Friday, 10 May 2013
Costumes and Actors
Our costumes are stereotypical for what our characters are - the criminal is hooded and we won't see his face until the end of the opening sequence and it will still be dark around him. I will be playing the hooded criminal. Most of the shots are point of view for my character and others are over the shoulder so my height doesn't come into play. We chose Matthew Sloan to play our stressed businessman because of his willingness not to shave and his overall build. He is broad and tall, wearing a stereotypical businessman's outfit of a suit and tie. This outfit when worn properly may suggest that he is in control, however, in out film, it will look messy and Matthew will look stressed - the illusion of control is taken away by the line of cocaine and the alcohol on top of the messy appearance he no longer has time for.
Script
Our final script can be seen below, as an improvement to the preliminary we have focused a lot more on structuring this script to keep the audience interested and listening, we are still deciding what music to play below the voiceover.
(Voiceover) Matt: Why is it as life's boundaries begin to expand, there's always someone to get in the way? Well. It was while it lasted. Even with all my money...and what I presumed to be a flawless system... I must have missed something - but what?
Intruder *shouting*: There's no point in hiding boy! If you run - we'll catch you!
(Voiceover) Matt: What happened to me? I was a somebody... I was notorious... I was... untouchable.
(Voiceover) Matt: I helped people with drug problems. Then I realised drugs weren't a problem - they were a solution.
(Voiceover) Matt: I helped people with drug problems. Then I realised drugs weren't a problem - they were a solution.
Inside Man
Shot Types
Over the shoulder
Action Match
Wide Shot
Close Up
Two Shot
Arial Shot
Dolly
Titles
The opening scene opens with a character speaking very frankly to the audience in a black area completely devoid of features, this emphasizes the importance of what the character is narrating by ensuring that the audience is focusing entirely on the character and what he is saying. As well as this the blank background adds to the sense of mystery and shows that through the film the audience will be shown only as much information as they need to see, at the time they need to see it.
Music
The soundtrack is very minimal in the first segment to, again, allow the audience to focus on the main character. Despite this there is some non-diegetic synth music if the volume is raised high enough. this is likely to give some ambient noise for the audience as pure silence can be disconcerting to listen to for the audience. In the van segment the music is very loud and overwhelming (in direct contrast to the first part) and seems to be of Indian culture, this may help the reader identify the setting of this flashback. The music track has a very fast tempo and cheery sound which is contrapuntal to the scene, as we know the van is on it's way to rob a bank. This gives a good effect and lightens the tone of the scene.
Mies en Scene
"The only initial clue to the character's personality/purpose are his clothes, which are very dark in color. This would normally influence the viewer into thinking the character was the antagonist or morally corrupt, however this is at odds with the way we are introduced to the character, which immediately makes the audience associate him as the protagonist of the film. These two factors clue in the audience that this character is an antihero of sorts, someone who the audience are intended to root for but who other characters would not. It is shortly revealed that he is a morally corrupt character as he is in a prison cell, however his clothes do not seem to match this (as they don't resemble prison uniform) this could either be an inconsistency in production or be a hint that the man is narrating from a time after he was imprisoned."
Target Audience
The target audience of this film is fans of action thrillers or films which focus on a bank robbery theme, the characters follow general conventions from movies made in this style, the main difference is the story which provides a rich in depth riddle for the audience to follow.
Distribution
This film is distributed by Universal Pictures which usually focus on large budget box office films, the movie was budgeted at 45 Million USD. Other movies on this genre produced by Universal include, fast and furious and the Bourne series.
Social Groups
The social groups represented in this film come in the form of criminals and the investigation and negotiation team, these are portrayed as very advanced and smart characters, the criminals are well organized and are well prepared and the investigation/negotiation team are very intelligent in their ways of resolving the situation made very difficult by the criminals.
Audience Expectations
Any audience who enjoys action thrillers would thoroughly enjoy this film, the constant twists and developments in the story allow the user to try and decipher and attempt to understand the acts performed by the criminals as the film progresses.
Lighting
We are going to use two small lights to help us get rid of any graininess that may show up on our clips due to poor lighting. We have tried this once when filming before and the video quality of an iPhone 4 was also not high enough for what we would have liked so when we next film we will use these two lights again and instead shoot with a Panasonic TM900. We have to be careful about shadows showing due to the way our lighting is done - footage could end up having to be re-filmed which would not be good handling of our time, we were careful with the iPhone 4 and it went well so we have to do the same when re-filming these clips. In the offices themselves we also kept the same lights on throughout our filming sessions so as not to ruin continuity and also to maybe take away a little from our film coming across as too dark from the beginning.
Music and Voiceover
There will be little diegetic music in our film as the audience watches the main character's actions while he's under pressure and on the verge of suicide, the voiceover and soundtrack set the tone more with low music as he decides to keep the knife and this suggests maybe one last chance for triumph. The diegetic music heard is the phone hitting the wall which could bring the audience right into the characters situation. During his initial voiceover, the music will be calm - building up towards something. When the intruder arrives, despite loud, fast music playing that symbolises just how ruthless this hooded figure could be. Then over the intruder's loud entrance music, the distinctive sound of a gun loading can be heard before the intruder steps out of the lift. This lets the audience know action is to entail as we will then see our protagonist put a knife in his pocket. The gunshot that sets off the rewind of the film will leave the story full of suspense, the audience cannot be certain about what they think may have happened - they may not even know they are watching a scene from the end of the movie.
Target Audience and Our Genre - Action/Thriller
We've decided to make a film opening from a genre we both enjoy watching - Action/Thriller. Being the combination of the action and thriller genres, elements of both are implemented together to create this sub-genre. I think the target audience of our film would be adults and teenagers, with a 15 age rating being appropriate for violence, alcohol and drug references. It would appeal to teenagers maybe more for the action as weapons like the gun and knife seen in the opening sequence may be seen as cool and a lot simpler to watch and understand that maybe a mysterious crime/thriller film that would require the audience to engage a lot more mentally. For a younger adult audience the character being the same age and suicidal in a day to day job may be a darker side that this audience could relate to. An older adult audience may enjoy the thriller side of the film more, starting with a scene from the end and leaving the audience wondering who the two characters are.
Action
Our movie opening will keep with the conventions of an action movie from the beginning - our protagonist putting a knife away indicates there could be physical combat or confrontation to help him with his situation/problem rather than perhaps thinking his way out or trying to escape. Weapons are a huge part of action films and fast-paced music can help build scenes up. Our film follows these conventions, in our short opening alone there is a knife and the building's intruder has a gun. This lets the audience know there will be action in the scenes to come. A feature of our film that won't be seen so much is that before the enemy's intrusion there is slower music playing - this is the thriller side of our film showcasing itself.
Thriller
Thriller films are created with the general setting and storyline that will keep the audience on the edge of their seat. The main character is often set in a scenario or situation that is mysterious or that shows some form of danger that will make a solution or way out for the protagonist seem impossible or maybe a twist will entail. The slow music during our voiceover builds up as the story does and totally changes to the faster music as the bad guy begins to make his appearance.
Action
Our movie opening will keep with the conventions of an action movie from the beginning - our protagonist putting a knife away indicates there could be physical combat or confrontation to help him with his situation/problem rather than perhaps thinking his way out or trying to escape. Weapons are a huge part of action films and fast-paced music can help build scenes up. Our film follows these conventions, in our short opening alone there is a knife and the building's intruder has a gun. This lets the audience know there will be action in the scenes to come. A feature of our film that won't be seen so much is that before the enemy's intrusion there is slower music playing - this is the thriller side of our film showcasing itself.
Thriller
Thriller films are created with the general setting and storyline that will keep the audience on the edge of their seat. The main character is often set in a scenario or situation that is mysterious or that shows some form of danger that will make a solution or way out for the protagonist seem impossible or maybe a twist will entail. The slow music during our voiceover builds up as the story does and totally changes to the faster music as the bad guy begins to make his appearance.
Location
We have decided on our storyline, and have an idea for where to film our movie opening. We are at the minute arranging nights that we can use the building and its offices and then in the coming weeks we'll proceed to film. In short, our story has the protagonist as a man running a drugs trade, however, we saw it as being totally undercover, he barely has to play a part in his system. We saw him as working in an office with a day to day job to help give him a cover over his drug smuggling. My mum's offices are where we'll filmed our film opening, it was easy to book evenings in there and we could share lifts out to the offices which means we can all be at all of the filming sessions. By setting our film here, hopefully we will help portray the social groups included in our film; a young criminal businessman with a normal job and another criminal that is out to get him. There is also a lift in the offices which is convenient for the intruder's entrance as this means we don't have to find another location. Our character being suicidal at his day to day job offices although dark; may be a way that the audience can relate. The pressure of being successful has caught up with him.
Storyboards
Our first night filming on the schedule we filmed according to our storyboards on an iPhone 4. After importing and viewing the clips in Final Cut Pro X, we had a lot of things we thought weren't good enough quality material and we had a few more ideas towards our storyline. To enhance the quality of our filming, on our final session filming we used a Panasonic TM900 HD camera. See below for our storyboards.
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Skyfall
Shot Types
Over the shoulder
Action Match
Wide Shot
Close Up
Focus Pull
Two Shot
Arial Shot
Low and high angles
Medium Long shots, extreme long shots
Medium closeups, Extreme closeups
Action Match
Wide Shot
Close Up
Focus Pull
Two Shot
Arial Shot
Low and high angles
Medium Long shots, extreme long shots
Medium closeups, Extreme closeups
Titles
The titles in this film follow the same style from the previous in the “Bond” franchise, The titles open with Bond sinking into a river after plunging down a waterfall. A hand rises up and grabs Bond and begins dragging him to the bottom of the lake this symbolizes Bonds broken state of mind. Throughout the sequence the titles show some of Bonds upcoming foes and fears and also things from his past which he will have to come to terms with.
Music
The music used in the opening sequence also hits to the contents of the film, with large links to the lyrics playing a big part in the song.
“This is the end" , This is when he gets shots and falls off a bridge. When it then says "hold your breath and count to 10" this has a strong link to the scene going on in the opening sequence. After falling off the bridge this suggests that he was holding his breath as he sank into the water. “Overdue I owe them” This could suggest that Bond has finally be killed. “Skyfall is where we start” Skyfall is the place Bond was born so this starts off the next part of the movie after the opening sequence.
Some quotes from the chorus link to the main content in the film, “Stand tall at Skyfall” this is the scene where Bond takes M to Skyfall to hold up against Silvia and his men.
“When it crumbles” links to the final battle between Bond and Silvia where the house is destroyed in an explosion.
“This is the end" , This is when he gets shots and falls off a bridge. When it then says "hold your breath and count to 10" this has a strong link to the scene going on in the opening sequence. After falling off the bridge this suggests that he was holding his breath as he sank into the water. “Overdue I owe them” This could suggest that Bond has finally be killed. “Skyfall is where we start” Skyfall is the place Bond was born so this starts off the next part of the movie after the opening sequence.
Some quotes from the chorus link to the main content in the film, “Stand tall at Skyfall” this is the scene where Bond takes M to Skyfall to hold up against Silvia and his men.
“When it crumbles” links to the final battle between Bond and Silvia where the house is destroyed in an explosion.
Mise en Scene
The film is set in multiple locations to keep the pace of the film and has different locations for the villain (Silva) and hero (Bond). Silva is based in an abandoned which he deserted overnight manipulating peoples common sense and turning it into fear to use against them. Bond is based in Skyfall the house he grew up in, This is to show how Bond must go back to the basics and look into the past to understand why Silva is attacking MI6 and how to defeat Silva himself.
The lighting used in the film is simple and dim lighting.
The costume worn by Bond is the same throughout the film and keeps with classic stereotypes of the MI6 agents, He is wearing a suit which shows his power, authority and his professionalism with which he operates.
The lighting used in the film is simple and dim lighting.
The costume worn by Bond is the same throughout the film and keeps with classic stereotypes of the MI6 agents, He is wearing a suit which shows his power, authority and his professionalism with which he operates.
Target Audience
This film will largely gain interest in fans of the Bond franchise in general, The idea of Bond going back to basics in terms of what is available to him and diving into his childhood and past to reveal even more about his character will bring interest to fans.
The film supplies its audience with a suitable amount of action but also the thrill of how Bond will manage to defeat one of his most formidable foes to date.
The film supplies its audience with a suitable amount of action but also the thrill of how Bond will manage to defeat one of his most formidable foes to date.
Distribution
This film is distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer who have supported the entire Bond franchise, They generally support Low to Medium budget films altho the Bond franchise being given 150 - 200 Million USD to produce the film and have largely slumped in film production in recent years after being declared bankrupt in 2010.
Social Groups
The film portrays 2 main groups, The MI6 and the criminal organization run by SIlva. MI6 are portrayed as the stereotypical movie spy organization who have a seemingly unlimited supply of funds and suffer from no consequences for their actions. In contract Silva is a whole new type of criminal, using cyber attacks to cripple MI6 and bring them to their knees.
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