Costume Ideas

Deprived Brother
In our opening two minutes we must portray the deprived boy as an ungroomed, scruffy character. We have narrowed down our ideas for the characters outfit, thinking about all the possibilities of generalisations as though to have a stereotypical view on the character to be easily identified by the audience.

We have decided upon this hoodie to be worn by the deprived brother as it is scruffy with marks of paint on it, we also decided on a specifically plain t-shirt as this will be covered by the hoody.

The tracksuit bottoms which are also stereotyped to be worn by a specific casual tatty person.

These are the trainers we have chosen to use for the deprived brother as they are scruffy and not well looked after, or worn therefore identifying his wealth with a lack of new footwear.







Wealthy Brother

In our opening two minutes we must portray the wealthy brother as being well groomed and a neatly presented character. We have narrowed down our ideas for the characters outfit, thinking about all the possibilities of generalisations as though to have a stereotypical view on the character to be easily identified by the audience. We feel we have successfully achieved this by using labels which are well known easily identified by characters to predict on the characters persona. In this case we have chosen abercrombie as this is well recognised as being an upper class brand.

Below is an abercrombie shirt;



We are currently unsure on whether to portray the character as a smart wealthy boy or a casual wealthy boy, the shirt being the smart option and below the polo shirt being the casual option.

Progress To Achieve Over the Christmas Holiday's

I have planned out to go through my to do list and have it completed in time for the school term starting again. I am going to start this after christmas and new years, leaving a week for this to be done.
- Location analysis accompanied with images.
- Actor profile accompanied with single image.
- Followed by costume and prop analysis and images.
- Turn storyboard into an animatic video.

Completition Date - 4th January

Location Ideas

We as a group have been discussing many locational ideas and have come up with the choice of two setting of where the financially deprived boy will be filmed and have currently agreed on using Dave's house to film the wealthy boy.

2 Current Options for deprived boy's location;

Both located under bridges, the first one is located in Ashtead not far from my house, which might be considered useful to have as a base for equipment and editing, this alley way which can be shot from both ends as it is a straight clear walk through.



The second location; in Leatherhead slightly more out of the way, along side the river mole, it is slightly more dusty and open to the public allowing more sunlight in, which i think we might not want, as the deprived boy will be based around dark, depressing colours to set the mood and character persona.




This is the shop in which the deprived brother is going to be introduced along with his alley way den:



This is the house in which the wealthier brother will be introduced into our opening two minutes:

Time Management

So far i feel i have got a good detail with research into other openings, sound inspiration and evaluation of my opening tasks. Now i need to focus on storyboarding and laying out the breakdown of our own idea for our film.

Similar Film

Parent Trap is also a very similar style genre as there are two twins seperated from birth, in this case because of parent seperation, although in our film both parents died leaving both of the twins left in care. Leading different lives with no understanding of where or how one another are doing.

Film Analysis

The film 'Twins' as shown above is similar to the style of movie we are approaching as a group, showing a two brothers living two very different lives, in our case these brothers don't know where each other live or that their even alive.

Research and Planning Self Assessing

I believe i have a researched proficiently into similar products and aimed my research at our potential target audience. There is also a brief organisation of actors, locations, costumes and props research. Also showing a brief work on shotlists, layouts, drafting, scripting or storyboarding. There is a good level of care in the presentation of the research and planning and finally i have kept to a disciplined time managment.

Level 2 +/ Level 3 -

Film Treatment

We plan to produce a bildungsroman/drama genre film, following the rite of passage of two very different lifestyles of the characters William and Jack. The film will be starting in their early adolescence viewing their individual storys through life. There are only going to be two main characters as this will enable the audience to become engrossed in their life, consequently empathising for them.

William is a privileged private school boy, brought up by a loving, wealthy family. However, Jack is an only child living in a bed sit with his drug abusing mother. For years Jack hasn't received any education as he is more focused on stealing and caring for his mum. The twist to the film is that both these boys are now in their mid-teens however are actually brothers both adopted by different families. William was 2 years of age at the time, Jack no more then a few weeks. Neither boy having a clue either one exist, not even knowing they are adopted. Their real parents had tragically died in a car accident leaving them with no other relatives. As the story goes on, Jack enters into different crimes in attempt to earn money in order for him and his mother to survive, eventually ending up in prison and his mother sadly passed away. However William was an intelligent popular boy living life to the full, partying as any other boy his age would. Tragically things took a turn for the worse for William as he begun to take drugs and was on a slippery down hill slope, so bad his family couldn't help him. However at the same time in prison jack got a degree in being a doctor. The film has a controversial ending as William the once upon a time 'intelligent popular school boy' dies in a hospital bed from a heroin overdose, as his long lost brother who was once nothing but a thieving youth, is sitting next door in the hospital canteen as a doctor.

Inspirational Film Trailer

This is England;


This is the sort of British made cross edited film trailer i am looking to construct.

New Ideas- Inspritational Film Trailer

Somers Town;


Somers Town is about two boys living a different livestyle one from up north and one from down south they mix and become friends.

This is also a low budget British film which we find inspirational and effective.

Institutional Research

For our opening production logo we are looking at a low budget style. Below is a youtube video i have uploaded as an inspirational style production opening.



The UK film council and Film supported by the lottery are both ideal production, institutional companies to aim my film at, as i don't have aspirations of any high budget.

The UK Film Council (UKFC) was set up in 2000 by the Labour Government as a non-departmental public body to develop and promote the film industry in the UK. It is constituted as a private company limited by guarantee governed by a board of 15 directors and is funded through sources including the National Lottery.

It has 3 types of funding schemes. Development Funding, which has £12 million to invest over 3 years , with a £25000 maximum award. The New Cinema Fund supports emerging talent and established filmmakers working outside the mainstream, focusing on the most innovative writing and the most gifted directors. The fund has £15 million of Lottery money to invest over three years and funds eight to ten feature films each year.The Premiere Fund invests £8 million of Lottery funding per year into mainstream, commercially-driven films encouraging the involvement of British creative talent in a range of films that can attract audiences the world over.

Costume and Make Up Ideas

My current ideas for costume are going to be maybe a dark robe or dark clothing, idealy were going to keep close ups on the clothing to a minimal as i want the audience to 'fear the unknown' more of mysterious horror opening.
Wereas with make up i believe it can help imply a mysterious figure, with minimal emotions. Maybe use dark eye make up to contrast with the daylight glaring through.

Inspirational Location Images

This is a video of a derilict mental home in epsom these images portray a spooky 'fear of the unknown'. I believe this would be an ideal place to film our opening;

Title Orders Within Film Openings

Fight Club- Starts with a CG effect of a realistic imagery of inside of the mans nerve system sparking as the titles appear this is slowly zooming out ending with an unsettling view of the sweating obviously disturbed man with the barrel of a gun down his throat. This is the order in which the opening titles appear:This is the order in which the opening titles appear:This is the order in which the opening titles appear:

• Production Company
• Its Associates
• The Producer
• Main Characters (Brad Pitt, Edward Norton and Helena Bonham Carter)
• The Film Title
• More Actors
• Casting By
• Costume Designer
• Special Make Up Effects Supervisor
• Sound Designer
• Music By
• Film Editor
• Production Designer
• Director of Photography
• Executive Producer
• Based on the Novel (Chuck Palahntuk)
• Screenplay by
• Producers
• Directors

The Incredibles- This opening scene was a very energetic cartoon display of CGI setting the mood and scene for the audience, whilst introducing the titles very skillfully showing off the use of CGI. This is the order in which the opening titles appear:

• Title
• Written and Directed
• Produced
• Executive Producer
• Associate Producer
• Music by
• Story Supervisor
• Film Editor
• Supervising Technical Director
• Production Designer
• Character Design
• Supervising Animators
• Directors of Photography
• Art Director and Shading Art Director
• Character Supervisor
• Hair & Cloth Simulation Supervisor
• Sequence Supervisor
• Effects Supervisor
• Rendering Supervisor
• Production Manager
• Sound Designer
• Casting by & Casting (In order of appearance)

Smokin' Aces- The opening scene of 'Smokin' Aces' is very unique having a flow of pop art coloured shots of the film including specific characters. This is the order in which the opening titles appear:

• Written and Directed by
• Produced by
• Executive Producers
• Main Characters (starting with most popular)
• Director of Photography
• Production Designer
• Editor
• Costume Designer
• Music by
• Music Supervisor
• Casting by
• Film by
• Title
• In Association with
• Unit Production Manager
• First Assistant Director
• Second Assistant Director

I chose three different genres to look at the opening scenes of to see if there was a difference within the order of which the opening titles appear. They all had very different opening scenes the first two with CGI but with very different aspects. From this research i understand that the most important, therefore titles viewed first are; Who it was produced by and Main characters. Although these were popular with my choice of openings i believe that many openings are very different and are prefer to be mixed up, depending on the audience the film is aimed at this will give the viewers a better, positive understanding of what the film will be like without it even starting.

Opening Analysis - Horror - Scream

The opening of the film started with a sharp, tightly cutted flash fade out of the production company logo - Dimension Films. Following with an unsettling image of the title 'Scream' this shakes causing a realistic unsettling effect as changing glowing colours red to white with sound effects of locks slamming and the notorious non diegetic screams with a phone call ringing throughout, this illustrates an on edge opening to the audience. Zooming into the blood red writing of 'Scream' with a heart beat building up pace. This then cuts to a close up of the phone an obviously important prop used within the film as the first object introduced. Meanwhile the now diegetic over tone of the phone still ringing suddenly cuts as a womans hand enters the shot firmly gripping the phone introducing a realistic feel of tension. The camera then pans at an upwards angle to then establish a character, almost imediately stereotyped as a dumb blonde american typically taken advantage of and assualted within the horror genres.

The opening of the film started with a unsettling series of effective angles, faded tones, close-ups and quickly cutting to intense non diegetic sound which were all so unusual and disconcerting catching the audience off guard. I immediately felt both mesmerized and at risk. And that was just during the opening credits.
This style of opening credits really appeals to me, i think this is a really effective technique and i believe i could use this within my opening trailer. The shaken view of credits with disconcerting noises over the image, i found really effective, making me feel uneasy, this is how i want my audience to feel when watching my film.

Research & Planning - To do list

- Upload and analyse a variety of genre openings (Done)
- Film treatment
- Storyboard opening scene
- Photos of locations (Done)
- Images of costumes and props
- Images of inspirational actors
- Mind map - using ICT skills
- Powerpoint presentation on ideas (need to upload)
- G321 OCR blog research
- Upload music ideas (Done)
- Draft script if theres dialogue
- Upload and analyse practice scenes
- Visit and get images of location

Preliminary Task & Evaluation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Hx1Hhh93GY

Film Analysis & What I have learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this project?

The technologies used in the process when constructing this ‘Preliminary Task’ have been very useful and I have tried to use them to the best of my potential. Reflecting back to my storyboard when possible, I used this to keep me on track and guide me through the editing and filming process. Although next time when constructing another project I would definitely go in to much more detail when constructing my storyboard this would help us to recognise potential mistakes or errors before hand. I think also next time I should go into more detail when presenting characters within the film, this would then help the audience identify the persona of particular characters and construct a better understanding of the film, by incorporating a better understanding of ‘mise en scene’ next time I think I would much prefer to include props and a more detailed set and conversation.
The 180 degree rule is a basic guideline in film making that states that two characters in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other. If the camera passes over the imaginary axis connecting the two characters, it is called crossing the line. The new shot, from the opposite side, is known as a reverse angle. This was one of the main technologies we involved whilst filming; this effect is a basic but effective tool, very useful as a foundation when building on new complex skills for future filming.
We used many uses of continuity techniques when filming and editing to let the film run smoothly and realistically. One of the main continuity techniques is; Match on Action – this is when two shots cut together by having a character finish an action in the second shot begun in the first shot. We gave an example of this popular technique as Dave walked through the door into the class room, we had a shot on either side of the door walking through, and this was then edited to make a match on action shot.
We start our film straight away with a mid shot of Dave entering the doors – this helps frame the shot, and introduces the character vaguely, consequently hooking the audience to keep viewing the film to find out what’s going to happen and who Dave is portrayed as. We then pan around to the bottom of the stairs as Dave starts to walk up the angle then increases then flowing the mid shot into now a low angle looking up at Dave to present as maybe a more powerful character. Next we have a fast paced range of cutting as this is a fast moving scene, involving lots of movement. We then view Dave from a birds eye high angle shot contrasting a mixture of who is in power adding a glimpse of confusion interesting the reader to have a better understanding, whether or not there is a character looking down at him.
We next cut into a mid shot high angle with Dave walking into the camera incorporating a close up view involving expression and current emotion. This then reverses as he travels past we then appear to be looking up the stairs at him moving away at pace, the camera then follows Dave as hand held to give an act of realism maybe a suspicious effect on whether there’s someone following him. The camera then jumps ahead to around the corner as Dave travels past then panning round to view him travelling through the corridor containing a level mid shot view then containing a stationary shot letting Dave enter the class room ahead alone. We then cut to a close up shot of Dave’s hand compressing the door handle; this is then when the camera is at a view from inside of the classroom this is our match on action shot. A continuity technique to emphasize the complex editing skills we can then add to for our following coursework. Once Dave has entered the room we have a Long Shot at a mid shot level acting as an establishing shot introducing Dave to the unfamiliar setting. This shot then pans around to the table of which I am sat at, once Dave is placed on the seat an over the shoulder shot is taken as I introduce myself with a conversation starting topic. We had to involve this over the shoulder shot rather than leaving the long shot zoomed in, as we noticed after the first time the acoustics of the room was an issue as the cameras microphone could not detect my voice clearly enough. We overcame this issue with involving an over the shoulder shot. This shot then reverses to over ‘my’ shoulder as Dave reply’s to my topic issued. The camera in from this view then flows into a smooth zoom shot and close up of Dave’s face implying the expression and emotion portrayed from the topic raised. Our ending shot introduces a high angle looking down on the both of us implying the scene is coming to an end, with a fade out ending the film.
I think next time we should involve the many technologies of the Adobe premiere elements such as effects this then can add a more professional finish.
I overall felt that I have learnt many new technologies and definitely used them to my full potential and am willing to use these basic skills to build on a more complex and professional film for my coursework.

Film Opening Analysis

GoodFellas -

I could detect straight away that this was a Gangsta style genre of film, by the opening couple of scenes containing a very low level of lighting introducing a fear of what we cannot see. The dress code of the three main characters we see within the opening two minutes are of a typical gangsta state in suits with a typical mumbling tone of speech. Within the first two minutes Martin Scorsese introduces a horrific violent scene including a stabbing, shooting and murder all in one, making the genre of film very clear to the audience.

The purpose of this opening scene is really to set the scene and date of the piece, simply but effectively done by a blank screen containing 'New York 1970' .

In this case the opening scene is a clip from further on in the film, a sort of flash back for Henry. Henry being a very important character, portrayed as being slightly more in the background to effect the audience and identify his characteristics to sympathise with him. This is carried out by a close up shot of his face containing an act of responsibility being the driver of the car.

The purpose of this opening inpaticular has been represented very effectively by using the opening credits as cars, this supports the tension of the scenes approaching.

Again low lighting is popular within gangsta films to incorporate an aspect of fearing what we cannot see. Introducing the colour of red bathing the characters within the scene implies a fact of danger and threat relating with a bloody future, incorporating the fear of death. These enigmas used, help construct a sense of an interest within the film to keep the audience hooked on.

Film Opening Analysis

Definitely Maybe -

This film is a similar genre to 'Notting Hill' a Romantic/Comedy. This is easily identified within the opening scene, starting with the main character being handed a divorce letter implying a disastrous relationship, immediately introducing an easy listening, fun loving song awakening the audience, representing that the divorce isn't a bad thing, things seem to be looking up. Opening the first scene with a divorce letter helps us to consider the genre of film, as a lively romantic.

The purpose of the opening scene is to help introduce the main characters and an important concise explanation of the current situation. Following the non-diegetic, happy music over the top, he uses a similar non-diegetic voice over the music introducing us to his lifestyle, on his way to pick up his obviously very important daughter from school, this part is made clear that it is very important by being incorporated in to the opening scene.

The purpose of the opening sequence was achieved through the media language by implying an expert film director, immediately recognising the rule of three which was used to frame the scene well, following a montage of a positive lifestyle again implying things are going to start looking up, this is used to hook the audience into the film to keep them eager to view the future of his relationships. Contradicting the cover of the film 'Three relationships, Three disasters' were as the opening music implies a positive approach to the film. Also including key imagery to set the scene of the film; yellow taxis, empire state building and a busy lifestyle, all this helps the audience to relate as the setting of New York.

Film Opening Analysis - Notting Hill

Notting Hill -
Again an easy identifiable Romantic/Comedy, implying a genuine love story -a man falls for a woman or visa verser. In this case the male (Hugh Grant) has fallen for a beautiful movie star played as Julia Roberts. Immediately portraying Julia Roberts as 'the worlds most beautiful woman' focusing on the contrast of her celebrity lifestyle compared to Hugh Grant as an 'average joe' living in Notting Hill with a lovesick admiration for the celebrity on the other side of the world.
The purpose of the opening scenes are to hook the required audience in, this is done by incorporating enigmas to keep you eager to watch the rest and see how things end up. This is a powerful technique very popular in film openings. This specific opening scene uses the contrast on lifestyles between the two main characters to build a realistic grounding to improve the USP (Unique Selling Point) of which, how the situation will end up, how and when Hugh Grant will let Julia Roberts observe his crush on her. This keeps the audience eager therfore hooked on the film, successfully intreaging the audience.
This purpose is achieved through the media language very successfully, constructing a powerful mixture of non diegetic sounds - as the film starts straight away a soft romantic song is being played over the scene to set the genre and identify its appeal as a Romantic/Comedy. Then after the brief montage of Julia Roberts constucting the effective imagary of her persona as an amazing very celebritised woman playing a Movie Star, then smoothly cuts on to the scene in Notting Hill in which Hugh Grant playing the lovesick average joe, again with a non-diegetic voice over acting as his mind. Introducing us to his lifestyle as he walks down portabello road, incorporating the comedy aspect of the film, the levels of lighting in this scene are vibrant and happy portraying that things might start looking up for him. The smooth and slow editing process of the opening scenes help us, the audience relax whilst presenting Julia Roberts as a powerful woman in slow motion, introducing an obviously important character.

This opening has influenced and help to construct my view on successfully mixing non diegetic sounds i beleive this is a powerful way of introducing and grabbing paticular target audiences.

Film Opening Analysis - Children of Men

Children of Men -
The genre of this film was easily identified within the first couple of minutes, consisting of a brief explosion and some sort of world pandemic, implying that this is an Action/Thriller style movie, further on in the clip i detected a futuristic use of Mise en Scene, placing 3D imaging display on the modern styled computer screens based in the office. Later on picking up on a very modern LCD television hanging from the bus, and running news advertisements covering the faces of block towers using 'Computer Generated Imagery' to reconstruct a modern city style, this then gave me the hint of an incorporated hybrid genre including 'Science Fiction' with a hint of 'Action/Thriller' scenes.
Opening sequences to films play a huge part in distinguishing the film by setting the scene, in this case currently in the future, year 2027. This opening helps us to identify the current situation of which London and the world is in; some sort of pandemic facing fears of the worlds collapsing state, involving something based on a slightly realistic scale such as a world pandemic, keeping the audience involved and eager to view more. This is a very effective and very popular over the use of modern films, involving the audience, based on realistic facts and enigmas in specific cases especially utopias and distopias in this circumstance. People are obviously infertile as the concise explanation of the news flow emphasises that the worlds youngest boy has just died at the age of 18. Involving main characters and applying useful background information is always very important to help set the scene for the viewer. Applying all these techniques into an opening sequence will help improve and construct a powerful opening.
The purpose of this film is achieved and constructed through media language by using effective and realistic camera shots and angles, for instance as the main character (Clive Owen) exits the static flow of citizens out of the cafe a hand held camera is applied to emphasise realism and improve the effective construction of the scene. As camera angles are very powerful, in this case emphasising a stone cold personality on our main character portrayed as being an anti-hero or hero to-be, further on in the film. Mise en Scene cleverly helps to illustrate his persona and the fact of him standing out as a main character by incorporating camera angles gaining the emphasis on power. Again involving Mise en Scene lights and costumes play a big part in illustrating the distopia era, constructing low lighting to imply a dark and depressing scene with the cast wearing very plain and dull clothing. Long shots also help set the scene with establishing the area and setting, in which the film is constructed. Mise en scene, involving sound effects the view on negativity of the scene, selecting a deafening ringing sound immediately after the explosion illustrating that it has a long term burst ear drum, traumatising effect.

I believe this hybrid genre may influence me and our group not paticularly down the science fiction but this has successfully helped me identify an understanding of how hybrid genre works.

First Edit

This is our first edit of a convosation, involving the 180 degree rule, using Adobe Premiere Elements.

Still experimenting

I've jus uploaded some 'gadgets'
a search bar to quick search
specific details on my blog,
aswell as a 'Most Viewed
Youtube Videos' gadget strip
lining the bottom of each page.
Hopefully this will suceed in
making my page unique.

Hyperlink Dummy

http://www.youtube.com/

Again im using these different
uploading mechanisms. To
add to my experience levels of
using 'blogspot'.

Youtube is one of the most
popular and widely used
video sharing websites
used worldwide, this
website will definetly
come in handy whilst
studying media as an AS.
I will be able to view old
tv drama series and
well made movies, which
will give me a much wider
insight into camera angles
and their effectivness.

Never Back Down Image

This is a practice image,

experimenting with

uploading images, generally

increasing my levels of

comfort using blogspot.

Never Back Down Movie Trailer

This is a dummy upload, just experimenting with uploading embeding youtube links.

Max's Media Studies

This is my first post on my blog, this year for my AS levels i will be studying Media, shortly i will be putting together a short start of a movie. Hold tight.