Some Audience Feedback...

We asked the same set of questions to various different audiences to see what they thought of our opening. The viewers ranged from their early teens, to parents, as well as the intended audience. These were some of our responses...

Reply Number One 

1. What genre of film are you watching? How do you know?
Mystery/action because of the song.

2. Can you relate to any of the characters? Who and why?
Not really but some can.
3. What do you think happens next? How do you know?
(Not answered)

4. Would you go and see this film? Why?
No because it's boring.


Reply Number Two

1. What genre of film are you watching? How do you know?
The genre could be clearer.

2. Can you relate to any of the characters? Who and why?
Yes I can relate to this because this is what you go through everyday. This is a very relatable experience for some people and they bought it alike well.

3. What do you think happens next? How do you know?
Maybe...the girl turns to drugs?

4. Would you go and see this film? Why?
Maybe... (I want to see the characters outcomes)

Reply Number Three

1. What genre of film are you watching? How do you know?
A mystery of some kind, romantic possibly because it raises questions and the connection between the male lead.

2. Can you relate to any of the characters? Who and why?
Not really relate, but you can empathise with the main character.

3. What do you think happens next? How do you know?
The story might move on to take you back in time, because of the mention of the days before at the end.
4. Would you go and see this film? Why?
Yes, as it made me what to find out what happened next and why certain things were significant to the opening.

Our Evaluation

Part One

Part Two

Despite the unfortunate loss of professionalism in the second half, we tried to evaluate our work in a very thorough and technical way. We covered each of the areas in relation to our entire process, from Preliminary task, to Main Task Planning, to Production and Post - Production work.

UNSPOKEN - 2 minute opening to a feature length film...

The final cut of our film opening. Screenplay by Keeley Burridge, Directed by Victoria Paul and Produced by VKLC Productions.

Post Production Journal

After capturing all the remaining shots we had to get, we began our films post production. A huge advantage to having the Canon DSLR was the addition of an SD card. When it came to editing our Preliminary task, we found that we had huge issues taking the footage we had from the tape used with the old cameras. When we went to log and capture in Final Cut Pro, the first few seconds of many of our clips was cut. It also took a very long time to get the footage on the program. With the SD card, it only took a few minutes to convert the files to an appropriate, high quality format and begin editing.

Day One...
On the first day of our editing process, we imported every shot we had so that we would not have to revisit the camera. Our primary goal was to produce the first rough cut of our opening in the first few hours. We set about ordering and cutting our clips to fit the storyboard we had produced. Unlike with our preliminary task, we had made sure to collect more than enough footage when we were filming on the underground and so we ended up having to cut a few shots that we deemed where not necessary.
We first followed the storyboard exactly and then edited to what we saw on screen and what needed to be improved. We also realised here that we had a problem when it came to the latter section of clips, as the cameras microphone had not been turned on when we were filming. We resolved that we would have to add in library sounds later to make the piece flow. The last thing we did was start cutting down the clips to make sure we would be able to get our opening as close to the two minute mark as possible, and also to increase the pace.

Day Two...
This day was more about refining than making any major changes. We took out a few more shots upon watching the entire opening again, to again work on the pacing. We also noticed that a lot of our shots had a very soft focus and where these shots intersected, it was a little too unclear to see what was happening in the scene.
We then began to think about voiceover and how it would be intergrated into our scenes, as well as downloading the background soundtrack for our missing sounds. We cut this up to match it as best we could to what was happening in the onscreen environment. However, it was evident that this would prove to be difficult due to the timing of arriving and departing trains as well as how we had edited the sequence of shots. We left it in but also considered the idea of not having any background noise when the voiceover starts.
One thing we finished on this day was the production of the VKLC Productions logo. We made this bold, in a stylised but clear font, white to contrast starkly with the black background at the beginning of our film.

Day Three...
We made a number of vital decisions on this editing day, involving the credits, title, music selection, and voiceover. Our first thoughts on the credits were to integrate them into the film environment, using a technique known as the fringe effect. This would mean that the text would stayed almost pinned to where we decide to put it in the frame, effectively making it look like a part of our location. However, when we tried this out, we decided that it looked a little cliché and too ostentatious for the narrative of our film. We made the decision to instead simply integrate the titles into the appropriate scenes and began to look for the right font.
The title was supposed to stand out from the rest of the credits and give the audience a vague idea about the plot of the film. We followed our storyboard and added a title with a black screen at the end of our 2 minute sequence to create suspense and shock. We chose a generic font to edit later.
This was the point where we started to search for the correct music to fit with our piece. We started our search on the copyright free film music website Moby, trying to search for songs that fitted to what we had envisioned to go with the film. Inspired by the research we had done into film genre and its music, we looked at tracks that created a slight feel of suspense and also of sadness - it would have been far too comically contrasting to choose a light hearted song. We short listed around five, and then cut these down to two main possibilities  Wait for Me and a track appropriately entitled Isolate, the main theme we were trying to portray with Ariadne's character. In the end, after testing these two tracks with our opening, we settled on Isolate, as it gave the film the right tone. We applied for use of the song and inserted it into our film when permission was given to us to use it.
I recorded the voiceover before this editing session, meaning that we could begin to play around with it. When I recorded, I made sure to add breaks between what I was saying to allow for us to cut it up if needed. We ended up editing out the lines "Is that even possible? I ask myself everyday." due to time constraints within the opening and to keep the pace quite fast. Whilst this was only supposed by be a first draft, it resulted in being used in the final version.

Days Four and Five
We played around with sound levels and other tracks on this first editing day. One of our group memebrs found a very good sound build up that we placed leading up to the reveal of the male protaganist. It took a few tries of experimentation to get it in the appropriate place but having it before the title arrived, unlike how we had originally planned to have it worked well with what we had cut so far. With this, we also had to cut the music track at a good moment so that it did not continue past the build up.
Adjusting the sound levels allowed for us to highlight specific things, through the sound working with the visuals. We ended up raising the levels of the sound of scruching paper as Ariadne refills her bag, and also raising the voice over level. Subversely, we also lowered the music volume and the added train effects which we had now gotten to fit to the right place.
One of the most crucial thing that came out of this day was the final decisions on the typeface for our titles and the transitions between them. We decided on a simple fade in/fade out transition - something quite understated and frequently used in  film credits. To add a little bit of emphasis to the titles, we adjusted the tracking so that the words would spread outwards, a little like a slow zoom. We thought this drew the eye of the audience to them more, without being distracting from the main narrative. We chose the font "American Typewriter" as we thought it was easy to read, bold yet not over power and is a style frequently used in the Action genre.

Day Six
With our deadline approaching, we decided to perfect small details of our opening. The main title was moved to within the opening rather than the end to avoid it looking like a trailer and we placed at the end a phrase describing the time the next scene would move to- a prominent feature of Action films. We also finalised where the soundtrack would enter.
To improve the quality of the visuals and to make them authentic to the conventions of film openings, we applied two visual techniques to our opening.
The first was aspect ratio. This meant put the film into the ratio of 2:35:1, what most cinemas use. It gives the film a widescreen effect, with black borders at the top and bottom of the frame. This did mean we had to slightly adjust the framing of some of our credits and shots, but this wasn't a problem. It gave the film a more professional look.
The second was colour grading. This process entail exporting our film to a programme called Color, where we could maually adjust the colour levels of each shot. Through research, we found that most films have a teal colour effect on them, whi8lst action films tend to go for a yellow, almost sepia look. We decided to combine the two, having a the midtones blue and the others yellow. This brought out the blue in the bag and the yellowy lighting of the underground, giving the film a richer, saturated look that overall seemed more cinematic.

Day Seven
With everything finished, we saved and exported our film opening to a high quality video file. It was then uploaded to YouTube and we asked an audience a few questions on what they thought the genre was or if the opening made them want to see the rest of the film. It took a long time, but was worth it to achieve the look we wanted.

Exploring our genre...

With our Preliminary Task, we set out from the beginning to create something that was definitely based around the Action genre. We stuck to conventions, added over emphasised references and generally made sure we were rather cliché! Contrastingly, when it came to our main task, we began thinking of narrative and the shots that would come from the this before considering genre. For that reason, our film turned out as more of a mix of genres; Action, Drama and Thriller. I think that this allowed for us to create a more believable piece that captured the story rather then just conventions. We used the convention from these multiple genres to both enrich our opening and make it a little different.

We looked at a range of films, not only from our genre, but from those we thought would help us represent character, plot and cinematic style the best. These were some of the films that influenced us the most...

Inception (2010) 

This films opening was very influential to us in the idea of playing around with Propp's Theory of Narrative. The penultimate scene of the film is echoed in the start, instantly building enigma and a riddle that wants the audience to solve it. Here, we also see the idea of not initially introducing the main character and leaving many narrative aspects open ended. Inception has the same kind of cinematic feel that we wanted to capture and therefore, we also looked at a lot of the shots used, such as the extreme close ups, slow motion shots and the use of contrasting the still camera with shaky cam effects.

The Hunger Games (2012)

We first looked at The Hunger Games because it shared a simlar narrative convention as ours. Or rather, it was simlar in the way it went against convention - by casting a female lead in a male dominated genre. In the opening of the film, not shown here, the camera follows Katniss on her journey through District 12, a similar style we used to track Ari's journey through the station. They also used shaky, but we decided to use this more subtly to create the same idea of being followed.

 

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

When we first came up with the idea of having our film set on the London Underground, we realised that we had certainly been inspired by this particular scene set in Waterloo. The crowds and expansive setting make for a far more cinematic style and we thought this would be a good way to represent Ariadne's sense of isolation. The chase scene is also a noted convention of the Action genre, and whilst we went against that in our opening, we still took elements from it, such as the over the shoulder shot following our character and the establishing wide shot. Also, we once again went against the theme shown in this film of having a male lead.

An Inspiring Shot...

Good Will Hunting (1997)

Despite not being from our main genres, this shot specifically form the film Good Will Hunting inspired us to use a similar shot in our own piece, in which Ari looks down at her blank map. We thought this was very good at drawing the audience into Ariadne's view and also makes her seem small in comparison to her surroundings.

Forrest Gump (1994)

Once again returning to both Forrest Gump and Love Actually, we turned to these films as excellent examples of how to handle voice overs in an effective and interesting way. Forrest Gump see's the main character introducing himself, and in some ways this is what we wanted for our film, yet with a little more anonymity surrounding the narrator. Love Actually provides more of a sentimental outlook on the voice over, providing a description of what the film is about, rather than a character narration. It acts as an addition to the visuals and music and doesn't provide a specific focus point. It is relaxing. We wanted to use some of the same features, yet when I recorded the voice over, we tried to invert some of them to provide a more unsettling tone.

Love Actually (2003)

Music in Film

Music, to me, is one of the single most important parts of a film. It helps to create to correct mood and emotion, and amplifies everything seen on screen. When we began editing or final project, I knew that I wanted to get the soundtrack of non- diegetic sound we used exactly right, as it could make our break everything that we had worked so hard to create and portray. In many films, the music is scored in conjunction with the film, sometimes even whilst the film is playing. The composer writes the music to fit what he see's on screen and what the directors vision is for the film or specific scene. A common feature used when writing programme music is the idea of character leitmotifs. These are short, memorable melodies that are played to represent one character, often interweaving into other themes or with other leitmotifs. A film usually also has it's own main theme that becomes an integral part of mood and plot. Take the Harry Potter film series as an example. The theme "Hedwig's Flight" by John Williams has now become iconic all over the world, symbolising all eight films even though he only composed for the first three.

In our film, whilst it will sadly not be possibly for us to compose a new track with a full symphony orchestra to match our opening, we do have many resources availiable to us. One of these is Moby, a website containing a great number of copyright free music tracks specifically designed for film. We want to try and capture Ariadne's sense of isolation, frustion and sadness in the music, whilst also not having it become too distracting from the voice over.

The videos on this post are all of music tracks that stand out for me from particular films, although there are many, many more I could put here.

 

  

 

Main Theme - Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986) - Joe Hisashi

 

 

 

One Strange World - The Host (2013) - Antonio Pinto

 



 

A Window to the Past - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) - John Williams

Production Journal

30th March 2013
Location: Paddington Underground Station, London

Finally, the day of filming had arrived! We had planned everything meticulously before the day, from the weather at key times to maintain lighting continuity, to meeting points and a shot list scheduled to benefit us when deciding which shots would be the most appropriate to film in which order.
The first obstacle we hit was one we hadn't anticipated. When deciding upon the place to film our opening, as well as considering the look of the station and whether it fit into our plot, we also considered the practical aspects of the location - would it be easy to film there, would we be given permission and would it be convenient for all members of our group to get there? Paddington was chosen because we could take a direct overground train from Maidenhead to the station, without the additional underground travel. However, due to works at Reading Station that were unforeseen until it was too late to change our plans, this direct link was not possible. In the end, we took a train to Slough, at which we caught a rail replacement coach service to Hayes and Harlington. From there, we finally got a train to Paddington. This meant that a journey that should have taken 45 minutes resulted in lasting 1 hour 30 mins. Luckily, this didn't put us too far off schedule for filming.

When we arrived at our filming location, we met up with our actor who was to portray Isaac, who had luckily not been affected by the travel disruption. After the initial introductions, we headed off to find the station supervisor to sign in and let them know we would begin filming. It took as while to find the correct office, but once signed in and fed with lunch, we discussed what shots to film first. It was decided that we would begin with all the shots which contained Isaac so that the actor could leave after they were completed. So our first location were the circle line platforms one and two. There, we managed to complete a good number of shots:

• Shot reverse shot of main characters on opposite platforms.
• Close up of Isaac.
• Shots of the map on the floor.
• Ariadne arriving at the platform.
• Shot from the bridge.

This took nearly 2 hours to complete but was done rather quickly when compared to what we had achieved with our preliminary task. At this point, we returned to the main area of Paddington as everyone was a little cold from waiting around for so long. The actor playing Isaac left us, leaving us to decide what to do next. We moved on to getting the exterior shots of Paddington that we needed for establishing shots in our two minute sequence. First, our director suggested we go to the exterior entrance to the underground platforms to get this shot, but upon arriving, it didn't have the crowds that we wanted. So we returned to the main area once more, taking a long shot of the exterior as we left.
It was at this point that we began to consider the various options for the location of our next set of shots. I began reviewing some footage and thankfully noticed in time that we had not turned on the microphone when filming on the platform previously. Whilst this was a bit of a hindrance, it was not crucial to re-film the shots we had, due to our plan to have the voice over being present throughout the entirety of that sequence, along with non-diegetic music.
Our filming crew the proceeded to film on a staircase that led directly to the underground platforms we had filmed on before. There we executed many shots, having to alter some due to the lack of crowds that we had not anticipated:

• Shots of Ari in crowds, walking down the stairs.
• Low angle shots of crowds feet.
• Ari's bag being knocked from her hands.
• Close up of papers being shoved back into bag.
• Still of Ari face and frustration.

We also improvised a little here to get the kind of shots we wanted, as we were not able to get some of the ones we had drafted into our storyboard. However, with this filmed, we decided to film to extreme close up shots at a later date, to make sure we had the time and space to achieve what we wanted, especially when it came to the drop sequence.


7th April 2013
Location: Home of director.

We scheduled our next filming day after we had produced our rough cut in the editing suit the day prior. Here we intended to film the extreme close ups of Ariadne, the drop sequence and any pick up shots that we needed to thread some scenes together. Two of a group members could not make it on the day but luckily this did not effect our productivity. We successfully captured:

• Various takes of Ariadne looking at the map.
• The main character seeing Isaac for the first time.
• The close ups of the map.
• The tickling water line on the map, turning red.
• The drop from the ceiling, using a pipet.

With this done, we had enough that we were pleased with to make our two minute opening. The voice over will be recorded later and added to the opening, fitting to the visuals and eventually, the soundtrack too.

Audience Research...

Gender

We wanted our film to appeal to both a male and female audience and hopefully achieved this through the narrative and genre. Due to the genre of Action/Thriller typically being aimed at a male audience, and we have made it more accessible by adding a female protagonist, which opens up the audience to female viewers. We also included elements into the storyline that would appeal to a mass audience; action scenes, suspense and also the drama and relationships.

The addition of the the female lead is similar to the film 'The Hunger Games' in which the main character - Katniss Everdeen is female. This possibly lead to females still being attracted to the film despite its action tendencies and evidently, did not effect the male audience either.

"According to a recent tracking report, 73% of young women surveyed had definite interest in seeing the movie, a "staggering" figure on its own, according to a former studio executive. But male interest could boost the box office for "The Hunger Games" exponentially, with 48% of young men saying they're definitely interested in seeing the movie." 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204603004577267832212316716.html

Upon the release of the film, both men and women showed an interest in seeing the film due to the genre being male-aimed and the protagonist being female.

Age
The main protagonist is a teenager, which determines the audience, because she is around 17/18. Having this younger age means that that we could still explore mature themes but did not have to focus on adulthood. It also allows the target audience to include many ages.
Verisimilitude plays a part in the target audience. The more relatable that character is in both age and gender, the more likely the viewers will be the same age or alike in gender.


Characteristics
Again, verisimilitude plays a large part in the audience that will view it ultimately, the more relatable, the more likely the audience will see it.
Ariadne is isolated and cut off, which is a trait that many people experience at one point or another, and this will help the audience to instantly identify with Ari, because they know what she has gone through.

We want the film, much like Inception, to be open to any age, but not rate it as a PG so that teenagers are prevented from seeing it because they think it's too general or even aimed at a younger audience, and not aimed at teenagers.

Lighting and Colour Research

Lighting in film is crucial when trying to convey mood and setting in a film. Both work in conjunction with each other to create the feel of a scene, whether the colours are cold and lighting dull, or the colours are warm and the lighting bright. We knew that we wanted to create these effects as naturally as possible and to not make any radical colouring decisions until post production, to allow us to change and alter whatever original shots we obtained.

The lighting for our main task had to involve no additional light sources to meet the terms of our permit from Transport for London. For this reason, we have decided to use natural lighting of the underground stations as we also feel that this would be more effective for the films realism. We will hopefully be using Paddington Underground as our location, but in case something goes wrong, we have also chosen two other other underground stations to act as a plan B.

The lighting of Paddington underground is very light due to the open roof that is directly above the trains coming through. We can use this to our advantage in using it as our main light source, meaning we will have no need for additional, artificial lighting. However there is a downside to having too much light as it could take away the impact of the eerie half darkness we previously envisioned.




Angel Underground is fairly well lit due to the fact that the station is completely underground. This gives us a good advantage as we won't need to add to the light already available, and the yellowish lights give it that familiar underground feel. It also has that creepy effect as the lights aren’t as bright due to the yellow tint, but does look more modern and in some ways, safe.




Baker Street Underground is fairly lit as well, but some times can be very dark as it is one of the oldest stations on the network. It has the opposing platforms that we need, and it has an unsettling effect because of the darkness. The only thing is it might be too dark with no additional lighting which could affect our filming.


Colour

The colouring of the film will be simple and natural, with darker tones to replicate the main themes of our narrative. It also helps that the stations we plan to use have an aged look to them which gives of mystery and enigma, and also fits more to the conventions of our action/drama genre whilst providing us with a more cinematic feel. For the first few shots we have Ariadne in the crowd, but the audience are not supposed to know that is our main protagonist. so we are going to have her blend into the crowd by wearing clothes that will blend her in. This will also be similar to that of Isaac's character, yet he will hopefully have a more intimidating feel, with dark clothing that mimics Ariadne's colour scheme. This will mean that although he could be seen as an antagonist, a connection between the two characters is also faintly evident.


We will also explore colour grading when it comes to post production to decide on the colours that will effect the tone of the film.

Full Shot List...

The shot list was written up with filming schedule in mind. We later had to split the shot list into two shots on separate days due to time constraints. All shots where location was critical were filmed on location at Paddington Station, whilst close up shots were filmed a day or two later.

• Shot 26 - Over the shoulder shot across platform to Isaac 
• Shot 9 - Soft focus crowds, Isaac amongst them 
• EXTERNAL SHOTS -Shot 1 - Paddington exterior establishing shots 
• Shot 2 - Long shot of stairs 
• Shot 3 - Long shot of crowds with focus line 
• Shot 4 - Ari in crowds, bumped by passer by 
• Shot 5 - Mid-shot of feet, Ari picks up papers 
• Shot 7 - Cut shot of Ari refilling bag, lower body 
• Shot 10 - Bridge, set up shot of platform, Ari in frame 
• Shot 11 - Mid-shot, Ari walking near platform edge 
• Shot 12 - Long shot, passing trains 
• Shot 13 - Low body shot, Ari should sit 
• Shot 15 - Pulling out papers still on bench 
• Shot 19 - Close up, Ari fiddles with hands 
• Shot 20 - Drops the map to the floor 
• Shot 6 - (could be filmed in conjunction with 5-8) 
• Shot 8 - Ari close up, head raises 
• Shot 14 - Over head shot of face 
• Shot 17 - Extreme close up of eye 
• Shot 18 - Extreme close up of mouth 
• Shot 16 - Map close up, Ari traces route 
• Shot 21 - Map lies on floor, long shot with focus on map 
• Shot 22 - Reaches to pick up map close up 
• Shot 23 - The drop shot 
• Shot 24 - Close up, extreme, water mixes with red ink 
• Shot 25 - Following water trail

After we had everything we needed on each day of filming, we allowed our selves to improvise around our ideas and to modify any we already had. We maintained throughout all our filming that it was better to have too many shots than not enough.

Finished Storyboard

Drawn by Cary, this is the full storyboard for our two minute opening, shot by shot.

Shots 1 -4

Shots 5 - 8

Shots 9 - 12

Shots 13 - 16

Shots 17 - 20

Shots 21 - 24

Shots 24 - 28

Researching Acting...

Through our many discussions as a group and researching various existing film openings, the other group members chose to cast me in the main role as Ariadne. This was for numerous reasons, one being that they believed I could understand her character motives and that I would be able to portray the character accurately.

One of the best ways that we have heard of that helps actors to portray the character to their best ability is method acting, in which the actor uses various different practises to get into the characters mind.

An example from film... The Iron Lady (2011) 
In preparation for her role as Britain's first woman prime minister Margaret Thatcher, actress Meryl Streep carried a bag similar to that of Thatchers with her before filming. In this bag, she placed items that she believed her character would have carried. By doing this, Streep effectively created a link between herself and the person she was portraying, trying to understand their motives and thought processes whilst also learning more about the person.

Of course, as I could already empathise with some of Ariadne's struggles as a character, I was able to pull from my own experiences and apply them to the way I portrayed her on screen. Costume and prop design worked intrinsically together to improve the verisimilitude of on screen character to on page/script. Although they were not essential to filming, we filled a bag with all the things that we thought she would carry with her to help me get into character: water bottles, some snacks, various different maps of London, the handwritten map and lots of scrap paper, covered in writing that showed her thoughts, escaping onto paper as they cannot escape her lips.

Key to our film is the use of voice over to convey the main characters thoughts as she cannot speak. This meant that body language and facial expression were at the forefront of how to act as Ari. Long looks to show frustration that she works hard to suppress, a sense of hopelessness at some points as well. This should definitely be evident in the close ups that we have of Ariadne fiddling with her hands in  nervous hesitancy or pushing back her hair when it gets to be too much. At times, we also had her tense up in fear, or contrastingly looking around frantically, skittish and wary of her surroundings even though she goes unnoticed by many around her. The constant switching of all these mixed emotions had to be clear to the audience and therefore, the acting could be somewhat exaggerated to a point to back up the voice over affectively.

Location Research

Location scouting  is crucial to the  pre-production of film. Not only are the location department required to match an ideal location to the visual image that the director and various other creative managers share, but it must also account for practical feasibility.
The process of location scouting generally involves a location department  that will communicate with the production department to find the right place for filming particular required scenes.
Location scouting is done through photography, research and visiting the chosen areas to ensure they are ideal for the film. The department then creates a short list of all the possible locations and allows other members of the film crew to decide on the best place place.


A little more about location scouting can be found here...
http://locationmanagers.org/lmga/2011/11/who-we-are-and-what-we-do-a-4-minute-video-about-location-managing/


When we were first exploring the possibilities of what we could do for a two minute opening, the idea which we had in mind already came with it's location of the Underground. Initially, we thought of this location because of it's visual impact on screen and from that we drafted what would eventually become our full narrative. We saw a girl sat in the corner of the station, dishevelled from running or being pursued. From that first idea we looked into shooting on the Underground and applied for the permit that gave us the permission to do so. It has been a long process to get the required permissions but hopefully one that will be worth the effort when it comes to the mise en scene of our film.


In the application for the permit, we summed up why we wanted to use the London Underground as our setting...

"Within this opening, we hope to capture to urban environment of the bustling London city and we believe that the London Underground is perfect for presenting this theme. The tube will appear in an audio-visual way on camera, appearing as our main setting for the opening of our narrative. The passing trains should add a sense of depth and urgency to the filming as well as providing atmospheric lighting. All of this is essential to our opening to present as much meaning as possible through visuals, given the fact that our main character does not speak. Our production group believed Paddington to be a good station to choose as it is a mainstream station, meaning crowds will be abundant and it is also easy to commute to being an central location. Further to this, the circle line platforms offer as a good mix of natural and darkened light, reflecting many aspects of our films plot and main characters struggles. The footage we can acquire from this shoot will depict our characters actions as her main thought process is shown through voice over. Therefore, the shots will match the monologue that is spoken by our character  The setting of the underground also works well with emphasizing how lost this character is compared to the moving world surrounding her. The great thing about filming in a station such as Paddington is the feeling that everyone seems to have a destination, contrasting to our lost protagonist, Ariadne, who is trying to discover hers."

After research, we considered three possible platforms to use on our shoot: Angel, Baker Street and Paddington. From previous experience we all decided that these were the underground stations that evoked the appropriate mood we needed for our footage due to the versatility of the lighting, crowds and layout of the stations. Initially, we thought that Baker Street would be most ideal due to the low lighting that brought to mind a sense of isolation and also had more of a cinematic feel, but after more consideration we were reminded that Ariadne is meant to be presented as a very quiet character, shown through her contrast the the London crowds. We thought that of all three stations Paddington would be the most crowd-filled there is, not to mention well-known, therefore the viewer would identify the location more so than the others. We ruled out Angel because although it had the right atmosphere, it lacked the opposing platforms needed for a crucial set of over the shoulder shots between our main characters. Our final decision was to film on platforms one and two of the London Underground at Paddington, as they retained some of the architectural features of Baker Street with opposing platforms and also should provide us with more crowds and cinematic presence..

Angel:

Baker street: 

London Paddington:

Props Research

Props are often an essential part of a films mise en scene and can sometimes also be part of a characters representation or plot. In the film industry, special care is taken to get props looking as authentic as possible to make the film world easier to get pulled into.

We decided to use a minimal amount of props for two main reasons: firstly, as our character was technically on the run, we thought she would only carry the essentials with her. And secondly, there was only so much we could take to filming due to practicle reasons. We had two main props that we included for a reason, so as to save on the ammount we had to carry and also to focus the audience more on these things.

The bag was not only a key part of costume but also as a stand alone prop. Discussed in my post on acting earlier, with Meryl Streeps portrayal of Margaret Thatcher, the bag was also important to showing who Ariadne was as a character.
The bag was filled with more props - many sheets of paper filled to the brim with writing which echoed her thoughts. It was meant to symbolise her way of getting all the thoughts trapped inside her unspeaking mind and how they escaped. The way in which people can see and understand her state of mind through film. The bag also contained essentials for living, such as a little money,
                                                      some snacks and water.



In our opening two minutes, we use a map blank of names, a rough out line of London, as a McGuffin. This sparked a sense of enigma in our film, raising questions that the audience will hopefully want answered. The map has red dots placed on it, and pencil-marked ticks, plotting out her journey. The red marks symbolising key places that she will visit were also useful in providing focus points for our slow motion drop sequence.


 

Recorded Meeting

Character Developing and Filming Planning

Film Premise

A brief description of our films main story, meant to appeal to an audience and draw them in without spoilers.

Ariadne Russo is different. It’s not the fact that the spoken word seems to elude her. It’s not the fact that she never knew the identity of her parents. Her memories are lost, stolen by ghostly figures she no longer remembers. She is as blank as the map that holds the key to her identity, blank save for a few rough outlines of London dotted with red marks. After the map makes its way into her possession through a series of unusual circumstances in her foster home, the young, lost woman is inclined to follow it to where ever it may lead her, in vain hopes that it might just help her rediscover her voice and her memories. What she doesn't know is that others are following the same path; one- intent upon saving her, the other- destroying her. Ariadne is the unwitting holder of a remarkable gift that allows her to sense where objects have been by mere touch, unlocking their secrets and inanimate stories. Yet her psychometric ability, it seems, has been cut from her just as everything else has, another lost key to whom, or what she may be. With people searching for a girl so lost within her, will she be found by the right person? Or is it too late for her to even regain what is lost and save herself?

Representing Character Through Costume: Isaac...

Isaac is meant to be more of a mystery in our opening, symbolising both Ariadne's lost memories and the danger that could follow her. Before we started coming up with how we would represent him, we spent some time developing his character a little more, so that we could portray him accurately.

Isaac was a lonely child just like Ariadne, and when they met, he took it upon himself to look after her. They were as close as brother and sister before Ari was taken, and for this reason, he searches for her when she disappears. As mentioned in a previous post discussing character development and personality, Isaac is rather more calm than Ari, intellectual rather than adventerous. We wanted his costume to reflect this responibility and intelligence whilst also keeping him myseterious and imposing. For this reason, we included the leather jacket as it adds that element of danger to the way he dresses. Aside from this one aspect, he dresses mostly casual to reflect his laid back personality.

We chose to dress him in similar colours to our main character to establish an immeadiate connection between the two, but we made many of the blue hues that he wears a little darker and in some cases bolder to represent thathe has a better sense of who he is - he is not lost. This is also reflected in the dark jeans and jacket which evoke a shady persona that is meant to create enigma with the audience.

Representing Character Through Costume: Ariadne...

After finalising who we thought our main character was in her personality, we began to develop a way to translate this into her appearance, and in turn, the way in which she is is represented to the audience. Our group designed a mood board (above) to act as a refernce point and visual way of of showing our ideas.

The first part of her appearance we focused on was the colour palette that we best reflect her and her inner feelings. We settled on a theme of blue mixed with natural, earthy colours such as browns and greys. her character is filled with a deep rooted sadness and despair at not being able to recall her memories, and I think that the blue colour (typical connoting sadness) really shows this well. Along with this, to me the colour grey relates to the distance of of her memories, like a cloud or haze over what she can't rememeber. We thought that having bright colours, or even just an array of them would not fit Ari's personality in the slightest.

Most of her clothes are pratical and well used, from her time in the foster home. One thing that is quite special to her is a ring that she bought when she was small, as it reminds her of happy times when she looks at it, even if she can't remember what exactly those times were. She also carries a simple rucksack, carrying extra clothes to use whilst traveling and above all, the sheets of paper that are her whole mind.

As for hair and make-up, she would wear none, believing it to be of no importance. Her hair will be slightly waved, looking tousled as she doesn't have time to style, simply running a brush through it every now and then. For the actress playing her, she will wear minimal make up, mearly to prevent glare from lighting and other technical issues.

Character Development

Recently, we discussed detailed plans of our two main characters natures and how the would appear, and similarly, be represented on screen.

Ariadne...

• She is running from something and her appearance tries to reflect that. She looks slightly dishevelled.
• When she was younger read read a lot, mostly for the escape. Her favourite type were adventure novels because they fitted her personality.
• She is entirely mute and closed off from the world, introverted and protective of herself.
• She's not the kind of person who is that fused with music - words speak to her more.
• An interest in travel fulled her over active imagination as a child, and because of this, as a young adult, she loves to learn about other cultures and dreams of visiting them, an escape from her own dull life.
• Her clothing is functional and classic, nothing too glamorous and fancy and hardly anything that is intentionally in on trend. It's often in her nature to buy from charity shops.
• In many ways, she is a blank canvas in her appearance and particularly in the amount she can articulate. For this reason, it is very easy to make assumptions about her, yet often impossible to know if they are true.
• She adores words and sees them as more than just communication methods. To Ariadne, they are an art form, physical and tangible emotion.

Isaac...

• As the male protagonist, we want Isaac to stand out as an important character in our opening, yet also keep a sense of ambiguity surrounding him.
• He is quite an organised person, which is one of the reasons why he re-draws the map.
• He is pretty in check of his emotions, thinking about things logically without reacting on impulse unless he is really riled. In this sense, he is the complete antithesis of Ari.
• His appearance reflects his casual, collected composure that masks more of the enthusiasm within. He has slightly scruffy hair and wears jeans and converse, with a t-shirt and leather jacket.
• He has a rather laid back attitude when dealing with things, a trait that would often annoy Ariadne.
• A precise and practical person, more academic than creative, once again contrasting to our female protagonist.
• Since Isaac has known his female companion from a young age, he is very protective over her, one of the reasons why he searches for her and tries to offer her help.
• He can be very particular- a little bit of a neat freak.
• He gets easily anxious but he's very good at covering it up, as will be demonstrated in our two minute opening.
• Music also means a lot to him. It is to Isaac what words are to Ari.

Ideas Pitch

Our pitch included a full description of narrative, storyboard, characters and backstory. We wanted to give an in detail overview of everything we plan to achieve through our opening.

Our first run though of this pitch proved to be slightly problematic, with our audience apparently confused by the in depth story explanation. It also lasted for a great amount of time

 and so we resolved to cut it down by the time we presented again. We were also lacking our drafted storyboard at the time of both recordings, which probably also impacted the ability to comprehensively understand our pitch, along with reading from drafts of many of our descriptions.

Storyboarding: First Drafts

Above is the first draft of our storyboard, representing the first few shots of our film opening. We have tried to create as much enigma and intrigue to pull in the audience yet also to show our characters in a meaningful way.
In our first shot, we see the busy crowds of London just outside of Paddington station in a wide shot, to establish the urban setting and to also introduce a contrast of our main characters introverted nature with the hectic immediacy of the city. We then see another long shot of the stairs ways at the station entrance, tracking where our character is, yet never fully focusing on her, so that she dissolves into the crowd. We wanted to try switching between soft and sharp focus here as well.
After this, we see Ariadne traversing the busy, people filled area, head down and silent. The voice over should begin somewhere around here, although this will be subject to change as during editing we should be able to see where best to fit it in. The fourth shot is the first close up we see of the female protagonist Ariadne. Having the extreme close up finally establishes her as the main character, yet also keeps her relatively elusive as not her whole face can be seen. We also have some shots focusing upon the writing that is spilled from her bag as she gets knocked over.
We will continue to build upon this over the coming weeks and use it as a reference point when filming, along with our shot list to help creating an accurate representation of our story. The shot list will also contain a full description of each shot in order to finaliuse evcerything we need to film on the day.

The DSLR and Shooting on Location

The DSLR Kit...
Recently, we have gained the possibility to use a full HD DSLR camera complete with 3 lenses, a microphone and a lighting system. This will greatly widen our creative possibilities when it comes to filming our two minute opening and the quality will be far better than we could have ever hoped to achieve with the other video camera's. We hope to test out some of the DSLR's capabilities before we go out on our filming days so that we can get familiar with the equipment and base the designs of our shot list on what we learn.
The camera is a Canon EOS 550D and I checked up the instruction manual to brush up on a few key commands and features the camera will offer us.

Interchangeable  prime lenses means that we will not be able to zoom whilst capturing footage, but means we will get a far greater quality in the resolution and shoot style. Each of the three lenses lends itself to a particular frame. The 35 mm lens allows us to get nice wide angled shots that can have a large depth of field and is therefore useful when taking long shots. The 50 mm lens is most accurate to what the human eye sees, which makes it the perfect candidate for point of view shots, along with camera angles such as mid shots and over the shoulder views. The last lens  the 75 mm provides the best view and set up for close up shots, giving us high detail and good focus.
Another thing we'll have to get used to is the manual focus ability that the camera has. This allows us to specifically altering the focus point within the frame, adjusting the soft and sharp areas of the shot. One thing that this makes me particularly happy about is that we can now experiment with these various focus points to produce whimsical or dramatic effects, focuses on the particular aspects that need to be brought to the audiences attention - a particular useful feature when it comes to our main task opening  This focus slide can also be achieved whilst filming to quickly slide between soft and sharp focuses on objects.
And example of this [The Sorcerers Apprentice (2009)] The cameras focus slides from the female characters reflection to her physical self, drawing attention to the fact that she's noticed someone:

Filming...
Along with this, we also managed to finalise some plans for getting to film in a London Underground station. The application will hopefully be filled out and sent of at the end of the week and we should have a response from Transport for London by next week. If all goes well, we should be filming on 30th March, allowing us time for any last minute planning before we begin editing on 5th April. To meet the requirements for the application, it is required that we send the screen play and narrative synopsis of our film, a risk assessment sheet and information on insurance and local police and hospitals.

Main Task: First draft of script and narrative planning

After brainstorming some rough ideas for the narrative, our first task was to check how viable our plan for filming on location actually was. As a group, we contacted Transport for London to enquire about a student filming permit to work on the station platforms. At that time, we resigned ourselves to not being able to do any filming there, as the permit would cost £50 plus we needed expensive insurance. However, after discussing this matter with another teacher, we have found a way in which it may be possible.

On developing a script, I took what we had invented for our narrative thus far and built upon it, identifying character back stories and a main plot line for the film in its entirety. This became our film treatment. I then implemented some of the ideas we had come up with as a group for camera shots and dialogue, and made an unpolished first draft of the script. Of course, it will hopefully be changed once the rest of the group can input their own ideas and we can improve upon it vastly.

Some images of that script can be seen after the break... ->

 

Love Actually: On the voice over and representing genre

Love Actually is said to be one of the most successful British rom com films to date, with an impressive ensemble of big name actors and actresses filling its scenes. Aside from this obvious reason for its popularity, it is also very successful in its easy merging of elements from both genres; romance and comedy. In the opening 2 minutes of the film, we see elements from both the genres directly juxtaposed against each other, effectively establishing genre in the first few minutes.

The first thing we see on screen is a muted montage of shots from an airport arrivals area. Some of these are slowed down somewhat, which adds far more impact to the reuniting of these nameless people. It reflects the idea that time stands still in a moment you want to capture. A voice over then begins, over lapping with these images and interweaving them. This voice over instantly draws the audience into the film and allows them to connect with a character they haven't even seen yet through just a voice. It adds a sense of vulnerability to the character as we can hear his thoughts. The voice matches well with the mise en scene of the scene as it is calm, soothing and informative. Also, many people would recognise the well known actor that speaks the lines, thus leading to the cliché idea of attractive male leads in rom coms. There is, along with this, faint music playing underneath the voice which lends an endearing quality to the scene, one of warmth and comfort. It easily reflects the feeling of love and happiness.

On the subject of titles, the main title of the film appears as part of the dialogue. The phrase "Love actually is all around" appears word by word, timed exactly to the voice over. As pointed out by a member of our class, the colouring of the words has been used interestingly. The centre word "is" has been highlighted in red, perhaps a subtle reference to the classic "I <3 ?" design.

It is after this that the audience is first introduced to the comedy aspect of the film. Another of the main characters, a male failing rock icon, is shown to be recording a new version of a classic, cheesy love ballad. This could again, be referencing the idea that this film plans to put a new twist on the rom com genre. This section is also purely comedy, compared to the scene prior to it, which was purely based on what love is and means.

Love Actually Opening minute

A Series of Unfortunate Events: On Breaking Convention and contrasting openings...

Whilst in the middle of our productions of film opening, I watched this children's film based on Daniel Handlers (aka Lemony Snicket) strange book series and thought that it's opening went directly against many of the things we have learnt about creating a good film opening. I think this adds to the overall quirkiness of the film from 2004 and has also made me think a lot about just what makes a good opening and whether certain norms are actually necessary, despite that fact that it is not from our genre.

The film begins with very happy, chirpy music, leading into an animation. Not only does this initially cast doubt among the audience, but when the title of the film first appears as The Littlest Elf, and not what the films title actually is, it begins to make people question either why the film makers are showing them this (if it's significant) or if they are actually watching the correct film! I think this cleverly sets up the unsettled feel that runs throughout most of the film without being too obvious.

Lemony Snicket's A series of Unfortunate Events Opening (0:00 - 0:50) Please ignore Analysis!

Main Task Narrative Ideas

• Character - Girl, around age 18, looking slightly scruffy and messed up. She has no idea who she is except for the fact that she can not speak and communicates through writing. Name idea: Ariadne Russo? Accent however, evident in her voice over (or thoughts), giving the audience a clue as to where she's from. She may not realise her accent? As she has never spoken.
• There has been an off screen inciting incident - pressure ball theory leading to her breaking. No parents, has suffered some kind emotional trauma that made her forget and stop speaking. See's a person that stirs her memories whilst she is following the blank map, and she feels as if something will happen to him? They may have been involved in another incident that caused her trauma, and in some respects, amnesia and caused him to disappear.
• He knows who she is, he is the only vague memory she has and she doesn't truly know him. She has the map but doesn't know where it came from (but it really came from him). A single number on the map stirs this feeble memory, a number that relates to how many days she knew him. Perhaps he wrote them down? A house number or maybe coordinates for a place?
• Setting outside a train station (changed due to restraints on filming), still retains the idea crowds and urban setting that contrasts to her personality, yet is also a little gritty. She is waiting, debating whether or not to board the train to her next destination
• Guys names: Liam? Isaac?
• The last line spoken of the film would be said by the main protagonist (Ariadne?) who has not uttered a single word throughout the entire film. She says the boys name.

Inglorious: On creating enigma and credits

Inglorius Bastards, a film directed by Quentin Tarantino, begins as many older films conventionally did - with the credits. Even just this staement here and that fact that they are set to older music imeadiately establishes the idea that the film will not be set modern day, establishing setting and even the tone of the film in the first minute. The visuals play a key aspect here, working well with the soundtrack as it develops.

 

The screen is entirely black and white for the credited opening, white font on a black background. The font itself is reflective of the mood of the film, with the names of the principle actors being written in it first in a clear, serif style. When the main title of the film is introduced in a different, scripted font, the music bulids to a small crescenedo, drawing the audiences attention to it. It then returns to the normal font, continuing on with the credit roll on the quieter moments of the music. The actors are listed of in an order of importance and also of fame, with only a new star being singles out by another musical crescendo. Throughout all this, the audience is constantly left wondering when the main narrative will begin, creating a sense of enigma.

 

But what is enigma? A dictionary definition: A person or thing that is mysterious, puzzling, or difficult to understand or a riddle or paradox. In filmic terms, enigma is the way in which you keep your audience hooked. There is enough mystery in the scene or indeed film to keep them questioning and wanting to know the answers. This film succesfully does by using the plain opening credits simply as a way of increasing anticipation. The audience gradually grows to want the credits to be gone and the narative to start. It also poses the question of how the setting and actors introduced will fit into the story and if the credits have reflected the film well enough. When the film does eventually reach the screen, the audience is presented with mainly long shots of typical everyday actions of the characters they are seeing - the hanging of washing, the choopping of wood. Instantly, the setting and time framing a fully established, and the sound of the constantly chopping wood builds some kind of suspense, mimicking the sound of a heartbeart.

 



 

 

The opening scene of Inglorius Bastards (2009)

 

 

 

Warm Bodies: On extensive voice over and book adaptations

After seeing the film Warm Bodies, I thought that it's style of opening was one that could be very interesting to look at and so I decided to include it as one of my studied film openings. The premise of this film, based on the amazing novel by Isaac Marion, explores the life of a zombie, known simply as "R" the only remaining fragment of his real name. Therefore, in the novel, a great deal of the first few chapters are purely introverted thoughts coming from R's narration. This could have been a disaster to translate to screen, but the clever use of voice over provides a witty and strangely thought provoking introduction to the unusual film.

One of the things I find most interesting about this particular use of voice over is the way in which it captures the idea of immediate thought, rather than reminiscence or indeed explanation. This could have easily appeared too descriptive or monotonous, but the dialogues constant switching between mild humour and serious thought kept me hooked throughout the entire beginning. The images on screen also reflect everything that is being said by R, or contrast to it respectively. An example of this is when we see the abandoned airport transformed by a flashback in time to see living people at Christmas. Whilst R is thinking of what it was like when everyone could communicate, the people in the flashback are doing the exact opposite: everyone is in their own world influenced by technology, interaction at its minimum. In this scene, the audience is already presented with this strange contrast of ideas and what the idea of connecting with people really means. Is it as R believes it, present and physical, or as we perceive it, through long distance connectivity? However, whilst posing these deep conundrums, the lighthearted, gentle music in the background lightens the mood, completely contrasting again to the dark lighting and miserable, destroyed mise en scene. It also connotes to me some kind of innocence or even naivety, similar to that in Forrest Gump, yet here it is far more subtle and presented in a less 'childish' way.
Along with this, many of the camera angles used are quite static and focus slowly on the mindless shuffling of the zombies and R, reflecting I think, the lack of life in them. This is juxtaposed next to the faster, sweeping movement of the camera as it circles into the living flashback, connoting the idea of busy, flowing life. The colours used in this scene are also far brighter than the dull greys scene on the zombie ridden airport, similar to the warm lighting.

Addressing the subject of works of literature being adapted into film is quite tricky. Often, much of the book is sacrificed in its transition to screen and for obvious reasons. However, sometimes this does effectively narrow the storyline completely, as smaller back stories not key to the main narrative are cut. I think in some adaptations, this can be a downfall of the film - some of the charm that fills the book is removed for the purposes of fast past storyline to keep the audiences attention. It always falls into the hands of the script writers, deciding what to include and what to miss out, as many a time, smaller key moments have been cut to fit in those of pure action (an example of this is the Destruction of the Burrow scene in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince) that are sometimes invented for the film. In the case of Warm Bodies, they have captured the feel of the novel nearly perfectly. Director Jonathan Levine, although lightening its mood, has kept the story exact to the sentiments shared by Isaac Marion in the novel, with the exception of the latter part of the film where the storyline changes. Of course, as a reader who enjoyed the novel immensely, I would have liked to see some of the character development worked on. But of course, the scope of the film will not often include all that the writers deem to be unnecessary. But, in the case of this film, I think the filmmakers have produced something that is one of the most faithful representations of (non-Young Adult) literature I have seen in a while.

 

Creditless opening 4 mins of Warm Bodies (2013)