Thursday 30 January 2014

TREATMENT - PRE PRODUCTION Blog Post #56

Final Treatment
Pre-Production - Blog Post #56

Below is our final treatment of my groups opening title sequence written by Harry Denn:

'A police officer seeks revenge for the death of his partner, who was murdered by a group of ruthless criminals.' 

At the start of the film, two agents are sent to investigate a local abandoned ware house, after being told that there is the possibility that a major criminal group could be using it as a headquarters to organise their wrong doings such as money laundering, drug dealing and assassination attempts, which they have carried out in the past. The group have been previously convicted of ruthless crimes like these, but have managed to evade the police every time, and thereby naming themselves the ‘Get Away Group’. The group is composed of 4 members, each of which are highly trained and have crucial links to other major criminals located around the city. On the other hand the two agents are at a complete contrast with one another. The elder one, Bob, has spent many years in the job, and is highly advanced in knowing what to expect when, approaching dangerous scenarios such as these. His colleague on the other hand is in his first year, and has been assigned to be the apprentice of his far more experienced colleague.   

Just as the two agents arrive and reach the entrance to the building, they feel at risk that someone is watching them, little do they know, that someone is indeed watching them at a high vantage point at the top of a crane several streets away. Bob then tells his young counterpart that he should stay behind him at all times, regardless of the situation. Just as Bob enters the warehouse, he pauses, which crucially leaves his young apprentice still outside of the building and in the line of sight of the assassin. A few moments later the assassin puts his finger on the trigger, and looks down his scope, pauses for a couple of seconds, before releasing the trigger, and assassinating one of the two agents. This causes confusion, grief, and loss to Bob, who decides to abandon the mission, but finds himself trapped in the entrance to the warehouse, as he is still unaware of where the assassin is located and whether he stopped aiming down on the warehouse where he is located. Instead he decides to ring the police force for help. However, by doing this, he catches the attention of one of the criminals, and is captured and held hostage. 

When the police officers arrive, they instantly receive information that the warehouse is home to the four members of the Get Away group, and thereby proceed with caution. The police bring 15 units to the scene, vastly out numbering the four elite criminals inside. They proceed into the building from every entrance, surrounding the criminals. Each police officer is armed with a taser gun, and a normal pistol in case things get out of hand. The criminals realise what is happening and try to make a desperate lunge for freedom, by sliding down the roof, and jumping to the ground. It came to no avail however, as the drop from the roof was so high, that they almost killed themselves when they crashed to the ground. This therefore gave the officers an easy task of simply carrying the criminals into the police van, where they were taken to the station, where they were arrested, and put on trial, and found guilty, thereby facing life behind bars. As for the family of the young agent who was assassinated, he was flown back home to his family, wear they entire town turned up for the 
funeral, or what they described as a ‘heroic, agent, who put his life at risk to save everyone elses.’ 
At the start of the film, two agents are sent to investigate a local abandoned ware house, after being told that there is the possibility that a major criminal group could be using it as a headquarters to organise their wrong doings such as money laundering, drug dealing and assassination attempts, which they have carried out in the past. The group have been previously convicted of ruthless crimes like these, but have managed to evade the police every time, and thereby naming themselves the ‘Get Away Group’. The group is composed of 4 members, each of which are highly trained and have crucial links to other major criminals located around the city. On the other hand the two agents are at a complete contrast with one another. The elder one, Bob, has spent many years in the job, and is highly advanced in knowing what to expect when, approaching dangerous scenarios such as these. His colleague on the other hand is in his first year, and has been assigned to be the apprentice of his far more experienced colleague.   

Just as the two agents arrive and reach the entrance to the building, they feel at risk that someone is watching them, little do they know, that someone is indeed watching them at a high vantage point at the top of a crane several streets away. Bob then tells his young counterpart that he should stay behind him at all times, regardless of the situation. Just as Bob enters the warehouse, he pauses, which crucially leaves his young apprentice still outside of the building and in the line of sight of the assassin. A few moments later the assassin puts his finger on the trigger, and looks down his scope, pauses for a couple of seconds, before releasing the trigger, and assassinating one of the two agents. This causes confusion, grief, and loss to Bob, who decides to abandon the mission, but finds himself trapped in the entrance to the warehouse, as he is still unaware of where the assassin is located and whether he stopped aiming down on the warehouse where he is located. Instead he decides to ring the police force for help. However, by doing this, he catches the attention of one of the criminals, and is captured and held hostage. 

When the police officers arrive, they instantly receive information that the warehouse is home to the four members of the Get Away group, and thereby proceed with caution. The police bring 15 units to the scene, vastly out numbering the four elite criminals inside. They proceed into the building from every entrance, surrounding the criminals. Each police officer is armed with a taser gun, and a normal pistol in case things get out of hand. The criminals realise what is happening and try to make a desperate lunge for freedom, by sliding down the roof, and jumping to the ground. It came to no avail however, as the drop from the roof was so high, that they almost killed themselves when they crashed to the ground. This therefore gave the officers an easy task of simply carrying the criminals into the police van, where they were taken to the station, where they were arrested, and put on trial, and found guilty, thereby facing life behind bars. As for the family of the young agent who was assassinated, he was flown back home to his family, wear they entire town turned up for the funeral, or what they described as a ‘heroic, agent, who put his life at risk to save everyone elses.’

SHOT LIST - PRE PRODUCTION Blog Post #55

Shot List
Pre Production - Blog Post #55

Below is a shot list which I created as part of my groups pre-production. I had to outline all the possible shots that were going to be constructed on the filming day. As you can see there were 39 shots altogether, and I also outlined what shot it was itself (for example, saying whether it was a medium close up, or a long shot etc), I also stated how long each individual shot will last as well as given a brief explanation on what happens in each shot.



Wednesday 29 January 2014

PROPS - PRE PRODUCTION Blog Post #54

Pre-Production: Props
Blog Post #54


Below is post on props as part of pre production, this was created by Jeremy Cannock, his
responsibility for the pre-production was get the props that we would need for filming.

My first priority was to secure weapons for the two police officers, I though that hand guns would be preferable and fortunately I owned two BB guns that we could use. However the hand guns where originally blue so I had to spray paint them black in order to make them look realistic and not ruin the illusion of the film. Once painted the guns looked good but I added a silver finish to a small section on the barrel where the firing chamber would be exposed when fired, making the guns as realistic as possible. 

 The other gun that I needed was a sniper rifle for the assassin to use when shooting, I was firstly unsure how I was going to get hold of this and if we would then be able to film it in a public space. Fortunately I persuaded a friend to let use his air rifle for the filming although he had to be present while we had it in the open and we changed the location to my house which is a more secluded to avoid any scares where people called the police about young adult brandishing weapons.


I also needed a shell casing from a round that had already been fired from a weapon but unfortunately I couldn't get hold of one so had to use an empty shotgun casing that I had at home.

We also needed a rifle for the assassin to use, fortunately I knew someone who owned and was licensed to use an air rifle and I managed to persuade him to let us use his rifle for filming but he had to be present during the time we had it in public view.

Tuesday 28 January 2014

COSTUME - PRE PRODUCTION Blog Post #53

Costume
Pre-Production - Blog Post #53


Below is the pre-production of our groups work created by Jeremy Cannock, he role was to
decide and acquire costumes which we would need in our opening title sequence.


To do this I looked at other police themed film/tv shows to get inspiration, such as Hawaii 5-0, NCIS and Hot Fuzz. I found that I took the most inspiration from the costumes of Hawaii 5-0, as I thought that the shirt and tie with a protective vest over the top suited the 'detective' characters I had to create. However as our film would be set in England I decided to look at an British biased police film, I looked at the character on the left as his costumed fitted the profile extremely well but the fact that hot fuzz is a comedy and the fact that this character seems overloaded with weapons seem too over the top and adds a comical effect to the scene (something that I did not want to recreate in my own work).
 From this picture you can see the costumes that we used in our final OTS, I decided that the superior agent (right) should be the one with the gear like a hip holster and tactical vest was it reflects his increased experience. But mainly this was down to lack of resources and only being able to secure one vest for when we where shooting, however I added dialogue to the script where the superior agent asks his partner why he is not wearing his vest in order to avoid any confusion for the audience. The other agent wore a black suit showing that he was official and black is an excellent colour for urban camouflage, black also connotes death and provides a subtle foreshadow to the fate of his partner.
Tactical vest worn by superior agent (borrowed from a friend)
Over all I think that the costumes worked very well as they where realistic enough to make the film believable and not ruin the atmosphere and people where easily able to identify that they where some form of law enforcement by looking at their clothing.

Hip holster (bought from army surplus shop)

Hip holster worn by superior agent

Saturday 25 January 2014

LOCATION - PRE PRODUCTION Blog Post #52

Location
Pre Production - Blog Post #52


                           
Pre Production - Location - Fateh Khaled from Fateh Khaled

Above is a powerpoint I created which was imported onto slideshare, showing you where we are going to film for our final opening title sequence, I have shown you each individual aspect of each shot. My job was to create the location part of the pre-production as well as the risk assessment and the shot list.

Possible Locations:

As mentioned in the powerpoint, our initial media film was supposed to be filmed in Hemel Hempstead town centre but due to health and safety reasons and risks unfortunately we could not film there, but as part of pre production Harry Denn went and filmed there before knowing we couldn't film there.


         

We might also film in the office at the beginning where Jacob Osman ( a member of our group will call receive a call about the assassin). The pictures below were taken by me at my schools sixth form office.
Below is our school's sixth form office, where the police caller would respond to an urgent call. The man who answered the phone in this scene was played by myself, but as we ran overtime this scene unfortunately could not be included in the final cut.




Jacob Osman also create a Kizoa presentation on both of the possible locations (Hemel Hemsptead town centre and sixth form school office)


Location: Hemel - slideshow


 

Friday 24 January 2014

STORYBOARD - PRE PRODUCTION Blog Post #51

Storyboard
Pre-Production - Blog Post #51

This is a storyboard created of the main scenes within our opening title sequence created by Jacob Osman as part of our groups pre-production. As you can see below each individual shot of how our project will be constructed when it comes to filming. x

Wednesday 22 January 2014

RISK ASSESSMENT PRE PRODUCTION Blog Post #50

Risk Assessment
Pre-Production - Blog Post #50

 


This is my risk assessment, the purpose of the risk assessment is to outline all the possible potential risks and how to solve them if we do ever come across them. Within our risk assessment one of the main outlined risk was the fact that as our project consists of the use of weaponry, this was a huge concern especially to the neighbourhood because if we were spotted with weapons (even though they were model guns) the neighbours wouldn't be able to distinguish the difference between the two, furthermore this could have resulted into police matters; which is why we informed the neighbours in advance prior to the production day in the next couple of weeks. When creating the risk assessment, I thought of all possible hazardous risks and put them together with a solution, so when it comes to filming we make minimal mistakes and are extra precautious.

Tuesday 21 January 2014

Camera Tests with the Canon 700D Blog Post #49

Camera Tests with the Canon 700D
Blog Post #49

In order for me to achieve the best final outcome for my opening title sequence, prior to the filming date i recorded some test footage from the camera in order for me to test the quality and get a better understanding of it's features as it is such an advanced camera, below is a video of me running test shots.

               

So as you can see in the video i demonstrate various shots such as a close up, medium shot, medium long shot, and a long shot to see the quality of the camera. As well as this I zoomed in on the camera to see how the quality was whilst zooming in, furthermore I focused on the 'push' door handle to see the 'auto-focus' feature in action. When it comes to filming the final opening title sequence, I tri-pod will be used, the reason why I didn't use a tripod in this video was because I did not have access to any.

Monday 20 January 2014

Final Logline Blog Post #48

Final Logline:
Blog Post #48

In my previous blog I stated a logline for my opening title sequence:

''A police officer is saddened after the death of his partner, he is now trying to get revenge as his partner was murdered by an assassin''

Although I was happy with the opening title sequence logline, I wanted to know what other people thought about it so I asked a few people on Facebook on what they thought about the logline. Many had stated that there was too much writing and 'went on' for a bit and that it could be shortened to intrigue them more, as well as this one person said that it would be better the describe the assasin rather than having the word on its own. Below are pictures of the feedback I was given by my contacts on Facebook. This type of new media was very helpful with getting feedback as it was almost instant, and it is a really quick and convenient way to interact to my audience.

























After receiving this feedback, as a group we decided to change some aspects of our logline, making it more condense and intriguing to the audience, below is the new and final logline for my opening title sequence. 

'A police officer seeks revenge for the death of his partner, who was murdered by an infamous assassin'

Sunday 19 January 2014

Logline for my opening title sequence Blog Post #47

Logline for my opening title sequence:
Blog Post #47

After doing research into loglines and the importance of loglines, my group and I have finally come up with a logline for our opening title sequence:

'A police officer is saddened after the death of his partner, he is now trying to get revenge as his partner was murdered by an assassin'

So the idea behind our logline keeps the audience in suspense, the logline itself creates a sense of enigma as to why his partner was killed in the first place, it may question the audiences head such as 'how will he get revenge' and 'does he succeed in doing so?'. I believe that this logline is also effective, and may divert a lot of attention for the reasons given above. 

Saturday 18 January 2014

Skype Interview with Mike Harrowes #46

Skype Interview with Mike Harrowes
Blog Post #46

Today in class our class engage in a Skype conversation with Michael Harrowes via video call. Throughout the interview my fellow classmate Daniel Bruce was asking questions to Michael which was set by the class, the reason why we asked various questions was that Michael had previous experience in the filming industry (specifically editing) this enabled us to gain a better understanding of exactly what  we could do to our opening title sequences.

The questions that were asked Michael Harrowes are worded below and also a link of the video is attached:

1. Can you name 3 key things we should aim to achieve when creating our opening sequences?

2. Do you have any useful tips about what we could add to our title sequences in order to improve the overall quality?

3. What would you consider to be the most challenging aspect of editing?

4. How would you say the way editing differs when you go from editing say a Comedy to a Thriller?

5. How has the use of Foley enhanced the quality of your films?

6. Using editing alone can you increase the intensity of a film/ sequence?

7. Can you tell us about the importance pace and rhythm have on a film?

8. How closely do you work with the director in a film?

9. In terms of editing how would you describe the thriller genre itself and how it should be portrayed 
via editing?

10. And to finish, what element of the editing process do you yourself enjoy the most?


        

Thursday 16 January 2014

Editing Thriller - Blog Post #45

Editing Thriller
Blog Post #'45

A Skype call has been organised in the upcoming week with Michael Harrowes, Michael is a BAFTA nominated editor who is currently editing a horror drama for British television. He has previously worked on other TV series such as "Agatha Christie: Poirot" and "Mr Selfridge''. 

The questions that I hope to ask him will be:

1). How did you get into the media industry?
2). What has been the biggest project that you have worked on?
3). What tips would you suggest when editing our final opening title sequence?