Friday, 9 October 2020

WELCOME MODERATOR

Jacob Cooper 1720

Claremont Fan Court School 64680

I worked with Harrison Allman-Varty 1702

Our brief was to make the title and opening sequence for a film. The title of our film is 'The Hong Kong Files'. It is based on the current ongoing pandemic caused by 'The Coronavirus'. The movie is a political thriller/ drama. Throughout our film opening we included the necessary credits and gave the audience an insight into the main characters which will be the main focus for the film. We wanted the pace of the sequence to build throughout to create tension and suspense.

Camera Work - for the entirety of the film opening, I was filming and arranging the mis-en-scene of the scenes. I shared the job of camera man with my working partner as we took multiple shots while filming so we could have lots of variety once editing got underway. We shot many close ups to ensure we were able to convey reactions to introduce characters allowing our audience to be form an early opinion on each of them.

Editing - The editing of the film was accomplished as a pair. However, with Harrison's expertise, we were able to perfect the movie as we visualised it. I contributed to the edit by directing the scenes assessing where I thought positive change could be made which would ensure the piece continued in the right direction. I was largely involved with the screenplay and the writing of the script. I created a storyboard for the director at the time to follow (whether it be Harrison or myself) which ensured we had all the right footage to avoid re-shooting.

Directing - Before filming the shots, we thought hard about location. We needed natural light and a visually pleasing backdrop. Luckily Claremont Fan Court School worked as a perfect place to film scenes that involved our acting politicians and the need for grand surroundings which included the mansions steps. This particularly worked well for the press conference. Weather was also very important for certain scenes. The day we chose to film crucial scenes involving the healthy minister was a dull day with no sunlight what-so-ever - there was a thick layer of fog surrounding us which supported the feel we were trying to create. This natural element offered immediate intrigue and drama. The main door of the building only had white outside of the window. On sharing this scene with friends they became intrigued when the two characters were walking towards the door unsure what was waiting on the other side.

LINK TO OUR FILM

Wednesday, 3 June 2020

RESEARCH: Movie Trailer Websites

I primarily use Youtube for entertainment purposes, however, I find it very useful to increase my knowledge on different topics from cinema releases, comedy to random uploads which become the perfect time wasting exercise. I love the comedy aspect of Youtube and the fact it is an available platform for anyone who wants an immediate audience. It's great for e-learning as you can find literally anything you want. It creates general online discussions and it encourages the sharing of ideas. I occasionally watch top 10 lists of interest from sport to video gaming to movies which makes Youtube a great sharer of popular culture. It is also extremely useful when viewing film trailers to gauge whether to watch the film with the extra helpful comments and reviews.

iTUNES

Generally, I don't use iTunes at all which means that I have no experience with iTunes' and their trailer presentations.

Sunday, 23 February 2020

SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS FOR OUR FILM

TWITTER

I created a twitter page for our movie to get an audience exciting about the upcoming feature. By doing this, we are able to share our film online and generate hype for the film, free of charge and open to the public. It's a great marketing tool for direct promotion. You can record edit and share with immediate responses. It's a great platform that engaging potential viewers into a conversation therefore giving the audience a direct line of communication with the film makers. Creating a social media profile for our film allows for us to be adventurous when communicating online. It can be used to promote our film directly to our audience, answer questions via tweets and even post sneak peaks of what is to come and when the movie release date is. It's a vital tool for marketing any film.

Friday, 14 February 2020

CONSTRUCTION: EDITING

EDITING

When editing our film opening we decided to use both iMovie and Final Cut Pro. We used iMovie for our generally cutting and moving clips. We then exported and moved over to Final Cut Pro for sound, titles and effects.

The image above is a photo of our timeline on Final Cut Pro. It is simply the previous exported iMovie edit put into Final Cut Pro so we were able to use our own titles. We preferred this as it meant we could choose the font and create our own graphics. Final Cut Pro looks more professional upon final export.

CONSTRUCTION: FILM IDENT

FILM IDENTS

When creating our films ident, we took into consideration the speed, sound and effectiveness of the ident. We chose to base our ident on the 'Film Five' ident as we were pleased with how it looked and wanted to reproduce it when creating our own version.

We were happy with the final product as it was how we expected it to be before we had begun creating it. It is masked by thunder in the background and zooms into a fully black screen before the opening scene begins.

When creating this ident, we used photoshop in order to bring our ideas to life. We continuously added layers of different colours so that we were able to achieve the 3D looking effect. When putting it into the editing software (iMovie) we decided that it needed sound and movement for maximum impact. We added a thunder sound effect followed by a zooming in on a black area of the ident which then set the opening scene for us.

CONSTRUCTION: FILMING

FILMING: BROKEN DOWN

As our filming environment and location needed to resemble an office, Claremont Fan Court School provided the perfect venue for our filming needs. In the pictures shown we used school phones and offices/classrooms in the mansion in order to capture each scene in a realistic light. The kitchen used was in the Sixth Form Centre with the rest of the scenes being filmed around the school site. This is not due to cost cutting or convenience, it is due to a perfect match for our filming needs.

Due to us working within the school on a daily basis, there wasn't any particularly pressure to get the shots at a specific point in time, however, there were potential issues in place with some of the actors. The main one being their uniform. It would be an issue for actor continuity if we needed to reshoot a character and they had changed the suit that they were wearing. This was out of our control as we were not able to dictate what they choose to wear to school on a day-to-day basis so we were careful to shoot the scenes we need without the need to go back.

BBFC Rating: 12A

Choosing an Appropriate BBFC Rating For Our Film Opening

As our film opening is a British film, we created a BBFC certificate, which shows the age rating. I went on the BBFC website and looked at the requirements that would make a film age rating 12A. The list below shows these requirements.

Dangerous behaviour

No promotion of potentially dangerous behaviour which children are likely to copy. No glamorisation of realistic or easily accessible weapons such as knives. No endorsement of anti-social behaviour.

Discrimination

Discriminatory language or behaviour must not be endorsed by the work as a whole. Aggressive discriminatory language or behaviour is unlikely to be acceptable unless clearly condemned.

Drugs

Misuse of drugs must be infrequent and should not be glamorised or give detailed instruction.

Language

There may be moderate bad language. Strong language may be permitted, depending on the manner in which it is used, who is using the language, its frequency within the work as a whole and any special contextual justification.

Nudity

There may be nudity, but in a sexual context it must be brief and discreet.

Sex

Sexual activity may be briefly and discreetly portrayed. Moderate sex references are permitted, but frequent crude references are unlikely to be acceptable.

Threat and horror

There may be moderate physical and psychological threat and horror sequences. Although some scenes may be disturbing, the overall tone should not be. Horror sequences should not be frequent or sustained.

Violence

There may be moderate violence but it should not dwell on detail. There should be no emphasis on injuries or blood, but occasional gory moments may be permitted if justified by the context.

Here is our final product created in photoshop:

CONSTRUCTION: SOUND

SOUND IN

'THE HONG KONG FILES'

When creating our film opening we came across some challenges which made it difficult for us to have perfect audio when filming due to poor acoustics. In the second scene in the 'hospital' we came up against a very difficult area to film for sound due to outside noise interference which was disappointing as the overall location was perfect, however, we overcame certain sound issues by recording separately and individually in a quieter area then editing the sound in at later date. We conveniently used the app 'Voice Memos' on iPhone. This meant that we were able to dupe the voice recordings in one take with minimal difficulty. By doing this, we had the opportunity to eliminate any echo in the building as it was large and spacious. After doing this, we used a sound tool on our editing software to elimate any further echo from the film.