/// IDEAS4 Explaining Failure: attempt 1 Film Opening PITCH

After discussing original film opening idea with peers and teacher, I have decided to scrap the idea.

REASONS

Lack of enthusiasm 

• Wasn't particular excited by the idea
• Felt like a rushed idea

Wrong inspiration

• Was inspired by an opening of a TV show
• Style of TV opening was slightly different to a standard movie opening

No 'wow' factor

• The concept was simple and had little to show off skills
• Wasn't much potential for SFX and unique directing styles
• Too plain
• No twist/excitement took place in the idea

Little understanding of the genre

• I intended to dos a psychological thriller, yet plot reflected different genre
• Hadn't previously done enough research on the genre 

Underestimating Workload

• Originally, my plan was to work alone as I felt it would be the easiest way to achieve marks that reflect my own standard
• Further on from this, I will work with my classmate, James, as we have worked together well in the past + both had similar ideas to start off with

/// IDEAS3 Film opening first PITCH

SLEEP WELL

GENRE

psychological thriller
may or may not incorporate the very dark humour that they use in 'End of the F****ing World' - I am
yet to decide

CHARACTERS

James as the main character named Cole

very counterypical
Poorly styled hair, scruffy, needs haircut
idea of wearing t-shirt with a counter typical idea on it and something that completely contradicts his character (i.e a Taylor swift merch to make clear that someone had bought this from him) + converse, baggy jeans with belt
a close up of the t-shirt might trick the audience into thinking this character is different to how he is
Blood splashes on him
Emma as the female character, without a name, clearly sexualised, showing a shoulder and/or wearing short shorts, wearing white (inspiration taken from Christian Stricker's past as work) (hinting Cole must have manipulated her?)

SETTING

There is convenient path near my house that I would quite like to film it at + it has a park by it so if I decide to have anything creepy go on there, that is convenient. I would start the setting in Coles house (aka my house), and then film him walking somewhere. The original idea is the film this at night (8pm) so that it builds on the creepy feel). As Cole keeps seeing the character, I have a shot in mind where he is walking along the path and then in the background, you get a glimpse of the girl sitting on the crossbar of the football goal, and then seconds later she has disappeared 

PLOT

Cole, a psychopath (with potential schizophrenia) kills Emma's character, with enjoyment, and expresses all his emotions through a voiceover ('End of the F****ing World' style - sounding emotionless). Cole is on a walk through a dark forest and keeps getting flashbacks to him killing Emma, and then also keeps seeing her walking with him + hearing her voice. Ends with a significant line in the voiceover and then potentially showing Cole arrive at a little play park and then swinging on a children's swing or something similar (to create a creepy stigma around the character.


I will use narrative enigma around this character, as I will show the killing around half way through the 2 minutes, and then as soon as that has been shown, I will cut to an ECU of Coles face (maybe with a slight smirk on his face)

MUSIC STYLE 

I want it to be a jolly sound that sounds creepy. Very hard to explain but the opening of 'End of the F****ing World' describes what I want perfectly. Listen here
The whistling connotes a jolly feel, but then I would like very dark lyrics

/// FILM OPENING EG1 Pretty in Pink

EVALUATION

•  Pretty in Pink only has one company ident (Paramount) - it is a good idea to have 3 as it shows the understanding of the industry
• We must look very carefully at titles. If the titles are poor, an A grade is very unlikely.

TITLES IN ORDER 

(if bold, it is a larger font size)

• PARAMOUNT PICTURES PRESENTS - sans serif, black and white connoting drama, almost a social realist serious style, polysemic title
• A JOHN HUGHES PRODUCTION - Auteur, uses production but would usually see film, would usually see the directors name twice
• ESTABLISHING SHOTS - clearly presents working class (rusty car, broken up road, irregular plants, 'wrong side of the tracks'

SHOTS

• Exposition shot - narrative enigma.  Some degree of context - a working class area (grass growing over pavement, rusty car, broken roads)
• Panning shot showing both sides of the track - Born/from the wrong side of the tracks - One side is a nice area than the other.

/// ML3 crossword on Working Title vs Warp

Practise crossword

...

/// SEMIOTICS3 Semiotics rap

TASK

We had to make a semiotics rap. This is in order to help us remember these terms so we can use them regularly. It's a fun and easier way to remember these different terms.

SEMIOTICS RAP

My verses

Semiotics rap this is the way to go

Lots of different terms a bit like juxtapose

I’m guessing you want to know what that means

Well it’s something you see often on your tv screens

The places of two images on either side

Of an edit, creating a divide

This means there is an effect caused

That’s a pretty smart term, how bout you give me an applause

I think it’s about time we look at our next term

Connotation, that’s one to learn

The symbolic meaning of every factual detail

Knowing this, a levels are not something you will fail

Let’s look at the main man Roland Barthes

When it comes to effort, he worked the hardest

Born 1915 and died in Paris, France

Now give us a few seconds this is the semiotics dance

Emma's verses

Now that that’s done we can move on

We can research binary opposition 

a pair of related terms or concepts that are opposite

That’s pretty cool, isn’t it

we look at a picture and we denote

but then you have to write some notes

these note are signifiers and connotes

idk what to say so eat some oats

many signifiers leads to an anchor

we needed that or it sank her

signifiers have many possible meanings 

polysemy can be good on screening

there is preferred reading 

negotiated reading

oppositional reading

don’t know what it means, do some reading

Our verses together

Spooky scary narrative enigma 

Gives the character a bad stigma

With intertextuality, everything links

Like episodes of the Simpsons, don't you think?

Narrative enigma gives some mystery

Making people wonder who is he?

The point is that we don't know

Because on screen we don't let it show

We keep it hidden till the very end

And then the connotations are what we send

The symbolic meaning of every factual detail

Connotations even found in Donald Trump's email

Proppian archetypes are a base

I'm about to spill my metaphorical briefcase

Each media text has its archetypes

For example the hero bringing the hype

Equilibrium is where it all starts 

Keeping it chill until it all falls apart 

Todorov is the owner of this theory 

Now we don’t have to query

/// IDEAS2 Planning film opening

PLANNING

Taking heavy inspiration from 'The End of The F***ing world' (Netflix tv series)

This series is about two teenagers with mental issues,  but then find a relationship between them, both with different intentions from the start.
In the opening scene, it is going over the protagonists (James) life. It is designed as flashbacks, and when the flashbacks aren't happening, James is sitting down, then walking down a street, and then finished with James sitting in a canteen. At the moment, I am interested in doing a similar style, although exploring a psychological thriller style. Instead of showing flashbacks, I would cut to clips of what is happening in this boys head. Another similar idea would be to have two characters walking down a street, on opposite sides, and the flashbacks would something that they just did (i.e just killed people and they are cutting back to what happened)

/// SEMIOTICS2 applied to warp films

The research into these Warp movies has shown that the covers often already signify the genre as social realist. They often use quotes or awards from festivals as they are an aspect that attracts the audience and the audience would choose whether or not to see the movie depending on if its generally getting good reviews.

Le Donk and Scor-Zay-Ze

- Bright colours with title, stars, graffiti (not serious)
- Fat character signifies comedy in this case
- Wearing scruffy clothes, therefore not glamourising the upper-class
- Underwear hanging connotes a comedy genre
- Setting = covered in graffiti (connotation of rough area) + (typical warp)
- Intertextual reference of 'Spinal Tap'
- Stereotypes = short hair, relatively masculine colours
-  rule of thirds - centred on the cover (protagonist)
- more inviting as character is directly referencing the character with hand gesture
- Text = scruffy serif font
- Narrative enigma as we don't know who the character is + his eyes are covered by sunglasses
- Long-shot/extreme long-shot
- Mid angle
- Shane Meadows made clear on cover = denotes the auteur theory
- Small text showing the actors (not famous actors, therefore no need to have their names clear on the cover)
- Not a star vacuole + film ratings on cover
- Showing off film festival ratings
- intertextuality with name (Martin Scorsese)
- Two shot

Dead Man's Shoes

- Bubble font (would typically signify younger audience but not in this case - broken down by 'chilling')
- First warp feature film
- Auteur theory applied again
- Low angle connotes character is a threat
- red and axe signifies danger + clearly signifies genre of horror or drama
- No star power (even with Shane Meadows)
- Dutch angle
- Scary, vicious and violent is important

Tyrannosaur

Rule of thirds, centrally framed connoting this man as the protagonist

However, prop, lighting, mise-en-scene etc connote he could be the antagonist

Own binary opposition - creating narrative enigma

Serif font signifying a drama genre

Wrinkles - older man - older audience

Skin head, vest top - working class

Terraced houses on edge of poster - working class

Dark weather - drama

High key lighting on only one side - reflects his two different personalities - drama

Small 'a film by Paddy Considine' denotes auteur theory

2 awards won & reviews to lead promotion

High angle - surprising for protagonist

Bare tree - drama 

Violence - in this shot - violence to himself - self-loathing

Contemplating - not stupid like the stereotypical working class

Narrative enigma - what is he regretting?

Names but not big or bold

'71

Dark colours used in poster anchor the connotation that this is an action film.

Medium shot, showing facial expression as well as what is being held, further anchors action film

Dark colours also set the tone of the film, and the mind of the protagonist, setting the film as dark and serious, showing the protagonist as troubled.

Facial expression - Mouth slightly opened to show he is shocked.

This is England

This is England immediately signifies that its is a social realist production based in England. This is anchored by the title being the colour of the union jack.
Either side of the poster, two buildings are framed either side signifying working class characters. This is further anchored by the urban decay on the fence/ font. All males in the poster are skinheads which anchors working class
'A film by Shane Meadows' denotes the auteur film theory. 
Wide long shot denotes ensemble cast, Not a star vehicle. It also signifies a community relationship
The film is based in the 1980's, however nothing signifies that so it is polysemic .

/// SEMIOTICS1 applied to working title posters

- Central framing (rule of thirds)
- Both characters set in the middle of the framing, clearly showing the protagonists.
- Also leaving space for the sky, connoting a romantic feel
- Plain colours (both the clothes and the rest of the cover follow a blue and black tone, therefore signifying the movie as a drama, with no comedy elements)
- Style of title (bold serif font, also helping to connote the drama theme)
- Background includes castle, which glamourises the upper-class life
- The physical contact between the characters connotes a love theme
- Facial expressions (look serious, therefore clearly not comedic)
- long-shot

- Main characters holding tools/sport equipment/flowers as weapon (makes its clear it is comedy)
- Flowers being held by female character (connotes rom-com theme)
- Zombies on screen clearly signifies what style of movie it is (zom-rom-com)
- making it a hybrid means it is approachable for more audiences (hybrid)
- widens the preferred reading (could include more negotiated reading and less oppositional reading)
- female holding the flowers (stereotyping)
- although she is also fighting (countertype)

- Pink text connote romance
- Purple font contrasts the pink slightly, as the comedy element shines through
- Female character is centre of the screen, signifying she is the main character
- 2 males and a female connotes their could be a love triangle
- Females facial expression also contrasts the romance with comedy, as she does not look too serious
- Non-serif bubble font, also clearly shows it isn't a film to be taken seriously
- Binary opposition between male and female

- Black and white split on screen (showing good and bad side)
- Character on black side does not cross over onto the other side, whereas Tom Hardy on the white side crosses over onto the white, connoting he could be an anti-hero
- Bold non-serif font
- Suited up, therefore glamourising the upper-class once again
- Hand in pockets, showing a serious vibe
- man in a suit (stereotyping)

/// IDEAS1 Planning for micro-drama

Planning + Chosen plot

We knew we wanted a piece of drama following on from a previous micro-drama a A2 group had done. In their drama, a masked character kills several people in a quest to win the female he wants. At the end, he has won the girl and then are holding hands while getting on to the bus. We wanted to use this same main character, also killing several people, but instead of him battling to get the girl, he already has the girl. The scene starts with '5 months later' and the couple want into class all lovey dovey. Then a cowboy enters, stealing the females heart. The masked character gets angry and kills the cowboy. A key laughing point in the previous micro-drama from a previous group was a 'missing footage' scene, as soon as the main character was about to kill someone. We decided that would be a comedic point in our micro-drama as well, therefore when the masked character kills the cowboy, 'missing footage' appears. After this, a student in the same classroom comes up to the killer and tells him off, which upsets him, causing him to kill him as well (also incorporating the missing file scene). This happens with the teacher as well, ending with the masked character walking off with his girl again.

/// PRACTISE3 Prelim PRACTISE exercise

This blog post is a practice shoot we did to reintroduce ourselves to filming and editing in preparation for our micro-drama and our film opening. It was also a complete introduction to the software for the members of our group that didn't do Media Studies for GCSE. After finishing, I was reminded of the shortcuts in the software and also the different angles and recording techniques.



Post on adding sound to Final Cut Pro

Post on removing sound from Final Cut Pro

/// PRACTISE2 Adding Sound + green screen on Final Cut Pro

• Find a sound effect on YouTube
• Copy the URL of the video
• Change the video to mp3 using a website
• Import sound into Final Cut Pro and use

• Find a green screen video on Youtube (or film something in front of a green screen)
• Copy URL of the video
• Download video
• Import video into Final Cut Pro
• Drag effect keyer onto green screen clip

/// PRACTISE1 Sound removal + inserting sound to Final Cut Pro

PRACTISE - FINAL CUT PRO X

• Useful to do it as the clip hasn't been split yet
• Drag the bar of sound below the video to the bottom

• Find a sound effect on YouTube
• Copy the URL of the video
• Change the video to mp3 using a website
• Import sound into Final Cut Pro and use