CONSTRUCTION: FILMING - SUCCESSFUL

On the 19th March 2021 we filmed the park scene for our film opening Suspect. We filmed the park scene including Herbert Crafts running and talking on the phone and Alan Cork talking to himself while fishing. We included shots such as drone tracking shots, pans and wide angle shots. This filming was successful and we will be using this part of the filming for our final film opening. I believe the drone shot will be a huge factor in making our film opening look professional and as if it was produced by a top production company such as Warner Brothers. 

Drone footage

We filmed the drone footage with the aim of giving the viewer a more rounded view of the scene, hopefully immersing them into our production more. I believe the drone footage was successful in doing so as the viewer could see the bigger picture in the location of where our production was filmed. Additionally, the drone footage established our characters more, as the viewer got to see more angles of the characters and what they looked like on a wider scale. We studied the drone regulations before filming using the drone

CONSTRUCTION: FILMING - UNSUCCESSFUL

The first filming we had partaken in was the interview scene with all the characters sitting at a table, being questioned. This was originally going to be the basis of the film opening, however, since then we have changed the film, making this filming session useless. However, we took many learning points away from the filming. For example, we learnt we need to be more time conservative as we were close to running out of time when filming. Additionally, we learnt that we needed to think about what we do before we start filming, so we don't waste time filming scenes that we ultimately will not use. 

On the contrary, we could have made this filming usable by using two cameras. This would allow the viewer to get a wider view of the whole scene, as only using one camera means that the viewer can only see one perspective at a time when filming a scene. This limited how effective the filming was, and is possibly a reason why we didn't use the footage we filmed on that day.

PLANNING: STORY BOARD

PLANNING: PROPS

Alan Cork

• Fishing rod
• Fishing overall
• Bucket hat
• Boots

Kieran Tucker

• Beer
• England shirt
• Jeans
• Trainers

Herbert Crafts

• Running gear
• Airpods
• Yeezys
• iPhone 11

Inspector Thorne

• Landline phone
• Cigar
• Envelope
• Full suit with overcoat

PLANNING: RISK ASSESSMENT

 In this post, I will be explaining all the risks that will be present when we are filming/editing this film opening. This will hopefully also give us an idea on how to reduce or minimise these risks, making the filming and editing of the production of this film opening as safe and secure as humanly possible. 

A risk in our film opening is crossing the road when going to the river. This is dangerous as we will have to cross multiple main roads, which is extremely dangerous as cars are travelling at extremely high speeds. We can reduce this risk through only crossing the road where there is a traffic light and not crossing the road where there is no traffic light to minimise the risk of us possibly getting hit by a car. 

Another risk is possibly falling into the water when walking next to the small river next to the Princess Alice Hospice. Our plot requires us to film next to a river, meaning we will have to be careful in that no one falls into the river, as the waters are rough and there is a slight chance of drowning if you are in those waters at cold temperatures. To minimise this risk we will only walk, not run past the river to make sure we are being extremely cautious in where we step. 

One of our characters owns a fishing rod. The end of a fishing rod has a hook, which in some cases are extremely sharp. This sharp hook on the fishing rod would be enough to pierce skin, meaning we will have to be careful when handling with the fishing rod. To do this we will be wearing thick gloves which means that even if the hook touches the glove, it will not tear through it. 

PLANNING: LOCATIONS

 

The image above shows one of the locations that me and my group filmed at. The advantage of filming here was that on the day, it was extremely exposed to sunlight. This meant that the lighting was perfect for our filming, and the sun was reflecting off of the waters, giving almost a tropical feel to the camerawork. Additionally, the setting was right for our filming; the nature, wildlife and vegetation meant that the area we filmed at was exposed to sunlight but also fairly closed off from the walkers going through the area. However, one downside of filming here was that there were a few pedestrians walking by as we were filming. As a result, we had to wait for them to pass by before we started filming again, as the scenes we were filming required complete isolation of the actors. On top of this, there also may have been data conflicts if we were to have others in the shot, as they might not want to be filmed by us without permission.

PLANNING: CHARACTER CASTING

 

PRELIMINARY EXERCISE: CAMERA TECHNIQUES

 The subject of the photos is the vase holding bright yellow flowers.

After Hours (Martin Scorsese) Title Sequence Analysis

 After Hours (Martin Scorsese) Title Sequence Analysis

A New York office worker finds himself in somewhat farcical and unbelievable circumstances when he partakes on a date with a beautiful woman. It is a comedy movie, going under the genre of Black Comedy. 

The first scene in this title sequence is of a man, standing in front of two wide gates, slowly opening up while a bell loudly chimes in the background. This gives the viewer the impression that the man is an early bird, who likes to get into work early. However, this is no ordinary man. The man is dressed well in a suit however, is covered in this white unknown white powder smothered all over himself. This lets the audiences mind run free as to wondering what this white powder could be and why he hasn’t cleaned himself up. He then arrives in the office through an elevator, casually as if he isn’t covered in white powder. This makes the man look mentally challenged, or possibly clinically insane as he is attempting to completely play off the fact that he looks extremely dirty and scruffy. Even inside the building the bell is still chiming. This further reinforces the fact that he is somewhat insane, through the possibility that he is hearing things. 

When the man sits down at his desk, the words “good morning Paul” come up on his computer, and this is the first time the viewer knows what this man is called. Fast, classical styled music starts to fade in as the camera zooms out from Paul and does a 360 around his sitting position. This gives the viewer more of an idea where Paul is and what the working condition is like. It also makes Paul look like a number in a system as all the desks are exactly the same with no personalisation. This represents the strict and expressionless nature of Paul’s job. The camera continues to move, however, now through the gap of these desks, showing the scale of how many workers there are in this company. There are people around Paul and they are not batting an eye to the condition he is currently in, making it seem as if it is a regular occurrence that someone comes in, in a bad condition. Throughout this scene, the names of the actors and other key staff members are presented. The classical music in this scene is a large juxtaposition as it is not the typical music you would put in an office environment such as this. This makes the scene feel eery, and as if there is something afoot in the office. 

The Set Up (Robert Wise) Title Sequence Analysis

 The Set Up (Robert Wise) Title Sequence Analysis

The Set Up is a film made in 1949, directed by legendary producer Robert Wise. It tells the tale of a boxer who found himself ravelled in gang and mafia related troubles. He is ordered to make his coming fight the last fight, or there will be trouble. The question is, will he obey these orders? It is a crime film, filmed in black and white.

The first shot the viewer gets is a shot from above of a man with a hammer, with the two lead actors names of “Robert Ryan and Audrey Totter in…” and the production company “RKO Radio Pictures INC presents”as the first text. When this text fades, the viewer is still getting the same shot, however, the main title text “The Set Up” appears on the screen. This shot of the man makes the viewer feel uncertain, as they have no idea on why the man has the hammer and what he is going to do with it.

The man then hits the hammer against a bell and directly after this, there is a hard cut showing the lower body of two men boxing in a boxing ring, with people jeering behind them. This is the first time it is revealed to the viewer that this is a boxing match, making the viewer feel somewhat relieved that this man wasn’t about to hit someone with the hammer. However, their relief is cut short with the realisation that some of the punches thrown by the men may be as hard as being hit with a hammer. During this shot, the names of all the actors featured in the movie in a horizontal line format. When the final text appears on the screen, “Robert Wise” the director, one of the boxers collapses to the floor after presumably being knocked out. The reaction shot of the man knocked out is hardly a reaction shot as he has visually been knocked out, staying cold on the floor and when the scene abruptly comes to a close, the viewer is left wondering whether he is okay. In addition to the boxer’s reaction shot, the viewer can see the crowd in the middle of the screen, reacting to this boxing match. The crowd seems angry when there is no real action in this boxing match, however, when the man gets knocked out, they seem happy and ecstatic. This reflects on the harsh reality of life. People will laugh at you while you’re down, and especially reflecting on the 1949 post-war atmosphere.

Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese) Title Sequence Analysis

 Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese) Title Sequence Analysis

Taxi Driver is a film directed by Martin Scorsese in 1976 starring Robert De Niro. It is considered among the best films ever produced because of its unique and unexpected plot line, inclusion of a young Robert De Niro and how it differed to any movie at the time.

The sequence starts off with a bare black screen with "Columbia Pictures presents” in the centre in red text. This sets an ominous and gory tone for the movie, which it later turns out to be, through the common link between the colour red and blood. Columbia Pictures is the production company which produced Taxi Driver. At this point, there is no music just complete silence. This adds to the sense of ominousness as the viewer has no indication of any aspects of the movie, apart from the red text and the knowledge of what the Production Company was called. The Columbia Pictures text fades out and the text “Robert De Niro in” fades in, in the same red blood-like colour. This tactic of mentioning a well known actor featured in the movie is to get people recognising the big stars. The makes the viewer excited to see the actor in the movie. When this text fades out, the iconic main title music from Taxi Driver fades in alongside a video of a classic yellow New York taxi, driving through a plume of smoke. This is a stationary shot and as the taxi starts to go out of the shot, the title text of “Taxi Driver” in LED text comes into shot. This is an example of editing as it is not actually an LED light, but one edited in. The smoke in this shot makes the viewer feel as if they are being smothered and that there is something they are not allowed to see. The music continues playing throughout this scene, however, after the car had passed and the title text had faded there was 1-2 second text overlays of the various actors in the film. The music in the shot is heavy, in that it has loud, triumphant sound, as opposed to soft and subtle music. 

The smoke scene fades into a shot between the eyes of a man. In addition, the music had faded out into a saxophone melody. This contrast makes the viewer feel slightly safer and calmer as the music prior was loud and ominous. This shot between the mans eyes goes on for 12 seconds and throughout there are different colours reflecting onto this mans upper face. This makes it look like he is driving in the night and the different signs and lights are reflecting onto him. It then cuts to a shot of the can windscreen, showing the source of the lights reflecting onto his face. Because the viewer gets a shot from inside the car, it brings a sense of safeness and cosiness through the way that the man is inside his car, warm and outside it is cold and raining. This goes on for another 20 seconds, however, 10 seconds into the shot, there is a change of music, back to the hectic and loud music heard at the start of the title sequence. Towards the end of the shot, there are views of other people walking at a traffic light, late at night, smiling and visually having fun. This makes the man focused on look like a castaway from society as he is not enjoying the night, but driving a taxi. The last shot is a faded cut back between the mans eyes, with a red light constantly on his face. In addition to the red text at the start of the film when introducing the actors and production company, there has been a large gore theme to this title sequence, connoting that there is danger coming for this man and that he is not safe.