Production Company Ident

For my production company ident, i had the original idea of a simple doorway, with a shadow cast on the floor, with plain black background. I then developed the idea into a man stood in a doorway, with a shadow cast on the floor, i thought about different stances & a shadow of somebody else, maybe something quirky. eventually i decided on a typical 'clip-art' style confused man & the title 'The Man in a Doorway Productions', i have redesigned the entire ident a few times, although have created a final piece (With sound) and have incorporated the logo into the title.

Film Synopsis

Logline: A documentary about a group of teenagers, remaking the star wars saga for A level Media Studies. “The ‘lighter side’ of the dark side”.

The movie will be a mockumentary, following a group of teenagers making an A level media movie, a remake of star wars. Although none of them have any idea how to make a movie, or act, or edit. Most of the film is filmed with a hand held camera, in a behind-the-scenes style, although some of the movie is shown through outtakes.
After deciding on their project, their first task is to cast their actors, this goes badly and nobody turns up, they all end up having to play each part in the movie, between the four of them, they have to play all of the main roles in the movie. The group then realise how difficult their task is, especially after they burn their only extra with their lightsaber prop.
The documentary continues through the making of most of the movie, giving brief narrations and interviews as the movie goes on & finishes with the first screening of the movie & the reactions of the tea and their friends & families.

Story Writing Task

Friday in class we were given the task of writing the opening of a story, the first paragraph or two, with the first line "Ross, a ___ year old male woke up & looked around him, he was". From this we had to write a story, passing our story on to the next person every 2-3 minutes, to write the next paragraph. Here is mine

1. Ross an 83 year old male woke and looked around him; he was sat in a brown arm chair in an unfamiliar room. He is wearing a white dressing gown, embroided with the words 'Loony bin, care home for the elderly'. The room is full of other people, about his age sat in chairs, similar to his. All of them dressed in the same white gown. Other than one man in the corner, sat on his own, completely naked with a towel wrapped around his head.After a few seconds a bell rings and two men in white dress trousers and shirts enter. Ross brushes his comb over to one side, clears his throat, stands up and screams at the top of his voice.

2. He is detained by the two men and returned to his room, thrown onto the bed and locked in. Ross looks around his possession and stares at a picture of himself in the woods with his Commander Ted.

3. A light knock on the door is heard; Ross looks up from the photograph."Who is it?" he exclaims
"It's me sweetheart" a calm, croaky voice said, lovingly.Rose opens the door slowly, and walks in, wearing a pink robe & slippers, holding a mug of tea. She wore glasses with a tortoise shell frame and smelt of musk; the smell wafted in the air. She walked towards Ross and sat down next to him, and handed him the mug of tea.

4. "Now how are you feeling today?" Rose asked with a smile. Ross looked at her blankly as if he'd never seen her before "Get out. Who are you?! Leave me alone. I want to be left alone"
His anger had taken it out of him as he stopped and took another breath

5. "I just wanted to know how you are" pleaded Rose
"No, go away. I just want to be on my own!" screams Ross
He turns his back towards Rose and looks intensely at the photograph. Rose stands up and places the mug of tea on the coffee table. She opens the door, turns and sighs with sadness as she leaves the room. The mug of tea smokes as Ross looks up at the door from his anger. He turns to the coffee table where the only thing left is the disappearing condensation from the cup of tea

Strangly the story which others have written is very similar to what was my own idea. I had pictured him having a photograph in his bedroom & has contemplated him meeting an old friend and not recognizing them, although the story is similar to what i had devised when first imagining it, i don't think that i will take it any further, as it would be very expensive to get the props neccessary & difficult to find enough elderly people willing to act for me.

Logos

This is the Warp films logo, the first thing we notice is the sharp almost lightning bolt shape through the middle of the logo, dominating the logo, suggesting their movies are the best, as the bolt & name of the company covers the sphere behind it, which reminds me of the Earth; although this could give the wrong impression, of them churning our movies as fast as they can, like lightning. The logo is very simple, and is easy to remember, it gives the impression they don’t mess around and they just make movies. Also the name Warp, it suggests that they may not conform to the norm & may warp the normal ideas of genre into their own mixtures of genres and stories.

Momentum Pictures logo is even simpler, it is just their name, with the pictures slightly smaller than momentum, but in caps. Also the words are slightly italic, this all shows simplicity in their company, they make movies, simple. They have probably gone for simplicity because, although people may not be able to remember exactly what their logo is, they should remember the companies name; where as lots of other companies may have very complicated logos, making it harder to remember the name of the actual company. Whereas this logo is very easy to remember and means that the company’s name will be remembered too.

Production Companies

Warp Films

­Warp films is based in London & was established in 2001. The made movies such as Rubber Johnny, This is England & Four Lions, they have also made a lot of short films & TV films for Channel four and BBC, their most popular being This Is England ’86. They have also worked on music videos, for bands such as Vampire Weekend & Kasabian

Vertigo

Vertigo films in a UK based Production & Distribution Company created in 2002 by Allan Niblo. They have made films such as Bronson, Outlaw & Monsters. The original purpose of the company, was to produce two films The Football Factory & it’s All Gone Pete Tong(which won ten awards), their goal now is to produce and distribute 4 films per year.

Momentum Pictures

In 2000 Momentum films was founded, since then, they have created on average 20 theatrical films per year + even more direct to DVD releases, including The Men Who Stare At Goats, District 13 Ultimatum & Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. In Feb 2011 The Kings Speech won 7 BAFTA’s.

Studio Canal

In 1988 Pierre Lescure founded Studio Canal, as a spin-off of Canal+. They have made such films as Terminator 2, Total Recall & Highlander. Studio Canal has merged with other companies, such as Carolco Pictures & EMI Films, They have the third largest library of films in the world & Studio Canal have also funded a lot of French movies, as originally they planned to do mainly French & some European movies, although now they have many deals with American production companies.

After Effects: Day 1

Today we have learnt the basics of animation in After Effects & how to draw custom shapes using the pen tool, we have been re-creating the intro to Anatomy of a Murder, one of the first movies to have animated title sequences.
I have created a replica of this title sequence using what we have been taught on after effects.
I found this reasonably easy to get the hang of as I have used Adobe Flash before, which is similar for simple animations.

Opening Credits Timelines

The Matrix
0.05 - The Matrix
0.10 - Nothing
0.20 - Nothing
0.30 - Still Nothing

Forrest Gump
0.03 - Paramount Pictures Presents
0.07 - A Steve Tisch/Wendy Finerman Production
0.12 - A Robert Zemeckis Film
0.17 - Tom Hanks in
0.22 - Forrest Gump
0.28 - Robin Wright
0.33 - Gary Sinise
0.39 - Mykelti Williamson
0.42 - and Sally Field
0.47 - Casting by Ellen Lewis
0.52 - Co-producer Charles Newirth
0.57 - Executive Music Producer Joel Sill
1.02 - Visual Effects Supervisor Ken Ralston
1:07 - Costumes Designed by Joanna Johnston
1:12 - Music by Alan Silvestri
1:17 - Edited by Arthur Schmidt
1:22 - Production Designer Rick Carter
1:28 - Director of Photography Don Burgees
1:32 - Based on the Novel by Winston Groom
1:36 - Screenplay by Eric Roth
1:41 - Produced by Wendy Finerman - Steve Tisch - Steve Starkey
1:52 - Directed by Robert Zemeckis

In Bruges
0:27 - Focus Features presents
0:36 - in association with Film4
0:43 - a Blueprint Pictures production
0:52 - in association with Scion Films
1:31 - In Bruges

O Brother, Where Art Thou
1:27 - O Brother, Where Art Thou
1:50 - George Clooney
1:54 -John Turturro
1:57 - Tim Blake Nelson
2:05 - Charles Durning
2:08 - John Goodman
2:10 - Michael Badalucco
2:13 - and Holly Hunter
2:21 - Stephen Root - Chris Thomas King
2:24 - Wayne Duvall - Daniel Von Bargen
2:35 - J.R. Horne - Brian Reddy - Frank Collison
2:39 - Casting by Ellen Chenoweth
2:47 - Supervising Sound Editor Skip Lievsay
2:50 - Film Editors Roderick Jaynes and Tricia Cooke
2:53 - Music by T Bone Burnett
2:56 - Costume Designer Mary Zophres
3:05 - Production Designer Dennis Gassner
3:09 - Director of Photography Roger Deakins, A.S.C., R.S.C.
3:13 - Co-producer John Cameron
3:16 - Executive Producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner
3:24 - Produced by Ethan Coen
3:26 - Written by Ethan Coen & Joel Coen
3:30 - Based Upon “The Odyssey” by Homer
3:33 - Directed by Joel Coen

Title credits

We have been learning how to animate title credits and have been looking at the opening credits of different movies & how they portray the genre of the movie. We have looked at movies like se7en & forrest gump & talked about how the titles make us feel & what they tell us about the movie

Editing stage 2 & the final product~The Hangover~

Today we have finished editing the hangover, we spent a few minutes finishing the colour correcting & fitting the final few scenes together.
We are all happy with the final outcome, there is only one shot we have had trouble with, which was the cake shot, as the camera was dieing, we all agree that the camera work and different shots looked really good.
We have overdubbed all of Phil's speech as there was a lot of wind noise & sound of lorries driving past, the overdubbing fit really well,
I feel i have learned a lot during this project, about filming and editing & feel already my skills with premiere and after effects have improved greatly.

The Final Cut

Editing Stage 1 ~The Hangover~

Finally, we have finished filming our re-make of 'The Hangover' we have now began editing all of the clips together, Jake is going to sort out which shot we use & editing it all together, Ben is going to sort out getting the overdubbing correct, Evie is working on the music, i am working on title sequences and the main 'The Hangover' title. Nicole is supervising and checking everything over that we do.
We hope to only take two days to edit our entire movie together, as, although there is a lot of sound editing and colour correcting to do, it is a lot the same, meaning that we know what to do & should be able to get it done in time for the hand in date.

Today we have managed to do all of the titles & to put all of the shots together, we have just started adding the overdubbing and hope to be finished soon.

The Task ~The Hangover~

We have been tasked with recreating the first two minutes of the 2009 film 'The Hangover' directed by Todd Phillips. Exactly, shot by shot.
Our group consists of Evie Calaby, Ben Hurst, Nicole O'Malley, Jake Brownbill & Me
We have loosely assigned ourselves tasks, such such as director, producer, floor manager etc. although we all plan to take part in each role. We have agreed on our first two shooting dates.

Day One: 8th Oct. Deep Lane (Filming outside shots) We will need a main actor (Phil) three extras (Black Doug, Alan, Stu) a camera operator & a director.

Day Two: 9th Oct. Jake's House (Filming inside shots) We will need three main actors (Bride, Bride's mum, Bride's Dad) and three extras (Bridesmaids) a camera operator & a director.

Second Day of Shooting ~The Hangover~

Our second day of shooting (Oct. 9th) we planned to all meet at Jake's house around 3.30pm. On this shoot we hoped to finish shooting, although most of our cast and crew unfortunately couldn't make the shoot/were unexpectedly late, this meant that the only shots we were able to get were a couple of the opening shots, The Cake Pan Shot, The Dress Pan Shot & The 'You Never Walk Away From The Table When You're On A Heater' Shot.
Jake had made a rail & trolley for the camera to be mounted on, so that we could record smooth panning shots (for cake & dress) and Ben's parents had agreed to play parts in the shoot.
when everybody who was coming arrived we got on with all shots necessary, again, taking multiple shots of each. We have scheduled another shoot for later in the week, so we can finish shooting
People present on this day were, Me, Jake Brownbill, Ben Hurst & Evie Calaby.
So far Jake has acted as cameraman & everybody else has agreed to act & work as director/producer etc. The only shoots left for us to do are the Bride talking on the phone to Phil & more conversation between Bride's parents & Bride.

First Day of Shooting ~The Hangover~

Our first shoot was scheduled to be either the 8th or 9th of October, as we all had the weekend free, after realising the weather was going to be bad we agreed to do the shoot one day after school.

On our first day of shooting (Oct. 6th) We (Me, Ben Hurst, Ben Thorpe, Evie Calaby, Jamie Saunders, Nicole O'Malley & Jake Brownbill) all met after school at Deep Lane in Wymondham, at 4.30pm.
We began setting up the shots necessary, and soon realised it was too windy for me to play Phil, as my hair was blowing around, so after a short discussion we decided Ben Hurst should play Phil. My dad then turned up with his convertible we were borrowing & we finished setting up the shots, with me, Jamie & Ben Thorpe playing Alan, Black Doug & Stu, respectively.
After a few shots we had the whole of Phil's side of the conversation done. We had filmed from both shots necessary and had multiple takes of each to cut together. Considering the bad still dark and breezy weather, the bright green crops & the stereotypical English cottages in the background of each shot, I think that we managed to make it look a lot like Nevada...
We plan to colour correct the final production & increase brightness and colour saturation, to give the shots a brighter more 'deserty' feel.

Our Team

Ben Hurst, Jake Brownbill, Jamie Saunders, Nicole O'Malley, Evie Calaby, Ben Thorpe, Me

Use of Narration

Many people seem to have different views of narration in movies, after looking at reviews and forums commenting on narration (e.g http://www.firstshowing.net/2007/is-narration-in-a-film-ever-good-or-just-a-guaranteed-annoyance/) I have found that many people either like or dislike narration in all movies, although some movies appear to have better narrations, such as Goodfellas, American Beauty & Shawshank Redemption. Narration in my final piece is a definite possibility, although I will need to find somebody with a 'strong' voice, somebody who's voice has an impact on you & one which you will remember, as many people have also said that it is very hard to remember narrations from movies & which movies have narration!

The Fourth Wall

The fourth wall is the invisible wall between performers on stage or on screen & the audience, it is what separates the audience from the performance & is the invisible wall we view through into their world.

To break the fourth wall is when a performer or actor speaks directly to the audience, thus 'breaking the fourth wall' and momentarily bringing the audience into the world of the performance or movie.

The idea of the forth wall came about in Ancient Greek theatre, as the stage has a left right and back wall & the imaginary front wall is the edge of the stage, in Greek & Shakespearian theatre, the fourth wall has been broken many times

Fargo

In Fargo, the blank whiteness is used as a coen brothers view to the black ans scummy look of a film noir, this complete opposite in Fargo of the constant whiteness gives the small feel of not knowing whats out there beyond view & gives a very dirty grimmy feel, of the melting muddy snow.

The whole time we see Marge and Norm, they are together in bed, totally oblivious to the world outside and the murders, they are very out of place in this thriller & seem more like an odd couple from a Rom Com.

The scene right at the beginning of the movie, of Jerry's car driving down the main road to see the criminals sets the pace for the rest of the movie, this establishing shot is very slow & is drawn out, very much like the rest of the movie, how many scenes go on for a lot longer than would be expected in a thriller, e.g. Marge eating breakfast in the morning and the shot staying with Norm while he eats.

The large proportion of the movies comic moments come from the violent moments, as most all of the more violent scenes are depicted as being funny, such as Gaear putting Carl into the log chipper & when Carl is shot in the face and repeatedly shoots Jerry's Father-in-law, this violent moments are made to seem very comic, which is very much the opposite of the stereotypical action scene in a thriller, as most thrillers are based around their gory or exciting action scenes, where as the main scenes which would place this movie into the genre of Thriller are the movies

And finally the entire setting of the movie is very much the opposite of what is expected of a Thriller as the main cop is a middle-aged pregnant woman, and the ethnicity and setting of the whole movie gives it a much calmer and laid back feeling, including the big bulky clothes worn, slowing people's movement, this makes the pace of the movie feel even slower, as they speak in their very slow scandinavian-american accent comic highlights.

The Coen Brothers

he Coen Brothers are well known for playing with the rules of genre, they write, produce and direct all of their movies together. Their movies have won 30 Golden Globes, BAFTAs and Academy Awards. Their last ten movies are:
True Grit;
A Serious Man; Burn After Reading;
No Country For Old Men;
The Ladykillers; Intolerable Cruelty;
The Man Who Wasnt There;
O Brother, Where Art Thou?;
The Big Lebowski;
Fargo.

First 5 Things Learned in Media Studies

So far in media studies I have learned about:

1. Mise-en-scene, this is about what is shown on the frame, props and positioning of actors, clothes worn, surroundings etc.

2. The rule of thirds, you should never have your main actor/actress in the middle of a shot, but more toward the corners of the shot, it makes for a more interesting shot.

3. How Horror movies set the scene and how yo9u are thrown into the story of the movie very early on

4. How different shots of characters (close ups mid shots and full length shots) can give actors different amounts of moving space and how the shots can make the movie feel different.

5. I learned how Tom Cruise is really short and is never shot from the waist down.