Software

The advantages of using software:

You can easily upload your video straight from your video camera to i movie 6. Also the timeline on i movie 6 makes it very simple to add your video clips in the correct order. Another advantage of i movie 6 is that it has a good range of sounds and themes such as fade in transitions. 

The disadvantages:

The main disadvantage is that there is a limit on what you can do with i movie 6 so if you want more intricate use of sounds and editing then its worth upgrading to a more professional programme, but it might cost you quite a bit more

Initial analysis of a film opening

Coach Carter (2005)

Budget: $30,000,000
Opening weekend profit (US) $29,000,000
Overall turnover $67,200,000
A Listers: Samuel L .Jackson and Ashanti
Production Company: MTV Films Distribution Company: paramount pictures
Filming Location: California

Black hip hop music a signifier of the black area and sport the film is filmed at.
Opening scene sees the protagonist (Samuel l. Jackson) on the left hand side of the screen.
Working class area, rundown, shown by shutters on the shop window typical of down town LA where the film was shot.
Credits pause on the big names to draw your attention to them.
Late teens playing basketball suggests what the films about.
News camera talks to Ty crane, this creates a realism affect for the audience because the news is factual.
Camera tracks coach carter then pans upwards to the sign, this is information of where he is and what he is doing there.
Mixed race basketball team getting agitated creates tension and is representation of California’s mixed ethnicity.

Police guarding the gym door shows it’s a tough school (possible rags to riches storyline)
There is an over the shoulder shot of Ty crane then a shot reverse shot from Coach Carter to Ty crane. The mid shot of coach carter to shows his impressed expression.
Coach Carter taps a boy on the shoulder and says “hey son” this is information that he has a son and a possible reason for him being at the game.

The ball goes out of play and there is a mid shot of the Richmond team slumping in there chairs this shows the way the game is going.
More bickering shows poor teamwork and a lack of respect the players have for each other. This shows they are troubled young men, fits in with their area.
Coach carter puts his arm around a woman, this is more information that he has a wife.

common codes and conventions of film openings

Many of the film openings we watched in class have lots of signifiers of what genre the film is.

Horror: In horror films a common code is that they tend to start off quite slow and then they gradually build the tension. Horror films have to be especially good at creating tension because at the begining the audience know that something bad is going to happen but they just don't know when exactly.

Action: Action films usually open with an action scene e.g. explosion or car chase. this grabs the audiences attention straight from the start. Action films also tend to be high budget films as it is very expensive to pay for explosions and the different props used.

Comedy: comedy films tend to open like any other genre they are trying to portray e.g. horror/comedy but it has lots of jokes and things going wrong. Comedy films are usually quite low budget as they don't need lots of things going on to entertain, thats done by the jokes the comedian gives.

High budget films open differently to low budget because they have more money for special effects and they tend to show this off from the start e.g. quantum of solace opening with lots of expensive cars in a chase. also big budget films open with logos of the companies involved which can attract an audience. Also they get all the big stars so when the audience see them in the opening scene it can keep them watching.

Low budget films tend to have very basic special effects and tend to work on basic sets as well.

locations/Mise-en-scene/Costume/Props

The road:

This will be the opening shot of Emily walking towards the camera. This will also show the person behind her. We chose this location because it had good lighting from the street lights.



The front door of Emily's house



Emily's Bedroom:
We chose this room because of the view out of the window. This will be the room where the camera will track Emily and also look out of the window to show the person below.


The view from the window:
This will be the view from the
window. I chose this location due to the street light out side this will be a key shot in my movie.













The steps down into the cellar:

















The cellar:

We chose George's house as the filming location because he has a basement which is a big part of the story.

Mise-en-scene

The mise-en-scene is a middle class house. Emily's bedroom is pink and girl'y but also looks quite sophisticated, this helps to portray she is vulnerable but not the typical ditsy blond more of a 'final girl'. The basement is quite big which made it easier to film in also it has a big stone staircase which gives it more of a dungeon type feel to it and also the stone gives a good horror film look. The other location we used was the street outside his house which again is a middle class street like any other so to give it that horror film look we had to wait till later on at night for it to get dark and wait for the streetlights to turn on.

Costume

In our film the protagonist (emily) is dressed in a low cut top and a shortish skirt to show she is sexually available. Her clothes are not too revealing though because we still want to portray her as a counter type to most girls in horror films. For (mark) who is portrayed as a false antagonist he was wearing a black hoodie and dark jeans, this helps give him a criminal/stalker look.

Props

In our film we didn't use many props, we only used a torch (for when the lights go out and emily goes into the basement), an electricity box (to turn the light back on a find the cut fuse) and also a key.

film openings

Halloween Director: Jon Carpenter

Starts off with a black screen and then the music kicks in.

The company logo is a a serrif font which is typical of horror films because they are sharp edges.

During the intro the camera is very slowly zoom into a pumpkin. The music is high tempo to create tension. There are also long drawn out notes which unconsciously make you hold your breath and alter your heart rate, again this is typical of horror films. Then there is on screen text of the name of the town which is exposition for the audience and it also gives the film more of a documentary type feel. The first scene is the shaky camera slowly moving into the front door of a large white house. There is a blue tint on the camera which after this film has become very common in most horrors. 

screenplay

In Their Sights

By George Needham, Ben Garvey and Alex Snowden

Post production script - 3rd April 2009

Short fuse productions

Ben Rhydding Ls29 8ls

Tel: 030 7352 7162

Fax: 030 7352 6127

Email: Shortfuseproductions@hotmail.com

1 EXT: ROAD – EVENING

Emily a woman in her early 20’s walks down the road in her work clothes and a coat with a handbag slug over one shoulder. She has brown hair and is an average build. The woman walks with a brisk pace to her door and opens it. In the background you can see a person walking behind her at a distance. We can’t tell if it’s male or female at this point.

2 EXT: EMILY’S BEDROOM – EVENING

Emily walks into her room slings her bag and coat on the bed with a sigh of relief. She then walks to over to the window and lets her hair down. Out of the window we can see the person that was walking behind Emily standing under a street light, Emily doesn’t notice him. Emily then moves into the en-suit bathroom to check herself in the mirror, she then moves back to the window but the person has gone.

3 EXT: EMILY’S BEDROOM – EVENING

The lights start to flicker and then go out. Emily is calm she finds a torch in one of the draws in a large wooded chest of draws. She then walks out of the room and down the stairs to get to the cellar.

EMILY

Bloody fuses

4 EXT: Cellar – Evening

The cellar door opens at the top of a flight of stairs which lead down to the cellar. Emily walks down the stairs which are being lit by the torch which Emily is carrying. She gets to the bottom of the stairs and checks the fuse box which is mysteriously open and had been tampered with.

Emily

What the...

5 EXT: Cellar – Evening

Emily takes a step back to look around the fuse box for anything suspicious. Behind her there is a figure which appears deeper down into the cellar behind Emily. The person starts to walk forward silently he moves closer dressed in black with a hood which covers their face.

He gets behind Emily and stops and reaches out Emily turns slowly almost like she knows someone is there. She sees the figure and screams and turns and tries to run but the person grabs hold of her. The lights turn on and the person pulls down their hood.

Its Peter Emily’s younger brother.

PETER

(Laughing) I got you so good

OPENING TITLE CARD: IN THEIR SIGHTS

Sound and music

http://www.trackline.com/
Over 1000 tracks available as
file downloads or in convenient
themed collections on
Audio CD or CD-Rom.

http://freeplaymusic.com/
4217 tracks not full songs but sounds.
a marvelous temperament and engrossing, dramatic melodies to Acoustic Guitar Vol 6, featuring his excellently played and wonderfully recorded acoustic guitar.

http://www.nvmdigital.com/
Background music

http://derekaudette.ottawaarts.com/music.php
Lots of sample to find the right sound before purchase.

http://audiojungle.net/category/music?
A wide range of music but you have to pay alot to use the music.

My initial ideas

Target Audience: 15-30
BBFC Rating: 15
Genre: Social realism 
Characters: Sam, Bill
Casting: (Ben Garvey),(George Needham)
Location(s): My house

Its a cold friday morning sam had just got out of bed, he walks into the living room there he saw Bill (Dad) sat down in his usual slump with a special brew in hand. Sam, as quiet as he could walks over to the fridge to get some milk for his cereal (close up of Sam's feet). But there is no milk left. He asks Bill if he could go to the shop to get him some milk ( two shot to show depth of field and bills reaction). Bill jumps out of his chair and throws his special brew at sam hitting him square in the face (Low shot of Bill). Sam falls to the floor crying but instead of saying sorry Bill walks over to the fridge, grabs another beer and storms out of the flat ( the camera tracks bill out the flat). 



Camera: Tracking, Close up, Two shot, Depth of field, Low shot

Prelim task

In our prelim task we tried to follow Tzvetan Todorov's 3 part narrative structure:

Equilibrium

Disequilibrium

New equilibrium

We didnt fully manage to stick to todorovs theory but we had the equilibrium where george goes to meet his friend and everything seems normal, then we had disequilibrium when he bumps into someone who argues with him, then we have a new equilibrium where they both apologies and ask to go for a drink. The reason why we ended up not properaly follow his theory was that at the end we create another disequilibrium when georges friend tells him he is moving away.

Initial group idea

Genre: Horror 

BBFC Rating: 15

Target Audience: 15-30

Characters: Emily and Peter Mulhurn 

Casting: Emily Mulhern(), Peter Mulhurn()

Location: George's House, Ilkley 

Emily, a blond haired hard working young women is walking home after work. She is being followed by a person. We do not know if there male or female at this point. Emily gets home and goes to sort herself out in her bedroom. An over the shoulder shot using depth of field shows the person standing under a streetlight. The camera then tracks Emily across the room putting down her bag then back to the window but the person has gone.

The lights start to flicker then go out. Emily makes her way down into the cellar to check the fuses which have been tamped with. In the background further into the cellar the silhouette of the mysterious person is in the background. The person moves toward Emily and grabs her she screams the a laugh from the person he pulls down his hood and reveals that its Peter her younger brother.