Promotional Website

Click here to view a promotional website about our movie.

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.

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:

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.

Kanaiya's script annotation

Annotations for Great Expectations

Script Annotation - KanaiyaL from Aperture Productions

Script To Screen - Jigsaw

This is our script to screen analysis for the short independent film Jigsaw.

Script to Screen from Aperture Productions

Sneha: Mise en scene, What will this exercise make me think about when you write your script?

Kanaiya: Editing, Soundtrack, Explain what you would have done differently in the production and post production if you were working with that script.

Jay: Screening, what will this exercise make you think about when you are in production and post production?

Random Story Game

This is the random story game that we played in order to "get our creative juices flowing". This helped us think about our potential story line and how we would adapt to different scenarios.


Edited by Kanaiya

Additional Research - Sneha

View in full screen


Secret Intelligence Service - Student Opening Analysis:

WWW:

• The background non-diegetic synchronous music works well with the genre and it builds suspense.
• The addition of news reports adds verisimilitude.
• In some parts, the handheld camera was successful at portraying the nervousness the character is feeling.
• The panning and establishing shots were successful at showing the location.
• The costume (suit) matched the role of the character.

EBI:

• The opening credits were shown for longer.
• The lighting in some parts could have been brighter to reduce the blurriness.
• In some parts, the handheld camera was not successful. It made it look like the main character was being watched even when he wasn't. Made the audience feel uneasy.
• There could have been more short cuts to make the action appear faster. This could've been enhanced with fast-paced editing.

Additional Research - Kanaiya

View in full screen



Feedback of other student's work:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMQR_pPHOWg

WWW: Good use of micro elements, typography is matches the genre, location helps to create an atmosphere, good transition between scenes, good use of conventions of a title sequence

EBI: storyline wasn’t so stereotypical, if the pace was more fast paced, if there was more dialogue for audience to engage with, if characters were introduced quicker

Additional Research - Jay

The importance of music.

Music is extremely important and can decide whether a movie is good or not. Music helps build up impressions and feelings throughout the movie. Softer slower music can instil a calm feeling but can also be seen as sad depending on the images that accompany it. Music itself can be split into several small factors:

Pace - The speed.
Pitch - The degree of highness or lowness of a tone.
Dynamics - Volume and the feel (soft or hard).

Using these elements in combination together gives unlimited possibilities. Slow music, paired with high pitched and quiet notes can help create an ominous feel. While fast paced high pitched notes can give a happy feeling.
For our opening we want to encapsulate the idiom "the calm before the storm". We decided that it should include both the calm as well as the storm. Because of this we decided that our music should crescendo and include a variety of instruments. We want to create texture and have a plethora of layers that start off calm but build up to create that storm.

Job Roles - Sneha

Job Roles - Kanaiya

Job Roles - Jay

Target Audience Research

Edited by Sneha

We created this video for our target audience research. From this information, we were able to learn about what stood out the most in a title sequence. We were also able to find out how different micro-elements (particularly sound) would have an impact on the moods and atmosphere. It will assist our initial ideas and planning because we will be able to go more into depth with the films that they said were the most iconic. Finally, we will be able to make the title sequence appeal to the target audience by using conventions that worked from other movies for our own title sequence development.

Directors - Michael Bay

Directors - Christopher Nolan

Directors - Quentin Tarantino