Ok, so I have now finally finished my preliminary video. Our Brief: Man opens a door, closes a door, dialogue occurs, the end. So that's what this is:
We set it in our schools music department as this we thought would be the most suitable area and would allow us to create a partial story line. We casted a boy and a girl (Courtney & Ollie) to create a more even mix of actors and so create a more relaxed mood. If we casted two boys/girls, the scene may have been seen to be more of a bully situation (in our opinion). However, with this mix, we consider it comes across as a more friendly environment between two friends. We did 6 takes in all, two in the opening corridor and 4 in the main piano playing scene. We changed the camera position with each take so as to ensure best camera coverage of the action and make the final video more interesting with more camera angles/shots. The idea being the more material we hold, the easier it is to edit into a decent video. The end result we believe is an effective video full filling the set criteria.
Previously in the year, we had completed a similar task with maybe a little more intricacy. It is a scene from the film 'Love Actually' where Bill Nighy is being interviewed about his new song 'Come on and let it snow':
The scene went with great success for us and really helped broaden our ability to blend different shots and audio together into one product. We set it in our schools music studio for extra effect from the real film. We intended to cast two male actors for the roles, but unfortunately we were only able to get one so had to make do with a female actress for the interviewee, which actually turned out just as good.
This post serves to update current basic ideas for my 2 minute film opening and the more real life technical parts of it e.g. time set etc and methods of creating my video.
For my film opening, it's actually based in two time era's, one at present day during my main character's life and during their past both merged together. For my film opening, I intend for the establishing shot to be set during present day, about half way through the sequence of events which the whole film would then portray with flashbacks inter-twined with it of when the troubles of their life began which the rest of the film would then show. These two sequences would then continue, how the character then continues on from the establishing shot and also where they go from their first trauma scene. By the end of the film, the audience will fully understand each of the characters actions in each situation due to knowing their past and what might cause them to do what they do.
The target audience for this film would be a more mature audience, maybe 15 to 70. Basically, all ages with a comprehensive understanding of how people work and how important past experiences affect future decisions. The venue I would imagine this film being shown in would be a late night, wide scale cinema picture, not quite a blockbuster but a definite multi-viewing film.
I have completed a short target audience research which I have put into a video as shown below:
I asked my interviewee's: 1. What is your favourite film?
My interviewee's showed no definite preference towards one particular film and what type of film I should aim for, suggesting to me that audience's are open to any type of film, meaning I can have free choice. 2. Was it on DVD, at the Cinema, Streaming or on TV?
All of my interviewee's saw their favourite films on DVD, suggesting that DVD is still one of the most popular media sources, rather than the more modern streaming technique, telling me to design my video for DVD release. 3. What is your favourite genre?
Again, there seemed no clear favourite genre among my interviewee's, so suggesting to me that I can have free choice of genre. 4. What do you consider to be typically in the opening 2 minutes of a film?
The general consensus from my interviewee's is that it should be intriguing, provide some form of enigma (a clever idea which makes the audience want to watch the rest of the film) and that should provide an idea as to where the film is going to go. 5. What is your opinion on flashbacks?
Again, all my interviewee's considered flashbacks to be good, so long as they were made obvious e.g. by de-saturating the video, adding a date etc. 6. What do you think of my idea? (As described above)
They all thought it was a very good and interesting idea, all that they thought would be required in a film. For that reason, I think I will take it further into my final 2 minute coursework piece.
While I do not intend to use Stop Motion in my film opening as I do not consider it the correct genre for the media type I enjoy, I have still done some research into it. My attention has been brought in perticular to the work of Jan Svankmajer. My favourite video I found from him:
I thought that this is possibly the most impressive piece of work I have ever seen. I like the close attention to detail he uses in his animation and the way he is able to make the dolls literally come to life. However, bearing in mind the amount of work he must have inputted into just one of his videos means it would be impractical for me to do anything similar if I had any hope of reaching my desired deadline for completion of this task. I also do not like stop animation, while I find it very impressive and have a lot of admiration for, my interests lie firmly within the realm of real time video, just because I prefer that area of film, I find it more aesthetically pleasing. Hence I shall not be using Stop Motion in my final video.
