How filming went (Shakur)

We produced enough shots today to complete half of are film we produced about 49 shots about more than half the shots were successful we produced allowing us two produced about 3 pages of the storyboard.
The problems today was that people kept looking at the camera when we was filming and this would look unnatural within a open sequence however we continued and succeeded to find natrual looking shots where nobody was looking at the camera.

Pitch - Risk Assessment (Christopher)

Risk Assessment

As a group we ensure that we will keep the college and our own equipment safe when filming out of the college, we will do this by making sure that 1 or 2 people are always on the equipment when we are filming and will never leave the camera or other equipment on its own. We will also keep the equipment we are not using at the time hidden away in bags, we are doing this so that the equipment doe snot get stolen or broken.

Pitch Production Schedule (Christopher)

Production Schedule

Production Schedule: This is our group production schedule for our filming and editing of "VIRAL".

Pitch - Presentation (Everyone)

Pitch Presentation

This is the presentation we produced as a group to present to Dan and our class.

Pitch - Final Mise-en-scene decisions (Christopher)

Mise-en-scene Decisions

We have decided on our final mise-en-scene derisions we have decided.

Location

For locations we have decided to use Camden High-Street for where the character is walking and finds the man rapping, this is where he also records him raping. Another location we are going to be using is the college Library or one of the colleges media rooms, this will be for the scenes when he is on the computer and is uploading the videos and when he is signing up to YouTube.

Costume

For costume we have not decided that our characters will be wearing everyday street wear.

Props

For the props we will be using an old cam-corder from around 2005, we will also be using a box or rapping paper and finally we will either be using a laptop or an old computer to film the desk scene on. 

The Pitch: Sound design and music for title sequence (Christopher)

Sound Design and Music

Sound Design

For our sound design we have decided that we are going to use many different sounds and sound effects. 

Sound effects that are going to be used

• Cars
• People 
• Police Sirens
• Everyday Street Sounds
• Keyboard Buttons being touched when typing 
• Mouse Being Clicked

Music 

We have decided that we will use an instrumental of a well known UK grime song called 'M.E.N' by Bugzy Malone, this song will be played only during the screen captured scenes and will not be played during live action scenes we are doing this to add more depth to the sequence and to help us drag the audience more into the film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoSLfnDwNM8

The Pitch: Title Credits (Christopher)

Title Credits

As the genre of our film is 'Urban Drama' the title credits will be a little bit bold and a little bit rough, it will stand out and really be in the audiences face because we want to tell them a little bit about the film and what they can expect after watching the opening scene and seeing the title screen. We are doing this and using bold but rough looking text so that we can catch the audiences attention immediately, 

Title Credits Listing Order:

1. Production Company - Film 38
2. Film Distributor - Sony Pictures
3. Actor 1
4. Actor 2
5. Casting 
6. Music and Sound
7. Editor 
8. Director of Photography 
9. Writer 
10. Producer
11. Director 
12. Film Title - VIRAL 

The Pitch: Full Story Board and Cinematic Details (Christopher)

Full Story Board and Cinematic Details

This is our full story board and cinematic detail of our film and what we are going to be filming for our movie 'Viral'

Final Idea (Christopher)

Final Idea

Our final idea

Genre; Urban Drama.

We have decided that our film is called 'Viral'

Our movie will be produced by 'Film 38' and will distributed by 'Sony Pictures' 

We came to a decision that our films genre is an 'Urban Drama' set in 2005, which the follows the life of a young man living in London with dreams to become a music producer and artist. And follows his story to blowing up and become 'Viral' on the social media sites MySpace and YouTube.

We decided on this idea because the UK film industry at the moment is lacking an original Urban Drama that does not follow a story of drugs, struggle, gang violence and gambolling and because it doesn't follow these themes or criteria means we are bring something new to the table in showing the music side of things.

Individual ideas for a movie opening

I hope to produce an urban movie but a movie that goes against stereotypes and connotations of an urban movie, majority of urban movies what made it to the big screen are not positive and are seen to be bad influences in the media. I have a idea of producing a movie about someone from a urban area making content online and becoming a millionaire from it. I haven't decided on the content yet but it could be a range of things e.g. Gaming,music it can be any from a multimedia bases this will help break the stereotypes what would be guns and drugs. The film is set to be a low budget film as I believe not many distribution and production companies will invest it such a film to break stereotypes big companies side with sterotypes as they know that stereotypes will in fact sell. I want to prove a film that breaks stereotypes can just gross as much as a film what continues and manufacture stronger sterotypes.

Blog Post Feedback

You have some excellent posts on your blog – your Macro Analysis on Friday/Kidulthood sequences is really excellent and the blog overall shows a lot of  application. However there is still some work that I can’t see: Camtasia on Sound(16), the analysis of a favourite film (8) as well as the Audience research work from class on Tuesday (12). Please get all this posted as soon as possible. You could also expand on your post – genre – why are you interested in the three genres that you mention? More generally, a few too many of the blogs are text only – a blog is a multi media production so should include video, images, gifs etc.  Start to use a wider variety of media please.

Also, could you edit all of the blogs so they have the task numbers in the title. You need to add RESEARCH as well. In addition, you’ve not yet posted your initial brainstorming of creative ideas that we did on the last Friday of term. This should be marked PLANNING as this is what we are doing from now on.

 

So – you’ve done some good work but need to push yourself a bit to get completely up to date. Remember, you can and should be using workshop to get fully on top.

 

Dan

Which institution / studio that will distribute our film (Christopher)

 Institution / Studio That Will Distribute Our Film

We have decided that our production company 'Film 38' will produce and fund the film, we decided this because it is our best option.  We have also decided that the institution / studio that will distribute our film will be 'Sony Pictures', we decided on them because they have distributed over Urban Dramas in the past such as the UK Urban, Comedy, Action, Drama 'Attack The Block' which was targeted at people between the ages of 15-25 and it also made more than £1,500,000 in the box office on its opening weekend, and we very successful all over the UK especial London were it was set. we have also chosen 'Sony Pictures' because it is a very big, well known and well respected film distribute.

Our group logo / Production company (Christopher)

Logo & Production Company

This is our logo for our film company, we decided as a group that we would work on the logo out of lesson on Photoshop because we felt that we would have more time and wouldn't be restricted to what we could do on the site we was suggested. When designing we decided that we would have a very bold and out there font so that we could make a mark on the film industry, we added the text 'Entertainment from perfection' because we take pride in our filming and producing and make sure our final products are cleansed. 

The Technology skill we learnt (Christopher)

Technology Skills Learnt

During the last couple of weeks in media we have been preparing to make a short 2 minuets long title sequence, during the processes we have had to remake other title sequences such as the 'Collateral' title sequence. After filming we learned how to use technology (hardware & software) such as: Adobe Premier Pro, Adobe Photoshop and After Effects. Premier Pro has aloud us as a group to edit our footage and also add effects through the use of after effects. After effects was also used to add the production company and the title credits. We have found both of these programs ex-streamly helpful and were essential to the project as they have helped use create and develop our films and title sequences.

Premier Pro

After Effects

      

Create an audience profile for your ideal target audience member (Christopher)

Ideal Target Audience Member

After lots of research we have decided as a group that our ideal audience member would be:

Personal Profile

• Gender - Male
• Ethnicity - Black or White 
• Age - 17
• Area they live in - North, South or East London

Has a passion for grime and Hip-Hop music

Likes watching UK made and UK based films

They would also enjoy sports such as: Football and Boxing

Also likes to wear brands such as:

• Northface
• Nike 
• Adidas
• Duffer
• Stone Island 

Social Media Sites they use:

• YouTube
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Facebook
• Snapchat

Create an audience profile (Christopher)

Ideal Audience Profile

As a group we have decided that our film will be an Urban Drama based in London, the film will be about a young man starting up his youtube channel in 2005 and will follow his growing success in the UK grime scene, but will also have little dark side to it.

Our Target Audience;

Our target audience would have male and female from the ages of 15-25, we feel that this would be most suitable for our film because it is set in London and is about social media, the UK grime scene and is an Urban Drama. We have also decided to set the film in London because its very upbeat and is also full of young people who have dreams of success like what you will see in the film, so we have decided that the film we be mainly targeted to people who live in north, east, south and west London.

From our YouGov research we have also come to realise that our target audience is drawn by social media and so have based the film partly on social media site YouTube. we ave also come to understand that our target audience will probably like Grime music so have also added the Grime side to it.

What is the purpose of a title sequence?

The Purpose of a Title Sequence

All films use title sequences to showcase the cast and crew members who where involved in the production. Furthermore title sequences are also used for crediting, this is done so that the main cast members and director are showed of more.

Title sequences are also there to show the production company for example 'Universal Pictures' and 'Paramount Productions' are productions company's that would have produced the film. 

Opening title sequences are vital to a film because they can set the story, the title sequence and opening scene is there to get the audience hooked to the film, but not by spoiling it but buy getting them gripped and wanting to find out more and watch more of the film. A film that does this is 'The Incredible Hulk' film.

The opening sequence sets up the film because it gives a in site to what the film is going to be about, furthermore the scene shows how the main character Bruce Banner played by Edward Norton becomes the Hulk and can maybe suggest from the sequence with the army officer that it will be about that officer come after him and him adapting to being Hulk, which will leave the audience mesmerised and want to watch the rest of the film to see what happens. 

 

How can a film opening attract an audience

'Watching' Documentary Response

In a film opening you need to be able to catch the audiences attention you must intrigue them instantly or as soon as possible. Thomas Sutcliffe believes that a movie needs to seduce their audience into a long term commitment, while there are any types of seduction the temptation to go for instant arousal is almost irresistible. Furthermore a good beginning to a film must make the audience feel that they do not have enough knowledge about the film yet and that will draw them in even more. This means that to keep the audience hooked with out giving away too much of the films story line, you must get them gripped of a small taster of the film.

A favourite trick of film Noir is when a film starts with an ending.

The opening of the film 'The Shinning' staring Jack Nicholson creates suspense as you think that its just a picturesque setting but the camera follows the car showing that they are not safe and that they are probably going into  danger as they are driving into shadows.

The 4 different types of film openings

The Four Different Types of Film Openings

In the film industry the title sequences and film openings are very important to the film because they can set up the movie and can get you gripped to the film after watching them and also pulls the audience into the film more.

Different Types of Film Openings

Discrete title sequences - This is when it is separately edited sequences that are apart from the film. it is like a mini film before the film, it can help the audience get into the mood of the film. An example of this is the film 'Seven'. 

The title sequence for 'Seven' shows the audience the obsessive and disturbing behaviour of the character, it also gives a horrible sense and felling to the audience. It establishes the mood and setting of the film and the personality of the main character in a thrilling way.

Narrative Openings - This is style of opening sequences is when the title sequences comes together with the narrative of the story line. 

Stylised Editing - This is a style that is heavily stylised film opening with amazing editing. an example of this is 'Dawn of the Dead'

The title sequences uses lots of different cut scenes and different angles, the opening sequences also uses CGI blood and black screen.

Credits over a black screen - This is a simple form of tittle sequences which simply consists of a blank screen and the credits coming up an example of this is the film 'Donnie Darko' 

In this sequences the film uses sound and text to create the mood of the film. The sound used in the opening sequences sets a dark atmosphere 

Title Sequence Plan (Christopher)

Title Sequence Plan

Genre: Urban Drama

Our title sequence and opening scene is for a film that will be set in London and will include music (Grime), and becoming famous and becoming a successful music producer through the use of social media and is about the main characters break through music company on YouTube when the site was first opened for public use. Our film is an Urban Drama and does not follow the stereo type of gangs, drugs and violence, we feel that this will bring a new approach to the  Urban Drama film genre and therefore will be different and fresh.

For the title sequence we will have the main character (name not confirmed) being approached by a rapper in the street when he is with his mates and he try's to sell his mix tape, but is asked to preform a free style and state his stage name, the main character records him on a cam corder. he goes home finds out about this new site YouTube and creates a channel (name unknown as of yet) and uploads the video. The screen then becomes a internet tab on YouTube and zooms in on the view count as it slowly goes up and then goes to a fast view count and shows the channel kicking of in the Grime scene in the UK.

Practical Remake Activity - Evidence of Editing

Evidence of Editing

What Went Well?

The editing went well and we only faced a few minor difficulty's, the filming was also easy and we did it within a few takes meaning we could get back and have more time to edit.

What Did I Learn?

I learnt that the whole proses of filming and editing shouldn't be rushed because the more time you spend on it the better the outcome of your final product, and the better the product the more the audience enjoy it.

Researching Into Existing Distribution Companies (Christopher and Shakur)

Existing Distribution Companies

Film:

Steve Jobs

Who Distributes It?

Universal Pictures

Marketing Tools

To distribute the film Steve Jobs the distributers used social media sites such as: YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. The distributers also used TV adverts, Radio Talk shows, billboards a posters on buses and streets.

The Role of Social Media

Social media sites such as YouTube promoted the film bye putting it as an advert before videos and also put it on their home page, this is a good technique in promoting the film because millions of people watch videos on youtube every day and therefore the film would be noticed more.

Wide Release

The film has a wide release because it is being show in many cinemas across the UK and is being shown in cinemas such as: VUE, The Odeon, Ciniworld, Everyman.

Film:

Ill Manors

Revolver Entertainment (2012) (UK) (theatrical) .
The company went into administration in 2013 however are film is trying to revive the UK company right now revolver is working on distributing US films. The owners of the company are Justin Marciano (CEO)
Seb Marciano (President)

Marketing tools:

The film ill manors was marketed online with twitter and facebook profiles as many youths had the social media outlets. Also the budget was 100,000 so this would of been the best marketing to reflect the budget of the film. Also there was a trailer online what previewed snippets of the film so not a lot of the budget had to be spent a trailer to be produced.

Social media:

As I said social media was one of the most advertising outlets as it was one of the cheapest and most effective to the people who the film was marketed to. 


Different Formats: 

The Film is available in DVD, Blu-Ray and digitally they did this so that the film can make more money and can be watch by anyone in any way.
  

Genre short list

My genre short-list is based around the ideas we have produced. Prior to these ideas we have come up with three different genres:

- Urban Drama
- Thriller
- Sport

We will work out which genre is best suited to us by assessing each and every idea and understanding what we can do with each idea and which are the realistic targets for us.

individual ideas

Originally a lot of ideas popped up in my head however I wanted to make sure that this idea would be different. I thought this could firstly be done by genre, I wanted to move away from the typical genres and do something different for example a biography. Though my initial idea was in fact a sports movie, the initial plot was a young person finding football as a way out and later on finding it as a very passionate sport. When I told my group about this idea they threw a lot of ideas of their own at this idea to make it better. We later found that this idea was not actually the right route for us so we turned to a different idea. This idea was inspired by a famous person and we decided to make a story line out of it.

What makes a good title sequence according to Kyle Cooper

What Makes a Good Tittle Sequence - Kyle Cooper

Kyle Coopers Work in Film

Kyle Cooper is known most for his work on the tittle sequence for the film 'Seven' he has also created the tittle sequences for 'The Incredible Hulk', 'The Walking Dead (Season 1&2)' and 'Dawn of the Dead' all in which have great tittle sequences.

What he believes makes a good tittle sequence

He believes that the tittle sequence and or opening credits need to set up and expectation of what the film is going to be about and that the tittle sequence should draw you into the film or the TV show making you and the audience more engaged with what's going to happen in the film. 

Kyle Cooper created the 'The Walking Dead' tittle sequence for three seasons and believes that the tittle sequence should be able to draw the audience into the show or film even more. He did this in many different way for example if the show was a horror or thriller he would make the opening credits either really intense and or scary so that the audience felt drawn to what was about to happen in the film, he not only did this for Seven but also for The Walking Dead and The Evil Dead.

The Walking Dead Tittle Sequence:

Seven Tittle Sequence:

What is Genre?

What is Genre

Genre:

Genre is a style or category of film, art, music or literature

Sub-Genre:

Sub-Genre is a subdivision of a genre in music or film

Types of Genres:

• Action
• Animation
• Comedy 
• Crime 
• Drama 
• Thriller 
• Horror 
• Sci-Fi 
• Western
• Romance

My favourite two genres in film are: Crime and Drama.

Crime & Drama:

The Crime and Drama genres of film are my favourite genres because they can both explore lots of different things and can also add other genres to them to make them better. Furthermore when films add crime genre and drama genres together it always works.  An example of this is the TV show 'Top Boy'.

The show Top Boy was a great crime, drama because it explored lots of different things in London and went into very explicit detail to make the show better, I feel that the crime genre enables directors and produces to this so they can make there shows and films good. 

The Importance of Sound in Film

The Importance of Sound in Film

What is Sound?

• Sound is the aural element and is also what we hear.

What is Sound Design?

• Sound design is the plan for the sounds that are going to be used with in the film.

What is Sound Scape?

• Sound scape is all the different parts of sound tat are going to be used and inter grated together. 

Viewing 1 - With Sound

When sound is added to a film as an audience we automatic feel drawn into the movie, this is becuase we can watch more and understand more about the film. The use of sound makes the audience feel engaged with what's going on with in the movie, furthermore it also creates and sets the our mood and the films mood. 

The use of sound makes the film and the footage more interesting and it can catch the audiences attention.  

Viewing 2 - Without Sound

When there is no sound added to the film or the footage we lose attention and become board very quickly, it can also lead to confusion. Sound is a key convention within film and with out it we tend to look for other things to interest us, what isn't film. 

Sound we think is there:

• Traffic
• Speech
• Music 
• Cars
• Street sounds

The Unity of Sound and Image - Sound is 50% of film

Individual Idea / Outline For a Tittle Sequence

Individual Idea

Even though we have chosen to do a Urban Drama I still wanted to do that genre as part of my original idea, so i am happy with the group decision. 

My original idea was that the film was based around the grime scene in the UK and was also based around gangs and drugs, and that the opening scene started in a night club with loud music (Grime) and the camera goes around the club and the camera finds it self in a back room with a drug deal going down. Furthermore i then thoughts that the deal could go wrong and the guy runs out of the club with the drugs but is chased, but when being chased he gives he quickly drops the drugs to his younger cousin telling him to keep them safe, then the credits role in.

As a group we have decided that we want to do an Urban Drama film and opening sequence we have decided to base our film on Jamal Edwards story and about a guy in 2005 creating a Music company on youtube and watch his rase to fame.

Genre Short List

My Genre Short List

If i were to make films the three genres i would like to produce most would be:

1. Comedy
2. Thriller 
3. Urban Drama

Micro and Macro Analysis

Micro and Macro Analysis

Micro Analysis

Film:  AnuvaHood 

Genre: Comedy, Crime, Drama

 

Camera: 
In the opening scene the camera is focused in on the main Character lighting a cigaret the shot is a close up of the character. The camera also quickly cuts back and forth to the character who is speaking at the time.

Sound: 
With in the background of the scene there is a very serious instrumental of a song. the song used is very dark and sets a dark atmosphere. the music used can also make the audience assume that the film is a has an urban theme and urban setting to the it due to the fact that it has a grime approach to the music used. Furthermore the use of the sound of cars and police sirens and people walking on the street creates a more realistic set to the film. This can draw the viewer in to the film.

Editing:
The opening scene uses straight cuts from character to character and also uses it to cut to the next scene, shown when the walking through what looks like a car park. the opening sequence is has a slow speed. The production company's have also been integrated into the scene and they are shown after every couple of seconds and also do slow transition into the new cut.

Mis-en-scene:
It opens into a very dark and gloomy atmosphere. Props such as cigarets are also used in the scene.   

   

Macro Analysis

What characters are introduced:

• The main character is immediately introduced but they don't show his full face and only show him lighting a cigaret, they also have someone else talking to him in the background. the other character is also introduced but just after the close up of Adam Deacon. Both character are introduced after they show the main production company.

Storyline Introduction:

• Production Company 
• Characters 
• Production Company
• Tittles 

Social groups and how they are represented:

• The first scene cuts to a group of guys smoking outside which could suggest they are on a break. The men are represented as ruff, violent and angry this is due to the fact that they are aggressively speaking to each other and because of the dark lighting used. 

Target Audience Research and Audience Member Profile (Christopher)

Target Audience and Audience Member Profile

Task 1

Target Audience

Which genres were the most popular with UK audiences and my own audience research?

• we found that the most popular film genre for our age group was 'Urban Drama'. we also found that the 'Thriller' and 'Horror' were also popular for people of our age group and older people 

Which genre would would you like to work in?

• the genre of film we would like to work in would be 'Urban Drama' we would like to work in this genre and set our film with this genre because as a group we believe it has the most potential and also gives us a lot to explore.

Which audiences prefer this genre and what do our audience want to see in a film?

• from or market research we found that our genre would appeal more to people between the ages of 15-25.
• We also found that our audience want to see people of their own age group in the film such as; teenagers. we also found that our audiences are attracted to urban settings and themes.

What will our film have that will attract or appeal to our audience?

• we have made sure that our film is different to every other urban drama and that it is different to the stereo type, but have still gave it that urban side to it.

Task 2

YouGov Profile Market Research

For our groups YouGov profile search we searched the film 'KidultHood' we searched this film due to the fact that it is an Urban Drama and that it has some link to our film and that it will attract the same audience.

We descoverd that our film will appeal to people between the ages of 15-25 and will attract both male's and female's.

What are their main interests?

• London Night Life 
• Crime, Comedy and Drama based films 
• Music - Genre Grime
• Spends lots of time on YouTube discovering new music within the Grime Genre   

Task 3

YouGov audience member profile:

• Name - Nathan 
• Where They Live - North London
• Class - Working Class
• Media They use - YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter

Created with Padlet

Evaluation of practical remake activity.

The activity went really well in my opinion. One of the great things we done was we took each others ideas and enforced them into the activity. To add to this the editing gave our remake a really professional feel. This was done through the titles which were not actually included in the collateral  intro however we did put them in. The titles seemed to tie into the scene quite effortlessly once again giving it a very professional feel and making the intro seem more like the original despite there being no titles.

In contrast there were elements which I thought could be improved one of them being the speech used in the intro. I thought the speech between the two actors was not clear and could have been improved. We could have improved it by re-recording the speech separately to the actual video clip. This would have contributed to the relation between our intro and the original. 

Alan