Shotlist

Here is a list of the shots that I will be using in my opening scene:
-Medium Close Up - Sam S taking the drugs
-Mid Shots - Sam L and Ned walking up the stairs
-Long Shots (Pan) - Sam L and Ned walking from the top of the stairs to the room at the side
-Long Shot - Sam S' reaction when he sees them coming
-Long Shots - Sam L and Ned roughing Sam S up
-Long Shot (Pan) - Sam S being dragged to the corner of the warehouse
-Mid Shot - Sam S being forced to kneel over hole in floor
-Low Angle Long Shot - All three characters looking down through hole in floor
-Mid Shot (Pan) - Sam S being dragged over to the fence
-Mid Shot - Sam L punching Sam S to the ground
-Low Angle Mid Shot - Sam S being suffocated
-Very Long Shot - Sam L and Ned walking away
-High Angle Mid Shot - Sam S waking up

Finalising

This post will outline our final choices for costumes, location, actors and props before we commence our first filming session:

Location - We have decided to film the whole of our opening scene at the location that I highlighted earlier in my blog, the empty warehouse, as it has a number of different areas that we can use to film different sections and is relatively easy for us to get to.

Actors - All of the actors that I discussed earlier in my blog are available on the day we plan to film and so we haven't had to make any changes to our original plans in this area.

Costume - We have managed to find two hoodies for Sam L and Ned to wear and a windbreaker for Sam S to wear, as we originally planned. We have instructed all three actors to wear their own jeans and trainers which should be fine and fit well with the look we are trying to create.

Props - We have been able to find all of the props that we planned to use in our film however we had trouble finding an unbranded plastic bag that was large enough so we have had to resort to using a branded one however we hope this won't be too much of an issue.

Props

To film our scene we will need a number of props; we have decided to use flour wrapped in cling film so it looks like a large quantity of Class A drugs, a bank note and a credit card for our main character ro use whilst snorting a line, herbal tablets to look like illegal pills, tobacco and papers to make something that looks like a joint of cannabis and lastly an unbranded plastic bag which will be used to suffocate the main character at the end of the scene.

Costume and Image

We have decided to all three of our actors dressed in current, casual sportswear to fit the conventions of the British gangster genre as in the genre, characters usually wear costume that is typical of what young people at the time are wearing. This will be relatively easy to do as the actors will be able to wear clothes that they already have. We plan to have Ned and Sam L dressed in hoodies with their hoods up which we hope will make them look more intimidating and then have Sam S wearing a windebreaker with his hood down, making him look vulnerable.

As for each of the character's hair styles; we plan to have Sam S with quite scruffy, greasy looking hair to connote to the audience that he is a very poor, rough and ready type of character. We then plan to show Sam L and Ned with their normal hair as the effect is not as important as with Sam S' hair as they will both be wearing hoods which will conceal a lot of it.

Scripting

In our film we plan to have minimal amounts of dialog, partly due to the limitations we face in regard to equipment such as microphones and also because we do not feel that dialog is very necessary in creating the feel that we want our opening sequence to have. Therefore we have decided to let the actors ad lib at certain points in the piece and then when it comes to editing we can choose which points we want to be audible and which points will be covered by music, which will be the dominant sound in our opening.

Storyboard

This is the storyboard that Danny has made for our opening scene; it outlines the main shots that will appear in our opening scene and roughly what happens in each clip. It will help us enormously when we come to film our piece as we will have a detailed plan of the shots we need to do and the action that needs to happen in them to refer to. It will also help us when we come to edit our opening as we will be able to refer to it when we are putting the different shots into the timeline.

List of Titles

One of the main things that we are required to include in our film opening are titles; title sequences are important in a film as they are the method by which films usually present the actual title of the film, key character names and key actor names. Recently however, films have started to use a minimal amount of titling in their openings, with some not even showing the main title of the film. As it is a key assessment point I have decided to include a reasonable amount of titles but not go completely overboard so that my film retains a current feel. I have decided that the titles I will include are the names of the three main characters and the actors that play them at different points throughout my opening sequence and the main title of the film, at the end.

The titles will be as follows:
-Darren (Sam Sawtell)
-Curtis (Sam Luszczack)
-Omar (Ned Harvey)
-Dead Man Walking

I believe that the titles I have decided to use are entirely sufficient and in using a minimal amount of titles I hope to keep the audience interested throughout the opening scene as they will not have to sit through a load of boring titles.

Titles - style and font

As I have previously discussed, we plan on using a similar titling technique for the opening of our film as the one that can be seen at the beginning of Trainspotting; the scene uses titles to identify the main characters, showing them doing something, then freezing the frame and showing their name. This method is very effective as it clearly identifies each character and we just generally like the effect that is given. The font used is a bold font that may well be Arial, however we will experiment with a range of similar fonts when it actually comes to making the titles.

Target Audience

Because our final piece will be of the British Gangster genre our target audience will predominantly be young males so we asked a number of young males what they would want to see in the opening of a British Gangster film so we could begin to think about what we needed to include in our final piece. We asked questions to do with what they thought the conventional props, costumes, locations, music and ideology were in British Gangster films. The results we came out with were largely what we expected; the target audience expected a British Gangster film to have money as an important ideology in it, as well as the idea of each individual character striving to be respected. In terms of costume, largely the target audience expected characters to be dress in a sort of 'terrace' style and typical locations that came up were industrial buildings and areas and pubs.

  

Actors

To shoot our scene we need three actors to play the parts of Darren, Omar and Curtis. Sam Sawtell will play the main role in our film as Darren, with Ned Harvey and Sam Luszczack playing Omar and Curtis respectively. These actors are all friends of ours and have comitted to the dates that we plan to film on so we should have no problems with them.

Film Name Discussion

We have decided to name our film 'Dead Man Walking'; we have chosen to call it this as it fits very well with the plot of our film, in the sense that the two gangsters try and murder the boy and leave, thinking him to be dead when in fact he is shown to be alive and this is a theme that will recur throughout the film. This will allow the potential audience to form a rough idea of what the film is about before they see it and therefore may well attract our target audience.

Music Research

In our film we plan to use current, underground music to conform to the conventions of the British Gangster genre. The genre of music that we therefore have decided to use is Dubstep which is very current at the moment. We have also decided that the music we use has to be reasonably fast paced to create tension. Below are a few potential tracks that we might use:

Location Research

This is the location where we plan to film the majority of our final piece. It is a huge, empty warehouse which we have managed to get permission to film in and it's the perfect setting for the scene that will make up the majority of our piece. It is also located on the outskirts of Saffron Walden and so is relatively easy for us to get to.

Synopsis

Our film follows the story of a teenage orphan who is struggling with a drug addiction and turns to crime to fund his habit. After being found stealing drugs from one of his dealers he is beaten and left for dead. However he survives and goes on to pursue and ultimately kill the two people who attempted to murder him. In the opening of the film we see the boy stealing the drugs and consequently being caught by the two dealers who then go on to beat him up and finally suffocate him with a plastic bag, we then go on to see that after they have walked away, assuming that he is dead, he does in fact survive.

Similar Genre - Opening Scene Research

I am going to look at the opening scene of 'Goodfellas' as it is of the 'Gangster' genre that intend my final piece to be in and as it is an extremely effective introduction to the film as it effectively highlights the main characters and sets the mood to follow.

The scene opens with a tracking shot which is following a car, this suggests that the people in it are main characters that will be followed throughout the film. The shot then switches to a medium shot of the people inside the car, the rule of thirds is used to show us that the driver is the main character as he is in focus and the camera is focused more on him than the other two, although it shows that they too are important in the film.

Another of the techniques that is used to set the scene in the opening is iconography, the American car gives us the impression that the film is set in America and this is then confirmed when the words 'New York, 1970' come onto the screen. We are then shown the characters inside the car who are all dressed in smart, expensive clothes which are typical of the 'Gangster' genre.

Mise-en-scene is also used to great effect in the opening scene, the opening sequence is filmed at night which has lots of connotations in itself. The fact that it is filmed at night suggests that they are bad guys and something bad might be about to happen, questions also start to be asked by the viewer as to why they are travelling at night like are they trying to avoid unwanted attention from the police? When the characters walk round to the rear of the car they are bathed in red light which connotes blood and violence and also the fact that they are in a wood suggests that they are about to do something that they don't want anyone seeing.

Juno - Titles Timeline

A key element that we must include in our final piece are titles to introduce the characters and name of the film. Here I have looked at the timings of the titles in the opening scene of the film 'Juno'.

Doing this has helped me to understand the effect that the timing of titles can have on how successful they are which will help me greatly when I come to make my opening scene. I now know that titles have to be fairly evenly spaced with short gaps between them, alternatively it can also be quite effective if they overlap each other, appearing in a different section of the frame just as the title before leaves the frame.

Assessment Criteria

There is evidence of excellence in the creative use of most of the following technical skills:
-framing a shot, including and excluding elements as appropriate;
-using a variety of shot distances as appropriate;
-shooting material appropriate to the task set;
-selecting mise-en-scène including colour, figure, lighting, objects and setting;
-manipulating photographs as appropriate to the context for presentation, including cropping and resizing;
-accurately using language and register;
-appropriately integrating illustration and text;
-showing understanding of conventions of layout and page design;
-showing awareness of the need for variety in fonts and text size;
using ICT appropriately for the task set.

Research - Existing Opening Scene

Although it is not of the genre that I intend my final piece to be, here I am going to look at the opening scene of the film 'Trainspotting' as I believe it is an extremely good example of an opening sequence, seeting the mood and highlighting the main characters extremely well.

The scene opens with a tracking shot of Renton as he is being pursued by security guards, the use of this shot and the immediate focus on Renton gives the impression that he is the main character and we will follow him throughout the film. The fact that the shot freezes on him and we are told his name before any of the other characters also gives the impression that he is going to be the main character. The scene also uses titles to identify the other main characters, showing them doing something, then freezing the frame and showing their name. I think this is a very effective way of identifying the main characters and is something I may well try and emulate in my final piece.

Non-diagetic sound is used in the form of a fast paced song throughout the scene, this fits with the action taking place in the scene and also gives the viewer the impression that the film is going to be fast paced. There is also a voice over and the person speaking has a Scottish accent which suggests to the viewer that the film may be set in Scotland.

Preliminary Task Shooting

For our preliminary task we were required to demostrate basic camera skills, to do this we decided on a short, basic storyline to showcase a range of these skills. Once we had done this we commenced with the filming of our piece.