Season's Greetings and a Fond Farewell.

"As you may well see by the date of post, we are approaching the season of goodwill and merriment. This, however, sadly means there will be a period of a couple of weeks where this blog shall receive a measure of neglect. There may, however be bits and bobs popping up every now and again. So, cheerio and we'll be back in full throttle in the year commencing 2009. Merry Christmas to you all, and a Happy New Year." - Simon Cardy

Posted by Daniel, on behalf of the group.

Editing Update

We know have a complete sequence of shots that match together well. We have captured and incorporated the shots taken on the re-shoot. We will hopefully (fingers crossed) not have to film in the cold, dark, murky alley again. We have added some snazzy titles which include ourselves and a few star-studded friends. We will now try and polish off our opening by tinkering with lighting effects and contrast to achieve a better sense of continuity. After Christmas we hope to have an epic soundtrack in place and accompanying sound effects. That's all Folks!

Simon

Sound Effects

Some sound effects we may need to acquire:

• Gunshot
• Footsteps
• Better Doorbell?
• Heavy Breathing?

Simon

Oh dear!

Calm down, Nick.
Damn those inactive actors.
Daniel.

DANIEL YOUR PHONE IS OFF!

Tried ringing you today to say that because of weather and lack of actors there will be no shoot today but we will be having one tomorrow evening.
I hope you get this before you leave the house!

Nick

Miss B Feedback

Today Miss B gave the group some very detailed and important feedback. A lot of it was based upon making our sequence more believable which is a very important part of film and I researched this on my individual blog for stage 1.

-When the villain attacks the detective, at the point where the light turns on and off it looks awful as it makes absolutley no sense and everytime the light comes back on the camera needs to focus. Miss proposed the idea to do it without the light flickering on and off and maybe focus it around a POV shot of the villain coming up behind the detection as he's working.

- Also the build up isn't quite right. The villain just appears out of no where and is presented to the audience with out any infomation of how he got in. This is important as it needs to be realistic and if the detective puts the latch on the door how does he actually get in? I came up with the idea that the villain is already in the house and all we need to show is him hiding or just his feet to let the audience know the detective isn't alone. It thus creates the effect that you know something the main character doesn't. Miss also suggested him coming in the way he goes out, however, I think the first idea is better and it wont make our opening sequence drag on for too long. She also suggested having the detetive hear something as he's working and getting startled just to let the audience know that something isn't quite right and they are more prepared for the scene where he gets hurt. We might shoot both so we have options in the edit room.

- The shot where the detective puts the post-it note on the board needs to be closer so the audience can see it and acknowledge whats going on. Then also in the flashback.

-The gunshot at the end of the sequence maybe a little too unrealistic as he is a private detective and that maybe a little too unprofessional. Miss suggested that maybe the gun goes closer to his head and he says something like 'Don't move'.

Matt

Titles

Well, today we've successfully managed to put some titles into "The Case." We experimented with the available effects, and we'll need to discuss with Matt and the absent Simon whether they are happy with the placement. We're also yet to make a permenent main title.
Nick and Daniel.

Re-shoot list

We have a few shots to re-shoot this weekend and the group went through every shot we had done and evaluated critically if it would need re-shooting.

Shot 4 - MCU, pan of the door closing in opening scene
Shot 9 - Birds eye view of the table - althgough in our sequence this shot works nicely, we decided it would be worth re-shooting it just to see if we can get it even better.
Shot 42 - POV of the villain as he is about to kill? our detective.
Shot 15 - The shadow on the wall by the house - this is the nshot where there is a light in the corner of the screen but we have decided to mask it as it is surrounded by darkness and this method would work effectively.
Shot 28 - OTS, mid-shot at desk
Shot 36 - The watch shot
Shot 38 - Fixing his tie
Shot 39 - The climax shot where the gun points towards his head
Shot 42 - Walking round the corner to the final scene - we need more angles because at the moment it is too long of a pan

I realise that now we have edited most of our sequence together a few of these re-shoots may need to be re-evaluated as some of them look perfectly fine in the sequence.
Matt

Miss Thrasher Feedback

Today we showed Miss Thrasher our opening sequence and she seemed to quite like it, however, there are some things we need to take in to account for the next re-shoot.
-There are a few lighting continuity issues in some of the shots which we will need to re-shoot.
-A light can be seen in one of the shots but miss proposed a simple masking solution to hide it which should be easy as its a still shot.
-The cut to the watch doesn't quite look right and needs evaluating, which we have and it looks a lot better. Also, the villain looks at his left hand when it is natural for someone to look at their right.

However, miss was very encouraging about the project and it at least made me realise that we got a lot of quality filming done at the weekend and there's a lot of filming that I myself am quite proud of. :):):):) :D:D:D:D

Matt

Important Documents

Storyboard sample, Shooting Script, Shot Log, Marked Script

Camera

Helloooooooooo Matt,

I've heard from my sources that you may not be in school. I do not suppose there is anyway that you could get the camera to us so that we can do some capturing in period 6.

Ta for now.

Simon

New Logo

Enjoy

Nick

Lovely stuff

Turns out there's going to be decent weather over the weekend. This could be useful seeing as we're filming outside. It makes a change to hear some good news.





Nick

Storyboard 1

This is part of our storyboard for the first 4 shots of our sequence:

Troubleshooting

We decided in light of previous weekends, that realising now the possible difficulties we could face in the filming process, we could hopefully avoid these this coming weekend. Here are some notes on that meeting.

• Everybody knowning what time and where we are meeting to film
• Actors not being prepared for the film
• Broken equipment
• Leaving equipment at school
• Disobedient actors
• Not looking after the actors
• Not preparing the costume and props properly
• Messing around/time wasting on the shoot
• Not preparing a proper shooting script or shot log to make filming and editing easier
• Weather (please don't rain please don't rain please don't rain/snow)
• Thinking ahead with transport (bus strikes, breakdowns, traffic)
• Batteries running out
• Tape running out
• Not leaving enough space at the beginning and end of shots
• Lighting, too bright/too dark?
• Background noise
• Preparing against background noise (e.g. making sure phones don't go off (put phones on silent!))
• Not doing enough takes/not having enough material to edit
• Keeping equipment tidy, e.g. making sure cables are out of the way so nobody trips
• Distribute jobs evenly so everybody gets a go
• Keeping warm in cold weather
• Not leaving equipment on longer than needed (Jack, Kris and Shaun...)
• No late nights before the shoot!

We could continue for a while with pointless, over specific, pedantic points but we feel we covered all the main issues.

Nick, Simon, Matt, Daniel

List of Shots in script.

This is a list of all the shots, not counting the black screens at the beginning and the end in the new script. From this we can create a shooting script, which will be posted soon.

• Long Shot of corridor, probably tracking.
• Mid Close Up of door from outside being opened by detective; detective looks around.
• Possibly Long Shot to show that there is nobody around?
• Back to LS in corridor.
• CU/VCU of detective putting the chain on the door.
• LS from other side of the corridor, detective crossing to back room.
• MCU of detective in back room as he enters, pan around room.
• High Angle MS as detective sits down at desk.
• CU of cork board with post-its, etc.
• Back to the High Angle MS, detective writing.
• CU of cup of coffee, tracking it from the desk as it is raised to the detective’s lips.
• Pan left across desk, MCU, HA, showing papers scattered across the desk.
• Pan right across the desk, horizontal at desk level showing picture, corkboard, and hand enter to stick post-it up.
• Back to CU/VCU of door chain, now off.
• MS of detective in back room, light flickering on and off, almost total darkness when light off, detective is assaulted by the villain.
• Canted angle, minor zoom to detective’s head on desk.
• Low Angle LS of villain leaving through back door of house, into garden.
• LS of villain walking through garden, tracking shot to back gate.
• CU of villain’s hand attempting to unlock gate, shaking gate in frustration.
• LS of villain and gate; villain grumbling, shaking gate, then leaping over gate.
• Close Ups of villain on top of gate: hands on gate, pushing self up.
• Continued CUs: leaping over gate.
• LS of villain landing on other side of the gate.
• MCU of villain straightening jacket with rose pinned to it.
• CU of post-it note on cork board.
• Back to MCU of villain, he moves out of shot.
• CU of villain’s hand pulling at tie, loosening it.
• VLS of villain, canted angle, breathing heavily, moves into and out of shot.
• LS of villain at corner, stopping and looking around him.
• MCU of villain’s hands being wiped on jacket.
• CU of hand reaching into pocket getting out packet of cigarettes. LS of villain rummaging in pocket for a lighter. There are two shadows projected onto the wall.
• CU of villain’s face, Low Angle, lighting cigarette. Gun in shadows behind him.

Daniel.

The Case, rough script

Here is the new revised script for the new film idea. It is a lot simpler than "The Streets Run Red" but follows the same general storyline with similar characters.

Matt, Nick, Daniel

The Case

We start with a black screen and the film company logo is shown. We hear a door bell and the screen fades * in to a long shot of a corridor with a door at the end. It is night time and there is low lighting. We are in a house. A man in his 20s walks towards the door. He is wearing a shirt with rolled up sleeves and a black tie. He is scruffy and looks very tired. As the screen fades in the music starts (Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven)

[We fade from black into a slow track towards a door at the end of a corridor. We hear a door bell ring.]*

He opens the door and looks outside. We get a MCU of him looking around as nobody is there. He goes back into the house and we revert to the first shot as he closes the door. We then go to a close up of him putting on the chain. We change to a LS from the other side of corridor and watch him walk to the back room. Now inside the back room we get a match on action as he enters the room and pan across the room with him (MLS). He sits down at a desk which is lit only by a lamp. Match on action as it changes to a MS (HA) looking down on the desk. It is covered in papers; badly organised, showing that he is obviously stressed. He has a mug of coffee which shows us that he is tired, and we see a cork board up against the wall with evidence on it. A CU of the board shows us that he is working on a crime case, therefore telling the audience he is some sort of detective. We cut back to the MS and see him writing.

We now get a brief character building montage. We get a CU and track of him picking up his mug and taking a swig of coffee. We fade to a pan left across the desk from a Birds Eye View which is a MCU, this shows all the paperwork scattered around. We fade to a pan right which is horizontal view of the desk seeing a picture of the detective and his girlfriend and then onto the cork board where we see his hand enter frame and pin up a post-it note (currently illegible).

We cut back to the CU of the front door and the chain is now off. *

Now back in the room we look from beyond the table with a MS. We see the detective working still. His lamp starts to flicker and turns off. When it turns back on again we see him fiddling with the light bulb and if you look carefully in the door way there is now a tall dark figure standing there. The light goes off again and when it comes back on the man is now standing right behind him preparing to strike. The light goes off a third time and we hear a slam, when light returns we see the detective has had his head slammed into the desk and is unconscious/dead? The villain is making his exit out the room.

We now get a canted angle and a small zoom from MCU to CU, of the detective’s head on the desk. It cuts to a LA LS of the villain leaving through the back door. He walks down some steps and into the garden. Match on action to forward track following him power walking down the garden towards the back gate. (Take lots of different variations of this to cut between?). He reaches the gate and we cut to a (match on action) CU of his hand trying to unlock it. He shakes it a bit and grumbles in discontent.

We cut to a LS of the gate and do a montage of quick CU cuts of him hopping of the gate, starting with his hands on top of the gate, pushing himself up, foot on the gate, and then jumping over to a match on action on the other side as he lands.

We then get a MCU of him straightening his jacket at which point we see a rose pinned to it. We cut back to a black and white version of the pan in which we see the crime board. There is a sudden CU on the post it note which we can now read to be saying:

“Villain known to have rose as calling card”

Next to this is a Polaroid photo of a rose. We cut back to the MCU and he walks out of shot. Match on action to a VLS of him walking down the alley. As he is going down we cut to a CU of his hand pulling his tie loose and we can see him breathing heavily. Cut back to the VLS slightly canted angle this time and he continues past the camera, match on action to a LS from the corner as he stops and looks around. We get a MCU of him wiping his hands of sweat on his jacket. A CU where he reaches into his jacket and pulls out a packet of cigarettes. We cut to a long shot and he has a shadow cast against a wall as he searches for his lighter. We realise there is not one, but two shadows on the wall. We cut to a slightly low angle CU looking at the villain’s face for the first time as he brings up his lighter to light the cigarette. He lights the lighter and we see a gun appear in the shadows behind him.

The screen fades and the music comes to a sudden halt and there is a gun shot. The title logo fades and zooms into the screen.

END

New Idea Treatment

1. The Action: identify the event your idea is based around; what actually happens (discovery of a body, an illicit meeting, a witness seeing a crime being committed, a criminal act taking place)?

A detective is assaulted is his own home and appears to the view to be dead. The villain then escapes the scene of the crime via the garden and an alleyway before being confronted by he detective who now has a gun in hand.

2. The theme(s): what should it make the audience think about or feel, what 'issues' will it raise (revenge, sexuality, voyeurism, stalking, obsession, greed ect). The opening is associated to:

crime, enigma, suspense, death, motive, justice and retribution, secrecy.

3. The narrative: how is it structured - classic narrative pattern or break with convention, different time zones, flashbacks/forwards, dreams etc. Will there be dialogue? What about diegetic/non-diegetic sound?

It will be a linear sequence set in one time frame and filmed in real time except for one brief flashback that explains the link between the characters. There will be no dialogue as we feel that this would ruin the atmosphere. All sound will be diegetic except for the doorbell at the start and the gunshot at the end.

4. The character(s) who are they, identify their roles, what are their characteristics, including gender, appearance etc?

Anti-hero, villain, detective/gangster, male, trench coats and matching hats, red roses, guns, violence, calm and collected, slightly nervous.

5. The setting and choice of location: where is it set?

The setting is the villains house and specifically his office space where he does his work and has all of his evidence and files around him. The alleyway will be dark and creepy with low key lighting as opposed to the inside. The actual location is Nick's house, back garden and alleyway. We stumbled over this location after brainstorming new ideas at his house.

6. The mise-en-scene: identify colours, lighting, dress codes, the overall visual look.

Low saturation but contrasting colours which stand out e.g light and darkness. The outside shots will have a low saturation mixed with various filters such as a low glow effect which brings out the white/light in the shots, also maybe some colour correction to make it look exactly as we want. The characters will be dressed as gangsters with trench coats and the overall feel will be very 1970/80s to create a traditional film noir look.

7. The camera work: the style you are aiming for.

The camera work will be quite slow paced with lots of close-ups on the characters in order to show little background as this will clutter the shot. We only need to focus on the protagonist and his workspace anyway. This will help to create a montage sequence in th emiddle which we are looking to include to show time passing. As the villain starts to escape, however, the camera work and cuts will quicken up slightly to build tension and to be able to keep up with the action.

8. The editing: edited as a continuous sequence, use of cross cutting, use of montage, or combination?

The opening will feature non-linear editing, edited as a continuous sequence which focuses more on the aftermath of the attack rather than on the event itself. The editing will be quite slow paced and we want a lot of the shots to linger on-screen to create a relaxed and artistic effect so the audience has time to take all of the mise-en-scene in which is important in an arty film. As we mentioned before we will be looking to include a montage sequence.

9. Has your idea been 'tested' against the question on the previous brief sheet?

Yes, it has and it appears to be very workable provided we work hard and focus on every detail to create this film noir genre. We have had issues with the story and are correcting them but there is nothing wrong with the general idea of the film.

10. Group responses?

We all agree that the idea is a very good one, considering that we thought of it in one day and that if done right it could potentially look very good.

11. Teacher responses?

We contacted Ms Blackborow while at Nicks house at the weekend and she agreed that it would be wise to now put our efforts into this idea as our other seems dead in the water. This one seems equally strong if not better than our previous idea as it is simpler but should still contain a good story and eventually a good sequence.