Evaluation - Directors Commentary

BULLET STORM - Final Piece

(With subtle differences from pre-final draft)

Pre-Final Draft

Another draft

this is another edit that was considered, however we want to get rid of the whole black screen flashing idea because we felt it looked a bit to much like a music video.

Intro - Edited - Idea

This is the inro to our piece. It shows the different ideas we had when we were editing it. We have chosen not to try this idea because the bits when the screen flashed to black, we found that it looked more like a music video as aposed to an action short.

The storyboard that goes with script idea 1 - Final Idea

Short chase. Mafia 1 chasing Main character Interrogates
Main character. the mafia member.
Main character executes Other members of the mafia the mafia member show up and begin pursuit.
(Curb stomp)
They run into a forrest They steal the kids' bikes
ans see some bikes and the chase begins

















Main character executes Other members of the mafia
the mafia member show up and begin pursuit
(Curb stomp)

They run into a forrest They steal the kids' bikes
ans see some bikes and the chase begins.

A series of dangerous jumps The mafia member catches the
and fast pace cycling takes character on the straight and
place as they are chasing chucks a knife that hits the
main character in the shoulderwounding him.

After this they gather round him and knock him out
"we want you alive"

Screenshot of the editing process for the beggining

Here, we are using Sony Vegas to crop down the parts we actually want and cut out the excess.

Then we will put them in order. Effects and sound tracks will be added later.

Final Instituiton intro - High-Five Studios

The logos were designed by me and Dom. Lewis then used the logos and animated them

Idea for logo: Instituion - HighFive Studios

Idea for logo: Institution - TopHat Productions

We chose the logo to be a top hat because it related to the institution name.
I edited the font on top of the hat and Dom and Lewis gave ideas and suggestions to what it could look like. So we all contributed to this.

Why we are re-filming the chase scene

We are re-filming the chase scene because we want to add a lot more camera angles to increase the tension. We are also going to make it a lot longer and more interesting with added effects and film layer to make it look authentic. We found that the use of the camera angle when the bikes go past and the camera tracks them slightly was not very effective because it looked quite bad as it was all one shot. We want to have lots of different shots to make it more exiting and build the tension.
We also wanted to add some extra camera angles such as close ups of the bike in motion. E.g. wheels spinning and pedals turning. Also we are thinking of encorporating some first person shots of the bikers.

Dolby

I think the editing is quite crisp and clear and the song choice does match well but ensure you show a variety of shot types- go back to the mark scheme.

1st Draft of chase scene (Not Final)

Click Here - Rough cut. A lot of it will be re-filmed and more will be added.

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B98x3Dek_inAOWMwNGNmMmQtM2IzNi00MmQyLWI1OTctODMxZmY2NWU4NDg3&hl=en&authkey=CPu10_sC

Problem1 - resolved

On Wednesday17th february we were confronted with a poblem. Our initail idea was to use guns in our piece. We were later told that guns could not be shown on screen. This presented a rather large problem for us as most of video was going to show gns. To resolve this issue we had to think fast. We has a an idea to not show the guns on screen but to only show the muzzle flash that the gun produced. Our idea was to have the foreground in focus showing the main character.
In the backround there will be an actor holding a log (Out of focus far away). We will use vfx/sfx to paste a muzzle flash over the top of the log and have gun shot sounds. on screen the log will not be seen so it will appear as if he is shooting a gun when really he just holding a log.

Why we chose script idea 1

Reasons why we chose story idea 1
Reasons why we chose this idea are because we felt that it was the most realistic as in it was the easiest for us to make and because we felt that the others were too hard for us to achieve at a good level. Story Idea 1 was good because we have the things that we need to get a good standard; we have people who are willing to help out with chase scenes, bike riding at fast speeds and people who are willing to act as stunt doubles. We have someone in our group who knows how to use Sony Vegas (Video Editing) and he knows how to use Adobe After Effects (special effects program), so that will help us get the gunshot effects that we desire to have. We have a rough idea of where we are going to film, and are going to scout them out and their environment on weekends and see what it is like. And we have the costumes and props we need already and anyone we are missing we are going to buy.

We decided not to do the other 2 story ideas because we thought that they would require a lot more work and items and environments which we desire to have, we wouldn’t be able to have. Such as in story idea 2 we wanted an elevator, with a camera view on the outside with a low angle shot watching the elevator go up. We might have been able to get the elevator, but we wouldn’t be able to get the shot we want. We feel that we will be able to compromise at some areas to get the film but we wouldn’t get it to the standard to what we want and we feel that it won’t be as good as story idea 1. But this would be our second choice because we have a rough idea of where we could film it but it wouldn’t be to a good level.

We had also had story idea 3 which was going to be a horror film. But this was the most likely one that we wouldn’t chose, we really liked the idea of this but felt that it was going to be the hardest to achieve at a good standard. It would require a lot of make-up, costumes, a couple of buildings which look old, abandoned and would have no other (working) humanity around them, e.g. car sounds, roads. We know a couple of abandoned buildings but not in the environment that we want. We thought if we could do this idea well it would be great but we didn’t feel that we would be able to get a horror film to a good level with its effects of tension and scare tactics like making you jump. So this idea was also put to the side

Dolby

In terms of your proposed storylines, consider which is going to be logistically possible to create- it may be hard to get aliens for example... also, consider what genre you are definately creating based on the research done and make this obvious to an audience.

Initial story-line ideas 1, 2 & 3

Script 1 Initial story-line

The scene starts out with the main character chasing a member of the mafia. The character wants to know why the mafia are after him so he begins to question him. The mafia member is resilient and doesn’t tell him much. The main character executes him but the other mafia members that are also looking for him hear the gun shot and chase after him. The main character sees some kids on bikes and steals one of the bikes to get away. The mafia members steel the other bikes and begin to persue. There are some stunts on the bikes and a long chase, then the main character is caught on a long stretch of path. The mafia member sees his chance and pulls out his pistol and fires at the main character. The bullet gets him in the shoulder and he is thrown of the bike. The mafia surround him and knock him out.


Script 2 Initial story-line

The scene starts out with a man walking into a building (Possibly from a car) (scene idea was to film in black and white) you see the man walk up to the elevator and there is a short cut viewing the security looking at him. (Possible point of view shot) he goes up in the elevator then gets out and starts to walk to an office area towards a man who is sitting in a chair, the man in the chair is expecting the other man. They have some idle chat (there is tension between them (They are enemies)) the man who is seated pulls out a pistol and points toward the other man. While this is happening the main character dives sideways into a sideroom and begins shooting through the wall in attempt to hit the other man. The other man by now is up and running after him. There is a long chase but then the main character traps the other man in a closet and locks him in. he then pulls out and uzi sub-machine gun and empties a whole clip through the door. He opens the door to find the other guy in the room dead, peppered in bullet marks.


Idea 3 Initial storyline

This scene starts with four people walking down an alleyway at night all holding weapons. They come across a mangled corpse on the floor. The corpse is squirming and making odd sounds (The camera could be slowly zooming in to this). Then they hear lots of growling and more strange sounds getting louder and the sound of footsteps (Point of view shot to see where they re looking). They start running back but as they do, a massive horde of zombies covered in blood come running round the corner at them (Jerky camera movements could be used to make the running seem authentic). They begin to shoot while moving back. One character at the back spots a ladder to a roof and points to it. They run to it, still shooting when there is a massive roar. A massive hulk-like mutated zombie the size of a car comes bounding down the alleyway towards them. They have to clamber up the ladder before it rips them apart. They manage to get up just in time.

Real media Artefact 3

Finished, need to upload

Real Media Artefact 2

Real media artefact

Green Zone

Right at the beginning of the first scene, there are people running about in a panic inside a smoky building that is on fire. The lighting in this part is very dark, hinting that the power has gone out in the building and suggesting that the people are in danger. This builds the tension in the scene because the audience has a limited view of what is happening due to the lighting, so it puts the audience into the action making them empathise with what the characters are feeling. Shortly after this there are armed men passing through the building with torches attached to their guns. The light from the torches contrasts with darkness that surrounds them. There is confusion in the darkness because people are running around screaming, but the men with torches seem more organised and calculated so the lighting shows this with the contrast of brightness. The light form their torches is almost white and the colour white has connotations of being pure so it could hint that the armed men are purging the building of the ‘unclean’ which makes the audience raise questions as to why they are doing that, so it grips them. As two men are anxiously discussing what to do, there are flashes of explosions that come through the window, illuminating the room. Explosions generally hint danger so it has a sense of excitement about it keeping the audience interested. The explosion is red and orange. These colours are generally considered quite angry colours which links back to the idea of this being a dangerous exiting scene full of action.

At the beginning of the scene again the director uses a variety of camera angles to convey the sense of danger that links with its genre of action.

An array of short cuts are used right at the start when the people are running through the corridors trying to escape. The camera cuts to people running, then some reactions of people. It tracks a man running through a room and then quickly cuts to his reactions which are sadness and anxiousness. These feelings link back to the idea of it being dangerous and exiting. The use of the short cuts builds the tension because it overwhelms the audience with lots of separate things going on at once. It creates excitement because of all the action happening in a short time, which links back to the genre of the film which is action.

High-angled shots are used to make the people who are running look weak and vulnerable. The camera pans along the corridor above the crowd’s heads as they run through the narrow corridors. This angle makes them look inferior to the army soldiers who are passing them because they are shown in low angled shots to make them look superior to them. The soldiers are framed in the foreground in this section and the civilians are in the background. This hints that the soldiers have more power than the civilians. This builds the tension because it makes the audience want to know what the soldiers are going to do. Because the soldiers have power over the citizens, it has an element of danger to it because the soldiers are not wanted so people will try rebel against them. The danger links back to the genre.

The opening music to the scene is very fast pace. The music is symmetrical to the action happening in screen so it enforces the idea of it being action-packed. When the song gets to the end of a bar, a new shot is introduced with new scenery. This helps the flow of the scene by making the music fit the action. So it keeps the audience interested. When two men are panicking in a room, there are sounds of explosions and gunfire. These suggest danger because they are linked with death and therefore there is fear of dying. So this helps the audience get a fuller picture of the action. These sound effects are very loud compared to the other diagetic sound that you can hear such as people panicking and running around. This is effective because it shows the contrast between the good and the bad and the weak and the strong and the sounds are linked to war so the audience instantly know that there is some sort of war going on. Because the sound of explosions is louder than everything else, it is what the audience focus on, so it keeps them wanting to see more.

Props that the soldiers have such as guns, torches and Kevlar body armour suggests danger because if they need all that gear they must be in danger. Connotations of gun are fear and danger and death, which fall under the genre of the film which is action.

Mrs D

I'm worried that you only have one RMA up and your deadline is looming.

Product Placement

Product placement

In our group we decided to focus on the genre of action. Further into our research we decided to look into the sub genres of thriller/adventure. We found that this had the largest audience that we could cater for. Going into research for product placement we decided to individually look into different advertising methods that companies may use to draw the maximum attention to the film, some of the categories would be:
Advertising using still image

e.g.: Newspaper averts, Magazines, Billboards, Posters
Advertising using moving image

e.g.: Film Previews, TV trailers
E-commerce
(The Internet)

The use of e-commerce in promoting films has proven to be very effective. Film companies have access to an audience of billions and can often be done for free.
Part of our research showed that a lot of companies promoted their new film using free third party websites such as YouTube and social networking sites such as Facebook and twitter. These methods are effective because they are free and have millions of people who log in to them every day. So there is a potential of having millions of people view adverts for their film. So if we were to use the internet to promote our video we would decide to create groups on social networking sites and promote our film that way. Also we would create a film trailer and upload it to video hosting sites such as YouTube. From our research this has proven to be the most effective way of advertising films.

Advertising films on TV and in cinemas has proven to be quite effective as well. When broadcasting film trailers onto TV channels, the advert has potential access to billions of people. A larger audience usually means larger responses and therefore a larger profit margin. Also, using a film trailer makes it more exiting for the target audience. A trailer gives the audience a taste of the action, and what they could experience if they went to see it. We would decide to feature our film trailer before another action film viewing in cinemas. Our research has shown that this is effective because the target audience is all grouped together in one room so we can project our trailer straight to them and get results.

The use of still image advertising we found to be the least effective however can help compliment moving image trailers. For example a billboard displaying a still image of our film can help remind passersby of the advert they have seen in the cinema or TV. This method we have thought to be effective because it enforces an already effective method of advertising to get maximum audience and maximum profit. Also we found that many millions of people in the UK purchase newspapers. This offers a large audience that we can advertise for also. So we might decide to post adverts in the newspapers so we can maximise our potential audience. This will maximise profits.

As a group we have decided to incorporate a lot of the ideas above. We have decided to advertise on channels such as ‘Dave’, ‘channel 4’ and ‘ITV2’. Our research shows that these channels play a lot of similar genre films so we can advertise to our target market. Also Dave is considered more of a male channel because it hosts motoring shows. Our film is aimed more at males, so advertising on this channel we found will be effective.

Dolby

Callum, what you need to do when you are anlysing the real media artefacts is make specific and detailed notes on the codes and conventions of the opening- the technical elements and how they are used. Think back to when we analysed TV Drama- it is the same process of picking out the elements and commenting on the eefects on the audience tied back to genre. don't just make general notes.

Real Media Artefact 1

James Bond: Quantum of Solace - Analysis

Analysing this film will be helpful because we can see what elements are needed to make a good action film. Upon seeing these we can incorporate them into our final piece.

Quantum of solace gets straight into the action immediately after the starting credits. There is an intense car chase, with machine guns firing. The director uses lots of short takes to increase the tension and make the scene more exiting. The camera movement is quite ‘jerky’ and moves around a lot, to simulate the thrashing about of the vehicles. This is effective because it gets the audience straight into the action which is very entertaining. Also the technique of ‘getting straight into the action’ makes the audience want to know why the chase is happening, so it makes them want to watch on. We have decided to try and incorporate this sort of technique into our final piece because from our research we have seen that a lot of people like this style of action and that also a lot of successful films have had this type of action in it. The camera tracks the main character’s car using a close up. This makes the car look like it is going a lot faster than it is, so it makes this take more exiting.

The non-diagetic sound of the music in the background is in sync with the action. The music peaks at points where the action peaks. For example the instruments in the music get louder towards the end of each bar when something exciting happens in the action on screen. This makes the overall effect of the clip more exiting and entertaining. The sound of the gunfire increases the tension because it is much louder than the other sound on screen. This almost unnerves the audience making them see how the characters are feeling, so they can relate to them and find the film more entertaining. For our piece we will try and include sound effects and sound tracks that match the style of action on screen, and try and sync the music with the action so it is more exiting

The Film also uses a lot of props to make the film more realistic and more relatable. Guns, cars and other exiting props are used to make the action more intense. When we make our piece we will try and make full use of the props we can get hold of to make our piece more realistic and more believable, so therefore more entertaining. Also the film uses extras to add to the realism of it. We have decided to use extras also, because it is a simple way of making it more believable.

Questionnaire analysis

This questionnaire will help us decide about the planning of our piece, because we can see what our target audience is looking for in a film and we can adjust our piece accordingly.


The Majority of the people I asked preferred Action Adventure. Close behind was Action Thriller. Thriller and adventure are quite different, so we will try to incorporate them both and try to make our moving image project appeal to as many audiences as we can.


Here there is a very large majority who prefer realistic films. So from this research I can see that we will need to make our moving image picture as realistic as possible. As a group we have decided to try and include both aspects of realism, so that it appeals to a larger group of people.



A very large majority of people preferred films that have story lines that surprise them. So we will try to make our piece as original as possible to make it more entertaining for our target audience.

Here we have a large majority saying that they prefer longer films to shorter films. Seeing as we have a limit of 2 minutes for our piece, we won’t be able to make it very long, however what we do film, will hint to a much larger storyline and picture. This will be effective because it will mean our target audience’s specification is met.

This is question is fairly evenly split so we shall try and include two leading roles, being male and female. This will make our piece more appealing to our audience. It will help us decide who to cast and what gender they will be as we are going for a fairly even ratio of male to female to make it as neutral as possible.

Again we had an even split between two options. We found out that half of the people enjoyed the storyline of action films, and the other half enjoyed the action more. This will help us decide which topic to focus on. As slightly more people chose action, we will focus slightly more on trying to get some good action into our piece.

Miss D

Lots of detailed questionnaires that has given you a range of results. I now suggest that you summarise these findings to indicate what they have told you- analysis is what you can determine from results, not just what the results are.

Specific Questionnaire

1. Which of the following sub-genres would you prefer to have along-side action?

Action Sci-fi / Action thriller / Action Comedy / Action Adventure


2. Do you prefer a realistic action film or an unrealistic action film?

Realistic / Unrealistic


3. Do you like story lines that surprise you, or story lines that are predictable?

Surprise / Predictable


4. Do you prefer longer films to shorter films?
Yes / no

5. Do you prefer a male or female leading role?

Male / Female

6. When you watch a film are you more interested in the action or the storyline?
Action / Storyline

Questionnaire with results with age 30-50+ range

1. Do you enjoy watching films?
Yes O 14
No O

2. How old are you?
6-10 O
11-15 O
16-19 O
20-29 O
30-40 O 8
41-49 O 6
50+ O

3. Gender
Male O 7
Female O 7

4. What’s your favourite genre of film you enjoy watching? (Please specify one only and no sub genres, e.g. Comedy-Action)
Action Comedy Horror Romcom Thriller Fantasy
2 3 1 3 2

5. What’s your favourite film of all time?

N/A

6. How do you watch films?
DVD/Blue ray O 11
Cinema O 9
TV O 10
Legally downloaded O 0
Illegally downloaded O 0
Streaming O 0

7. How do you find out about films?
T V O 12
Internet O 3
Radio O 2
Magazine/Newspapers O 4
Friends/Family O 11
Other O 2
8. Do you watch film trailers?
Yes O 11
No O 3

9. Do you have a favourite actor / actress (Specify Below)

………………………………………………………… N/A

10. Do you ever re-watch a film that you have already seen?
Yes O 14
No O 0
11. Have you watched a film in 3D before?
Yes O 12
No O 2

If so, did you find the 3D film more entertaining than a regular film?
Yes O 8
No O 4

Questionnaire with results with age 16-29

1. Do you enjoy watching films?
Yes O 17
No O

2. How old are you?
6-10 O
11-15 O
16-19 O 10
20-29 O 7
30-40 O
41-49 O
50+ O

3. Gender
Male O 8
Female O 9

4. What’s your favourite genre of film you enjoy watching? (Please specify one only)
Action Comedy Horror Romcom Thriller Fantasy
4 5 3 2 2 2


5. What’s your favourite film of all time?
N/A

6. How do you watch films?
DVD/Blue ray O 13
Cinema O 16
TV O 11
Legally downloaded O 3
Illegally downloaded O 2
Streaming O 4


7. How do you find out of films?
T V O 7
Internet O 8
Radio O 2
Magazine/Newspapers O 6
Friends/Family O 8
Other O 3

8. Do you watch film trailers?
Yes O 14
No O 3

9. Do you have a favourite actor / actress (Specify Below)

……………………………………………………………………………………. N/A

10. Do you ever re-watch a film that you have already seen?
Yes O 17
No O 0

11. Have you watched a film in 3D before?
Yes O 16
No O 1

If so, did you find the 3D film more entertaining than a regular film?
Yes O 10
No O 7

Questionnaire with age 6-15 results

1. Do you enjoy watching films?
Yes O 13
No O

2. How old are you?
6-10 O 11
11-15 O 2
16-19 O
20-29 O
30-40 O
41-49 O
50+ O

3. Gender
Male O 6
Female O 7

4. What’s your favourite genre of film do you enjoy watching? (Please specify one only and no sub genres, e.g. Comedy-Action)

Action Comedy Horror Romcom Thriller Fantasy
2 4 1 1 2 3


5. What’s your favourite film of all time?
N/A

6. How do you watch films?
DVD/Blue ray O 11
Cinema O 13
TV O 9
Legally downloaded O 1
Illegally downloaded O 0
Streaming O 2


7. How do you find out about films?
T V O 10
Internet O 7
Radio O 2
Magazine/Newspapers O 4
Friends/Family O 8
Other O 2

8. Do you watch film trailers?
Yes O 14
No O 0

9. Do you have a favourite actor / actress (Specify Below)

N/A

10. Do you ever re-watch a film that you have already seen?
Yes O 14
No O 0

11. Have you watched a film in 3D before?
Yes O 13
No O 1

If so, did you find the 3D film more entertaining than a regular film?
Yes O 10
No O 3

Initial Questionnaire

Questionnaire

1. Do you enjoy watching films?
Yes O
No O

2. How old are you?
6-10 O
11-15 O
16-19 O
20-29 O
30-40 O
41-49 O
50+ O

3. Gender
Male O
Female O

4. What’s your favourite genre of film do you enjoy watching? (Please specify one only)

5. What’s your favourite film of all time?


6. How do you watch films?
DVD/Blue ray O
Cinema O
TV O
Legally downloaded O
Illegally downloaded O
Streaming O

7. How do you find out of films?
T V O
Internet O
Radio O
Magazine/Newspapers O
Friends/Family O
Other O

8. Do you watch film trailers?
Yes O
No O

9. Do you have a favourite actor / actress (Specify Below)

10. Do you ever re-watch a film that you have already seen?
Yes O
No O
11. Have you watched a film in 3D before?
Yes O
No O

If so, did you find the 3D film more entertaining than a regular film?
Yes O
No O

Results

we split out results into three categories.

• Kids (6-10 and 11-15)
• Teenagers and young adults(16-19 and 20-29)
• Adults(30-40 and 41-50+)

Our results are recorded next to each question.

Time Line