Shooting Script

Media horror presentation

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Meeting Minutes

Start Filming - 13th - 17th January 2011

Filmed the sequence on the 13th then added the footage onto iMovie to edit, then we realised that we needed more footage in the sequence so we hired the camera for another day and we filmed the last part of footage that we needed.

Edit Footage - 17th - 24th January 2011

We edited the footage in iMovie, this took a while to do because we had some footage that did not fit in with the sequence so we had to alternate the footage and it turned out to be ok when we finally finished it.

Add Music - 24th - 31st January 2011

It took a while to try and find the right music that we wanted for the sequence, at first we wanted to use heavy, loud music but we then tried an alternative of a quieter and suspenseful music which turned out to be better than our first choice of music soundtrack.

Add Sound Effects - 31st January 2011 - 3rd February 2011

The sound effects were added in the last stages of the editing sequence, we added sound effects that have a loud and scary vibe to them that also give off an effect of horror. There are a few sound effects that are the same but it builds the suspense of the film by having a repeating effect.

Production Schedule

1. Create blog and post our meeting minutes, production schedule, a questionnaire, a written script, evidence of what we have researched our horror, institution research, typography. we filmed our continuity piece so that we could get use to the equipment(camera, tripod, how to put the dv tape in safely) we recorded our continuity piece and the took the film to the mac room so we could edit it and get use to the imovie programme.

2. For our planning evidence we looked at other movies from our genre such as dawn of the dead, shawn of the dead, land of the dead, diary of the dead, zombie land and we also looked at a foreign film called dead snow. we also looked at the typography from other films and we went to da font to play around with different titles.

3. We drew our storyboards and started to snowball ideas. when we finished this we then hired out our equipment and started to film our final decision.

4. After our filming this is when we started to edit, this is where cut unnecessary clips and added effects using i movie. we added our sound effects in from garage band.

5. This is our final step where we decided if anything needed changing with sound text and more cutting.

Production Treatment

Narrative Plot: 4 teenagers survive an airborne virus that has accidentally been released into England by the military. The boys (John, Ray, Matthew and Shaun) hide out in there school for security, but zombies eventually find them and break into the school. Which leads to John and Shaun running away from the zombies after retrieving something that could help them survive.

Target Audience: The target audience for our film 'Deadline' would be male aged from 15-18, we feel that this is the right age to target because of the blood, the dialogue, and the maturity of the film. We also think that people from 15 years and up can relate to the four teens.

Media Languages: The style of our opening sequence would be to try and make the sequence as tense and also as questionable as possible. The lighting was set to be dark at some points in the sequence to represent the darkness of the zombies but also bright to show that there are no zombies about and they are safe. There is an enigma in the sequence, at the end of the scene where we see John, Matthew and Ray inside the safe house, Ray asks John 'Did you get it?' Which John replies 'Yeah'. This leads onto an enigma because the audience at this point in the film do not know what they are talking about and that they could have got anything.

Institutions: The distributor of out film is Columbia Pictures because they have distributed many other horror films before such as Zombieland, which hit the box office at a good standard rate. Our production company is called 'Bunny Hell Productions' because we wanted to think of a phrase that is commonly used and alter it so we sound unique.

Representations: The characters are represented as a group, where we have The Leader (John), The Hard man (Shaun), The Smart man (Ray) and The Brave man (Matthew). These representation are good for the characters because of the roles that they carry throughout the film.

Genre: The codes and conventions of the film are that everything is suppose to be horror and scary because the boys don't know whether there may be zombies near by and if there is danger around them. The text is very dark and gloomy and the title of the film 'Deadline' is shown in a very dark and horror text whilst being in a dark red colour representing blood and death.

Production Brief

Production Brief: To create the titles and opening sequenece of a new fictional film.


Project Name: Deadline


Length: 90 Seconds - 2 Minutes


Deadline: Friday 11th February


Group Members And There Roles:


Mikey Masher - Actor, Director
Tom Brown - Actor
Steven Power - Actor
Charlie Hopwood - Actor


Brief Overview: 4 teenagers survive a biological weapon released by the military, the weapon transforms everyone but a certain blood type into zombies and the 4 teenagers try to survive from the zombies and also try and find help.


Target Audience: Age 15 - 21


Scheduling: Our film is aimed to be released during the Easter holidays so the people who are aged 15 -18 can have more of a chance of seeing the movie during the holidays as they are our main target audience.


Research: We have researched films such as Dawn of the Dead, Zombieland, 28 Weeks Later and The Crazies.

We will test that the product is successful and accomplished its intended effect by screening it and getting feedback from people so we can see what parts of the sequence went well and what parts could be improved.

Institution Research

Media Institution Research

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Evidence Of Your Chosen Genre

Media evidence of researching your chosen genre

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Deatailed Analysis Of 2/3 Opening Sequences

Media detailed analysis of 2/3 opening sequences

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Research Into A Title Sequence Designer

research into a title sequences designer

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Analysis Of Contemorary Titles/Opening Vs. Older Titles/Opening

Media analysis of contemorary titles opening vs. older titles opening

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General Research Into Title Sequences

The Ring

Piranha 3D

In the opening sequences of both of the horror films that show above, both of them show suspense and tension. This is a key feature that is used throughout many opening sequences in horror films. In the opening sequence that we are going to make we want to add the same amount of tension that is put into real movies. We plan on creating a zombie movie; in the opening sequence the main character (Shaun) is being chased by zombies. We used this idea because there is a lone person being chased by 2/3 zombies and he is literally running for his life to survive. From this it builds suspense and fear into the audience because it will make them feel like they are the main character being chased by the zombies. The purpose of both of these opening sequences is to hook people into wanting to watch the film by scaring them so the suspense and drama of the film is risen and the audience will watch the film. The sound in both of the films is very tense and builds a suspense the non-digetic sound of the music in Piranha is quiet but has a sense of suspense by the being no other sound that is heard with it. This makes the non-digetic music the main sound, which when the camera goes under water we hear a loud "boom" sound which we know something is going to happen from.

Blade Runner Opening Title Sequence

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbWNZkoQHuE

In the opening sequence to Blade Runner the text in the credits crawls up the screen, we are also going to use this technique in our opening sequence. We are going to use this technique because it is a good way to get across the plot of the story from what has happened without giving away how the movie ends.

show that you understand how media language (cinematography, mise-en-scene, editing and sound) is being used to communicate meaning and also how the opening fits the codes and conventions of an opening

Equipment List

Equipment:
Camera – So we can film the opening sequence
Tri-pod – So the camera can be held still whilst filming
Mac – To edit the opening sequence
Camera charger – To charge the camera if the battery runs out
Battery – So the battery can power the camera
Connecter cable – To connect the camera to the Mac

Props:
Fake guns
Old clothes
Fake blood
Desk
Metal gate
Walky-talky

Smashing Magazine - The Art Of Film Title Design Throughout Cinema History

1. It could be argued that typography lost importance in this era of title design. The imagery behind the credits received a lot more attention. Still, the interplay of typography and images was by no means ignored. Popular trends of the 1950s were using three-dimensional lettering and embedding type in physical artifacts such as embroidery and signage. In contrast, Saul Bass often approached the lettering of a main title as he would a logo, making it function as the core element in a full marketing campaign. While the variety of solutions increased considerably, their anchor was always the relationship of on-screen typography to the movie itself.

I like this because it shows that the development of title sequences, instead of just using writing they introduced pictures into the sequence.

2. The potential of digital graphics and typography has attracted some of the most creative minds to motion design. Pixar and Disney have reserved crucial parts in the branding of their films for the title sequences. Using animated characters to introduce viewers to the story became a popular trend. Such talented graphic designers as Susan Bradley (Toy Story, Monsters, Inc., WALL-E, Ratatouille), Jaimi Caliri (Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events), Dave Nalle (Corpse Bride), Michael Riley (The Back-Up Plan, Kung Fu Panda) and Michael Curtis (Brother Bear) use all manner of tools to test different approaches to designing titles. One thing these individuals have in common is a drive to find a strong metaphor and tell an exciting story with their sequences.

I like this because it shows the creativity of people and what they have done just by making specific typography for specific movies.

3. The incorporation of audio into movies — making them “talkies” — didn’t revolutionize how film titles were handled, at least not immediately. However, we do see one avant-garde animator and painter of German origin, Oskar Fischinger, give serious thought to the relationship between visual effects and music. Fischinger’s practice of subordinating the visual rhythm to the audio was repeated often in motion graphics and title design.

I like this because it talks about how sound is a good feature to add into a title sequence. This is key because sound is a big micro feature that is used carefully in may sequences.

4. As movies grew more popular, their titles evolved. Movie producers invested considerable sums in film production and sometimes resorted to fixing a dog of a film by rewriting the inter-titles. For a time, “film doctor” Ralph Spence (1890–1949) was the highest-paid title writer in the industry, earning $10,000 a picture for his one-liners.

I like this because it tells us that movies and the media were starting to become a big impact on people lives because they had to go see the latest movie or watch television.

5. In addition to hiring lettering artists, the biggest film studios began to employ typesetters in the production of title cards. Among the fonts often adopted for titles and inter-title cards were Pastel (BB&S, 1892), National Old Style (ATF, 1916) and Photoplay (Samuel Welo’s Studio, 1927).

I like this because it just shows how far the media has come since 'day 1'. From using boards to show the title they can now put it in 3D.

Seven Opening Sequence Analysis

At the beginning of the opening sequence of Seven we see the character Detective Somerset (Morgan Freeman). We see Detective Somerset‘s character through the use of micro features, mise-en-scene, performance, sound, editing and cinematography. At the start Detective Somerset is seen in the kitchen cleaning a coffee pot, from this we can see that he likes to keep thing clean and neat. We can also see from what he is wearing, a white shirt, to the colour of his flat, white paint, that this could represent a light versus dark situation where he is the good guy and then later on in the sequence we see a person who has barley any light on him, this person has been shown as the bad guy. From what we can see at the window the curtains look like they are bars locked onto his window, this may represent him not wanting any contact with the outside world or him being protective of himself because we have already established that if he is a good guy then there must be a villain. At the bottom of the screen there is a chessboard, which could represent that he is intelligent and a good thinker, who is always one step ahead of his opponent.

The camera then tilts up to Detective Somerset’s (Morgan Freeman’s) face, as he is tying his tie, from this we can see he is well dressed and also that he doesn’t smile or do any other facial expression other than a very serious face, which would also lead into the intelligence part of him and how it is shown. The next shot is a close up of a table that shows his badge, a pocketknife and a pen, all of the objects are in a straight row lined up next to each other, this shows us that he is an orderly and neat persons. The next shot is of him picking off a piece of dust or thread from his jacket that is folded neatly on his bed. This represents he is watchful because he cares about the little things that may make a big difference to him. Throughout this scene where Detective Somerset (Morgan Freeman) is in his flat there is no non-digetic but with the digetic sound there is hardly any either. The only sound you can hear is him washing the coffee pot and getting dressed, this could represent that he is lonely.

Linking back to where Detective Somerset (Morgan Freeman) looks at the little details of things, in this scene he asks the other detective “Are the kids here?” and the other detective replies angrily saying why do you care about the kids when we can’t find the murderer. This shows that although a murder has taken place by his feet he cares about the little things that make a big difference. In the next part of the scene Detective Mills (Brad Pitt) is shown to audience for the first time, from the first few seconds we see him he is chewing gum, the way he walks up the stairs and talks to Detective Somerset (Morgan Freeman) shows that he maybe smug about himself, which is shown when Detective Somerset (Morgan Freeman) asks Detective Mills (Brad Pitt) about going to a bar to talk but then Detective Mills (Brad Pitt) overrules his decision and says what he would rather do something else.

As both Detective Somerset (Morgan Freeman) and Detective Mills (Brad Pitt) are walking along the street the camera is down low and tilts upwards towards them, this could show their authority in the streets that they walk, because they are detectives they are seen as the law and authority. The clothes that Detective Somerset (Morgan Freeman) wears suits the style of a detective, he is wearing a long coat with a hat, this can also be backed up because of the way he walks along the street with his arms crossed behind his back and his posture is very upright. As they both walk along the road people and objects seem to get into that ways of Detective Mill’s (Brad Pitt) way blocking him from walking in a straight line whereas Detective Somerset (Morgan Freeman) just walks in a straight line the whole way this shows the power of authority just between both of the main characters.

The next part of the scene shows Detective Mills (Brad Pitt) being very smug by saying that he ‘doesn’t want to be working outside guarding a Taco Bell’ because he has been working homicides for 5 years, but Detective Somerset (Morgan Freeman) then confronts him and says that the work is different around here than it is from wherever you previously worked. Detective Somerset (Morgan Freeman) then says an important point in this scene, about how for the next 7 days he will remember that. This is an important point about the plot because the each murder occurs each day for 7 days. The next shot is then of Detective Somerset (Morgan Freeman) reading a book in bed, which would also again represent him being intelligent. He then reaches over places his glasses on a table and starts metronome, the ticking of the metronome adds suspense to the scene because it feels likes something is going to happen to him because the camera zooms in on him this could be shown so it looks like we are then at a point of view of the murderer getting closer to Detective Somerset (Morgan Freeman).

The next scene then cuts to the title sequence, which shows a close up of an empty book, there is also a blurry had flicking the pages slowly. The sound of the non-digetic music in the background creates a sense of evil because the music sounds very dark and gloomy. From this we instantly know that this person is the bad guy in the film. The typography of the writing is very vague, which could represent the murderous status that this person maybe is in.

Continuity Piece Evaluation

What did you find difficult about this task?

We found it difficult getting the lighting correct because the main lights were too bright and without that much light was too dark so we used a lamp which was not best quality but it was still effective.

What new skills have you acquired or developed?

I developed skills in using my initiative when it comes to trying to use and alternative from what we thought we could have used in the film to what we did use.

What worked well?

The setting worked well because we needed a setting that was quiet and dark, which the drama hall was at an effective rate.

What could you or your team have done better?

Not break character as many times as we did.

Continuity Piece