FINAL A2 PRODUCTION

A2 Trailer Procure from Megan Hayhurst on Vimeo.

EVALUATION: Question 4: Who are your audience & what have you learned from your audience feedback?

Audience from hassankhan95

EVALUATION: Question 3: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

EVALUATION: Question 2: How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? What particular camerawork techniques & editing tools were used and to what effect?

EVALUATION: Directors Commentary: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? What editing decisions were made? How did they inform the production?

ANCILLARY TASKS: Procure Website

http://mlh12media2011.wix.com/procurethefilmpproductions

ANCILLARY TASKS: Poster

This is our poster made by Louis Pring in Adobe Photoshop.

SHOOTING: Rough Cut Edit Analysis

After receiving feedback about our rough cut edit, we made some changes to our production. We were also told what the best aspects of it were.

The main criticism was the fact that the story wasn’t clear. In order to make it clear, we will either add a voice over or dialogue. However, this may be difficult, as we have both a recording of a wedding ceremony and music with lyrics in our production. There was also criticism in regards to the sound used. We will change the levels of the vows and the music, making the former louder, as it is of more use to the viewer in terms of creating meaning. We will also attempt to edit ‘Angels’ down so that only parts of the tracks without vocals are used. Failing this, I will opt for our initial idea of recording the guitar and bass parts myself in Cubase. However, we were told that lyrics did work with the institutional information, whereas for the rest of the production it is just confusing when combined with the wedding recording.

Our shots appear to be well composed and there is a variety of them, flowing smoothly due to good editing. We were told that this, along with the use of the Green Pearl filter in and saturation adjustments in Magic Bullet, made it look more professional. As well as our use of post-production special effects, we were also complimented on those created in-camera, namely the car bailout scene. However, the editing pace needs to slowly increase in order to create tension, diegetic noise needs to be added to the aforementioned scene, the earlier car scenes need lightening and more transitions need to be used.

SHOOTING: Rough Cut 1

SHOOTING: First Shoot- Saturday 3rd November

In order to film shoot some of the earlier shots of Tom waking up we thought it would be more realistic if we filmed Adam in his own house and room as it would be more believable. Therefore on our first shoot we all met at Adam's house in Burnley and shot 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 13, 15, 16 including some of the difficult shots of Adam in the shower which proved difficult to frame and film working in such a tight space as a shower. The shoot proved very successful and we are optimistic to see how the shots are going to appear on the computer and we are keen to start editing them soon.

PLANNING: Preparation for driving shots

We used this video as a guide to help us to complete the shot which required us to film a drive-by scene. This is the scene where Adam has to jump out of the car as it is driving past at a fast pace.

PLANNING: Production Company Subsidiary Logo Design

For our production logo we wanted to incorporate the  idea of guns and violence into our logo but also have it moving since most production logo's have an entrance or behaviour elements attached to them such as the Miramax logo which has a flying pan effect through a city and then dissolves into the still logo:

As we intend to use an animated title, we decided to use a video clip, as opposed to animating stills. Rather than filming the shots ourselves, we decided to use a pre-existing video clip on YouTube. However, it took some time to find one suitable for our production.

Once we had found a video similar to what we had in mind, I downloaded it with Realplayer.

Once downloaded, I then edited it down to the required 6 seconds in Windows Movie Maker at home, as the clip was 18 minutes long in total.

It was then exported in high definition in order to match the shots we had already filmed and uploaded to Dropbox to then be edited in Pinnacle.

Once uploaded, it was spliced every 12 frames and some were deleted at random in order to produce jump cuts. A filter was then added in Magic Bullet and adjustments were made in Chroma Keyer. Finally, the Movie Trailer Complete motion title was added.

Sound effects were added from Soundbible.com, as the sound from the actual clip wasn't what we required.

PLANNING: Storyboard

PLANNING: Risk Assessment

Risk Assessment

Whilst filming shot number 14 of a long tracking shot of man from behind as his head turns right, we had to survey the area because we were filming on derelict land riddled with scrap metal and pieces of shattered glass and rubble, so we cleared the pathway for Adam to walk through, of rubble and sharp edges the camera man has a smoother walk and the shot could be more stable.

We placed a non-slip mat on the shower basin so that Adam (Actor Tom) didn’t slip whilst filming his shots in the shower.

Car shots were filmed with precautions, the owner of the car was the only driver, we filmed on a quiet street, and we informed the residents and passers-by that we were filming our shot for media so they had no reason to worry about us or our whereabouts.

We carried one piece of equipment each whilst walking through Waterfoot to film our shots within walking distance.

Another of our locations is outside our school. This was a very low risk because the actor was out of the way of any traffic and the camera was on the pavement, so we just had to make sure that we wasn’t in the way of pedestrians and/or students coming to and from our school to cut down on background noise.

PLANNING: Music Choices Research

Music in a trailer can be very useful in establishing mise en scene and therefore when choosing what music we were going to use in the background we had a number of choices that we had were from the free music file sharing site Soundcloud. Here are some examples of music we thought you using:

Insatsstyrka 7- Soundcloud

In this particular example it is a more an orchestral based backing track, with its low bass notes and use of violins it creates a mysterious and ominous air to it which is good for a thriller trailer. And the fact that it is not overly dramatic also is in keeping with the beginning of our piece with the ‘waking up scene’ which is not dramatic itself.

Eliminator (Epic trailer version)- Soundcloud 

In this next example the title itself suggests the nature of it with it building from quite a slow tense piece to a very dramatic and epic climax at the end. Again it is an orchestral piece with lots of violins and low bass notes which would create the air of mystery and suspense however the overly dramatic climactic ending is perhaps too dramatic for our film trailer.

Brand X Music – World Without End remix- Soundcloud

Another example of potential trailer music is this, where like the previous example it begins slowly with only a small amount of instruments and then builds to a climactic ending. However the beginning of the piece appears quite light hearted with the major style chords which is not the effect we were looking for in the beginning shots as they need to set enigmas etc. Although the ending we quite enjoyed in accordance to the running/car scenes at the end it was again a little more overdramatic than we wanted it to be.   

Summon the Wolves- Soundcloud

Teaser Evan-chrisinger- Soundcloud

PLANNING: Institutional Information

PROCURE PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS ‘PROCURE’  ADAM NIXON  CAITLIN HEATON  LOUIS PRING

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS

         

Copyright 2012 by Procure Productions. All Rights reserved

  WITH HASSAN KHAN EDITOR MEGAN HAYHURST                       MARIELLA GIOMARELLI

PRODUCED BY

                                             BEN CLARKE                    BEN KAUFMAN  ADAM BOWERS

SCREENPLAY BY

DIRECTED BY

                                              KIERAN BROOKS   BOBBY THOMPSON TOM MALLINSON

                                                            JOHNNY WILLETS                    MAX LAKE

PLANNING: Film Producers and Distributors

Our film’s genre is a thriller/action film which in terms of film producers is a very popular genre. Miramax films is a very successful film producer of films such as Reservoir Dogs which was released before Disney acquired it in 1993 for producing more grittier horror/thrillers but not with the stereotypical Disney logo. Since moving away from their Disney takeover in 2010, Miramax films have become an established film producer and distributor in its own right. Although Miramax don’t strictly just make thrillers they make a wide range of films. However more recently they have started producing more crime/thriller/action films such as Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (2010) The Debt (2010/I) and in production now Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2013). Miramax film would be a great producer to produce our film due to its well-known status in America and in particularly the semiotics of its company logo.

Miramax Films logo

The Miramax logo has your typical binary opposite of black and white which in relation to a thriller genre is perfect. The binary opposition could connote several different things and the main one being the fight between good and evil evident in our plot line with the kidnapper and the vigilante even with the addition of the femme fatale twist. The sans serif font in addition to the line straight lines also gives it that finished edge making it look more professional and elite which would really give our film a boost in terms of making it a success in the box office.

Due to the fact that our film does not have any major stars/directors or a large budget it would be unlikely if it was to be made that Miramax would produce it due to its high status and close links to America. However there are occasions of which Miramax has distributed low-budget ‘unknown’ films such as Garden State (2004) written and directed by the upcoming Zack Braff. This is more than likely due to its high praise at film festivals and its awards at the Sundance Film Festival, Los Angeles Film Festival and US Comedy Arts Festival.

In relation to Garden Sate its initial release in the US was 16 January 2004 which is outside of the summer holiday blockbuster season that occurs between June-August, because it was a relatively low budget film there would be no competition with the Hollywood blockbusters of that year. This is a technique we would again use for our film since ours is a low budget film but we would also incorporate weather into our release date since November – December is obviously blighted by cold weather and in some cases snow and ice why would deter people from coming to see the film if they can’t even get to the cinema. In contrast to this we would also take into account that between April-June (just before the blockbuster season) it is usually good weather where people won’t want to go to cinema inside if they could be sat outside in the sun. So therefore we will hopefully release our film between January – March.

Bad Robot Productions is an American film and television production company owned by J. J. Abrams. Although it is more responsible for television series it does also produce films. Bad Robot was originally part of Touchstone Television, but has moved with J. J. Abrams to Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. Television, after his contract with Touchstone had expired in 2006. A lot of television programmes that they produce such as Lost, Alcatraz and Fringe are mostly Sci-Fi’s but they also have thriller/crime/action elements involved in them.

Bad Robot Productions have co-produced many successful films such as Cloverfield, Mission Impossible III, Star Trek and Super 8. This would therefore give our film a certain gravitas to our relatively low budget film.

Bad Robot Productions logo

 

The semiotics for this production logo suggests an unknown and uncertain outcome with the dark clouds covering the yellow sky. The dark grass also connotes an air of evil spreading across the land, which contracts the typical view of green grass which suggests hope and prosper. The robot itself looks small and dominated by the looming evil, the robot’s eyes look sad and pleading, not too dissimilar to the wife who gets kidnapped in the film. The font style is uneven and spiky which suggests an air of uncertainty and the capitalization makes a statement to the audience. 

Although it is perhaps unlikely that Bad Robot Productions would produce our films due to the fact that it a low budget film, however it is not impossible. In accordance to similar films we may also look at other production companies such as CinemaNX who have also produced low budget thrillers such as The Disappearance of Alice Creed (2009). CinemaNX has, since its launch in 2007, swiftly established itself as one of the UK’s leading film financing and production groups. The CinemaNX logo is again very similar to the Miramax logo since it's format and colour scheme are the same to represent the binary opposition (Claude Levi-Strauss) of good versus evil.

Cinemanx logo

Again another production company who has produced films such as the one we have made is Rollercoaster Films who have produced one film, the highly popular Eden Lake (2008). Although it has only produced one film, that film was highly successful making $3,983,997 in the worldwide lifetime gross. Similarly to the Miramax and CinemaNX logo, the Rollercoaster Films production logo uses the binary opposite black and white however what adds interest to this particular logo is the use of film reels in place of the letter 'o' which are then connected by a film reel. Therefore reinforcing the semiotic of it being a film producer. There is also diversity in the position of the text in the logo in that the word 'films' is placed on its side so therefore adding interest to the typical black and white fixed position.

Our film is obviously not going to be able to compete with the big conglomerate Hollywood productions and therefore we will start small scale with a premiere at the Picture House in Manchester then try and get into film festivals in order to gain recognition. We will initially start with a British audience rather than an American one, although the genre and idea is very much a typically American film it will be best to start with a British audience. This will be demonstrated by the fact that we won’t use the typical green title that says “The following preview has been approved for all audiences by the Motion Picture Association of America Inc.” therefore suggesting that it is not going to be shown to American audiences.

PLANNING: 'Procure' shot list

1)      Bird’s eye shot of man in bed

2)      Black and white old videos of carrying boxes into ‘new house’

3)      Long shot old movie style of couple outside house

4)      Alarm clock goes off and he presses snooze

5)      Old movies of couple decorating

6)      Alarm clock goes and it is turned off

7)      Shower is turned on

8)      Medium shot of man head down looking depressed {dialogue over the top}

9)      Medium shot of kidnapper and girl in car looking at each other

10)  Medium/close up of kidnapper {informing her of kidnapping although inaudible}

11)  Medium/close up of girl {looking frightened of prospect}

12)  Jump cuts of girl being taken from car

13)  Close up of towel being taken off the rail

14)  Tracking – long shot of close up of man from behind as his head turns right

15)  Drawers being opened (camera inside drawers) {dialogue over the top}

16)  Tie being pushed up {continued dialogue over the top}

17)  Close up of tape being unravelled

18)  Close up of hands being bound together

19)  Medium/long shot of man running in the street

20)  Pan to man waiting round a corner with a gun in his hand

21)  First person shot through gun [FADE TO BLACK]

22)  Extreme close up of man’s gun

23)  Extreme close up of hammer going back

24)  Shot from interior of the car wing mirror of girl running

25)  Close up of match being lit and being drawn to the kidnapper’s face

26)  Close up of man’s face ‘drowning’ in bath

27)  Medium shot of kidnapper driving

28)  Medium shot of man already tied up

29)  Extreme close up of man finding handle

30)  Side exterior of car door opening

31)  Side shot of man rolling out of car

32)  Cut between woman looking left

33)  And first person car approaching (perspective of driver)

34)  Extreme close up of her face as she looks right

35)  First person close up of the car very close to her

36)  Long shot of her being hit

37)  Interior shot of her rolling on the bonnet

38)  Fade to black

She’s staged a kidnapping, in order to gain money from her husband.

She told him she was leaving him

The audience believe that she’s left him, but think that the other man has no involvement in the kidnapping.

Her husband doesn’t know she’s been kidnapped.

The new couple break up and he kidnaps her?

She wants to get back with her husband, but her kidnapper prevents her. He wants to get back at her husband and he’s a nutter.

He’s going to get her back, with the intention of harming her lover.

Editing pace increases

PLANNING: Synopsis ideas

These were our original ideas for the films we wanted to do.

First Idea

The plot of the story is that there is a father of a daughter who has been kidnapped and he is the vigilante who has to take matters into his own hands in order to save her.

Second Idea

In a post-apocalyptic world, a man (Hassan) is struggling for survival against the change in weather, highlighting his failure in life due to social inequality.

Third Idea  

There is an end of college party in which every one of the year attends, but everything turns sour when a girl is brutally murdered and everyone at the party is a vital witness.

From this we expanded on the first idea with the new synopsis being:

When a man’s wife goes missing, he is sure that she has been kidnapped and so in a desperate attempt of saving her he goes on a murderous rampage. He isn’t aware that her ‘kidnapper’ is actually her lover, and his colleague. She has left him due to crippling debts and his low status within the workplace. But will he discover her secret before it’s too late?

However, we changed this idea further to try and give it originality and surprise twists to the film. Therefore creating a new entirely different film:

“When Adam’s wife Jess goes missing, the police are reluctant to find her meaning that Adam has to take the law into his own hands. Nothing can stop Adam from finding his wife but will the bonds of true love break under the stress of the situation?”

{The surprise twist to the plot is that Jess has left Adam and has run off with another man whom she has created a fake kidnapping.}