This is our final animatic that Ram finished in final cut, we also added our ident to the beginning, to represent our group and production name. We don't have any sound for the argument because we couldn't get the portable microphone that allowed us to record outside. However if we had been able to add sound today we would have had the recording of voices shouting to represent the protagonists parents shouting. The music for the party scene is very rough, and it would probably sound very different when we actually film it. On the last scene where the protagonist runs down the street, we'll freeze the shot, to show a blurry still image of the character in mid run. This will emphasise the speed he's running and the fact he's running away from his life, and going out of control
Deadline for our animatic, and we have done everything but added some dialog, which would be the arguing of our protagonist's parents. However, as we can't find the portable microphone, to take outside the class room, rather than inside with the rest of the class in the background. so we are going to leave that for now, until our actual title sequence. Then we should be able to use it.
On Monday we plan to start filming our opening sequence. We will get the bus to one of our members-Danielle's house and start to film our sequence. We have limited time of which we are all available together, so we hope to film all of it. We thought carefully about who our actors should be and in the end we decided to take some of our friends who do performance studies or similar, to be actors in the sequence and hope they will be able to portray our characters effectively.
We are aiming to leave quite early, in order to get the outside shots while it is still light, we will then film the indoor shots when it is dark. However we understand the weather can be unpredictable and if there are problems with the light we hope to be able to alter this on 'Final Cut' or return to film again at a later time.
Last lesson, we gave our film pitch, which included our two mood boards, film synopsis and analysis of two films in our chosen genre. We got a lot of positive and constructive feedback. Most of the feeback was to do with the particular shot where out protagonist will be drunk. We know that this shot is deliberately breaking convention, but we've chosen to do that, as it makes our piece more unique.
Feedback: - To make the background party music distorted and warped, to emphasise the characters intoxication. - To maybe add some point of view shots when our protagonist is drunk, to indicate his disorientation, and to make the audience feel present.
These were the main points that we recieved, and whilst filming and editing, we'll try to apply these ideas to improve our sequence. Some of the ideas, may be too much, and going away further from the social realist drama conventions; obviously if this is the case, and the shots and sound doesnt work, we'll scrap that part.
We're very pleased with our feedback, and we got a positive opinion on our film extract.
In the opening sequence there is no actual introduction of the main characters from the film. Therefor, we have no protagonist to identify with. However, the sequence gives us the idea that the film is about events and trends in Britain, during the 1980’s. This is indicated by all of the clips in the sequence being news headlines and clips of this era. The clips include landmark events that happened during 1983, for example, you have the video clips from the Falkland Islands, and the war that was going on there. There are clips of street riots, and parades of people holding the Union Jack flags, Margaret Thatcher, aerobics and Roland Rat.
Towards the beginning of the opening sequence there are documentary like clips of a housing estate, where most of the windows are smashed and boarded up, and graffiti on the brick walls of the garages with smashes car windows. This also gives us an indication that the This Is England is about the working class and the state of England in the 8o's.
The music throughout the sequence is played by a group from the eighties called Toots and Maytals. There are some clips during the sequence of this particular group live on, what seems like Top Of The Pops.
Here is our animatic. This is only rough, as it has no sound yet, and will obviously look better once shot. Its also very short, so we'll increase the length.
Here is the second mood board. These ideas are more refined, as we now know what our opening is containing. We've involved things to do with drug & alcohol abuse, and also domestic violence, such as arguing.
The opening sequence of ‘She’s the man (2006)’ is a romantic teen comedy. The opening sequence very much focuses on a group of teenagers playing soccer on the beach. This strongly suggests that the rest of the film is going to be about soccer. The sequence also flickers between real life and cartoon stills. This could be read as the scenario of the movie being exaggerated, like a typical teen romantic comedy. The names of the actors and titles also come up with the cartoon animations. The title of the film ‘She’s the man’ first comes up as ‘He’s the man’ and then an animated ‘S’ gets put in front of it. This could be read as a switch between a girl and a boy, which is what the film is about as well as soccer. The diagetic music in the background is very ‘pop’ sounding. This is stereotypically the genre of music teenage girls like to listen too; therefore we can tell the film is aimed at a youth and probably female audience. The setting is also on a beach full of teenagers and a happy environment which suggests the film is going to be quite light-hearted. Even in the opening sequence we can tell the film is going to follow convention. This is because at the end of the opening sequence we see a boy and a girl both kiss. From this we can tell the movie is going to be based on a heterosexual romance. Having seen the film myself, I know that the film follows other conventions throughout the film. For example the main character has a makeover to turn her into a boy. It also provides stereotypical characters and is very comedic. However from the title sequence, we can tell that the film is going to challenge some conventions, as the main girl is playing soccer well with boys, which is stereotypically something the boy, ‘Jock character’ would do.
Parents are arguing in another room, while the male protagonist is in the kitchen, so he hears the argument about his fathers job loss due to the recession. The character isn't phased by the argument or the job loss, and silently sips a beer/ alcoholic drink. The movement is slow, and very unresponsive. This will be a mid shot, of the character, who'll be sitting at the kitchen table. By him overhearing the conversation/ argument, rather than being told himself, this will emphasise his isolation from his family.
From there it will cut to the protagonist who's at a crowded house party, his vision is skewed, to emphasise his intoxication. The camera is facing him, and wobbles, the same time he does. He wanders around the house, and eventually passes out. This is where it fades to black, to indicate him passing out.
After around 15 seconds, he wakes up, hungover and cranky, surrounded by other drunken people, who he doesnt know. There is then a close up of the character lying down, and in the process of gettin up. He gets up, and then sits up. This shot is slow, and silent. From there, there'll be a close up of him, to show the puzzlement in his face.
We then see the front door of the house from the outside. A few seconds later, the protagonist leaves the house and shits the door behind him. We don't see his face at this point. He then walks down the path of the house and onto the street path. After a few seconds of walking, he pelts it down the road. This shot will be frozen, and held. Then the title, and extra titles will show.
For the rest of the film we see our protagonist deteriorate more, as the situation with family gets worse. He then gets involved in drugs, and from there its a downward spiral. After the party, they meet a member of the opposite sex, who recognises him from that night, she/ he gets the protagonist into drugs, and involves him/her into a new group of people, who are bad influences.
Locations: - St. ives, under bridge, maybe dark? - council estates in st. ives - st. ives town centre (outside woolworths) main area - inside house.. party?
Ideas: - Credit crunch, to show how it effects the working class. - house party, effects of drugs & alcohol, on teenagers - young character gets involves in gangs/ drugs/ alcohol/ partying due to neglecting parents.
Shot ideas: - shot of drunk character who's vision is blurred, camera is facing him/her at a mid shot, showing us what he's seeing whilst facing him.
What information does the sequence give you about the film? How does it do this?
In the opening sequence of Kidulthood (Menhaj Huda, 2006) there’s many sections that give away a particular amount of information for the film to come. The first, and most obvious would be right at the start, before anything appears on screen, there’s non diagetic sound of school children playing, shouting and laughing. This sound turns into diagetic sound, as we then see the establishing shot of the playground. This indicates that the children or “kids” will have to unwillingly grow up and mature. Such as children acting like adults, or going through adult like situations, which is what actually happens throughout the film.
There are shots of the main character, which then move onto the next ones, this is so the audience knows who to focus their attention on. There are also several still shots of the boys playing football, which is a child & adult game. For that particular shot the time is slowed down, this would show that the normal time for a child to transition from child to adult, may be warped, and not normal.
The shots flicker from the playground to a drill. There’s only close ups and extreme close ups of the drill and its parts. This emphasises what the character’s doing and makes the audience question that it may be morally wrong or illegal somehow. One of the characters is handing out invites to his party; this is a typical thing for teenagers to do. He also mentions that his parents are away, which shows he’s rebelling, which is also a stereotypical trait of a teenager.
Adult authority is undermined by the children, as when the teacher is telling them to get inside, the protagonist merely looks at him, and the teacher grimaces and turns away. This emphasises the control they have over the authority figures in their life.
The group of boys start talking about sex, this shows that they’re already breaking the law by having underage sex, which is something you’re supposed to do when you’re “adult” enough. They also talk about girls in graphic terms, which’s similar to men, adults would think that young children shouldn’t be talking about things like that. This indicates that the characters sexual relationships will have a big role to play in the rest of the film.
The “bullies” of the film are purposely embarrassing their “victims.” It flicks back and forth from the boys, to the girls, separating the sexes, which is what young children tend to do. There’s no satisfaction from seeing their embarrassment, it doesn’t achieve anything, which highlight the childlike trivial issues they’re fighting about.
Rap music is also used in parts, which is generally associated with violence and gangs. This indicates what stereotypical characters will be shown in the film. It also shows that they’re in a rough, working class neighbourhood
Definitions and conventions of the five given genres
Social realist: a film that generally depicts culture to the given area. Usually in a suburban area with working class characters. Often uses handheld cameras, to give a documentary feel. The narrative is usually someone fighting to improve their life, which focus on current events. Often inexperienced actors are used. Natural sound and lighting is used. Examples: Malcolm X, Land of Freedom, Milk.
Teenage romantic comedy: Humorous scenes, relatable but often far fetched. Exaggerated scenarios, often based around prom night with very stereotypical characters. Usually based on heterosexual relationships, and generally a happy ending. Examples: High School Musical, Never Been Kissed, Mean Girls.
Crime caper with an ensemble cast: There's usually a leader of a group. storyline is based around sophisticated crime. Consequences of criminal actions arent seen in the film. Usually set in cities. Audience get a sense of subconcious relief by watching characters break free of society's rules. Identification encouraged with the criminals. Examples: Layer Cake, Oceans Eleven, Snatch.
Supernatural thriller: Usually to do with the paranormal and supernatural. Generally a hero or heroine, who has to save someone or retrive something. Sometimes having to find the "answer" to something. Examples: Minority Report, Donnie Darko
Adventure (Children): The characters are constantly placed in danger, usually trying to find something or someone, often involves magic or the supernatural. Usually have to face a fear, something that is explained earlier in the fim. Examples: Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia.
After looking through sound effects CD's we wanted a calming, almost childlike sound. We decided to use a music box, which made it seem very innocent, and went well with our production sequence.
We also added some animation to the words "twin" and "production" using key frame, we made the words come out from the frame. We also faded in the words, making "twin" come first and "productions" very shortly after.
We forgot to mention who's in our group. There's Ram, she's the one with black hair Then there's Harriet, she's small and blonde and, there's Danielle, who's got blonde curly hair.
For this project we'll be making a film opening for a certain genre. We'll be doing all the planning and development on here.
For the layout of our production sequence we decided to have two plain people, similar to the small images on the front of toilet doors. They'd be blank, with no faces and have same colours, but one of their heads would be the same colour as the others body. Twin productions would be over the top, in a formal font, in a neutral colour of white or black. The background would also be neutral.
