First Pre-Production Meeting.

Today we had our first pre production meeting where we discussed what needed to be thought about and organised, and who was going to carry out each role. For future reference, the two people who are in my group are Victor Nonyane and Tom Ewart.

We have already decided on the basic concept of what our opening sequence is going to be about but we needed to build on it and think about all the aspects we needed for the production.

The things we need to think about are:

• The screenplay and storyboard
• Location and setting
• Actors
• Costumes
• Props and other equipment (e.g. lights)

Each of these aspects are just as important as one another if you want to produce an all round successful piece. We all assigned what we specifically should focus on. I will be looking into Location and Costumes. The other two will be focusing on their aspects, however I will also blog about these aspects.

Transistions.

Transistions are really effective when it comes to media, they are used to switch between shots but there is many ways of doing this. Each different transistions can create a very different effect. In this post I will cover the basics about different transistions and what desired effect they create.

Cut.
A cut is the most simple kind of transistion which is just going from one shot to the other, without anything fancy inbetween. They are by far the most common transistion used. A few examples of the use of cuts are to be used to change the scene, compress time, vary the point of view or a montage to help build up the image.

Matched Cut.
A matched cut is when two shots are spliced together to get a sense of continuity. It can be used in a variety of ways, a few examples of this when an action is comleted, when theres a similar centre of attention in the frame, when theres a one step change of shot size or when theres a change of angle.

Motivated Cut.
This type of cut is used when the transistion is motivated by what the character actions. This can be through what the character is doing, hearing on any action he or she is doing. An example of this is if an actor is walking down a road and hears a noise, the shot will suddenly change to where the sound came from. This example is also known as a cutaway.

Other types of transistions
There are many types of transistions that are used but not so much, here's a quick list and description of these cuts.


Superimposition - This is where the shots merge together and the first one slowly disapears

Wipe - This is where the shot is wiped away to reveal the next shot.

Split Screen - This is where the screen splits into two or more, revealing more characters doing different things at the same time. This is usually used when two people are on the phone or in comical action scenes. An example of this is in Scott Pilgrim vs The World.
  

Editing.

Editing is a vital part of making any type of clip, may it be a film or a television programme. Without it the whole concept of the film will be ruined. In this post I will cover some of the main things you need when it comes to editing.

 

Match on action.

Match on action is essentially making the movement in the scene link between shots so it looks natural. We used this in our preliminary task. So if you wish to see an example have a look at that.

Continuity and Non Continuity.

This is similar to camera on action, and means that the scene is linked together to make it look believable. This could be used when two people are having a conversation. All the characters and props should be placed as they were in the previous frame to create the believable atmosphere. Non continuity is the opposite however. This is where the scene's realism is broken, for example with a montage to show lots happening in a vast amount of time but its short in the production. This is used mainly to get a juxtaposition effect.

Pace.

This means the rate at which the cutting happens, it is usually used to help present the tone of the particular scene. For example, if the is an action scene, the cutting rate will be quite fast and if there is a romantic scene the cutting rate will be fairly slow in comparison. Theres also cutting rythm that cuts along with the beat of the non diegetic music.

Inserts.

This is basically when you insert shots that werte filmed in a different location into the piece to give it a different feel. An example of this would be a pan of the New York skyline as this will make the audience assume that its filmed in New York, when infact the main piece could of been filmed anywhere with skyscrapers.

Special Effects.

These are added in post production, and are added as they can't of been created in real life or on shooting day. An example of this would be a gun shot. A gun couldn't of been shot on the day probably, so the actor just pretends to and the smoke ir sparks are added afterwards. This is just a little example, special effects can be used on a much greater scale, usually using green or blue screens and can make up the setting if it couldn't be done in real ife. An example of a green screen being used is in avengers. The whole background is special effects, and The Hulk and most of Iron Mans costume is created using motion tracking.

Genre of my opening sequence

In film, there are all sorts of genre's which can be used and this will play the most important role in determining the audience. Simply, a genre is something with a particular form or style which then has particular conventions to go with that said genre. There is a massive variety of genres which are used, each with their own forms and conventions. The common genres that are used are action, adventure, comedy, crime, fantasy, romance, thriller, horror and sci fi. However there are many other genres which are less common such as political and urban films. For the more common genres, there tends to be may sub genres under them. A good example would be with the comedy genre. There are many well known sub genres under this including romance comedies or 'rom coms.' and the popular horror comedy which tend to flip the conventions of a horror film and make them more light hearted. A good example would be the film 'Shaun Of The Dead' featuring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. 

When it came to deciding on the genre of my groups opening sequence, we were torn between making an either a thriller or an action film. A thriller tends to involve a mix of both excitement and fear, thus making it suspenseful. They do not go as far as horror films however as these are designed to frighten the audience rather than just making them feel tense.  Typical thriller films are usually quite serious as making them light hearted or comical will take some of the suspense away. An action film on the other hand is not like this as they tend to involve a protagonist who will be placed in dangerous situations and there overall goal is to accomplish something important in the long run. Action films tend to be tied with other popular genres, especially adventure films as they follow the same sort of conventions. When it came to our opening sequence, two of us were wanting to make it under the thriller genre and one of us wanted to use the action genre. After debate, we decided we would try to incorporate the two although the main focus would be making it a thriller. This genre works well with just an opening sequence as it leaves a lot of opportunities for ideas to expand. Incorporating the action aspect into the piece may be tough as we only have about two minutes but I think we can do it if we get a structured idea of how our opening sequence will look.  

This shows all sorts of genre's used within film, some of which I have mentioned.
It also shows some examples of films that fall under that category.

Production Pitch.

Once the brief was set, me and my group went about thinking about our production pitch. This was where we actually thought what we could do for our final piece. We had to consider the actual synopsis of our piece, the actors, the location, the treatment we're going to give it and finally the soundtrack. Here is our presentation about our pitch.

Mise en Scene and CLAMPS

Mise en scène means what is the purpose of everything in the scene and why the director has used this to express something. Mise en scene is also referred to as CLAMPS. This is because each letter in clamps refers to something which can be seen in the scene which is used for effect. These things are:

Costume.

Costume is important as it can tell you a lot about the character wearing the costume and/or what their role is in the drama or the film. What the character is wearing can also give hints to all sorts of representations about the character. For example, if you were watching Downton Abbey you would easily be able to determine who has the more powerful representation through the clothes they're wearing. A good example of an effective costume being used is The Doctors clothes in Doctor Who. His clothes are quite eccentric (bow-tie, tweed etc.) which matches his character perfectly as his character is very unique.

Lighting.

Lighting is very effective in both films and TV drama's. Lighting is essentially the way in which the scene and the character is lit up which can create a very different feel to the scene as well as potraying something. The example to the left is from the film Schindlers List. The character is presented as a very mysterious character and potenitally be the villan in the film. The lighting shows this by him being in a very dark place, and only showing a bit of light on him to show his facial expressions.

Actors.

The actor/actress which are used to play the key characters can complete change the film or drama for better or for worse. The person who plays a role needs to fit both the character description and both the characters personality. A good example of an actor that fits the character role is Martin Freeman when he played Bilbo in The Hobbit. Bilbo is a character who is supposed to be quite introverted but at the same time show a lot of bravery that you wouldn't excpect. Freeman managed to potray this perfectly.   

Movement.

Movement means the whole movement of the scene, this can be through camera movement, transistions or the movement of the actors. This can give the whole scene a different feel, depending on what the movement is. For example, if you were to film a fight scene, you would want the movement to be quite fast paced, with lots of jumpy and quick camera shots whereas if you were to film quite a romantic scene, you would wasnt it to be quite slow paced and with long timed shots.

Setting.

  The setting is also key. Wherever the scene is set can completley change the tone of the film. The setting will give you an idea of what the film or drama will be about as well as things that will happen in them. This example here, is Narnia. Narnia is presented as a fantasy like wonderland which is in touch with nature. This sort of sets the tone for the rest of the film as you know that its genre is a fantasy and you can get an idea of the events that will happen throughout.

Preliminary Task.

This video is our finished preliminary task. This task was set to prove that we were capable of making a short piece that worked well, along with showing off a variety of camera shots and camera angles. The actual requirements that needed to be in the preliminary task were that it had to have a variety of camera shots and movements, have an example of the 180 degree rule and involve match on action, which is making everything flow to make it look as realistic as possible. Everything else was optional but would make it look better once finished, for example, a cutaway which is an example of a transition. Hope you enjoy the final piece! 

The Main Task

Today we received the brief for the main task which we will be concentrating on throughout the next couple of months. We need to produce an opening sequence to a film which can be any genre we like, it needs to be at least two minutes long but not go over two and a half minutes. 

What the opening Sequence needs to include.

Titles and Credits

This means that you need to have the main people involved's names appear on the screen showing the audience who's in it and who helped make it. It doesn't need to be everybody, just the main people involved, such as actors, directors etc. It also sets the feel of the rest of the film

Soundtracks

This is a Foley stage, it has the big screen to see whats
happening in the film, and then a load of different sort
of objects to create the sound that is needed for the
best effect.

This consists of a variety of things. These are sound effects, foley sound, music and dialouge. Sound effects need to be used as it will make the whole scene a lot more dramatic. Also, they sometimes need to be added as the sound may not be able to be created on set, an example of this would be a gun shot or an explosion. A foley stage is when human sound is recreated after the scene is filmed so the natural sounds sound better and are more effective. The music in the background is important because it must create the desired effect that you want to create. An example of this would be in the film 'Jaws' where the moundtrack creates the feeling of tension and uncertainty. Finally, dialouge is needed so that the scene can flow. Sometimes what the actor/actress has said can make the drama of the scene a lot better. 

Genre conventions

Example of genre conventions in a western film (Desert,
cowboy hats, wooden buildings etc.)

This is important as it means whatever genre I decide to do, everything within the scene needs to fit and make sense. This means things like the plot, costume and setting must look natural within the opening sequence. An example of good genre conventions would be if you were making a western film, you make sure that everything would fit into a western enviroment. The setting would be in a desert for example, and thge costumes will be cowboy hats and so on. You would have to make sure that there are no cars or technology as this would go against thew genre conventions.

Audience

The type of audience needs to be thought about as your whole opening sequence sholud intreuge a certain audience. Like a animated comedy would appeal to kids and a thriller would appeal to adults, tending to be young adults. So when I make my opening sequence I need to make sure the opening makes clear what sort of genre its going to be so the audience know whether it will appeal to them or not.

So, these are all the things we need to think about when deciding what we're going to do for our opening sequence. The next step is to decide the genre of our opening and what sort of things we need for our scene to work.

      

Title Sequences.

Today in class we looked at opening sequences and how important they are for setting the feel of the film. In this example, I looked at the opening title sequence to 'Monty Pythons The Meaning of Life.' I think this is very effective at setting the scene and mood of the film. The film is set when Jesus was supposably roaming the earth. Therefore, all the animations is done in a religious art style which sets the scene. However everything that happens in the opening sequence is comical in a very blatent way. This represents the films well as it is made up of a lot of slapstick comedy. The acual credits are presented through the artwork, for example the main actors being in big bold text made of stone at the start. The soundtrack has been written for the opening sequence and also is quite comical.

This is one example of a title sequence there are a variety of examples which help set the mood of the film. They are very important as this is what has to itreuge the viewer into the film and if its bad the viewer will lose intrest quickly and not be in the best mindsetwhile watching the rest of the film. 

Diegetic and Non Diegetic Sound.

Diegetic and Non Diegetic Sound is very simple. They are essentially the two different types of sound you here when watching a film or a TV programme. In this post I will talk about which each one is and some examples of them.

Diegetic Sound.

Diegetic sound is the sound which source can be seen in the scene. It's is also the sound of things that can't actually be seen but you can easily know that it is within the scene. The sounds are recorded either when the scene is actually being recorded or is put in after in post production using a foley stage, which is a room full of things to make sounds which can be interpreted into the scene. Some examples of this would be walking on gravel or an alarm clock going off. Most of the sound in a film or programme is diegetic.

Non Diegetic

Non diegetic sound is the sound which is not meant to come from the scene or is off screen. This is added afterwards on post production. They usually consist of sound effects added in like gunshots and explosions which obviously wouldn't of been able to been recorded on the day. Another example of type of Non diegetic sound is a soundtrack, which have to be added afterwards. The soundtrack is used to emphasise the feel of the film, for example a light hearted song would go with a quite qwerky scene. They are also used to set ambience. A soundtrack can be an actual music track or composed especially for the film or programme.

So in summary, Diegetic sound is sound which source can be seen or presented in the scene and Non diegetic sound is sound which isn't supposed to come from within the scene but from a source which isn't there.