production diary

Production Diary

Task	What we did	Date of completion
Initial pitch and presentation	We produced several different ideas for an opening sequence including film titles, what the films about, and what will happen in the opening sequence.	24.10.12
Mood board of initial ideas including inspirational shots from real films	We created a mood board which contained shots from movies with the same – or similar – genre. We included shots from these opening to films which of which we will create to a similar effect.	7.11.12
Evidence of how planned openings fits with research into codes/conventions, genre, audience	We produced a prezi on how our opening will fits with the codes and conventions of a spy film	26.10.12
Titles	We have established our individual credit titles	25.10.12
Group Pitch	We produced a movie pitch which outlined our genre, included two openings to existing movies, and opened the narrative and characters. We also discussed setting and target audience.	25.10.12
Class feedback and peer assessment on pitch and amendments planned	We pitched our ideas to the class and received feedback sheets. We scanned these sheets and put these on our blogs	4.11.12
Script	We have produced the script for what is happening in our opening sequence. We made our script too long for the permitted time so we slightly altered it to fit the time.	7.11.12
Timeline of opening	We have constructed a timeline of narrative and dialogue.	10.11.12
Analysis of existing student openings	Looked at a variety of different types of openings but mainly thrillers that were similar to ours so that we would know what we could do to improve our own opening.	13.11.12
Story Board and music research font research	Using the template for the storyboard we created the storyboard and took photos of each part of the storyboard and added a voiceover to explain what was happening in each shot. And we also did our music research and found a piece of music that worked well with the different scenes in our opening. We also did our font research were we were able to narrow it down to a few titles that would work best for our opening and when we did this we also did our	15.11.12
Risk assessment sheet	We created our first risk assessment sheet for our original filming	24.11.12
Risk assessment sheet 2	We had to create a new risk assessment sheet because of some changes that had to be made because of problems with the filming.	27.11.12
filming	We filmed the majority of our opening and made some changes to the original	01.12.12
Filming day 2	We filmed some more exterior shots and did most of the editing and added the music.	08.12.12
Editing week one	After our first week of editing we had a rough draft of what our final opening was going to be like. But the music we had chosen didn’t support the opening as well as we would have hoped.	10.12.12
Editing week two	In our second week of editing we had an adjusted some of the scenes to make the cuts flow and make the video smoother. We also found a new piece of music that was better suited to our theme, genre and helped to create more suspense.	17.12.12
Gathering feedback	After we had the finished product and made many changes we decided to get feedback from students and teachers.	12.01.13
evaluation weeks 1-3	We finished our evaluation talking about how our film fits into the codes and conventions of our theme and genre and we talked about the different aspects to do with audience and how we created our movie idea and our opening.

audience feedback

Feedback

GOOD POINTS:

·         Creates a good atmosphere

·         Stays intense

·         Both characters were shady and are kept anonymous. Keeps audience on their seat and wants them to know

·         Black and white creates an interesting effect

IMPROVEMENTS:

·         Music too intense

·         Cuts are too jumpy in certain places

·         Sound effect when the match was thrown in the house was too dramatic for what happened

·         Conversation at the end needed to be more audible 

second draft of production

This is a better edited version than the previous one. At 00:16 the transition between shots of the car is better because before the car was more front on on the second shot.We added the shot of the handbrake to establish the car is stopping, before the car stopped abruptly but now the shots make more sense. At 1:03 the shot has been changed because previously the cut had Matt being to face on than he was in the previous one. we did the same at 1:37 because the between cuts he moved position. Also at this point we edited the music because it builds up to much at an inappropriate time, we did not want the music to be contrapuntal. We changed the order of shots when his throat is slit instead of staying with the tracking shot we quickly cut to the under table shot to up the pace of the scene and show off more blood. We used a shot of blood dripping off the table to take us out of the scene this leaves the audience in no doubt he is dead, also I think its a good shot. I used myself as a foley artist to make the noise of the hob, I think its works well, no one in the class knew it was me. We added the shot of the matches to show the audience the hitmans professionalism, we did in slow motion to show the importance and build suspense. The final conversation was added just to set the hitman up as the protagonist because the audience wants to know what he's going to do next and who was on the phone. We changed the title because the typewriter font didn't really work throughout as it drew the audiences attention away from what is going on in the shot.

hitlist (final)

general order of credits

General Order Of Credits

• (NAME OF THE STUDIO)

Name of the studio that is distributing the film and may or may not have produced it (Walt Disney Pictures, Columbia, Lions Gate, Universal, Marvel Studios, Dimension, Miramax etc.).

• (NAME OF THE PRODUCTION COMPANY)

Name of the production company that actually made the film or name of the investment groups or companies that financed a substantial part of the film (usually credited as "in association with" or "A (studio name) production.").

• (PRODUCER NAME) PRODUCTION or/and (director only) A FILM BY (DIRECTOR NAME)

Director's first credit, often "a film by XY or "a XY film".

• STARRING

Principal actors, (Sometimes the stars' and director's credits will be reversed, depending on the star's deal with the studio; sometimes, as in the Rodgers and Hammerstein films, or as in all three film versions of Show Boat, or, as in many of Disney's films, the title of the film will be shown before the names of its actors; sometimes, as in many of Cannon's films, the name(s) of the principal actor(s) will be shown before the name(s) of the producer(s), i.e. "The Cannon Group presents X in a Golan-Globus production of a Y film").

• (FILM'S TITLE)

Name of the film.

• FEATURING

Featured actors.

• CASTING or CASTING BY

Casting director.

• MUSIC or MUSIC COMPOSED BY or ORIGINAL SCORE BY

Composer of music.

• PRODUCTION DESIGN or PRODUCTION DESIGNER

Production designer.

As a variation some of the below may be noted:

• SET DESIGN
• COSTUMES or COSTUMES BY or GOWNS (older movies)
• HAIRDRESSER
• MAKE-UP ARTIST
• SOUND RECORDING (older movies)
• VISUAL EFFECTS DIRECTOR or VISUAL EFFECTS BY

• EDITOR or EDITED BY

Editor.

• DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY

Director of photography.

• PRODUCER or PRODUCED BY, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

Producers, co-producers, executive producers, 'also produced by' (credited for various reasons according to contracts and personal scrutiny of the principal producer). Often, though, the name of the producer will be the next-to-last opening credit, just before the director's name is shown.

• BASED ON THE BOOK (PLAY, GRAPHIC NOVEL etc.) BY or FROM A PLAY/BOOK BY (older movies)

If based on a book or other literary work.

• BASED ON THE CHARACTERS BY or BASED ON THE CHARACTERS CREATED BY

If based on characters from a book or other media.

• STORY or STORY BY

Person who wrote the story on which the script is based, gets "story by" credit, and the first screenplay credit, unless the script made substantial changes to the story.

• WRITER(S) or WRITTEN BY

Screenplay writers. The Writers Guild of America allows only three writing credits on a feature film, although teams of two are credited as one, separated on the credits by an ampersand ("X & Y"). If each works independently on the script (the most common system), they are separated by an "and". If more than two persons worked on the screenplay, the credits may read something like "screenplay by X & Y and Z and W" X and Y worked as a team, but Z and W worked separately.

• DIRECTOR or DIRECTED BY

Director. The Directors Guild of America permits a film to list only one director, even when it is known that two or more worked on it. Except in very rare cases (a death in mid-production) there is only one directing credit.

infuences

Influences

In preparation for our filming we watched various movies and took inspiration from these. The first movie we watched was Casino Royale. From this we took the black and white effect for the movie opening, the reasoning behind this was that we liked the gritty realism that the black and white created. It removes all flash and sparkles from the scene and makes you focus on the gritty nature of the shots.

The second film we took inspiration from was ‘Tinker Tailor Solider Spy’. From this we looked to extract realism. No Hollywood chase scenes just real life again the gritty nature was somethhing we wanted to replicate.

The final film was ‘Drive’ which is where we got our violence level from. We saw you could make a stylised movie with a high violence level at it be successful. 

movie opening credits

Studio Name: Warner Bros. Production Company: Millennium Films A film by Hamish McNeill and Alfie Shea Charlie Swift Film Title: To Die For With Matthew Gadsen And Toby Trew Casting by Alfie Shea Music Composed by Costumes Designed by Props by Matt Weller Edited by Alfie Shea Production Designed by Toby Trew Director of Photography Hamish McNeill Executive Producers Toby Trew Charlie Swift Story by Hamish McNeill Alfie Shea Written by Hamish McNeill Directed by Alfie Shea

hitlist final opening

music research

MUSIC RESEARCH

Mozart’s greatest violin piece - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caVr-VdeDvw – sounds too cheerful, need to be of a lower key and to be the right tempo

 Mozart – Requiem - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPlhKP0nZII&feature=related – Possibility to be used in our work

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde – Prelude - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fktwPGCR7Yw – Sounds exactly right for our opening, possibly going to be used. Correct key and tempo.

Spy Movie Theme Music – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TckGajQB8U&feature=youtu.be  – Right tempo, a style which suits our genre and the purpose.

FINAL CHOICE:

Spy Movie Theme Music – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TckGajQB8U&feature=youtu.be  – Right tempo, a style which suits our genre and the purpose – This  is the best song we found to go with our movie opening.

risk assessment final

Risk assessment

Activity assessed: As media task filming	Assessment date: 28/11/12	Assessed by: Toby Trew
Activity location: house	Who’s at risk: actors and cameramen	Next assessed by:	Approved by:
HAZARD:	Risk level Before High, mediocre  or low	Risk level After High or low	Control measures Reducing the risk to a minimal risk
Car pulling into drive	High: could get hit by car or equipment being damaged by car.	Low risk because cameramen will keep a certain distance away from cars and roads to mineralise the chance of injuries.	Making sure that camera man stands away from where the car is driving.
Use of real knife	Could cut actor with blade	We made sure that we used the back of the knife so that it wouldn’t cut our actor	Used back of blade and made sure that we held it away from the actors neck.
Walking down the hallway(marble)	Could drop and crack equipment Slip over	Low because with all potential trip hazards removed and things that could injury someone if they fall are removed.	Make sure appropriate foot wear is worn so that there is a reduced risk of slipping and falling.
Action shot	when acting out scene potential to hurt actor	Low because with all potential trip hazards removed and things that could injury someone if they fall are removed.	Remove any shelves sharp corners on desks/cabinets.
Trip hazard wires, track and fake blood Younger siblings/family members	Trip over and injure yourself slip on the fake blood Could get in the way of shots damage equipment	No trip hazards left to be tripped over. Make sure all fake blood is removed from the floor before filming the next shot. Siblings are kept away from shooting area.

Personal protective equipment needed:	Provided by:	Level of first aid provision needed	First aiders
Nearest telephone:		Nearest 24hr hospital/doctor

prelim film opening

film opening ideas

Proposed ideas

1.       D.E.A.D

Zombie Thriller. A character runs across a field with a zombie(s) chasing him/her. Filmed mostly in a hand held style with chopped out credits that halt all sound. Sound mostly diegetic.

2.       Till death do us part. A 70’s set period drama revolving around a recently widowed man

3.       The rise of the fist. Spoof martial arts film shot in  a vintage fashion like it’s from the 70s complete with scratches on the camera, 70s clothing and an over the top music as well as corny acting. In the opening scene our main character Donnie a young man with social insecurities, witnesses master yang shi ping beat up some thugs in a local restaurant, leading Donnie to wanting to become a master of karate as well. The opening wouldn’t need to include any fancy editing or transitions, the titles would have to be corny and the sound less than decent. I think that this would be a good opening as it wouldn’t mean spending too much time to find a good actor and not that long to film.

4.       To die for. A spy thriller. Like the opening of casino royale it is shot in black and white it shows a man going to his large home. It is revealed that he has some shady connections and isn’t just an intricate businessman. Whilst in his office he sees someone moving about outside. He gets out a gun and tries to find who is outside. As he walking down the hall he’s shot by a silenced bullet. As he dies the door is kicked open it is then revealed that the bullet came from a sniper miles away to make sure he wouldn’t talk to the police. The scene would need no real fancy editing, just to be in black and white for effect. The music should be loud and dramatic as well as used to create suspense.

5.       Gulf. A war film. Opens up with a black screen and a voice. The voice is talking about his time in the gulf war. His speech stops and you hear gunshots and bombs going off. Then colour comes onto the screen and you can see a man in his late 30’s / early 40’s in a therapist chair talking to a therapist. He is suffering from Gulf War Syndrome – similar to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He talks about the loss of a friend in the war and you can hear his screams. His voice cracks as he’s talking and a single tear rolls down his cheek but keeps a hardened face. In between camera shots, the screen turns black again and credits appear and disappear in a distinctive font.

final script

To Die For

Ext. House 1 lounge, night

The moon hangs calmly in the sky and stars are speckled across the dark abyss of the night. The camera tracks a Ford Focus as it pulls into the drive of the house. Man 1 exits’ holding a briefcase, the briefcase is focused on by the camera, we pan across as he goes to the front door.

Int. House 1 downstairs hallway

     We here footsteps approach the door, a key turns in the lock and the door opens. Man 1, middle aged tired looking, he’s wearing a sharp business suit and holding a briefcase. He sighs and walks through the hallway, all the doorways seem to lead to a darkened room. He turns to the mirror on his left, there’s a slight movement behind him and, as he spins round, a masked assailant moves into the doorway behind him. There is silence for a moment; the masked man raises his gun.

Man 1

Don-

He’s shot twice in the chest before he falls to the floor, red mist rising through the light cast by the moon in the hallway. The killer pants, the room is still and disorientating. The killer walks into the kitchen.

Int. House 1 kitchen

The killer goes into the kitchen and switches on all the hobs and walks out of the kitchen quickly.

Int. House 1 downstairs hallway

He pries the briefcase out of the man’s hand and walks out, shutting the door behind him.

Title Sequence

movie opening timeline

Timeline on Prezi

codes and conventions

Moodboard on Prezi

movie opening pitch

Movie pitch on Prezi

reactions to our film pitch

reaction to presentation on Prezi

first script

This is our original script but we've decided that this had too many faults as an opening and that we needed to re do it and change the style.

To Die For

A large Ford Focus pulls into the driveway of a stately home, its night time and the moon hangs in the sky. The man who comes out is middle aged, worn out and tired; he looks like an ordinary middle aged man coming home from work. We follow him as he makes his way through the house, through this it is revealed that he lives alone, there isn’t any food in the fridge or pictures on the wall. He makes his way into his office; it’s sleek and modern, cold and empty. He sits down in the chair behind his desk. He sighs and slouches back into his seat. He pulls a gun from his coat and puts it in a draw. Just then the phone on his desk rings loudly. The man picks it up)

Man 1

Hello.

Caller 1 (O.S)

The deal in Cuba has gone sour. (Man 1 opens the draw with the gun in it) You need to get out. You’ve probably already been burned; you’re on your own. (He hangs up the dial tone rings)

Man 1 puts the phone down, stands up and checks the clip in the gun quickly. He makes his way through the house quietly, the score begins to stir and it paces up. He goes upstairs once he gets to the landing he hears a creak downstairs. He backs away to the closet at the end of the landing. He pulls out a box from the bottom of the closet it contains some money and passports. He puts it in his pocket and goes to his bedroom, pulls out a suitcase and quickly stuffs in clothes. The phone downstairs rings again. He slowly makes his way downstairs pointing the gun at the hallway as he goes downstairs, you can see the sweat running down his face. Once at the bottom of the stairs he looks about and quickly gets to the phone before it stops ringing. He picks it up, but this time he waits for the caller to speak. It’s Morton, his voice is young and lethargic.

Green

Hello. Hello.

Man 1

Hello, Green?

Green

I’m on my way now I guess you’ve been burned?

Man 1

Yeah.

Green

I’ll be five minutes, get ready to go.

Man 1 hangs up and goes back upstairs, the pace revived. He gets the suitcase and drags it downstairs he puts it down by the door. Having worked up a sweat and goes to sit down in the lounge. He sits on the sofa, panting and wiping his face. The monotonous tick tock of the clock rack up the tension, a close up of the clock intercut with an interior shot on the door, a creak of the floorboard. The tension continues with shots of every way a villain could get in. The doorbell drones abruptly it startles Man 1 his hands are shaking, but he calms himself. He opens the door at the door stands Morton, a clean cut young man in his twenties, his eyes have dark rings around them, his voice doesn’t lose its lethargy in person.

Green

Are you ready?

Man 1

Yeah I just need to get some things.

He turns and begins walking back in

Green

So what’s your plan?

Man 1

Lie low try and avoid detection, chances are I’ll still be found

Green

One hell of a pension

Man 1 stands over a table in the hallway

Man 1

I suppo-

Alound bang and the tingling of a shell on the ground. Blood spatters over the clock and Man 1 falls on the dark floorboards, a pool of blood forming around his head, in the corner of the screen Green leaves.

Opening credits.