Storyboard

Before we can start filming the planned film we have to create a storyboard to show exactly what will happen in each shot and annotations of camera movements. 

Below is the storyboard the film we will create "The Other Side".

So there was our storyboard. When we produce our animatic we will then be able to see if we need to re-write our storyboard so we get the most accurate to the film we wish to create.

My next post will be research on animatics.

Storyboard Research

Before a studio start recording a film they must make sure they know what exactly happens in the story line so the studio produce what is known as a storyboard which is a sequence of images showing what will be in the shot with detail on editing and other camera work jotted down around the storyboard itself.

Below is a storyboard for the opening titles of the classic comedy "Shaun of the Dead".

If you have watched the film you should be able to recognize what happens in this scene as it is very accurate to the film itself.

To see how accurate the storyboard is I have posted the same scene from the film below so we can compare.

                              

The storyboard is the story line and base line in which the film reflects off. The storyboard needs to be good to create a good film. The storyboard contains the detail that needs to be put into the film.

The next post will be on our storyboard.

Prop Research & Formal Prop List

In visual media products there are things called props, items which are used on set. These props can come in all sorts of shapes and sizes going from chewing gum to a laptop.

Below is a media product which uses one of the props that's going to be in our film... A phone, enjoy!

This scene uses a modern phone as it is set in the modern day the phone belongs to the character present and it works in the scene as its a modern hotel building. If the phone was old it wouldn't fit well within the scene.

In our product we will be using very few props.

One of those props is a telephone.

The phone is going to be an old fashioned telephone like the one above. The old fashioned phone will give off a creepy effect because a modern mobile phone doesn't give off the same creepy effect. The old phone gives an impression that the location has been abandoned for a long time. The protagonist will be dressed in KFC uniform which is associated with working class where as an old fashioned telephone is associated with high class people. This shows that the protagonist is out of his comfort zone as it isn't something he'd be used to working with. The phone colour will be brown because the film is a thriller we don't want any bright colours that could change the tone of the film to being less serious. The colour brown will be effective as it has connotations to death and decay for example, rust is brown and dead leaves are brown; this ties into the mood of the film as it adds to the other elements of mise-en-scene that are dismal. The phone resembles the character which in the film we will be creating this phones resembles the protagonist, Uptight as it is posh and fancy but decayed as it is old.
A person with an iPhone can be seen following the crowd and mainstream but also sophisticated as the product is all about the look and performs well. Now an Android user could be seen as quite pedantic as they are very much about what their phone can do or that they are quite relaxed and chilled as their phone can do many things or they are not fortunate as they have a phone that can be fairly cheap compared to apple products.

If we were to use a mobile phone like this then it wouldn't fit the the setting we wish to use. It would stand out and look out of place which would ruin the whole feel of the film.

Another prop will be a mirror as it is essential to the plot of the film.

The mirror will be a long mirror because this way when the camera is pointing towards the mirror we will be able to get all of the characters in and their outfits. This will enable us to show off all the features that we want. We can also play around with the lighting on the mirror to give it more of a creepy effect. The mirror will be dirty and dusty because this way it will look much creepier and give the location a more abandoned look. It will also add to the rough look of the character.

If we were to use this mirror then again it would ruin the feel of the setting. We need it to look dark and dirty and if we used a fancy mirror it would ruin the whole look.

Another prop is a lamp as it brings atmosphere to the setting

The tall lamp will be dusty because we need the location to look like it has been abandoned for a long time. The brightness of the bulb in the lamp will be low because we need low key lighting in the room because we want the lighting to give off an intense and creepy look. Also we don't want the features of the characters to be shown too brightly because we want the low key lighting to give an impression that the character has a dark side.

If we were to use this lamp it would completely ruin the whole set. It wouldn't work at all and would change the whole feel the film and may even become a slightly comical which would wreck our film.

The next post will be research on storyboards.

Costume Research & Formal Costume Plot

For this new thriller film their going to be very few outfits used when filming. The main outfit that is going to be used is a normal KFC workers outfit for both the protagonist and the antagonist because the plot twist in this film is that they are both the same person like the Fight Club characters; Jack and Tyler Durden. So other outfits won’t be used in the film but they will be some minor changes to the characters outfit.

First we are going to be talking about is the first character in this film called Kyle Hawking. Kyle Hawking is going to be protagonist in the film. The audience is going to be watching him, while he tries to remember what happened to him and who is the strange overseer watching his every move and communicating to him through an old fashion phone. Kyle is going to portray the total opposite to Wade meaning he is going to be scruffy, timid, dependent and humble. His clothes will mainly represent his personality, social groups, wealth and class.

The antagonist for this film is going to be a character called Wade. Wade is going to be the one watching Kyle acting as the overseer while only communicating to Kyle through the old fashioned telephone that I talked about early. Wade is going to be the main one in control through this small film by controlling Kyle as well as the one who kidnapped Kyle. Wade personality is going to be the opposite of Kyle by having him more demanding, assertive and definitely more spontaneous than the timid Kyle. His clothes will mainly represent his personality, social groups, wealth and class.

Examples of famous movies with characters who have a split personality

    As I have said before there won’t be many outfits used when filming but we will include subtle changes between Kyle and Wade so the audience still remember there the same person but are different sides of the same coin. But we don’t want to change to much so some audience members think that Wade is an evil co-worker.

First change between the two character is that Kyle is going to have his shirt tucked into his trouser this can show many things for example.

·    

 This shows his personality trait of being timid and reserved because if he didn’t it will most likely draw attention from the customers at KFC rather than blending in.

·     It also shows he is confident and is more of a follower because it’s the company policy to tuck the shirt in.

·     The colour of his red shirt can represent madness because technically he is mad by having this split personality called Wade.

Wade shirt is going to be much different for example.

·     The colour of his red shirt can also represent more things about the character such as danger; rebellious as well as courage this symbolism represents Wade personality perfectly.

·     KFC Shirt is untucked meaning that he is breaking company policy so showing he is rebellious as well as courageous.

·     The shirt will be loosely buttoned showing more of how rebellious the character is.

Because they are the same person they will both be wearing the same trousers.

The shoes are going to be a smart pair of black shoes like for example a pair of oxfords below

One other change between the two characters is their hair cut. First Wade’s haircut will look a bit like the haircut on the left showing that he is carefree like the split personality in Fight Club, while Kyle’s hair cut on the right shows he likes to look respectful at work.

Now below is a formal prop schedule which will let actors know what to wear and when. Thankfully we only have one outfit that the actors will need to wear.

The next post will be prop research and props.

Location Research

When planning a film, you have to think about the setting. One of those settings is the location which is very important. The location is important as it can have a huge impact on the audience and the way they interpret the films genre and subliminal messaging.

The location we, as a group, have chosen to film our product in an abandoned garage that one or our group member’s relatives owns. We are going to make the garage have an abandoned setting and feeling.

The atmosphere we are aiming to create with the garage is the feeling like it has been abandoned for many of years. We will be aiming to single out every prop we use with the darkness theme of the garage and that the character is feeling the same as the location we have picked. We thought that an abandoned garage will give off the effect that the main character is lonely and stuck in a dark place which we can then use to add to the tension and suspense building. 

I looked at films set in abandoned places and I came across some films. "The Blair Witch Project" and "The Abandoned". 

The Blair Witch Project is set in an abandoned cabin in the woods which matches the type of isolation we want to go for. The woods itself gives the feeling of isolation due to the fact that there are no signs of civilization at all. We had to stay away from a forest setting as it is too stereotypical for a thriller. Also if the film is set in a cabin in the woods it resembles the the loneliness of the character by the fact that they built a house where there are clearly no other people. 
With the location we are using we are trying to make the building we are using in the middle of no where this can be achieved by the fact that the protagonist doesn't leave the building and with this I hope it builds suspense and that the audience crave to find out where the protagonistas is.

This room is very untidy with clothes scattered all over the floor and belongings not in any particular order. This room belongs to a teenage boy which is very stereotypical. The representation we get from this is that this person is quite lazy and doesn't make an effort to keep his bedroom tidy or organised.  

This room on the other hand looks very clean and has been kept tidy and well organised with everything such as clothes and belongings packed away. The colour scheme and the flower pots suggest that the owner of this bedroom is a young girl.

Script (Research & Product)

When all the big studios produce they can't just do off the top of their heads so they must produce a script to follow and make sure the film runs smoothly. A script is a little different to a treatment. A script incorporates dialogue into a plan of what is going to happen on set.

Below is an example of a real film script.  

Alien vs. Predator by connorlove3349

The script for the film has a lot of detail for every scene which by reading it, it puts the image of the scene into your head.

Below is the script for the film we're creating.

The Other Side Script

The next blog post will be research on location.

Treatment (Research & Product)

Before a studio can produce a film they need to first make a treatment which is a rough over view of everything that happens.

Below is the treatment for the whole of the film "The Terminator"

This is an all time favorite of mine as Arnold Schwarzenegger has always been a hero of mine every since I was child.

Feel free to read the whole treatment.

Terminator Treatment

After reading some of the treatment I wanted to compare it to the actual film so below is the opening scene from The Terminator, enjoy and keep your eyes peeled for similarities and differences.

                   

So comparing both the treatment and the actual film there are many differences.

The treatment mentions a cat and in the actual film there is no cat. There are very few lines of dialogue in the treatment but in the film there are considerably more and in the treatment there is no mention of a heart being ripped out.

This just shows that the treatment is just a rough sketch of what the film makers want to create and starts them with a base line to work from.

Below is a treatment me and my group put together. Because we are only making two minutes of our film our treatment will be very close and accurate to the actual film we make.

                                 

Below is a reading of the treatment if you don't want to read it.

                    

The Role of the Sound Editor & The Film Score Composer

When producing or editing sound and music there are many jobs to be done.

One of the roles is sound editor.

In their job there are 3 parts of sound that are combined to create a final mix, these being dialogue, effects, and music. Some sound editors specialize in one of these areas. 
Editing effects is likened to creating the sonic world from scratch

Dialogue editor takes the original sound recorded on the set, and using a variety of techniques, makes the dialogue more understandable, as well as smoother, so the listener doesn't hear the transitions from shot to shot. Among the challenges that effects editors face are creatively adding together various elements to create believable sounds for everything you see on screen, as well as memorizing their sound effects library.

Another is a film score composer.

Their job is to meet with the director and movie producer, when the film has been shot and is being edited, to discuss music needs for the film. They take part in a spotting session, where the film composer, director and others watch the product and decide where each piece of music should start and stop in the film, why it's being included and how it should sound. They write the score for the film, a compilation of all the musical pieces needed for the film. The score for a feature film is usually about half the length of the film, so a composer would probably have to write about 50 minutes of music for a 100-minute movie. They then prepare the score for the musicians, or gives notes and a rough score to the arrangers so that they can provide a complete musicians' score.

Within the world of sound editing there is one infamous sound effect.

The Wilhelm Scream.

The noise itself is exactly what it says on the tin, it's a scream. You may have heard this when watching films and it was used mostly all the time. It was used more in older films to give a realistic scream sound but as time's have moved on it's almost become a joke within the world of sound editing. Editors like it put it into their films as a pun or for comical reasons. Below is an example of the Wilhelm Scream, enjoy?

Just like any role of work there are people who are popular and have a very good reputation and below are a list of some of those composers.

• John Williams: Star Wars, Superman, ET, Jurassic Park.

• Hans Zimmer: Inception, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Rock

• Howard Shore: The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Se7en, The Silence of the Lambs

If you ever want an amazing soundtrack these are the people you need to call up.

The next blog post will be about film treatments.

Recording Sound on Location & ADR

When filming video footage you may wish to also record the audio at the same time but their are a few issues with this and they are...

• The sound of wind
• Background sound 
• You can't create perfect silence without a sound proof room (expensive)

There are way in which you can resolve this and they are...

• Record sound on a day when there's no wind
• Use wind shields
• Film in a sound proof room
• Record audio separately and edit it in 
• Record the audio by having the microphone directly next to the thing producing the sound.

There are different pieces of equipment that are used to record audio and optimism the quality of the audio and they are...

• Lavalier Microphone

The purpose of this mic is to record voice.

• Directional (supercardioid) Microphone

This mic can be used to enhance a particular sound and can diminish background sound.

• Boom Pole (which can be used with the microphones above, man not included)

A boom pole can be used to record sound from a distance as someone can hold it from a distance and point it towards to the production of sound.

• Audio Recorder

An audio recorder can record and playback audio.

• Radio Microphone

A radio microphone is another type of microphone which can record audio.

• Pop filter

A pop filter is an anti-pop noise protection filter for microphones, typically used in a recording studio. It serves to reduce or eliminate 'popping' sounds caused by the mechanical impact of fast moving air on the microphone during recorded speech and singing.

Below I'm going to embed a video explaining what different sounds with in media productions are. These types of audio could either be filmed on or off set.

                
Audio Technical Codes from Gavin Hood on Vimeo.

"The Other Side" Film Pitch

This week me and my team had to pitch our ideas across to the studio about the film we wish to create. The goal was that the studio commissioned our idea and gave us the go ahead on planning and production. 

Below is a video of our pitch and as a team we are happy with what we put across and are now going to share it with you, enjoy!

                  

So as you can see from watching the pitch that we had our film commissioned and we are most proud. 

The studio were happy with our ideas and liked what we have planned to do but there was a few key points which they told us to be careful of and here they are.

• We could confuse the audience with our idea of having a different actor as our protagonists split personality. 
• People may be confused by the plot of the film and might not understand whats happening.

To avoid this from happening we need to keep asking different people when filming/editing if they understand whats happening.

Other than the few things we need to think about when putting this production together as a whole we are happy with our ideas and the constructive feedback we received and are even more confident with our product.

The next post will be on recording sound on location.

Identified Target Audience

Now I need to look at who my film will be aimed at so I can ask myself with every choice I make "Is this suitable for the audience I've chosen".

Target Audience: 15 - 25 year olds

So you can see the audience I've selected is 15 - 25 year olds. The audience chosen only has a range of 10 years so you could say it's quite a narrow audience choice. After doing research on media products that have similar situations and themes I made the choice to choose 15 - 25 year olds. I made the decision on the locations, situations and how the characters act in films that had similar ideas to what I want to incorporate into my film. I did my research on the Pearl & Dean website.

Saw

Genre: Horror, Thriller

Released: 2004

I decided to use the audience profile from Saw as it's a thriller and has elements of confusion within the characters which is what Kyle feels in the story. In the film also the characters wake up in an unknown area just the same as Kyle does in the story. 42% of people viewing the film are aged between 15 and 24 which fits perfectly with my target audience, the majority of people viewing the film fit my target audience. Saw has been rated an 18 due to its gore and strong language other than that themes and ideas from the film fit well with mine.

The Incredible Hulk

Genre: Action, Fantasy

Released: 2008

I decided to use the audience profile for The Incredible Hulk as the majority of viewers are 15 - 24 year olds so it fits well in my target audience. In the film Bruce Banner has an alter ego (hopefully you know of the Hulk) which in this film he tries to control it which in the rest of the film Kyle would attempt to do. The Incredible Hulk has been rated PG but the theme of the film fits well with mine which is why I'm using the audience profile.

This information that I've found is from a website called Pearl & Dean. Pearl & Dean collect information on films. The information usually contains the budget and earnings of the film, ages of views, types of viewers, date and description of the film. The type of data they also store information for you to find specific audiences like information on class, age and gender.

Pearl & Dean have a huge role in advertising. When you go onto their website you hear a jingle which you might recognize as it is played cinemas before the trailers for other are played. This is because they advertise films at the cinemas which is how they make money.

So after doing research on real media products I feel that the film I'll be producing will appeal towards the audience I have selected and because of this the rating for my film is.

I have done this according to the BBFC, British Board of Film Classification, as this is the proper guideline used to put ratings on to cinema releases or DVDs.
This means that no one under the age of 15 is allowed to view the film in the cinema or on a bought or rented film.

What you might find in a 15 rated film are: Strong violence, Frequent strong language (e.g. 'f***'), Portrayals of sexual activity, Strong verbal references to sex, Sexual nudity, Brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence, Discriminatory language or behavior, Drug taking

I have chose this as I might want to use strong language and another reason is because the target audience fits into the rating of the film too. It also shows some issues that younger audiences wouldn't understand. The younger audience would not understand my film as much and from the target audience research I have gathered, they wouldn't be all that interested either

Below is a target audience profile of a typical person who would come and see my film.

Target Audience (TAP)

Name: Russell Newport

Age: 17

Profile: Russell has recently started sixth form and is looking for a job to get themselves some money. He loves going to concerts with his friends which is why he is currently learning to drive because as in the past he wanted to go to see his favorite band but couldn't get there. He loves music and can play guitar and enjoys jamming with his friends. He loves all kinds of music.

At sixth form he studies psychology, English and media.

He studies media because he is fond of thrillers and wants to understand how to produce one. One of his favorite thrillers is the Saw series as it's a psychological thriller. He also loves se7en as one of his favorite actors Morgan Freeman stars in it.

He studies psychology as his mother suffers with severe depression and wants to try and understand how his mother feels as he wants to help her. With the film we are planning we hope that Russell with find help within the film due to the themes.