Group Photos from Location Reece | Final Task

'Anonymous' Rough Cut | Final Task

Below is the rough cut for 'Anonymous'. All of the footage is currently in a flat profile, as we will colour correct and grade once we have decided on the fundamental aspects of the sequence. Moreover we are yet to edit the end of the film sequence, but hopefully this rough cut will give an idea to what the final version will look like.

Film Opening Titles - Font Research

The James Bond typeface is very iconic due to the establishment of the brand. The spacing of the words are wide to emphasis the name and the look of the franchise. Moreover all of the names are in full capitals, which makes the words stands out more to the audience.

The Colour Scheme - The colour’s used in this opening title are kept simple but still effective. Having white font overlaying onto a dark eerie backdrop makes the titles stand out more, which then in turn will attract the audience. 

The Font - The font for ‘Skyfall’ looks classy and traditional which reflects the nature of James Bond. This means that this type of font will embellish into the film and therefore make the film look more professional overall.

‘The Imitation Game’ (2014) is one of my favourite designs in terms of the typography that was used. This film is set in World War II, where a mathematician, Alan Turing tries to crack the enigma code to win the war. The opening titles to this film is very effective as all the credits have been animated and designed to look like a code. This means that animation of random letters to form the credit worked very effectively as it fits well with the context of the film.

The colour scheme of the typography is bright white which dominates and takes your eyes to the letters rather than the images behind in. 

Unfortunately I cannot get hold of the opening titles, but the trailer uses the same pattern and method of portraying  the text - which can be viewed below. 

Behind the Scenes of 'Anonymous' | Final Task

Saturday 14th February

Last Saturday we travelled up to London for the day to film the London sequences. We found that shooting on location, especially a busy city like London can have have many rewards but also multiple drawbacks. A great aspect about shooting in London is that the opening will look realistic, due to the filming locations being in a natural circumstance. Moreover, filming in London was a major advantage as it allowed us to ask members of public to take part in our opening. This was very useful for us as we needed over 20+ people in our opening and by using unknown characters, the sequence will then look much more realistic. To ensure legitimacy to the public, we showed them a written consent from our teacher before they took part in our video. 

However, there were some drawbacks that were obviously going to be expected. For example, one major issue we faced was trying to produce high quality footage while working around with the public. Due to this being a non-budget film and for educational purposes we had no control over the public. For example, one of the clips shows a courier getting onto the tube which then cuts to a different courier getting off the same tube at the next station. As you could imagine this could be a nightmare trying to get to the next station, and hoping for a different courier leaving the tube to be in the exact same position with public not getting in front of the camera and blocking the view. Other drawbacks involved weather, time and lighting. 

Below shows a behind the scenes video from Saturday.

Monday 16th February

This extract of the sequence is arguably the most important aspect of the opening sequence to our film, because it is the first thing the audience sees which means that we want them to be immersed into the film as soon as possible. Below shows some photos and a video of behind the scenes from Monday. Many thanks to Macy's Butchers for their generosity in letting us film there. It enabled us to create really nice shots of the butcher and the meat itself, to make it portray like a body being chopped up and then thrown into the red holdall. After the butcher scene, we got shots of a customer and first courier of the red holdall (Louise's grandfather)  walking out of the butchers and heading to the train station. From the train station, this is where he would pass the holdall onto the second courier. 

Ellipsis Sequence Trial Run | Final Task

Preparing for Ellipsis Sequence | Final Task

Before travelling up to London and shooting the ellipsis sequence we needed to ensure that it would work and look effective, and due to its nature of complexity it was crucial that we did test shots for this. We first discussed what we wanted to get out of the ellipsis sequence in London and then went around Shiplake to film test shots. 

Following from our discussion, in our test shots we focused on arches and fields to see how the comination would create a effective montage. One of the main technological features that we needed to test was to see if the grid setting (6x4) would be useful when aligning the person with the frame. Framing in this sequence is very important as we needed to make sure that the person carrying the bag and walking towards the camera was walking in a straight line and centre of the frame. This means that all of our shots of someone walking would be framed exactly the same as everyone else.

Another feature we had to test was whether the colour splash effect would work. To test this we imported a cinestyle flat profile so that we could get as much data from every shot. This means that we  can get a much colour depth in each shot which will improve the look of the colour splash. All of the colour splashing is done in the post-production stage. In Premiere Pro CS6 there is a video effect called 'remove colour'. This allowed me to remove all of the colour in the frame and focus on just one colour, and in this instance I focused on the reds. However, as always there will always be other reds in the frame, so by adding a garbage matte we can just focus on the red bag and eliminate other reds from the frame.

Below shows timelapse of us shooting the Ellipsis Sequence.

Equipment Checklist | Final Task

Below shows a table showing all the equipment that we need for our filming day in London. Each piece of equipment has been checked to see whether its available on this particular day and has been signed off. In addition to this, we all brought in all the equipment that was needed before the shooting day to either use it for practice shots or undergo quality checks of the equipment. 

Shooting Schedule | Final Task

This Saturday we hope to film all of the London footage (14th February) and next Monday (16th February). Below shows in detail our shooting schedule for both days of filming. This resource is crucial as we aim to stick to the schedule as accurate as possible so that we can cover everything we need to do. This shooting schedule covers; date & time of filming; timecode of sequence; location; cast&crew; equipment/props; shot type and extra notes.

Storyboard | Final Task

Influences | Final Task

We used multiple influences to drive our ideas for our opening title sequence. The first man influence was from the case of MI6 agent, Gareth Williams, who died in 2010. Gareth was found locked in a red sports bag, in his flat in Pimlico, London. The significance of this event is that no DNA was found around the bag, and in his bath tub to where the bag was, which marks a question to how he ended up padlocked into a bag and questions the idea to whether he killed himself. We took parts of this event and incorporated it into our coursework as we thought that creating a mystery is a very effective way to keep the audience hooked from the start. We will have a red bag advancing around London by different people (accusingly spy agents) passing it on. This goes along the idea of a spy agent/person being locked into a red holdall and being travelled around London and beyond.

Another influence we used was from a video called 'Move' on Vimeo (below shows). This short video shows a man travelling around the world, and to speed up time, the location is changing in the background every second. This is a effective technique as you can speed up time and she every location the man went to, while making the video look unique and creative. To develop this idea for our opening film titles, we hope to have the red bag being exchanged quickly from courier to courier while having the location changing in the background. This is very appropriate for our opening as we want to show that the bag is always on the move and being passed between multiple people throughout the day. 

The opening titles to Dexter was also another main influence that we used in our coursework. The titles is based around the main character (a serial killer) waking up and undergoing his morning routine. His normal routine consists of brushing his teeth and making the breakfast, for example. The uniqueness of this is that each image of his routine is made to look sickening and jaunting. With metaphoric references to blood and murder, as an audience we are naturally curious to watch on; even though this type of daily routine is innocent as possible. We are taking moments from this titles and developing it into our coursework by setting the start of the titles in a butchers. Each image in the butchers will show a butcher cutting meat and then a person walking out with the red holdall. This will therefore act as an enigma to whats inside the bag; meat or a body?

More Film Research | Final Task

Below shows more movie statistics of a sample of thriller films. The stats show how much each filmed made in terms of 'domestic gross' and 'worldwide gross'. It also states the films production budget. By comparing different thriller films (both independent and major) I can then create a gauge to to how thriller films generally make. 

Major (Blockbuster) Films:

Independent (Low Budget) Films:

Here you can see that these two films have a big difference in domestic gross made. This is mostly down to the size of Take Shelter's production company, compared to Dead Man's Shoes. However independent films profit do differ massively because of other reasons, one being big distributors  or or large companies investing in their films. For example, submarine is a great example. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. Due to its initial popularity, The Weinstein Company picked it up for a American Release. This independent film became a huge success due to The Weinstein Company investing in it.

Secondary Research | Final Task

Hollywood is one of the biggest film industries in the world and is known as the ‘movie capital of the world’. The film industry produces the worlds best movies and best directors and producers of all time. However the future of film is changing in terms of the way films are produced and shown to the audiences. Hollywood produces all types of films but these films always have a enormous budget, which generally results in a blockbuster. Compared to the television industry, the budget is so much they can afford to splash out the cash in many areas. This is not just included in the production process but also the marketing, CGI of the movie, for example.

There are 6major film studios in America that make the most revenue in films. The top 6 are: Walt Disney, 20th Century Fox, Paramount, Sony, Warner Brothers & Universal. 

Each institution aim to be unique from the others (this is why they are all so successful!) By doing this they decide on a target audience and produce films based on what they expect their audience to like. For example, 20th Century Fox mainly focuses on producing media texts for Teenagers and Young Adults. However due to their establishment and growth they have expanded into the markets that contain different types of audiences

The Money in a Movie: Hunger Games

Production company: Color Force

Distribution: Lionsgate

Director: Gary Ross

Budget: $78million

Worldwide grosses: $691million 

Starring

Jennifer Lawerece

Josh Hutcherson

The Hunger Games hit profit in the first day of Box Office. Due to the vast popularity of the movie, many of the actresses and actors, mainly Jennifer Lawrence had a pay increase from 500k to $10million for the next film.

Here shows the top grossing films of all time for Thriller - On the Run films. The top ten have made over $100million, and nearly all of them are produced by an American institute. Including a worldwide gross will almost double every films profit, which shows their popularity and establishment. Safe House (2012) made over $126million in domestic gross, and just short of $208million in worldwide sales. Films like Safe House, come under the genre of Action/Thriller, and by looking at the sales of multiple thriller films it is very clear that this genre is popular and marketable.

I also visited the website Pearl & Dean. This website differs from box office mojo and you can see in detail the viewers of a specific film, such as the percentage in age or gender. For example, the film 'Enemy' shows all of the viewing figures on the website. It says that there is a 65% viewing from males and 35% form females. Due to this film being a thriller/crime this is perfect for the development into our opening sequence as it gives us a gauge to what target audience we need to base our film on. It also shows that people from 15-24 has the most viewing figures.

Planning For Our Storyboard | Final Task

Risk Assessment Form | Final Task

Conducting a risk assessment is crucial before shooting on location. Especially for us, filming outside school generally has more risks due to the fact that we are filming in public areas. Nearly all of our opening sequence is based around London and by having a risk assessment it will allow us to identify the risks associated with where we are going and the situation we are in. When filming, we need to understand what control measures need to be taken if we do get into any sort of dangerous situation. Below shows our risk assessment for this specific shoot, and due to the fact that Connor has conducted it, he will brief us before shooting starts so that we all understand the hazards that may arise. For example, we need to be aware of traffic (especially around the busiest parts of London) by understanding the Highway Code.

Primary Research - Questionnaires | Final Task

We also went down the route of questionnaires as well as interviews, as we wanted to have a diverse range of research methods, so we could then produce the most accurate findings as possible. To ensure depth into our results, nearly all of our questions were designed as open ended question rather than closed questions, which will lack in detail. Moreover we chose questionnaires as well, as it allows us to receive large amounts of information in a short period of time, whereas interviews took much longer to collect information. Below shows the questionnaire we sent out to our social media and email accounts, and the responses we received. 

Primary Research - Interviews | Final Task

Our target audience for our film is both male and female from 15-55. We thought this age range was a suitable choice as the genre and complexity would generally only cater for people over the aged of 15. People under the age of 15 therefore may find the film complicating due to the nature of it being a spy based thriller and the in depth connotations made. From considering our target audience, we had to carry out some primary research to see if this was the approbate age range.

Primary Research is another vital process in the Pre-Production stage. To make sure we covered this stage thoroughly we used multiple mediums to collect information. We filmed 2 groups of students (6people) at Shiplake College to gather information. In addition to this - we also collected information through the use of online questionnaires and sharing them onto our social media, and interviewed a few members of the general public that came under our desired target audience. Interviewing in my mind is a very effective technique of research methods as it allows the interviewer to explain answers and opinions in more depth - rather than just giving them a multiple choice questionnaire which doesn't show how much thought a respondent has put in.

Below shows a three part series to our Audience Research. For the first two groups (Shiplake College students) we asked them to watch a clip of 'Skyfall' and then discussed about what they liked and disliked about it. The third part was a gauge for understanding to how we need to convey our opening sequence and what needs to be included. 

Treatment Presentation | Final Task