Risk Assessment

Filming Log

Filming Log of our opening scene; Firewall

This is our first attempt at filming the opening scene to our film Firewall.



To improve:

- More camera angles, bird's eye view, close-ups
- Lighter
- Different shots of the hands
- More arc shots with a steadier hand
- Text on screen showing distributors
- Non-diagetic
- Change shots up
- Shot showing USB stick going into the computer
- Show something to do with the school
- Input titles


This is our second attempt at filming the opening scene Firewall.



After taking the above feedback on board, we re-shot a handful of the scenes with a desk light on and the curtains open to improve on the main problem that our first edit had.

To improve:

- Add a bird's eye view
- Cut to a close up of the keyboard
- No zoom in/out
- Curtain shot; shorten and straighten up
- As well as some of the above that we have not added in yet


This is our third attempt at filming the opening scene Firewall.



To improve:

- Add music
- Add titles
- Add institution

This is our fourth edit of the opening scene to Firewall



To improve:

- Add institutions
- Shorten the downloading scene

This is the fifth edit of the opening scene to Firewall



To improve:

- Make sure that the institution doesn't overlap the downloading scene
- Music jumps when the character is about to turn it down
- Shorten the downloading scene

This is the sixth edit to the opening scene to the film Firewall



To improve:

- Improve the readability of the institutions
- Try, as little as possible, to have the majority to not go into more than one scene
- Shorten the downloading scene
- Because it is an opening scene, get the character to stay in the room and carry on typing (don't have an 'end')

This is the seventh edit of the opening scene to the film Firewall



To improve:

- Fix ending sound and quick finish
- Add in director institution

This is the final product of the opening scene to the film Firewall



To improve:

- Add production company as Fox Searchlight distributes British films in US

Script

(Courtesy of James Lewis)

Shot List

Typography

These are some examples of the typography in our opening scene

(By James Lewis)

(Courtesy of Kit Fielder)

Sound

A playlist of Possible songs that we could use for our opening sequence:

The following songs are ones which we think would better suit our opening.

Kygo feat. Conrad Firestone Instrumental

This song works well with our opening sequence as it is a chill background music which would compliment our opening sequence without being too over the top. This song fits the purpose  of us having music which is to allow the audience to have something to listen to other than the sound of our character typing on the keyboard.

Nada Funk - Yuma King

This song makes our opening sequence more upbeat yet slightly changes the audiences views on how they view the character. it would make our opening more interesting and gain the audiences attention, but doesn't suit how we originally interpreted our opening sequence.
The song is a good length which matches up with our opening. It also gives the audience a better image of our character.

MitiS & MaHi - Tribute

This would be a good song for background music as it has no lyrics and has a quite consistent throughout and it isn't too upbeat or too depressing. Although, even though it does have good qualities it and would compliment our opening sequence as relaxing background music, it doesn't really suit our characters personality or his actions.

ACTIONABLE | ROYALTY FREE MUSIC

(From Bensound)

This song would work well with our opening sequence as it suits are characters objectives and create a tense atmosphere. This song also offers a different perspective from the other songs and completely changes the way the audience look at the character and the opening sequence as a whole.

(Courtesy of Kit Fielder)

Thinking of a Concept/Final Idea

(By Kit Fielder)

Audience Profile

(Courtesy of James Lewis)

Character Profile

Name: Brian Redford
Age: 17
Height: 6ft 1in
Weight: 133lbs
Nationality: English
Accent: Essex
Skin Colour: White
Hair Colour: Brown
Hair Style: Styled up and to the right
Eye Colour: Blue
Facial Hair: Stubble
Origin: London
Current Place of Living: Thornbury
Moved because: Wasn't making friends at his old school and his dad got a job opportunity in Thornbury doing his dream job
Home: Detached 3-bedroom
Relationship with Mother and Father: Doesn't talk to them as he spends all day on his computer
Relationship with Friends: None, as he doesn't leave his computer and is bullied by just about everyone when he does because of his intellectual abilities
Job: No job
Dress Style: Usually just casual-wear but sometimes he just throws on the first thing that he can find 
Religion: None
Hobbies: Hacking into the school's databases and changing the grades of people that bully  him
Favourite Type of Music: Electronic
Favourite Sports: None
Favourite Food: Whatever food that has been brought up by his Mother. He does like Doritos a lot though
Positive Trait: Focused
Negative Trait: Highly antisocial
Sense of Humour: None and never laughs because he doesn't have any friends to make him laugh
Temper: Loses it when he gets his hacking wrong with a slight problem. With other people, he stays calm, almost all of the time
Ambitions: Wants to either topple governments or (more likely) hack into a well-known conglomerate, and, instead of being prosecuted, getting hired by said company to improve their firewalls
Audience Dislike or Like: For just the opening scene, I think that the audience's opinion will be mixed as they don't really learn anything about him in just the opening scene. If the audience were to see the rest of the film they would probably feel sympathy because it would show the audience that he gets bullied from everyone at school because he is intellectual

Preliminary Task

This task required me to create a short scene of someone opening a door, crossing a room, sitting down opposite another character, exchanging a few lines of dialogue and then walking out of the room. As well as this, I also had to follow three rules:

Match on Action
- This is an editing technique to help with continuity
- The shot should portray a character doing an action then cut doing the same action from a different angle
- This creates a 'Visual Bridge' which can help draw the audience's attention away from the slight continuity issues

180° Rule
- This means that the camera cannot turn more than 180° throughout the scene

Shot/Reverse Shot
- Continuity editing technique in conversations or a character looking at an object
- Ties in with the 180° rule


The Storyboard for my Preliminary Task

This task has allowed me to get some practice with filming and directing which will directly impact the quality of my opening scene. This task taught me about some different camera angles and rules that could be followed to improve the aesthetic of the film.

Analysing Previous Students Work

Title Research

Ferris Bueller's Day Off Title Analysis

Spiderman (2002) Title Analysis

Checklist for my own Opening Scene
- Producer/Distributor
- Actors/Actresses
- Directors
- Music score
- Editor
- Casting
- Costume designer
- Executive Producer
- Production designer
- Director of photography
- Writer

Narrative Structure

Director Case Study

John Hughes was born in 1950 and he wrote his very first film in 1983 and it was called Vacation 58. A year later, he wrote his first Coming of Age film; Sixteen Candles. Shortly after, He signed with Paramount for multiple pictures. In 1985, he created the award-winning Breakfast Club and Weird Science. Then, in 1986, he wrote his third and fourth award-winning films; Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Pretty in Pink. In 1987, he branched away from Coming of Age films with Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Hughes created films like Home Alone, Curley Sue, 101 Dalmatians and Drillbit Taylor in the years that followed. He then moved out of the spotlight and died in New York in 2009.

John Hughes’ the Breakfast Club showed the world that American high school is about class wars and possibly identity crises. Hughes re-defined the dying out coming of age genre, especially with films like the Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Sixteen Candles. Hughes then moved down the ages and released films like Home Alone and Baby’s Day Out. Hughes had three recurring actors/actresses who played a part in at least two of his films: Ben Stein, Molly Ringwald and Anthony Michael Hall. Ben Stein was in Ferris Bueller and Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Molly Ringwald was in the Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink and Sixteen Candles. Anthony Michael Hall was in Sixteen Candles, the Breakfast Club and Weird Science. 

His style is what sets Hughes apart from any other filmmaker of his time, though. When he was filming the likes of Ferris Bueller's Day Off and The Breakfast Club, he had respect for the teenagers that he had cast but also teenagers around the world. This is reflected in his films because of their brilliant storyline which allowed viewers of all ages to see and connect with teenagers in a way that had not been done before. His other main style was that he preferred to shoot teen comedy films. This is reflected as the comedy in all his films that were under the comedy genre, is cleverly written and incredibly funny.

Below are some opening scenes from his most popular films:

This task has shown me how important my chosen Director was in the modernisation of Coming of Age films. I also really liked his filming techniques and recurring actors that he decided to use for a few of his films. Another aspect of John Hughes' films that I like is his clever writing. This is possibly the most  important features of a film.

Audience Research

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Watch the above clip and then answer the questions below:

Create your own user feedback survey

Below is the results from the above survey

Below is some information about the Breakfast Club 

(source The Breakfast Club Prezi)




Courtesy of Kit Fielder

This audience research has told me how age is very appropriate to the amount of people that are going to enjoy the film. Coming of Age films are enjoyed more from Teenagers, Action/Adventure are enjoyed by Teens to Mid-Adult and Comedy for almost all ages (depending on maturity of the comedy)

My Chosen Producers and Distributors

This task has shown me that the majority of the producers and distributors are based in America but they have earned a surprising amount of money for each film that they produce/distribute. 

Conventions of an Opening Scene

The first two minutes of Easy A tell the audience that it is a coming-of-age comedy as it is mostly set in a high school and the reason that I can tell that it is a comedy is that the lighting throughout is sunny and light-hearted. The target audience is mostly for 15-18 year-olds but can be watched at any age. This is because the film features people at that age and in the same environment so they are relatable to the target audience. It can be watched at any age because adults will be able to remember what their high school (or UK equivalent) experiences were.




Created by Oliver Favell (Link to his blog)

Toy Story is mostly aimed at a younger audience than most coming-of-age films as it follows on from the animated films. The reason why this film can be classed as a coming-of-age film instead of just an animated comedy is that it features the main human character and his short journey to college life and whether he can let go of the toys that he adored from when he was young. This is an experience that quite a lot of people have had to go through at some point in their life.

The History of Coming Of Age Films - A Timeline

From this task, I have learnt that Coming of Age films have become more and more popular whilst keeping up with modern dialect and clothes. The popularity of Coming of Age films had increased with the younger audience with Spiderman because it was the first film to receive a 12A rating. This then allowed any future Coming of Age films to open to a wider audience.

Analysing Opening Sequences

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xmiy7g_opening-credits-sliding-doors-from-get-smart-2008_shortfilms

From this task, I have learned that the best opening sequences are scenes that give some backstory to the film as this provides the audience with more knowledge than they possibly already had before starting the film. Another great feature is to include the institutions in a stylistic way. For example, I am more likely to remember the institutions mentioned in Kingsman and The Matrix, than I am with Forrest Gump.