Friday, 21 February 2014

Tutorials Part 2 (Editing Software)

Here is a link that we found that will help our editor decide how to edit our film
http://www.lavideofilmmaker.com/tag/editing
There where 2 possible choices for editing Sony Vegas Pro 12 and Final Cut Pro. both have there pros and cons toward the editor of the production.
We looked at a few links to help make a decision

Thursday, 20 February 2014

Tutorials Part 1 (Fight Scene Effects)


Tutorials for Production Tasks
1) How to make realistic fake blood for production - http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Fake-Blood

2)How to add a Muzzle Flash Overlay -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nW247wGsENU (Part 1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2uWioqONw8 (Part 2)

3) How to add Advanced Muzzle Flashes - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDx83vsLLKk

This website we found will help me with editing our Production Task.
 

Friday, 7 February 2014

Research Part 8 (Running scenes)

This link below is to the running scene from the film Fight Club. The sequence is shot, mainly in long shots and long shots to mid shots. This would be good for my film as I need to create a sense of isolation for my main character.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_Hxl2Q6PI8



This is a link to a running sequence from the film Forrest Gump. The sequences is mainly composed of midshots to emphasise the struggles of the main character. It is also shot partly in slow motion to show the rapid change the main character has undergone and to create tension. The shot then cuts to a scene Tom Hanks talking; showing what we have seen to be a flashback. The scene then cuts back to the chase but this time the scene is shot in an longshot to extreme long shot; this shows the main character is free and is 'running off into the sunset'.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2-MCPa_3rU



This sequence is from the film District 13 Ultimatum. This shows the professional free runner David Bell escaping some gangsters in a  apartment block. The sequences are composed of tracking shots, mid shots, long shots and extreme long shots. The mid shots are used to show Bell's power and control over the situation. The long shot are used to emphasize the tricks and stunts performed in the escape. The extreme long shot is used at 2:40 to show the magnitude of the distance being jumped, used to pull the audience to the edge of their seats.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTyWfbvX0xQ


The link below is to a clip from the film trainspotting. In this clip nearly all the shot types are mid shots with the occasional close up. This redirects the attention away from what is going on to cause the chase, but to the context which occurs during the chase e.g.  at 8 seconds we see one character who is being chased fall behind, even though he is out of focus it is still clear to see. There is one long shot which shows one of the character get away while the other stops; this shows long shots to be useful when trying to create a sense of freedom and escapism, also shown in Forrest Gump and in D13 Ultimatum.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0-CpuWSPxE





Thursday, 6 February 2014

Research Part 7 (Fight Scenes)

This is a link to a top 5 fight scenes clip on YouTube


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGoVzVCXCwU


In the first film, Warrior, we see a fight scene where an arrogant MMA fighter knocks out a training partner and complains that he needs a new partner. this arrogant character is always shot at a low angle to show his power over the rest of the club. A new character appears who is one of the two main characters, he steps up to the plate but is shot at a high angle showing him to be weaker or thought to be weaker than the MMA fighter. Most of the fight scene is shot with the fight going on out of focus and focusing in on ringside supporters. The shooting of this is mainly 2 shot and mid shot types of shots. After the main character knocks out the MMA fighter he is still shot in a high angle showing he is emotionally vulnerable not physically vulnerable;  but the MMA fighter is shown in a high angle showing that now he has been beaten he is weak. The rest of the films are not suitable as they were choreographed by professional martial artists, and the two actors we have fighting have no martial art experience.


 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5tfBYLdw1s


This is a link to the film The Bourne Supremacy. This fight scene mainly consists of mid shots and close ups, this means that the fighting doesn't have to be of high quality but is still effective. The death scene of the assailant is shown out of shot only hinting his death by the frantic movements of his arms coming to a close, this means that less time is used showing reaction shots of the deceased, which would be useful as we only have 2 minutes for our production.



Wednesday, 5 February 2014

Research Part 6 (Text Introductions)



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mobGrUVGj2E
This is a link to the introduction of the film Lockout.
The film opens with this text; this text is faded and seems to give a military impression immediately also shown by the incomplete text which gives a camouflage effect.
The next text that comes on the screen is of Washington D.C. 2079, the text comes on in individual letters, giving an impression that someone typing the text, also as this reference to Washington D.C. with the military style text shows us that we are about to be shown a FBI or CIA scene as Washington is the home of both agencies. The next text slides into shot from the left, and is dynamically moving in a futuristic text box; this shows us the advances in this era in technology also introduces us to an ex CIA agent. The next text to appear is of Guy Pearce and occurs whenever he gets hit, the text exits when his head returns to its central position; the font is used throughout the film except this time it seems lighter and is complete this text is then used for the rest of the film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqqEriE0ogc
This link is to an introduction to the film The Matrix; the matrix text opens in a Japanese or Chinese font that is green, the text appears scrolling down the screen like a computer code, certain characters are highlighted in a lighter green and show us parts of code.

 
The camera zooms in and the characters fade and the letters that spell out THE MATRIX drop intro alignment,
individual letters then fade out until the screen is black again. the next text comes onto the screen in a typing motion you would see on a monitor screen, this is relevant to the ideology of The Matrix but is an effective technique; the text the exits the screen by a cut giving it a robotic and null emotional effect. The same style of text is then used again and exits in the same style to a shot of numbers. Columns of numbers then begin to fade out as one number is placed at the top of the table of numbers.




From this research I have concluded that the ideal text intro is a fade in, and to exit as a fade out or a cut. The text itself should be relative to the hybrid of the thriller and should be used with an editing technique e.g. special effects or used on to show a cut.

Tuesday, 4 February 2014

Research Part 5 (Target audience)

Focus Group
Q1)The demographic of a thriller film is a young adult demographic from 18-25. In our production task we will follow this trend and target our film at this demographic, we asked our Focus group what they thought would be a better demographic 18-25 or 14-18? For example The Silence of the lambs is one of the most successful thriller films and was extremely popular with 18-25 year olds, however this film was rated R, equivalent to an 18 in the UK, so younger audiences were not able to see this film until it was purchased on dvd or vcr. Similarly The sixth sense was a successful Thriller film, but it was rated PG in the UK and 13 in the US, this film has a lower demographic but is equally as good as Silence of the lambs, but is available to a larger audience; our focus group replied that they would prefer a younger audience at 14-18 as it is more appealing.

Q2) We asked our target audience what their opinion was on black and white films? Seven of our target audience said they think black and white is an effective technique and would happily watch a film that consisted of black and white. However 3 of our 10 focus group members said black and white films bore them, however films like kill bill entertained them. So we then proposed that we would use black and white as a flashback sequence? All members agreed that this would be good to use.

Q3) we asked our target audience what method of filming would they prefer to see? on a cannon 550D or a Nokia Lumia?
http://allaboutwindowsphone.com/reviews/item/18083_Nokia_Lumia_1020_camera-video_.php

This is a video capture comparative piece of research which ties into logistics of the production by reducing weight and size of hardware while also retaining quality. The research shown by this site


Our target group said that they like the idea of using mobile phone technology as it brings it into the 21st century however for quality and making sure we cover ourselves as much as possible. We will use the phone as well as the primary video capture (Cannon D 500) to ensure we can get at least two different camera angles, camera shots and camera movements in each take we have.