Evaluation - 3

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

There are many roles when it comes to the production, promotion and the sales of a movie and many different companies have different parts to play when it comes to getting that final product out to the public.

The production company:

A production company is a company responsible for physical production of new media, performing arts, film, radio or a television program. The company may also be directly responsible for raising  funds for the production or may accomplish this through an emissary. The production company may be either a small company or a larger one, selling it's products to a film studio or presenting it at a theatrical venue, or, in the case of film and television, it may be the studio itself.  To produce my movie , I would approach the UK Film Council who will ultimately distribute and advertise the movie.They will also provide the funding needed for the production.

The distribution company;

A film distributor is a company or individual responsible for releasing films to the public either theatrically or for home viewing (DVD, Video-On-Demand, Download, Television etc). A distributor may do this directly (if the distributor owns the theaters or distribution networks) or through theatrical exhibitors and other sub-distributors. The distributor is responsible for ensuring a full line of film advertising material is available on each film, which it believes, will help the exhibitor attract the largest possible audience, create such advertising if it is not provided by the production company, and arrange for the physical delivery of the advertising items selected by the exhibitor at intervals prior to the opening day.The UK Film Council have also a distibuting department which will understake all aspects of distributing my movie.

Various people named in the opening sequence;

When it comes to opening of movies there are normally titles and credits that come up as the opening sequence is playing. These people usually have the most important jobs, the rest of the people are named in the end credits. 

1. Production name
2. Main actors
3. Other actors
4. Music by
5. Filmed by
6. Edited by
7. Director
8. Written by

 Below is a commentary of my opening sequence.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSDLUMGzU0Y

Evaluation - 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

 The character on the left is the main character from my own opening sequence and on the right is a similar character from the movie 'Hitman'. My character shares some distinct characteristics with the main character in  'Hitman' however there are also many differences too. The main similarities lies in the character's wardrobe.A black suit, perfectly tailored trousers, black expensive leather gloves and  an immaculate red tie covers the well built frame of my character. I deliberately avoided dressing him in a traditional white shirt as I felt that the black shirt was more suited for an organized and deadly character. The black shirt would symbolize his dark intentions and was more suited to portray a more psychopathic  and a sociopath type of personality. The character from 'Hitman' named Agent 47 is dependent on orders and works solely on instructions while  the main character from 'The Last Hit'  is a 'solo' in every sense of the word. Every bit of preparation, planning and research is done by himself . I wanted to emphasize this difference as it is a significant factor that contributes to the uniqueness of my   opening sequence.  

I have also looked at making my character totally expressionless to compliment the kind of work he has to do.The target audience comprising of young men and women who are technologically advanced  and belong to the elite class of movie goers ,will find my character intriguing and mesmerising. My character will attract an audience group who feed on advanced and organsized thrillers with interesting gadgets. The dark colours will also lend this character a feeling that there are aspects of his character that are hidden and the audience will wonder if they will ever find out everything about him. This will also persuade the audience to watch the rest of the movie.

Evaluation - 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The title of the film;

The title of the film is 'The Last Hit'.  This title is relevant to the film opening and suitable to the plot of the film. The title itself implies that something might go wrong and not according to plan; this gives a sense of mystery. The title  is only shown towards the end of the film opening. I did this because the audience will watch the opening and then as they slowly realize who the person is and what his job is they will be able to piece the title and the plot together.The article 'The' is a definite article which implies a sense of finality and determination, while the word 'Last' is full of implications with a  sense of no return. The word 'Hit' has a sense of sharpness and you can almost hear the sound of the hit as you say the word. It is also relevant that all the three words are monosyllabic , almost like the sound of gunshots.

 

Setting/ Location;

The entire opening is located and set inside a house, however the house is set up to look and feel eerie to suit the type of personality the main character has. I felt that the dark room in a house was better suited to the intentions of the killer than a large open space. The main setting was in a small room completely set-up to look organized with gadgets and secret compartments for the equipment.The small size would show the contrast between what one man is capable of doing and the enormity of his actions.  Another scene is in a  narrow corridor just behind the main door which gives it  a dark ambiance and gives it a claustrophobic effect.

Costumes and Props;

I wanted to show the personality of the main character through the clothes he was wearing and  the equipment he was using. For clothing I went for the traditional clothes associated with a hitman; such as red tie, black suit, black top and black leather gloves but with a difference.These clothes had class . The props also played a huge part in the opening as it showed that the character was organized  and used only the best equipment.To achieve this I had to use the best props I could find such as; cheap mobile phone with the sim and battery taken out to show that he is using an untraceable phone. There was also a hard drive that was connected to the laptop to show that he kept the data separate and confined. I also had a credit card to show how money was a significant issue and a switch blade to instill fear. The laptop had images of surveillance videos on it to show that research into his kills are intensive.

Camera work and editing;

In my 9 frames  I have used examples of some of the shots I took in the opening. I used close up shots to show the equipment/ props the actor was using, this was done to emphasize the importance of the hi-tech equipment that is used by the hitman. I decided to take short clips ranging from medium to close-up shots to give a sense of mystery and also  to never reveal the actor's face, this means that the audience will never be able give this man an identity which keeps the audience in suspense. I took medium range shots of the actor putting his clothes and gloves on as he prepares for work.This created  a sense of foreboding. However I did take on medium to long range shot of the actor putting on his blazer through a shadow that was cast on a wall. The last scene was also a long range shot and I had the actor walk into the camera to give a sense of mystery and a sense of doom  and at that point the music fades and all you can hear is gun shots. When it came to editing the video I had to increase the contrast and decrease the brightness to achieve a dark and mysterious sensation. This also made the small table light more powerful and that gave an eerie setting. On a clip towards the end I used the  focus lens to blur the clip a little to create a deadly sense as to what is coming next.It also contributes to a sense of uncertainty which will motivate the audience to view the rest of the movie.

Title and font styles;

 

The  font style I decided for the title  was called 'White Tie Affair' this is also the same font I used during the opening to introduce the director and the production company. I thought this font would be perfect as it is not too complicated but it does have a few splats on the letter 'H' to show blood splatter and also the letters are slightly eroded to give a eerie look. I felt the font would  suit my genre and the style of the main character. 

Story and how the opening sets it up;

The opening starts off by a message on a phone. This is the first step for the audience to realize who the main character is and what he does as a profession. The character is then introduced with out a face but we can see close-ups of what he is doing; this gives the character a sense of mystery and the audience not knowing who this is will make them want to know more about this character. The opening portrays this man to be very organized and his keen sense to small detail and his obsession with having his equipment in order keeps him away from the traditional stereotype of hitmen. The opening sets up the main story by first showing how much effort goes into making a kill and then the last clip is when the main character is at the entrance of a house and slowly starts walking into the camera - silence then three silenced gunshots. This will then lead into the main story by showing what he is like during the day and his minual day job.

Genre and how the opening suggests it

The genre of my opening is a thriller therefore I had to make sure that the opening was filled with suspense and mystery. My opening sequence portrays a man who is getting ready to kill. Most movies show the life of a killer from the view point  of the 'good' guys such as the police, FBI etc. but this time its different. This time we are looking at the life of the killer himself through his own viewpoint. The opening clearly shows the genre because of the fact that the face is never revealed and the small dark room where he does all his work is unknown and finally the mystery of a kill that the audience can't see but only hear. All the aspects of my opening hint towards a thriller because all the things we see are associated with hitmen such as the weapon, the equipment, the clothes etc. So I believe that all these elements that are presented hints us of the mystery and suspense that is to come.

How the character is introduced;

I only have one character in my opening sequence but I had to make it count. I only introduced one character because I wanted to show the audience that the character does the kills by himself, and that he himself does all the planning the preperations and the kills themselves. The character is introduced after the phone message is said and as the opening starts we see the character getting ready as he starts by putting his clothes on, this is an important aspect as it lets the audience know the planning and the precise detail that has gone into planing a kill. The character then starts to check his laptop and look at survalience images. Then the character starts to open hidden files with his equipment inside and as he starts preparing himself. The next part is the gun and this was done with  close-up shots because i wanted to empahasis that the character is serious about killing.

Special effects;

I didn't use many special effects as i felt that it was unnessary however I did increase the contrast on my clips to give a more dark feel to it.

Final Idea - The last hit

THE LAST HIT

My final decision for the opening sequence I am going to produce, is based on my first idea. For this opening I wanted to portray a unique kind of hitman. A type of killer whose low paid insignificant job as a cleaner contrasts totally with his high profile description as a 'cool' killer. The lack lustre movements of a regular cleaner is remarkably different to his calm and callous demeanour as he prepares his tools to take a person's life.  As the title states 'The last Hit' the opening sequence will finish  and move into the main movie just as he is about to pull the trigger on his target. The audience is aware of  the name of the movie and so they will automatically think of ways his 'hit' would have gone wrong or wonder if it will  be the last hit. These thoughts will keep the suspense and the thrill will allow the audience to get captivated into the movie. 

Shots that will be taken

For the opening I will be using a range of extreme close-ups and mid range shots. The first few seconds will focus on the hitman's day job as a cleaner who works late hours. Then a close-up shot of the clock to depict  that unlike most stereotypical killers who rush into murders, this person has patience and an uneasy kind of quiteness about him.This will make  the audience unable to know what to expect. The next shot will be taken in his home. However, to maintain the suspense and contribute more to the atmosphere, his home will be darkness and an extreme close-up shot will be taken of him putting down his car keys on a table and then pressing the 'replay' button on his answer phone.  The shot that shows the movement of pressing the button is significant ,as if he is waiting for some message in particular. Just like the character, the audience also find themselves waiting ....At this stage the audible words will instruct the killer on his actions.

 

The next shot will be of the person's hand pushing the 'play' button on his radio. At this point the music will start. I will then take an over the shoulder shot of him putting on his black shirt, then another close-up shot will be taken of him tightening his tie.This is a significant shot as it shows his hands in total control as he tightens his tie.The next shot will be him putting on his gloves, this will be a close-up shot. the close-up shot will focus on his hands again , as if he wants to cover up whatever he is planning to do. The following shot will be of him unclipping a brief case. Then a medium range shot will be taken of him taking out a gun, then loading the magazine. Then another extreme close-up shot will be taken of him inserting the magazine into the gun and another shot of his clocking the gun. The next shot will be long range of him leaving his house and shutting the door. However we will then go back to the answering phone as he just receives an update on his target. This is the message that will keep the audience in suspense.

Below are a few fonts that I am considering to use for the opening sequence

 

Title appearance.

Below is a small clip which is of the title of the movie itself. I made the title on Adobe After Effects, because it had the necessary effects that I wanted to create and by using these effects, it would give the correct impression and convey the right atmosphere  to the audience. I used two effects- one to make the words appear and one to make it disappear. The first one I used is called 'Transporter' and this effect makes the letters of each word blur in at different times, which gives an eerie effect.The blur effect would also contribute to the effect of shrouding the whole affair in an air of mystery.The manner in which each letter gets some attention by getting bigger and smaller was also meant to affect the audience in a deep way- as if everything that they were going to see in the movie was significant and relevant. The use of the colour 'Black and White' in the title also causes a flurry of excitement as it contributes to a life and death kind of situation. The font also focussed on the letters being sharp and highly visible at times to cause a sense of seriousness.

Storyboard:

My six part story board provided the spring board from which sprang all my ideas. It helped me to solidify those ideas in my mind .Seeing it on paper helped me to identify the pros  and cons with the intial ideas. Also seeing the sequence of what I was planning to do helped me sort out what ideas I would keep and what I would delete. The ultimate conclusion was drawn after putting all the preliminary thoughts on the storyboard. There is no doubt about the usefulness of a storyboard and the opening sequence of  'The Last Hit' was born on a six part storyboard.

Script:

In the  opening sequence of 'The Last Hit' , the use of script is minimal. This is to heigthen the tension and increase the suspense. I believe that excessive dialogue would give away the plot and keeping the target audience in mind, ( educated and technologically aware), I felt that minimal words would enhance the effect.

The absence of any character saying words would add to the atmosphere of tension. I chose to use the answer phone to say' "Hey it's me, Information has been uploaded to your laptop now. Get the job done!" as the mechnanical device is not capable of evoking any emotion and it ties in with my character who portrays an emotionless personality. The mechanical words are relevant and ripe with a sense of foreboding that suits the thriller genre. The words 'It's me' will also create a sense of expectation in the audience to find out who the owner of the words is. The words 'uploaded to your laptop' is also used to highlight the use of technology in the movie and will persuade the target audience to wait in anticipation for the rest of the movie.

Answer phone: "Hey it's me, Information has been uploaded to your laptop now. Get the job done!"

Shot-List:

-Close up shot of answer phone

-Medium close shot of characters back

-Medium close shot of character's slevees

-Medium range shot of character wearing suit. Straight angle

-Titled medium range shot of characters shadow.

-Medium close, straight shot of character's tie.

-Tilted down, close up shot of hands.

-tilted down, close up shot of laptop.

-Low angle medium range shot of hands.

-High angle, medium close shot of props.

-Medium shot of suit.

-Low angle shot of hands.

-Straight, medium-close shot of hands.

-Birds eye, medium-close shot of gun.

-Birds eye, close-up shot of gun.

-Straight angle, medium range shot of character.

-Medium range shot of character. Also the shot focuses in.

-Long range shot of character moving closer.

Asset-List:

In my opening sequence I have  used  a variety of props and equipment to create the effect of the thriller genre.

Costume: 

     - Black Suit

     - Red Tie

     - Black Trousers

     - Black t-shirt

     - Leather gloves

Props:

     - Old mobile phone with battery and SIM

     - Credit Card

     - Gun with magazine

     - Laptop

     - Open hard-drive

     - Card reader

     - Folder disguised as case

     - Table light

     - CD case

     - DVD Player

Equipment:

     - Video Camera

     - Camera stand

     - Computer

Production Schedule:

Production Log:

I was able to complete all the filming necessary for the opening sequence in one day after I made sure that all the equipment and props I needed were ready. One factor that contributed to completing the shooting in one day was the fact that the settings and locations used was within reach and easily manageable.Once the location and equipment was ready, I managed to complete the entire filming in under 2 hours. I did not take many takes so that the final piece looked raw and sort of unpolished to suit the thriller genre. I was pleased that due to planning meticulously, everything went according to plan and I only had to retake the final scene where the main character is walking through the corridor. I had to wait till it turned dark outside to achieve the dark and eerie ambience. The first parts of my filming was done in one room and was all based in one corner around a table with one small table light on it. I was amazed to note what a little space, some ideas , a bit of imagination and a good video recorder could do!

Film Opening Initial Ideas

Idea 1

 

As I was looking around for ideas for my thriller genre, I became influenced by movies such as 'The Transporter' and 'Hitman' . In these movies the characters were  highly trained  organized crime hitmen. The movies focussed on how these men only did 'killing' for a living. This is where I wanted to be different, create a killer with a difference.In my own opening I wanted  to portray an average   working man  , someone on the lower strata of the society,  for example a cleaner,  who transforms  as private hitman and is extremely organized in his killings. In the opening sequence, I am planing to show a very short scene of a man cleaning the floor of a small business. However when he comes home he recives a call informing him of his next hit. The opening will show short clips of the main character getting ready. Scenes such as him putting on his suit, tie and gloves at extreme close-up shots and then finally him assembling his gun. There is a sense of deja -vu this time as the hitman doesn't get away with his killing but the audience will have to decide that. The main character will be wearing the stereotypical costume of a hitman, such as leather gloves, black suit, a clean pistol with a silencer etc. For the opening I will be using opera/orchestra music to show the state of mind the hitman is in. It will show him as calm and organized and also perhaps reflect his high standard of living and his taste for the finer things in life.

Idea 2

This idea will also be based as a thriller. Unlike most crime movies which focuses on catching a killer, this film will be taking on the point of view from the killer. The killer will take on two different lives, one at work where he if your average workman with normal work related problems however at night he is completely different. We see him portray himself, his personality shows his enjoyment and precision in his killings. He will be portrayed as a sadistic sociopath. I have been influenced regarding this idea from the tv series 'Dexter'. In my opening sequence I will  use film clips of my main character cleaning up after he has killed a person. There will be a few shots of him cleaning his equipment in water. I believe that by showing him doing this  will highlight the state of mind the killer is in. He is calm and organized. Extreme close up shots will be taken of his hands in surgical gloves as he is carefully cleaning each piece of equipment.I am quite interested in the idea about how hand movements say a lot about a particular person. Shaky movements show a nervous person while  steady and sharp hand movements portray a confident and collected person. I hope to use these ideas in my opening sequence.

Dexter, opening link.

http://www.artofthetitle2.com/media/tv/2006/dexter/dexter_480p.mov

Preliminary Task- Room Dialogue

"For this task we had to film an actor walking through a door and having a few lines of dialogue between him/her and another character. The idea I came up was to have an armed robbery, where the gunman prepares himself for the robbery .We follow him into the shop and then show the initial robbery.
  
Script

The robber is being followed by the camera and a mock CCTV camera is recording the robber walking into the store, whilst a customer is making a purchase at the store counter.

Clerk: That will be five ninety-nine. please.

The robber walks in the shop looking mysterious and gives a negative impression to the customer and the clerk.

Robber: Get down on the floor.

Robber: Make it fast and no one gets hurt.

Clerk: (sudden and scared reaction) Aaahh

Customer: (sudden and scared reaction) Please don't hurt me.

Storyboard

Shot-List

 Our first shot will be a close-up shot establishing a  shot of the robber putting his hood on from behind. Then we will cut to the shop where the customer is making the transaction with the shop clerk and we will do a pan shot behind the customer. We then cut to the robber walking and again we do a close-up following shot from behind. We cut back to the store and this time the clerk is giving the change back to the customer and we take a close-up over the shoulder shot but this time it is at an angle so we see the hands of both the clerk and customer. We move back to the robber but this time we take a following shot as he opens the door of the store. The final scene is taken as if it is the CCTV camera inside the store so it is a over-head shot.

Final Video 

 

Evaluation

To start off me and my partner (Nick Jacobs) started to gather ideas for the preliminary task keeping in mind the task we had to focus on.After discussing a few ideas, we finally concluded that we would go ahead with the robbery as it had some elements of a thriller.We began to draw out the storyboard which included the shot list to guide us in case we were stuck. We also needed a few actors who would play the roles of the robber, store owner and the victim.Jordan Stearn, Yvonne Godby and Ryan Oakley helped us. We then needed a room, originally we intended to use a classroom and set it up to look like a store however all the classrooms we checked were being used at the time, so we looked around for any other spaces we could use. Eventually we found a stock room to set the scene depicting a  kind of warehouse. The props we used were tights for Jordan's face and a fake gun which was brought by Nick from home. It took us about an hour or so before we managed to get all of the footage we needed, we then packed up and captured the footage on the computer and begin to edit the footage and sequenced it together.To make the tasks efficient, Nick and myself decided to split the work load in half, he took care of the camera angles and filming, and I took care of the editing and effects. Nick also made the soundtrack for the film using Logic Pro as we had some time to spare before deadline. All in all I found this task new and different from other tasks as we had to come up with new ideas and it had to be done in a short period of time. The task allowed me to be creative with what we shot. We did encounter a few obstacles on the way such as finding sets, and having the actors arrive on time but things worked out in the end. Sharing the load also really helped. I also realised the significance of time and how a short shot can take a lot of time.

Anchorman - Movie Opening Remake

For this task we had to choose a film opening to recreate, we had to draw up storyboards, gather actors, find a set, shoot the footage and edit it.

 

Luckily for me   in this opening, the camera angles that were required were not too complicated. The angles we were capturing were taken from a straight point-of-view, it was fairly simple. However the first few shots were the hardest as we had to get close-ups of the belt, the suit and we also had to use focusing techniques. We used a wide variety of shots in our opening sequence such as the racking shot, medium-close-up, extreme-close-up, close-up and medium-long. We were able to gain the angles we needed with great accuracy. A major part that guided us through the filming was the storyboard. Nick and I came to realize that because there were so many different shots we could have easily lost track of what point we were at, it also helped us to figure out the timings, the  camera angles we needed to use. The script was also very useful as the real opening has a lot of lines for the actor.