Welcome!

Oh hello there, I didn’t see you. Step inside, we don’t bite.

Welcome to our Media Studies Blog! We created a movie opening with a genre of action and crime, aimed at the target audience of ages 17-35 (down there ↓).

In order to ensure that tasks were spread out evenly, we decided on  “official” specific job roles so we could all contribute rather than one person doing all the work. However, we shared out the responsibilities to ensure we all got a chance to explore different roles.

OFFICIALLY:

Jay: As the editor, sound designer and camera operator, I was responsible for ensuring that the camera was in prime condition and was ready to use. I was in charge of physically operating the camera when filming and made sure that the composition of shots, previously decided, would be maintained during production. As head-editor, I overlooked editing for the production and made sure that the editing of each cut was as we had imagined, and planned it to be. Last of all, as sound designer I was in charge of music for the opening while ensuring that it fit with the genre and the movie itself.

Sneha: As the director, I had the responsibility of ensuring that all the cast and the rest of my team members were working together coherently and everything went smoothly. I was also in charge of casting alongside the producer. As a production designer, I gathered and arranged all the costume, props, and makeup and was in charge of other aspects of mise-en-scene as well such as set design. I also worked with the editor to see if any elements could be enhanced during post-production.

Kanaiya: As a producer, I was responsible for all aspects of production. I worked closely with the director in putting together the the cast, and I was also in charge of what locations were used. I oversaw the project from conception to completion and my role as cinematographer was helpful as I had to make artistic and technical decisions. I was in charge of ensuring that any camera shots or angles used were aesthetically pleasing when it needed to be, and for this, the shot lists I created were utilised optimally.

We hope you enjoy our blog and film opening! :)

And that's a wrap!

Evaluation Question Seven - Sneha

Evaluation Question Seven - Jay

Evaluation Question Seven - Kanaiya

Evaluation Question Six - Kanaiya

Created using Visme. An easy-to-use Infographic Maker.

Evaluation Question Six - Sneha

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Evaluation Question Six - Jay

Group Evaluation Question Five

Evaluation Question Four - Kanaiya

Please click here if the embedded version does not work.

Evaluation Question Four - Sneha

Evaluation Question Four - Jay

Evaluation Question Three - Kanaiya

Evaluation Question Three - Sneha

Evaluation Question Three - Jay

Group Evaluation Question Two

Evaluation Question One - Kanaiya

Accompanying screenshots of what had been mentioned:

Evaluation Question One - Sneha

Evaluation Question One - Jay

Group Evaluation Questions

As we reach the end of our coursework, we will be completing our evaluation of the coursework. As a group, we will be completing question two and five and these are the formats that we are going to be using.

Q2) We will be creating a stop motion video which consists of Lego that will represent different social groups. We will be using a script to voice the different lego characters in order to show how we have used social groups in our media product.

Q5) For this question, we will be using a "The Apprentice" format in which we will explain how we have attracted our audiences. We will be Lord Sugar and aides as well as Aperture Productions as an institution and will share ways we have attracted the target audience.

Sound Cut - Feedback

Audience member 1:

• The music at the beginning is a good but could be improved by gradually becoming dramatic.
• As the music kicked in, it looked appropriate - the music starts to get more serious as it continues which fits in quite well.
• Like the title and how it changes.

Audience member 2:

• Base drop should start when he actually sees the hooded figure.
• More mellowed out when he is getting dressed, less bass when there is no action.
• It suits the genre.

Audience member 3:

• The transitions were good.
• Concept was good.
• The music is too repetitive, but creates a flow, creating continuity.
• It should be more dramatic when he dies.
• At some places, it was out of focus.

Audience member 4:

• Transitions were very good.
• Soundtrack suits the genre.
• Try and increase brightness when it is darker.

Audience member 5:

• The sound suits the opening very well.
• Increase the brightness for the night shots.

Sound Cut

This is our sound cut which includes our soundtrack and foley sound.

Title Cut - Feedback

We created a Google poll and asked people to answer the questions. This was a quicker and more efficient method of gaining feedback as it also gave us analysis of the questions.













We will be able to use this feedback when we are developing our sound cut.

Soundtrack

Promotional Material - Teaser poster

To promote our film and spread awareness we decided that we would create a teaser movie poster rather than a normal movie poster as there is still quite a while until our film is released. This will add a lot more enigma and create anticipation for the audience. The release is 06.10.17 because from the research we gathered, films from our genre tend to come out in theatres during Autumn, towards the lead up to Halloween, and therefore we felt that this was the appropriate choice. It is also going to be released on a Friday because that is a conventional day for movies to be released. We placed our movie poster on various different advertising columns.

Central London

Rotating Light Box

New York - Times Square

London Underground

London Bus

Edited by: Sneha

Promotional Website

Click here to view a promotional website about our movie.

Title Cut

In the title cut, we added the bills and created a title from After Effects. We also enhanced it by adding the cinematic scope as well.

Transition Cut - Feedback

As we wanted some more feedback related to the actual editing for our transition cut, we decided to speak to the A2 Media Studies class who had technical feedback to share with us which was quite useful. This feedback will be useful for our final cut, where we will take the feedback on board.

SUMMARY:

What went well:

• The plot was easily understandable.
• Second version was preferred as the cuts were quicker.
• The plot was interesting.

Even better if:

• There were less fades to add to the fast paced feel.
• The shots were more stable.
• The brightness and contrast was edited to add to the continuity.

Edited by Kanaiya

Transition Cut v2

Due to duration constraints, we shortened our media product. Here is an updated transition cut.

Transition Cut

We concluded that our transition cut still seemed a bit too long, therefore we decided that we would discard some of the longer takes to suit the fast paced editing which is conventional in an action/crime movie. This resulted in us producing a second version of our rough cut.

Rough Cut - Feedback

Below is a collection of the feedback that we gained from our target audience for our rough cut. We will be able to use the feedback gained in order to make changes and improvements in our transition cut.


Edited by Sneha

Rough Cut

Shot Scrutiny

As a group we went over all of our rushes in order to establish which ones would be the best for the movie opening.

Shot List

This shot list was created earlier and was used during filming. In the image, you can see which shots went to plan and which ones we changed and why.

Typography Choices: Title

These are the fonts which I found would be good for the title of the movie. There were a wide range to choose from, but I based them on how they would set the atmosphere of the movie and how they reflected on the mood and atmosphere of the movie opening. I chose an old style font "Antique Book Cover" as it evokes the ideology of detectives, which plays a primary element in the movie opening. The majority of the fonts I chose are Sans Serif because these are typically used for a title of a movie. However, Serif fonts could be easier to read, which is why "Titania" was one of the choices. Most of the chosen fonts are quite bold and this would make them stand out and would also show the importance of the title. Below is a video of the fonts in turn so it would be easy to compare when picking which font(s) to actually use.

Practice Shots

Here are some practice shots that I attempted prior to the formation of the shot list and shoot days to familiarise myself with the camera as well as have a go at possible shots that we could include if done well and smoothly. Here I have practised 4 different camera shots including movement.

Costume, Props and Makeup

Here I go through the costume,props and makeup that we will  use in our movie opening.


View in full screen

Scene blocking

Below is the scene blocking for our script. This includes, both the interior and exterior locations that will feature within our movie opening. This outlines the significant aspects of each scene such as props, the set/location and any movement by the camera as well as the actor.

Risk Assessment

Final Billing Order

Distribution Company: 20th Century FOX

Production Company Ident: Aperture Productions

Kieran Harris
Sarthak Patel

Change

Featuring: Matt Ramos
                 Chris Parker
                 Dilip Ravi

Music Composer: Maleka Ansar

Cinematographer: William Costa

Production Designer: Andy Oli

Costume Designer: Rink Lee

Editor: Jay Vyas

Producer: Kanaiya Lakhani

Screenwriter: Jessie Edward

Director: Sneha Kerai

         

Location Recce: Community Center

This was the location that suited and fit our movie opening the best. Below is an annotation explaining why we used this location.

Location Recce - Sneha's House

This was the chosen location for the house we will be using. Here is an annotation based upon the positive aspects of why we decided to use this location.

Location Recce - Sainsbury's

This was the winning location in terms of shops. Below is an annotation of why this location was good and what factors led to us choosing it.

Production Schedule

This is the production schedule for both our shoot days. This includes the days, timings, scenes and locations that we will be filming at. It also includes how long we will be spending at each location whilst filming each scene.

Casting

This is the casting of our main actor for the opening of our film. We decided to have the auditionees act in an important scene to figure out if they are suitable for our film opening.

Our first choice was Bhavya (2nd audition), however he was unavailable on our shoot days therefore we were not able to use him. Therefore, we had to be flexible and chose our understudy, Sarthak (5th audition) who was available on the days of filming.




Edited by Sneha

Location Scouting

We scouted a range of locations in order to find out which ones would work in the optimal way based on our narrative.

Edited by Kanaiya

We were all assigned either location one, two or three, and spoke on behalf of that location.

Release forms

This actor release form I created was based on pervious ones that I had found and these include:
http://www.slideshare.net/hannahmolloy1/actor-release-form-12166892
http://www.formsbirds.com/free-simple-actor-release-form

This location release form was based on location release forms that I found during research and it was mostly based on one specific one that i thought included all the information needed:
https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwjpvdOp9ozSAhWEOxQKHbfwAcEQjxwIAw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.premiumbeat.com%2Fblog%2Ffree-download-location-release-form%2F&bvm=bv.146786187,d.ZGg&psig=AFQjCNEKsiOJVPwLpTt76gWuyXcA_AZy7Q&ust=1487070192157154

Call Sheet

Call sheet FINAL from Aperture Productions

This Call Sheet contains key and specific information of filming.


Maps of Public Locations:

Heather Park Lane that will be used

Sainsbury's

Storyboard

This is our storyboard for our movie opening.



Edited by Sneha.

Our group collaboratively created the storyboard after being assigned a section of the storyboard

Script Breakdown: Production Designer

Script-blocking Production Designer Sneha from Aperture Productions

Additional Research - Basic Lighting Techniques

As cinematographer, I wanted to look for techniques to ensure that the lighting of our movie opening created a atmosphere based on the action going on. After research, I felt that this video was useful at labelling basic lighting techniques which would set the mood when filming.

Additional Research - Making the right music

As I was in charge with producing the soundtrack for our opening i wanted to encapsulate a dark, gritty atmosphere to help sell the genre. To do this I had to first learn the basics of garageband. These videos helped me:

From watching these videos i was able to gain the base knowledge needed to help create our soundtrack, this included the use of tempo, metronome, equalisers and eventually volume control. It really helped me become more familiar with the software and made me more confident when using it.

I had also decided to listen to the soundtracks of more renowned crime/action films such as The Dark Knight Trilogy.

Additional Research - Achieving the film look

Here are the following sources that I researched upon to help achieve a higher quality media product and how they helped me:

Source 1:

This video helped in understanding the camera settings that could be used to make our opening look more cinematic. This also showed me how in post-production shots can be edited and enhanced to look so much more professional, stable and smooth. This was especially helpful as the software being used in the video will be the same software that we will use whilst editing our film opening.

Source 2:
https://snapguide.com/guides/colour-grade-dslr-video-with-adobe-premiere-pro/

The link above is to a page that explains how to successfully colour grade on premiere pro. This will come in useful when we are editing our film. Experimenting with different colour tints could enhance the opening and make it look more professional. The different tones used can be replicated in our own film opening when trying to achieve a certain look such as dark and gloomy.

Additional Research - Editing skills

My other role for our movie opening was the editor. Although the whole group would collaborate and edit together, i was considered to be the head-editor and thus i felt it necessary to learn how to edit properly. I’d researched the different softwares for editing and found that Adobe Premiere was the best and is what we would be using. I browsed youtube and watched many videos that helped me understand how to use the software:

Script Breakdown: Camerawork

Script blocking camerawork from Aperture Productions

Script Blocking: Editing and Sound Design

Yellow for editing
Red for sound

Change - Final Draft

Script Breakdown

Please view in full screen

Script Breakdown

Greenlight Meeting - Pitch

Edited by Kanaiya

Classifications

Research Summary

Here is a summary of the research we have done.

Research summary from Aperture Productions

You can see who has said what in the screenshots. Kanaiya was the one who took the screenshots.

Script Read Through - Change Draft 2

Edited by Jay

Change - Script Analysis Draft 1+2

Draft 1:

Draft 2:

I feel that our movie opening adheres to the crime/thriller and action genres as it features violence in the form of serial killings and a death of a character very early on. It's set in an urban landscape with dark, drab and dull buildings to suit the mood. Also, it will evoke tension and suspense in the audience while also shocking them with a plot twist as the person we expected to be the protagonist was killed right at the beginning. To entice the audience our opening will leave the audience asking questions. It will follow Barthe's hermaneutic (enigmatic) code by presenting us with serial killings that the audience will want to know more about, the identity of the killer that the chief discovered and the after math of his death. Will the killer be brought to justice? I fell that the character is well established as we instantly know that he is an officer or detective of some sort due to him constructing a crime board, attempting to make sense of everything, desperate to solve it. However, the chief is portrayed as being the protagonist in the opening, but in fact, James is the main character, and the death of the chief is what gets the plot going. Overall, i feel that our opening will be relatively easy to recreate as it doesn't require any exquisite locations or expensive props, but will rely on our ability to give meaning and convey a story through cinematography.

Distribution Research

Sneha's script annotation

This is my script annotation for the movie opening Broken.

From annotating this script, I have now gained the knowledge of how a script is formatted and how it it includes the mirco-elements. This will help me assist the script writer when it comes to producing our own script for our movie opening as I will be able to talk them through the importance of having each element and how it will help shape the final product. Doing this also helped me visualise the script from the view of my job roles. As the director I will be focusing on the action and dialogue specifically and will look at how the parenthetical's are important. As the production designer, I will be focusing on the mise-en-scene and how it helps set the scene and how it will shape the narrative as well as each character.


Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/scripts/broken

Kanaiya's script annotation

Annotations for Great Expectations

Script Annotation - KanaiyaL from Aperture Productions

Script - Change 2nd Draft

Pitch Preparation - One Sheet

Kanaiya: First and second paragraph

Sneha: Last paragraph, images, contact us

Official Head On - Change

Jay: Slide 1 and 2

Sneha: Slide 3 and 4

Kanaiya: Slide 5 and 6