Final Piece & Evaluation

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Editing - Sound

After exporting the rough cut of my movie, i listened to the sound track, after discovering how much background sound there was & that there was music playing in the background of each shot, i decided i would be best to delete all of the sound and record the sounds separately so as to remove the background interference. I have had to re-record the sounds of footsteps, gun's cocking & opening/closing as well as the radiogram.

Editing - After Effects

Now that the movie is all together, i have used After Effects to add my idents & basic titles to the movie to create a rough cut, although i have still not edited the sound in anyway. I have not used After Effects much for editing, which i was i aimed to do, as when exporting, my video often comes out in much worse quality than from Premiere, and i wanted to keep the quality as high as i could; also the level of editing & the quality of effects are not as good on After Effects, as it is more aimed at CGI etc.

Editing - Premiere

I have imported all of my footage into Premiere & have cut it together, to begin with i will not bother listening to and editing the sound, i am just concerned with sorting out footage which looks good.
Most of the shots have an annoying colourful haze of noise, as the room was dark when i filmed, i have realised that it would have been better if i had filmed during the day & edited the video to look like it is night time. i have colour corrected all of the footage to look the same, although it is not necessarily as it will look in the final cut, it is all the same, so that when editing the final cut, i can edit every shot at once. To make the footage look better, i have removed a lot of the red, as the shots looked very pink, this has improved the grain as well, as now it is less colourful, and has the 'vintage' look which i originally planned to add to the footage.

Filming

Today I filmed the first scene of my movie. Me and my dad set up his bedroom for the shoot, we rotated the Bed around 90 degrees & moved the TV and everything modern out of the room.
First I filmed a simple shot of the radiogram starting up, with the record 'Running Scared' on it.
After that i set up the tripod for the first shot, a slow pan past the bedside table, revealing the main character, i planned to have a couple of slow panning shots at the beginning, with fades between them.
The shoot went well and the only shot which we had trouble with was the final shot, as I could not get the angle i wanted past the door. and so i ended up doing a high shot, looking down at the dead body, whereas originally i planned to do a low shot looking straight across at the body.
Next I will edit all of my footage together in two parts, once in Premiere & once in After Effects

Set-set-Setup

Before filming i have prepared the set.
I have a bedside table, with a lighter, some cigarettes & a glass of whiskey.
Old-looking bedsheets to show the age of the film.
A radiogram in the corner of the room - to play music on
Removed any clocks, TVs & electrical equipment

Costumes

The costumes i have chosen for my characters are quite simple. I have chosen a typical 'Hero Cowboy' outfit for the main character, denim jeans, a white shirt & an unbuttoned black waistcoat. The other character, who is killed at the beginning will be wearing all black, as he should be portrayed as the 'bad man'. I have gone for very simple costumes, as i wanted the main character to be portrayed as having a simple, easy lifestyle; he has no need for expensive clothing as he needs to blend into the background for his job.

Updates to Script Etc

No longer using Handgun prop - 12 Gauge Double barrel side-by-side.

No longer using Jukebox - Old fashioned Turn Table - Lighting will come from dim ceiling light

Script update - (Additional Shot(Lighting is also dark, as in room)) after shot is fired, cuts to outside of door, man laying on floor with gun in hand (breathing slightly), pans across to main character, seeing the gun in his hand (smoke coming out of barrel) & panning up to face, he aims gun at the man on floor & fires again - then cuts to white/titles etc

Script / Props / Shot List ~ First Draft

SCENE 1
FADE IN. FROM BLACK
INT. 60’S MOTEL ROOM/BEDROOM – NIGHT
The motel room is darkly lit, with a jukebox in the corner, dimly lighting the room. A 50 year old MAN sits on the side of the bed, his light wrinkles catch the light from the jukebox, next to the bed is a small bed side table, sitting on here is a GUN a lighter and a box of cigarettes. The man picks up the gun and stares at it, in his right hand.
He lifts a cigarette to his mouth with his left hand & then lights it with the old metal FLIP TOP LIGHTER, the light of the flame glows on his face, and for the first time you can see his wrinkled face fully, the darkness of his veteran eyes. He is wearing a plain dark waistcoat and a black shirt, undone at the top.
After a couple of seconds he looks at his watch, on his right wrist, walks over to the illuminated jukebox & presses the corresponding buttons to the song ‘Running scared’ by Roy Orbison which, after a few seconds begins playing, the man walks back toward the bed, taps his cigarette over the ash tray and sits back down, staring at the door. Waiting.
The door flies open and a non-descript shadow of a person, around 6ft, stand in the doorway.
QUICK FADE OUT. TO WHITE - WITH LOUD GUN ‘BANG’ NOISE
THE NAME OF THE MOVIE IS PRINTED IN BLACK ON THE PLAIN WHITE
FADE IN.
EXT. MOTEL/HOUSE - DAY - SUNNY
MAN (V.O)
I’ve been doing what I do for 38 years,
it took me 25 of them to become the best.
For normal jobs you need a conscience.
(Slight pause)
This isn’t a normal job.
The door of the HOUSE/MOTEL opens and out steps the same man from the bedroom, in the same clothes, it is suggested to be the next morning. He squints slightly around as the sun blazes down on him, he places a pair of thin framed sunglasses on & walks along to the edge of the pavement, where he opens the door of a typical 1960’s American muscle car & enters, after a couple of seconds he starts the car and pulls away slowly.
PROPS - INT. /SCENE 1
GUN - .44 MAGNUM REPLICA/COLT PEACEMAKER/9MM M9 BERRETTA.
LIGHTER - STAINLESS STEEL/CHROME FLIP TOP LIGHTER.
CIGARETTE PACK - BROWN PACK, NO SPECIFIC MAKE, NO VISIBLE WARNING LABEL.
CIGARETTE - READY MADE CIGARETTE, PERIOD LOOKING
BEDSIDE TABLE - WOODEN CARVED - ORNATE TO GIVE EXPENSIVE FEEL TO THE ROOM.
JUKEBOX - TYPICAL 60’S JUKEBOX - WILL GIVE FEEL OF EXPENSIVE ROOM.

PROPS - EXT. /SCENE 2
CAR - MUSCLE CAR - 1966 BUICK SPECIAL

SHOT LIST
FADE IN.
INT. 60’S MOTEL ROOM/BEDROOM – NIGHT

LIGHTING – ROOM LIT BY JUKEBOX – ON SHOTS WHERE JUKEBOX IS NOT VISIBLE, OTHER LIGHTING WILL BE USED FOR EFFECT, FROM DIRECTION OF THE JUKEBOX.
Establishing shot of the room, slow pan from door to JUKEBOX, silent.
Shot looking from next to the jukebox, over at character sat on edge of bed, with bedside table to his left.
Shot from next to the bedside table, at table height, facing man, as he picks up the gun.
Close up of cigarette box, as a cigarette is removed from box.
Front on shot of man, as he places cigarette to lips & lights the lighter just in front of him, as he moves it to light the cigarette, his face becomes more visible, as cigarette is lit he snaps the lid shut and shot becomes very dark again
Shot close up of man's right hand side as he stands and begins walking to jukebox
Shot from side of jukebox (Light of jukebox showing his face)taking puff; smoke looks atmospheric, he puts on record 'Running Scared - Roy Orbison'
Shot from doorway - walking back to bed, sitting down & taking puff of cigarette and picking up & cocking gun.
Shot from right hand side of man (same as before) door starts opening - Single shot fired at door -
Fade Out (white/titles)
Scene 2 - Ext.
Fade in - From white(Voice Over begins)
Close up of feet - Cowboy Boots - panning up, meeting right hand and following - places glasses from right hand on face - looking into distance (past camera to the right of shot) then walks in this direction away from camera.
wide angle shot of back of car & man walking toward it - starts opening door
Close up from passenger side of car, man getting into car & closes door
High shot behind car - car starts & man drives away
Fade out - Black (Voice Over ends)

Re-written New Film Synopsis

Tag-line: When you get to be as good as he is, you don't just quit.

Synopsis: An aging gun for hire decides he wants to get out of the business & have a normal life. After collecting his last pay packet he tries to leave, but is stopped by two other contractors, who attempt to kidnap him & kill him.
After escaping, the aging assassin must find and kill the owners of the agency he used to work for. Alone, he must find a way of getting to them and killing them, only then can he be free; without there protection, he has no way of being safe from jail.
After finally getting to his final target he feels relieved he can finally settle down and live a quiet life.

Development of Company Ident and Second Ident

I have created a short video which details the stages of creating my company ident for 'The Man in a Doorway, Productions'


Whilst designing my ident i changed the name, by adding 'The' to the beginning, this meant that the final image would be more centralised, with the 'man in doorway' picture, in the middle of the shot.
I have created a second company ident for 'Scarepigeon Entertainment' a name which was suggested by a friend of mine; i have used a picture of them in the ident (With their permission).
{Video soon}

Character Research

'(A Gunslinger)is a 20th century word, used in cinema or literature, referring to men in the American Old West who had gained a reputation as being dangerous with a gun' - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/gunslinger.

I plan to create my main protagonist as an aging gunslinger. I have looked into the idea of cowboys & gunslingers, from old western movies, from the 60's. The characters I have looked at include 'Rooster Cogburn' from 'True Grit' 1969 & 'Rooster Cogburn' 1975 as well as multiple characters portrayed by Clint Eastwood most of whom are credited as 'The Man With No Name'.
At the moment my dad is the most likely to play the main role in my movie, as he is the correct age for the role & looks good for the role.

Time Period Research & Planning

To create my western, i have lookedat some of the most popular western movies, such as 'The Good, The Bad & The Ugly' (1966) and 'True Grit' (1969). As well as movies set in more modern times, such as 'Dirty Harry' (1971) i plan to create my movie as a cross between these movies, set in the 70's, but with the feel of an old western movie, as if the ways of the gunfighting cowboy never died out.
I plan to use my parents bedroom,as most of the furniture is pre 70's. My dad owns an old western shotgun & i own a replica revolver, this means that i will be able to keep my props period, this will keep the continuity and time period correct.

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