Group Meeting #5

Matt & James present from start. Alex present from p3 onwards.
Meeting start: 9:30 Thursday 27th 2011
Meeting end: 10:50 Thursday 27th 2011
Agenda - Preparation for Presentation

We all went through our presentation, and who was saying what. By the end of the meeting, we were fully prepared.

The Idea

Opening Sequence

The sequence opens with man waking up from lying on the floor. He is wearing full forest camo, with battle packs. He picks up a gas mask next to him and puts in on before picking up an M16. He proceeds out of the room cautiously, moving down corridors into a large room, full of rubble, upturned tables smashed windows. He spots a door and heads over to it, poking his head out of the window. He spots 2 people wearing gas masks, in full forensic clothing, walking slowly down the corridor, looking at giager counters. The army man takes cover as they walk past, and follows them as they enter another hall. They continue to a back room, whilst the army man explores the hall. Gunshots go off at the back, followed by screaming. The armed man proceeds to the back room to see the 2 forensics lying on the floor, covered in blood. He hears a noise back in the hall, so spins on the spot, and open fires his gun before realising there is nothing to be seen, puts his gun on his back and removes a pistol from his holster. He walks towards to door, gets there, then hears a running noise behind him, and the scene concludes with the ‘beast’ leaping towards his face.

Synopsis

A tank of radioactive waste was accidentally unsealed, releasing a toxic gas into the atmosphere, affecting the surrounding towns and cities. All those affected have been transformed into monsters, and the army are forced to step in to prevent any more killings of innocent cilivians. Serg. Murray prevails within the army and in the fight against the monsters.

Film Theories

We used film theories to illustrate what makes up our films and to ensure that we have covered all areas in film and what they should include.


Claude Levi-Strauss: Binary Opposites


Levi-Strauss used binary opposites to look at narrative structure. Theser are sets of opposite values which reveal the structure of media texts, e.g. Good and Evil, Good is the oppostite of Evil. In our case we had to ensure that we have enough opposites to make the film appealing to its audience. The following binary opposites exist in our film:


Good - Evil
Known - Unknown*
Humans - Creatures
Normal - Strange*
Life - Death
Light - Dark
Quiet - Loud
Tech - Power
Guns - Claws/Teeth


*These are used in particular for our opening sequence, the idea of abnormalities and unknown events build up tension and engage the audience.


Vladimir Propp: 8 Character roles


Propp looked at 100s Folk tales and identidfied 8 character roles which consisted of: Villain,Hero,Donor,Helper,Princess,Father,Dispatcher,False Hero. We had to ensure that these roles were covered in order to maintain a successful film.


Villain: Radiation/Creatures
Hero: Army Sergeant
Donor: Weapons Expert
Helper: Sergeant's assistant
Princess: Female who meets Sergeant during recovery
Father: Captain who promotes Sergeant
Dispatcher: General
False Hero: Soldier in opening sequence


Tzvetan Todorov: Equlibrium


Todorov suggested that stories begin with an equilibrium where any potentially opposing forces are in balance. This is disrupted by some event, setting in chain a series of events. Problems are solved so that order can be restored to the world of the fiction.
IMG[1]

Opening Sequence Research

1. Genre Characteristics

Chosen Genre: Action-Horror - although it isn't a mainstream and widely used genre, it appeals to our target audience

Typical Theme: A battle between humans and 'monsters' of some form - this is the theme for our film also. However, we intend to produce our sequence in a more suspenseful and cinematic way than most bloodbaths

Character Types: Strong male hero, beautiful love interest, 'monster' creator/ leader, team/friends who help the hero achieve his goal

Influential Films: I Am Legend - this film is also an Action-Horror film. The 'monsters' in our film were based on the antagonists in I Am Legend, as they hide in the shadows and try to kill the humans in the film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsUjrZtDmA8
(7:30)

2. Target Audiences

Our primary target audience is 15-25 year old males.

Our secondary target audience is 15-25 year old females and 25-40 year old males who have an interest in the genre.

48% of Horror movie viewers are aged 18-24, and 24% aged 14-17. This means that our target audience are the main watchers of our movie genre.



Example of primary target audience member



3. Opening Sequences

Character: Protagonist and antagonist for the film are usually introduced. In our film the protagonist for the opening sequence is not the protagonist for the film overall, they play the role of the false hero.

Editing Styles: Our opening sequence will stick to continuity rules, be quite fast paced and may also use parallel editing between the protagonist and the two forensic scientists.

Graphic and Font styles: Our font will tie in with the genre, so will probably be quite a scary looking font. Any graphics or text effects we use will also be scary to tie in with the feel and genre of the film as a whole.

Use of credits: We will use very few credits in our opening sequence, so that we do not draw the viewer's attention away from the narrative shown on the screen. The credits we do use will inform the audience of the main actor/actress and the director(s)/writer(s).

Music: We will use non-diegetic ominous music in our opening sequence (possibly drums) to create and build tension for the audience. We will use some diegetic sounds of footsteps and doors shutting etc. which will also build tension.

Rhythm and Pace: Our opening sequence will start slowly, so the audience can be introduced to the character and his location. The pace will then gradually get faster and this will create tension up until the climax of the opening sequence just before the film title appears.





Planning Brief Questions

Is it practical?

Yes. We have access to a sutiable location, props and actors/actresses who are willing to give up their time for the film. However, there is the impracticality of the weather but we have overcome this as our opening sequence is mainly indoors.

Is it an idea that works to the strengths of the group?

Yes as the genre appeals to all members of our group and the storyline is one which is familiar to us. Our group is very creative and practical which will help us with the Action-Horror genre.

Will it show off the skills you have learnt so far on the course?

Yes as we are using the theories and applying them to our film (Todorov, Levi-Strauss etc.). We are also using the institutional practices for the production and "green-lighting" of our film.

Is it something you can reasonably shoot and edit in the time avaliable?

Yes as we have kept the opening sequence quite simple without many special effects so shooting and editing will not take too much time to complete.

Can you get access/ permission to shoot in the chosen location at the chosen times?

The location is avaliable to us for film making, so we chould be able to get accss. However we also have a back-up location which we can definitely access if we can't get permission for our primary location.

Our Chosen Location

Can you organise lighting to use in that location?

As our shoot is indoors, the lighting will not be a big problem for us. To tie in with the genre, the lighting for our opening sequence will still be quite dark but as it is indoors this can be controlled.

Have you included dialogue? If so, will it work to shoot conversation in that location?

There isn't any dialogue for the main character in our opening sequence, but there is some dialogue between the two forensic characters which is muffled in the background.

Do you have guaranteed high quality reliable actors to play the characters?
We have high quality actors and the access to get them. They are reliable and suitable for the characters in out film.

Group Meeting #4

All present.
Meeting start: 10:00 Wednesday 26th 2011
Meet end: 10:50 Wednesday 26th 2011
Agenda - Prepare for our presentation by distributing roles and needed information for the presentation

We sat down and distributed the roles for the presentation:-

• Matt: Complete A4 Handout (Containing: Film Synopsis, Opening Sequence, Inspiration, Target Audience, Visuals, Practicalities, Cast/Crew, Possible Locations)
• Alex: Put our idea against the theories and come up with antagonist, protagonist, binary opposites.
• James: Answer the 8 Practicalities questions and the 4 Research questions.

After these have been completed, we came together, and discussed if there was anything else we wish to include in our presentation. The clips and visuals we wish to use are in the next blog post.

Group Meeting #3

All present.
Meeting start: 12:35 Tuesday 25th 2011
Meeting end: 13:45 Tuesday 25th 2011
Agenda - Put forward each of our individual ideas, finalise film idea, distribute and organise the roles for the presentation.

Alex and James put forward ideas. Each of them explained their synopsis. After explaining and introducing these to Ms Blackborow, along with the initial idea, we have decided to use Matt's initial idea, containing elements of both of Alex's and James' ideas aswell. We also discussed inspirational films and techniques that we have seen which we would like to put into our film.

We have organised who is going to be gathering what information needed for the presentation.

Group Meeting #2

All present.

Meeting start: 14:00 Monday 24th 2011
Meeting end: 14:20 Monday 24th 2011
Agenda - Finalise synopsis and possibly storyboard for film

Synopsis needs to be changed after location for initial idea was not possible. Need to come up with individual synopsis for film and possibly storyboard a few shots we want to use. As a group we will then decide which one to use, or which bits to use, to finalise our group film.

Group Meeting #1

ll present.

Meeting start: 12:30 Friday 21st 2011

Meeting End 12:48 Friday 21st 2011
Agenda - Location finding and discussion.

Looking for possible locations for our movie, locations need to be accessible and suitable for our genre and storyline. RAF Thurleigh is a possible, Whittingham is too far to get to.

After some information gathering, location is not possible. Location search still continuing.

Possibility of using a house instead, shots need to be correctly framed for it to work, back-up option.