MAIN Post 9: Production

As a group we decided that the best time to film was during the day because then we could use the natural lighting and this could give a good effect of it shining though the tree leaves. We had to go out filming a few times because of factors such as the weather, which was a disadvantage of filming outside, wrong equipment and poor planning, this meant that we missed some shots out and had to re-film them slough this wasn't too much of a problem and allowed us to have the highest quality footage we could instead of having to make do with what we already had. Below I have inserted a few photos that were taken of our group while setting up the equipment and filming on location. 

MAIN Post 8: Pre-production documentation

Full Synopsis of Film:

An outburst of disease, suddenly strikes the United Kingdom. Jacob thinks he is the only survivor however he does not realize that he is not alone as a shadow appears frequently in the distance. Although, Jacob can sense that someone’s following him but doesn't know if its safe to make contact so keeps his distance while he is on his travels to find safety. Jacob finally meets the shadow character and the audience finds out and realizes that they have been working together all along but they just didn't know it.

After meeting each other, Jacob and Catlin (the shadow) Figure out if there able to trust each other and become companions, we then follow there adventurous journey of which they encounter wild animals which have been exposed to the life threatening disease. Of which they fight for survival. Then on their travels they find others that have not caught the disease also finding out that they have paid to keep safe from catching the contagious disease and are introduced to the inconsiderate characters of which don’t care about anyone else and created the outburst.

The audience then find out at the same time as the characters, Jacob and Catlin, that the government were the reason behind it all to get money to help the economy but all when wrong and the disease they created out broke, harming and disfiguring harmless, innocent people. The film then moves on as we come across other survivors of which was not part of the conspiracy to do with the government, the survivors all come together and we witness an action packed scene where the survivors fight against the government for what’s right and make them survive the consequences of their experiment.

The film then comes to a resolved ending and the survivors work together to make a safe haven of which they go off a recruit and help find other survivors of the contagious disease, creating a new civilization.

Synopsis of Opening Sequence:

In the opening sequence for our film Contamination, It starts in future events showing the main character Jacob lost in the woods searching for other survivors after the disease outbreak. It shows him struggling and running around through woods and fields, unsure if anyone else is out there. Its going to be fast pased, with a lot of quick cuts, showing that Jacob is vulnerable and lost. Its going to start with an establishing shot of the location and then finishes with " 2 days earlier " on a black screen, emphasing that the film is going to go back in time.

Our opening sequence is going to include close up shots of feet running and jumping to create and show a sense of action. It going to have Point of view shots to create his perspective and show the audience that his scared and out of breath. Sound is a key aspect in our opening sequence as the snapping of sticks and crunching of leafs creates a dramatic effect and adds tension, also hearing heavy breathing makes the audience aware of what he is experiencing making it more realistic.

The opening sequence ends with dialogue from Jacob "Is there anybody out there?" then the camera slowly backwards tracks away from Jacob who is sitting on a broken tree log which enhances his loneliness.

Location Recce:

Shot List:

Story Board:

Script:

Risk Assessment:

Crew List:

Rosie Christopher : Sound Operator, Editor

Mollie Bugg: Camera Operator, Director, Editor

Fiona Aldwin : Camera Operator , Director, Editor.

Jovell Williams : Actor, Editor.

Mise-en- scene:

Set Design/Location
Woods – natural setting, move rubbish and unwanted trash so location is as rural and realistic for our opening sequence as possible. Will work with location and if needed will move branches and trees.

Props
No props used other than natural resources such as tree branches.

Lighting
As in a wood will have to work with natural lighting that shines through the trees, so for our location it will be quite low key lighting, which we will be able to adjust by using a reflector to create more light in specific areas where needed and to add emphasis

Character Movement

There is a lot of character movement from the start of the opening sequence. As it is an action adventure film it is going to be quite fast pased which means that there is going to be constant character movement. In our film we have character movement such as; running through the woods; jumping over broken trees; walking through the woods; siting on a broken tree trunk; Stepping on branches and leaves.

Costume

The main character Jacob is wearing:

Blue chinos

Green Hoody - hood up

Navy body warmer - hood up

Black trainers

Hair / Make-up

Actor - Natural hair, make up: Powder to prevent shininess when on camera .

Shooting Schedule:

My Individual Report:

MAIN Post 7: Focus Group

MAIN Post 6: History of your chosen genre

MAIN Post 5: Title Timeline

Summery

This timeline of an opening sequence has effected our own opening sequence by showing what names and roles we need to include on screen in the opening sequence. It has also shown that the music needs to fade in at the begginging and fade out at the end.



MAIN Post 4b: Narrative/character research

Background information: 

Jacob is an average young man who works as a HGV driver. His father, who brought him up and was very close to him, was a retired solider who fought on the front lines for Britain but got badly injured and has to be sent home. Jacob sent a lot of time with his father whilst he was growing up and they often went on camping trips on which his father taught him  many survival techniques that become essential for Jacob as the plot develops. In the film Jacob loses everything and everyone he has ever loved becomes on of the final survivors left on Earth. When Jacob finds out the truth about the disease and that the government are behind it, his anger drives him to try and change what has happened.

From looking in detail at main characters in exisiting Action Adventure films, characters are very driven by their emotions. Because of this we will need to show Jacob's anger and determination as well as  fear and sadness in his actions so the audience can relate to how the character is feeling. The use of giving the character a background of his father also helps the audience to sympathise with the character and feel that they know more about him.

MAIN Post 4a:Plot Development

Here is the timeline for out opening sequence.

Title:

Contamination

Genre:
Action/Adventure

Target Audience:
12A

Log Line:
Is anyone else out there?

Synopsis:

An outburst of disease, suddenly strikes the United Kingdom. Jacob thinks he is the only survivor and that he and the shadow that’s following him in the background are the only two left, which they know of. Jacob can sense that someone’s following him but doesn't know if it’s safe to make contact so keeps his distance, while on his travels to find safety. Jacob finally meets the shadow character and the audience finds out and realizes that they have been working together all along but they just didn't know it.

After meeting each other, Jacob and Catlin (the shadow) figure out and learn to trust each other and become companions, we then follow their adventurous journey of which they encounter wild animals which have been exposed to the life threatening disease. Of which the characters fight for survival against. Then on their travels they find others that have not caught the disease, also finding out that well off wealthy people have paid to keep themselves safe from catching the contagious disease and are introduced as inconsiderate characters of which don’t care about anyone else and created the outburst.

We then find out at the same time as the characters Jacob and Catlin that the government were the reason behind it all to get money to help the economy but all went wrong and the disease they created out broke, harming and disfiguring harmless, innocent people. The film then moves on as we come across other survivors of which were not part of the conspiracy to do with the government, the survivors all come together and we witness an action packed scene where the survivors fight against the government for what’s right and make them face the consequences of their experiment.

The film then comes to a resolved ending and the survivors work together to make a safe haven of which they go off to recruit and help find other survivors of the contagious disease, creating a new civilization.

Opening Sequence Outline:

In the opening sequence for our film Contamination, It starts in future events showing the main character Jacob lost in the woods searching for other survivors after the disease outbreak. It shows him struggling and running around through woods and fields, unsure if anyone else is out there. It’s going to be fast passed, with a lot of quick cuts, showing that Jacob is vulnerable and lost. It’s going to start with an establishing shot of the location and then finishes with "2 days earlier" on a black screen, emphasizing that the film is going to go back in time.

Our opening sequence is going to include close up shots of feet running and jumping to create and show a sense of action. It is going to have Point of view shots to create his perspective and show the audience that the character is scared and out of breath. Sound is a key aspect in our opening sequence as the snapping of sticks and crunching of leafs creates a dramatic effect and adds tension, also hearing heavy breathing makes the audience aware of what he is experiencing making it more realistic.

MAIN Post 4: Group Meeting

As a group we had a meeting to discuss what elements we would like to involve in our film. Below is a write up of what was discussed in the meeting.

MAIN Post 3a: Further look at opening sequences

MAIN Post 3: Research into Opening Sequence Designs

I watched these two video interviews with Kyle Cooper who is a famous title designer in which he discusses what he has used in the past in order to make his title sequences stand out. Watching these will give me an idea of good aspects to include when i make my own title sequence. The two links that I watched the videos from are linked below.
After watching these clips of Cooper's interview i now have a better idea of what goes into making a opening sequence interesting, eye catching and stand out. An opening sequence should be the first hook of the film, it should make the audience gain an interest in the film and hint towards what will happen within the film. In the interview, Kyle Cooper also talks about how an opening sequence can sometimes be used and an extra scene at the beginning of a film as a type of prologue. This can be used to give the audiance information about the story line which will help them to understand the film later on.

Watching these interviews has influence my ideas of the opening sequence as it has shown me how import the typography is within the opening sequence.  Cooper spoke about how the typography can not be an afterthought and can be used to add to the overall impression that the opening sequence had. Kyle Cooper's interviews have also taught me that in order to get a good opening sequence it helps to be adventurous and try different ways of doing things to get different effects.

These interviews have helped me to gain an greater understanding of the importance of opening sequences and will help our group find the best ideas when we are designing and creating our own opening sequence.

MAIN Post 2: Choosing a Genre

To create an opening sequence to film, we needed to find out what genre we want our film to be.  When we were first discussing what genre to choose we initially thought about doing comedy. However, once we thought about it in greater detail, we realised it would be quite difficult to create an opening sequence for a comedy film and that this genre would probably not be the best option if we wanted to gain a high grade, therefore, we done some research to find out what is the most popular film genre and what type of film there is a gap in the market for today.

After carrying out some secondary research online I found that the top movie genres are Drama, Romance, Action, Adventure, Animation, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Comedy, Crime, Family & Thriller. So therefore it would be best to chose out of these. I then looked at the best selling box office films of all times to see what genre these films were. I found that most of these films were in the Action genre of a hybrid of this genre such a Action Adventure, therefore this would be a good genre to use.

http://moviedistributionfacts.wordpress.com/tag/popular-movie-genres/

As a group, we then carried out some primary research, by doing a questionnaire, to find out what peoples favourite genre of film is and what genre they would like to see more of.
Here is a screen shot of our Questionnaire we handed out.

Below are the results we recive form the questionaire we handed out

After looking at both our primary and secondary research, we decided upon doing an opening sequence for the Action Adventure genre. Although this was not out top answer in out questionnaire, it was still one of the highest and our secondary research proved that it was popular as well. As well as this, this is a genre that everyone in our group enjoys watching so will make the task more enjoyable.