Filming Equipment

The equipment we used for our film were:
Canon EOS 70D with a Canon EF-S Zoom - 18-135mm lens
K&F Concept Cardioid Microphone
FOTOWELT Glide-Cam Stabilizer
Tripod

We chose the Canon 70D because it is a powerful camera, it is capable of shooting in Full HD (1920x1080) at 30 frames per second (FPS). The camera has a lot of features which were very useful when filming, an example of this is the auto focus tracking, a high ISO range which allowed us to record in better quality and made it easier for us to shoot.

The K&F Concept Cardioid Microphone was attached to the top of the Canon, and connected to the mic input on the side of the camera. Using an external mic was better than using the cameras built in mic as the external mics quality was a lot better than the built in one. When we were choosing which microphone to buy, we had to choose between a cardioid and omnidirectional microphone. Cardioid microphones only pick up sound from directly in front and will reject any sounds that are coming from behind. An omnidirectional mic however will pick up sound from all around in every direction and this is more efficient for capturing more ambient sounds.

When filming we swapped around the camera from the stabilizer and the tripod. The reason for this was the stabilizer was used for running scenes so that the camera was not shaking significantly and the tripod was used for still shots and where less movement was required for the shot.

Mad Max: Fury Road Opening Scene Analysis

(Up to 3:04)

In the beginning of Mad Max: Fury Road, there is a black screen with a non-diegetic sound of an unknown man narrating in the background to which the audience will question who this is, we hear him say "My world is fire and blood", this alone indicates that this film may be an action/thriller due to these both being conventions of an action/thriller type film. The black screen then fades into the opening title sequence, this part shows the production company and the opening credits, however in the background we can hear shouting and gun shots, this is another indication of the genre however this also makes the audience question what is happening, perhaps a war of some sort or a battle. The camera soon cuts to a long shot of what the audience will assume to be our main protagonist/character, this shot is also an establishing shot showing an isolated empty location, this may indicate that there was a mass war which eradicated the landscape. The camera then continues to pan downwards, during this, we hear an non-diegetic sound of what sounds to be a young girl saying "Where are you", this may suggest that he has abandoned his daughter or maybe she had died before he could save her. After this we soon hear another voice talking about how Max had "promised to help them". This gives us the idea that Max was either on a mission to save these people or had abandoned them when they were in need, this may have been to save himself instead of the others. The camera then cuts to an over the shoulder shot of Max who is seen turning his head whilst eating a two-headed lizard. The two headed lizard tells the audience that this is a very different world that he lives in compared to us.

We soon see fast paced shots as we see Max enter his vehicle which is seen to have a gun on the bonnet of it, this suggests to the audience that he is in constant danger and has to protect himself. We soon see his car drive off into the distance leaving an empty shot of the location, this shot is held for a few seconds before we see another selection of vehicle on the same route as him which suggests that he is being chased. We can tell that these are the antagonists due to the Mise-en-scene showing that they are barbaric and aggressive and are shown to 'hunt' in groups. We then see an extreme long shot showing the group of barbarians chasing our protagonists car to which we see one of the people in the other vehicle throw a spear at the car causing an explosion and the car to flip. The smoke made from this makes it hard for the audience to see what is happening but can make out that the car is coming towards the camera, this will leave the audience on the edge of their seat to see what happens next. When the smoke clears we see a close up of our protagonist struggling to make it out of the car, at this point we think that Max has cheated death and escaped danger. During this part, we hear a non-diegetic sound of his voice narrating who he is, he says "I am the one who runs from the living and the dead, hunted by scavengers, haunted by those who i could not protect". This tells the audience immediately that this man is on his own and is in constant danger and that he was unable to save his people who stood beside him. We soon see the antagonists stop next to him and hold him down with a gun to his head, this indicates that these people are scavengers and are hunting him down for a reason as yet unknown to the audience. The camera then cuts to a long shot in the distance to which we see the scavengers drive off with Max chained to the back running to keep up with the vehicles or he would die.

Final Story Board

This is our final story board for our film. This will help us when it comes to filming and editing and is the base for our film - however when it comes to editing and filming, everything may not be the exact as shown here (only minor changes) only to help improve and become more appealing to our target audience.

Software Package

Sony Vegas Pro

The package that our group is using for editing our film is Sony Vegas Pro, we decided to use this because it was easier to get used to than Adobe Premiere Elements and other editing packages, also some of us already had some knowledge on how to use the software, whereas Premiere Elements was new to all of us meaning we would all have to learn how to use a new editing software when not necessary.

What we prefer about this package is that it is more simplistic and very easy to get used to, it does not require very much time to learn the basics and is a lot less tedious when playing with the sound and getting the right timing on each shot/scene. We also found that when inputting titles and credits in certain places of the screen that it was a lot easier than we thought and we could easily just drag the text into the exact place without any problems.

One of the things that we want to do in order to make our film opening look really professional is use an interesting and conventional title sequence with a dynamic production credit.  We've come up with the name Whitehorn Productions and this package has some really good options for title use, which make it ideal for our production task.

Font Titles

Research and Planning - Film Titles

When analyzing film title fonts for our film, we noticed that the majority of film titles for films of our genre were capitalised and in bold white font. For our film we decided to create a brand identity using this style,which is fitting tothe conventions of our genre.  Having titles in font colours using blue or silver hues looked too much like the sort of titles you'd expect to find in a science fiction film.

The stencil approach, we think, looks a bit dated in the internet age. Nobody uses stencils anymore!

The TW Cen MT font is contemporary and understated, which tends to be the sort of approach to text that resonates with a laregly professional older audience. We did like the look of the 'TW Cen MT' however we changed to worn out look to look more scratched and we ended up using the 'Poplar Std', we chose this because it compliments our film genre as it is bulky and stands out a lot more than the other fonts.

Gungsuh

Gill Sans MT Ext Condensed Bold

Stencil

Poplar Std 

TW Cen MT

The Script

Opening Scene Script

Scene opens with characters running across woodlands. Then the two protagonists come across, one of the antagonists appears out of the bushes to the right of the screen, this results in a shooting to which the antagonist dies. They continue running and start walking out of the woods. Then a sniper is taking aim at the two protagonists who have come to a halt, thinking that they have escaped from the danger.

Shonam: "Keep your eyes open"
(Turns head to Cameron)

Cameron: "It's okay, I've got this.."
(Looks back at Shonam)

Shonam: "SNIPER GET DOWN!"
(pointing in the direction of the sniper)

(Cameron gets shot and falls to the floor to his death)

Shonam looks around and starts firing at the other antagonists, he then gets shot once in the shoulder which causes him to fall to the floor. He then carrieson firing which leads to him getting shot again, this then cuts to a POV shot of Shonam getting hit by one of the antagonists. This causes him to be knocked out leading the shot to the title of the film - 'THE ALLIANCE'

Film Treatment

Our Film Treatment

Plot
In the near future, a large group of antagonists have been successful in bringing war, crime and drugs into much of UK. They’ve seized control of the government and much of the countries resources. Thousand of military personal and fighters have been sent in order to stop them but everyday, they gain more and more power and become increasing harder to defeat. As the country gone into turmoil, a small, highly skilled, group of individuals have been formed by what’s left of the government. A secret alliance has been created to remove the illegitimate government from power.


Opening
The opening starts off with two protagonists running towards a small base camp in the woods. They are being chased by a group of the antagonists. The Alliance believes that there is a high-value target situated there and capturing him will give them the information they need in their mission. However, on their way there, discovered by guards that are patrolling around the compound. As the protagonists are discovered a small fire fight initiates, which results in the death of one of the two protagonists. After and while, the still alive protagonist gets shot and injured, and then gets captured by the antagonists.


Middle
A bit later, after the protagonist gets captured, he then gets rescued by several other members of the Alliance. After his rescue, they find valuable information in the camp.
During the film, there are a lot of action and fire fights that occur. As the film moves forward, the Alliance find more and more  information and they are able to work out the reason behind why the antagonists are doing this.


End
The end scene set at a funeral, where several Alliance members are carrying the coffin of the protagonist that died in the beginning. We then see several shots of the country rebuilding its self and becoming a better place.

Film Location

For our film, we had to choose a suitable location for our film - we used a questionnaire to get the target audience to choose their preferences for our genre. The results showed that the majority of people in our survey chose the woods, so our group decided we will stick to that location. We chose Ashtead Common for our location as it was local, fairly isolated and had a lot of space. I took images of the space we were using to give the audience a clue on where exactly the film is set.

This setting was ideal for our film opening as when using certain shot types we were able to make running scenes and others look professional. Another reason as to why this was an ideal location was because of the amount of space we had to choose the exact spot for certain parts of the opening.

However the location was not a conventional location to use as it is not normally used in Thriller/Action films, but more in Horror. But to make the film more original, we have used conventional props and characters, but stuck them into a conventional horror location.

San Andreas Opening Scene Analysis

San Andreas Opening Scene Analysis

The first scene we see in San Andreas is a close up of a woman's drivers license which identifies one of our characters in the film, We can vaguely see her name in this shot - "Natalie Dawyer". The camera then cuts to a medium-close up of Natalie and we can see that she is driving calmly and has no worries. We then see an over the shoulder shot of her which makes the audience feel like we are in the car with her, we also however see a car approaching towards her, however she turns round and takes her eyes completely off of the road making us think that there will be a crash. When she turns back around we see the car extremely close but nothing happens, this leave the audience tricked but also knowing that something will definitely happen very soon. We then see a close up of her phone going off and we see she has received a message from most likely a friend of hers, she picks up the phone being completely oblivious to the fact she is driving, the text is about her relationship with a boy which is a typical teenage worry that the audience do not really care about at all - this scene also conforms to the stereotype of blonde teenage girls as being stupid, dumb and careless. This leaves the audience against her and wanting something bad to happen to her because of her stupidity and how she has managed to not be caught in a crash with oncoming vehicles. However once she looks away from the phone she notices stones and small rocks hitting the road, we see this through a POV shot and the editing technique used here was eye line match, from which we cut from her phone to the road. This starts to create a lot of suspense and gives the audience the impression that something bad will soon happen which will leave the audience hope for this.

We then see a medium shot of a stone hitting her cars windshield and cracking it. The use of fairly fast pace camera shots suggests to the audience that something bad if building up to happen. Before the audience have a chance to notice this clearly the camera quickly cuts to a close up of her in the car looking to her left and seeing a rock slide coming down the cliff and taking her car off the edge - due to the audience wanting something bad to happen to her, the director has gone in favor of the audience. In this scene, they have used many different editing techniques to make the fall more intense and dramatic - an example of this is when the car flies of the cliff while upside down and the camera cuts to a medium-close up of her in the car screaming, the camera has used Bullet Time to add effect to the crash and also to show the emotion on Natalie's face. The camera also pans round to the back seat just before the car hits the floor to create an effect which makes the audience feel like they are in the back seat and in the same situation as her.

Youtube Tutorials

Due to the fact we are creating an action/thriller film, we will most likely be using prop guns for our film - therefor when editing, we will require a muzzle flash for when the gun is fired - this will make the film more immersive and realistic, this will also mean that it is staying true to the genre.  

This tutorial will help in our editing for when the guns are being fired and is very helpful as it is a tutorial using the same software as us (Adobe After Effects).

Rush Analysis

Rush Opening Scene

In the first scene of Rush, we see a low angle shot of dark clouds, this connotes mystery and tension which may leave the audience wondering why this may be, the scene then cuts to an extreme close up of someones eye looking up into the sky which shows that we are looking through his eyes of the sky, the shot used in this would be known as a POV shot.

The scene then cuts to a close up shot of a race car with the name 'Niki Lauda', and we see some text on the right hand side saying "German Grand Prix August 1976" which tells us that this is a very big race and that there is a lot of tension building. Niki Lauda is a famous Austrian Formula One race car driver, and we are shown a close up of his face in which we can see he looks focused and confident, this suggests a long with the race car that a race is about to start, but with the continuous camera cuts to the shots of the sky, this may suggest that this is more than a race as the shots are creating a lot of tension.

In the next scene we are shown a long shot of Niki and another racer who is with two women, this shows that maybe he is very confident and somewhat cocky. This racer is James Hunt, who was known as a real womanizer and heavy drinker. we are then cut to a medium-long shot from the front of the two cars, this scene especially shows a clear contrast between to two racers, one looks prepared and focused whereas the other looks a bit too confident and is not as professional, we can also show from this scene that these two may be rivals. Fast pace shots build tension which show that this is a very important race.

We are then cut to a medium-close up of James Hunt with his ladies looking very confident, then the camera cuts to a close up of Niki Lauda who looks very focused and calm, this also makes him look very professional compared to his rival. We then see a medium shot of Hunt who we see kissing one of the women that we was with, we then see the two make eye contact and we are shown the expression on James Hunts face change from smiling to a dead serious and focused face, this tells the audience that maybe Lauda is a threat to him and there is a lot of tension between the two.

I really like this opening because I think it establishes relationships with both of the characters and the acrtion takes placein the useof camera and the editing and mise en scene - so much is communicated to the audience about the characters and their relationship without dialogue and this itself creates suspense.

Shot Reverse Shot

Shot Reverse Shot

Shot reverse shot is commonly used in convocations between two people. This shot is a filming technique where one of the two characters is shown (through and over the shoulder shot mainly) looking off screen at the character opposite them, then the camera switches to the other side (but will still abide to the 180 degree rule) and show the same shot but you will most likely see the other person now talking or making facial expressions showing their emotions towards what the other person is saying.

Example of Shot Reverse Shot

Questionnaire and Feedback

Questionnaire and Feedback

Our group carried out a questionnaire as part of our Research and Planning to see who our target audience is and what their personal preferences are towards different film. We surveyed 20 people which gave us a good starting point as to what our film will be like.

We asked each individual 10 questions.

1. How old are you?

2. Are you Male or Female?

3. What is your favourite genre of film?

4. What would you expect from a Thriller film?

5. What would you expect in an Action film?

6. What would you expect in a horror film?

7.  What location will suit a Thriller film best?

8. What location will suit an Action film best?

9. What location will suit a Horror film best?

10. Which of these film titles is most appealing?

From our Questionnaire and Feedback, we have learnt that the majority of our target audience are around 15-17 with a small number being over and under this age range. This suggests that our film should have a age rating certificate of 15. We have also learned that the majority of the people that we surveyed prefer Action and Thriller films to Horror and other genres. This told us that creating a film of one of these two genres will appeal to the target audience the most.

We also asked where the ideal location is for one of these films to take place in and what they would expect from these genres, these were asked so that we could get a good idea of where we need to go for this film and what will be expected of us.

Our last question was a selection of four different film titles and we asked our participants which title sounds the best, we learnt that 'The Alliance' was the most popular and won by a long shot. The film title it self would also be expected primarily in a Thriller or an Action film.