Continuity Errors

This is a prime example of how easily mistakes can be made when making films. There are several clips here when crew members are spotted or props are not where they are supposed to be. All of the following continuity errors are taken from the Harry Potter series. We have made sure when we filmed our film opening that we got everything spot on and there were no massive errors that could be easily noticed.

Film Opening Analysis - Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

This is a short video analysis of the film The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

Action Genre Film Distribution Company

This company could be a possible choice that would fit our genre and would be the best option to distribute our film. 
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc.  (CPII) is an American film production and distribution studio. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film studios in the world, a member of the so-called Big Six. It was one of the so-called Little Three among the eight major film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age.
The studio, founded in 1918 as Cohn-Brandt-Cohn Film Sales by brothers Jack and Harry Cohn and Joe Brandt, released its first feature film in August 1922. It adopted the Columbia Pictures name in 1924 and went public two years later. The name is derived from "Columbia", a national personification of the United States, which is used as the company's logo.
In its early years a minor player in Hollywood, Columbia began to grow in the late 1920's, spurred by a successful association with director Frank Capra.

Here are a list of films that Columbia production company have distributed over this year alone. they have distributed almost thousands of films over the years starting in 1930.

Email To Olympus House

Here is a print screen of the e-mail which we sent to Olympus house in order to get permission to film on their premises. We are hoping to hear back from them and hope that it will be ok for us to film there. We feel that this location is good for our film opening as it looks very much like a business orientated environment and therefore will make our film opening seem more real. This will provide the correct Mis-en-scene for our video and will portray the jobs which the main characters have. It will also be a good location as it will be where the drug dealers find out that their package is in the wrong hands and as a result they decide to take action, by kidnapping and interrogating John Peter's,(the innocent party) hence our title Mistaken Identity. 

 

 

We also have informed our local police station about the kidnapping and the pretend gun being used; having explained that it is for educational purposes. They swiftly agreed and gave us the heads up to crack on with our filming. They are now alert what is going on and in what locations in case anybody from the public those see and feel threatened in any way.

Post Production

Post production is the term for all stages of production occurring after the actual end of shooting and recording the completed work. Post-production is, in fact, many different processes grouped under one name. These are; video editing, writing, adding visual special effects and sound design/ effects. Post production can take longer than the actual making of the film itself this is because it needs to complete the editing, colour correction and the addition of music and sound. Post production can be seen as second directing because through post production it is possible to change the intention of the film.

Production

The production part in media is the actual making and filming of the film. This is when the film has been given the go ahead and they can get deep into and concentrate purely on filming of the film. However it’s not this simple, there are in fact many different stages of production and different things to consider. It all begins with the producer, he gets everything together and organised, for example the cast, the idea, the development and the crew. Then in order to film the idea and the script must be good! then the package, this is where the screen play needs to be written, need to sort out the budget. Attracting investment this is where the producer meets other producers across the world, this is essential because without the investment the film will not be made. The planning is very important, they should make sure time is kept for the harder and longer scenes when shooting. Also the budget is very important, this is based on the investment and when they have this they need to draw up a financial plan showing how they are going to pay for everything. Above and below the line costs, above the line is the script, screen play, actors, producer, director and below the line is the designers. They also need to consider their audience so they need to consider the location and who will want to see the film. Finally the marketing, this costs more than making the film, they need to find a gap in the market for their film.

What Makes An Action Movie Captivating To You

After asking our class what makes an action movie or any other movie captivating to them, we got these certain words in response. We have made them into a wordle to be presented in a more interesting way. Asking our class benefits us as they are at the particular age of our target audience so we know our research will be solid and reliable.

Convergence

Convergence is the term used to describe how technology has brought together previously separate media channels. For example, a mobile phone and a camera work independently from one another but since early 2000's the two technologies have converged and most mobile phones now include a camera. In the film industry digital recording and distribution methods mean that previously separate forms can be bought together or converged. The digital content produced during film making is compatible with other digital media so can be used on websites or in games. Convergence is just the coming together or merging of two things.

Synergy

Synergy is the process through which media products derived from the same text are promoted in and through each other and throughout the subsidiaries of a media conglomerate. Synergy is closely linked to convergence as the coming together of the separate companies associated with different technologies within a conglomerate allow for synergy to happen. Synergy works on two levels; the main text is promoted using the many subsidiaries of the conglomerate, and the individual products used to advertise the main text are linked to each other.

Horizontal Integration

A horizontal integrated company owns or has shares in lots of different companies and these companies can be used to produce, market and supply products. For example a film can be purchased as a feature at the cinema, rented on DVD, purchased as a download and finally purchased as a DVD.

Taken Film Analysis

This famous action film called Taken was a very successful and well produced film; it is popular because of its constant drama and action. I am going to be analysing its mis-en-scene and the techniques it may use to portray its genre. This will guide us in the right direction as to what we would want to try to incorporate into our film. This is a trailer and not a film opening but still consists of scenes from the movie which include a lot of action and drama. Most of the scenes when action and crimes occur are in a dark and mysterious lighting which makes it more anxious for the viewer as to what will occur. The start is in a brighter light, this is because there is no drama but just innocence from the young girls. The music allows the tension to build up so you know something bad may happen, creating the typical action image. The movie contains a kidnap, this is great for us as we plan on using one in our film opening, the girl witness's a kidnap first and is scared, the men are in dark outfits and we barely see them to add mystery. The girl then gets kidnapped; there is a lot of noise and screaming at this point. We plan on using a kidnap in a similar way; the criminals will be in balaclavas and dark clothes. The music in the background gets intense and adds suspense in certain situations. Also the use of quick snap shots gets used adding pace and drama and keeping the audience on edge. A gun is also used later on in the film this is a key prop piece in most action films, it’s a weapon which shows criminality and action. Fighting occurs throughout; this keeps the film intense and interesting and is stereotypical feature in action films. Overall this film has had massive success, and considering are film opening follows the same lines in certain aspects, it gives us great confidence that we can incorporate good action shots to define our genre and also it will keep our viewers interested and in suspense, this is a great element to action films.

Possible Target Audience

We have done some background research and thinking about what our possible target audience could be. As a result we have tried to build up target audience profile to enable us to know what people would be interested to see our film. We know (as teenagers ourselves) that action films are extremely popular and liked by the younger generation. Action films are very enjoyable and exciting for young people. We believe that an accurate age for our target audience would be between 16 - 24 years of age. The older generation may still be interested in our product and genre, but compared to the younger generation not so much.

Here are some examples of other action films that have been extremely succesful and popular.

Catch Me If You Can film opening analysis

This is the opening title sequence for the film Catch Me If You Can (2002). The film doesn't open with the typical codes and conventions of a normal opening for a Dreamworks film, usually they would of used the half moon with a man fishing off of the end, but instead they have incorporated it into the actual film so that it fits well and doesn't look out of place, the whole clip is done in cartoon form, the big names are listed at the beginning to make sure they are easily noticed. Just from watching the opening sequence you would get the idea that this film is quite relaxed and laid back because of the nature of the opening, calm music, clam and pleasant colors to make the watcher feel comfortable while watching this piece  There is clearly some very good editors behind the work of this clip because all of the cartoon flows well together and  fits perfectly.

The Script

This is part of the scripting for our film opening. It shows who the speaker is and what they are going to say when we film the opening. there is not a massive amount of dialogue in our film opening, there is just enough to let the reader know what is going on. This is now complete and ready to be taken with us when we go out to film.This script will allow us to film easier as we will know what everyone is supposed to say and when to say it.

Film analysis James Bond Quantun Of Solace

This is a high action film opening in the James Bond series. This is more than the stereotypical film opening, the first 5 minutes are packed to the brim with high speed car chase shots, gunfire and quick fire camera shots. Before all of the action kicks off the film starts with the traditionional logos are used. These logos are usually tailored to the film but in this case the logos are in the opening as standard. The first minutes are full of quick camera shots from different angles to show the intensity of the situation, I think this is one of the best scenes from the film because of the high adrenaline action and fast paced shots. To make the scene even more dangerous there is James Bond driving away from someone and they are both shooting at each other. The film opening ends with James Bond killing off the baddies and driving into his safe place in sienna. He then opens the boot to reveal Mr white. This links the film back to the last one.

Storyboard

We have decided to now make a story board now we have all of the information we need, this is on the final steps before going out to film. It is not a very well drawn story board, but we know from the writing and the shot list what we need to do and in what order. The picture contains just the first 8 scenes of the storyboard.

Shot List

This is a picture of a section of our shot list  We have made this before we film so we can go out and film accurately and in order so we know what we are doing, this will save time and will minimise mistakes. This will also be quick to film as will have separated the shot list for different locations, that way we wont need to keep travelling back to locations to film other bits. The shot list contains different areas, number of scene to show the order, the shot title so we know roughly what it is about and the overall description to show what will exactly be going on in the shot. Also we have included an elements section this includes the vital elements that will be incorporated into the shot as well as some of the camera shots we feel will work well. Following this we plan on making a story board to show the different scenes in picture and how the story will flow.

Class Q and A

After gathering all of the feedback we have decided that Idea 1 will be our best option and is by far our strongest. We have lots of further ideas we are going to contribute to improve on the brief idea. This was the response from our class mates when we presented our initial ideas, here is some of the questions they asked and answers we gave along with their overall feedback:

Idea 1:
(Q) Dom W: "How is the man going to get hold of the drugs?"
(A): "He is going to be working in the same building as this drug dealer/gangster, the drugs get mixed up as they both have similar packages and everything gets muddled when the post boy delivers the mail. They both have no time to check the name on the front as they both want to get home"

(Q)Ben: "Where is the kidnap going to take place?"
(A): "The kidnap will be down a narrow path near night time whilst nobody is around it will be quick and realistic as the capture him from behind"

(Q) James: "How will you insure you adapt the action genre throughout the film?"
(A) "We will do this as we are going to have fast paced snappy shots making it seem fast and interesting to the viewer. We are going to add music when the kidnappers are in the car driving to the man and when they kidnap him. There will be intense music playing through. The fast car is symbolic of an action film as is the gun, violence and chase."

- "this idea is strong and seems well planned"
- "the drug mix up may need to planned a little better to be more realistic but apart from that if everything is planned well it sounds like a very good idea"

Idea 2:
(Q) Lauren: "What is the plot for the car chase?"
(A) "being one of our weaker ideas we have not yet established how we are going to show the plot but it will be obvious they are chasing them for a reason and want to harm them as they reveal a gun"

(Q) Dom W: "Where will you do this car chase, without causing any harm?"
(A) "we plan on doing the car chase on a parkway at dusk keeping an eerie feel. We will do it at a time when the roads are almost empty, we will not be driving and no more than the speed limits this shouldn't be an issue and will still look fast on camera."

(Q) Curtis: "What will happen when the car chase is over?"
(A) "we will pull into a secure empty area near a field and get out of the car, one man will say to the other 'that was way to close'. Both will then walk into the bush and bury something"

- "this idea seems less achievable than the first but still has the main aspects of the genre of an action film"
- "the best part of this film will be the ending as it leaves the audience with suspense, the car chase may not look as good as you expect as you haven't got the camera technologies and your first idea certainly seems the strongest."

Idea 3
(Q) Ben: "Where and when will you film the mugging?"
(A) "we will film it down a long narrow path where there is hardly anybody about as it is surround by fields, it is local so easy to get to. It will be filmed at dusk which will create a scarier feel"

(Q) Curtis: "how do you plan on filming the chase?"
(A) "We plan on using track shots for parts of it, but mainly panning shots as the camera looks from a distance, again we will keep the shots very short and snappy to keep up the pace of the movement, allowing the viewer to be part of the chase. Another way we can keep it fast paced is by using a variety of shots, close-ups and extreme close ups and establishing, also the angles changing this will keep the viewer interested."

(Q) Lauren: "is there going to be any dialogue?"
(A) "we don't plan on including a lot in this idea as we think it doesn't need much to make sense especially when its so fast paced we don't think it will fit in much. There will be some shouting form the woman and pedestrians  but the main sounds will be the panting from the running of the mugger to feel we are running with him. At the end we plan on the mugger saying 'Finally' whilst look at the usb, it will then cut black"

- "This also one of your best ideas with one and out weighs idea two. The storyline seems easy to follow but very effective"
- "This seems like a very strong idea and has a good story line and good ideas about the filming of it. But I feel it might be quite short so you may have to film more detail at the start. Having said that I feel Idea one is your strongest and best option"

Mood Board

This is a mood board I have created revolving around action and thriller movie genre as it is what we have now selected. Some of the pictures are scenes from famous movies we are going to use to guide our idea as well as some of the props.

Our Definate Idea

Title  
Mistaken Identity - We feel as though this is a great title for our film as the guy who is kidnapped has been mistaken for someone else, as he is innocent, or is he ?

Plot/Outline Summary
Two men work at the same office, John Peters and Danny Stevens, we seem them both take phone calls at the start from this we tell that John is your normal man waiting to go home after the mail is handed out. As for Danny, he acts suspicous taking his phone call outside, we realise he is up to something when he speaks privatley and by his conversation on the phone. 
Both men bump into eachother on the way out and accidently switch packages. When Danny walks out of work and meets his boss in the car park he finds out it is not his package and that the other package with 50 thousand pounds worth of drugs is in Johns Hands. His Boss 'Steven Graham' gets annoyed and plans an action to get the drugs back. Later that evening John is almost home but unfortunatley he gets kidnapped by the two men, loading him in the boot they head off quickly in their get away vehicle. Unfortunatley leaving Johns bag which he dropped and the drugs behind. 
In the next scene we see them interrogating John in a dark room he gts beaten up and threatend at gun point, still denying any inolvement  with the drugs. The question who he works for and believe he has done this on purpose.
We then see John slip a small knife from up his sleeve and relieve his hands form tape on the chair he is attached to. Danny has no clue of this. John knocks the gun out of his hand and smacks it across the room, the scene goes black and a gun shot is let off, but who is killed? and is John really innocent?

Opening Sequence
 We start the whole film with subtitles showing the directors and actors with intense music in the background which gives the viewer and incline of what type of movie they expect. We then introduce the characters by both main characters, Danny and John answer a phone simoltaniously, their converstaions tell you abit about each charcater. The first shot is a close up of a phone and a match on action followed by the same but with Dannys mobile. This keeps people wondering what is happening.

Characters (genre, role, image etc)
The main character John Peters is played by Adam Lomas, he is an innocent and friendly looking guy, who is dressed smartly. We wanted him o look this way as we want people to establish he is going to be the victim and the innocent one in this straight away. A innocent victime is always a stereotypical character you will find in most action movies getting caught up in the drama so we thought it would be important to include this role in ours.

The bad guy also a main character is Danny Stevens, played by Dominic Clarke, he is part of the drug deal and works at the same office as John. He seems suspicious to the audience in the way he acts as his role is suppose to be someone you cant trust and a bad person.

The other main character is Steven Graham, played by Bradley Roche, dressed in a suit and Shades it shows is importance and dominance over Danny. He is represented as the big, tough guy and leader especially when we see danny calling him boss. This character is typical of what you will find in an action movie as their is always a leader, someone callin all the shots.

The next character is less important, he is a mail boy in the workplace, played by Roberto Pinto. He stars in the small section handing out the vital mail that they all desperatley want, mainly Danny. Dress casually smart he represnts the charcater and role well.

Mis-en-scene
The workplace will be filmed inside the school during the day time, it is down a quite corrider which resembles your usual office workplace. We use an office phone and computer to make it seem realistic and to keep the theme clear to people. The kidnapp will be filmed at dusk as it adds supcious and eery feel to the footage. Darkness always represnts bad things.

Settings
Dark garage
Outside in quiet area
Office
School office workplace
Car

Locations
School interior for office workplace shots, this is easy to acces and ideal appearance.
A local quite resdiential street for kidnapping to show John is head home.
A local business 'Olympus House' this will the workplace exterior for when both men walk out of work to make it seem more realistic.
Dom's car will be used as the get away car and interior shots will be vital.
Bradleys garage will be used for the interrogation scene as it seems dark and eery.

Costumes
Danny and JOhn will both be wearing shirts and ties to show that they are both at work, John looks very representable to show he is the kind and innocent charcater. 
Steven Graham the head gangster will be wearing a full suit and sunglasses. this shows his power instantly as it is a stereotypical symbol for power and leadership.

Props
A prentend Gun, this is vital to show power and violence, included in almost every action movie.
Fake Drugs, these are use to look realistic and will play a part to allow the viewers to understand the plot.
Telephone in office
Mobile phone
Letters
Johns bag
Fake blood
Balaclavas
Car
Duct tape
Knife