Scripting

As our film is of an Action genre and the opening two minutes consists of an action scene, we have no need to include much dialogue as we wanted to show that it was fast paced and I believe that dialoge would slow down the pace of the movie as it is a chase scene.


Aran: Stay on your fucking knees
    This will be when Aran catches up with Tom and punches him to the ground. This shows that he is strong. 

Aran: Job done.
This is when Aran has killed Tom and confirms that he has killed him.

Aran: Yes, Yes, I'm Ready
    This is towards the end of the movie where Arans next assignment is set.

The main reason we only have Aran speaking is because we want the audience to identify that he has more prevelence than Tom and is the main character. Moreover as it's only two minutes, we don't really want to give much away which is what my research from action movies has tought me. We may include dialogue for Tomin order to give Aran more prevelance. The reason why the dialogue is going to be so blunt is for the audience to identify the true personality of the Aran's character. We want him to show his words through his actions. Someone who we can compare Aran's character to is Bruce Willis who does more action scenes than speaking in movies such as Die Hard which I have anootated during my research.

Costume research

Costume

In our opening two minutes, we really only have two characters; Tom and Aran. Tom is the victim and there is Aran who is the assassin. That being said we had to find something that denotes assassin qualities as well as something that a victim will wear. I played a big part in this area as well as make-up and fortunately Aran and Tom both had the clothes i had visioned them wearing. 

Tom:

    Identifying costume for Tom was quite simple.What I thought would be good for tom is casual clothes to make the audience feel as if  he wasn't expecting what was going to happened and so I want him to wear a jumper, dark-blue jeans and trainers. Something like this would be good:

                 

Aran:

     Finding the right costume for Tom was much more difficult but then I thought that an assasin is denothes as doing his job quietly and then though of the dark which then lead me to the colour black which is when I decided that Aran should wear a Black Coat, Black Scarf, Clack Shoes and Black trousers which will hopefully look like a uniform. 

                                                                

                                                         

Video Diary

5/1/13
Today was the day we first started filming. We were feeling rather confident after our preliminary task which we done in October but the mistakes and problems that we encountered then helped us gain the experience when filming this. For example in the preliminary task, we had failed to abide to the 180 degree rule where Mohammed looked as if he suddenly switched positions. Now we are being extra careful whilst filming.
     Today, we decided to start filming the end of our opening two minutes where Aran receives a phone call for his next mission. We started with the ending because the rest of the filming had to be at night and we were all available during the day so we could at least make a start. Filming itself only took about an hour for this specific section but costume was as important today as we needed to make sure Aran's character didn't giveaway too many clues so we decided to dress him in all black. Our location for the ending of our two minutes was on a bridge located in Leatherhead over the M25. Aran was the only one needed in this scene where he received a phone call giving him his next target. We used a number of shots including close-ups, extreme close-ups and medium shots as well as long shots. The reason for this is because we want to have that element of choice when editing where we can see which shots better as opposed to having one standard shot. We also used the bridge to our strength as we ended it when the camera was overlooking the bridge. Aran was dressed in a casual hoodie and chinos as you must remember that this is the end of the movie but for the rest of the movie, he is dressed in all black.

Here is a picture of the bridge at the time of filming overlooking the M25.

                                                   
   What today was also used for was getting grips with the camcorder which Mohammed had acquired. The good thing about this camcorder was that it has a specific feature called anti-shake which reduces the amount the camera shakes but we will find out whether this is an effective process during the editing stage in a few weeks. We do have a trigram but thanks to the anti-shake, we didn't really have any use for it but we may need it when we actually begin filming the action scenes.

This is the camcorder we used which also had HD  as well as anti-shake.

10/1/13

     My input today was to get all the costumes and props prepared for the others to film. For example, I had the fake blood ready which I gave to Mohamad and I instructed Aran to wear all black. Prior to the filming , I quickly went to the location(which can be seen below) and checked whether it was still in the same state that we left it when we first decided that it would be our chosen location. One prop that none of our group could get hold of was a fake gun although we got extremely close. Despite this, the fake blood was still a good prop.

     Today we actually filmed the chase and fight scene where Tom was the victim.  Instead of the gun, we replaced it with a knife which Mohamad got from his house that had a yellow handle. It worked as well as a gun would have but in hindsight possibly even better because our movie is an urban action movie and a knife may be more suitable for this. We would put the red food colouring in a small capsule which Tom would have to bite but they told me that a problem was that they would have to continue the acting with the remains of the capsule in Toms mouth and it wasn't comfortable so we had a contingency plan which was to use a syringe which hopefully will work as well as a capsule. Today, we just done the fight scene in the alleyway where Aran punched Tom and that is where Tom spits out the blood.

                          

15/1/13

    Today we filmed a big chunk of the movie. Mohamad bought his laptop where he had already started the editing of the ending and the "punch" scene. As they were filming, I was continuing with the editing but all I could do was small bits and bobs but we still cant make any major alterations because we don't have enough clips so the real editing will begin after the filming but I could still help by fixing the small shakes that are visible though Mohamad has been doing an excellent job of editing as well. We also got the mixture of soundtracks that we were going to use and where. I starting putting the sound into the bits we had filmed as it finally felt as if it was taking shape.

    We got Tom to wear Jeans and a hoodie to show that he was the victim and wasn't expecting this fight whereas Aran was wearing all black which I stated in my earlier blogger wouldn't give much away about his character.

    Today's filming began with Tom limping very fast to show that he had already been hurt into this water-fields alleyway where he was being chased by Aran. The shot type we used was a point of view shot which really emphasized the idea that Tom was running away from someone. There was a number of shots during the actual fight part of the scene where the main intention was to give Aran as much prevalence as possible in order for the audience to identify him as the main character. The good thing about Tom and Aran is that Aran is significantly taller which made our job much easier in giving him this prevalence. We also see Aran punch Tom where he then falls on the ground and tries to recover using the walls of the walkway as leverage.

22/1/13

    It has been a full week since we have filmed because it has been difficult gathering everyone together. I have noticed that a lot of groups finished in a day but we want to take our time in order to get it perfect. Moreover, I can't really talk about the camera shots that we are going to use as we have used a number of shots and angles and will later decide which shot is best.
     Mohamad once again bought his laptop where I was editing whilst he was filming the death of Toms character. As we didn't have a gun, Aran used a knife to kill Tom against the white wall of the walkway. As soon as Aran kills Tom, he receive a phone call which we had to shoot a number of times as we kept going over the 180 degree rule for some reason and f because we wanted to see what would be the most effective shot.
     It has taken us seventeen days but we have finally finished our filming and now we still have a lot of editing to do because of the vast array of shots we took.
     We still haven't thought of the title and time is running out so we must really think. I will be able to edit everything apart from the beginning without the title.             

Editing stage.


28/1/13
    Today we fully focus on the editing. As Tom and Aran were the main actors in the fiming, we had decided to give them the day of as we made a start on the editing. The first thing we had to think about was the title and where we were going to put it. We decided that a title should be named when all four of us is togethet and that we would place it straight after the death of Tom and the next day as this will help the audience identify that it's a new day and the movie officially starts from this point.
    We started the beginning of the editing where Tom was running and the camera was in between his eyes to show the audience that they are currently viewing the event in Toms perspective. We decided to add an effect which was to make the camera blurry. the reason for this was to show that he was in distress, to add suspence and most importantly to dictate a high tempo to the scene ad indicate to the audience that an action scene is currently occurring.

Here is the blurry picture when Tom is running to the alleyway.

     The next thing we done today was edit the fight scene and we started by choosing which shot type we wanted when Aran first saw Tom and we decided that we'd go with the over the shoulder shot as it made the  way that Aran was running more dramatic. When Tom got hit, we thought that a good effect to include is an x-ray type effect, This would show that Tom was hurt which gave us the excuse to use the fake blood when Tom spat it out. We decided to have a medium shot for this so the blood would be visible.  

Today was rather successfull as we have edited around 56 seconds of filming in one day, I thought it would be much harder but we must also focus on the non diegetic sound. The final piece of editing we had dome today was the extreme close up of the clean knife which followed with a black screen and then the knife will reappear with blood on it.

We start on the left where there is a clean knife, then black screen (dramatic cut) and then the dirty knife.

31/1/13

Today we continued with the editing. We were all here today and all worked hard. Today we once again added the x-ray effect on the knife to emphasis the death just like we emphasized Tom being hurt, We have found it to be a rather effective effect. What else we done today was film the conversation between Aran and his boss where he says "Job Done" we chose to do close ups and extreme close ups as we didn;t really want to give any facial expressions away. We only had time to do this much but it sets us up nicely to complete it within the next two weeks. 

Here is a screenshot of the x-ray knife

   04/2/13
   Today we have finally decide the title to be The pursuer and the reason for this title is in another blog. We included it after Aran killed Tom because it would slow down the pace of the film and to show the end of the action scene with the transition to the next day. We decided to fade the title away into the next day as my research into film shot types told me that fades can indicate time jumps so it was a good place to include a fade shot. Today we also put the the ending in which I had edited a couple of weeks ago. The film is starting to feel finished and we are on time even though other groups have finished.
                                          


  Filming :
  7/2/13
   It's been 3 days since we've finished the editing of the filming and we aren't happy with it so we re filmed the ending again today. I believe that this could have been because we filmed it first and we didn't know how the rest of the filming would pay off and so it was a gamble that didn't pay off.
   We were supposed to include the music today but we couldn't because of the re filming but we are still on track to finish within the next 2-3 days.


Editing
9/2/13
     Today was the longest day by far but we have finally finished the filming and editing. The peoduction of the sound  took a number of hours and then implementing it in the movie took as long. Before all of that we had to edit the end once again but it didn't take too long this time as we knew what we wanted.

    We then started in the production of the sound and the softwear we used was Traktor 2, Mix Meister and Fusion 7. Mohamad was familiar with the programme so that saved some time but we were being very specific adding extra strings and basses in specific areas. All the music we used was non-copyright with some of our own original sounds.

Traktor 2:

MP3 Direct Cut:

Mix Meister Fusion 7:

Finished Project.
                       

         

             

                           This is the finished product of our opening two minutes of our movie.

Feedback

Research and planning: Level 3 12/20
Proficient work on storyboarding DONE THE ANIMATIC
Good level of care in presentation of the research and planning
Proficient organisation of locations DONE and props NEED HELP!!!

In order to progress to level 4, consider how your research has impacted the decisions you have made (for example in your audience profile posts DONE, how did you intend to address your target audience in the opening 2 minutes? DONE AUDIENCE PROFILLING)
Make sure you include photos of your actors and explain why they are suitable for the role.NEED TO DO!

You have not posted anything in nearly 2 months so there is no evidence that you have managed your time well.


DONE COSTUME

NEEDS DOING:
TITLE ON EACH (NAVY BLUE)
PROPS (GET IT FROM PROFICIENT TO GOOD)
EDITING IN DIARY



1) scripting
2) costume

Storyboard Picture and Animatic

Monday, 7 January 2013

Storyboard

We have produced a storyboard to give us an idea of what we are going to do. We completed it before the holiday (2 weeks ago) but we have just uploaded it but now we shall include this in an aromatic. We are ready to start filming as our research and planning is officially over. It will be interesting to see the final piece and compare it with the storyboard.

                             

Camera Movements

Camera Movements



Camera Movements are an essential way in telling the story. Different camera movements help show a wider range of text .


Pan Shot
The first camera movement I will be looking at is the pan shot. This shows whats left or right of the screen and it helps reveal the setting which also give the audience an indication of what class the characters may be.

                            


Tilt Shot
Below is the tilt shot and it shows whats up and down of the screen and is most effective whe climbing somthing, facing a task or possibly even a flashback.

                            

Track/ Dolly shot
My next shot is trach/Dolly shot. This is when the camera moves around the subject. This helps in movies when showing two sides of the subject or a sudden change in personality.  We can use this shot movement to show how the main character (Aran) wantsa change in lifestyle.

     

Cast so Far

Cast so Far



1) Nadib (me)- We've decided my name will be Alex and that I will play the victim. I won't have much prevalence to suggest the other characters the main character but I will use dialogue like " do you know who I am?" This will help the audience agknowlege that this victim posseses some power.

2) Mohamad (bossman) - We are going to follow the stereotype the leader never does the dirty work and ware not going to expose him to add to the mysteriousness. He ultimately has the most power but is not the main character which is shown by lack of camera time.

Analysis of movie similar to my genre- Hot Fuzz.

Analysis of movie similar to my Genre- Hot Fuzz

Hot Fuzz
I chose Hot Fuzz as a movie that is similar to mine as it's set in an urban setting and has some action clips within it.

 The movie starts with the "Universal" film production inter title followed by a black screen with non diegetic sound of police sirens suggesting that this movie will have a Sub Genre of crime which is re-enforced by seeing the police officers badge.

    We start with an long shot and a character walking towards you which really catches your eye. As he is the only one moving, people will focus on him and thus identify the he is the main character. The opening two minutes consists of many fast cuts which show the transition between scenes and his different attributes and successes.
     The way the camera cuts from scenes are particularly interesting. One of them being when he clicks the pen and the camera zooms in on it at which point the camera cuts to him winning an award. Throughout the 2 minutes, the camera is always fixated on Simon Pegg.

                                                             


         

The reason this movie is similar to mine is because it's an action movie and is located in a small town with English actors which my movie will also have. What I can take from this movie is the effective transitions between different scenes and where specialist transitions such as zooming is most effective.

props

Having Props is an important way to identify a character and stereotypes associated with said character. For example, if there is a character wearing a blazer in a big house, you will associate success with him whereas if he is in a alleyway, people may think he is a dangerous gang leader.

Props in Movies:
Props also help separate the main characters from the background characters. A perfect example of this is Batman "The Dark Knight Rises."
    Batman wears a mask and cape which shows that he is the main character which is easy to idetify. Throughout the movie, we see hundreds of villains/ criminals escaping but the one that gains most attention is Bane as he wears an intimidating mask.

Props in my movie:

Props

Props really help tell the story. Some genres share similar props. Our genre is Urban/Action and so we will look at other movies and see what props are frequent. The movies I'm looking at are Taken, Green Street and Rush hour.

                                 

My first prop will be a BB gun as we won't be able to use a  REAL GUN. Moreover, 2 of the 3 movies contain guns and so I understand that it is a vital part in an action movie. It doesn't always have

Looking at green street and kidulthood which are both urban movies, do have the use of guns but the use of baseball bats are emphasised. This will also be a realistic weapon.

Other props that we use are small props such as, fake blood, make-up for bruised effects and jewellery for distinguising between the status of the characters.

                                                                        

Shot types to Include

Shot Types


Shot types are a vital way to tell the story and help the audience understand who has prevalence and significant characters stand out from the majority. There are a number of shots, these are:#

1. The first camera shot I will be looking at is the Extreme Close Up Shot. This shot is focused on a specific detail of a person such as the eyes but it doesn't show the whole face. We are going to use this shot in our opening two minutes when the "Boss" is speaking. This gives a sense of mysteriousness and people would like to know who this person really is.

This shot is in Kill Bill and is used to identify a stand off and increase suspense.

2. My next shot is the Close Up Shot. This shot is less zoomed in than the extreme close up as you can show the face as opposed to a specific detail. The close up shot is used to show emotion. We will use this shot to show the commotion on the face of the victim.

This character above is known as the Joker and he is the villain in Batman "the Dark Knight." The close up shot is used onn him to show his lack of expression and emphasise his trademark "Why so serious?"

3. The third shot type is the Medium shot  This shot is used to help the audience always be aware of the setting possibly because something may happen. In our movie, we will have the victim in a medium shot with a garage visible. This is important because he will later get thrown into that garage door.

Here we've got a medium shot to remind us that there has been a murder in this room and a medium shot helps the audience remember this without taking any prevalence away from him.

4. My fourth shot is a long shot. This is used to establish the setting and characters thus the long shot is also known as the Establishing shot. A long shot shows the person from top to bottom thus exposing more of the setting. We will try to use this shot to establish the alleyway and introduce the villains.

We see a long shot which helps establish the four characters and help the audience identify that thy will play some part in the movie and we also see the setting which tells me that they live together.

7. An extreme long shot focuses on where the movie will be set and is best used at the start of the movie or if the scene is changing. A good example of this is all three of the rush hour movies where they move from one country to another and that is where we see an extreme long shot.

This will be a extreme long shot for a movie set in Hollywood or even Los Angles.

                                       
6. I will now look at the low angled shot and its main purpose is to offer more prevalence to a character. We will use by making the villain look bigger than the victim thus meaning that he is the more important character in the movie.

This shot is a low angle shot and offers more prevalence to the bigger character and makes him seem more powerful.

6. Now we will  look at a high angle shot which is used to make a character look powerless and vulnerable. 

Here is a high angle shot of an individual looking up in a scared way to support the idea that he is weak and vulnerable.