Summary of Activity

Week 1

- Go through introductory booklet so we know what we are doing in this project

- Activity to find out what programmes and buttons we will be using whilst doing this project

Week 2

- Decide on groups

- Create group blog

- Start research

- First entry on group blog

Week 3

- Continue research and planning

- Training using equipment

Week 4

- Film Preliminary Task 

- Post task on blog 

- Evaluate what went well and what didn't

Week 5 

- Start filming 

- Update blog

Week 6

- Continue Filming

- Take photos of behind the films

- Update blog

Week 7

- Finish filming

- Start editing

- Update blog

Week 8

- Continue editing, rough cut

- Update blog

Week 9

- Continue editing, ask for audience/ teacher feedback on rough edit

- Update blog

Week 10

- Complete project, use feedback as a guide to what needs doing to film

- Download project for exam board

- Ensure what you need to do for evaluation phase

- Update Blog

Evaluation Phase

- Time limits to write rough draft of evaluation

-  Produce final evaluation done in your own time

Sarah Fowler

Costume

Rob as man giving killer the gun: jeans, black coat, trainers

Sarah as killer: Hoody, dark pants, trainers, black coat

This is typical 21st century clothing.

Both Rob and I  wore the black coat when playing the same character to show it was the same person so the audience wouldn't get confused as to who was who.

Sarah Fowler

Setting of Scene

Our film will be set in Accrington. It will be set at night as the darkness is perfect for our  intention of the film. There are 3 locations in Accrington that  we will film, the 1st is a busy road where the first bit is set where the gun swap over takes place. The 2nd is walking to a house on Burket Road, and the 3rd is set down a back alley where the audience will realise that the killer is actually a woman. This is an ideal place to film as all 3 of us live near Accrington, and would all be able to make it to the location when we have set a date to film.

Sarah Fowler

Story Board and Script

For our short film, it should last for approximately 2 minutes long. To  know what we are doing in this short time, we have to draw a story board of what is happening in each camera shot e.g. the angles and where we are going to position the camera e.g long shot, extreme close up. The first shot of the film is of a long shot. The camera with be across the road from the acting so you can see what is happening but it also mysterious so you cant tell who the people are but the plot will un -ravel as it reaches the end of the clip and it will make the audience understand what is going on but will also create some other enigmas that won't become clear by the end of the opening sequence.

For the script, we have to write down what each person is saying at what time. The characters in are film are very minimal as too many characters will get confusing. We have 2 characters in our film, the killer, and the victim who is also going to be the person who gives the gun to the killer, this will not be noticed by the audience because both times the mystery man is shown, he will be covered by the darkness. The camera man is Karl Buckel, the killer is Sarah Fowler and the mystery man both times is Rob Maclean. 

Sarah Fowler

Box Office Figures

Rank	Movie Title (click to view)	Studio	Total Gross /Theaters		Opening / Theaters		Open	Close
1	The Dark Knight	WB	$530,559,137	4,366	$158,411,483	4,366	7/18	-
2	Iron Man	Par.	$318,313,199	4,154	$98,618,668	4,105	5/2	10/2
3	Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull	Par.	$317,023,851	4,264	$100,137,835	4,260	5/22	-
4	Hancock	Sony	$227,946,274	3,965	$62,603,879	3,965	7/2	9/7
5	WALL-E	BV	$223,704,223	3,992	$63,087,526	3,992	6/27	-
6	Kung Fu Panda	P/DW	$215,434,591	4,136	$60,239,130	4,114	6/6	10/9
7	Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa	P/DW	$165,977,788	4,065	$63,106,589	4,056	11/7	-
8	Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!	Fox	$154,529,439	3,961	$45,012,998	3,954	3/14	9/4
9	Sex and the City	WB (NL)	$152,647,258	3,325	$57,038,404	3,285	5/30	9/18
10	Quantum of Solace	Sony	$152,148,473	3,501	$67,528,882	3,451	11/14	-
11	Mamma Mia!	Uni.	$143,762,955	3,194	$27,751,240	2,976	7/18	11/6
12	The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian	BV	$141,621,490	3,929	$55,034,805	3,929	5/16	9/4
13	Twilight	Sum.	$139,337,895	3,620	$69,637,740	3,419	11/21	-
14	The Incredible Hulk	Uni.	$134,533,885	3,508	$55,414,050	3,505	6/13	9/4
15	Wanted	Uni.	$134,327,125	3,185	$50,927,085	3,175	6/27	9/18
16	Get Smart	WB	$130,319,208	3,915	$38,683,480	3,911	6/20	11/6
17	Tropic Thunder	P/DW	$110,461,307	3,473	$25,812,796	3,319	8/13	11/13
18	The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor	Uni.	$102,277,510	3,778	$40,457,770	3,760	8/1	9/25
19	Journey to the Center of the Earth	WB (NL)	$101,702,528	2,830	$21,018,141	2,811	7/11	-
20	Step Brothers	Sony	$100,468,793	3,182	$30,940,732	3,094	7/25	9/21

This shows the box office figures for the last year (2008), this shows that there is a non popular showing of british crime dramas and the only one in the top 100 is bank job. 

84

The Bank Job

LGF

$30,060,660

1,613

$5,935,256

1,603

3/7

6/5

At number 84 and this is only a british crime drama not a british teen drama but it is also a realistic film as it is based on a true story and shows a representation of british life which is what we are aiming for in our opening sequence. I have posted this information to show that there is a gap in the market for a british,  teenage, gun, crime drama.

Karl Buckel 

Film Name

For the name of the film we found two different options, either De-tour or Long Walk Home. The first title brings the film into acount as the murder has the option to walk away however decided to skip through the dark path and murder the victim. The second Long Walk Home links to the film as that instead of going straight home the murder decided to murder someone and therefore the trip is longer. We liked this title as its lexis seems to connotate that the character is a child qs the word 'home' relates to family and warm.

We eventually decided to go with De-tour as it is short and simple and will make the film easily remembered as its name sounds fairly exciting and leaves enigmas as to where they had gone.

Rob Maclean

Our Opening Sequence- Overview

Our opening sequence is designed as insight into teenage crime and violence. It shows a character buy and handle a weapon with ease, which would both shock and terrify the audience. The sequence ends in the murder of an anonymous character who is both unseen and the reason why, is left completely unknown. This has been done to create enigmas for the audience and keep them asking questions that need to be answered. Then the set is changed to a restaurant/cafe and an over-shoulder camera shot is used of the murderer who is wearing a hood. Then at the end of the scene the hood comes down and the audience can identify the killer as woman, this again can shock the audience.

This idea is done to create enigmas and shock the audience into continuing to watch. Also it is done to bring in a different type of audience as most of the audience would be male so by using a woman as the killer, more females may be enticed to watch.

Rob Maclean

Preliminary task: video

We knew we had to include all these in our opening sequence,

• opening door
• crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character
• exchange a few lines of dialogue between characters
• demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.

We had to stay on the correct side of the line and not cross over it.  We had to edit the clip so it was one continuous sequence. We managed to do that very well apart from one part just as the conversation begins as it is slightly jumpy. Apart from that we thought our sequence went very well as the invisible editing worked as it was supposed to as you couldn't see where the scene stopped or where we edited it.

Our preliminary task is about a conversation on we think who would win the X Factor 2008.

This is our opening sequence.

Sarah Fowler

Box Office figures

We couldn't find any box office figures for the type of film we are trying to make.

But we know that there is gap in the market for our type of genre as we have already mentioned in one of our other posts. We believe the reason why the makers of Kidulthood have decided not to release info & detail about there film because it is an independent production  

We would also like to make the genre popular as it reflects the modern day teenagers, although they are stereotyped for being unruly, bullying thugs.

The reason why there are no Box Office figures for this type of media is because this behaviour is seen as unnaceptable and thus the audience will niether respect or admire the characters. There are some media influences for this type of character actors like Danny Dyer and Vinnie Jones tend to potray the mainstream British thug image that we will be attempting to represent.

Films like Football Factory and This is England show how youth can be lured into violence and racism however they seem to be a less realistic representation of the real England, as many of these acts of aggression end in murder in the real world.

Rob Maclean

Example of Good Opening Sequence

A good opening sequence needs to draw the audience in. It needs to establish the genre quickly and familiarize the audience with what the film is about. Whilst doing research for our film, we looked on youtube to find opening sequences that relate to the type of film that we are making. Unfortunately,we couldn't find many clips of british, teen, gun dramas, so we have found gap in

the market for this type of film.The only film we found that related to our film was Kidulthood. Kidulthood is a good opening sequence because it  stereotypes teens for being loud, obnoxious thugs who bully anyone that they don't like for no reason.

We have also chosen "This is England" because it is a realistic, typical, British film showing the young people of that time period. When I compare it to Kidulthood, it shows how the time period has changed and what teenage dramas are classed as today. It shows the contrast of today’s life with life back in the 70's and as these are both realistic brit films we can contrast between the both also lighting between them both shows the age of the film.

Karl Buckel

Target Audience

Our specific audience is teenagers as we are showing how teenagers use gun crime to try and resolve their problems. Typically gun crime is normally a male type of genre, but by making the main character(the killer) a woman, we are trying to make the clip appeal to a wider audience, including females who may be interested.

Rob MacLean

Initial Ideas

We aim to make a opening sequence of a film, we thought of some initial ideas of a gangster, teen gun British drama. We then had a new theme of murder. An opening sequence is the most important moment of a film. They are the first images the audiences see and is the chance to hook them in from the start. An opening sequence should:

• Introduce and establish characters- usually the main character is shown first
• Establish time and place- would maybe show shots of where it is set, voice overs can be used to say what the time and place is and where it is set
• Set up enigmas- keep the audience gripped to their seats, so they don't switch the film off and get bored. They stay and watch the film so all the initial questions they had are answered.
• Sets up audiences expectations- for plot or media language e.g. if the film is about fighting, the film should have realistic fight scenes to keep to the genre of that film.

We aim to focus on establishing the sub-genre of teenage gun crime and creating audience expectations. We aim to show this in our clip as there is a killing caused by gun crime.

Sarah Fowler