Filming diary

Day 1:

The first day that we began our filming our film opening we had several issues to solve. The largest issue was that the original actor that we had planned to use did not show up for the shoot. This created a large problem as we were unable to get anyone else to fill in, so we had to use one of our group members in the film. We had originally planned on staying in the location (Admirals Park) for roughly 3 hours, however as we did arrive later than expected at 4:30pm we had to accelerate our filming as we had roughly 2 hours of sunlight left in the day. This did at first cause some concern as to if we needed a second day to film the rest of our opening but we were able to fit in all the shots that we need and we left with about half an hour remaining. Over the next couple of days Ryan and Peter spent a large amount of time editing our first rough cut together. We knew this was a rough cut but we still put a lot of hard work into creating a professional looking piece. After showing our product to an audience and our teachers we have been given a list of improvements that we need to do whilst in editing and while we are filming. The biggest thing is that we needed to make it longer as it was too short to be a film opening. From this feedback we were given we are going to be able to improve on our original piece and create an even more professional looking piece.

- Peter Godwin -

Luckily, because I came up with the main protagonist's characteristics, he had a good idea of how to portray him and the qualities within him. This was challenging though, not just because it was short notice that I would have to play him but also because there wasn't any diegetic pieces of dialogue nor close ups to convey the character's attributes. This meant I had to focus on his physicality, specifically his body language, showing that sense of remorse and regret by looking at the environment in quite a contemplating way, and therefore displaying that sense of doubt that helped to present the enigmatic tone we, as a group, wanted to achieve with this opening sequence. Despite the visual weather on camera being sunny, it was also very windy the first day we filmed, which, on top of the impending night time darkness, made us feel all the more compelled to finish shooting as quickly as possible. The wind also didn't help us, in regards to our camera work, especially with the numerous panning shots we have in our sequence, because it resulted in the camera being harder to control steadily on the tripod. While doing our best to control the stability of the camera itself, we also tried our best to make the panning shots appear as smooth and thus professional as possible, however, looking back at our first rough cut, we can now see and understand why this was not achieved.

- Ryan Chapman -

Day 2:

The second day of shooting we had to re-film our scenes as we had a different actor so we re-filmed to create a sense of continuity throughout the film. As we were filming during the day at 1:30 we were no longer rushing our filming so we were able to take as many takes as we needed before we thought we could move on. We were in the same location as before (Admirals Park) but we had arranged for a different more reliable actor to use in our film. We have also added in a few extra shots and extended the time of some shots. This will hopefully extend the overall time of the film opening to a more acceptable length.

- Peter Godwin - 

Having more time to shoot meant we were also able to make the opening appear more artistic on screen, with a higher attention to detail, in regards to the cinematography. I (Ryan) also took into consideration the connotations within each shot, making a point of conveying this single character as the stereotypically masculine, yet remorseful male we had planned to from the start. For example, we used multiple low angle shots to present this male as a physically dominant protagonist and amplify the stock character of a humanising, mourning and vengeful businessman, quickly establish this narrative as being very much character driven. The weather also worked in our favour more so on this day of filming than the previous, with the dark clouds helping to highlight the depressing and solitary tone we wanted to get across. When we compared this to our original footage we found that the less vibrant weather conditions worked a lot better in correlation to our narrative than the sunshine that can be seen throughout the first rough cut.

- Ryan Chapman -

 

 

 

25 word pitch for film

This is our pitch for the film. We limited the word count to make it more concise and offer a general overview of our plot.

Jake Scofield, a crook, becomes part of a corrupt empire, resulting the death of his best friend, with the help of an enigmatic woman.

First ideas for the opening sequence

Below is a spider diagram of my original ideas for the opening. Each person in the group did their own diagram (resulting in 3), experimenting with different concepts as to what genre, and more specifically what the narrative should consist of. Mapping out our ideas helped us to be creative as well as apply perspective to our ideas to see if they made sense. While making our ideas we took into consideration what our target audience would be and how we would appeal to them particularly. In the case of my ideas, I believed the kind of people who could really empathise with this depressive and contemplating character is the kind of person who has experienced loss in their life. It's therefore logical that we should target a more mature and experienced audience that can find the narrative more relatable.

 

My design for the institutional logo of our film company

Below is my design of how I think we, as a company, should present ourselves to the public. A husky is in the design because of the name of our company, while the naturalistic setting reflects our open-minded approach to films and also creates a sense of distinction and iconography within our logo. The contrast between the tree and the mountains creates diversity within locations and relates to the range of different films our company produces.





Below are 2 Computer Aided Designs (C.A.D.) of my logo to make it appear more professional and legitimate: 

I have adapted certain elements that I found worked better than the original design to make it look more dynamic and have more positive connotations, such as the sun and it's rays casting over the rest of the logo to connote happiness and the lack of aggression within the husky's mannerisms.

By contrast, with this design I elaborated on the predator aspect of a husky to reflect our ruthless and cunning approach to films - quickly eliminating the competition. The direct mode of address from the husky also makes the audience feel more like they're personally being approached by our logo, making it more memorable.

Research on institutional logos - mainstream and independant

Because mainstream production companies have higher budgets, they can afford to have more complex, vibrant and iconic logos that grab the audience's attention and help them to remember that particular company. As a result, due to the ever advancing changes in technology, by 1976 all major companies had animated logos. Soon enough, with digitalisation becoming all the more common in the early 2000s, it was inevitable for this to effect the film industry and how companies publicise their films, as well as insure audiences of their legitimacy. For example, Universal was the first film company to have an institutional logo that was completely computer generated in 2007. This made them stand out against there competitors and, as a result, words moving across a globe of the Earth is now iconic to that of Universal. While watching this sequence, I was inspired by the symbolism that conveyed this company in a very positive way, despite there being no dialogue, which is the usual technique to persuade a person. The light being cast on the globe implies that this company is somewhat of a saviour, linking to the qualities of a film protagonist, and presenting Universal as a trusting and legitimate mainstream film company.



In comparison, from 1998 to 2000, while Lionsgate was still a small time independent production company, despite they're logo being animated, it was also less iconic and therefore only used for a couple of years. Since then, as they've made more commercially successful films, they've been able to upgrade there image and appear as a more legitimate company to audiences.



In conclusion, mainstream and independent film company logos are contrasting in terms of quality and iconography, which is why we're investing time in making our group's production logo as iconic and memorable as possible, especially considering we're a mainstream company and our logo would therefore be a key signifier in addressing the type of film company we are.

What type of production company we are and why

Our group agreed we would be a mainstream company, so that we could afford well-known actors to play our characters, such as Liam Hemsworth, and incorporate varied and iconic settings to make the film more aesthetically pleasing, while also improving the overall quality of our film. Another reason we decided for 'Husky Productions' to be mainstream is that we'd be able to hire professional crew members, such as writers and directors, with lengthy film histories and therefore know what specific elements makes a film successful, which is one of the main reasons that independent films don't do well at the box office - because, stereotypically speaking, nobody trusts people and companies they aren't already familiar with.

An example of this can be found with the first 'Star Wars' film because, although it was George Lucas' first mainstream film directing, a lot of people went to see it, due to 20th Century Fox already being a well-established film company and therefore resulting in a high production value for the film.

By contrast, 'Attack The Block' was produced by Film 4, which is an independent company and is therefore a much lesser-known brand name than Fox, creating a sense of uncertainty among audience members and making it unsurprising that the film actually made lose at the box office.

To conclude, whether or not a film company is mainstream or independent drastically effects the overall quality of the product and therefore the financial success of the film, which is why our group decided on making our company mainstream, rather than independent. 

Research into similar genres - action and thriller

The drama and action genres often are associated with one another, especially when it comes to the American film industry, because they're stereotypically associated with this subgenre. With our film opening focusing on the dramatic aspect, it means we do have a smaller target audience, however it also means for a more story-driven narrative, compared to excess action sequences that can be seen in numerous examples.

One of these action genre examples can be seen in 'Die Hard,' known for it's simplistic plot and memorably over the top portrayal of the antagonist, by Alan Rickman. This film is a good example of the action genre conventions of violence outweighing the story arc, and this simplicity relates to our film opening, in the sense that it was suggested that we don't make it too complicated, due to the lack of funding and minimal filming schedule. This film was a critical and commercial success, making $140 million at the box office and attracted audiences by elaborating on the violent aspect of the action genre, with numerous uses of guns, blood and explosions. In relation to the Uses and Gratification theory, this excess use of fictional scenarios suggest this film fulfils the need for audience members to be entertained. In comparison, we will attract drama genre audiences by using symbolism to provide context on the characters, while also making a point of not using the previously mentioned signifiers from the action genre, because of the lack of budgeting as well as our narrative being more story driven. This film appealed to it's target audience of adults by containing consistently rude language, the extremity of the violence, and having an intense atmosphere throughout the narrative to reflect the thoughts and feelings of the characters.

Another that's often combined with drama is the thriller genre. It has more similarities to drama, in the sense that they're less action-orientated and have a more unique narrative, with twists and cliff-hangers in the stories being used consistently within the thriller genre. Our group hopes to replicate this lack of predictability by not giving too much away in the opening, while also linking back to the symbolic element in order to make the audience speculate and hopefully still be surprised at this refreshing approach to the drama genre.

A good example of a thriller is the film 'Now You See Me.' Based around the concepts of trickery and deception, this film had multiple twists and unexpected turning points in it's narrative, engaging it's audience while also making them care more about the main characters. What made this film a critical and commercial success (making $350 million at the box office) was the fact that it still had a fast pace, wide variety of characters, iconic settings, numerous A-list actors, and yet none of this was over-shadowed by extensive action sequences, maintaining the film's verisimilitude and thus relatable narrative. This therefore appealed to a more civilised audience that prioritise plot and character development over special effects. By contrast to 'Die Hard,' this film expands more on the Uses and Gratification theory's need for knowledge, with the multiple twists and turns in the film, as well as the main concept of deception and trickery, being at the core of this film, compelling the audience to continue watching and aid in the films pacing in the process, instead of the less realistic and more entertaining action sequences that can be seen in 'Die Hard.'

We will attract audiences by using signifiers that are associated with the drama genre, such as in-depth character development, subtle non-diegetic music that reflects the thoughts and feelings of the main protagonist, naturalistic settings and an enigmatic atmosphere to compel the audience to continue watching.

Psychographic research into audiences and genres

Psychographics relates to market research that's based on dividing people into groups based on their personalities, which is important when it comes to identifying and relating to specific target audience. Here are the categories:

Mainstreamers: go with the flow and replicate everyone else's attributes in society.

Aspirers - desires more out of life.

Succeeders - have money but don't need to show it.

Individualists - want to show they're different.

Carers - want to save the world.

These 5 categories help us to identify who we're targeting with our group's opening, while it also helps put into perspective how we're going to do this. For example, a carer would probably relate more to a nature documentary than a succeeder would, because they care more about that specific topic. In our case, because our film is about a man who defies social convention and wants to be someone of importance, it's clear our target audience is not just teenagers and young adults but more specifically 'aspirers.'


A media theorist, named Stuart Hall has 3 audience theories that strongly relate to Psychographics and they are as follows:

Preferred readings - when an audience can relate and empathise with the media text.

Negotiated readings - when an audience don not directly relate to the media text and have to place themselves into the world of the text.

Oppositional readings - when an audience and their life experiences have no relationship with the text and are actually resistant to it.

Looking at these theories, because our group is doing a drama, we knew we wanted it to be part of the 'preferred reading' category, with the naturalistic and gritty tone we're going for, reflecting these attributes. We also plan to incorporate verisimilitude by using very natural and common settings, such as a graveyard, so that there's less of a barrier between the film opening and the audience. With the audience empathising and possibly relating to our opening, it creates an emotional attachment so that the audience will then care about when and how the film concludes.