The Actor

In our piece, we need an actor who can present certain things which will help clearly show the type of character we have in mind. To do this, the actor needs certain qualities, the first and most important quality being that they have to look like an everyday teenager. This is crucial as the piece is going to be focusing on a young person trying to survive and if we make the character seem they only belong to one specific social group, it will be hard to relate to. Another quality needed is for the character to look fairly sinister. By this, I don't mean in such a way that they look evil, but instead in a way that makes them look like they have been through a lot and has maybe seen some things that you wouldn't want to. This will help emphasise the whole post apocalyptic feel. With these sort of qualities in mind, we then had to find somebody who fitted this role as well as somebody who would actually be up for playing the character. So far we have the option of two people, these are me and a friend called Daniel Cadoret. Both me and Daniel would fit this role as we do not fall under any physically distinctive social group so we can be related to easily and we can both look sinister if we have to! At this point in time, we are probably going to get Daniel to act purely so I can focus on the direction of the product. Underneath are a few key features about me and Daniel which can help determine who is better for the role.

Name: Abel Clarke                                       Name: Daniel Cadoret

Age:16                                                        Age:17

      Height: 5'6'                                                Height: 5'7'  

Hair: Brown                                                Hair: Brown

Availability: Whenever needed                   Availability: Weekends

     

Props

In nearly all media productions, props are used for many different reasons and they can sometimes have some sort of meaning behind them. In our piece, there are not many props which are needed, in fact there is only one. This is the weapon which the main character will have throughout the opening sequence. Although this sounds like a pretty basic prop there was some thinking that had to go into what the weapon will be. Stereotypically, weapons in films tend to either be firearms, knives and so on but this isn't going to be the case in our piece. We want the weapon to be something that realistically will be found in a post apocalyptic environment, as there wouldn't really be guns lying around. Therefore we decided to think along the lines of the sort of thing you would find in a typical house, shed or garage. This gave us a massive list of choices although some were not appropriate such as a cleaver or kitchen knife as we would be filming in public and we didn't want to look suspicious. Here are a selection of potential tools which could work as weapons in our piece along with the positives and negatives of both.

     

Hammer - Is a good example of a household item which could be used as a weapon and in many films does just that. However we want the audience to clearly see the weapon throughout and this can be hard to do with such a small object.

Knife - This is also something which is stereotypically seen as a household weapon and would work however it is also too small and if I was seen carrying a knife then there could be trouble. 

        

Spade - This is something that may not always be seen as a weapon but will work perfectly within our piece. I think this as it is something that could be found in any home and is easily visible to the audience. We will probably use this in our piece unless we can find anything better. 

The Pre Production shot list.

This is a list of the shots, angles and movement that the camera will do in our production. This is useful to have as it makes it clear when each shot will bed used and in what order. It mainly means you don't have to remember if the storyboard is unclear. In the far left column there is the number of what the shot is, the next one along is the type of shot and/or camera angle or movement used. the next one is the description of whats going to happen in that shot and finally on the far right is how long each shot will be.  

Shot Number	Shot Type	Description	Time
1	Establishing pan	The camera will pan over the hole area and establish the location	8 seconds
2	Medium shot of main character	The camera will look at the main character (D) who is stood at the side of the road	3 seconds
3	Over the shoulder long shot	The camera will show the car driving towards D	3 seconds
4	Mid shot with focus on character	Main character jumps and hides in bush	4 seconds
5	Medium close up	Character hides as car drives past	5 seconds
6	Long shot turns in to a medium close up of character	Car drives past, character climbs cautiously out of bush	6 seconds
7	Master shot	Character continues to walk down road	3 seconds
8	Mid shot (tracking)	Character continues to walk down road (Camera at side)	5 seconds
9	Long shot	Character walks around corner to confront gate	4 seconds
10	Medium shot (low angle)	Character starts climbing through gate	2 seconds
11	Medium shot (high angle)	Character finishes climbing through gate (Camera on other side)	2 seconds
12	Establishing pan	Character looks about and walks towards building.	8 seconds
13	Pan (High angle), (medium long shot)	Character enters building and walks in	5 seconds
14	Medium shot focus on character	Character starts scavenging for supplies.	4 seconds
15	Worms eye	Perspective of creature moving towards building	3 seconds
16	Close up	Main character continues to scavenge	4 seconds
17	Worms eye	Creature gets closer to building and enters the building	3 seconds
18	Close up	Main character looks at item	3 seconds
19	Worms eye	Creature behind character	4 seconds
20	Close up	Character senses something behind him	2 seconds
21	Low angle( worms eye)	Character turn to hit creature with weapon	2 seconds
22	Long shot	See character putting creature in bag	5 seconds
23	Mid shot	Character walks and looks about in building	4 seconds
24	Mid shot	Looks some more and leaves building	4 seconds
25	Long shot(pan)	Character walks toward the gate. (ref.12)	8 seconds
26	Medium long shot	Character climbs back through gate	4 seconds
27	Close up of main characters face, focus on car and other character	Character steps into view and looks right to reveal car from earlier with new character next to it	6 seconds
28	Close up of character, focus on end of prop(gun)	New character looks at main character and raises gun into view, aims and shoots.	7 seconds
29(extra)	After gun goes off cut to black	Title revealed	4 seconds
30(extra)			seconds

Location

Location.

This was a tricky heading to cover. We have had a few ideas of what we think would suit the opening. Ideally we wanted an abandoned street but that is very hard to find, and people will probably be hanging around there making it difficult to film. We then thought a forest may be a suitable location but we figured it was too generic and we want it to be different. I then thought that they're is an old sewage works in Yarnton, behind the Turnpike which would be ideal as it has that abandoned atmosphere about it as well as being a quiet location for filming. The only limitation is getting access to it. Below is a selection of pictures I took of the area, I think its ideal. This is because it will give the whole ambience of the film a chilling feel which is exactly what is needed for a thriller film.

Costume

Costume.

This was fairly easy, as I had already got a clear idea of what I wanted the costume to look like. For an ideal costume, I thought that it would be a mix of everyday clothing and sort of survival like accessories, like a bandolier for example. The clothing would also be quite dirty but also fit the characters personality. Such as if its quite a dark character, they will be wearing a trench coat and a bandana. Below is a very brief idea of the type of clothing and costume we're wanting for the best effect.

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.