Film Opening Production Diary

production diary:

11/11/16: in our first day our planning our film opening we were put into groups of 3, my group consists of myself, Harry Foord and Jess Prentice. In these groups we had to come up and brainstorm a few strong ideas for film genres and plots, in which we would eventually choose our strongest genre depending on feedback and availability. Today we came up with three main genres, these were; action/comedy, mockumentary and crime thriller. We now need to further develop these ideas and produce a pitch to receive constructive feedback.

14/11/16: after deciding on three genres today we were given the task of developing these ideas and producing a film pitch of our main ideas to the other class groups. As a group we assigned each individual with a task to complete a selected amount of PowerPoint slides on genre related topic (props, plot and practicalities). The next step for our group is now to present our film pitch.

15/11/16:  after creating our PowerPoint we as a group presented our film pitch to the class groups, this allowed us to receive feedback on our strongest idea. With this we was then able to go and produce and develop a main genre idea, as well as this we blogged our feedback and gave an evaluation of what we can improve following our feedback. We now need to produce a storyboard, shot diary and shooting schedule for our final film opening idea.

17/11/16: Todays lesson consisted of each individual in the group creating either a shot diary, story board or a shooting schedule. Following our decided plot we created a story board for each shot with a brief description, shooting schedule of the shot type, time and setting and finally a shot diary of the order of shots. We now need to produce a talking story board and plan when we will be filming our final film opening.

21/11/16:  Following the final stages of planning, today we are completing any fine details in planning before we begin filming . This included producing an audio guide of our story board and beginning our script and final research.
22/11/16:  today we were researching our film openings backing music, finishing our script and researching out title font. To do this we each produced a word document on our research and took a vote in order to get the final outcome of the title font and music.
23/11/16: We then begun filming our film opening, we done this by as a group going to our final settings and filming the final shots for our opening. This was done at our second location (HSBC Chelmsford city centre), We filmed these shots in the afternoon to get the effect of time passing through out our opening.

25/11/16:  Today we uploaded our finishing shots and began to sequence them together as well as cutting and editing the footage we had. As well as this we continued to add music research in order to find the best suited music to our genre.
27/11/16:  We then continued to complete filming, for this we went to our second location (green close). These shots we took were to complete any retakes or opening shots in our film opening.
28/11/16:  After getting all our rough film footage we now uploaded our new shots to our existing footage, before sequencing and editing the timings and durations of each shot. We also begun our institution research.
29/11/16: We then continued to edit our footage as well as changing some sequences and the variety of shots we were including. Also whilst Harry and Jess were editing I continued to do music research and develop our institution choice.
30/11/16:  Now we have got our sequencing complete we began adding our credit titles to each individual shot, we have also started to add transitions to each title. As well as this I begun our representation and completed our institutions research.
01/12/16: Today we continued to edit our credit titles into our film footage. However I continued to complete any outstanding paperwork, this included our representation PowerPoint and beginning to find and location shots.
05/12/16:  Today we gave each individual group member an individual task. My task was to produce a presentation of our location shots and a brief description of what they included, Jess was completing any editing that was outstanding and Harry was producing a film poster using Photoshop.
06/12/16:  Today we were giving feedback on each individual film opening draft, we gave our feedback individually, this was done in categories of positives, negatives and what we would change.
08/12/16: today we were given the tasks of each individual producing a analysis of a similar film poster, we also continued to edit our film opening.
09/12/16: today we were continuing to edit our film opening towards our final version, as well as this we each continued to update and catch up on any paper work for our film opening.
12/12/16:  Today our group worked together to analyse and continue editing our film opening, we also assigned each group member to complete any blogging or genre research that was incomplete.
13/12/16: Following from our last group meeting, we continued today to assign each individual task to complete any further research in which we needed in order to improve our film opening, this included any audience or genre research and planning.
14/12/16: In order to meet our film opening deadline we received feedback on on our film opening and went back to editing the order and timings of each title. With this we completed our film opening research , this included further title sequence research from a suitable genre film.
15/12/16:  Our group today worked together to process any thoughts we had about our film opening, following this we applied our ideas into editing our final film opening.
16/12/16: With today being our film opening deadline, we worked as a group to get any negatives int positives, this included any sequencing or final titles needed.
19/12/16: Following our deadline our group was working to complete and incomplete blogging our film opening paper work in order to meet our blogging deadline.
20/12/16: Today consisted of our group updating any research/planning that was outstanding for our film opening. We also uploaded our final film opening to YouTube.
21/12/16: Today we continued to complete any planning/research for our film opening, this included any script or genre research. We also each individually continued to update our blog.

Film Opening Website

As part of our marketing as a group we created a website that would suitably present our film, this would include important information like the release date/time, characters, genre/plot and screening locations.

Click here for 'Not So Die Hard' website.
Below are some images taken from our film opening website, these show the layout and information that our website provides for our targeted audience.



Photograph Evidence Of Planning

Here are some photos of evidence of our group planning and us going to our filming locations.



Title Sequence Research

Today we done further research into our title sequence, to do this we analysed and researched a similar genre title sequence. Below is our research of the timings and types of titles we researched from the action film 'oceans 11'.



 

Marketing Planning

Today we continued with our planning for our film opening, this involved our marketing planning of how and where we are going to advertise of film poster. To do this we presented the poster in day to day environments such as a bill board.

We have also produced a website using 'wix' this website page is to promote any important details about our film, for example our release date, genre and release locations. Here is our website link.

Age Certificate Research

Today we were doing further research for our film opening, this included research into what we can include in a bbfc 15 film and the restriction of the certificate.

According to the 'British board of film classics' the following contents is acceptable in a film with the certificate 15:

 



Also in relation to the certificate, our target audience gender is very broad. Due to our choice of starring a female actor in an action movie we have decided that anybody from 15 and over is suitable for our film, however the action side of our film will appeal more to the male side of our audience

Genre Research

Today we was doing further research into what our genre and film plot usually includes.

 

A heist film usually consists of three acts, these include; a briefing of preparation and planning, the heist itself and finally the outcome of the heist. Therefore due to this we are including clear but brief reflections of each act with in our film opening to maximise the clarity of our genre.

Also a heist film includes characters with a clear identity, this can be down to there personality, costume or skill.

Finally a heist film will usually include a mode of transport to and from the heist, props such as guns and robbery tools. Throughout a heist film there is a clear reflection of the characters living outside of the law.

We also ensured that we had included the comedy aspect of our film opening by including clear flaws in our planning, props and skill levels. In order to effectively do this we analysed film such as 'central intelligence' and '21/22 jump street'.

Below are the main films that we took inspiration from. These mainly influenced us to use the comedy side of our film opening.
 

Film Pitch Evaluation

Our film pitch gained mostly positive feedback with our average score out of ten being around the 8 mark. The feedback for our film title is that it is relevant to the film and also interesting. The shortness of the title means that it is catchy as well, meaning it is easily remembered. The cast feedback was also positive as many people liked the fact that we had an all British cast, seeing as the film is set in Tudor England. This helps to keep the authenticity of the accents in our film. The plot of our film was more of a split, regarding opinions. Whilst some thought that it was a unique and interesting plot idea, others thought it would be a slightly boring storyline with not much to expand on.

To improve next time, we could choose a film idea that may be more safe in terms of successfulness. If we aim for the film to be targeted towards a wider range of university students rather than the high intellectuals, it will increase the likelihood of ticket sales. 

Film Poster Analysis

In todays lesson we had the task to analyse a similar film poster, with this we had to annotate the film poster in what is similar with our film poster. The key annotated information was:

FIlm Opening First Draft



Self Assesment

Our film opening had unique camera angles and the music fit well to the genre. We decided to use "You really got me" by The Kinks and also some royalty free action music to add a happy, fun effect at the start and a tense mood towards the end. The use of both high and low camera angles added variety to  our film. The way in which the titles were implemented was creative and unique,with some reacting with what was going on in the sequence. This helped set us apart from other groups as not many had used the idea of dynamic titles.

 

To improve, we could increase the lighting in some scenes. For instance, in the van it is very hard to distinguish what is going on due to the low light. Also continuity was a slight problem as the footage was filmed over 2 separate days, resulting in the natural lighting being much different where 2 scenes follow on from each other.This could be overcome by using artificial light when filming, or changing the contrast of the footage in post-production.

Film Opening Poster

Today we created a film poster for our film opening, to do this we imported a shot from our opening and editing it using titles and logos in Photoshop.



Feedback Analysis

Today as a group we was reviewing and analysing our groups feedback, With this we would take the constructive advice and negative points to improve our final film opening.

 

Our feedback received a variety of both negative and positive points. Our positive feedback was mostly based around our clear representation of our genre, our titles font and placement and finally our interesting story line and dialogue.
However our negative feedback was greatly based around one scene, this was the scene in which we was in the van, the feedback in which we received for this was to improve the sound as it appears muffled at times and to improve the clarity of image and dialogue as it can become confusing.

 Finally we received some feedback on how our music was a great fit to the genre and was applied in suitable areas, however the volume became distracting as it appeared to loud.



Peer assessment

In todays lesson we were giving feedback on each individual groups film opening first draft. The way in which we assessed each film opening draft  was by each using a feedback sheet that was divided into positive aspects of the film opening, negative aspects and things that we were change in order to make the film opening better.
An example of my personal feedback is from the film opening of outlaw, in this I have shown a few improvements that they could do to act upon the negative points of there opening.



Film Opening Script

Through out our script is kept to a minimum amount, this is to highlight the personalities of each character and focus on the dialogue which is occurring. There are only two main scenes in which there is script used  (inside the van and loading the van), these scenes are points in the film which so the authority of each individual and that help reflect our action/comedy genre. Below is the layout of our script:

Scene 1

Jess: We leave in five pack what you need

Harry: Alright Boss

Jordan: Gang Gang

 

Scene 2

Harry: Oh yeah Guys, I’ve got this as well

Jess, Jordan: Woah Woah

Jess: Put it down Jesus

Harry:… Sorry

 

(Jordan’s Phone rings)

Harry: For fuck sake

Jordan: Mum, I told you don’t ring me when I’m with my friends….. Sorry about that guys.

Scene 3

Harry: Shit

Film Opening Loaction Shots



Film Opening Representation

Today we had to create a presentation of our character profiles and locations. To do this I created an emaze PowerPoint on the representation of our film opening 'Not So Die Hard'.