Research and Planning: Auditions 2

Chelsea Hall A2 Media: Research and Planning: Auditions 2: Here is the video of mine and Becky's auditions for the role of Alexis Von Fury. We decided that I would take on the role of Alexis, hop...

(Same thing with auditions 1)

Research and Planning: Auditions

Chelsea Hall A2 Media: Research and Planning: Auditions: Today I borrowed a camera from my classroom and went out into the college to see if I could find people to audition for my trailer. I will ...

(Had to add a link as this won't upload to my profile)

Research and Planning: Auditions

Chelsea Hall A2 Media: Research and Planning: Auditions: Today I borrowed a camera from my classroom and went out into the college to see if I could find people to audition for my trailer. I will ...


(I've had to add a link as the video won't upload to my profile)

Research and Planning - Film Poster title draft

I spent some time trying to find suitable fonts for my poster for the film, and I've come up with these two within this layout of blood splats.  I kinda like it at the moment cause it shows that's going to be quite actiony however I don't know if I'm going to be able to keep the blood splats depending on what the colour of the background is and whether it's going to contrast or not.

Research and Planning - Production Meeting

Me and Chelsea had another meeting today and figured out that we were actually going to shoot some scenes this weekend as we've gathered the people we need to do this and hopefully we'll have the HD camera we require.  If we can get hold of the Camera then we can shoot on both Saturday and Sunday - if we can't then we can only film Sunday as that's the only time we can get hold of a HD Home camera. The production meeting consisted of what our decisions were and what actions we're going to take.

Research and Planning - FIlm Draft

I decided to mess around with where abouts each title and masthead is going to be placed on the front cover based off my drawing drafts.  I've found some fonts I'd like to use and these are them.

Research and Planning - Audition Poster

So I created my own audition poster in addition to Chelseas that we've already put up.  The poster is to attract people who want to audition to be a zombie really, or the main protagonist.  You can get a sense of the narrative already with the protagonist being the title of the movie and there being a scenery of zombies.  It also stands out so it'll be an eyecatcher - hopefully!
I've created this using photoshop and a random photo of a zombie apocalypse I found off google. :)

Research and Planning - Film Magazine Masthead Fonts

basicl

bebas

lion king

telegrafico

stentiga

revolution

I've found 5 fonts that would be suitable for me to use in my media magazine as a masthead.  I've chose these styles as I don't want anything too fancy, considering the research I've done I've found most film magazines keep a simple font that is bold and easy to read - like it gets the message across quickly.
I like them all really, but the last 3 especially revolution and telegrafico appeal to me the most.  I like the style they have as it's not boring, it has quite an edgy look to it which is great and will also attract the audience.  Considering the title of the magazine as well, 'manic' suites this type of font more than say something like Arial!

I've collected all my fonts off dafont, as the ones that are pre-defaulted aren't to my tastes. :)

Research and Development - Soundtrack so far

Yes it may be a bit long at the moment but once we've filmed the movie I can adjust things that include maybe the volume, pitch and speed of the loops so that it fits in but so far it seems adequate.  I suppose.

Considering I have to make the soundtrack purely based off my own skills, inserting guitaring that isn't looped would be too expertise  so I've had to create something that you can get the feel of an action movie.   I suppose it'll fit better with the montage of fighting etc.

The beginning bit until the bass drop is where the script will be inserted - I can adjust the time it plays if needed
Once the bass drops, this is the part where the protagonist will make a kind of 'ha' gesture, and a montage of fighting or mixture of scenes will occur.  I decided to change the pitch of the loops in the middle to change things a little, once I've experimented more I'll probably add another action electro loop in.
The change in tune and the gap is where a gunshot could be inserted, like a slow down from the montage just to watch her shoot this bullet, then it goes back to the beginning of loops where a screen like 'coming soon' could be inserted etc.
The last of the loops drags on for long but that's something I'll adjust once the movie is edited etc.
I still have yet to consult Chelsea on her thoughts! hm :o

Research and Development - Soundtrack

I've been using my own programme that I have at home called 'Magix' and so I've had a go now for a while at trying to find a suitable soundtrack that isn't too hard for me to create, and I THINK I might find one I like, I just need to consult Chelsea about it.
It's a techno one but it kind of suites the action theme, as it's very loopy but not to mention action fighting will be going on so gunshots and sword swipes will be going on.

Research and Planning - Location Production Docs

Research and Planning - Risk Assesment docs

I've assessed the risks we may face during our filming process. Hopefully we won't stumble over any problems but this is how we're trying to avoid them.

Research and Planning - Shot list

This is the shot list so far that I've conducted.  More shots will possibly be added throughout the filming so I'll add them whilst going through the process of doing so. :)

Research and Planning - Shooting time list

These are the time's we've chosen to shoot our scenes as people are free here.  There may be time differences if we don't get all we want filmed or if people are late but it's important we stick to some boundaries otherwise we won't get everything we want within the lighting period and the weather will also turn worse.

Research and Planning - Looking for sounds

I know I like some songs that are purely artist made and some for trailers, so I've decided to collect a few and see if I copy different parts like action music, slow build up etc but create my own.

This features like a build up tension noise, the beginning or end parts I could recreate to similarly fit mine as it would be perfect.


I like the actual soundtracking to this song, not the voice ofcourse - but the whole guitar tuning once it gets going if I was to remove slow bits.  I could maybe create something similar to this




The backing to this song is a bit heavier, but the part from 0:11 would sound really good during the montage fighting scenes.  This would be pretty hard to create however.



In this soundtrack I like the whole techno metal theme, this would be probably the best choice to create as it creates enthusiasm, so it would go really well with the montage for the trailer :)

Research and Planning - Film poster drawing drafts

Research and Planning - Film magazine draft drawings

 So we had to draw two drafts of what our film magazine would look like, and I've come up with these.

This was  the first draft I did, and I favour this the most out of the two.  It's got everything that would be need to be featured within a magazine. I mostly like this layout due to the fact the blacked out zombie outlines give it a good style etc, and  the medium longshot of the protagonist would look perfect.

The other draft I did was this, which is alright but I do prefer the first.  However, this does have a good style to it as the highlighted zombies on either side of the protagonist imply she's being watched.  The rest of the background would be black with her on the spot apart from the highlighted eyes and darkness/wounds around them.  Again, it features everything a film magazine should: coverlines, masthead, positioning statement and barcode.

Research and Planning - Test Shots

Chelsea was wearing part of her costume that will be featured within the trailer today, so we decided to take some shots that would be similar to the ones we'll be using.  Medium close-ups and wideshots were used and also from a lower angle to show how intimidating she can come across
We've also found a location that will be helpful for us when filming if we need to take a quick shoot somewhere, so it's pretty convenient.

Research and Planning - Publication Plan for Magazine

Publication Plan for Magazine on Prezi

Publication Plan for Magazine on Prezi

Research and Planning - Plan for the week

• Film magazine drafts
• Test shots
• Publication plan for our magazine
• Audition poster

These are the things I hope to complete by the end of the week, as well as the soundtrack I am hoping to create.

Research and Planning - Make-up tips

Just a random clip to show how The Walking Dead provide tips that we could achieve for close-ups, or use some parts of it. The latex and oatmeal seems simple to create an inury that we could take a close-up shot of. Gelatine is a simple material/resource to get use of, and this would also be useful to create a really deep injury. The shadow technique will also be useful, and the blood is easily able to get hold of and looks gruesome with these techniques.

Chelsea has also looked  up some videos that we can take into acount when doing make-up, like creatinf dirty shadows etc. 

Research and Planning - The Walking Dead behind the scenes

So I was just watching The Walking Dead behind scenes as I love the programme and I know it's genre is similar suited to what I want to do, apart from the fact it's a bit more gruesome - and I came across something I could use for my research.  Some of the make-up we won't be able to access as we're not trying to make it 'too gruesome' due to our age certificate, but we could do something less "full-on" and use similar ideas.

These are only short clips :)



I liked the idea of them using simple nylon stockings and creating sacks and just rolling it in fake blood and using some kind of sausage meat to create this meaty effect and organs.  It's a simple way to create something that looks so effective and we would be able to achieve this due to our low budgeting circumstances.





At 0:49 it shows the actor cutting into  a cardboard box for a sound effect, which I love.  This is a simple way to create a tearing sound if it was needed for our trailer, but it can always be used for reference.  It's cheap and effective, smiles all round!





In this video I liked the idea of the woman saying that the longer they're dead affects how the costume looks like.  They need to be more dirty etc depending on how infected they are.

Research and Planning - FIlm magazine analysastions

 

The genre of the magazine is film, which you can tell as a music magazine wouldn't exactly feature the cover this one has, of a mythical creature etc, and it features cover-lines include other movies ect. It also has a bar-code which all magazines have, so it is not a poster. 'Empire' here is publishing Hellboy 2 on their front cover which is why I've chosen to analyse this particular one.

Red, black and white are the 3 colour code rule here. It's applied to all magazines and is effective here as it emboldens the protagonist and the masthead, giving a sense to the narrative of Hellboy as red is an 'evil' colour, it highlights danger and is usually seen as a threat etc.  The flame effect definitely highlights that action may be included within the movie, and it's not a "boring/romantic" one.

A close medium shot is used for the character on the movie as this way you can get a sense of the facial expression and pose he's doing, showing the representation of the movie. A typical angry man but unusual due to his 'inhuman form'.  However our movie will have the unstereotypical female protagonist.

You can gather a sense of what audience this is aimed at as there's a cover line that states '40 movies that will get you sex', obviously this has to appeal to people over the legal age most likely so their aim is probably 17ish+, maybe older.

Another movie magazine cover I have chose to analyse is from Total Film, and they're promoting Max Payne.  Again you can identify the genre of the movie as the masthead gives it away within 'film' and the fact that the word 'movie' is highlighted on one of the cover lines.  Magazine format can be identified through the bar-code and the banner at the bottom, giving an insight to what the content is.

Again the 3 colour code rule here is blackish/grey, white and yellow.  You can then gather a sense of the narrative of the movie as no happy romantic movie is made with dull colours, and neither is an action packed movie made with bright colours like green and yellow.

A medium cose-up shows off the stereotypical 'action hero' represented in the movie the mis-en-scene used (guns), which again highlights the genre of the movie and will therefore appeal to an audience of maybe 15+, depending on the certificate of the movie.

Research and Planning - Animation Storyboard

Me and my partner conducted up a drawing storyboard of how our trailer may turn out to be.  It has the main points in there that we'd like to include as we may adjust the trailer.
Chelsea mainly did the editing of the movie on IMovie as that's her main operation, but I had a little go halfway to see what the software was like etc.  So yeah some of the editing is what we'll include when we're actually making our trailer and the choice of song is the action packed with 'rock' and 'techno' combined.  It's just basically an overall view of how our trailer is verging to be like :).

Research and Planning - issues with restrictions (Low Budgeting)

Due to the fact we're not massively rich and dashing with pocketfuls of money and we're a low-budget "company", this has meant we're unable to do certain things within our money, as well as in the future it'll cause some interruptions.

1) Location

Yes we have chose to go to town to film at our own will, but this is because we can't find anywhere near by that will have the same scenery we require.  Travelling to town from our current place means costs on public transport, and being able to find a way to carry our equipment down there - considering we'll need to pack cameras and make-up if needed etc. Depending on how many times we visit town will be an issue, so this will mean we'll have to film from early starts to late finishes, to get most of the scene done.

2) Make-up

Make-up is a major issue within our trailer as we only have our own personal budgets to stick with, meaning we can only access amateur make-up, nothing semi-professional at all.  This will make our trailer look less 'pro', but it'll just have to do due to our current situation.

3) Costume & Props

We're limited to our own clothes for now as we don't have the money to buy anything fancy that's going to give our character a unique look, so we'll stick to our own but try to make it as professional as possible - same for props.  Unfortunately the quality of props really do correlate to the price it is.  Props we can get hold of may be from our homes or from the price range of £5-10, if even that.  The props we buy may not be up to standard as we'd like but they help and we can always adjust them.  Props we would like to buy are around £20-30 but we definitely do not have that type of money to budget from.

Research and Planning - Acura Company Logo

Chelsea is in charge of the logo within our team as she's chief under mis-en-scene, but I thought I'd do my own logo just to show a bit of depth within my research.

The reason why I chose to put DNA within a pupil and an eye is because Acura are the people who are the 'enemies' within the movie, as they've caused the outbreak - they were supposed to cure people, not harm them.. Now to me, a company with some sort of medicine at high proffessional status overlooks everyone and watches over everyone, hence the reason why I chose to do an eye.  The DNA within the eye shows how they cure with vaccines, medicines etc - you can tell it's something medical anyway.  I'd like to keep it plain like this but maybe be used bolder within the trailer as it's snappy and nothing fancy - looks down to business.  The black pupil just signifiys the eye making the DNA stand out.

Research and Planning - Costume plan

Me and my partner know what type of costume we want the main character to wear, and I've just conducted some sort of outfit that's going to be similar to the one we will use. 

Leather leggings provide the type of look we're looking for in this genre.  Considering the lead role is female, we don't want any clothing that isn't going to fit the style of an "ass-kicking attractive" woman, which is what we want to achieve.

These give a wet, tight fitting look, matching perfectly for our character.

Crop top - I think we'll use some form of crop top for our character as we don't want a lot of flesh being covered, in order to achieve the look we want.  Ofcourse it has to be black to fit the genre, anything too bright and colourful wouldn't fit.

 

These shoes fit perfectly, high-heels give the protagonist still a feminine look even though she slays etc, and this provides some class to the role. The studs fit the genre of punk, gives the rough look rather than something like shiney red stiletios which would not work.

Research and Planning - Plan for the week

So from now on until next friday (14th november), I plan to:

Take some photos of planning cinematography
Find the prices of props that are needed
A little preview of sound
Research into methods on how to get the zombie look
My own design of the Acura company logo

Some of these things may not be completed within the week but I hope to post them as soon as possible so I can start with production.

Research and Planning - 2 Poster Analysis

 The first poster I've chosen to analyze is Underworld, as the genre relates to what I want to do. A close-up shot shows the protagonist as we can get a sense of feel she is the main character due to extreme focus on her. The genre can be perceived through the colours and brightness, as they're dull and boring - only feature around the black and white colour spectrum.  Mis-en-scene also represents the genre of the movie as she's holding weapons, implying action etc - and the facial expression of nothing 'happy' and 'over-cheery', just serious. We can gather a sense of narrative through the fact that the title imply's something dark and noting realistic or human-like and due to the weapons you can tel she's going to be the hero of the story who battles her way through whatever the 'Underworld' is.  The audience is hard to tell but through mis-en-scene and genre plus the protagonist being female, you could say the age range would appeal to 15-25's, maybe further up depending on what's suited to individuals like, but this would be the ideal age range. Identification of this being a poster is spotted through crew information using steel tongues and logos.







Second poster analysis is on Tomb Raider, a move that's action pact and the hero is the female protagonist as shown through the medium-long shot.   The mis-en-scene of weaponry and the clothing she's wearing that's "tight fitting" suggests this movie is going to appear to the audience of 15-25 year olds, like the movie above, as most people this age are into action movies that look attracting.  The protagonists facial expression also shows the genre, the "fierce" look and nothing "happy" expresses fighting will be shown most likely.  The narrative can be picked up through 'Tomb Raider', especially as raider is emphasized through the font, implying she's the person who's going to raid these tombs - not in an elegant way, in a "bad-ass" way and  the background picture may be the significant tomb.
 

Resarch and Planning - Word it out

So I've used some new software that can be accessed free on the internet, and I've used it to brainstorm some words that would go well to make our production company as we still haven't concluded what our final name will be.

These are only a few words that came to mind at first, I may not even use a combination of these, but they were just an idea for now that seem suitable for future reference :)