening sequence is. Charlie and I want to create a Film Noir style opening sequence but with a modern twist and 'Drive', definitely does this. The moment when Ryan Gosling, who plays the driver, walks into the motel room, you get an incredibly interesting, yet eerie, chiaroscuro effect on his face. I definitely want to try and create this in our opening sequence as it has clearly stuck with me and would hopefully create the same effect upon our audience, who sadly to say, will be considerably less than Gosling's, but we can always hope. There are many clever uses of shadows in this opening sequence but this one shot, as previously mentioned, stuck with me.



Drive Opening Credits with Kavinsky (Nightcall)   - Click on this

M.T

Audience Research - Vox pop

Drive opening sequence - questions 

I decided to ask my mother a few questions, about the Drive, starring Ryan Gosling, opening sequence, which is one our major influences in terms of lighting. Charlie and I definitely want to play around with shadows in our film to adhere to the style and tone that we want to produce. The scene's in this opening are especially good at showing that moody opening tone that we want to create. The scene where Ryan Gosling walks into the motel room, as my mother mentioned, is particularly good for showing this. Charlie and I want to use chiaroscuro throughout our opening sequence to keep the active audience that the audience research has shown, on the edge of their seats, through tension and suspense.

MT

Voice Overs - Audience Research

Voice Overs

In our opening we are intending on using a voice over in order to convey some of the narrative, as the plain images are based mainly on giving atmosphere, tension, and presenting visual mood. In order to do this we have to ascertain the style of voice we want to use, find influences for inspiration, and cast a voice over.

One good example of the use of voice over in an opening is 'No Country for Old Men'. The use of still dramatic imagery means that nothing detracts from the audience's listening to Tommy Lee Jones' performance. In terms of style this voice over is more anecdotal than we would like for ours, and perhaps too colloquial.



'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas' opens with a similarly anecdotal narration, although this time it correlates with the events on screen. This is done for comical effect, but could also work to give a fight/murder scene a sinister edge, such as in 'A Clockwork Orange', making the events onscreen seem premeditated yet everyday. Neither of these approaches necessarily fit our film, as the protagonist/narrator is not a socio/psychopathic murder, nor is the film a comedy, although the immediacy that these examples provide would be an interesting effect to capture for our film.



The voice over in 'Sunset Boulevard' uses a style that is more associated with Film Noir, in which the narrator appears to be presenting the story to the audience, as though telling a story, but with the means to show his story as he pleases. This is a good style as it allows the narrative to be shown on screen, but developed by the voice over in a manner that would have taken up more screen time to achieve without the voice over. This is an effect that would be nice for us to achieve in our film.

Audience Research

Survey - Audience Research

1.    How old are you?

0-15         16-24         25-35         36 – 50        51 –

2.    Gender?

Male          Female

3.    How do you usually watch films

Cinema –

DVD’s  -

Online -

Other –

4.    Rate these films out of 10 (if you’ve seen them)?

Notebook -      /10

Transformers -     /10

Forest Gump -       /10

Shawshank Redemption -     /10

The Shining -       /10

Lord of the Rings -      /10

Insidious -        /10

5.    Rate these thriller films out of 10 (if you’ve seen them)?

39 steps -      /10

Silence of the Lambs -      /10

Die Hard -        /10

Terminator -        /10

Se7en -      /10

Drive -       /10

Looper -       /10

Skyfall -        /10

Bourne Identity -       /10

6.    What film did you last see?

7.    What film did you last see in the cinema?

8.    What are your favourite sorts of film genre (circle your answer)?

Thriller

Western

Film Noir

Action

Romance

Comedy

Other

9.    What do you like about thrillers (circle your answer)?

Suspense

Tension

Fast Paced Action

Other

10. What kind of cinema do you tend to go to (circle your answer)?

Art House

Multiplex

Imax

11. Name your favourite Actor/Actress?

Thankyou!

This is our Survey, which Charlie and I asked many people, from all different age groups, to complete, in order to help us work out what kind of people we should be aiming our film towards. The general consensus was that a film involving suspense is the way to go and our film is undoubtedly reliant on tension and suspense in order to create the effect that we want.

M.T

Audience Survey Conclusion

Audience Survey Conclusions

From our quantitative research we can conclude that our aim is to target the 25-30, predominantly male, market, with a film that engages an active cognitive audience. We would like to make a film which engages the audience with problems and new ideas, and encourages an active audience to think through the film (as in the uses and gratifications model). This is the sort of audience that might be in our target demographic. The male market especially may be looking for diversion rather than escapism in a film, and may wish to take an active role rather than sitting passively to relieve tension. Our survey has shown that the audience craves suspense, pretty much across all demographics of 15+. Despite the fact that we are targeting a specific group and audience, we believe that our film can appeal to a wider audience, of both genders 15+, especially 35+ audiences.

MT & CM

Audience Research - Graph

Survey Findings

In order to better understand the audience we are targeting with our thriller, we carried out a survey, which will help us with targeting and thus tone, casting, and pace, when filming our opening.

In terms of accessing film, the most prevalent method for 16-24 year olds was watching films online (legitimately or otherwise), whereas older audiences, especially the 36-50 age range, tend to frequent the cinema as a primary method of seeing films. A surprising number of these elected to go to Art house cinemas rather than Multiplexes, which suggests that if targeting this group we ought to go for a more Art house tone, which is useful given our lack of budget.

This graph is the result of the survey asking people to rate films out of 10. In theory, the highest possible score is 30 due to the average being taken from each age group. This means that some films such as Notebook and Insidious have lower scores due to certain age groups not having seen them. However this graph is very useful for seeing which films are popular based on both viewership and quality. Unsurprisingly the three highest rated films are Skyfall, Lord of the Rings, and Forrest Gump. Some of the more useful results relate to the popularity of big budget action films such as Transformers and Terminator with younger audiences rather than any 24+ audience. Films that did well with older audiences included The Shawshank Redemption, The Shining, 39 Steps, and Silence of the Lambs. This is useful to us as it indicates that a more psychological and suspenseful thriller would be more effective in targeting our audience.

Among 0-24 year olds, the general consensus for favourite film genre was Action, Comedy, or Thriller. Action and, especially, Thriller became more prominent as the age of the subject increased, especially among male subjects, which indicates that an older audience is actually a more effective audience for us to target, given that we are making a thriller. Also relevant to this is preferred features of thrillers, which for the younger audience tended to be fast pace and action, whereas for older audiences tension and suspense were more prevalent.

So if we are targeting any older audience, 25+, specifically male, we ought to ascertain the preferred actors and films of this group. According to the survey these include Robert de Niro, Leonardo di Caprio, Jodie Foster, Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt, 'Catch Me If You Can', 'Silence of the Lambs', 'The Shining', and 'The Godfather'. Evidently the film needs strong characters and a good deal of suspense in order to appeal to this audience.

CM

Character Plan (Antagonist) - outline

Characters

• Antagonist one:

·      Normally dressed

·      Casual leather jacket

·      With jeans and vans for shoes

·      More nervous and on edge (contrast between both antagonists)

·      Similar to the way Jeremy Renner and Matt Damon are dressed in the Bourne Films. 

• Antagonist two:

·      Dressed in a suit

·      Briefcase

·      Extremely smart

·      Slicked hair

·      Smart shoes

·      Cocky character (You know he is not a nice guy)

·      The way the Main character is dressed in the TV series, Whitechapel is how I picture the second Antagonist to look like. He is far more slick than the first Antagonist as he is meant to be the 'Big Boss' who the Protagonist will kill. 

MT

Character Profiles - Antagonist's

Character Plan (Antagonist 2)

Costume

- Very smartly dressed, denotes higher status in criminal world.
- Sharp suit, slicked hair, all very smart and well presented.
- Places to draw on for this character's costume are Mads Mikkelsen in 'Hannibal, Andrew Scott in 'Sherlock', Roger Sterling in 'Mad Men', and Rupert Penry-Jones in 'Whitechapel'.

Character

- A cerebral yet brutal character. Very confident in himself, and with good reason. High up on the criminal food chain and known to be very dangerous.
- A sense of humour and a desire to solve any disputes in a verbal fashion make him seem even more dangerous.
- Fancies himself as a high power business man, hence his dress sense. Is endlessly irritated by the illegitimacy of his work and people's insinuations that he is nothing more than a common crook.
- Some inspirations for this character are Badger from 'Firefly', due to his wishes to be a respected, legitimate businessman, Moriarty from 'Sherlock', who is endlessly self confident and very chilling in this respect. Another influence on this character is Jeff Bridges' character in Looper, and many other 'Don' or 'Mob Boss' type characters.

CM

Costume

- Dressed very informally, not high up on the criminal ladder.
- A leather jacket with T shirt and jeans, very inconspicuous, you wouldn't spot him in a crowd.
- Dressed in a similar fashion to Matt Damon and Jeremy Renner in the Bourne films, Christopher Ecclestone in 'Doctor Who' or Daniel Mays in 'Shifty'.



Character

- This is a somewhat arrogant character, and is very pleased with himself and his position as a sort of medium importance criminal. He has delusions of grandeur and fancies himself as untouchable. This is untrue and he knows it, so he is a little on edge and nervous as he walks down the alley.
- Some influences might be Badger from 'Firefly', for his sense of self importance and pride in his criminal position, and Arnold Flass from 'Batman Begins', for his true pathetic nature and cowardice in the face of vigilantism or being brought to justice.

CM

Character - Protagonist

Costume
- Dressed smartly but slightly shabby - suggestion of previous action that has led to onscreen events
- Long coat
- Dark clothing, ominous but not necessarily indicative of the antagonist
- Potential places to draw on for costume inspiration are Misha Collins in 'Supernatural', Taylor Kitsch in 'X Men Origins: Wolverine', and David Tennant in 'Doctor Who'.

  

This is the Costume mood board that I put together for my pre production proposal, although I still like the look that I had here I feel like it ought to be a little more disheveled in order to preserve the 'everyman' image and suggest some previous hardship:



Character

- The character is an 'everyman' who has been driven to dark things, this means he should appear dangerous and ominous, but not as a 'bad guy'. The voiceover ought to prevent him appearing as a villain or the antagonist of the film.
- Inspiration for the character comes from characters such as John McClane from 'Die Hard', Roger Thornhill from 'North by Northwest', and the Batman character Two-Face, specifically in 'The Dark Knight'.
- The McClane and Thornhill influences give the character the sort of everyday person feel, his ordinary, usually mild mannered appearance that has gone dark.
- This character has an air of serenity and level headedness around them, as though he's accepted his 'fate' or his role in life, thus he moves with deliberate purpose. He has nothing left, and thus nothing to lose. He is solely driven by his quest for revenge. These aspects come mostly from the Two-Face influence

CM