A2 Media Blog 3 (Promo package)

Evaluation

The Three Products as a Whole

My three media products all work together to form an advertising package to the film. There is a strong sense of continuity through each media text which is displayed through plain colour schemes, plain costumes, images and shots of money and the same actors appearing in each product. I think that the whole package will do well to atttract the action movie audience and feed them with more information about the film. I have tested the audience feedback by displaying all three products to a certain group of movie fans. They agreed that there was good continuity and that each product did its part to attract them towards the movie and would leave them with a hunger to watch it in full if it were made.

THESE ARE MY 3 FINAL MEDIA PRODUCTS:

Below are 3 out of the 4 evaluation questions. The other question has been answered in different areas throughout the whole blog and was answered as I encounted it whilst working.


1. In what ways do your media products (magazine and poster) use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Below is the process I took in planning and making my poster and magazine and the comparism and contrasts between a real media product and my media product. This evaluation question also extends to the trailer but will not be answered in this section as use, development and challenges of conventions in the trailer have been answered throughout the course of the blog.



Planning the poster and magazine front cover

After completion of the movie trailer I moved on to the films promotion package which includes the poster and magazine front cover. These are very important when spreading awareness to the target audience as the poster attracts the public's interest through powerful pictures and text. Posters reveal the actors in the film and if these actors are well known then they may bring their own audience to watch the film as some people are followers of particular actors and watch films specifically because that actor is in them. Also a well known actor will show a sense of professionalism as the more experienced the actor is the better the quality of the whole film is expected to be and people will already beleive that the realism in the acting is top class. Posters are put up everywhere including billboards, train stations and inside and on public transport so they need to be eye catching and have an effect that makes the information their presenting stick in their audience's minds. The magazines are also very important because they are read by part of the target audience and will directly inform them that the film is being released and will give further information to them about it. I started drawing out plans on the appearance on both products. I quite liked the idea of a plain background with the main character on it for the poster and during this process I started to think on how I could link the pictures I'd take to the title 'Lizzie's Head'. I'd have to find a way to show that Lizzie's head was relating to money on the poster. As for the magazine, my first thoughts were making the character a different one to the poster so I felt that the antagonist should be in this picture. Photoshoot Many problems encountered me when taking photos. I had initially booked a room in my school where I'd be able to set up all the equipment needed including lighting and a white back drop. I came to a problem as some of the back drop stand pieces were missing so I could not set it up for a white back ground. I then decided to use a white wall as my background but doing this meant I had to create my own lighting and do a lot more work in photoshop than I had originally planned. The actor playing the antagonist and I, who played the main character, went to various places looking for the best place to take pictures. We found some walls that we could use some backgrounds but I constantly found things such as windows and light bulbs appearing in my pictures with the walls so I constantly changed location. I eventually found a good enough wall to take my photos with although I will still need to do a lot of photoshopping to perhaps make a cream wall look more white or increase the lighting on a person's face.


Poster Research

Before starting to make my poster I decided to do some research on other action movie posters.

This poster is of 2008 British action movie 'Adulthood'. My first idea of an action poster would be two or three characters from the film pointing weapons at the camera, looking mean and ready for anything. This poster shows a complete contrast to my first ideas which is why I like it. This film is about London street crime and the main character, who is on this person, is a man released from jail after killing someone with a baseball bat. I like this poster because despite of the genre of the film their are no weapons on this poster including the infamous baseball bat. This character, like my own, is also on a road to redemption and the focus is more on the expression on his face. He looks tough but also a little bit in pain as he is unhappy about the pain he's caused others through the murder. The poster is quite plain but still striking as a hooded person with a weapon gives the impression of a dangerous youth but a hooded person without a weapon gives a better impression of the transition of someone like that into an adult.

This poster is for the very successful 1998 British crime film 'Lock, Stock and two smoking barrels'. This poster is also somewhat plain but takes a different approach from 'Adulthood' in the sense that it has more acrtors on it with the appearance of two guns which is understandable as the film is about 'two smoking barrels' of shotguns. This showed me that it is important to include in your poster, not just the actors but something representing what the film and its title is about. In this poster it was two shotguns in my poster it should be money or a picture of Queen Elizabeth. Through this poster I have also learnt a typical poster's layout consisting of the bold title and possibly a quote from the movie, quotes from other media organizations commenting on the film, names of the actors and distributors.

This poster is of the American TV series 'Prison Break'. I thought I'd need to study this as it is similar to my film in the fact that they are both largely set in a prison. This poster shows the two main characters of the series with a quote from the film on the right hand side. This quote basicallly sums up the series as it is about a man breaking in to prison to break his brother out of prison as his brother is facing execution for a crime he did not commit. The poster does well to tell us the situation even through the images as one brother is in a crouched position, looking up showing a lack of superiority as the other brother whose face is enlarged is looking straight at us as if to say he's on a mission. There are also a shade of dark lines across the crouching brother which I beleive represent prison bars and I thought this effect was very interesting. I like how the message is put across through just the images and a four line quote. This poster showed me what factors I needed to concentrate on in order to convey my message through the poster

Film Poster Evaluation

After my research I started making my poster using Adobe Photoshop. I wanted the poster to be relatively plainly coloured as the film is set in a prison and my shots were inside mostly plainly coloured rooms and had actors in plainly coloured clothes which shows continuity in the media texts. I already had a plan on how my poster would look and decided I wanted tha main character to be shown boldly as well as having the item of which the film is about which is money. I found a way of getting both the main character and Queen Elizabeth's head on the same poster by taking a picture of my main character and cutting him out from the background using the magic eraser tool. I then placed the cut out picture on a white background I had opened up previously. I did the same to a picture of a diagonally placed 20 pound note that I had taken earlier after enlargening it on 'photoshop'. When using the magic eraser tool on the money picture I erased a bit off the edges and sides of the note to give a better looking effect that gives the feeling of the money being dirty and ruined. The money is being used for criominal activity which is the ruin of moneys true purpose and primarily causing the threat of ruining Sam's hopes of redemption which I decided to represent through the ruin of the note image. I decided that I'd enlargen this image so it would take up most of the white background and in a way act as a new background. I then decided to lower its opacity so that it could be seen faintly which contrasts with the picture of the main character. I liked the fact that when I put both images together, the money was still faintly showing through the face of the character which shows how as a criminal, the greed for money is still inside him also and how the situation of dirty money effects him. I decided to also include my credits on the poster as well as the film caption also shown in the trailer which is 'Dealers still deal, killers still make death over and under... Lizzie's Head.' This further adds to the continuity in the media texts. I decided to leave quite a bit of space to the right hand side of the poster so that Queen Elizabeth's head was more visable and not consumed by too much text. I then began to make space under the title to write the ratings from other media organizations. I decided to put in some speech quotes instead of just rating stars as this would give my audience a further understanding into what the media organizations found good about the film as stars tell you little about what a person actually felt on the movie. At first all my text was in black but I felt I needed to make a little bit brighter to attract more attention and although the poster is not meant to be colourful, it shouldn't be so dull as to not attract attention from my audience. I also wanted to distinguish between the poster's text and the quotes from the media organizations such as the 'Daily Mail' so I decided to change it to a dark red. I did the same for the film caption to balance the colour on the poster a bit more. Lastly, I added the website which is essential as my audience may want to research into the movie before watching it and also added the logo of my distributing and audio company. I chose 'Dolby Digital' because it is a very well known surround sound technology for cinemas which may attract my audience to watch it in movie theatres instead of waiting for it to be released on DVD as there is more thrill when watching a movie with a powerful sound system. I then added on the logo of my distributor which is 'Revolver Entertainment.'


Dispute on the Distributor

I have chosen 'Revolver Entertainment' as my distributor after a series of occasions of picking and changing. At first I was going to present Lions Gate as my distributor and I added the logo to the beginning of my trailer before realizing that Lions Gate is primarily an American company and although they do have a UK branch I decided I'd like a distributor that was known more for its work on my particular genre which is British crime/action. I then changed my distributor to PolyGram Entertainment as they were behind the 1998 Brit-flick 'Lock, Stock and two smoking barrels' but later changed it when doing more research into the company and finding out they had merged with Universal Pictures and changed their name. I then began to do more thorough research and found 'Revolver Entertainment' which had distributed multiple amounts of British crime Thriller and Action movies including 'KiDULTHOOD', 'AdULTHOOD', 'SHANK' and 'DEAD MAN RUNNING'. Through their experience, 'Revolver Entertainment' would know my audience well and be a very effective force when releasing my film to the public. My film would have to have to have a release date that is well calculated so it will not fall within the time periods of other films of the same genre which may take away my audience. The distributors will be in charge of advertisements such as posters, magazine and newspaper features and trailers. Trailers may be shown on televison, the internet and in the cinema before the showing of another film of the same genre. This will make sure that my target audience is aware of it because they'll see it whilst going to watch another film. My distributors may even be in charge of language subtitles if my movie progresses to cinemas in non-English speaking countries.

Magazine cover research

I began to plan my magazine cover once my poster had been made. I looked at popular movie magazines such as Empire. I studied Empire issues like this one that advertises X-Men Origins. I see how a lot of text has filled up the magazine so there is hardly any free space on the front cover. This may be another method of attracting a person to the magazine and teasing them with a bit of information as to what is inside the magazine. I have also seen how the front cover should include one of the main characters and I acknowledged how in this magazine the character is standing triumphantly and is centralized on the page. Many magazines show the characters looking straight at the audience to draw them in but this one shows the character looking ahead as if to say he is on a mission.

Magazine Cover Evaluation

Once I had researched on magazine front covers, I began to make my own using Adobe Photoshop. To show continuity between the three media products I used the main character in the picture instead of the antagonist which was my original thought. I also decided to keep a plain white background and the actor in a white prison shirt. Through study on other magazines such as 'Empire' I learnt that information like the month of issue release, price and website of the magazine is vital. I've followed the current conventions by adding these in but in small text as it is minor information. I also inserted the barcode in the bottom left corner. I also included gossip spoilers on the page which will attract the audience towards wanting to read the interviews and film information inside. I've put the titles in a bold red font to draw readers in, with Lizzie's Head being the biggest since it is the main movie topic of this particular issue. After I had decided to use an image of my main character, I began to decide which one to use. I've used this one because the character looks tough and yet slightly uncomfortable to be in the situation he finds himself which is why he doesnt have a full on frown on his face. The character is holding a gun which gives you more information as to what the film is about. The connotation of the gun shows it as a weapon and reveals the genre film as an action one. The character is looking straight at us and is holding the gun out towards the us which gives a feeling of him inviting the audience into the action. This will draw my audience in. I've decided to name my magazine 'Emotion' for a number of reasons. Firstly it consists of two words which are 'Entertainment' (signified by the golden letter E) and 'Motion' (signified by the rest of the word being in red). The magazine is advertising motion pictures for people's entertainment so I thought it would be clever to put these two words together to make 'Emotion' which also leads to the fact that actors display a character's emotions to create a good performance. I decided to make the font big and bold and have hard edges to display the hardness and roughness of the action film, Lizzie's Head.

2.What have you learned from your audience feedback?

After the editing of my trailer was complete I decided to present it to my target audience and find out their thoughts through a short questionnaire. All these people were action movie watchers from ages 16-20 which are the main ages I'll be targetting as it cannot be younger due to the violence and drug use displayed in the film and it is mostly teenagers and young adults that are into such types of action movies and 50% of cinema watchers are between the ages of 15 and 24. My audience being questioned consisted of both genders and they all knew what features they looked for in such a film.

I conducted this questionnaire similar to a media examination as I seated everyone down with the question sheet in front of a wide screen. I connected my computer to this screen and played the trailer on it and they were told to watch the trailer through once before answering any questions except the first one. After a little pause to write their ideas I let them see it again and in total they watched it 3 times.



Question 1: The title of this film is 'Lizzie's Head'. Before you watch the trailer, what are your impressions of the trailer from the title?

Most people wrote that their first thoughts was of it being very bloody and involving a young girls head being cut off or mutilated. Others thought it was a psychological thriller or a murder mystery. Some even thought it had sexual references and a few almost felt it concerned an anti-monarchy conspiricy. This idea made me happier as they had at least thought about the possibilities of 'Lizzie' representing Queen Elizabeth.

I was concerned with the other ideas at first and saw why they could easily be lead into those ideas. It was strange how all where an action film audience and immediately some jumped to the conclusions of it being psychological thrillers and murder mysteries although some did think it was action but still involving gory features as only Lizzie's 'head' was mentioned in the title. This may have made them wonder what happened to the rest of the body provoking thoughts of bloody scenes or murder mysteries.

Question 2: If they are different, what are your impressions of the title now that you have watched the trailer?

After watching the trailer everyone understood what it was about and why I decided to name it 'Lizzie's Head'. The trailer clarifies the reason for the title through the captions and also the last scene (a zoom in shot on Queen Elizabeth's picture on the twenty pound note). Everybody understood immediately that it was a slang for money and referred to the queen's head on notes and they liked it and thought it was very clever and catchy. In my opinion the title was successful as even though initially it was confusing, the trailer did well to explain it and everyone liked it. Some even admitted that the confusion caused before viewing the trailer made them want to see it even more as there were so many possibilities to how such a title could be used.


Question 3: Please rank the following in order 1-5 which stood out the most and then rate the following five categories out of 10:- Camera shots, music (non-diegetic sound), acting, costumes and realism of the fight scenes.

Answers involving the category that stood out the most were very varied. The least outstanding feature seemed to be the costumes. This is understandable as for most of the trailer all actors were in a plain white shirt and dark trousers. Many stereotypical prison outfits include yellow or orange jump suits which are a brighter colour. I could not obtain such material so I chose to go for a plainer approach that may possibly have looked less professional but indeed helped to achieve my goal in making prisoners look dull and giving the impression of them blending in with one another making them look like nothing more than identical 'scum' inside prison walls. I didnt want the prisoners to stand out with bright colours and the dullness also reflects their moods as most are dull and unhappy about their situation which causes them to bully other inmates or make their stay more pleasant by getting richer.

As far as rating each categorie, most rated the music highly as they felt it fitted the mood of the trailer. All categories were mostly rated highly as people were impressed with the variation in camera shots, realism of the fight scenes and even the costumes. People also highly rated the acting also although this did get the lowest rating which was a 5 from one person within the audience.



Question 4: What did you understand from the storyline? i.e what you were able to interpret was the main storyline of the film.

Most peope understood the skeleton of the story after seeing the trailer. They understood that the film was about one man's fight for survival in prison, and his journey for redemption. They understood that he was out to make a life changing decision for his family but I purposely didn't present the idea of him trying to make it out on parole so as to create the feeling that he is locked in with his enemies for the longest possible amount of time which makes the audience even more sympathetic for him. My audience also didn't know which decision he'd make as his life was frequently threatened. This was good as I didn't want them to know or even be able to guess correctly the out come of the story before watching the full movie.



Question 5: Were you able to read the captions in time before it changed to the next scene?

I had carefully timed my captions after complaints that they were too quick to read when I was still in the process of editing the trailer. My audience were satisfied with the amount of time the captions spent on screen as they were able to read all the text. One person even said some captions stayed on the screen too long but I had done this purposely to add tension to the trailer before it sped up.


Question 6: Did the music fit the trailer?

Most of my audience were impressed with the choice of soundtrack and the timing of it. I quote one who said "it was grimey, dirty, dark and fitted the prison setting well." I was happy with this response and most people rated the music between 8 and 10.


Question 7: Did the location look like a prison to you?

Many people who go to my school laughed at the sight of the school building being used as a prison and were very much interested to see how I depicted the prison setting. They were impressed with the areas of the school I had shot and agreed that the location did look like a prison. I quote one who said, "Yes, uncoloured bricks, white dirty walls, small messy rooms." I was happy that I was successful in this area as it is a main part of the mise-en-scene.



Question 8: What do you look for in an action movie?

This is a question I had previously asked my target audience before filming and I decided to bring back the question to see if they could find relations with their action imaginations and my trailer. These are a summary of what people said:

Fights, tension, a character with a dark motive, emotions, psychological depth and realism, car chases, drugs, sexy females etc.

My audience and I agreed that most of these areas appeared in the trailer and things that didn't e.g car chases were simply because of where the trailer was set. The idea of sexy females was brought up as well and although there is no 'blonde bombshell' in a skin tight outfit, there is a love interest for the main character who is his girlfriend seen in the arrest and prison visit scene and she is a pretty woman as my audience would agree.



Question 9: What was your favourate part of the trailer?

Answers to this, as you can image, varied immensely although it was interesting to see which scene caught people the most. As action fans many people presented certain action packed scenes as there best e.g. the telephone strangling scene. There were also others who loved the camera movement and show of emotion in the scene where the main character reveals a gun from a towel and there were people who shared my opinion on the best scene which was the low angle shot on the main character in motorcycle gear as he fires a gun. There were also people who particularly liked the emotion shown in the scenes and one when describing the medium close up on the main character in prayer said, "I liked the shot of the protagonist praying in front of the wall with the tally marks. It summed up the film for me."



Question 10: Is there any advice or criticism you would like to add?

This was probably the most important question directed to my target audience in this questionnaire and thankfully most of them were satisfied and didn't offer any criticism but the few that did were very helpful. One person said that there should be slightly more impressive lighting. I agreed with this to an extent as I thought that lighting could have been better in the baseball bat scene and the scene where the antagonist is jacked up against the wall. Also the fact that the actor being used was dark skinned was a big factor and the camera being used was not always strong enough to pick out all his features. I do, however, like some of the light lackage as in the baseball bat scene it shows an evil, mysterious side to the character.

Another person said that "the story could have been a tad clearer." This was interesting as most people seemed to understand the basic story line but I liked the fact that this viewer was a little confused as the conventions of a real trailer are to tease the audience with the action and not spoon feed them the whole story. This meant my trailer wasn't giving away too much information as it was not meant to be 100% clear in the first place.

This questionnaire proved very helpful and the target audience was overall happy with my trailer and agreed it was a film they would be interested in watching.

3.What I have learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

I have constantly learnt new things whilst making these three products. I have improved my use of Photoshop especially when making the film poster. I started with very little knowledge on construction of videos in Corel Video maker but I quickly adapted to it and enjoyed finding out new things as I worked with the program. A lot of work on the video was done through experimentation. In my research process I used websites such as youtube and used blogger.com to write a journal. I quite enjoyed using technology such as video cameras and digital cameras. I knew how thwe cameras fuctioned so I experimented with different shots and learnt new ways to use the camera which was very important.

Google is the most popular search engine in the world and it is used to gather information about everything and anything. It is used by typing a word into the search bar and then it brings together all the information it can find relating to what is typed. I used it to find out more about teaser trailers, their production complanies and action movies in general. I have learnt better ways to research media products and good media product websites through using this site.

Photoshop is a program used to manipulate images. Through this program one can change a digital image in almost anyway possible and fuse them with more than one other image. I used Photoshop to create two of my media products through different effects like adding text to my images and changing the brightness of images. I also fused images together on one canvas page when presenting screenshots as movie stills. My skills have improved through constant use of this program and I am very confident with it.


Blogger.com is a website where people can write their ideas and views about anything. It can also be used to write stories and, in this case, journals. You can write anything in your blog and post it so it is vailable for the world to read. I used my blog as a journal of the process of creating my media products. It has been very useful and I have learnt to use it more efficiently and organize my thoughts better when writing. Using the blogger has been more useful than writing an essay as you can add videos and pictures to a blog which helps you further explain your point. You can also write about a thing as you do it as it is perfect for writing through day by day progression through a task.



Corel Video Studio is a program used to edit digital videos and put them together. You can add and remove sound from a video, change the speed, quality, length and visability of the video. Text can also be added to a series of clips which is how I made my movie trailer. I used this program to create my trailer by cutting my clips down and arranging them in a story line as well as adding text to seperate some of the scenes from each other. This was very fun to work with and I have learnt how to use this program well as I also had no skill with it before this course.

A2 Media Blog 2 (Post- Filming)

Creativity:

Where did you get your ideas from?

When I had decided that I would be doing an action movie I started collecting all sorts of props that might be useful when filming including baseball bats, knives, model guns etc. and I started to think of the best way to use them in my school location. After watching a few trailers I started to build up a story and I decided that the best way to use weapons and action in such an large and old fashioned looking building such as my school was by setting the film up with a prison theme.

After I had established that the film would be set inside a prison I had to make up a story line revolving around one of the inmates and by watching various British crime movies like 'Adulthood', 'Dead Man Running' and 'Rise of the Footsoldier', I created an idea of a criminal background story for the character. I wanted my character to be seeking redemption but to make the place he was in to be full of vice and by putting all the criminals in one place such as prison it would be a place of the highest level of corruption and violence.


Did you find originality difficult?


It was quite simple to make an original story line although I had to be careful not to present the film in a similar way to that of 'Shawshank Redemption'. Previous ideas I had involved escape scenes and escape plans which I later scrapped as it defied the whole purpose of the character wanting to serve his time for a better life with his family later on in life and would also draw similarities to 'Shawshank' and 'Prison Break'. I also had to make sure the mise-en-scene of my clips did not look like scenes recreated off these films e.g. certain fight scenes or characteristics of certain prisoners. Once I re-wrote my story originality was not hard to conquer.


Did the use of technology help you in any creative way?

The use of the camera in different angles e.g. low and high angle shots and dissolving images, helped me present certain scenes easier and more effectively as well as create a variety of different shots instead of creating a monotonous range of the same type of shot. Usage of the camera and tripod in different shot angles particularly challenged my creativity and imagination skills to show certain actions in different ways on film.




The Filming Process


Equiptment

Technology:
The technology equipment used for filming consisted of a camera and a tripod. Both were very essential as the camera helped me film while the tripod enabled the camera to be held securely in certain positions. I had decided to make a variety of types of shots exploring angles from a high angle shot to a low angle shot and not just stay with the traditional medium close-ups so by using a tripod I was able to keep the camera still while tilting it downwards and upwards depending on the shot. I also experimented with camera movement while shooting exposing a tilt shot which I may or may not use as a final clip in the trailer.

The camera was very important although I do wish it were a little stronger and could record images clearer in limited light. The tripod too could have been slightly taller but I overcame such problems by balancing it on desks and careful choice of location and setting whilst filming.

Props:
The props in my film were carefully chosen and I feel they were displayed well. The Motorcycle outfit I used for an assassination did well in a shot to show that he is a murderer that remains disguised whilst doing the job. I also used a BB gun which looked very much alike to a real one and a pocket knife as a prison shank. I wanted to give the impression that drugs were a big thing as well as money so I shot a couple of scenes involving a petty drug deal and cocaine being sniffed by a prisoner. Drugs are also relevant to the story as they are a main source along with money that motivates corruption and violence that the main character needs to escape in the prison. I used Sherbert as the cocaine which I thought was effective as it looks similar and was easy to spread around and shape into lines ready for the actor to act as if he were sniffing it.


Locations

In the assassination scene I wanted an area look that looked quite secluded. This would give the scene a normal feeling until it is disturbed by a masked killer with a gun. I made sure it was after dark and filmed in a location with a few trees and under a big street lamp so as to provide the clip with light for visability. The trees would help to give the feeling of a park or forest which are places that are mostly secluded at night.

The rest of the trailer was filmed either in or around my school. I was trying to depict a prison so I needed the outside of my school for the long shot of the building because it is big, old looking and not very pretty. I made sure that the side of the school I shot looked quite rough and industrial. In this shots big bins are visable beside the building with a long chimney. The bin heps to give the palce a less pretty look and the chimney makes the building look more industrial.

My long shot was inspired by shots of Fox River Prison from the TV Show, Prison Break. In this image the prison building is big, plain, ugly and old. It is surrounded by fences and barbed wire to further enlighten us on what time of building it is. Other shots of the prison reveal large chimneys and work factories giving the prison a more industrial look.

Inside my school there are many objects that are similar to that of a prison including a phone booth, food trays and long cafeteria tables, a small boarding bedroom which is shown as a cell and even a gym but this was not added into the trailer. It was essential that I used the school as a prison to show a good mise-en-scene. The school also had tennis courts with cage like fences which could be easily used as a prison fence.



Actors

I had to carefully choose my actors as I needed tough looking people. The easiest people to get as actors were my school mates as they were the people with the most time and some with the best talent. It was difficult to make teenagers look like tough gangsters in their mid-twenties to thirties. I had to choose big looking people who looked intimidating. I got a person with a bit of facial hair that made him look older. I wanted the main character to also look intimidating which is why I got someone with a thuggish haircut but I wanted him to be a little shorter than other main prisoners to show that he is a small fish entering this dirty ocean with big sharks. Obviously I still kept him looking mean to show that he's as bad as the others if he's pushed to the limit.

When picking actors I also had to think about who would act most professional. The deliverance of character is very important but I had to think about who'd be able to act sensibly without playing around infront of camera and wasting time. Many people laugh, smile or figit when they're told to do things in front of camera so I had to make sure I chose the right people who could perform well in front of camera and alsohave the ability to correctly follow instructions from my direction of the scenes.

These videos are of me directing my actors through one of the scenes. This was the 'phone strangling' scene and was a practice run to see if I could make it look real without causing any harm to my actors.

Storyboard Shooting

In shooting each scene off the story board I encountered a few problems. Sometimes the angle at which I thought of enitially was impossible to do if I wanted to capture everything I wanted in the script e.g. a high angle shot from a particular place may only show the upper half of my body and not the feet. I also frequently had new ideas on how to do certain things while filming and new ideas on how a different type of shot would make a certain scene look better so I often changed minor things in my storyboard and story line. Another problem was changing the location of some scenes because of lack of space in the room I had enitially imagined would be the setting. Sometimes I had to change the location because of the lack of light in that particular area and the scene had to be re-set in a brighter place. I was mostly able to do this without changing the scene too much.



Timing and Scheduling

Timimg and Scheduling is always a main issue and was always very difficult. It was difficult to arrange a time which was comfortable for both me and all the actors to do some filming. We constantly had to work out times between lessons and study times that everyone would be able to act and even then I had a few actors changing plans and coming late. I handled this well however, as I eventually worked out a schedule for actors to keep to but the next problem I encountered was time wastage on set. Sometimes there were problems with communication between me and the actors. There were times that the actors did not understand how they were meant to do a particular action and times when I felt they needed to do something with a bit more emotion or action so a lot of time was spent directing them and because of this each scene was shot at least three times. Other hold-ups included other actors talking on set as the camera was filming a particular person in a scene. I constantly had to keep them quiet and eventually made a rule that they must be a considerable distance away from the set and would come on and act when I called for them.

A lot of hard work was put into making sure everything was done timingly and effectively but eventually we were successful.


Editing

Before editing I had to take my video files off the SD card and arrange them inside the video editing program. This was difficult because my clips were arranged into two different folders on my SD card meaning that each folder had a movie clip with the same name e.g there was a 'MOV01' (clip 1) in the first folder and in the second folder. This would have caused confusion for me when editing editing so although it was tedious I had to rename all the clips in folder 2 as a continuation of folder 1 i.e if folder 1 ends with 'MOV039' then folder 2 will start with 'MOV040'.


To edit my film and put all my clips together I went back to Corel VideoStudio 12 but a major problem I encountered was that I had little knowledge on how to use it. We had done practice exercises on it but I found I could remember little of what I had been introduced to about 4 months ago and even what we had been taught was not enough to make a professional looking trailer. I found that I had to experiment with this program myself and re-teach myself things and find out new things as I did this. After dragging my clips to the timeline bar I started cutting them one by one using my timeline as guidance. I wanted the trailer to start off rather slow and give away a little bit of the narrative before it sped up with quick clips like a normal teaser trailer. This was achieved through cutting the first few clips in a way that they would last on the screen for longer and also extending the time the text was on screen. Then at a point speeding the trailer up by giving the clips less time on screen. In the first half of the trailer the clips are approximately the same length in time on screen as are the captions until the caption 'but jail is no place for redemption' emerges. I purposely made this one longer to add tension to the trailer as it is talking about there being a problem conflicting the main characters plans to redeem himself and save his family.

A screenshot of my work on Corel Video Studio.

I took great care arranging the clips in the way they are. There is a clip of the antagonist blowing out smoke which I arranged in its place for a reason. The first half of the trailer shows Sam's choice to turn himself n for a better life later on and for the safety of his family. It also tells us that he can't find redemption because in prison you must carry on being a criminal in order to survive. Immediately the high impact caption tells us this, the antagonist clip comes up revealing him as one of the main things stopping Sam from succeeding in his plan and this also exposes him as the main criminal in the prison. The antagonist has a devious face on and him blowing out smoking promotes a bad boy image as well as the image of 'I own this place' because cigerettes are usually a contraband in jail. The non-diegetic becomes faster as this clip is revealed and so does the rest of the trailer. Since the change in speed was started by this clip it shows that the antagonist is creating havoc and action in the film that Sam has to respond to. Like the form of most action trailers I used a non-linear narrative structure which selects the high action and brief clips of the main stars.
When editing I had a major problem with timing the soundtrack to speed up precisely as the antagonist blew the smoke out of his mouth. I had to cut a bit off the beginning of the instrumental and constantly re-add and re-cut pieces so that it sped up at exactly the right time. This took a very long time but was eventually done to my satisfaction. The track used was an instrumental from a Hip Hop song by Professor Green called 'Jungle'. A fraction of my audience will be Hip Hop fans as Hip Hop is a music genre stereotypically closely related to aspects of action, violence and drugs and such fans will be able to recognise the tune and relate it to the fact that a prison is a type of jungle as it can get rowdy and dangerous and holds some of the most animalistic people in the country.



Scene Description





Lizzie's Head teaser trailer

Above is are my movie stills of each scene. The first scene shows Sam being taken away by a police detective and his girlfriend running after him before helplessly retreating into tears. This scene reveals who his girlfriend is and who he is willing to save by giving up his whole freedom. I made sure this was filmed outside a big door with pillars to show that he was a very successful figure in the underworld. Making the character rich is meant to make the audience sympathize with him more when they see all the material things he's giving up to go to jail. This shows the love he has for his girlfriend and the child she's carrying.

The next two scene show his actions before incarceration. The first scene shows Sam disguised by a motorcycle helmet in the act of murder. I used a low angle shot as it gave the masked assassin a sense of superiority over his victim as he pointed the gun. The next scene shows him at home with a bloody baseball bat revealing its connotation as a weapon. I ensured the scene would be shot with the actor topless purposely as the shadows were more visable on his skin. I wanted this to give a sense of his dark and heatrless side before he decided to change his ways. I also made sure he was wearing motorcycle boots as well as having the helmet to one side to show that he was the disguised killer in the shot before.

The next two scenes introduce us to the prison which I dissolved into a shot of Sam with the gun. This dissolve effect was meant to show that that was the prison buildings from the outside and inside the prison buildings Sam is holding a gun and inside the prison buildings is where the rest of the trailer will take place. The look on Sam's face as he takes the gun from a towel where it had been hidden, shows reluctancy to turn to violence but the fact that he still has the gun in hand shows that he might go right back into that life to protect himself from his enemies in prison. In the scene the mirror reflects a shelf of books. I did some research and found that prison cells have improved in luxuries including televisions, books, shelves, sinks instead of it being a plain room with nothing in it but a bed. I made sure that the books were visable to show he has made the effort to keep out of trouble and entertain and perhaps educate himself with books. There is a bag with the letters SEC on it sitting on the top shelf. In my movie the letters are meant to stand for 'security'. The bag has possibly been stolen from the guards to help Sam with a crime. The fact that the bag is on the top shelf shows the ever present bad action being easier and perhaps more dominant than good actions which is represented by the books. The idea came from 'Prison Break' where a prisoner stole a guard's equipment to get into unauthorized areas of the prison.

The next few scenes is where the trailer speeds up. After the antagonist blows out the smoke he is furtherly shown as the antagonist as he is seen physically harming people by grabbing and choking the from behind. The scene where he grabs a person near a sink was a very interesting one when filming. Initially it was meant to show the person being drowned by him, lifted out of the water and immediately thrown into a chokehold but I decided to cut it to just a few moments of the choke because it was looking rather unreal as the actors had to be aware of each others safety with ones head beginning in a basin of water. The first time we filmed this scene it went all wrong with the actors both falling forward into the sink duing the struggle. Both actors were safe during the shooting of this scene although the one of the actors had gone a little red as a result to his head being in water. He assured he was fine and the red face gave a brilliant effect of being choked and robbed off air until your colour starts to change.

The video above was the first shot of the 'drown, drag and choke' scene where the two actors fall forward. Later on it was taken again and cut to just the drag and choke.

Another aspect of this scene was the cutains in the background. At first I wanted to remove the curtains from the sight of the camera but I later decided that this would be set in the cell of the antagonist who was meant to be a mob boss so he'd have certain priviledges such as curtains through dirty money he had paid guards.

The next shot shows the mob boss grabbing Sam whilst he's trying to pray with a Bible which represents Sam being dragged back into the world of violence and corruption. The next scene is a complete contrast in the fact that Sam seems to be yielding to the situation and being corrupt himself by paying off a guard. This small criminal act, however, may be for a greater cause that will ultimately help him out of the bad situation he finds himself in. In this scene Sam and his cell mate are dressed in out door prison fleeces. I took care, as I have previously explained, to let the logo show that they are prisoners who are owned by the state.

Sam getting slowly going back to his violent ways for the sake of self defence is again seen in the next two scenes where he picks up a knife and slams the mob boss against the wall showing him fighting back. I thought this was important because my initial plans were to show what goes on between the criminals in jail and how Sam was getting attacked but I needed to add Sam's retaliation so that it could make the trailer more exciting and also show Sam is not a push-over.

The next two scenes contrast this idea of Sam going back to his violent ways as he is visited by his girlfriend which re-focuses him on the mission of redemption and he is then seen in the medium close up praying and trying his best to stay sane in this jungle of a prison.

The next three scenes basically show what goes on in jail for the sake of money and the last shot is of Queen Elizabeth's head on a twenty pound note. This helps to explain the title of 'Lizzie's Head'. I also used captions to help me explain these scenes and tried to make it a little rhyme or riddle.

Dealers still deal,
Killers still make death,
Over and under Lizze's head.

This will be the main caption from the film which I am planning to put on my poster. By using a variety of different shots, editing them so that they run quickly and presenting the protagonist and antagonist seperately and showing their conflict through out the scenes I have used and developed the conventions of a real media product. I have also brought up the tension through the captions and slow pace at the beginning and brought in excitement through the fast paced music change and scene change in the second half of the trailer which is also typical of some action trailers. I ended the trailer through the term 'Coming Soon' which is a convention of most teaser trailers and then I followed it up by the term 'Not Yet Rated' instead of putting an actual rating as most films at teaser trailer stage are not complete and trailer advertising campaigns conventionally may not rate it until it is.

A2 Media Blog 1 (Introduction and Pre- Filming)

Media Follow-up

Introduction



This is a blog to record the process of planning, creating and promoting my media products. I have decided to make a teaser trailer, magazine cover and poster on one film and through out this blog you will follow the journey towards a finished media product that uses, develops and maybe even challenges the conventions of a real media product. This blog has been sectioned into three groups consisting of Pre-Filming and Planning, a Post-Filming diary and Research into the Promotion Package. Each group will be presented as a seperate post.

FYI: This work began in September and each post has been written through the months of the year so the fact that a particular post was started on a particular day does not mean that the whole post was written on that day neither is the day I posted a page up, the day I started writing it. I have also decided to answer the evaluation questions as they occured in the process of the blogging instead of creating a seperate blog to write the questions out one by one and answer them.




Pre-Filming

Early Film editing and Trailer Awareness

A teaser trailer is a short promotional video used to spread awareness about the release of an upcoming film. It is different from an official theatre trailer in the sense that it is shorter and uses shorter clips and presents less narrative to the audience. They are ususally between 30-60 seconds long. It is meant to introduce the film and catch the audience's interest before ending quickly, leaving them wanting more. It is meant to give them a taster but by no means give away the whole story line which teases the audience. Clips are short and aren't normally arranged in any chronological order so as not to give away the full narrative.



Trailers are different from movies in the sense that a movie is full of takes with no specific time limit. The clips can be quick or long. Different angle shots are used and it reveals a storyline or narrative that has been carefully put in order so that the story makes sense. The narrative may use Todorov's theory which says that the narrative begins with an equilibrium which is then broken and then there is a quest to restore it and make a new one. A teaser trailer may simply show bits and pieces of the broken equilibrium especially if it is an action film because when equilibrium is broken is when a character starts fighting to restore it and that fight is what attracts audiences. A teaser trailer has no particular order so as not to reveal the storyline because if they do, the actual film will not be as exciting to watch. They also use snappy clips which helps raise the viewers excitement.



We spent time exploring Corel Videostudio and learnt how to edit films. Learning the basics early on has helped me to think and decide on what I want my clip to sound and look like. Learning how to cut the clips has made me more aware of cutting it at a precise place that gives a realistic effect e.g. cutting a clip at the point where a girl is about to push a button and starting the next clip that is focused on the button with a shot just before the button is hit instead of starting the clip with the hand already on the button. I learnt how to arrange and cut the clips so as to show smooth movement and continuity of the motion picture.





Tutorial editing


Being precise is essential in editing when it comes to everything from soundtrack to the font of the text in captions and titles. From a limited option of soundtrack features I picked a particular song and added it to the clip to represent as its non-diegetic sound. In choosing a soundtrack you must be very precise as that is what promotes the energy and feeling of a particular trailer. Action movies are powered by fast-paced energy with stunts and combat which means it needs a fast-paced, energetic soundtrack to give the audience a energetic feeling. Its no good having a range of clips with death-defying stunts and characters fighting with a slow classical soundtrack. It would not promote the powerful action feeling and even if the action was good, you may loose some of your audience as it does not directly draw their attention into the trailer.



Today we were shown a variety of teaser trailers made by other schools. We had already looked at professional trailers made by big studios which had given us a strong idea of the materials needed and so looking at other schools’ work helped us see how they had worked with their equipment and the knowledge they had from their study into films. Several of them were from the horror genre as it may have been easier than an action film due to the amounts of combat stunts that would have to be pulled off and made believable if portraying an action film advertisement. There was little light in many of them which helped set the scary mood. Watching videos people shot whilst working around the problems of limited lightings gave us ideas of how to tackle our own lighting problems e.g. we planned ways to use natural light in a dark room or use torch lights to highlight particular things that we needed the audience to focus on whilst the scene took place in the dark.



Clips were very short and snappy to boost the energy and excitement and there was a clear indication of the genre by the sort of non-diegetic sound and mise-en-scene provided which is useful because if the audience do not immediately catch the genre it may fail to attract them. Most were good at making the genre obvious although some were a bit poor. We discussed interesting camera angles used and talked about the merits of each trailer. It is easy to criticise these trailers but we realise through our planning and arrangement of ideas that filming will not be easy but will be interesting. By viewing other peoples work it presented to us new angles of shooting in which we had thought little on before e.g. tracking shots used to show how someone is being followed was effective and made us think upon adding a similar shot to our trailer. We also learnt that few of their trailers included diegetic sound which we felt was better as downloading sound effects like footsteps and thuds were more effective and could be volume controlled to fit perfectly with the soundtrack.


Film Trailer Research

Before finally setting out to plan our own trailers, we watched some professional film trailers that were of the same genre of the one we wanted to do. 3 trailers stood out from the rest and helped inspire my ideas for my coursework. These were Adulthood, Dead Man Running and 4.3.2.1. This research was obtained from websites like youtube.


1) Adulthood- I’ve always particularly liked this trailer because the film is about a man released from prison after committing manslaughter when he was a teenager and he has to face the troubles of people who want revenge. So there is the action side and the emotional side of the movie as he finds it hard to live with the fact that he killed someone and put shame upon his family and I like the trailer because it shows the emotions of anger and sadness by splitting the trailer in half. There is a fade in to begin with and then that is followed by speech and an establishing shot on the main character. The name of the production studio is then shown as ‘Pathe’ and non-diegetic soundtrack booms in. There are quite a few medium close ups that show the characters who are played by well known actors. There are a few rounds of captions that help in the explanation of the story. The soundtrack helps in the build up and the energy comes to an anti-climax with the smash of glass. After that the movie finishes off with a slower soundtrack giving an emotional feel to the trailer. Then at the very end was a popular one liner when a man seeking revenge hits him and says, "You think I forgot about you?". This gave me a good idea of the arrangement of my trailer and whether I’d use two soundtracks within the trailer.





Adulthood Official Trailer

2) 4.3.2.1- This was a very useful trailer as it was also a teaser one. Again the production studio is show first followed by quick takes. In this trailer there were no captions so it was difficult to make out the basic story line. There was also little speech and it was mostly all non-diegetic soundtrack but there were action clips throughout the trailer which complimented for the lack of basic story information. The clips would easily attract an action movie even without a basic knowledge of the story. It was mostly full of medium close ups and long shots of characters running and fighting. Again the one liner was at the end when a woman asks an injured girl who gets into her car "Is that blood?...Don't get it on the seats". This trailer helped me think about how to portray my trailer without captions and using the power of the visual action within the clips. This was useful and gave me more options.


3) Dead Man Running- This film is about a man on the run because he owed dangerous people money. The establishment shot on the main character shows who the story is about and is very important as it shows the main actor. There is a low angle shot of the other main character who is played by a well known celebrity called 50 Cent so this shot is important to show his fans that he's acting in it. 50 Cent is the character of higher status so his introduction shot which is the low shot looking up to him gives the feel that he is high and very important. There are many different quick takes consisting of medium close ups, long shots and high angle shots. Captions were used in this trailer and once again the one liner came at the end before the credits and date release. I’ve found out that main one liners are either used to start off or finish off a shot of energy in a trailer and are almost always said by a main character.It helps to anchor the narrative, adding some context for the audience.

Looking specifically at these three trailers have given me a very good idea of what I want to film, how I want to arrange my clips and what materials I’ll need to make my trailer look as professionally done as possible. I have decided to do an action trailer involving criminals in London.

I found many similarities in these trailers as they had very speedy shots, minor speech and scenes that are not too bright. They are not as dimly lit as horror movies but being a little dim does give a sinister effect of danger in an action clip. The clips also shows a lot of quick movement and hardly ever just has a character standing and sitting dully unless its a medium close up introducing them as part of the film. Clips are always filled with characters doing something from jumping to running and fighting. I have also found that a convention of an action clip is to use flashes of light to move onto the next clip just as a character is about to make rapid physical contact with something else be it a punch or a hit. This flash of light looks brilliant but I may not use it as it is a hard effect to produce. Instead I'm thinking of putting less combat in my film but there will still be a lot of action. I also find that many of these action trailers start off with low energy and the energy is suddenly kicked off with a one liner or gunshot and then the non-diegetic soundtrack becomes more energetic through out the trailer.

As well as similarities, these trailers also had a few differences. Some of the trailers have captions and a bit of speech that helps you with minor understanding of the trailer while others simply rely on the action from the clips to attract the audience and doesn't reveal any form of storyline what so ever. I also feel the shot angles are very important in how action is portrayed and the variety of different shots each trailer uses is interesting and has helped me in my decision of my collection of shots.


I have decided to use similar techniques in lighting and sound. I will have a few shots that are in a slightly dim light creating a sinister look with the use of shadows. This will represent a character as somewhat dangerous or mysterious. I have also decided to use fast paced music as the non-diegetic soundtrack although the trailer will start off with less energy and the change of pace will be triggered by a noise or caption. Captions are another effect I've decided to use as these help to give a slight view into the basic storyline without giving away the whole narrative. From viewing these trailers I've also decided that the main character will be easily identified with a range of shots including a medium close up.


These trailers were very much related to the genre of my trailer. They were all action and were all to do with criminals seeking a particular target. Out of these criminals came protagonists which is like my story where the protagonist is a criminal locked up but working towards redemption which is hard to find in such a violent place. The trailer will require memorable one liners, weapons or objects that have dangerous connotations, high energy soundtracks and quick clips and movements within these clips.




My Film (First Ideas)

What is the genre of the film?

Through viewing previous work from other candidates and also looking at professionally made trailers, I have decided to set my film genre as an action film. Many previous works are to do with horror requiring dim lighting, creepy non-diegetic sounds but I’d prefer to have an energetic vibe with quick motion as well as snappy clips and a slightly energetic track as non-diegetic sound. A very challenging part will be trying to make the action seem realistic especially if there is violent physical contact. The connotations of everything will be important as different items could be used as weapons.


Why did you choose your genre?

I personally am a big action film watcher and by being one I know what type of messages through trailers and movies that are effective when attracting me and the rest of the action genre audience. My film will specifically be a British crime film and in the trailer its the violence and the introduction of the object or subject disturbing equilibrium that attracts the audience. I feel that I would find making a trailer of such genre a challenging yet fun and interesting project.I also thought of the best location to get my film shot. This location can easily be made to look like a prison depending on which spot you shoot from and this helped me make the decision to make this a prison themed action crime movie.


Does it present any problems?

Doing an action trailer does present a few problems as if I'm not able to get a model gun I'd have to clearly represent the conotations of an object that is meant to be used as a weapon e.g a baseball bat or knife. There are also the challenges of realism in the physical contact during combat scenes and the issue of the health and safety of both actors and the equiptment.


What is the film about?

My film is about a London assassin named Sam Jackson who finds out he's going to be a father and decides to turn himself in to protect his child and girlfriend from paying for his mistakes. He receives a life sentence with parole in 30 years on good behaviour and aims to make parole after finding redemption inside prison. He hopes to do this so he can finally see and spend time with his daughter as a truthful and legit father and time in jail is the sacrifice he's prepared to make. But on his arrival to 'Her Majesty's Prison' he finds out that redemption is almost impossible as prison does little to stop criminals from resuming their evil activities and the underworld ladder is exactly the same outside as it is inside only that on the inside nobody is innocent meaning everyone is a threat. Sam must now find a way to protect himself from incarcerated enemies from the mob world, incarcerated kingpins offering good paying work for him, corrupt guards and most of all himself and his past ways so as to make that parole or he'll never see his child. He learns that nothing in this world in or out of prison revolves unless money is involved.

Basic summary: When his girlfriend becomes pregnant, a London gangster turns himself in to find redemption but in jail he finds he may have to return to his old ways in order to survive.


What is the title?

I’ve named the film ‘Lizzie’s Head’ because the film is about how Pound Sterling money is as much the root of evil inside jail as it is in the London Underworld outside jail. Queen Elizabeth’s head is printed on pound notes and the London slang has different words to portray money such as ‘nicker’ and ‘grand’ so I decided I would introduce a new one for the title of my film and instead of using ‘Queen Elizabeths head’ I decided to shorten it to a more common name as London slangs are quite common, thus ‘Lizzie’s Head’ became the title of my film. It is also meant to be set in Her Majesty's Prison which gives an extra feeling that these prisoners are property of the State which Queen Elizabeth is the head of. I tested this name with my target audience as I rounded up a few action film watchers who have knowledge of common slangs and presented name ideas to them. I experimented with names such as 'Crime Land', 'Bars', 'Power for Pounds' and my favourate which was 'Lizzie's Head' and I explained to them the reason for the title 'Lizzie's Head' which they liked and understood. I even presented this name to a different audience who after explaining to them that Lizzie's Head was Elizabeth's head on pound notes, knew immediately that the genre was going to be crime action. I am planning to put in captions at the end of my trailer saying, "in prison there's no difference, the dealers still deal. the killers break heads all under and over old "Lizzie's Head". The under and over part signifies prisoners doing certain activities over money and under the ownership of Queen Elizabeth the head of state.



Teaser Trailer plans

I plan to have quite a few people appearing in my trailer. These people must be dressed in a prisoner uniform. This means that most people will be dressed in same sort of clothes. I've decided that the prison uniform will be a white shirt and dark coloured jeans or joggins but some prisoners will stereotypically change the form of dressing a little e.g. a black prisoner may wear a white vest instead of t-shirt along with a wave cap and a mob bos may want to make himself look more important than everyone else so he dresses in a white formal shirt instead of t-shirt. I have made the decision of prison wear based on the fact that prison wear is usually plain and thus a plain white shirt and dark colour trousers is more conventional than colourful clothes and obviously all prisoners must wear the same sort of colours. There will be a few scenes that will be shot outdoors so the prisoners will have a prison fleece with the prison logo on it. I have taken care to make the logo visable in the scenes as it identifies them more as prisoners who are owned by the state. They are 'government property' and the logos act like a brand of ownership. A lot of emphasis will be put on objects that may have a weapon connotation and substances that I can make look like drugs.

The film will be set in many different locations around my school building including fences and railings to be shot in to introduce the place as a prison. I may have a shot inside the school gym with the main character pumping weights to give the feeling of a need to be strong in order to survive in such a place. I am planning to get a knife and its connotation will be for it to be used as a weapon. This will show how dangerous the prison is. To add to this danger I'll add a shot of a gun which you'd normally never find in a prison but I want to show the audience that these prisoners are just as dangerous inside prison walls as they are outside them.


Trailer Storyline:

1) Caption: He turned himself in

2) Establishment shot. Long shot of Sam being taken away by police.

3) Caption: His life was too dangerous...

4) Low angle shot of disguised Sam about to shoot a gun at the camera.

5) Caption:...for his family

6) High angle shot of Sam sitting with a baseball bat

7) Caption: But jail is no place for Redemption.

8) Long shot of prison building (Fade out)

9) Medium close up of Sam with a gun

10) Caption: Because only the criminals survive

11) High angle shot of prisoner mob boss. (Non-diegetic soundtrack starts)

12) Long shot of prison mob boss strangling a fellow prison

13) Medium close up of Sam being grabbed from behind

14) Medium close up of two prisoners behind a cage and a guard taking money off them.

15) Close up of a knife exchange.

16) Long shot of Sam grabbing mob boss against the wall.

17) Long shot of girlfriend and Sam seated opposite each other

18) Medium close up of Sam in prayer.

19) Close up shot of a drug exchange.

20) Caption: Dealers still deal

21) Long shot of a prison strangling another prisoner with a telephone wire.

22) Caption: Killers still make death

23) High angle shot of a prisoner taking drugs.

24) Caption: Over and under

25) Zoom-in and close up of Queen Elizabeth's head on a 20 pound note.

26) Caption: Lizzies head



The concept of narrative was a little difficult. I had decided to use Todorov's theory and make the breaking of equilibrium the point where the main character is sent to jail and him fighting for redemption and survival is his fight for equilibrium restorage. The character was already living a lawless life but the enitial equilibrium was him changing his life and turning himself in with the cheerful knowledge of becoming a father. This is broken when he gets to prison and is face to face with his former mob enemies and is faced with the difficulty of returning to his old ways in order to survive. This process of planning was difficult because I needed to make sure I didn't give away the full story line in the trailer. When I first planned it out it was flowing like a normal story making the story line easy to understand and predict which is not the convention of a teaser trailer so I had to re-write it and mix the order of a few clips up. Although I do have a small introduction telling you the basics of the character'slife before incarceration, once in prison it doesnt give away a storyline. It only shows a number of action packed events that occured whilst the character is behind bars.



Final Plans and Thoughts (Pre-Filming)



Today I finished off my story board of the trailer and started thinking about the materials needed, the actors I’d use and the safety precautions I’d have to enforce to make sure no harm is done to both the actors and the equipment. I also began to consider how well I can use the movie software and how my limited knowledge of it at the present time may affect the way I use it now.



Health and Safety:

Filming an action sequence is a challenge as it will require a lot of movement and stunts which may be dangerous. In the prison clips there will be alot of physical clashes involving real knives and real BB guns. I must be very careful to make sure this BB gun is unloaded at all times to prevent harm to actors or equipment if it is fired. The use of a real knife on set is the most dangerous health hazard so I'll ensure I'm using sensible actors who will carefully use the knife during filming. There is also a point were a telephone wire will be used with a weapon connotation. It will be used to strangle someone and I must make sure that this is portrayed carefully and that the wire is not fully wrapped around the actor's neck. Enitially I was planning to have a character's neck slit by a knife but I figured this may be to dangerous to the actors as someone may accidently get cut so I changed it to someone getting strangle by a telephone cord which could be monitored easily and more safely.

Another health and safety risk is the height at which some of the high angle shots will be taken from. Some shots require the camera man standing ontop of tables with the camera so to ensure that both the actors and equipment are safe I'll be putting mats on the ground, double-checking the sturdiness of the camera and the camera stand and ensuring that the height is safe enough to produce an effective shot. I will also have to make sure that in the clip where a prisoner is sniffing cocaine is done safely. The substance that will be used is sherbert and it is essential that the actor does not accidently sniff it and cause himself harm so I've used an actor with long hair that can hide the cocaine from the camera as he is so I'll not have to worry about making the cocaine 'disappear'.

I will also keep the camera a safe distance away from the action so that nothing comes in contact with it and breaks any equipment. There will be a little grabbing infront of the camera and charging up to the camera so I'll need to make sure it is a certain distance away from the acting to avoid damaging the technology.




The Actors and Props

I will need a few muscular looking actors to act as intimidating prisoners. They need to have an older, less pretty look to them and the challenge will be making teenagers of 17 and 18 look like men of 25-30. My actors will all be wearing white shirts as prisoners which will be presented further challenging when trying to make them look old because if I were using different sorts of dressing then I could easily use costumes conventional to a man of 25-30. I will have to pick older looking actors with appropriate hairstyles as a popular teenage hairstyle like mohicans may prove a problem to my mise-en-scene.

This is a picture of John Abruzzi. He is a character on the American TV show called Prison Break. He is an incarcerated mob boss in the series and uses his connections to run the inner prison system. I plan to have a character similar to him in my movie. I watched the series and have studied how he acts with a sinister, dangerous personality. He dresses more formal than most prisoners to seperate himself from them and appear more classy. This will all be taken into consideration when choosing the actor to play my movie's mob boss.

Editing Software

At this point in time I have already done a bit of work with Corel Video Studio 12 but I still need a lot more practice. I am planning to use a few fade effects and very snappy clips. I've already learnt how to cut clips so I just need to make sure that I cut them at precisely the right time to give a good effect. I plan to use one non-diegetic soundtrack and text captions.