Composer Profile

Our composer is James Richardson, a seasoned veteran on the music front. We are truly blessed to have such a talented individual such as James to compose for us. Not only is he brilliant at composing, but his piano playing skills are unparalleled even by the likes of Lang Lang and Billy Joel.
James's composition technique favours the classical genre, as this was a genre that he enjoyed for many years, and indeed still has a passion for. Some of his favoured classical composers include Rachmininoff and Beethoven, who are his inspiration. He generally composes for the piano, this is how he started out, but he does have plenty of experience composing for other classical instruments, including the cello, which is an instrument that features in his score for the opening sequence.
James has composed for a film for us before, where his track ran the length of the film . In fact, he also played the lead role in that film, and played the piece at one point in it! James also has a small cameo in our opening two minutes, where he plays Jim Stretzel, the man who everyone is trying to get to.
James has worked with us on multiple occasions and we have a great working relationship with him, so  he knows exactly what we want, and he'll get it right every time.

Soundtrack Update

Our composer has given us a rough score for our film, and it is sounding very strong so far. It has been recorded directly off the keyboard using synthesised sounds, so it doesn't sound particularly realistic at the moment. However this is only a temporary measure, as in the end we will record it properly with live instruments so it doesn't sound as fake.
The score itself is exactly what we were looking for. It is fast paced and builds to relevant climaxes very well. It begins with a simple single note being played again and again in a simple equal rhythm just hitting the beat. It then starts to build up the layers, with different intruments taking simple yet effective tunes and rhythms. Some of the instruments take faster notes, and this allows the piece to build up dramatically. When Yung gets shot the music pauses for a few seconds to allow the drama of it to sink in and the audience to have a temporary break from the intensity. There is also a break when Yung smashes the earpiece, which is both to highlight a change in pace, and also so that the music can come back with even more intensity when it returns and Davidson has started running.
After Yung is shot, the music becomes more melancholy, but still fast paced. There is a bit of a piano solo and I think that this really adds a new dynamic to the piece as it shows Davidson's emotions at the death of his friend as well as the intensity of the fight sequence. The music ends perfectly at the end and it perfectly tailored to fit the piece.
We still have to record it properly using the cello, bassoon and piano, so I'll have to record this with the composer because I play the cello and bassoon. We are, at the moment, trying to find a good time to record all the music and we should be finished by the end of next week! The music is the real issue now, and once that is done we will just about be finished.
Here is what we have so far:

Shot Evaluations - The Final Shot

The final shot is very important in any opening, as it is, essentially, the last thing that the audience sees before the film moves into the opening credits or next scene. They will remember the opening by the final shot and possibly their opinion of the film could change because of it!

The interesting thing about our final shot is that it is in black and white. The shot doesn't start in black and white, but is very desaturated, and then it slowly changes as the shot goes on, to create a seamless transition. The subtlety is almost unnoticeable, except if you put the first and the last frames next to each other, and then it becomes clear. Interestingly, the opening shot of our film starts in black and white as well, so it comes round in a circle, starting in black and white and ending in black and white creating a cyclical feel. The opening shot goes from black and white to full colour, whereas the ending shot goes from colour to black and white. It is very hard to notice the black and white in the opening shot, as the train tunnel is just about only black and white anyway, but by adding the effect it just defies any possible colour creeping in. The significance of this is that he is leaving the scene after a disaster. The mission has just gone wrong, and his life must turn in a different direction, and clearly the direction wont be a good direction. He is walking into the grey horizon. In the openign shot the significance was that this mission was a great opportunity to get out of the bad life and into the good life, and this is neatly reversed at the end, when he has to go into an even darker life, as if all attempts to reach the light only end in a deeper darkness. Davidson is also walking into this darkness, showing that this is the next road of his life that he must journey down. A few posts ago I analysed a shot I named 'The Establishing Shot', where I said that there is darkness where Davidson is coming from, yet light where he escapes. In this shot it reveals that there is no light on the other side, only a deeper darkness, and the mission has failed badly as the supposed light has 'gone out'.
At the start of this shot Davidson is out of focus and quite blurry so not a lot is seen, then it becomes clear that it is Agent Davidson walking away. This makes it seem like Davidson is trying to get his head straight, and he can't figure out what has just happened. The slight colour in that shot is like the last ember of hope, yet when he comes in focus it is like he has figured it out and he has descended further into the darkness. With the loss of colour and sharpening in focus, Davidson loses all hope in reaching the light, and realises that the only path remaining leads to darkness. The dark coat that Davidson wears compliments this scene, as with the black and white effect, he effectively becomes a silhouette. It is as if he is shrouded in shadow and is an agent of darkness itself. Even his trousers become black, and he becomes a dark figure.
This shot overall is very effective in evoking the emotions of the characters in the scene. It clearly shows Davidson's descent into darkness without a single word being spoken, and the audience realises what is going on. It follows 'The Death Shot' neatly, as with that you can see the shadows creeping in from the side of the shot, whereas here the whole shot is covered in darkness, so the descent is made more obvious through this.

Shot Evaluations - The Statue Shot

This shot we came up with on the day as we thought it could add a very interesting dynamic to the scene. It is essentially just a cutaway, but I think that it is a very important cutaway

This seems a very strange shot to include in our opening two minutes as it is completely contrasting to the shots directly before and after. The reason we included this shot was because we thought that the statue looked like it was shocked about something, reflecting the emotions felt by the audience at the time. It almost seems like even the statues are shocked at what they have just witnessed. I particularly like the water droplets down their arm and on their back, as it gives them a more weathered, beaten look, which works in making the scene as a whole look more rugged. I also like the white spot on their head which looks as if they have been struck by a bullet as well. The statue has caught a fish, and I think that this symbolism works well, showing Davidson caught in a trap and he'll have difficulty getting out.
In the shot we can see that the statue is in focus, and the background slightly out of focus. For example, compare the quality of the statue to the quality of the woman in the background on the balcony. It is clear to see that the statue is the main centre of attention. It covers the left and middle thirds and the bottom of the right third, which are the most powerful places in the shot, so again, we leave the audience with no doubt that the statue is the most important feature of the shot. This is very important, as this shot, as I said, seems a bit out of place and random, so we made sure they knew they were supposed to be looking at the statue so that they could search for symbolism instead of wondering if it was supposed to be there or not.
There is not that much to talk about with this shot, but I decided to analyse it so that there was no doubt whatsoever about it's significance in the film. I feel that it is a very important shot, and it definitely adds a new dimension to the scene. As well as reflecting the emotions it also gives the audience a momentary break away from the constant action that had governed the scene up till then. It also leaves the audience in suspense for a brief second. They have just seen one of the major characters in the scene get shot, and then they are taken away from the action wondering what is going to happen next. It allows them to take in what they have just witnessed and wonder what they are about to witness. Overall a very important shot for the pacing and emotion of the film!

Shot Evaluations - The Fountain Death Shot

This shot occurs as Yung is being shot at the fountain, just after having walked up to it and exchanged eye contact with Jim. The interesting thing about this shot is how we got the shot as it is in a rather interesting position:

This shot was taken from on Nelson's Column. We obviously couldn't climb all the way up the column as it is very high, but we got a few layers up it (it's legal!) and I took it from there. I had to zoom in a lot, which normally doesn't work very well, but in this case it worked and the picture still came out at a very high quality. The other issue with zooming in is that it makes the camera very unsteady, but I luckily managed to hold it still enough. If the shot hadn't work then it would have been a bit of a disaster as we couldn't convince Richard to fall in the fountain more than three times and the first two were fairly average.
By having a shot from this high angle the shot looks very high budget and gives it a very high production value. If people were to know the geography of Trafalgar Square then they would wonder how we got that shot as it doesn't look like it was taken from the column. It just appears to be hanging in mid air as if we used a jib or a similar mechanism which are only really used in very high budget films. This illusion is also helped by the fact that there is a woman with an iPad on the close side of the fountain, and the camera is clearly at a higher level then her, showing that it isn't just elevated in a normal way.
This shot then cuts to a mid-shot from behind Yung of him falling in, which helps focus the attention, as in this shot he doesn't seem to be the centre of attention. We did this so that when he is shot, it is more surprising and the audience are more shocked as they wouldn't expect it from the angle that is given. The music helps sell this effect, as it is obviously building towards a climax, but they don't know what that climax will be. From this shot the audience would assume that something was about to happen on the left third of the frame, as that is the empty side which they would presume should be filled up. By having Yung dying on the right side of the frame it seems almost wrong, which brings the element of surprise in further.

Shot Evaluations - The Death Shot

This shot occurs directly after Agent Davidson has killed his opposition and just walked off screen. The camera lingers on this shot for a few seconds and this is very significant, so I would like to explain all the connotations:

The most interesting feature of this shot is that the man dies in the shape of a gun, you can see his legs as the gun barrel, arms as the trigger and the head as the grip. The gun has many connotations, it is associated with power and authority, whoever holds the gun has the power. In this case the connotations are subverted so the dead person holds the power. This foreshadows what will happen later in the film, that he will regret what happened at Trafalgar Square and killing the agent. Davidson will be haunted by the ghosts of the past forever. Alternatively this gun could represented as Agent Davidson having the power and leaving destruction in his wake. Even when he kills they fall in the shape of weapons. The red colour of the shoes is to represent blood and anger, which are both significant themes in the film.
On the left of the screen we can see the wall is damp, but not just a normal sort of damp, the dampness is incredibly dark and foreboding. It has the feel of dripping blood and definitely looks very sinister.It could also represent the world going downhill and rotting away with filth. There is also a dark shadow that seems to be approaching from the right side of the screen which is representative of shadows closing in on Davidson's life. In fact the only real light in the scene is over the dead body which was Davidson's last success creating an interesting paradox.
These colours wouldn't be nearly as prevalent without the colour grading, which we spent a few hours working out. Colour grading is very important, not just to give it a more polished, rounded look, but also to create a lot of symbolism and subconsciously evoke certain emotions.

Shot Evaluations - The Establishing Shot

The next shot that I will analyse is the establishing shot, where we establish the location and another character. It is not a conventional establishing shot as it isn't very wide, but it still 'establishes'.

In this shot we can see that Yung is in Trafalgar Square, the other side to Agent Davidson.We have made sure that we didn't cross the line, even though they are not talking face to face, in order to orientate our audience easier. This is the first shot of Yung, which is used to establish where he is in the square and who Yung is. Most of the shot is a sort of dull grey, but Yung clearly stands out through his bright yellow backpack. The backpack was a last minute addition on the day, as we wanted Yung to appear young and inexperienced. The bright yellow backpack makes him an obvious target and also defies the conventions of agents looking cool and suave. It is also clear that Yung is the main feature of this shot as he is in the centre. Nelson's column is just to his left, and this is framed in a way so that an audience reading the screen left to right would see that he is in Trafalgar Square first, and then see who Yung is, second. The fountain to his right provides colour and brightens up the scene a bit more, adding contrast to the dull stonework. Overall the shot is split into three neat thirds, the first establishing Nelson's Column, the second establishing Yung and the third half providing a sharp colour contrast.
The shot also gets progressively lighter from left to right. This was planned so that it seemed like Agent Davidson was in danger, and his escape route at the end was on the right of this shot. It subconsciously forces the audience to associate the side of the square where Davidson comes on with danger and the side he comes off with escape and freedom. Even the sky gets lighter, and there are dark clouds covering the darker side of the square. Obviously we couldn't plan this on the day, so we colour graded it afterwards. I particularly like the dark, obinous colours of the buildings on the far left, as this provides a very sinister backdrop to the film. Although these aren't obvious tricks, the audience is subconsciously affected by it, and it really adds to the dynamic of the film.