Final Production - Light at the End

                         

                                                              Here is our final piece!

Media Evaluation Activites 1-7

http://www.slideshare.net/nathangevans/media-evaluation-34146978

This link will direct you to my evaluation on SlideShare.

Film Opening #10 - Costume & Make up

This post is more research into the production of our opening sequence. We are researching into the costume what we will use in our opening sequence.

These two things were quite easy to do in our film opening because we only had one main character to focus on. Also because all the scenes are sports related he will be wearing sports uniforms or just regular exercising equipment. We got the American football gear from a teacher who used to play, so this really benefitted the overall look of our film opening making it look a lot more professional.
 Make up was also easy as their was only one thing we needed which was face paint which Chris could where to look more intimidating as it is stereotypical to do this in football. So we got some black pastel that worked perfectly to give us the look we wanted.

Lighting

Key light - can be artificial light or the sun. It creates shadows in the shot to make it look like the shot is coming from a particular light source.

Back light - the subject is lit from from behind and usually from above, can make a subject look silhouetted.

Practical - Any light source that is part of the scene for example like a camp fire or candles.

In our opening we are going to use a spot light on Chris to make him stand out in the dark changing room. This will have an affect on highlighting his loneliness.

Film Schedule

This is the film schedule that we are going to work with as we had a few issues trying to sort out a location for our changing room scene.

Film Opening #9 - Script

This is our script for our film opening sequence, it includes stage directions, camera angles and camerawork as there is no dialogue in our opening. We will be using this along with our storyboard on set when we're filming at a location to guide us and almost help us frame our shot so we manage to get the shot we want.

Film Opening #8 - Character Profile

This is a character profile on our protagonist Chris White, we felt that this was an important part of research in creating our film opening as we really had to make this character detailed so we could portray this in the final production. In the character profile it includes things such as his social issues, personality and statistics.

Film Opening #7 - Inspiring directors

John Lee Hancock

"A good deed, is a good deed"

John Lee Hancock to me is one of personal favourite directors, partly because he's directed 2 my favourite films which are Saving Mr Banks (2013) and The Blind Side (2009) which have both made it to the Oscar's. The Blind Side winning one for Sandra Bullock's outstanding performance and winning the best female performance for her acting.

The reason why I chose John Lee Hancock as an inspiring director because he has made a few films where the genre is also a biography and specifically looking at The Blind Side which he cunningly directed which is also a sport biography. The way in which Hancock portrays Michael Oher the main character is very clever as he presents him as shy and not having any confidence with himslef but then you see him grow as an individual throughout the film . So we felt we could relate to how he presents the characters in his films to how we might want to portray the main character in our production, looking at ways he isolates and highlights the characters feelings and emotions, through camerawork, lighting and editing.

Film Opening #6 - Audience research

In this post I will be analysing the audience in which  we feel will best suit and enjoy our film opening the best which will suit there interests and hobbies. We will depict a typical audience member from there personality, interests and lifestyle.

Because our film genre is niche we feel that also our audience will also be quite specific and possibly has to have certain interests to make the the film appeal to them and make them want to watch it.
Due to the genre being a sport biography/drama and the whole film being sports orientated we expect the audience to be interested and fan of sport and to break that down even more we expect a large number of our desired audience to follow american football such as the NFL or College football seasons in order to understand the process in which the protagonist, Chris White is going through.
I would say it dosent really have an age specific rating

Film Opening #5 - Music research

The music for our production was such a key aspect into making it successful. It has to build tension for the viewers and make the film flow so it is pleasing to the eye and doesn't look jumpy. It is also key because a typical convention for our genre was having a speech or some type of audio playing over the film opening to portray this image of the protagonist of being shown as isolated or being motivated by this speech/voiceover.

My partner being the producer and director had a clear image of what he wanted the audio to be like during the film opening. So as a team we agreed on having an instrumental at the beginning which will build the tension and tone of the film and then when the character is being introduced and being highlighted we will have a motivational speech to show struggle and motivation.
Below is a screenshot of an E-mail that we sent to the producer of the instrumental music that we want to use in our film opening. We had to gain confirmation that we were allowed to use their audio material so we were not in threat of copyright issues or plagiarism by claiming it as our own material.

Also included below is a youtube link to the audio that we will be using as the instrumental. We chose the instrumental due to its build up and and ryhtm which builds up tension and sets the mood for the shot.

We also found a speech to transition in from our instrumental. This is a big part of our film opening as it really engages the audience and the speech really highlights Chris's struggles and problems as it means a lot to him. We were allowed to used this as it has a Creative Commons license which allows us to use it for a non profit organisation.

Film Opening #4 - Roles and Responsibilities

Me and my partner have allocated each others roles which suit our strengths so that it is more clear on who is doing what and there is no confusion between us which may affect the over all production.

I have been assigned to take care of the camera and editing duties because I have the equipment and I have previous experience from photography and personally making videos at home.
My partner Harry has been allocated to be the director and producer of this production as he he his organised and is good at taking a leading role. He has a clear mindset of what he wants the final piece to look like so can easily feedback to me so we can work off each others ideas and see what we can agree on.

Film Opening #3 - List of Codes & Conventions

This post is simply a list of codes and conventions that we will feature in our film opening along with the effect they give:

Sport orientated- Instantly by making our opening sports orientated the audience will know that it will be based around sport. This will also give our film opening a more niche audience due to the context and genre.

Focuses on the main character specifically
The film is mainly based on the protagonist specifically and does not really divert off the main characters story. This is to try and create an implied relationship for the protagonist and the audience so the audience feel connected to the main character and follow him on his journey and may feel sympathy for him.

Use of flashbacks
The use of flashbacks is a key convention in our opening as it highlights previous events that link in with the current events going on. They give a good affect because they emphasise a point from the past either to show struggle, pain or motivation etc.

Use of speech or music (non-diegetic) during the opening
The use of non diegetic sound was a typical feature when we were analysing other films from the same genre. It can highlight the tension or isolation of the protagonist and help portray there mood that they are in.




This list of codes and conventions of our genre has helped and influenced us to gain an understanding of the direction were going in with our script, ideas and early planning stages.

Film Opening #2 - Style model analysis

On this post we will be analysing film openings which follow the same genre of our film opening that we will be producing. The purpose of this research is to gain inspiration and find typical conventions of the sport biography/drama which we can portray in our opening. The films we analysed we're Remember the titans, The Blindside, Express and Rudy. In our next post we will be listing key conventions of the genre we are focusing on. These are the conventions that we will use in our opening to portray the genre.

                                                              Click on them to view!

We analysed films were labelled Sport Biography Drama so we could analyse them to depict the conventions that make the genre. This was beneficial as we are going to portray those conventions on our film opening so it is clear what our genre is.

Film Opening #1 - Deciding the genre

After analysing the conventions of different film genres and watching film openings for inspiration we decided to choose a less mainstream genre, which was sports biography. We chose this because it is is a genre that both of us enjoy and know quite well, so we have a a few films that we can analyse as style models. Films such as The Blindside, The Express and Remember the Titans.