Coursework: Group Project.

Today I managed to complete the storyboard for our opening sequence  and am in the process of creating the costume list, location list and props list, as well as a list of potential cast and crew, and I am also devising the risk assessment for our group. I hope to create a focus group and some questionnaires as soon as possible, of which the focus group shall be videoed (with their permission), and then uploaded to this blog and my group blog, as well as our production meeting footage.

Group Project: Rough Cut Of Final Idea

Roles

-Leader of the organisation
-Driver
-Henchmen Boss
-Henchman 1
-Henchman 2
-Guy watching the scientists
-Scientist 1
-Scientist 2


[Storyline]

-inside a science laboratory, three scientists are working on a special formula
{wearing lab coats and lab goggles}

-scientist 1 writes up some calculations before saying  "I think I've cracked it" 

-retrieves a vial of black liquid from a the store room and adds a drop to the main formula vial.

-formula is finished. 

-sound of a car pulling up outside the laboratory causes the scientists to get into a panic

-scientists carefully put it into 3 vials and put those into a foam lined briefcase.

-close up of man getting out of car outside lab [close up of door opening, and feet hitting the floor]

-scientist 1 hands the guy the briefcase.

-exits via the rear of the building with the briefcase, leaving the scientists in the lab.

-shots of the guy walking calmly away from the building.

-cut away to the lab where two men proceed to detain the two scientists.
 a third man enters the building and says to the scientists  "where is it" 

-one of the scientists replies  "its gone" 

-third man whips out his mobile phone [with credits on screen]

-calls a number and says  "its not here" 

-cut away to guy on other end of phone (boss)  "well...you had better find it"  [shot of only the lower quarter of face and mobile phone]

-cut back to the lab. third man says "lets go. bring one with you, deal with the other" put potato sack on the first scientist head, 
 take him outside, and put him in the back of the car, then go back into the lab, shoot the other scientist
 then return to the car, and proceed to drive away.

-camera behind car as it turns the corner

-match on action of the briefcase guy coming round the corner [front view]

-fade back into the scientist walking down a street, mid-afternoon/ evening, with the briefcase in hand

-proceeds to turn down an alleyway and walks a few meters,
 at which point he looks behind him and sees the silhouette of a man in a hat behind him.

-he turns his head back and sees the silhouette of another man in a hat  {so he is effectively trapped}.

-he stops and begins to asses his options, at which point the two men begin to walk towards him.

-the scientist begins to panic, and drops the briefcase onto the floor, revealing the three vials.

-the men in suits and hats increase their pace towards the scientist as he desperately tries to pick up the vials 
 and place them back into the briefcase.

-final shot. an Ariel view of the two men in suits on either side of the scientist [one in front, one behind].

Audience: Research Into Potential Target Audience.

From my research (both online and through asking people), I have found that the target audience of my chosen genre (action/ thriller) depends on what type of action film it is, and how much of a role the thriller component plays. action films like Mission Impossible III and The Matrix are aimed at a slightly older audience, from the ages of about 22 and up, and more towards the male population -- with the extensive action sequences, male protagonists, scenes of mild and intense violence etc… Generally, most other action films are geared towards the young male adolescent age group, because, younger males tend to like action films more than their female counterparts. Just like Romance films are geared towards women because they react to romance better than men do. many hybrid thriller films target an age group of between 16 and 25 years old. Thriller audiences consist more of a male skew, but this differs with hybrid genres. Horror thrillers, action thrillers and political thrillers such as 'Enemy of the state and Deja Vu (2006)' have a male skew. this is because men are drawn into films with more action, more-so than women. Horror and action thrillers have a younger audience of 16-25 as they are more exciting for this age group.

Institution.

Distribution is the process of which the distribution branch of the film industry receives films from film makers and is responsible for organising when and where the film will be shown, and where it will be sold upon its release on DVD disc.


Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, commonly known as MGM, is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. Once the largest and most glamorous of film studios, MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer Pictures. Its headquarters is in Beverly Hills, California.
On November 3, 2010, MGM filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. MGM emerged from bankruptcy on December 20, 2010, at which time the executives of Spyglass Entertainment, Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum, became co-Chairmen and co-CEOs of the holding company of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. 

some examples of sucessful films distributed by MGM are:
Casino Royale (2006).
Red Dawn (1984).
Rocky V (1990).
The Silence Of The Lambs (1991).

Preliminary Seaquence Evaluation.

My "Fed The Fishes" Preliminary task went rather well, there are a few strong points about it, but there are many more weak points, and areas for improvement, all of which will be taken into consideration in the pre-production and production stages of my main piece.
There was a fair amount of humour in my "Fed The Fishes" task, and the people who viewed the sequence said that although this was a good thing, it did not make up for the amount of flaws with the sequence, which I will outline later on in this blog.
there are a whole host of problems with my preliminary task, and also a few potential areas for improvement. one of these problems is the quality of the actors which I used during the filming process, which was pretty poor to be honest. I had a tight schedule to follow, and a minimal amount of time to get all of the filming done,  and so I decided to use the members of my group as actors, in order to get the task done by  the deadline, a little over a week after starting the task. I no know that this was a bad decision, and should have found the time to look for students with a higher degree of acting skill, in order to create a quality piece of film, which is something I can apply to my main piece, and make sure that is as good as possible.
another way in which I went wrong on this task was the position of the camera. because I did not have a wide angle lens for the camera we used, we filmed almost everything with the camera tilted sideways by 90 degrees to fit the all the elements of the shots in. what we didn't realise at the time is that it would be impossible to shift the framing around and keep the shots the same size when it came to the editing stage, which meant that not all of the shot could be seen on the vertical axis, and that there were thick black borders on either side of the shot. so from that problem, i know that when filming our main piece  the camera needs to be kept in its upright position in order to be able to edit as quickly as possible, and without experiencing too many problems.

Genre: The Codes And Conventions Of My Film.

My Chosen Genre Is Action Thriller.

The certificate of action films usually ranges between certificate 12 and certificate 18, with the aim of maximising youth audiences as much as possible.the action genre is often hybridised with Sci Fi, Adventure, and Thriller Genres, some of which work fairly well (V For Vendetta, is an example of this. the  fusion of the two genre's is almost faultless in this film), and some dont.
Major studios usually produce and distribute action films, and often most of the action hybrid genres of film. these types of films almost always have high production values including CGI effects. the editing of these type of films is generally fast paced, to re-inforce the sense of action. Action films generally have a predictable chain of events – cause and effect, however with the inclusion of thriller, these predictable events can become more spontaneous, adding to the structure of the film. A single stranded, linear, closed narrative is mostly used, where the protagonist is effected by the actions of the antagonist, usually there is a main fight scene towards the end of the film, at which point order is restored, or justice is served.
most of the non-diegetic sound used in the film is dramatic, and kind of seperateds the film from the real world, but not so much as to suggest it be a SCI-Fi or Fantasy film, as it still retains most of the elements of a real life situation, but is generally exaggerated quite a bit.
More narrative action codes than enigma codes are used.
Star Marketing: Audience identification/expectations (Cruise/ Pitt/ Willis/ Jolie/ Stallone/ Craig/ Schwarzenegger etc...Romantic sub-plot, Humorous dialogue Relationships with new technology whic would appeal to the lower end of the target audience - youth audiences.
Use of close up/Insert shots/High Key Lighting
Dominant representation of gender: male/female action hero.

 

Here is an extract from the film "V for Vendetta".