Saturday, 20 February 2010
Research- Film production
Phonebooth. I have decided to look at this film as the production of it is very unique. The 120 page script film which would usually take around 40 days to film, was shot in an amazing 10 days! The cast and crew got through 12 pages a day!
Another unusual twist is that even though the film is set in New York City it was actually shot in Los Angeles where an Avenue was transformed to look like New York.
The writer Larry Cohen originally pitched the idea of shooting a film in a phonebooth to Alfred Hitchcock in the 1960s (mentioned previously in my blog). Although Alfred liked the idea they could not come up with a reason for the film to take place in the phonebooth i.e the sniper situation.
Here are some facts about the production:
*They had a 38 man crew
*They had 4 cameras on every shot instead of the usual 1
*They carried out detailed character profiling (even on the many extras)
*It was shot in sequence
The last point is very important in the production of this film. Unlike in most films where they film whatever piece of action is most convenient for example the exterior of a scene may be shot at a totally different time to the interior, Phonebooth was shot in order of the script. This was very important time wise as it helped them to keep continuity. They did not have to worry about if someone was standing in exactly the same place as it is all shot in sequence and it "evolves as you go along". Another interesting feature of the production of this film is that all of the extras had not read the script so did not know what was going to happen next. This meant that the film crew were able to capture pure reactions and benefited the film greatly.
Another unusual twist is that even though the film is set in New York City it was actually shot in Los Angeles where an Avenue was transformed to look like New York.
The writer Larry Cohen originally pitched the idea of shooting a film in a phonebooth to Alfred Hitchcock in the 1960s (mentioned previously in my blog). Although Alfred liked the idea they could not come up with a reason for the film to take place in the phonebooth i.e the sniper situation.
Here are some facts about the production:
*They had a 38 man crew
*They had 4 cameras on every shot instead of the usual 1
*They carried out detailed character profiling (even on the many extras)
*It was shot in sequence
The last point is very important in the production of this film. Unlike in most films where they film whatever piece of action is most convenient for example the exterior of a scene may be shot at a totally different time to the interior, Phonebooth was shot in order of the script. This was very important time wise as it helped them to keep continuity. They did not have to worry about if someone was standing in exactly the same place as it is all shot in sequence and it "evolves as you go along". Another interesting feature of the production of this film is that all of the extras had not read the script so did not know what was going to happen next. This meant that the film crew were able to capture pure reactions and benefited the film greatly.
Planning- target audience profiling
As a group we have decided that our film will be certified as a 15. Although in the title sequence that we are creating there aren't any unsuitable images or clips, we believe that if we were to create the thriller there would be unsuitable clips in the film itself. So the thriller itself is going to be rated as a 15. We would like the title sequence to be rated individually as 12+ as we would like to show this to a wider variety of audience in order to get a wider response.I believe that the thriller itself would appeal to an audience between 15 to late 20's Particularly concentrating on students and younger, middle class adults. The typical conventions in thriller including music and storyline would help them to relate the film to other thrillers. A typicall viewer may be a student around 20 in their second or third year at university. They will be more mature than the younger students, maybe looking for a quiet night in. They will be looking for a well priced piece of entertainment and will not want to spend too much. Also they will be in a good location to pick up the film as it will be located in highly populated areas. A totally different viewer may be someone in their late 20's who has finished university, has a steady job and a disposable income. They will have money to spend and will be looking for inside entertainment. The third likely viewer may be a 16 or 17 year old who have a ful time or part time job so have a little money to spend. They are not old enough to go out and may get bored of going bowling ect so have a dvd night in with family or friends.
Research into voiceover and titles -The holiday
I particularly like the titles and the voice over in this trailer. The titles appear over half of the screen on a white background which makes them stand out. Also when the appear the clip freezes and helps us to relate the titles to the film still. This is really effective and i would like to use this in our film if we can. I also like the voice over. This is used throughout the trailer to give us an idea of the storyline. This makes the trailer unique yet very effective.
Planning-Editing- voiceover
In the phonebooth where the voiceover worked successfully, the voice was of a middle-aged man with a deep voice. It worked well and created a creepy atmosphere. As a group we think we are going to challenge this and have the voiceover of a woman. We hope we can get a creepy effect from this difference.
We are trying to decide where to put the voiceover and what to say. Here are some of our ideas that we wrote down:
Life is one big game
you have to lie, cheat and steal to win
how would you play the game
its how you play the game that counts
one life, one game, one winner
there are no rules
We think at the start we might have a voiceover saying "life is just a game", and then at the end of the title sequence, "it's how you play the game that counts!" We think that this help suggest what the film is about and also leave it on a bit of a cliffhanger.
We are trying to decide where to put the voiceover and what to say. Here are some of our ideas that we wrote down:
Life is one big game
you have to lie, cheat and steal to win
how would you play the game
its how you play the game that counts
one life, one game, one winner
there are no rules
We think at the start we might have a voiceover saying "life is just a game", and then at the end of the title sequence, "it's how you play the game that counts!" We think that this help suggest what the film is about and also leave it on a bit of a cliffhanger.
Planning- dvd cover, film image
I have been experimenting with ideas of imagery for the dvd case of our thriller. I have created this picture on my computer to help give our thriller an identity.
Editing our title sequence
After uploading our shots on to the apple macs we were ready to put everything together.
We watched all of the shots and picked the best of each to go together. We also added stills of photographs we took into the sequence so that they looked like flashbacks. These flashbacks are in the red lighting to fit in with our colouscheme. One thing that we are playing around with are the transition effects. These are how we are getting from one part of the sequence to another. We particularly like the cross dissolve transition as it enables us to merge to images together withuout there being an obvious jump.
We watched all of the shots and picked the best of each to go together. We also added stills of photographs we took into the sequence so that they looked like flashbacks. These flashbacks are in the red lighting to fit in with our colouscheme. One thing that we are playing around with are the transition effects. These are how we are getting from one part of the sequence to another. We particularly like the cross dissolve transition as it enables us to merge to images together withuout there being an obvious jump.
Planning- music for our thriller
Music in an open sequence plays a very important part in tht success of it.
The main problem that we face is finding music that is copyright free. Our teacher got hold of about 30 copyright free tracks for us to choose from if we wish. After listnening to the tracks me and my group members shortlisted about 4 or 5 that we liked. We then played the tracks alongside our title sequence to see which fitted best. The track that we all agreed we liked is called serial killer. However the middle bit of the track consists of choir like voices and is a bit odd, but we decided that it helps create an arkward atmosphere.
The main problem that we face is finding music that is copyright free. Our teacher got hold of about 30 copyright free tracks for us to choose from if we wish. After listnening to the tracks me and my group members shortlisted about 4 or 5 that we liked. We then played the tracks alongside our title sequence to see which fitted best. The track that we all agreed we liked is called serial killer. However the middle bit of the track consists of choir like voices and is a bit odd, but we decided that it helps create an arkward atmosphere.
Filming!-Complete!
When we got back from our last filming session we took the camera into the apple mac room and uploaded what we had filmed onto the apple mac computers. Some of the shots were very successfull and the red lighting worked particularly well. However we were over ambitious with the first few shots where we had tried to create a moving shot by strapping the camera to a bike! Although we tried our best, the shots were too shaky and did not look good enough for us to use. We then discussed how we could change the start and came up with the idea of cutting out the first few shots and starting the sequence in the garage! This worked much better and challenged the typical codes and conventions as we do not have an obvious establashing shot. However it is better as we go straight in to our red colour scheme. After deciding to loose the first shots we went out to film the rest of the sequence knowing exactly what we wanted to achieve! We went out when it was dark to film the "following" part of the sequence. We managed to get all of the shots that we wanted and uploaded them when we got back
Planning- development of style
After watching the three title sequences that i mentioned, Batman, Phonebooth, and the terminator (also one called Pay it Forward) i have decided with my group on two characteristics i want our thriller to contain.
The first is the colour scheme. Unlike Batman and The Terminator we have opted for red. As red can connote blood and suggest death and fear i think it will be different to blue but still give the atmosphere that the others do. I would like the lighting to be quite dark and even difficult to see as it will help to add confusion. Confusion will hopefully result in our audience to see more in order to find out what happens.
The second characteristic is a voiceover. We have decided that a voicover will be unique and different but help to create tension. We want this effect to be creepy and help outline the message of our film.
The first is the colour scheme. Unlike Batman and The Terminator we have opted for red. As red can connote blood and suggest death and fear i think it will be different to blue but still give the atmosphere that the others do. I would like the lighting to be quite dark and even difficult to see as it will help to add confusion. Confusion will hopefully result in our audience to see more in order to find out what happens.
The second characteristic is a voiceover. We have decided that a voicover will be unique and different but help to create tension. We want this effect to be creepy and help outline the message of our film.
Research- The terminator
The terminator is also very similar to the title sequence of Batman. They have used blues and blacks with white writing. The main difference in the two however is that the music in the title sequences of the terminator seems much more prominent. I noticed it more and it dragged me in to the genre of the film, with the use of low pitched, army like music.
Research- Batman title sequence
I watched the title sequence for the action/thriller Batman. It was very interesting and i particularly liked the way they used the camera and the colour scheme. The camera panned and zoomed all around the screen but in a way that did not really make sense. It seems to me that the main focus of the title sequence for this film is the titles and the music. The colour scheme is what i found most interesting. I really like how they have only used dark blues, to black and greys. This gives the impression of darkness and gives a scary atmosphere without revealing anything about the actual plot of the film. It is very simple in the way that they have stuck to a limited colour pallet and i would definatley consider doing this in our own sequence.
Research- Phonebooth trailer
I have the film phonebooth on dvd. I particularly remember a voice over in the trailer which was very effective. As i watched the trailer on you tube i was hooked to the trailer. This was mainly due to the effective use of voiceover. The voiceover was used alongside the music and created a sense of atmosphere and uncertainty. It also helped to tell the stroy and help to give an insight into the message of the film. As a group we will look at putting this effect into our title sequence as I think it would work well and give an extra dimension.
The other thing that was particularly attractive about the trailer is the use of graphics. They text appears on a plain black backround and appear in fire like rings. This creates an impression of danger. The words are also the words of the voiceover so everthing links together.
The other thing that was particularly attractive about the trailer is the use of graphics. They text appears on a plain black backround and appear in fire like rings. This creates an impression of danger. The words are also the words of the voiceover so everthing links together.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
