Film Sequence Evaluation


I took on the important role of cinematographer, within this role I created the genre and main plot of our teen vigilantly film and also I had to decide the camera shots that I would be using on the day of filming. The story I first created was influenced by such films as ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CfVgcSltjc, which helped me create the main character Mr Morson. From this I was able to involve this character in a modern situation, like being pursued by two yobs; to begin this character was going to be between the ages of twenty to thirty, but as the cast only consisted of sixteen year olds we decided we couldn’t do the makeup that would create such a older character; so instead we changed the film sequence to show Mr Morson in his younger days but still in the same situation.



The sequence involves Mr Morson being pursued by two yobs un-knowing of Mr Morson very strong and capable character, which ends with the whole sequence being flipped on its head, as Mr Morson becomes the attacker. This brought about my first problem, showing that Mr Morson is being pursued and allowing the yobs to believe that’s the case consists of a lot of walking scenes, shooting back and forth to each other’s reaction and pace. But walking shots are far from exciting and even further from entice my audience as it doesn’t contain any mystery. Although sound played an important part at keeping the audience engaged I also had to keep on putting ideas in the heads of my audience, so this is a technique I decided to use; by shot both Mr Morson and the yobs from the same angle I created mystery and engaged the audience as their unable to see who are the most dominate characters; this also means the audience are unable to predict the outcome of this sequence.

As a class we’ve been studying Noir Films and thought it would have been a good idea to try and accomplish stylistic and genre themes that are shared in a Neo-Noir Films. The setting I choose to film in I believed was perfect and at moments it was but in the larger open areas of the scene there was too much lighting. But the corner scene for instants I’ve perfectly accomplished a Noir style with light shining on the left side of the young Mr Morson and also the same light creates an image from ‘The Killers’ of to dark figures, in this case the yobs, but in ‘The Killers’ case two gangsters , both characters with evil intentions, appearing from the dark.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3gYa2ceFh4&feature=related .




I wanted to keep most of the filming plan nothing too complicated for the audience to follow. I made sure you could tell that Mr Morson was being followed, but rather than using over the shoulder tracking shots I just decided to show Mr Morson and the yobs go round the same corner one after the other; and just relied on convincing acting to show that the youths are intending to mug the young Mr Morson. I wanted to show that Mr Morson shouldn’t be taken lightly but didn’t want to emphasis it to much so the corner shot of Mr Morson coming round the corner was shot from a slightly low angle and the shot after of the yobs coming round the corner was shot from a reasonably high angle.

A difficulty I had from the start was how to pull of a convincing fighting scene, although it was easy to move the camera around and shot it from different places being able to recreate the fighting scene the same each way was incredibly hard. So instead I decided to not shot the fighting scene. Just have both the yobs and Mr Morson disappeared round a second corner and rather than the camera following it waits behind; and the victor at the end of the fight would once again appear. Sound however plays a much larger part as it creates the noise and tension that the atmosphere of I fight would have. Furthermore, it would have been brilliant to pull of an action fight scene but the awaiting victor scene has its advantages as well; for instants it enhanced the tension which was something the sequence was lacking as a large part was walking.

All in all, my group developed a good standard of work in the time limit we had and the low budget we were working with. My job as cinematographer went accordingly as a lot of detail was put into planning. And along the way I found that things that I had to change or adapt in some way, ever because we as actors were unable to perform convincingly or disadvantages within the setting, the change I made seemed to work just as well as the first idea in my head. I’ve learnt that when filming there’s more than just one way you can do or show something and it’s not necessarily always for you to decide if the choice you’ve done is going to be perfect. That’s the job you give to your audience.

Stephen's evaluation

Film studies coursework evaluation.

My part on the film studies coursework was to sort out the sound for our film and to create main soundtrack that would run throughout the film. My initial idea for sound was to use mainly beats and to get a thrilling feeling out of the music and to tell the people more about the story.

The sound I used was mainly small pieces of instrumental music and beats, not so much music as much as just pieces of sound. I also used some diegetic sound in the beginning using a dog barking and a car alarms well as traffic sounds, these sounds were used to give the idea of rural, bad environment where like thugs and yobs live, so the sound gives the idea of a bad environment.

This is an screen shot of the soundtrack along with a few of the diegetic sounds.

When it came to choosing the song "Lupe fiasco, Superstar" it was more of a group decision than my own when it came up as an idea it was more of just testing it out first but then it worked really well so we decided to put it in as we thought it was with our plot quite ironic so we thought it would work well.

When i was looking for sound I had a few ideas in mind that i as thinking about. These ideas were more like inspirations from films than original ideas though. The few films I had seen that had struck for there use of music was "The Hills Have Eyes(2005)", "Cape Fear(1991)" and "Halloween(2007)". I think the use of music in both "The Hills Have Eyes" and "Halloween" is really good as they both create incredible tension in the film and the music is only played were the villain/villains are around somewhere so its a fact of we know there around but the other characters don't so it creates incredible tension and suspense for the films. "Cape Fear" works in a similar way but it uses loud beats and crescendos to create tension and suspense and the music in the film is incredibly thrilling and is also only played when the villain is around or when something has happened or is about to happen so it creates great suspense ion that moment.

To create the soundtrack I used a software called Garageband which has quite a wide variety of both sounds and music. It took quite a while as i struggled to find the perfect music and my inspirations were too hard to try and recreate it with some originality in it so I had to come up with a completely new idea for the soundtrack so I took a lot longer with it than I had imagined.

We then had a visitor called Jake Wynne, he is a short film director and editor, he came in and watched all of our films as they were at that time. He gave us some advice on what we should take out of our film to improve or what is good that we have done so he gave us feedback on what he thought. When he checked our film the sound as far from completion and I was testing how "Lupe Fiasco" sounded all the way through the film he encouraged us not to do that s he said it did not go all with our film so i changed that immediately after and continued with the soundtrack as he said it was good but there wasn't enough sound with it. He said that in our film me and James didn't seem threatening to him so i had to create a good to play during our scenes so that music helps to make you think that they are threatening and they are dangerous.

I was advised many times throughout the making of my soundtrack to take care with the sound because will not make sense without a good soundtrack because the sound had to be used to tell the story and tell the characters apart and to show that the yobs aren't nice people. So taking that into consideration I made the soundtrack but i split it into to halves, the first half was used just as a background noise while Nathan was walking, the second half is made to be threatening because this sound starts to come in as soon as the yobs start following Nathan so that the sound stimulates the film into a more fast paced scene that has some threat all made by the sound.

Our film has turned out really well as well as the soundtrack which i am really proud of. We had some peers watch our film and we got some comments from them so if we were to make a film like this again and make the soundtrack again I may consider changing things like the how repetitive the sound is and the diegetic sounds, think clearly about whether some of them are really that necessary.

James's Evaulation

Film studies evaluation

My role in the production of this short scene was the editor so I had the job of choosing the scenes we wanted and cutting them into the film that we wanted. One of the main problems I had with the editing was the fact we didn’t have the right tripod when we went to go film so all of the shots are a little shaky so that made editing a little more difficult making sure they didn’t suddenly swap from position. Another thing the editor has to do is build up tension with the use of shots and the soundtrack can also help with this pace and tension building by having slow edgy music for tension music with some clever shots that build tension.

The short scene from a film we made up is a kind of teen vigilante film, it is centred on a teen whose school is overrun with crime and violence and he vows to tidy up the school by first dealing with the bullies there before moving onto the bigger problems.

The scene opens with a medium shot of the main character walking up an alley way to a cash machine so he can withdraw some money out but as he standing there two people catch his eye and he knows them as two of the bullies from the school so he assumes they have been sent as orders from higher up to take care of him as they are both pointing at him and cracking their knuckles as if they were looking for a fight. So the main character walks off hoping they will follow him so he can exact out some punishment. This is meant to twist the audience’s expectations as they should think that the main character would get beaten up.

One of my favourite bits to edit was the cash machine scene where the main character sees the two bullies and it quickly cuts back and forth between them and the central character. The main part of this shot reverse shot bit is to build up suspense and to make the audience think something is going to happen. There was one small problem with this scene because we needed a close up of the two bullies sitting on the bench but we forgot to film it so I had to take another shot and zoom in just enough so you could see it was them but not enough to fully pixelate it. The original shot we had was it zoomed in and turned using a certain technique.

The technique involved putting key frames in the places where we wanted the zoom to start and where we wanted it to stop. So on the first key frame you just put the shot in it’s starting place and then in the last one you change it so it’s a different shot from the first one, we changed it so it was slightly off to the side and zoomed in on the bullies but we decided it didn’t work so that whys I just had it start off as a zoomed in shot instead of moving around.

Our short scene used to be a lot longer than it actually was because we used to have a load of walking included at the beginning of it because we were going to have a voice over during it while the main character first walks up to the cash machine but we decided as a group not to as it wouldn’t really work with it so I had to cut out the majority of the walking at the beginning.

I decided to use quite slow cutting at the beginning so the audience could get used to the scene and then I started to speed it up when he reaches the machine and then I wanted to keep it fast paced when they were following him but we didn’t have the required shots so I chose to slow it down again and then have one long shot of the place where the central character went and got followed so we could put fighting noises in there to make it sound right.

When people came round and viewed our work they said that the shaky camera made it look kind of creepy which was good because that’s what we wanted. The audience read the scene at the end where the main character goes behind a building and then the two bullies follow him, they thought that the main character would get beaten up and they found it rather comical when he just calmly walks out on his own and puts in his headphones to listen to music after dishing out his punishment.

NB: Blogger hates uploading pictures.

After discussion with Jake we've decided to trim our walking track shot down as its just doesn't work. And also offers no threat awareness to engage the audience. Also we narrowed down to just the one shot of Mr Morson coming round the corner rather than a stupid three shots. we tried 'Superstar' by Lupe Fiasco in several shots throughout our sequence and decided it was to up beat to play through the sequence but it does work perfectly at Mr Morson victory shot. Stephen is working on sound still. 'Something that emphasizes threat' even though there is no direct threat to Mr Morson. But as this is a sequence that will be extracted from the middle of the film and is Mr Morsons first attack that the audience will witness they are unaware of Mr Morson capability. so threat is important to engage the audience, therefore making it successful. And when Stephen is finished decided on sound he will edit it into each shot along with James but at the moment James is doing computing homework. Furthermore, once i've finished typing this very word in lesson 2.03.2010 I will be looking at trailer on front row right after this verrryyy woorrrrrddddd.

dilemma

We have encountered a dilemma today, we need to re-film our entire sequence because the lighting is too dark and the camera is too shaky half the time so next time we are going to go out with a proper tripod and film this in a different way, instead of having the two yobs on the bench we are going to have one of them next to the cash point leaning against the graffiti, and the other one will be on the way walking up and down it before jumping off it. We will have a close up of the back of Mr Morsons head before cutting out to a medium shot to see Stephen staring at him. When Nathan walks away from the cash point Stephen will look out of shot to the other yob who will nod at him and then Stephen will nod back, So we can see from this that they are planning to do something.
We are also going to change the opening to have Nathan aka Mr Morson on the phone saying something along the lines of "it's been taken care of he wont bother you again".



EDIT - We have decided not to film again as we don't have enough time left so we are just going to complete what we've got to try get the best mark out of it possible

Nathan :
"On Friday 5th February we successfully filmed each shot several times in the correct setting and acceptable acting. From filming all in one night keeping continuity was successful.
We got six minutes of footage to narrow down to the best shots. as cinematographer, my aim was to achieve a Noir stylistic film but the lighting in shots are far to bright but we have successfully achieved a Neo-Noir film teen film through the films content.
James the editor has so far cut down to three and a half minutes of footage but no added sound yet. Me along with Stephen have been discussing sound. As it stands the beginning will have Non-digetic sound (Superstar by Lupe Fiasco). Silence when Mr Morson sights the yobs. Only digetic sound will be of the ATM and footsteps until the dramatic toilet scene where a weary non-digetic sound will be played as the audience under waits for a victor to appear. after that When Mr Morson appears victorious digetic sound of Superstar-Lupe Fiasco will play once again from Mr Morson's headphones.
Digetic sound of the fight scene will be filmed later by me, (Nathan) Hopefully by tomorrow. 'not that will be ready to add it by then.

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This is our storyboard.

Shot list

The shots we are going to use:

• Long shot - Looking at Mr Morson as he enters Arbury.
• Tracking - Following Mr Morson as he walks through an alley way, this will be a neo-noir style scene. We will have a particular costume for both Mr Morson and the two yobs.
• Point of view shot (POV) - Showing the POV shot of Mr Morson showing the two yobs. We will have specific lighting for another neo-noir effect.
• Medium close-up - Showing Mr Morson reaction to spotting the two yobs.
• Over the shoulder - Over the shoulder shot from Mr Morson showing both the ATM machine and the two yobs on the left.

At this point the yobs begin to act suspicious and Mr Morson turns his phone off.

• Far long shot - Showing the two yobs in the background as they act suspicious.

Most of these shots will be tracking shots and a lot of these shots are repeated throughout the sequence.

Day 6

We have booked the camera for the weekend. We are going to start filming tonight. James is making a storyboard Nathan has made a shot list

Sound - new plan

The Mr Morson will be listening to his phone. The song will be superstar by lupe fiasco and he will then turn it off leaving his headphones in misleading the teenagers. I will then introduce a low drum beat and when he leaves for the toilet he turns his music back on.

Discussion:
-After thought within the group along with Barney we know that pulling of a successful older character can't be done convincingly with the age of the group therefore Mr Morsons older character will now be a younger one. also rather than Mr Morson killing the pursuing yobs he just gives them a lil' beating.
-Also rather than filming the fighting scene were going to let the imagination of the audience create the scene with help from digetic sound. The camera mean while will be placed outside of the toilet waiting to see who's victorious.

"the film plays around a teenage boy that has taught him self martial arts so the he can get back at the bully's at his school and 2-3 minute sequence shows his final revenge."

Thursday 4th February
-Steven and James are discussing non-digetic atmospheric sound. The digetic noise of the fight will be created later with a punchbag.

day 4

We are hoping to be filming over this coming weekend, but they might be all booked . so we might have to re-think when we are all able to film together.

Plan for editing

My plan for the editing in this short clip will be as follows:

For the opening of the scene there wont be many camera changes all the shots will be quite long as there isn't much happening to give me a reason to cut it quickly.
When we see the two yobs for the first time there will be a POV shot from the eyes of Mr Morson looking at them as they both turn and stare at him. It will cut between him and the yobs as he walks over to the ATM, we will then have a shot of the yobs turning to each other, whispering and pointing at Mr Morson, it will cut back to him looking over his shoulder at the two yobs.
When Mr Morson is walking over with the two yobs following him I will cut it quicker between them and him walking faster and faster.
As soon as we see Mr Morson with the mask on we will have a shot of him standing there then it will cut to the yobs with a confused expression on there faces, the cutting will then speed up again as Mr Morson starts to fight these 2 yobs until after they run away then it will be slow cutting again as he takes off his mask.

Some inspirations

This is the theme song for Halloween. I'm not going to make my soundtrack much like this really but i love the idea of having a soundtrack for the monsters in the films like jaws as well.

This is the theme song for jaws that is only played when the shark is close or is going to attack.

This is the music from platoon. This music is a beautiful piece of soft music that seems quite different to the story's meaning, but it works really well with the movie it really helps you to think about the story of the film. it is a sad piece of music but really makes you think about other bits of the film more carefully. This music works so well because it isn't right for it's film if you think but it works so well and has a really deep impact on the film.

Plan For Sound.

I am in charge of the sound for our project. I have had a few ideas for how to work with the sound. i am going to keep a low beat sort of style of sound. I am going to start off without any music and just going to include the diagetic sound going on. I am then going to slowly introduce low beats to increase the tension and the suspense of the scene. The music will then get louder and will fade out when the man disappears. Then the music will crash back in when the man reappears at the intense part of the scene. The music will then return to a low beat after the intense scene is over and then the music will slowly fade out.

Day 1 - Planning

Nathan- Cinematography
Steven-Sound
James-Editing

The sub genre of our sequence film is thriller/mystery/crime, the plot of the story is about a man called Mr Morson and in this particular sequence he is going to a ATM late at night where he is followed by two yobs after he finishes withdrawing money. He turns out to be a more complicated character than first thought when he himself pursues the two yobs.