It has been a wonderful experience.
Nicholas Ashurst
7004
Signing out.
Thursday, 21 March 2013
Evaluation - Our Film
Making this film has been one of the most exciting and rewarding projects that I have worked on. From the humble beginnings of the Preliminary Task to the thrilling climax of the Opening Two Minutes, I feel that I have gone through a journey in making this film. I have learnt invaluable life skills in the process and I am eternally grateful to the creators of this course for the opportunities that they have offered me.
Evaluation - Audience Feedback
In order to gather a wide range of feedback from our audience, we have devised a questionnaire that can be answered on a range of elements of our opening, such as visuals, editing and narrative and whether we had adherred to the conventions of the action thriller genre.
1. Did the opening meet your expectations of an action thriller?
"It exceeded each and every one of them, and blew them up to a whole new level" - Avraj C.
"Yes, and no. IT WENT ABOVE AND BEYOND THE CALL OF DUTY" - Ben C.
"I'm still recovering from the experience. It was like nothing I'd ever seen before" - Matthew B.
2. What did you think of the editing - did it support the camerawork?
"Not bad. An impressive grasp of the editing tools meant the opening retained its break-neck pace throughout!" - Leonard R.
"Not quite the professional standard I expected, but does the job" - Thelma M.
"The editor had a keen eye for the slick cinematography" - Roger D.
3. Did the location enhance the cinematic experience?
"The London location aided the high value look of the film - and added to the realistic threat of the film" - Boris J.
"The Christmas tree seemed out of place - it could've been used to greater effect" - Nicholas St.
"Clearly a well planned shoot" - James R.
4. Did the costumes conform to the conventions of the genre?
"Davidson was dressed for the job - dressed for ACTION" - Alexander MQ.
"Zubasu's grey striped suit gave him the air of a cold ruthless killer" - Alex B.
"I liked Caprivi's Thinsulate™ hat" - John D.
5. How did the musical score help to support the action?
"It was pure brilliance and really intensified the action" - Martin S.
"Up there with the greats. Hans Zimmer and John Williams, WATCH OUT!" - Thomas N.
"James Richardson - you are a musical god!" - Matthew B.
6. With all of that in mind, what improvements could be made to the opening - and what would like to see in the future from Enigma Entertainment?
"The storyline could be simplified as to prevent audience confusion. I had no idea what Yung was up to and why" - Avraj C.
"I didn't get it" - Zubin P.
"You could have used some older actors as it would've made the sequence more believable" - Ryan T.
"The editing lacked proper pacing and felt somewhat amateur. Spend more time on this!" - Joseph S.
"I would just LOVE to see a garden fight sequence where Lee Davidson takes out, like, TEN GUYS - four with his fists - two with a pole - and four with a shotgun!" - Alex B.
1. Did the opening meet your expectations of an action thriller?
"It exceeded each and every one of them, and blew them up to a whole new level" - Avraj C.
"Yes, and no. IT WENT ABOVE AND BEYOND THE CALL OF DUTY" - Ben C.
"I'm still recovering from the experience. It was like nothing I'd ever seen before" - Matthew B.
2. What did you think of the editing - did it support the camerawork?
"Not bad. An impressive grasp of the editing tools meant the opening retained its break-neck pace throughout!" - Leonard R.
"Not quite the professional standard I expected, but does the job" - Thelma M.
"The editor had a keen eye for the slick cinematography" - Roger D.
3. Did the location enhance the cinematic experience?
"The London location aided the high value look of the film - and added to the realistic threat of the film" - Boris J.
"The Christmas tree seemed out of place - it could've been used to greater effect" - Nicholas St.
"Clearly a well planned shoot" - James R.
4. Did the costumes conform to the conventions of the genre?
"Davidson was dressed for the job - dressed for ACTION" - Alexander MQ.
"Zubasu's grey striped suit gave him the air of a cold ruthless killer" - Alex B.
"I liked Caprivi's Thinsulate™ hat" - John D.
5. How did the musical score help to support the action?
"It was pure brilliance and really intensified the action" - Martin S.
"Up there with the greats. Hans Zimmer and John Williams, WATCH OUT!" - Thomas N.
"James Richardson - you are a musical god!" - Matthew B.
6. With all of that in mind, what improvements could be made to the opening - and what would like to see in the future from Enigma Entertainment?
"The storyline could be simplified as to prevent audience confusion. I had no idea what Yung was up to and why" - Avraj C.
"I didn't get it" - Zubin P.
"You could have used some older actors as it would've made the sequence more believable" - Ryan T.
"The editing lacked proper pacing and felt somewhat amateur. Spend more time on this!" - Joseph S.
"I would just LOVE to see a garden fight sequence where Lee Davidson takes out, like, TEN GUYS - four with his fists - two with a pole - and four with a shotgun!" - Alex B.
Evaluation - Opening With Audio Description
Once our film had been released, we realised we had neglected a vitally important demographic - those who are visually impaired. So we have provided a version of our opening sequence complete with audio description to ensure our story can reach everyone.
Evaluation - Location & Setting
In our film we used a variety of key locations in order to enhance our film and support the plotline. Choosing the correct location was key to the success of the film, especially in making sure that it didn't look too low budget. We wanted our film to look as professional as possible and I believe that our locations supported this aim to a very great extent, particularly the use of iconic London locations:
The London underground is a very iconic location that is used in a lot of films, most recently the 2012 'Skyfall', which our film takes a lot of inspiration from. This is the first location that the audience sees, and as soon as it comes on they would immediately know where the film is set. I think that we made good use of the location, and even found an interesting grate through which we filmed in order to get one of the shots of 'Jim' walking away. The trouble with this location was that it is frequently very busy, so we filmed this scene last. The underground is very typical of the action genre, as it is an iconic location that has been used in other films in the past.
One of the most famous landmarks in London, Trafalgar Square was the perfect location to give our film that extra bit of production value. It is internationally recognised, so would definitely be one of the key selling points of our film. It follows the conventions of many action films, as a reoccurring factor in action thrillers is the use of big, iconic locations, such as the Kremlin in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, Fort Knox in Goldfinger, the White House in 24 and Mount Rushmore in North by Northwest.
The London Underground
The London underground is a very iconic location that is used in a lot of films, most recently the 2012 'Skyfall', which our film takes a lot of inspiration from. This is the first location that the audience sees, and as soon as it comes on they would immediately know where the film is set. I think that we made good use of the location, and even found an interesting grate through which we filmed in order to get one of the shots of 'Jim' walking away. The trouble with this location was that it is frequently very busy, so we filmed this scene last. The underground is very typical of the action genre, as it is an iconic location that has been used in other films in the past.
Trafalgar Square
One of the most famous landmarks in London, Trafalgar Square was the perfect location to give our film that extra bit of production value. It is internationally recognised, so would definitely be one of the key selling points of our film. It follows the conventions of many action films, as a reoccurring factor in action thrillers is the use of big, iconic locations, such as the Kremlin in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, Fort Knox in Goldfinger, the White House in 24 and Mount Rushmore in North by Northwest.
Evaluation - Title
The title that we chose for our film was 'Sins of the Marytr'. This title is a play on the idiom 'sins of the father', but exchanging 'father' for 'martyr' as rhyme and it still flows just as well. The result of this exchange is an oxymoron - martyr's are usually considered pure, without sins, however here the title is talking about them as if they have sinned. This creates an enigma, leaving the audience wondering how the 'martyr' has sinned, who the marytr is, and why this title has been chosen. Our choice of title is typical of the action genre, in which many films choose complex and enigmatic titles. In particular the James Bond series, who use titles such as 'Tomorrow Never Dies', 'You Only Live Twice' and 'For Your Eyes Only'.
Wednesday, 20 March 2013
Evaluation - Credits Ordering
Here is the order that the credits are written in in our opening two minutes accompanied by a short description detailing our creative decisions:
Universal Pictures
First of all we showed the big production company that was 'behind' our film. This makes the film seem prestigious and the audience gains trust in the film that it will be high quality and high budget.
Studio Canal
Straight after Universal to let people know that it is not a wholly Hollywood dominated film and it still retains it's unique style and an interesting plotline.
Universal Pictures, Studio Canal and Enigma Entertainment present
The inclusion of Enigma Entertainment along side the other two great production companies makes it seem like a very strong production company. The three together let's the audience immediately know who has made the film.
A Film by Nicholas Ashurst and Philip Smith
This is usually the first credit after the production companies. The audience is told from the outset who the main influences are on the creative side of the project.
Lee Davidson
The lead actor in 'Sins of the Martyr' obviously comes first out of the actors as he plays the most important character. The credit appears as his character steps into frame so that the audience make the association.
Nicholas Ashurst
The main supporting actor in the film. The audience don't see him in the opening two minutes, but by putting his name in early they are looking out for him, and they keep watching in order to see him.
James Richardson
Helps the audience to make the association with the character that they have just seen.
Zubin Parekh
Another of the major actors in the film. Later he appears but is not very obvious, so this helps the audience to be on the lookout for him.
With Philip Smith
The 'with' in any acting credits usually goes before a major actor who hasn't got a major role in the film in order to give them prevalence in the credits. Here we did the same thing, so the audience take notice of this credit.
Richard Young
One of the less major actors, so his penultimate placement reflects this.
And Lauren Chambers
The 'and' lets the audience know that the end of the acting credits is nigh so that they watch out for the next credits.
Casting by Nicholas Ashurst and Philip Smith
Straight after the acting credits so that the audience can see who picked the actors whilst they are fresh in their mind.
Costume Design Philip Smith
Moving onto the technical credits. Costume design helps to smooth this transition as it is still a widely acknowledge creative job.
Production Design Nicholas Ashurst
Production design is a close relative to costume design, so it's place is appropriate. Additionally we set it against Horse Guards Parade so that the audience would admire the production design whilst seeing who did it.
Editing by Philip Smith and Nicholas Ashurst
A more technical area that isn't so widely acknowledged as creative.
Score Composed by James Richardson
As the score starts to climax we introduce this credit so that the audience knows who has created it.
"Saints and Sinners" written and performed by Philip Smith
The theme song is the next obvious credit after the film score.
Director of Photography Philip Smith
A very necessary credit to include. The director of photography has control over the look of the film.
Fight and Stunt Co-ordination by Nicholas Ashurst
As a stunt occurs onscreen in prelude to a fight this credit appears to help the audience see who was responsible for it.
Screenplay by Philip Smith
Another extremely important credit.
Based on a Story and Characters by Nicholas Ashurst
This credit makes the story seem more in depth as it has passed through several hands.
Associate Producers James Richardson and Richard Young
This and the next credit are normally used just before the producer credit.
Executive Producers Lee Davidson and Zubin Parekh
The executive producer handles the money, so they have a very high credit. Additionally they are traditionally put directly before the producer in feature films.
Produced and Directed by Nicholas Ashurst and Philip Smith
The traditional final credit that will stick in the audience's mind. By putting it last as it always is in professional films the audience will know where to look for it.
Sins of the Martyr
The title of our film takes up the whole screen so the audience cannot avoid seeing it and knowing that it is the title and of great importance.
Universal Pictures
First of all we showed the big production company that was 'behind' our film. This makes the film seem prestigious and the audience gains trust in the film that it will be high quality and high budget.
Studio Canal
Straight after Universal to let people know that it is not a wholly Hollywood dominated film and it still retains it's unique style and an interesting plotline.
Universal Pictures, Studio Canal and Enigma Entertainment present
The inclusion of Enigma Entertainment along side the other two great production companies makes it seem like a very strong production company. The three together let's the audience immediately know who has made the film.
A Film by Nicholas Ashurst and Philip Smith
This is usually the first credit after the production companies. The audience is told from the outset who the main influences are on the creative side of the project.
Lee Davidson
The lead actor in 'Sins of the Martyr' obviously comes first out of the actors as he plays the most important character. The credit appears as his character steps into frame so that the audience make the association.
Nicholas Ashurst
The main supporting actor in the film. The audience don't see him in the opening two minutes, but by putting his name in early they are looking out for him, and they keep watching in order to see him.
James Richardson
Helps the audience to make the association with the character that they have just seen.
Zubin Parekh
Another of the major actors in the film. Later he appears but is not very obvious, so this helps the audience to be on the lookout for him.
With Philip Smith
The 'with' in any acting credits usually goes before a major actor who hasn't got a major role in the film in order to give them prevalence in the credits. Here we did the same thing, so the audience take notice of this credit.
Richard Young
One of the less major actors, so his penultimate placement reflects this.
And Lauren Chambers
The 'and' lets the audience know that the end of the acting credits is nigh so that they watch out for the next credits.
Casting by Nicholas Ashurst and Philip Smith
Straight after the acting credits so that the audience can see who picked the actors whilst they are fresh in their mind.
Costume Design Philip Smith
Moving onto the technical credits. Costume design helps to smooth this transition as it is still a widely acknowledge creative job.
Production Design Nicholas Ashurst
Production design is a close relative to costume design, so it's place is appropriate. Additionally we set it against Horse Guards Parade so that the audience would admire the production design whilst seeing who did it.
Editing by Philip Smith and Nicholas Ashurst
A more technical area that isn't so widely acknowledged as creative.
Score Composed by James Richardson
As the score starts to climax we introduce this credit so that the audience knows who has created it.
"Saints and Sinners" written and performed by Philip Smith
The theme song is the next obvious credit after the film score.
Director of Photography Philip Smith
A very necessary credit to include. The director of photography has control over the look of the film.
Fight and Stunt Co-ordination by Nicholas Ashurst
As a stunt occurs onscreen in prelude to a fight this credit appears to help the audience see who was responsible for it.
Screenplay by Philip Smith
Another extremely important credit.
Based on a Story and Characters by Nicholas Ashurst
This credit makes the story seem more in depth as it has passed through several hands.
Associate Producers James Richardson and Richard Young
This and the next credit are normally used just before the producer credit.
Executive Producers Lee Davidson and Zubin Parekh
The executive producer handles the money, so they have a very high credit. Additionally they are traditionally put directly before the producer in feature films.
Produced and Directed by Nicholas Ashurst and Philip Smith
The traditional final credit that will stick in the audience's mind. By putting it last as it always is in professional films the audience will know where to look for it.
Sins of the Martyr
The title of our film takes up the whole screen so the audience cannot avoid seeing it and knowing that it is the title and of great importance.
Evaluation - Distribution
A production company is a company that invests money into making films and commonly helps with the distribution process as well. They get the most money out of a film as they are the ones that put the money in, and this money then goes towards another project. Many film production companies also produce TV programmes, adverts and games. To get a high budget film made, these companies are usually approached by a screenwriter, director or producer who pitch their ideas. After careful consideration and calculations these films are given the 'green light' and a budget to work on. During the production process the company will keep a close eye on what is going on, to make sure that the film appeals to a wide audience. This can cause a decrease of art films and dramas that are released, as they are not as successful at the box office. Action and science fiction films are usually a safer investment as they attract a wider audience. If a film is financed by a famous production company then they tend to be more successful as the audience trusts them and they have more money to invest in advertising.
For our opening two minutes we have created our own production company in order to give it a more personal feel. This production company is 'Enigma Entertainment', and is one that my co-worker and I have used in the past, significantly in the preliminary task. By using this the audience would be able to tell that it is a film by the same people who made the preliminary task, and this could attract more people. The problem with this is that it might put some people off if they didn't like the Preliminary Task. The name 'Enigma Entertainment' is obviously not very well known, but if people saw it at the beginning of a film it may add to the intrigue. The word 'enigma' brings to mind ideas of mystery and problems, which makes it quite an exciting name for the company. It also helps to highlight the various enigmas in the opening sequence. It also gives the impression that the film will be intelligent, so this can be a bonus when the audience is watching the opening.
We used the 'Universal Pictures' and 'Studio Canal' logos as these are two highly successful production companies that would consider investing in a film such as ours. Universal makes a lot of high budget films and frequently is involved in projects that are similar to ours. The 'Bourne' films have a very similar feel to 'Sins of the Martyr' with their fast paced action sequences and plots full of twists. They were funded by Universal Pictures, so this is a sign that they would be up to funding a film such as ours. 'Sins of the Martyr' would be a very safe investment, as it is an action film, which appeals to a very wide audience. The 2012 film 'Skyfall' is currently the 8th highest grossing film of all time and is very similar to 'Sins of the Marytr', so audience's would be keen to see it after watching 'Skyfall'. Studio Canal tend to make smaller budget films that have a more independent film to them. Being a French company, they allow films to be made without passing through the Hollywood filter. They would be a good company to fund our film as it may be in the style of a high budget thriller, but we would still like to retain the independent film feel that it has. Independent style films appeal to a wide audience, so this would also help in the marketing process. By combining Universal Pictures and Studio Canal we would be able to produce a high budget thriller that does successfully, whilst still retaining an independent style.
For our opening two minutes we have created our own production company in order to give it a more personal feel. This production company is 'Enigma Entertainment', and is one that my co-worker and I have used in the past, significantly in the preliminary task. By using this the audience would be able to tell that it is a film by the same people who made the preliminary task, and this could attract more people. The problem with this is that it might put some people off if they didn't like the Preliminary Task. The name 'Enigma Entertainment' is obviously not very well known, but if people saw it at the beginning of a film it may add to the intrigue. The word 'enigma' brings to mind ideas of mystery and problems, which makes it quite an exciting name for the company. It also helps to highlight the various enigmas in the opening sequence. It also gives the impression that the film will be intelligent, so this can be a bonus when the audience is watching the opening.
We used the 'Universal Pictures' and 'Studio Canal' logos as these are two highly successful production companies that would consider investing in a film such as ours. Universal makes a lot of high budget films and frequently is involved in projects that are similar to ours. The 'Bourne' films have a very similar feel to 'Sins of the Martyr' with their fast paced action sequences and plots full of twists. They were funded by Universal Pictures, so this is a sign that they would be up to funding a film such as ours. 'Sins of the Martyr' would be a very safe investment, as it is an action film, which appeals to a very wide audience. The 2012 film 'Skyfall' is currently the 8th highest grossing film of all time and is very similar to 'Sins of the Marytr', so audience's would be keen to see it after watching 'Skyfall'. Studio Canal tend to make smaller budget films that have a more independent film to them. Being a French company, they allow films to be made without passing through the Hollywood filter. They would be a good company to fund our film as it may be in the style of a high budget thriller, but we would still like to retain the independent film feel that it has. Independent style films appeal to a wide audience, so this would also help in the marketing process. By combining Universal Pictures and Studio Canal we would be able to produce a high budget thriller that does successfully, whilst still retaining an independent style.
Evaluation - Audience Response
Upon the release of our opening two minutes we recieved mixed, yet positive feedback:
'A sin to miss' - James Farmer
'Could easily be a blockbuster film' - Ryan Taylor
'Looks like it has a high production value' - Avraj Chaggar
'A tour de force of an action movie' - Edna Wright
'The camera work created a visual extravaganza' - Dave Leslie
'Blows all other blockbusters out of the water' - Luke Thorne
'A Martyr-piece of modern cinema' - Damien Blake-Morgan
'Storytelling at it's best' - Alfie Tirpitz
Tuesday, 19 March 2013
Evaluation - Storyboard vs Final Opening
Over the course of production on a film, there will of course be a number of
changes, which occur for a number of reasons. During the day of the shoot we
discovered a number of things that could work differently or had to be changed
due to any problems we may have encountered. In this post, I will be detailing
the changes from the storyboard animatic with the final product.
This shot we got very close to, although the final version was much closer to the tunnel then we thought was possible, so this was a very good change. It ended up just as we had visualised it.
In this we decided to switch around the camera angle when they came off the train, this was in order for the following shot to look successful, as there were only little window grates on one side of the roof.
This shot is pretty much exactly how we planned it. Even the position of Davidson's legs is exactly the same as the animatic.
Another very similar shot that worked out exactly how we planned. These two shots are a testament to the intense planning that went into producing the final piece.
Here Davidson is slightly further away than we had hoped so he looks slightly insignificant, but it still looks pretty similar.
Although this shot is slightly further back than we had previously anticipated, I believe that it looks far better, as you can see more of the location in the background, which helps to orientate the audience.
We used a different suitcase in the final product as we felt that it looked more stylish to have a suitcase with a strap that goes over your shoulder. If the audience were to look carefully they would see Yung in the background as in the storyboard.
Zubasu was positioned much closer in the final product as we found that he was too far away for the audience to notice in his previous position. We also decided not to have the sunglasses and the burger in the end for practical reasons.
Instead of casting the earpiece into the coffee we opted for the crush-under-the-foot tactic, as it looked infinitely more dramatic and built up the pace further.
Unfortunately we couldn't film this shot behind the pillars as we intended, as it made Yung look too small and insignificant.
In the end we did not position this shot so that Richard was in the background as he looked too small and it was too hard to choreograph. However it would have looked very good.
We decided that it would look better if Zubasu slowly advanced from the background of the shot as it matched the previous shot and built up the tension further.
This shot is almost exactly how we pictured it, although it would have looked good if he's fallen between the two spurts of water, however this was not possible.
This shot we got very close to, although the final version was much closer to the tunnel then we thought was possible, so this was a very good change. It ended up just as we had visualised it.
In this we decided to switch around the camera angle when they came off the train, this was in order for the following shot to look successful, as there were only little window grates on one side of the roof.
Here you can see that the grate was much bigger than we had previously thought, and you could see the full body through the grate. This turned out to be beneficial, as the audience could actually tell who was walking past the grate.
This shot is pretty much exactly how we planned it. Even the position of Davidson's legs is exactly the same as the animatic.
Another very similar shot that worked out exactly how we planned. These two shots are a testament to the intense planning that went into producing the final piece.
Here Davidson is slightly further away than we had hoped so he looks slightly insignificant, but it still looks pretty similar.
Although this shot is slightly further back than we had previously anticipated, I believe that it looks far better, as you can see more of the location in the background, which helps to orientate the audience.
We used a different suitcase in the final product as we felt that it looked more stylish to have a suitcase with a strap that goes over your shoulder. If the audience were to look carefully they would see Yung in the background as in the storyboard.
Zubasu was positioned much closer in the final product as we found that he was too far away for the audience to notice in his previous position. We also decided not to have the sunglasses and the burger in the end for practical reasons.
Instead of casting the earpiece into the coffee we opted for the crush-under-the-foot tactic, as it looked infinitely more dramatic and built up the pace further.
Unfortunately we couldn't film this shot behind the pillars as we intended, as it made Yung look too small and insignificant.
In the end we did not position this shot so that Richard was in the background as he looked too small and it was too hard to choreograph. However it would have looked very good.
We decided that it would look better if Zubasu slowly advanced from the background of the shot as it matched the previous shot and built up the tension further.
This shot is almost exactly how we pictured it, although it would have looked good if he's fallen between the two spurts of water, however this was not possible.
The change from fighting in the lift to fighting on the stairs occurred as there was a cleaner by the lift who told us not to film there. Instead we had to quickly choreograph the fight on the steps nearby, whilst getting some strange looks from passers-by.
Dying in the position of a gun
was improvised on the day, and we thought that it was a very dramatic death
position.
Monday, 18 March 2013
Evaluation - Setting Up the Story
One of the key features of a good opening two minutes is how well it sets up the rest of the story, and how much it makes the audience want to carry on watching. Our ultimate aim was to produce a professional looking opening two minutes that makes the audience want to carry on watching until the end of the film. In this post I will be particularly focusing on the second of those two points, however the first one is relevant to this as well.
A widely used tactic of dragging an audience into the plot is the establishment of enigmas. The clever thing about creating enigmas is that no matter how bad a film is, if the audience is asking questions about what is going on, then they'll want to carry on watching simply to find out the answer. Audience's hate unanswered questions and if the enigma is strong enough, then they'll sit through an entire film just to get the answer to their question. The infamous Alfred Hitchcock even said that 'an audience would rather be confused than bored'. Enigmas can vary in complexity - some are complex enigmas as to why a character did something, or what is going on, whereas others are simply 'will the guy get the girl', or 'who will win'. In our opening two minutes we opted for the first of these two options, but also included a few aspects of the second option in order to support the first. The main enigmas that we presented were: Who is Agent Davidson, and who is he working with? Who is Jim and why do they want him? Who stopped the mission's success? Why is Davidson running away at the end? Who is the character advancing on Caprivi? As you can see, we established a fair amount of enigmas all of which the audience would want to find out the answers to. The only problem with having so many enigmas is that the audience may be overly confused and get bored because they don't understand what is going on. I think that we managed to avoid this though, as the action was fast paced and we showed the audience a quick fight sequence, which stopped them getting bored.
The fast paced action was definitely something that would pull in the audience. Many of the people that would be going to see our film would be expecting to see fight and chase sequences, so by giving them a taster of this in the opening two minutes we brought that side of the audience straight in. For those in the audience who prefer to watch something sophisticated with a strong plot we gave them this as well. In the opening two minutes we involved several twists and the enigmas aforementioned. These people would understand that the action is necessary to the plotline, and I'm sure that they wouldn't mind it too much. By making our film like this we made sure that the film was enjoyable for a wide audience, and no matter what style they prefer, they should be dragged in by our opening two minutes.
Overall I think that we were highly successful in setting up the story in our opening two minutes and I think that the audience would carry on watching. I asked a few people if they would carry on watching until the end of the film and they all said that they would, which is obviously a good sign. I think that we established some strong enigmas, but also presented a strong action sequence and both worked well together in order to produce a very strong opening two minutes.
A widely used tactic of dragging an audience into the plot is the establishment of enigmas. The clever thing about creating enigmas is that no matter how bad a film is, if the audience is asking questions about what is going on, then they'll want to carry on watching simply to find out the answer. Audience's hate unanswered questions and if the enigma is strong enough, then they'll sit through an entire film just to get the answer to their question. The infamous Alfred Hitchcock even said that 'an audience would rather be confused than bored'. Enigmas can vary in complexity - some are complex enigmas as to why a character did something, or what is going on, whereas others are simply 'will the guy get the girl', or 'who will win'. In our opening two minutes we opted for the first of these two options, but also included a few aspects of the second option in order to support the first. The main enigmas that we presented were: Who is Agent Davidson, and who is he working with? Who is Jim and why do they want him? Who stopped the mission's success? Why is Davidson running away at the end? Who is the character advancing on Caprivi? As you can see, we established a fair amount of enigmas all of which the audience would want to find out the answers to. The only problem with having so many enigmas is that the audience may be overly confused and get bored because they don't understand what is going on. I think that we managed to avoid this though, as the action was fast paced and we showed the audience a quick fight sequence, which stopped them getting bored.
The fast paced action was definitely something that would pull in the audience. Many of the people that would be going to see our film would be expecting to see fight and chase sequences, so by giving them a taster of this in the opening two minutes we brought that side of the audience straight in. For those in the audience who prefer to watch something sophisticated with a strong plot we gave them this as well. In the opening two minutes we involved several twists and the enigmas aforementioned. These people would understand that the action is necessary to the plotline, and I'm sure that they wouldn't mind it too much. By making our film like this we made sure that the film was enjoyable for a wide audience, and no matter what style they prefer, they should be dragged in by our opening two minutes.
Overall I think that we were highly successful in setting up the story in our opening two minutes and I think that the audience would carry on watching. I asked a few people if they would carry on watching until the end of the film and they all said that they would, which is obviously a good sign. I think that we established some strong enigmas, but also presented a strong action sequence and both worked well together in order to produce a very strong opening two minutes.
Evaluation - Technology
For the editing process we used a software called Adobe Premiere Pro. This software is commonly used in the professional industry so we thought that it was a suitable software to use for our film. It has exceptional colour grading tools, which are very useful in ensuring the film has a professional look to it. It also has very efficient tools for editing titles, which helped greatly and allowed the titles to look as good as possible. I think that one of the key successes to our film was the editing and it was down to this piece of software that we were able to edit successfully.
We used the Panasonic SD90 to film our opening two minutes. I have discussed this in a previous post, which should cover the basics of this camera. The main reasons for using it were that it filmed in HD and had a very good look to it. Admittedly, some of the footage was overexposed and obviously the footage was colour graded, but it did a decent job otherwise. Another fault that we found with this camera was that didn't give the user control over the focus, which prevented us from experimenting with different depths of field. I have learnt how to use the camera to it's highest potential and to avoid trying to do anything that highlights these negative points.
Other than these two pieces of technology we didn't really use anything. We opted out of using a tripod for a few reasons. Firstly, the look that we were going for worked better without a tripod, as it makes the audience feel like they are involved in the action. If it were filmed on a tripod then it would look too static and the audience would feel like they're observing the action, rather than getting into it. The second reason was that it was impractical to set up a tripod in London as we may have been told to stop filming as we were in public.
Evaluation - Target Audience
Here is a photo of our target audience - the 16-25 male audience who enjoy watching films. This is because this age group tends to enjoy films that are fun and fast-paced with lots of action sequences. Despite this, they also tend to enjoy films with a relative amount of sophistication and watch films that are well reviewed. Any younger than this and the quality of the film is judged on the amount of action sequences without much plot of talking. This is not what we were going for, but instead we opted for the higher age group as we believe that our film is relatively sophisticated.
The 16-25 male audience also tend to have the most amount of disposable money, so this is a benefit for targeting this age group. It also helps the film to have a higher budget, as the institutions would know that they are likely to get their money back from this audience. However it must not be forgotten that this age group has other commitments such as university and school, so the film would probably be more successful if it were released on a Friday or Saturday - when they are not doing so much work. Our film helps to counter this work as it provides escapism from everyday life, which is certainly a selling point in our film. This age group may be more reluctant to go and see a film based on a classic novel or a period drama, as it would seem like work, so our film would appeal to this age group more.
The problem with our film is that there are a lot of films that are aimed at this age group, and there is a danger that our film will be lost amongst the tidal wave of other action films aimed at this demographic. Therefore, an essential part of the marketing should be ensuring positive reviews and a good reception. To target this age group successfully we would have to build up a hype for the film, which would involve making sure that the trailers and posters are shared on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. In this age group many are influenced by their friend's recommendations, so it is vital that we employ a viral marketing campaign similar to 'The Dark Knight Rises', which successfully exploited teenage usage of Twitter.
Overall I think that our film would be of great appeal to the 16-25 male audience through it's fast paced action sequences and mature plot. This audience tends to use social networking sites a great deal, and this would be a brilliant opportunity to advertise our film. I think that we very successfully appealed to this audience in the opening two minutes, as we established our film as fast paced and full of twists.
Saturday, 16 March 2013
Evaluation - Agent Davidson vs Jack Bauer
Jack Bauer is a character in the US television series '24' who plays a similar character to Agent Davidson in our opening two minutes. He is a CTU agent, who tackles terrorism with a fast trigger finger and a cunning mind. At least once in every season of the show, Jack goes 'rogue' and becomes a lone cop type of character, which is very similar to Agent Davidson's role in 'Sins of the Martyr'. Their costumes are also very similar; both sporting the long, trenchcoat-style jacket that makes them look very militaristic. Both characters' attire is predominantly black, with no bright colours, in order to emphasise the dark nature of their work and the seriousness of their character. Jack Bauer does seem to have a slightly darker colour scheme which seems to be all black, whereas Agent Davidson wears navy and grey in our opening sequence. These slightly lighter shades help him to appeal to a wider audience, as he is more friendly to look at, but without losing any of the seriousness of the role. The two different characters also use similar semantics revolving around the military, such as 'Yung is down' and 'I've got a visual'. By observing Jack Bauer's character these semantics were easy to figure out, and it helped a lot with the development of Agent Davidson's character. The earpiece that Agent Davidson uses was also derived from Bauer, as in '24' most characters just use a normal earpiece, but Bauer has a wire attached, which he uses to change channels. We liked this idea, as it helped to distinguish him, so we used the same idea for Agent Davidson.
Jack Bauer was a big influence on our film making decisions, as he is such a similar character to Agent Davidson. Several times we referred back to him, either to take inspiration from him, or to make sure that Davidson wasn't too similar to him. There are several big differences, such as their fighting style and ways of handling situations and it is clear to see that they are very different characters, but there are some distinct similarities. Agent Davidson represents the 'lone cop' type character as a tough, quick-witted, skilled fighter. In the opening he doesn't show much of his emotional side, so in this way Davidson presents the 'lone cop' as very down to earth and almost like a machine.
Thursday, 14 March 2013
Wednesday, 13 March 2013
Evaluation - Preliminary Task vs Final Opening
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?
After completion of our opening two minutes, it is interesting to look back and assess our progression from Preliminary Task to the final product and consider how much we have learnt. There are a variety of areas in which we have improved greatly, the main reason for this is probably the fact that we had longer to plan, as well as being able to see the mistakes that were made in the Preliminary Task and learning from them.
An issue in the Preliminary Task that wasn't tackled effectively was the amount of exposure, that made the distant sky look very white. Not only this, but it also made some characters' faces look very pale, which greatly damaged the professional quality of the production. In the final task we countered this by checking each of the shots afterwards, particularly the shots that had a lot of sky in them. It was helpful that on the day it was fairly cloudy, so the sun didn't affect it too much. There was only one instance of overexposure in the opening, which was when Davidson is following Jim through the underground in the shot before he walks out into Trafalgar Square. This was caused by the lights along the side of the corridor that reflected off the white walls. Unfortunately this couldn't be fixed in post, and this is the least professional looking shot of the whole film. Overall I think that we have learnt from this mistake and worked out how to minimise the amount of shots that are ruined due to the overexposure, and the opening two minutes looks a lot better in that respect.
Another feature that was improved was the resolution of the camera. In the preliminary task we filmed in 960x540, which is just below HD, we did this because it made it easier to edit on a Mac computer then the larger 1080p files. In the opening two minutes, we decided to opt for 1080p, as it is much more professional looking, and we didn't edit it on the Mac in the end, but on a PC. The higher resolution was a marked difference between the two, and was certainly what made the opening two minutes stronger. It brought our filmmaking out of the 'amateur zone' and gave it a much more professional look which, needless to say, was our intention.
The colour in the preliminary task didn't always look amazing, and I think that this was something that we improved on greatly in the final opening two minutes. The colours didn't look cinematic enough, and between the different rooms in the house, there was a very different shade, which prevented the film from gaining it's own distinctive look. In the opening two minutes we improved this by making sure we kept referring back to our original plan for the colour. We had previously decided that the more prominent colours would be the greys, greens and blues, as these are colours that complimented Trafalgar Square's look. By having this as our base palette we were able to make sure that the whole opening looked as if it was from the same film, and it gave it a very distinct look. The end result made it look much more cinematic and professional than the preliminary task, which seemed to have too much variety in colour for an action/thriller film.
A notable improvement was the location. The preliminary task was simply shot at my house, which isn't the most interesting location to shoot an action film at. It looked far too much like an ordinary house and this made it lose much of the film's impact. We improved this by choosing a hugely iconic, London location that gave the opening two minutes production value. Trafalgar Square has been used in many thrillers, including the recent film 'Skyfall'. By using it, our film looked as if it were worthy to sit along greats such as these.
The props were another improved feature of our opening two minutes. In the preliminary task we didn't think much about the types of props we would use, so we used whatever we could get our hands on on the day. However in the opening two minutes, we spent hours searching for just the right props to use, such as the suitcase that 'Jim' is carrying, and the earpiece that the characters use. The costumes were also more developed, and each character's costume was meticulously thought through, which gave our lead protagonist a very distinctive look with his long trenchcoat style jacket. The costumes in the preliminary task ended up being whatever the actors were wearing on the day.
In regards to match on action, I think that we managed to get it quite well already on the preliminary task. But it was good to be able to apply it to the opening two minutes in the part where 'Yung' stamps on the earpiece and also with the fight sequence near the end. The 180 degree rule was adhered to both times, however in the opening two minutes it wasn't so relevant, due to the fact that the conversation was occurring across earpieces. However, occasionally we broke the 180 degree rule in the fight sequences during the preliminary task, but not so in the final opening two minutes. This was mainly because there was a wall stopping the camera from being able to break the 180 degree rule. In the preliminary task shot reverse shot was used a few times, but we didn't really feel that we had had the opportunity to experiment with it as much as we would have liked to. In the opening two minutes, we played around with it by trying it across a conversation that wasn't face to face. I think that this worked extremely well, and was definitely an advancement in our film making skills.
Overall I think that we have improved greatly from our preliminary task, and this can be clearly seen. The preliminary task certainly taught us a lot, such as how to choreograph a fight sequence well, as well as basic techniques such as match-on-action and the 180 degree rule. I think that we took on what went wrong in the preliminary task, and successfully overcame those problems when it came to the opening two minutes.
After completion of our opening two minutes, it is interesting to look back and assess our progression from Preliminary Task to the final product and consider how much we have learnt. There are a variety of areas in which we have improved greatly, the main reason for this is probably the fact that we had longer to plan, as well as being able to see the mistakes that were made in the Preliminary Task and learning from them.
An issue in the Preliminary Task that wasn't tackled effectively was the amount of exposure, that made the distant sky look very white. Not only this, but it also made some characters' faces look very pale, which greatly damaged the professional quality of the production. In the final task we countered this by checking each of the shots afterwards, particularly the shots that had a lot of sky in them. It was helpful that on the day it was fairly cloudy, so the sun didn't affect it too much. There was only one instance of overexposure in the opening, which was when Davidson is following Jim through the underground in the shot before he walks out into Trafalgar Square. This was caused by the lights along the side of the corridor that reflected off the white walls. Unfortunately this couldn't be fixed in post, and this is the least professional looking shot of the whole film. Overall I think that we have learnt from this mistake and worked out how to minimise the amount of shots that are ruined due to the overexposure, and the opening two minutes looks a lot better in that respect.
Preliminary Task
The garden in the background of this shot is an example of the serious overexposure that occurred in the preliminary task. A whole third of this shot is ruined by this.
Opening Two Minutes
The overexposed shot in the opening two minutes. The lights on the ceiling are much too overexposed, making the entire shot look very bad quality.
Opening Two Minutes
This shot is an example of how we improved the exposure from the preliminary task. It includes the sky, clouds, and a distant background, all of which are at risk of overexposure, but we managed to fix it this time.
The colour in the preliminary task didn't always look amazing, and I think that this was something that we improved on greatly in the final opening two minutes. The colours didn't look cinematic enough, and between the different rooms in the house, there was a very different shade, which prevented the film from gaining it's own distinctive look. In the opening two minutes we improved this by making sure we kept referring back to our original plan for the colour. We had previously decided that the more prominent colours would be the greys, greens and blues, as these are colours that complimented Trafalgar Square's look. By having this as our base palette we were able to make sure that the whole opening looked as if it was from the same film, and it gave it a very distinct look. The end result made it look much more cinematic and professional than the preliminary task, which seemed to have too much variety in colour for an action/thriller film.
A notable improvement was the location. The preliminary task was simply shot at my house, which isn't the most interesting location to shoot an action film at. It looked far too much like an ordinary house and this made it lose much of the film's impact. We improved this by choosing a hugely iconic, London location that gave the opening two minutes production value. Trafalgar Square has been used in many thrillers, including the recent film 'Skyfall'. By using it, our film looked as if it were worthy to sit along greats such as these.
The props were another improved feature of our opening two minutes. In the preliminary task we didn't think much about the types of props we would use, so we used whatever we could get our hands on on the day. However in the opening two minutes, we spent hours searching for just the right props to use, such as the suitcase that 'Jim' is carrying, and the earpiece that the characters use. The costumes were also more developed, and each character's costume was meticulously thought through, which gave our lead protagonist a very distinctive look with his long trenchcoat style jacket. The costumes in the preliminary task ended up being whatever the actors were wearing on the day.
In regards to match on action, I think that we managed to get it quite well already on the preliminary task. But it was good to be able to apply it to the opening two minutes in the part where 'Yung' stamps on the earpiece and also with the fight sequence near the end. The 180 degree rule was adhered to both times, however in the opening two minutes it wasn't so relevant, due to the fact that the conversation was occurring across earpieces. However, occasionally we broke the 180 degree rule in the fight sequences during the preliminary task, but not so in the final opening two minutes. This was mainly because there was a wall stopping the camera from being able to break the 180 degree rule. In the preliminary task shot reverse shot was used a few times, but we didn't really feel that we had had the opportunity to experiment with it as much as we would have liked to. In the opening two minutes, we played around with it by trying it across a conversation that wasn't face to face. I think that this worked extremely well, and was definitely an advancement in our film making skills.
Overall I think that we have improved greatly from our preliminary task, and this can be clearly seen. The preliminary task certainly taught us a lot, such as how to choreograph a fight sequence well, as well as basic techniques such as match-on-action and the 180 degree rule. I think that we took on what went wrong in the preliminary task, and successfully overcame those problems when it came to the opening two minutes.
Wednesday, 6 March 2013
Sound Evaluation
There are four main aspects of sound that I will be discussing in this post, and I will evaluate how successful we were at making each part as effective and professional-sounding as possible.
Soundtrack:
The music that we used in our opening two minutes was effective as it built up suspense as the story progressed. This was because the music was specially composed for the film, with an amateur composer working for us who had the film in front of him. We provided him with inspiration to help guide him to what we wanted, but the majority of the track came from his own personal genius. As he went through the composing process, he constantly kept us updated so that we made changes as appropriate.
I think that the music worked extremely well in the final product as it added a new dimension to the drama onscreen. It made the action much more thrilling and I felt as if the action really took off through the way that the music's layers gradually built up, getting faster and and more intense. I am very proud of the way that the music turned out. There are some moments in particular when the music is fitted perfectly to the action. One of these moments is when the camera cuts to Horse Guards Parade and the music moves up and grows in intensity; an extra layer is added as an extra character is introduced. A similar technique is used when the camera cuts to Yung at Trafalgar Square and the music projects a long bass note, which again establishes a new character and new location.
I particularly like the change in the tone of music that occurs when Agent Davidson starts running away from his pursuer. It turns into a sweeping piano piece, that reflects how the mission has gone wrong through its melancholy feel. After defeating his adversary the music slows down to a sad, reminiscent theme, and the dilemma is established.
Ambience:
Unfortunately, the sound that was recorded on the day wasn't useful as the voices were not very clear, due to all the background noise that there was in London. Seeming as we didn't have any tracks that separated the background noise from the dialogue, this meant that we had to redo all the sound in the film. The ambience was the easiest part, as we listened through the original track and noted down all the different sounds that we could hear, such as traffic, fountains, crowds etc. In the final piece we added a couple of extras such as the sound of children playing, in order to make the situation seem more threatening and the sound of the station announcements in order to add to the realism. The ambience replacement was very successful, as it sounded incredibly close to the original track and we were very proud at how well it turned out. What would have made it easier and more realistic would be if we had set the camera down in different places around Trafalgar Square and recorded the ambience, so that we wouldn't have to create it in post and it would add the extra bit of realism.
Dialogue:
The dialogue, like the ambience, was almost completely unusable, as the background noise was too prominent and it was hard to hear what the characters were actually saying. After some deliberation we decided to replace the dialogue through the process of Additional Dialogue Replacement (ADR) which involved re-recording all of the actors' lines and putting them into the film instead. We recorded all the lines outside, as it was closer to the conditions on the day and we systematically went through each line and said it a few times, trying to perfectly replicate the way the lines were said onscreen. I think that this was very successful, as it is not noticeable that we have replaced the dialogue, and I think that it even made it better, as we were able to slightly lower the pitch of the actors' voices, so that they sounded older.
Sound Effects:
There weren't a great deal of additional sound effects used in our opening, as most of it was just the obvious, but we obviously had to add some into the fight sequence. To do this, we downloaded a royalty free package of sound effects from the internet that had a variety of punch, kick, fall and swiping sound effects. They were very realistic and they definitely added to the fight. The fight wouldn't have worked without them, as the audience wouldn't have been able to work out if the punch had hit, or how hard it had hit. Another sound effect that was used was when Yung is shot. It was hard to work out how to establish that he had been shot without a gunshot sound effect, that would obviously raise the attention of everyone in the Square. Instead we decided to use one of the punch sound effects, which helped the audience to realise that he had been hit. During the ADR process we also added in a line from Agent Davidson that helped the audience to realise that he had been shot.
Overall I think that the sound in our opening was very successful, and we effectively worked around the issues in the original raw sound. Just about all of the sound was replaced, and it still worked very well. Better still, all the different aspects of sound worked together so when there was an issue in one of the tracks, it was covered up by the other track. I am very proud of the way that the sound turned out, but if I were to do it again, then I would make sure to record better sound on the day.
Soundtrack:
The music that we used in our opening two minutes was effective as it built up suspense as the story progressed. This was because the music was specially composed for the film, with an amateur composer working for us who had the film in front of him. We provided him with inspiration to help guide him to what we wanted, but the majority of the track came from his own personal genius. As he went through the composing process, he constantly kept us updated so that we made changes as appropriate.
I think that the music worked extremely well in the final product as it added a new dimension to the drama onscreen. It made the action much more thrilling and I felt as if the action really took off through the way that the music's layers gradually built up, getting faster and and more intense. I am very proud of the way that the music turned out. There are some moments in particular when the music is fitted perfectly to the action. One of these moments is when the camera cuts to Horse Guards Parade and the music moves up and grows in intensity; an extra layer is added as an extra character is introduced. A similar technique is used when the camera cuts to Yung at Trafalgar Square and the music projects a long bass note, which again establishes a new character and new location.
I particularly like the change in the tone of music that occurs when Agent Davidson starts running away from his pursuer. It turns into a sweeping piano piece, that reflects how the mission has gone wrong through its melancholy feel. After defeating his adversary the music slows down to a sad, reminiscent theme, and the dilemma is established.
Ambience:
Unfortunately, the sound that was recorded on the day wasn't useful as the voices were not very clear, due to all the background noise that there was in London. Seeming as we didn't have any tracks that separated the background noise from the dialogue, this meant that we had to redo all the sound in the film. The ambience was the easiest part, as we listened through the original track and noted down all the different sounds that we could hear, such as traffic, fountains, crowds etc. In the final piece we added a couple of extras such as the sound of children playing, in order to make the situation seem more threatening and the sound of the station announcements in order to add to the realism. The ambience replacement was very successful, as it sounded incredibly close to the original track and we were very proud at how well it turned out. What would have made it easier and more realistic would be if we had set the camera down in different places around Trafalgar Square and recorded the ambience, so that we wouldn't have to create it in post and it would add the extra bit of realism.
Dialogue:
The dialogue, like the ambience, was almost completely unusable, as the background noise was too prominent and it was hard to hear what the characters were actually saying. After some deliberation we decided to replace the dialogue through the process of Additional Dialogue Replacement (ADR) which involved re-recording all of the actors' lines and putting them into the film instead. We recorded all the lines outside, as it was closer to the conditions on the day and we systematically went through each line and said it a few times, trying to perfectly replicate the way the lines were said onscreen. I think that this was very successful, as it is not noticeable that we have replaced the dialogue, and I think that it even made it better, as we were able to slightly lower the pitch of the actors' voices, so that they sounded older.
Sound Effects:
There weren't a great deal of additional sound effects used in our opening, as most of it was just the obvious, but we obviously had to add some into the fight sequence. To do this, we downloaded a royalty free package of sound effects from the internet that had a variety of punch, kick, fall and swiping sound effects. They were very realistic and they definitely added to the fight. The fight wouldn't have worked without them, as the audience wouldn't have been able to work out if the punch had hit, or how hard it had hit. Another sound effect that was used was when Yung is shot. It was hard to work out how to establish that he had been shot without a gunshot sound effect, that would obviously raise the attention of everyone in the Square. Instead we decided to use one of the punch sound effects, which helped the audience to realise that he had been hit. During the ADR process we also added in a line from Agent Davidson that helped the audience to realise that he had been shot.
Overall I think that the sound in our opening was very successful, and we effectively worked around the issues in the original raw sound. Just about all of the sound was replaced, and it still worked very well. Better still, all the different aspects of sound worked together so when there was an issue in one of the tracks, it was covered up by the other track. I am very proud of the way that the sound turned out, but if I were to do it again, then I would make sure to record better sound on the day.
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