the 1st picture is my first draft of a plan for the film which explains the setting, mis en scene and characters. the 2nd picture is a mood board of what inspired me to do the film such as the video game Left 4 Dead and the film Zombieland. Zombieland gave me inspiration for the characters as there is an average person and a tough character.

genres

List of Genres

Comedy

Slapstick – physical humor such as someone falling off something

Situation – the situation is funny in some way

Sitcom – verbal humor

Action

Weapons, explosions, high action scenes, car chases

Action/adventure – treasure hunter, on a quest for something etc.

Fantasy

Medieval times, swords, shields etc. wizards and mythical creatures

One main good character against a main antagonist. On a quest to find something or to return something.

Horror

Dark scenes, blood and gore, bad weather-storms, storms, lightning, rain etc.

Psychological horror – tension

Science fiction

Space, future, aliens, laser weapons etc. hero vs. villain, usually an unlikely hero.

Production company logo

Today in media we all designed our production company logos on computers using programs such as Adobe Photoshop and Adobe After Effects.

Evaluation of preliminary task

Evaluation

In the lesson we filmed our preliminary tasks. We split up in to groups of two and filmed our pieces separately, first we set up the room to how we wanted it to appear in the film. We then brought in our actors and showed them the script.

The skills we used were different camera shots, such as over the shoulder shots and medium shots. In terms of editing we used the mark in and the mark out tools to trim our clips down to where we wanted them. I didn’t use any other tools, as I didn’t feel I needed to. I could have used other effects such as adding transitions but as the piece wasn’t the right theme for them. We also learned that we needed to follow rules such as the 180 degree rule.

The skills I developed in this exercise was the use of an editing program as I never used it before and the skill of using cameras professionally to use the different types of shots that we had learnt in lessons. Another skill I developed was importing footage from the camera and transferring it to the computer ready to edit.

The challenges we faced were following the 180 degree rule as the continuity had to be correct. As I didn’t want to act in it, I got some of my friends, who were on their free periods, to act for me. The editing program we used was quite buggy as an error message kept coming up saying that it had dropped frames. Originally we thought that this was because we didn’t import the clips properly but it turned out that this wasn’t the problem it was the editing program.

For the main task the challenges I need to be aware of are the 180 degree rule and the continuity of the scenes. If I need actors again I will need to find out if people are on their free periods and ask them if they are willing to participate. If the editing program doesn’t work I will either have to use the editing suite or try and find a solution to fix the problem.

codes and conventions of indie/comedy genre

Looking at the codes and conventions of the indie/comedy genre

Today in Media, we looked at the codes and conventions of the indie/comedy genre and we were given an hour to make the title sequence to a indie/comedy called, 'The Class' featuring us.

We decided narrative codes include:

relationships between young people, often subcultures and cliques.

The music is often less commercially successful indie/guitar music.

The editing is slow paced and naturalistic and the typeface of the titles is often quirky and cartoon-like.

My Prelim Task

opening sequences of films

Opening sequences of films

The opening two minutes of Lord Of The Rings show the history of the rings and middle earth. There are uses of CGI in the opening as mount doom is shown as well as Sauron. There is a big battle scene in the opening sequence, which shows Sauron’s downfall. The music in the extract starts off slow and quiet as it shows the elves, dwarves and humans receiving their rings but as soon as mount doom and Sauron are shown the music gets dramatic and louder. The music in the battle scene also is dramatic and loud but stops when Sauron enters the battlefield.

The opening scene of quantum of solace starts with an establishing shot of a road next to a lake/sea. It then has a car chase through the road with the bad guys shooting at Bond’s car.  The police notice this and it has the first piece of dialogue in the extract. They then follow Bond and the bad guys to a quarry. Throughout the chase there are multiple crashes such as a car hitting a truck or the police car crashing into a building then falling down the quarry. The music in the extract is quite fast paced to fit in with the video. In a certain part of the car chase (when Bond does a 360 degree turn) the music is quieter and the diegetic sound is faded so it seems like its in slow motion. Before the car chase begins the music is quite soft but it does seem to build up tension by getting louder slowly.

The opening sequence of Star Trek has a low-key introduction as a small orchestra plays the main theme over the production companies logos. The music then stops after a sudden note. The USS Kelvin is shown in space with a transmission being spoken between the ship and command. There are multiple transmissions being spoken at this point and it only stops when it cuts to inside of the ship with a tracking shot of the captain, who eventually sits down in his chair. The camera than pans to the window of the ship. The music rises up here and is loud and dramatic as another ship comes through the wormhole in space. During the dialogue (transmissions, spoken lines) there is no music playing.

The opening sequence of Johnny English shows him breaking into a large house. He is then stopped by two dogs but instead of pulling out a gun he pulls out two dog toys. He then enters the house and takes out two guards by using the butt of their guns against them. He then goes into a room and takes a document but a women stops him as he is about to kiss the woman it cuts to him in an office daydreaming of the previous events. The music during this part is quite fast paced to fit in with the spy situation. In the part where he takes out the guards the music is in time with when he punches the guards. The music is a lot slower and softer when he is with the woman. When his associate ‘wakes’ him up the music ends abruptly after the music slowly gets louder.

The opening scene of Iron Man starts with an establishing shot of the desert in Afghanistan where a convoy of military vehicles are crossing it. It then cuts to a shot of the front of the convoy. The music starts playing at this point (Ac/Dc). It then has a tracking shot on one of the vehicles. The next shot is in the vehicle where the radio is playing the same song (it becomes diegetic). It then cuts to the soldiers and stark looking round the vehicle. Stark speaks the first line of dialogue and a conversation follows. The music in the scene is only the music played on the radio and nothing else.

The opening of Paul starts with the date of the event as on screen text, it also has a calendar in the shot, which shows some historical context. It then cuts to a radio and a light shining outside. A dog then enters the shot and it runs to the door and scratches on the door. A little girl then opens the door for it and it runs outside into the darkness. It then has a shot of a light flashing and a windmill turning the other way and rotating still with the light flashing. It then cuts to the dog sitting down with a light shining on him. The girl then walks outside and calls his name, on the third time she calls him she has a shocked expression and it then cuts to a spaceship crashing down on to the camera, which would be the dogs perspective. The music in the piece is slow and electronic which gives a supernatural space feeling to it. This is played throughout the two minutes and is joined by diegetic sounds made by the lights later in the extract.

My Media Skills

As i take music i use programs such as garageband and other programs to make music. In terms of media texts, i like action, comedy, fantasy, sci fi and lots of everything. In Terms of music i listen to a variety of music such as rock, indie or even electronic music. I don't read much anymore but i tend to read magazines now and then, i pretty much read gaming magazines. I'm more of a creative person and tend to enjoy producing things such as music and films. I'm not very organized put i can be when i need to be, such as leaving things where i know it would be.