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Unit 13- Primary Research

For some primary research, to help me look into my target audience and  help the overall production, I created a questionnaire on Google Forms, and sent out the link to some people, all varying in age and gender. In the end I got 11 responses. Here are some screengrabs of the results, in pie chart and spread sheet form.

Based off of these first two questions, it appears the main target audience would be female, and aged between 16-25 or 56+.

Out of the 11 responses, Thriller seemed to be the most popular genre of film. This is good because we are planning on making our film a thriller. Now we just need to make sure we do lots of research on these type of films so we can get the right feel for a thriller movie, and make sure that we portray this in our own film. Also, going off the answers, storyline seems most important to most people, so I am going to try and create a solid script, which tells a lot of story, using mostly picture and video. I’d like our film to have less dialogue than our previous productions because I find that it’s difficult to find actors that can speak well to camera, and also in the thriller genre, there tends to be less dialogue in those films/television programmes. 

From these responses, it is obvious that people mostly watch films online, and that’s where they find out about new movies and get reviews etc from. This is useful information which we will use once our film is complete, as we can focus on promoting it on various Social Media sites, as well as uploading it to YouTube.

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Unit 13- UAL Project Proposal

Here are some screenshots of my Project Proposal, which I have submitted to Moodle for the Final Major Project.

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Unit 13- Research/Contextual Analysis

For my film, I know I am planning to have at long and intense fight scene. I have done fight scenes in the past, but for this project, I want the scenes to be really clean and crisp, and to film really cinematic. This is because we really lacked this in the past and the scenes ended up being shorted than we originally planned, due to not being shot very well.

For some fight scene inspiration, I’ve looked at some films that I like, and directors, and their key fight scenes. The first scenes are from Captain America: Civil War.

https://youtu.be/9uo1fJtHUz8

In part of the film, before the video linked above starts, there is a small exchange of dialogue between two main characters, Steve and Bucky. During this exchange, the sounds are built up, to make it more atmospheric for when the actual fight begins. I would like to do something like this because I believe that I causes a good amount of tension within an audience, before the main action starts.

There are two sides to this fight at first, as we see Bucky fighting one lot of people first, and it constantly switches between him and Steve, making it very fast paced and it helps with making the audience aware of how much is really going on at first.

Throughout this fight, all the movements are very quick and the shots are quite basic, but very well executed and sharp. Here is an example of an over the shoulder shot, of Bucky flipping a table towards a wall/door, to try and block and take down some of his attackers. After this shot, it transitions smoothly to a shot of him from the side.

I like this type of shot and transition as you’re getting a different angle of the fight, but it still links back to the previous shot and you get a look at the flipped table once this officer was taken down. For my project, I want clean cuts like this as it keeps the pace going and will stop the audience from getting bored, early on in the fight.

Within five seconds of this scene, there is already a change in who the camera is focused on. It moves from a sequence of Bucky taking down several officers, to a sequence of Steve taking down some. I would like to do something like that for one of the fight scenes that will be in my film because I think it splits up the fight in a different way and in some circumstances, can be very effective as it keeps the audience on their toes.

After this quick sequence, the two characters come together and a small amount of dialogue is exchanged. However, due to copyright issues etc, some of it is cut out. This break in the conflict is good as it gives the audience a chance to recuperate from how intense the previous fighting was, before they go into the next sequence. Furthermore, even though the exchange was short, it was quite emotional and impacting for viewers, especially ones who know the story.

The two above screengrabs show a small sequence, which is a cut on action. We see Bucky picking up a cement block in one shot, then in the next one, taking down an opponent. I like this kind of camera work as it can be really fast paced.

At this point in the scene, the fight has now moved and is in a stairwell. I thinking moving locations is a good idea and crucial for a big fight scene as it keeps people interested, and stops it from becoming boring if the background is changing. For my film, I think I could accomplish this kind of feel through having my characters fight in different sections of a building, and have them go between fighting alone, and as a group. What I also like about this part of the fight sequence, is that you can now see the sheer amount of people that Bucky and Steve are fighting against, by themselves, and it showcases to viewers just how strong and powerful they are. I would like to be able to do something like this, but I am not sure if it would be possible. It depends purely on the amount of actors I am able to get hold of.

Something I think that really helps this fight scene work so well, is the variety of camera angles. I love this shot in this part of the sequence as it;s quite different to the others, and in some ways, it symbolises that there is going to be a change in how the fight is.

Shortly after the shot at 1:04, there is a change once again, in the scenery. But now, there is also a change in characters. We no longer can see Steve in this, and a new character (Black Panther) has been introduced. I think this mid shot is really effective in this instance, as we can clearly see the new character, whilst also being able to see the reveal of the claws in his suit, which tells the audience that this character is dangerous. This adds a whole new level of tension and suspense as there is now somebody different, who is outside of the FBI/CIA, trying to go after Bucky.

So from this side on shot, we can now see that this a proper fight going on between the Black Panther and Bucky. The cuts are very quick and sharp, indicating the pace of the two characters.

Once again, we have another shot which is filmed from below, similar to the one in the stairwell, which tells us that there is going to be another change of scenery. Furthermore, this has progressed on from a fight, to a chase. This gives the audience another break from the intense fighting and allows them to build up more tension and feel hope and excitement for their preferred character.

This is a very wide shot. I like the next few seconds of this scene because it tilts down, following Bucky, to the next shot below:

Bucky has now gone from being quite small in the frame, to filling it more (still a wide shot), showing his importance a little more, and showing the audience that he’s still going undefeated. Furthermore, the shot shows us how he has jumped onto a road/tunnel, filled by busy traffic, which also indicates his persistence and determination to get away, in any way possible.

The last 37 seconds of this scene show the end of the chase sequence, and we are reintroduced to Steve, who joins the chase, to save Bucky from the Black Panther, along with his friend, Falcon (Sam Wilson).

What I really enjoyed most about this sequence of scenes, is that even though there are breaks between fighting, such as dialogue, it is constantly fast-paced and captivates the audience throughout the whole two/three minutes. It’s action-packed and another thing I noticed is that this scene relies a lot on its audio and sound effects. It’s full of brutal punches and grunts and it helps tie together the whole scene. Furthermore, I find that the variation in camera angles work really well and compliment each other in a way that isn’t super obvious to the audience, but if it didn’t flow so well, it would definitely be noticeable.

I would love to achieve a scene like this in my film. I am hoping that my sound design man (David) will be able to record some good foley that we can use for body impact sounds etc, so we don’t have to use free ones from online, as a lot of the time, they don’t sound as good or fit into the film right. I plan on working with David quite closely whilst he edits all the audio in audition, as I’ve gained a lot of inspiration from just this one fight scene, so I hope that we can get something close to the quality of sound in that short clip.

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Bibliography

'THE WORLD'S END' | ANATOMY OF A SCENE W/ DIRECTOR EDGAR WRIGHT | THE NEW YORK TIMES

YouTube. (2018). 'The World's End' | Anatomy of a Scene w/ Director Edgar Wright | The New York Times. [online] 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0V2J5xFmwQ

GAME OF THRONES SEASON 6: ANATOMY OF A SCENE: THE BATTLE OF WINTERFELL (HBO)

YouTube. (2018). Game of Thrones Season 6: Anatomy of A Scene: The Battle of Winterfell (HBO). [online] 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B93k4uhpf7g

Shaun Of The Dead: Secret Zombie References In The Film

Enk, B. (2018). Shaun Of The Dead: Secret Zombie References In The Film. [online] Heavy.com. Available at: https://heavy.com/entertainment/2010/10/shaun-of-the-dead-secret-zombie-references-buried-in-the-film/ 

EGGERTSEN, C., HYDEN, S., WHITE, C., REIFF, C., WHITE, C., COSORES, P. AND HYDEN, S.What does George A. Romero think of all those other zombie movies?

Eggertsen, C., Hyden, S., White, C., Reiff, C., White, C., Cosores, P. and Hyden, S. (2018). What does George A. Romero think of all those other zombie movies?. [online] UPROXX. Available at: http://uproxx.com/hitfix/what-does-george-a-romero-think-of-all-those-other-zombie-movies/ 

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Unit 12- Specialism (Director)

Since the beginning of the year, we were told to decide what we would like to specialize in, in preparation for this task. I have decided to specialize in Directing.

To begin this unit, I have decided to look at directors that I really like. A couple of directors that I will be focusing on are Edgar Wright and the Russo Brothers. I'm also looking at films and TV shows I enjoy and taking techniques and specific scenes and seeing how they were put together and made.

Something I've really enjoyed doing, is watching the behind the scenes of Game of Thrones on YouTube. I originally found all of them after looking at the series 'Anatomy of a Scene' which is published by the New York Times on YouTube. The 'Anatomy of a Scene' videos are short videos which consist of a film director talking though a scene they created in one of their films. The first video I watched from this series was about  'The World's End', which is an Edgar Wright film. I found it really interesting to listen to the directors themselves talk through their mind process about the scenes and how they made them, and how it all came together.

https://youtu.be/J0V2J5xFmwQ

David Nutter- The Dance of Dragons

Alan Taylor- Beyond the Wall

Miguel Sapochnik- Battle of the Bastards

Going back to Edgar Wright, I decided to do some more in detail research on him. One thing that I found, which was really interesting and full of knowledge, was his own personal blog. The first thing that I read on his blog was a post called ‘Remembering George Romero’. It was kind of like a personal letter from Edgar to George, and it told us how Romero’s ‘Dawn of the Dead’ films inspired Wright and how that if it wasn’t for the films he made, then we wouldn’t have films like ‘Shaun of the Dead’ and ‘Hot Fuzz’ floating around with us today.

He goes on to explain how their relationship grew. Wright sent the film to Romero and how Romero watched and reviewed the film and then invited them to be extras in his new film. 

In the next couple of screenshots, you’ll see an email which was sent to the BBFC in regards to the age rating of Wright’s upcoming film. 

I found this really interesting and it taught me about the guidelines for age restrictions on films, especially when it comes to swear words and what the limits are for each age tier. This can be useful for when making the final major project, as we will know what audience we are making the film for.

After this, I decided to look at some facts about ‘Shaun of the Dead’ and I looked at similarities and the homages to George Romero’s ‘Dawn of the Dead’. I found that the word ‘zombie’ was only used once in ‘Shaun of the Dead’ and when it was, Shaun yelled at Ed for use of the word. The word zombie was never used in Romero’s ‘Dawn of the Dead’. I also discovered that there was a direct dialogue reference from ‘Day of the Living Dead’. The line was ‘We’re coming to get you Barbara’. I think simple touches like this add a whole other layer to the film as it can bring in different audiences as it is referencing a different film.  

Next, I chose to look at George Romero’s opinions on modern zombie films and how they’re made. I found it both interesting and amusing reading his reviews on the different films and discovered that he only really enjoyed Wright’s film, ‘Shaun of the Dead’. 

After looking at Edgar Wright and George Romero films, I decided to look at some films which were action heavy and had lots of fight scenes in as I like making those kinds of films. I looked at the first John Wick film to use for a practical application project. As I was looking for a action scene, I decided to go for one of the shoot out scenes. 

https://youtu.be/b3THL_7Z29Y

As a group, we decided to just go a small portion of this scene to recreate.

We wanted to recreate this scene with the mid shot, and the reloading of the gun before the action as it was the simplest to do with the resources and locations we had. I watched through the next few seconds of this scene from this point and helped George and David (who would be acting in this scene) choreograph and learn the moves, or something similar, to make this first part of the sequence. 

We decided to copy the first two moves in this shot, where he knocks down the gun of the attacker, and then hits him in the throat.

I will post screenshots of our recreation below.

I think that the scene as a whole went well, choreography, camera and direction wise, we just had a problem with the location. We didn’t have much choice on where we were to film, especially as we wanted to do the shots with the corridor and the corner. Due to this, there was a lot of things in the background that shouldn’t be there. For example, there’s people who aren’t part of the scene and lots of tables and general mess, which takes away from the scene. 

https://youtu.be/1Xv8nLV1gmg

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Unit 11- Career Progression

Over the past few months with Reg, we have been working on career progression and what we are going to be doing once we complete this course. I decided that I wanted to go straight into the industry and find work, or do some sort of trainee program. 

Reg introduced us to a couple of sites, which I signed up to. 

http://www.universalextras.co.uk/

http://www.thecrewingcompany.com/

http://www.calltimecompany.com/

I have also signed up to Mandy.com, which branched off from Production Base which I had previously signed up to last year.

On 24/10/17, I discovered a Production Trainee Scheme, which is run by the BBC. I am thinking of applying for this when the applications open in December 2017.

Today it is the 15th December. I completed the Production Trainee Scheme application and I'm going to send it off early in the new year once I've gone through it all with Reg.

S.W.O.T Analysis

Strengths: I am a very kind and empathetic person, who is punctual and always hardworking. I can work independently or as part of a team and always want the best possible outcome in each and every situation.

Weaknesses: Sometimes I can get too attached to a project or something I’m doing which means my ability to multitask can be reduced. 

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Production Diary: Documentary

Week 1:

This week we were introduced to Unit’s 9 & 10 and what the main project of this term was going to be. We started off this project by looking at different types of documentaries in Matt’s class and looking at the differences. Clips we looked at ranged from Supernanny USA and a segment from a Louis CK stand-up show. I found that looking at these clips were quite helpful as they were able to show us different styles of Documentaries and  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=us7JzgAlHbc (Louis CK)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AteFGSvCDZA (Supernanny)

Week 2:

This week, we begun to look at different Audiences, and Reg taught us how to create an audience profile. We made our own little people based off ourselves to help get a better grasp on what making an audience profile is like. I’ll upload a picture of my person to my blog later. Also, we started looking at individual research which we would present to the class in Matt’s next lesson. I decided I want to look into a Documentary called ‘The Fear of 13′.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ja1wrRAAm4 (Fear of 13 trailer)

Week 3:

After presenting my research of ‘The Fear of 13′, I got some feedback and uploaded screengrabs of my presentation to my blog, and worked on some of the tips I was given during the evaluation. Some of the things I added to my post with the screengrabs were information about the film reviews etc, as that was one of the main things picked up during my presentation. Thursday this week, I started putting together my individual Documentary idea, which I decided would be on Chronic Pain. I decided to use this as my individual idea as it's something different and has the possibility to be quite impactful. 

Week 4:

This week, I carried on with making my presentation. I was looking at who I could interview and what would be the main focus of the Documentary. I decided that instead of seeking out people who are more well known to the general public (News Reporters etc.) that I would stay close to home and have my mum and my nan be my main two subjects as they both suffer from Chronic Illnesses, and as I know them well, filming would be less invasive as such, and they'd be more comfortable with being filmed as it's me. After I made that decision, I also decided that I would use a DSLR camera to film the documentary instead of the Canon XF300 (which Tim was offering) as DSLR's are smaller so when filming scenes that are sensitive, the camera is less obvious and there would be more chance of getting realistic reactions and behaviors from the subjects as they would be less aware of camera's being around.

Wednesday this week (11th Oct), I went to a Hydrotherapy session with my mum, and managed to speak to one of the hydrotherapy specialists there about how they would feel if they were to be interviewed for my Documentary. It was at this point that I then decided that speaking to these trained people would add a more informative side to my documentary, so it would be good to have interviews with them and get their opinions on Chronic Illness and how it's dealt with within the NHS. I have also emailed the Doctor's Surgery that we go to, to see if any my mums GP would feel comfortable with me filming one of their appointments to gain another view on the topic.   

Week 5:

Monday this week I did my presentation to Reg and it was recorded. I think that overall that my presentation was good. Feedback that I got from Reg was to add more links in my PowerPoint so that I was evidencing the things I was using in the presentation properly. 

Today (Thursday 19th), I finished up my PowerPoint and added the links I needed to before I uploaded it to moodle. I will insert the links to my presentation.

Also this week we decided what Documentary we wanted to make. As a group we decided we wanted to do George’s documentary on Freerunning and Parkour. I was the Producer, George was the Director and Calum was the editor. It was decided that I would help out with filming clips and doing interviews as well. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVHFLjrq-M0&list=PL12VmN-Dc_jan2VRQwzJRoSDfDsgqMS4m&index=1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp6JohhUmKw&list=PL12VmN-Dc_jan2VRQwzJRoSDfDsgqMS4m&index=8

Week 6:

This is half term week. I didn’t do much, paperwork wise, but I did contact some reputable freerunners to see if they’d be interested in being a part of the Documentary. I haven’t heard anything from anyone yet.

Week 7:

Today is the first day back after half term and tomorrow we are going to do a little bit of filming at Highwoods Country Park for the Documentary. I have done all the necessary paperwork for it. I think we are only going to be taking George’s camera as we don’t plan on recording any sound. 

This Thursday (2nd Nov) we reviewed over the footage from Tuesday that we filmed and looked at some older footage that George has filmed throughout the years to see if we could start piecing together a little montage. We weren’t very successful and looked at different music we wanted to use in the Documentary instead and made a list of them. 

I have heard back from a couple of the freerunners that I contacted during half term and I’ve been mostly unsuccessful. However, one of the people did give me the names of some of his friends who might be able to help. 

Week 8:

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Unit 9/10: Documentary Research

For Matt’s class, we were asked to watch a documentary and create a PowerPoint to show our understanding. 

The documentary I looked at was ‘The Fear of 13′. Here are the slides from my PowerPoint.

My PowerPoint alone overall would receive a ‘pass’ as I was lacking some important parts to reinforce my research. Here I will add in some of the things I missed.

One thing that was pointed out, was that I had a lack of screenshots from the actual documentary to back up the things I was saying.

Most of the shots we see, are of Nick talking about his experience and many stories. There’s a variety of close up’s and extreme close ups of Nick. These are effective as they allow us to clearly see the emotions that Nick is portraying and how he really feels. 

Furthermore, I was told that my presentation could be better if I were to include more reviews and have snippets of them.

Source- Rotten Tomatoes. 

Source- The Guardian online.

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Celebrity Ghost Hunt Live: 5Star

During the summer break, I was contacted by Wendy and Reg, who offered me the opportunity to be a Runner for a TV show.

The show was broadcasted live on the Channel, 5Star. The location was the Harwich Redoubt Fort, which is located in Harwich, Essex. The synopsis of the show was that there would be 5 celebrities, along with presenter Rylan Clark, who would be seeing if they could contact any spirits/ghosts who remained in the fort. Along with the celebrities, there were two paranormal investigators present, along with a scientist and a psychic, who I learnt through the course of the day, was the only exorcist in the whole of the UK, to be employed by the Church. 

Roughly 5 hours before we went live, the Director, Jan Genesis, gave us a walk through of how the show was going to work and what would go when. After that, we were assigned to a cameraman each that we would be cable bashers for. After meeting our cameraman, we did a rehearsal of the show before dinner.

The whole experience was really good for me. I had a good time meeting all the people and getting to see what a real set was like and the whole dynamic that was going on. Working during the actual live show when we were broadcasting to the UK was kind of stressful, as my job as a cable basher, was to make sure that everything was organised, and no wires were being mixed up, all whilst staying close to our camera man, also making sure we don’t disturb the actual show which was happening.

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Today in Reg’s lesson (25/09/17) we studied audience profiles. To help us understand more, we created our own, based on our own personalities. Here’s what I created.

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Level 3 Film and TV Production- Year 2

Units 9-13