BFI

On Thursday, November 19th we visited the BFI and attended lectures by Tom Woodcock and also met the awarded director of the new film The Hallow, Corin Hardy.

This was my first ever trip to the BFI and the experience allowed me to get an understanding on what things will enhance my grade in my film opening, it also allowed me to understand the importance of the opening credit, not just the people listed but the way it looks and fits into the picture. The opening credit in the first few films of all tome back in the 30s/40s all game at the beginning similar to end credits now, plain and simple and scrolled down the screen however after this the opening of films became exiting and innovative including animations and all sorts of different fonts. Saul Bass was one of the first to introduce new extraordinary opening credits. Bass was a graphic designer who worked with several very famous film makers to produce many of the most recognisable opening credits we know and love today:

We explored what an opening sequence can tell us, it can introduce characters, develop plot, establish genre and other things. We also viewed the work of previous years openings and then had to give them a band, this helped me to understand what I would need to do to get marked into the top band.

Overall this trip was beneficial to further my understand of the criteria and help in my knowledge of how to better my work.

Film Day 1

Here are the behind the scenes takes from our day of filming:

We were lucky as Megan's dog Jimmy was very cooperative and the light was ok, we may have to reshoot some shots but we got the majority done.

Inspiration

For our opening film idea we got inspiration from a clip from donnie dark in which Donnie meets Franks which I have previously posted. Other clips we have taken inspiration from is the meeting scene in Moonrise Kingdom in which the main protagonists meet, this clip is inspiring as the two shot as they meet show their reactions to each other:

We also took inspiration from a Luther episode in which a man is hidden under the  woman's bed, her obliviousness will match that of our protagonists and the shots are similar as they have point of view shots from the figure and then the figure is revealed right at the end of the clip:

In this clip the audience is aware that the woman may know that somethings is wrong by the way she looks over her shoulder towards her bedroom.

This is a point of view shot from the figure under her bed which hints to the audience that she is not alone in the room, we are using this shot in our film from the point of view of the figure stalking our protagonist.

This is when the non-deictic sound kicks in which makes this shot extra chilling as the music just adds to the eeriness. This is the tone we are aiming for with our project.

Film Location and Characters

We have decided between the three of us that the most appropriate place to film our opening is Megan's house as it is quite open and has a large garden area in which we can see the figure. This location also has all the rooms we need to do the shots we were planning, furthermore Megan's kitchen has a window in her kitchen in which the audience may be able to see the figure if they are vigilant which may give an edge to our scene.

Here are some pictures:

Characters:

For actors we need someone tall to be the figure as this person needs to be a prominent feature that looms over our protagonist, we were thinking Megan's brother as he is quite tall. For our protagonist we were thinking a shorter, professional looking woman. Megan's sister was our first candidate however due to her schedule and location she may not be available when we need her. we were also considering Nadia or Jodie who are sixth former who we could put a professional outfit on to make her look older.

Scream, Swear or Silence?

How would react to seeing a strange masked figure in your garden?

We asked several people what the would do if they saw a strange masked figure in their garden, here are the results:

Scream: 3

Swear: 6

Silence: 9 

Some people did say they would swear and then run away.One said that they would do the typical "Scream" scream. A couple of people said they would tense up and stand there frozen.

In the end, I have found from my results that the vulnerable person should be silent and hopefully clutch their coffee as she turn around too see the rest of the garden.  Personally, I think she should be silent as this opening is so open that any little detail will effect the audience and Jodie with or without sound.

As we have been in this media class for a while now, and looking at previous work and Film/TV clips, it will be unlikely that Jodie will scream but instead may jump, hence dropping the coffee. Furthermore, we also realised that if she was too scream, it may be a typical Drew Barrymore scream in the film "Scream". So, we decided to stay away from that and have no dialogue apart from a gasp or clutching her coffee for dear life. 

GoggleBox

We were asked to film ourselves analysing three clips, showing how the use of editing and filming techniques portray the characters and show the story. Here are the results:

Shooting Schedule

Time Line

Saturday 14th

6.15 - 6.30: Cast and crew arrival.

6.30 - 6.40: Quick discussion  of camera shots to do. 

6.40 -7.10 Indoor shots in kitchen.

7.15: Estimated sunrise, first Figure P.O.V shot.

7.30: Outdoor shots.

8.00: Two Shot, revealing the figure.

We will repeat this schedule until all the filming is done, this will allow there to be good lighting continuity in the shots.

On Saturday the weather should be what we are hoping for a cool crisp autumn morning with low chances of rain. There will be good cloud cover which will allow the scenes to be a bit dark but not too dark giving some shots an ominous feel to them, which is what we are aiming for.

Storyboard

These are our storyboards for our final idea which show the shot types, sound and shot length. We will hopefully start filming on Saturday the 14th as the weather should be good.

Film Ideas:

Group Vlog: