Sunday, 27 November 2011
Saturday, 26 November 2011
Costume - Geek
After we attended the Media Magazine conference me and Tayler decided that we should put extra effort into our costumes so that we won't lose any marks from them. We made three main costumes for the three main characters and then for any extras we paid less attention but still made sure that they were wearing costumes which fitted in with our movie.
Georgia Nicholson - The Geek.
Making the costume:
We didn't make the costume for Georgia, we just constructed it out of items of clothing that we all had. However, we wanted something that would make it obvious that she is a geek, and not a very popular girl. We paid particular attention to her hair though, as we have seen in Princess Diaries that Anne Hathaway portrayed a geeky school girl and looked like the picture on the right. So we took inspiration from this and we crimped her hair,and also made it look very frizzy, which is shown above. Bella, who is playing Georgia also bought in some of her Dads milkbottle glasses which we thought completed the look. The final costume is posted below.

Process of making the costume and the final product:
Friday, 25 November 2011
Coop Shots from below
Another idea that we had had was to shoot to Bella from below the building, to show the disruption that she may of caused to other passers by. We learnt easy on that the camera and tripod was quite difficult to control, as it was a bit shaky, and we were quite trigger happy! It took quite a lot of takes for us to make a smooth zoom all the way from the ground up to focusing on Bella. We then zoomed in and simply got some shots of Bella swishing her hair, as is stereotypical of many feminine superheroes, for example Wonderwoman. This worked quite well, although you can't really tell that Bella is high up on top of a building. Our last idea for this shot was to have someone standing below and pointing up to Bella, to show that she caused a bit of disruption and confusion to members of the public. We decided to follow Eloise's arm point up towards Bella, and zoom in slightly as we went towards her. This worked quite well I think as it followed through very smoothly. This scene is stereotypically British, which enforces the fact that this is a British made film, as it includes a cobbled street, a war memorial, a typically British pub and some British flags flying off of the building that Bella is stood on.
Problems and solutions:
- We had the problems of the tripod balancing on the cobbled streets was quite difficult and could of created some wonky shots, so we took a platform with us to help even this out.
- Bella wasn't incredibly visible on the shoots where it isn't zoomed in, so we pulled in an extra to help draw attention to her.
- Asking Bella to do what we wanted during film was quite difficult because of the distance between us, and we didn't really want to shout unless necessary as it may of caused alarm to any passers by, so we had a spare person who we bought along with us to stay with her on the phone so we could keep in contact.
- We also had the age old problem of people interfering with the camera and walking in front of it or ruining our recordings. To combat this we placed a sign around us which informed the public that we were recording for our coursework and we would really appreciate it if they could not interfere.
Thursday, 24 November 2011
Coop Shots from above
This was one of the first shots that we did with Bella, and it was one of the first ideas that we had altogether. The first few shots are of us zooming in to Bella and asking her to whip her hair and head around to look straight down the camera. We also had the idea of following down the church to give an idea of height from the top of the building. This is one of my favourite shots from this location, as I think it establishes the shot very well. I also thinks it shows how high up we are on top of the building, which makes it look even more impressive. We took a couple of takes for this to ensure that it was succesful and we wouldn't have to redo it. We also then zoom into Bella and ask her to spin her head around to do the same effect as before.
Problems and solutions:
- The floor was uneven so we needed to create a platform to combat this.
- The time when we decided to film this the weather was quite windy, which often blew Bellas hair out of her cape, which then ruined the shot, so we tucked it inside her cape to avoid this.
- Also, we didn't think about how the time when we filmed would effect how many people below there were, so it didn't look very busy which ruined the dramatic effect. We could try reshooting this scene at rush hour so as to create more drama.
Tuesday, 22 November 2011
Co-op film shooting
One of the first shots that we had planned to shoot was one which Topaz Spectre was on the top of a high building, and we were looking over her shoulder and one from the ground. We tried to think of places where it was possible to stand on top of tall buildings, and the idea of a multi storey car park in Newport Town Centre which is situated here. We checked that it would be possible for us to go up there and take some shots before we did. We also made sure that Bella would be completley safe by positioning her behind the wall on the car park, which is why in the shooting you can't see her whole body. We also ensured that she remained at least 2 metres away from the edge at all times.
Costumes - Topaz Spectre
Making of the costume:
The costume of Topaz Spectre we made mainly by hand, because we didn't really have anything already done that would suit our style. So, we found some fabric which I had down my garage, which was in both white and black, and we decided that this would be perfect for the contrasting personalities of the villian and hero. We also saw from our research that the villains were stereotypically dressed in darker colours, and the heroes were in brighter colours. So we took the white coloured material up to our art department at school, which you can see above, and folded it in half and painted a border around. We had decided that due to the superheroes name being Topaz, one of the main colours would be blue, and from our research, a lot of superheroes such as superman and [ENTER MORE] that one of the main colours of their costume was yellow. So we painted the border and also the main logo which we decided in an earlier post. [LINK] The rest of the costume was clothes which we had bought in from home, which also continued on with our colour theme, with electric blue leggings and a bright yellow top. She also had a pair of blue boxers on over the leggings, and bright stripy socks on, also continuing with the colour. The final piece of the costume was a mask, which we bought from a costume shop on the Island, and then painted on the make it stand out more. She also wore bright red lipstick and blue eyeshadow, to carry on with our feminist theme of making her even more womanly. Below is the final product of our costume.
Monday, 21 November 2011
Sunday, 20 November 2011
Crane shots
Before we took any shots in the crane, we had a risk assessment made especially for when we went up to ensure that whoever went up in the crane would be completely safe.
In total the crane height was 120 feet into the sky. I was wearing a harness the whole time that I was in the air for extra protection. I had a neck strap round my camera which was on my neck at all times, and I also had a walkie talkie to communicate with Andy, who was driving the crane, so I could tell him when I wanted to come down or if I needed any help. This was what I went up in:
Saturday, 19 November 2011
Panning shots
This is the filming of me in the crane. The opening shots are of me moving upwards in the crane, and the closing shots are of me going down. The shooting is a little wobbly due to a lack of tripod, and of course because I was haning in a cage. I think that this shooting location worked really well, as you can see for miles and miles, giving the illusion that this is all where the film will be set. I also think that due to the circumstances the movement is quite smooth, and it does look like we used a tripod. I like how you can see the cars moving along the roads in the distance, as it makes the whole shot look a lot more real.
Auditioning the actresses.
We decided from the beginning that we needed a good team of actors on board to make our film the best it could possibly could. After thinking about all of the people we could possibly get to act in our teaser trailer we came down to two actresses. We decided that we would create a little audition for them both to ensure we made the right decision. Here is a list of the pros and cons for both of the actresses we had in mind to choose the actress for Georgia Murphy/Topaz Spectre.
Bella:
Pros Cons
Attended the New York Conservatory for Holidaying at time of shooting
Dramatic Arts (NYCDA)
More available for shooting
Eloise:
Pros Cons
On the Island throughout shooting process More outside commitments
We then made this decision to roll with Bella because although she was away at times we thought that her previous experience made her more suitable for the part.
Bella:
Pros Cons
Attended the New York Conservatory for Holidaying at time of shooting
Dramatic Arts (NYCDA)
More available for shooting
Eloise:
Pros Cons
On the Island throughout shooting process More outside commitments
We then made this decision to roll with Bella because although she was away at times we thought that her previous experience made her more suitable for the part.
Inspiration for panning shot.
After analysing the Avengers
trailer, we decided that we really liked the look of the establishing shot,
which started the beginning of the trailer off. I personally liked the way that
it established the location of the movie, and also helped the audience to see
which genre the film is. The shot on the avengers was of mainly a city scape
which shows that the movie will be quite fast paced. However, we are limited by
being on the Island that there are no large cityscapes in our vicinity. So we
decided we would do a landscape shot, and we could also draw inspiration from
the opening shot of the Spiderman trailer. This is taken from high up, and is
of a naturalistic landscape in the night time. However, we decided to put our
own spin on this, and shoot in the day time, as our film is not as dark and
sinister as Spiderman.
Friday, 18 November 2011
Storyboard Draft
This is our first draft of our trailer for Topaz Spectre. We will work on it and progress to make a second storyboard when we have more ideas.
Wednesday, 16 November 2011
Names
For the
geeky schoolgirl we both decided that we wanted to have a pretty plain, simple
and quite a popular, common name. We Google searched the most popular girls
names that were around in 2000 in the UK and we
looked down the list to find a name that we both liked, and we both thought
suited the purpose quite well. We found that we both quite liked 'Georgia'
which was number 12 on the list. Then, for the surname, we simply Google
searched the most popular British surnames, and found this list, which we looked
through. We both knew that we didn't want a surname which was 'too popular' as
this might just seem as though we couldn't be bothered to think of a different
surname than, as for example, Smith or Jones. So we decided we'd start reading
through the list about halfway down, and then decided. One name that sprung up
to both of us straight away was 'Murphy'. It may of been number 55 on the list,
but we chose this as the final name for 'Georgia Murphy'.
We then
had to decide on a name for the Superhero. We had decided before, here [LINK],
that to help to make our movie have a feministic twist we would make our
superhero feminine. We researched some names for our protagonist, and after
googling feminine superheroes we found some of these names:
· Andromeda
· The Bionic Woman
· Blossom
· Elasti-Girl
· Halo
· Madame Xanadu
· Kim Possible
We also
noted that from the names above, a few of them, such as Elasti-Girl had their
superpowers written in to their names. We looked in a thesaurus for different
words which could describe invisibility. This linked us to ghosts, as they are
invisible, which then in turn lead us to Spectre.
This is
the dictionary definition of Spectre: Spectre or spectre usually refers to a
ghost or other apparition.
The route to choosing the name of
the name for the Villain was quite long and winding. Because we had chosen the
superpower of Mind Reading for them, our first thought was of a Magic 8 Ball.
The dictionary definitions of these are: The Magic 8 Ball is a toy used for
fortune-telling or seeking advice, manufactured by Mattel. The Magic 8 Ball
merchandise is often linked with mind reading, because the user asks the ball a
question to which they then receive an answer. We liked this original twist on
the power, and started to make the costume by painting the eight on the
stereotypically black cape of the villain. However this didn't look as great
visually as we had expected, but we had a flash of inspiration; that the eight
reminded us both of the sign for Infinity. We then changed this word slightly, which
led us to create the name that is, 'The Infinitive'.
Tuesday, 15 November 2011
Characters
We
decided to keep the plot of our trailer very simple by only including only
three characters in our teaser trailer, but also with a possible couple of
extras if they are needed.
Main
Character: A 17 year
old girl who attends high school. She is a bit of a loner and geek and doesn't
really have any friends. She is 'invisible' to the world, and doesn't feel like
anybody cares for her. This can be depicted in the costume that she will be
wearing, which will probably be very frumpy clothes, which don't show off her
figure at all, and are not in fashion. She will not be wearing much make up, if
any, and she will have very unfashionable hair style.
Superhero:
Will be
the main character but transformed into a superhero. She will have all of the
typical features of a superhero, with a cape, mask and funny costume. Her personality
will be quite strong hearted; however she will be forced to use her superpowers
as she won't be confident enough to stand up for herself and save the world.
Villain: This will be the normal
stereotypical villain, dressed in dark colours and also with a cape and mask.
We will exaggerate these elements to make him look even more 'baddy'-like which
will hopefully turn the audience against him, and make them empathise with the
protagonist.
Wednesday, 9 November 2011
Theorists.
In our
coursework we will be using the theory of Vladamir Propp which would
continue into the whole film, if we were to make it. His theory is that in each
story, there are eight main characters, these include:
· The Hero
· The Villain
· The Donor
· The Dispatcher
· The False Hero
· The Helper
· The Princess
· The Princess' Father
His
theory does not state that these all have to be separate people, for example
the Helper could also be the Princess. It is quite easy to guess what all of
the roles of these characters are, as it is mainly stated in the names (the
hero has to save the day, the princess is what the hero has to save, the helper
helps make it all possible). It is quite obvious that the two main characters
in our trailer will be the Hero (the superhero) and the Villain (evil nemesis).
However, further on in the story, or maybe shown in the trailer, the Hero could
have someone who is there to support them on the whole journey of becoming a
superhero, someone who knows what she has been through. There could also be a love
interest for the superhero, who could get caught in a trap from the Villain,
and they could become the Princess. The possibilities are endless for what we
could create under this theory.
Gustav
Freytag analysed
Greek and Shakespearean plays to create a dramatic structure. His theory was
that to create a successful narrative, they must contain the following in this
order:
1. Exposition or Introduction This introduces any background information which is
needed to understand what the story is, and also the problem which will need to
be solved.
2. Rising Action During this stage the original
basic conflict is complicated by the integration of secondary related
conflicts, which make it harder for the protagonist to reach his goal. The
secondary conflict could include adversaries of a lesser impact than the
original antagonist.
3. Climax During the third act, also known
as the turning point, a significant change occurs in the narrative for better
or worse. Whether the story goes better or worse for the protagonist depends on
which genre the narrative fits in to. For example, if the story is any kind of
comedy, or maybe a romance film, the story so far would have been negative for
the protagonist, and this act could show a change for them.
4. Falling Action At this point the conflict
between the protagonist and the antagonist is unravels, and it is revealed who
is the 'winner' out of the pair. The ending of the Falling Action is when the
viewer realises that the narrative is now moving on towards the resolution or
ending of the narrative.
5. Denouement, resolution or
catastrophe This is
where any conflicts that have been apparent during the narrative are sorted.
The main characters can then return to some sense of normality, and simply it
is the unravelling of any complexities in the plot. Once again, the genre of
the movie decides what the ending of the movie will mean for the protagonist.
If the film is a tragedy, then the protagonist will probably end up in a worse
position than at the beginning of the narrative.
Monday, 7 November 2011
Theory on superhero movies.
Why are superhero movies so popular? Well some experts think it's because they offer some sort of escapism from the 'real' world. Also because they contain "serve as a hope-inspiring figure, an image of someone who can save us all from dark and difficult times. Superhero movies promote the ideas of peace, safety and freedom. Some experts consider this message a necessary reassurance in difficult times. "serve as a hope-inspiring figure, an image of someone who can save us all from dark and difficult times. Superhero movies promote the ideas of peace, safety and freedom. Some experts consider this message a necessary reassurance in difficult times." [From this website] This makes a lot of sense to me, as I can see that people would enjoy watching superhero movies for the idea that there is something magical out there in the world, that there is hope for them to be something else from normal and boring! I think people also enjoy them because they're funny, they show a funny side to the normal action adventure films which feature people running from aliens or being chased by the police. They are also much more light hearted and easy to follow.
Saturday, 5 November 2011
Analyzing Student Film (Mel)
Part of our research and planning was to deconstruct 4 different trailers from the last 40 years, and to also analyse a student film which we could relate to our own work. We searched through YouTube thoroughly trying to find a superhero trailer which was done by Media A2 Students, or at least a related Action/Adventure trailer. However, we were very unsuccessful in this. We also thought that it would not be an extremely useful way to spend our valued time, as we wouldn't be able to take much from it.
Phantom (Mel)
VIDEO: This is a trailer for the film 'The Phantom' which is released in 1996. Because it's quite dated the special effects are quite unrealistic. It opens, as most trailers do, with a green screen stating that it is allowed to be publicly viewed and released, which is followed by the company logo. This establishes who it is made by, and lets the viewer see where they can find out more about the company behind the video, which they are hopefully interested in. The opening shot is quite dark which could be misleading about the genre of the film. It is set in a jungle type area, which immediately establishes where the main parts of the movie will be set. It looks like a group of explorers which are looking for something in particular which could be the main storyline. However, the next shot then moves on to two people on motorbikes jumping over a hedge. To me, the style of the hedge and what you can of the building suggests that it is in quite a posh, or royal, area. The next few shots then include a man, who I assume to be inside the building, pacing with some old fashioned equipment, an explosion which is outside, and some stained glass windows being broken from what looks like an explosion outside. Then there are a few fast snappy shots with large fades which link together the story. There are lots of skulls prominent in the next 20 seconds of the trailer, which, for me, misrepresents the genre of the trailer. Because I did a YouTube search to find superhero movies from the 90's, I at first doubted my search. Up until 00:35 there are no shots of the 'superhero' which makes the film look more like a Science Fiction or Action Adventure genre film rather than a Superhero Adventure film. Also, for the whole of the trailer the lighting is very dark, which suggests that it is a lot more sinister than most superhero films. Once the superhero is introduced, there is a temporal text which shows when the viewer can expect to see the movie in cinemas. Also from then onwards the lighting gets a brighter, and the shots become faster paced. There is also lots of fire and flashes involved, which brightens up the screen a lot more as well. The skull is also still prominent, and there are many adjectives which flash across the screen to help explain the trailer and make it more appealing to viewers. There also appears to many stunts going on, probably to make the film see more high class and Hollywood style, such as a truck falling off a bridge, several explosions, a car chase and abseiling down a lift. In addition to this there are several shots of the protagonist avoiding any immediate danger, which could endanger his life. At 1:14 the main antagonist is introduced, wearing a black eye mask which immediately makes him look like the 'baddy' of the movie. The trailer ends with some fonts being stretched across the screen showing the date of release and the title against a black screen. I'm not a big fan of this trailer, as I don't think that it shows a story particularly well. I think that it is very misleading, as the main character of the film is not introduced until about one third of the way through the trailer. I don't think that we will take much from this trailer into our own, apart from including a wide range of special effects in our trailer to help draw in our audience.
Avengers (Mel)
The trailer starts with an opening panning shot of where the movie will be taking place. This is an establishing shot and it helps for the audience to judge what the genre or pace of the movie will most likely be. Because the setting seems to be in a urban landscape you can tell that the genre of the movie will probably be some kind of action, which is very fast paced and exciting. It then cuts to a shot of a woman look out of a window, appearing quite scared looking at some kind of disturbance, which then cuts to a large explosion in a street. You would guess from the low angle of the shot of the woman that she may be one of the protagonists of the movie, although this is not certain, but the way the camera focuses on her does portray that. You then see two forces which are recognisable by the uniforms they are wearing: the army and police. They both appear to be shooting towards something which is a little higher than all of them, which shows that the opposing force is stronger than them, and they are possible scared by it. The next few frames of what appears to be the opposition have very dark and blue tinted lighting, which suggests a sinister feel to the group. There is then more explosions shown which coupled to the audio soundtrack suggest a turn for the worst. There is then again more evidence of the authorities with helicopters and official looking buildings. This then suddenly cuts to comic strips and the production company name. The music changes which sounds a little more 'sassy' which could denote some kind of romance, but in this genre probably just means the introduction of a main female character. This is then again confirmed with the entrance of a woman with bright red hair, who appears to be followed by two men. There is then a montage which shows all of the possible superheroes and them exploring their powers. This is another establishing shot but this time instead of it being for the landscape it is for the characters. This goes on for about 30 seconds, and is then followed by a group meeting of the characters who are figuring out 'what are we going to do?'. Proceeding this there are many more explosions and special effects used to portray disturbances to everyday life. There then appears to be many fight scenes between two different groups, with text appearing on screen sporadically reading such things as 'This May' and trying to hook the audience in to see the film even more. There is also then a small dialogue which says 'if you can't protect the area.... we'll avenge it'. This helps the viewers to see where a bouts the name of the film has come from, and once agin gives evidence that the movie will be filled with action. There is then the name of the film flashed across the screens in a relevant font, which leads to the last scene of the trailer, with some diegetic dialogue between two characters and some very fast shots of some more fighting scenes.
Kick Ass (Tayler)
Kick-Ass | Aaron Johnson | Matthew Vaughn | Christopher Mintz-Plasse | Movie Trailer | Review
This is the trailer for Kick Ass 2010.
0.00-0.06- Like the other this trailer includes a green screen for vital film information and also the production company’s logo, differing from 'The Amazing Superman' these are included at the very beginning rather than after some trailer action has taken place and this does work quite well to put the company recognition in the audiences mind as soon an possible.
0.07-0.19- This is a complex establishing shot taken from great heights. It doesn't establish the setting straight away but as the camera moves closer to the character (not a zoom) it then angles down over the city crating the establishing shot and also
Friday, 4 November 2011
The Amazing Spiderman (Tayler)
This is a film trailer for "The Amazing Spiderman" a 2012 superhero film which is still yet to be released making it first had research of modern day superhero trailers. I have chosen certain shots within the trailer with I like personally and show professional filming techniques.
0.04- Green screen
establishing if it's appropriate for the specific audiences.
0.06-0.09- The
establishing shot the camera pans the city from a high angle, this angle shows
the intensity of the film and also establishes the height setting as we soon
find out that the super power the protagonist gains allows them to be at a great
height. The height placed within the character implied their importance and
there rank in a social hierarchy.
This
shot is also shot in the evening which allowed the natural lighting to be used
to making the shot more interesting.
0.14-0.19- We are
shown a sequence of over shoulder shots which put together shows a shot reverse
shot conversation section within the trailer. The camera angles over the
shoulder of both characters so it appears that both are in the conversation,
however flips from camera 1 to camera 2 dependant on which character is speaking
then creating a conversation sequence. The angling with these shots are level
with the characters not showing any difference in power between them.
0.25-0.30- Here we
see a clever transition shot which represents the progression of time. This is
shown as the reflection of the young boy in the window then fading through to
the boy in his teenage years. The symbolism created with the rain creates a
negative atmosphere and a sad, loneliness within the character which has also
been emphasised in the narrative within the trailer already showing the
abandonment of the protagonist by his parents.
0.31-0.34- Here the company
logo has been inserted for personal company promotion. Including this so soon
within the trailer gains recognition and also informs the viewer where to
conduct extra research if they want to find out more about the
film
The
rest of the trailer is linked together with a fast combination of shots taken
from the film at various points. These shots are a wide variety of
settings, vital characters to the plot and snippets of icon moments within the
film. The editors have to be careful when selecting which snippets of shot to
include to make sure the audience are going to understand the genre, and plot of
the film without revealing the main storyline which then entices the audience
to want to watch the entire film.
To
make these shots link together effectively they have to be fast 2 second
snippets transitioned with quick fades. As the trailer becomes more intense and
the action progresses into the main superhero action the transitions turn to
cuts to make the action progress at an intense pace and also increase the
intensity of the action within the trailer.
1.42-2.16- This here is my favourite shot
within the entire trailer. This is an abstract point of view shot. The
character of the "The Amazing Spiderman" inhabits spider
characteristics enabling him to move at increasing speeds along all dimensions
and angles, griping to walls of 90° and also 180°. The shot has been creating
following the type of route a spider would be able to run along, moving over
the tops and sides of buildings and and using a web to swing from one to
another. The shot is shown to us as though the camera is looking through the
eyes of the character moving smoothly at a fast pace along the trail. This is a
really impressive shot, to create such a smooth route with a pace so fast. The
strength in this shot is in the last second 2.16
when we finally see the character in their superhero costume as "The
Amazing Spiderman". This is the last thing we see before it's cut
dramatically.
2.20- Onwards from
here we have text shots of the logo and vital information for the audience of
the release date, rating information and the film title. This trailer shows all
of these really clearly and does state that the rating is yet to be decided by
the BBFC (British Board of Film
Classification)
25 word pitch
One of Pete Fraser's techniques for making sure that the production we are working on for our coursework will be successful is to ensure that you can explain the plot of the film in just twenty five words. Here is my attempt at explaining what we are hoping to produce in twenty five words:
We are producing a stereotypical superhero film aimed towards teens about an unpopular student who inherits superpowers and is forced to save the world.
Thursday, 3 November 2011
Permissions
We created permission slips for anyone in our film to use, which would help to keep the professionalism intact for our whole filming process. We highlighted all of the conditions that the actors would be under, for example that they could be used in our Media coursework and that any clips of them may be published on the internet for our benefit. We also made sure that they are aware that our trailer, with them in it, will be distributed across the country to any exam boards which are required to examine our coursework.
Tuesday, 1 November 2011
Production Company
We created a Production logo for our company which would be shown in any official documents that we print out for our trailer. Tayler made the image part of the logo, by drawing the pants out on paint, and colouring them in. I made the text on a text generating website, and then using GIMP cut out the background of the text, meaning they could fit on top of the pants. We decided on this image and the name 'Why Fronts' because we wanted something which would reflect our light hearted feel to our film, which made it seem quite fun, but without being funny. While we were deciding on the colour of the pants, we decided straight away we wanted to use a primary colour. We knew this because Primary Colours denote simplicity, which is a feature that we wanted to display in our teaser trailer. After doing some research, we discovered that, according to Wikipedia Red is used a lot in advertising because it is useful to "gain more viewers". It has also been discovered by scientists that "red carries the strongest reaction of all the colours" which is why in the end we decided on Red. We chose the font that we used in the end because it looked quite like the style of a comic book, which is the style that we are aiming for.
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