My name is Eddie Rowe, (candidate number 9147). I'm a media student at the Latymer School. I am working in group 2 with Mario Louka, (candidate number 9099),and Ignacio Flores (candidate number 9049). To view my work, use the 3 labels on the right named 'A2 Research and Planning', 'A2 Construction', and 'A2 Evaluation'.
Our rough cut was useful in helping us see continuity errors, and dialogue that didn't make sense. We used our previously constructed animatic to quickly compile our test shots into the correct places and lengths. We were also able to test how our chosen sound effects and music fit in with actual footage.
Our rough cut within Adobe Premiere Pro
Things we found we needed to fix for the next shoot:
We missed one shot, and another we forgot to add dialogue in.
We needed to improve the lighting to keep shadows on one side of each actors face.
We also needed to edit the lighting setup to stop too much light spilling onto the curtains and floor.
We noticed a terrible pan shot, the framing of which just didn't suit it at all, so we scrapped that and replaced it with a simpler shot.
One of our shots with visible lighting errors, including too intense light on the characters' faces, and shadows cast on Jen by the dealer leaning forward.
After confirming the dates, the availability of our location and actors, and making sure we had all the props we needed, we proceeded to carry out our test shoot.
The only main issue with the shoot was that Alistair had told us that he'd spoken with the female lead and made sure she was available, however come the day of the shoot, she told us he had not spoken with her, so that was a slight let down and I had to find a last minute replacement actress. This meant that we'd find it a lot harder to use any of the test footage in our actual final sequence if it was good enough.
It was very useful as we were able to fully test our lighting setup and work out what could be improved for the actual shoot. For example we noticed that we should actually change the lighting set up between shots to keep the dark shadows across one side of each actor's face.
Though we initially thought we'd lit the scene well, we didn't change the setup between shots, so the footage actually came out with many lighting errors, which we'll have to resolve by changing the lighting setup for each shot in our actual shoot.
The lighting on this shot was far too bright, and lacked the shadowing
we wanted on the character's face.
With the help of the group, I wrote up these notes of what we needed to bring, and who needed to bring it. Some of the costume stuff our actors were able to bring so I noted that down at the bottom.
In terms of props, there was little we really needed. The two most troublesome items to acquire were the poker felt and the table. We knew we wanted a round table, so we had to borrow one from the lunch hall and bring it up to the studio in the lift, which took time.
Our costumes were mainly influenced by films such as Casino Royale, 21, and Sin City. Jen and Blake's costumes were most notable. Blake wore a suit whilst Jen wore a leather jacket. The dealer wore a bowtie, waistcoat, and black trousers.
Daniel Craig in Casino Royale
Our actor, Willem, dressed as 'Blake'
The felt was a pain as originally I had some but it was too small to cover the table so I had to order more online from amazon, which only just came in time for the shoot.
I also had to bring playing cards as well as the poker chips.
We started off our casting by drawing up a rough description of each character, and their name. We then slowly went back and forth thinking through people at school who may fit the description, or that we thought would be capable of acting as, and show an actual interest in doing so.
Our cast:
Blake is dressed formally to give a similar portrayal as the lead characters in films such as James Bond.
Jen is also dressed in a glamerous style, however we wanted to represent her as independent and tough, thus the leather jacket.
The dealer appears as a stereotypical dealer.
Chow and Tim are dressed in bland everyday clothes, contrasting massively to the others.
We then spoke to these people to find out who was interested in being a part of our project and who was available on our chosen shoot dates, we would then contact them in advance for any future shoots.
We decided to shoot in the Seward Studio at school as it offered the best chances of achieving the stylistic dark feel we wanted to get with our shots. We knew that we could use the black curtains to our advantage in making the place feel detached and void, much like the atmosphere created in The Knife That Killed Me. The reasoning behind this was that the opening sequence is kind of like a flashback, so we felt we should have that empty feel, focusing on the people and events rather than the place.
In order to fully control the lighting within the studio, we had the blinds down and the main lights off. We had two spotlights on the ground which we varied the intensity of depending on the angle of the shot. We did this so that we could keep half the actors' faces in shadow in each shot, much like in some of the shots in Casino Royale. We also had a fill light from the ceiling, which we kept at a set intensity to keep the table illuminated, but not throw too much shadow over the actors' faces.
We had to meticulously plan where each actor in the location would be, and every camera position, so we could fit our lighting around that, I ended up making a studio plan:
The actual location looked like this before we set up,
and like this once we had begun to lay out the lights and props.
With the main lights out it began to look as good as we had originally hoped.
Having completed the shoot board we decided to plan the dates for our shooting. We made certain to all commit to them, and also got the signatures of our teachers in order to make sure they were aware of our plans. Doing this kept the dates clear in advance so nothing would have to be worked around or cancelled, however as we were shooting in school it did take a while to get a clear day to shoot in the studio.
Test shoot date: Wednesday 11th February Main shoot date: Thursday 26th February
Our production schedule
We decided to mainly edit during lesson time, however we each will have some free time we are able to edit in, and also can edit during our group meetings. We will make sure to have plenty of sessions where we edit as a group so we can make sure to agree on changes we make to the sequence.
Once we had finished the animatic and made our final decisions on which shots we were going to include, we were able to begin making our shoot board. This allowed us to include loads of information for each shot, for example the props involved, the location, the required actors, any important dialogue, and the shot number. We also had blank columns for the number of takes and if there was a particular take we thought worked out well on shoot day, (allowing us to work faster when it came to editing the sequence).
As we were only shooting in one location, we decided to order the shots in terms of the actors involved, as due to the fact we were shooting at school in the evening, some actors wanted to leave earlier. We planned it so that the actors that needed to get away earlier could do so more easily. We also clumped together the shots that would require use of the gib, as this took time to assemble and dissemble.
Upon the completion of our storyboard, we decided to create an animatic on Adobe Premiere Pro, as this would allow us to visualize even better the progression of shots, and highlight to us any glaring issues that we may have missed purely using the storyboard. We took photos of each individual shot, loaded them into the software and stretched or cut them to fit the desired time.
Having the shots in this form made it easy for us to test out some of our ideas, such as seeing how plausible a graphic match would be, and also testing our planned transitions. We were also able to add and place credits for our media institutions, as well as adding and slicing our voice-over to see how the script worked with the shots.
Our animatic helped us greatly as we were able to easily switch shots around that may have originally looked good on the storyboard but in actual fact may not really have 'flowed' properly.
To help us visualise the shots in our sequence, and easily replace and move them around, we decided to create a storyboard using a large piece of paper and post it notes to represent shots. We colour-coded them to show close ups, mid-shots, and long shots. We used yellow for CU shots, blue for MCU and pink for LS shots.
I came up with the idea to also put in little blue markers between shots to remind us our chosen transition style, and put banner notes under certain shots to indicate important music, sound effects, or dialogue. This was really useful in planning the progression shots as we were able to see where we broke conventions early on, and decide if there was any good reasoning behind doing so. For example here shot 8 is a CU and shot 9 is a LS, where really there should be a MCU in-between.
I believe we have managed to produce a good amount of work so far. Each group member has taken an active role in contributing to the project to keep progressing and overcoming any issues we may have. We have a good amount of research and sources to reference for the choices we have made thus far for our sequence.
The only real issue we've had has been the shoot dates. This is due to the fact we plan to use the school's studio to shoot in as it offers the best place to create our setting. The problem is there are few days we can be allowed to shoot on due to the studio being in use by other people. Adding to this issue is the availability of our actors on the actual shoot days we are allowed to use.
We hope to next produce a storyboard, and from that an animatic and a shootboard, then finally a rough edit of our sequence. Doing so will massively benefit our project as it can quickly show if we are going to have any major issues, and it also allows us to switch and change things around really easily if a problem shows itself.
The following is the script for our opening sequence:
Jen: You gonna call the bet or what?
Blake: Look, I need you to do something for me
Jen: Oh really? Is that so, well please, tell me how I can help
Blake: You worked on the […] case, you know where the file is and how to get it.
Jen: So you want me to break into the records room of our old station? I can consider myself lucky if I manage to get through the doors of that place nowadays.
Blake: Which is why you should consider the offer more seriously. I doubt these fools are offering you much of a challenge. [glares from others]
Jen: [pause] So what do you want with those people. I don’t know too much about them but they’re not the kind of people you’d want to mess with.
Blake: They have Rachel, which is why I need to find where they are and what they’re capable of.
Jen: And you plan to do all of this alone? You haven’t changed, you always were the type to do things his own way.
Blake: Look, Jen. I need that file. If you’re going to stay here and waste your time with these lowlife thugs then I couldn’t care less, but I will do everything in my power to find these people.
When composing the script, our main interest was keeping an equal balance in content between Blake and Jen, in order to convey them both as strong characters. The script is quite fast-paced, this is to demonstrate the fact they are comfortable talking to eachother as they are not strangers to one another.
This scene from Casino Royale was our main influence for the conversation, as it shows the tone we were trying to achieve, however our sequence being slightly more serious.
Our opening sequence will start with a shot of Blake playing with a ring in his hands. Due to the fact this shot would take place a long while before the poker game, we will add a dreamy style filter to the shot. The sequence then follows the conversation between Jen and Blake, Blake asking Jen to help him recover the kidnapped Rachel by getting her hands on a police file on the gang Blake suspects is responsible for the kidnapping. Jen is reluctant to help Blake as she was fired from the police force due to her gambling addiction (the same reason Blake has come to this poker match to speak with her). Both Blake and Jen will have similar amounts of screen time during the conversation as we want to show Jen's strong independence and lean towards leadership. At the climax of the opening, the two criminal characters at the table will become angered by Blake disrespecting them out of his frustration at Jen, and they will pull weapons on them. Jen will shoot the two criminals before they have time to take any action.
Our sequence will start with titles for distributor, production company, director, and then the film's name, all on a black background, and then actor titles will be over-laid on the actual opening shots. This style of film opening titles is very similar to that in The Usual Suspects, our main influence in terms of titling.
Our setting for the opening sequence is an illicit, dingy back-alley poker game. We chose to connote both the drabness of the setting, and the fact all the events are Blake recalling memories by having a black background, and no other major props other than the table visible in the scene.
We have chosen the title of the film to be Pay off. We originally wanted to go with Payback, however there was already an existing film with this name. The reason we were looking at these sorts of titles was because the plot of the film revolves around a kidnapping, and the usual reason for kidnapping in films is for ransoms, so the title connotes paying the ransom for the kidnapped person.
Scene from the film '21'.
Initially the film was going to be centred around the theme of gambling in casinos, similar to the film '21', however we decided this would be a bit too limiting on our range of audiences.
The protagonist of our film is a man named Blake. He is an ex-police officer turned private investigator. He is a very secluded character, generally preferring to work alone, if not he usually is the guy in charge. His partner Rachael has been kidnapped by a criminal gang, and the film follows his journey to find the perpetrators and get Rachael back. In the opening sequence he has gone to an underground criminal poker game to get back in touch with Jennifer, another ex-police officer he used to work with. He asks for her help in finding Rachael, and with some persuasion, she agrees.
If we look at Todorov's narrative theory, the opening sequence begins after the event that breaks the equilibrium of Blake's life, (Rachel's kidnapping). We need to be careful in doing this as so to no confuse the audience by moving back and forth in time too much.
We also are taking into account the theory of binary opposites. In our sequence Blake will be a representation of law and morality, whilst the criminals being binary opposites to him, representing villainy and immorality. This will mainly be portrayed through costume and mise-en-scene.
Our chosen genre is action, with a thriller sub-genre. We chose these as they are universally very appealing genres to most people, for example many family Disney films, such as Big Hero 6, would fall under the action category. We then took inspiration from films such as those in the James Bond series and also the film The Usual Suspects. Our film opening did begin to take a more abstract style though, we planned to have very dark surroundings around the table, this would create a detached, artistic style, similar to some films such as The Knife That Killed Me.
To create a strong appeal to the audience, we needed to clearly convey our film's genre to the audience. For this reason we will include an action sequence at the end of our opening, using conventional methods, such as tense, fast-paced music, and quick montage editing. This sequence will show two characters will be shot. The dialogue and dark atmosphere will help to increase the tension and suspension of the scene. This structure will be quite similar to the opening of Casino Royale.
A gripping opening is important to attract and hold the target audience's attention, and we knew this was especially important for the younger ages within our audience. We addressed this by making the opening build suspense right from the outset. Many of the younger viewers would be most interested in escapism, so an exciting yet believable situation was important to create, whilst the older viewers would be very interested in the story and characters, so we needed to give them depth. The lighting and stylized look of the opening would allow the audience to instantly recognise the genre of the film.
The action packed and suspenseful opening is similar to other films such as The Usual Suspects' opening, and also Casino Royale's fight scene during the opening.
We will mainly address our audiences by making our characters easily identifiable and relatable. This will be mainly done through the characters dialogue, to reveal their past and their moral standing.
As with most action films, we decided our main character, Blake, needed to be a strong-willed, charismatic character. However, unlike with many of the alpha-male characters we usually see in films, we wanted to make Blake's character more interesting, he is a good man doing bad things for a good reason, the reason being to rescue his partner. To better capture the majority of the audience's interest, we made Blake a normal, middle class guy, thus also keeping him more easy to relate to. This is similar to, and influenced by the character Bryan Mills from the film Taken.
Our main female character is a bit different. She breaks many of the feminine stereotypes we see in most action films today. She is no damsel in distress, she is ex-police, as Blake is, but her addiction to gambling has landed her among thugs and villains. Though she helps develop Blake's character somewhat, we thought it important to have her as his equal, she is just as likely to be a leader in any given situation as he is. Her strength and independence is similar to the character Katniss Everdeen from the Hunger Games.
Ellen Ripley from the film Alien is also an inspiring female role for us to aim for, as the characteristics of independence and somewhat that of leadership are good qualities we could convey with Jen.
Our bad guy criminal characters are partially inspired by those seen in films such as the James Bond series. Most notably the darker attire and commonplace glaring at the protagonist are things that we feel are good conventions to uphold with our characters.
We are an independent production company specializing in British films, named FRP. We will produce with Silver Pictures, an American production company well known for Hollywood films. Silver Pictures have worked with British-American films similar to ours, such as Sherlock Holmes. Our film will follow the glamorous style of films similar to the James Bond franchise.
Our film will be distributed by Universal Pictures, mainly due to the fact that they have a five year marketing and distribution deal with Silver Pictures, since the 2014 film 'Nonstop'. Universal also has a strong influence in US and British markets, which is important to us as we plan a theatrical release in both the US and UK, followed up by VOD releases such as Amazon and YouTube Movies. There will also be a DVD and Blu-ray release so that audiences can get the film easily on whichever platform they prefer.
Before deciding the genre of the film opening we wished to create, we decided it would be a good idea to carry out some very basic research into the genres different age demographics liked most. To do this we created a sort of questionnaire/table of genres and ages, we'd add one to the tally in the relevant age and genre box for each person. Though the results were fairly inconclusive, there was a vague favoritism of the action genre, thus we decided we should target the action film fans as our primary audience.
How we picture some of our TA
The first example of an action film that would appeal to most age groups that we could think of were James Bond films. They have a very iconic style and glamour to them synonymous with British action films. Bond films generally appeal to young and old, male and female. For example, Casino Royale has both the glamorous poker game scenes and the enthralling action chases and fights.
We included similar elements in our film to help appeal to our secondary audience of males and female aged 15-40.
The younger end of our TA
Teenagers would be the most likely to go and watch the film at a cinema as it is a common practice to go see a film with friends, thus they have a high spending potential. Adults nonetheless make up a sizable portion of our core target audience, so we must make sure to appeal to them as well. Due to the 15 rating of the film, the adults who watch it would most likely watch it alone or with a partner or family member, therefore we believe they could identify well with the fears of the main character.
We have decided to hold twice weekly group meetings in which we will discuss the research and development stages. We all agreed to take individual responsibility if we failed to turn up to a meeting, and communicate this to the others. This was so that we could keep up a good pace of work.
In order to keep up consistent work, each of our meetings is at least an hour long. We also agreed we needed to be easily able to communicate to each other any spur of the moment ideas or anything else that should arise during the research and development process, therefore we swapped contact details and also set up a Facebook page to post anything of importance or relevance.
