Feedback

I have added my comments to your rough edit - planning and research is almost all there. Still need a survey into what your audience likes in an opening sequence to a thriller and embedded music choices....

You just need to think about what else you need to do to polish your rough edit and make it more effective still!

Rough Edit of the Movie

From the shots we took on Tuesday and the shots we took today, Nathan edited all of the shots and added some ambient thriller music to give us an idea of what the outcome will be when we finally edit it completely.

Here is the first draft.
Yes there are several things we need to do/change, but this will be good for us to work towards our goal.



* Please watch it in 720p if possible for better quality. If your computer cannot handle it, please use 420p.

Review: after showing many people our opening sequence we got a clear idea of what we need to improve and re-shoot, all of the people we asked to watch the film liked the concept and understood what was happening.

They said the kidnapping scene was a bit weak and we need to put more emphasis on the drama and action in the shots. Also we would need to improve the drama in the cellar where Nathan is banging on the door; the reason he did it quietly was because we didn't want people to think we were in trouble or injured.

The blood effect we used didn't work out as  well as expected when we watched it back, so to show the audience tat this is blood we are thinking of adding a close up of the blood and making it a lot darker in colour.

We are planning to re-shoot on Wednesday 12th January but it is dependent on the weather conditions.

Feedback

This is shaping up nicely. Some of the research (mainly Muhammad's) is now in the planning section. Can you tidy this up and change the Post Options settings to sit this with the other research? I know I'm being fussy but it will read so much better. See me if you need some help in working out how to do this.

Risk Assessment Forms

Here is the risk assessment form for our first filming location, the alleyway

 Here is the risk assessment form for our second filming location, the boiler room

Filming Schedule

Tuesday 14 December 9 am - 10:30 am 

Take shots of alleyway scene 

Wednesday 15 December 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm 

Take shots of the boiler room scene

Equipment/Technology List

For our film, it is crucial for us to be organized with what we need to get done, what we need to do, and what we need to bring with us.

My job for this post (As it is my equipment being used) is to create a list of what we need to bring and use during our film project.

Equipment
Kodak Zi8 HD video camera
Tripod
Camera bag
Camera Charging cable


Technology
iMovie
File converter
Media Music CDs
Music composition software (Logic, Sibelius)

Synopsis of Opening Sequence

Through a long establishing shot we see James walking down a street, he is well dressed and seems to have everything he needs showing the audience he is a victim, simple titles will be used to show the names of the actors near the bottom of the screen which doesn't block any action. Cutting to a mid shot we see James turn into an alleyway. A low positioned camera focuses on James as he is kidnapped by an unknown figure then a cut to black. We hide the kidnappers face and distinguishable features so the audience asks questions about who he is. The kidnapper is in scruffy clothing, dirty shoes and ripped jeans show this and establishes him as the antagonist in the film.

Now inside a dark abandoned building we see James wake up tied to a chair. This shows the audience the film has the setting elements and features from the thriller genre. Through different shots we see James come to and break free of his confinement, he starts to wander around the building looking for an exit or somebody to help him. He finds a corridor and the camera follows him in a hand held effect to build tension and suggest uncertainty.

James finds a room and goes inside, on a table there are pictures of him with a stranger. This causes enigmas such as: who is the stranger? How are these photos here? Did this man kidnap James? A silhouette quickly moves past the door James came in, James runs through the door to catch what he seems to think is his kidnaper. The film cuts to black which get the viewer wanting to know more, wanting to know if James catches this silhouette. We then see the title of the movie "Abandoned" fade in.

Our Whole Film Synopsis

A man called James walks down a street, on his normal route from A to B. He turns into an alley way and a masked person puts a bag over his head from behind and drags him to the floor. James wakes up in a dark abandoned building.

After wandering around he goes into a room and comes face to face with his kidnapper, which is his brother who was thought to be dead. James then questions him about how he is alive and what happened to happened to him. But before he gets an answer an alarm can be heard. James is back in his home, lying down on his settee. He hits the alarm on it's top, sits himself up and walks to the bathroom.

He washes his face in the sink. He looks up into the mirror. His brother is behind him, covered in blood. James turns round and his brother is gone, he doesn't know if he is going mad or if his brother is really back.

James has this nightmare every night for the next couple of days and starts to think back to the time he left his brother to die because he was jealous of him. James fully confronts his brother in one of his nightmares and they end up fighting violently, his brother draws a knife and stabs James in the chest. As this happens, James wakes up on his settee with blood pouring from his chest, he sees his brother watching as he dies; finally achieving his revenge.

We are trying to keep the plot as uncomplicated as possible and get enough enigmas in to keep the viewer hooked. We are trying not to do too much in our opening few minuets, however we want the audience to quickly understand who the characters are, where film is the setting and establish what type of plot the film follows.

Music for our Opening Sequence

The music we intend to use in our film is mainly ambient and natural, however we also want to have some sort of tension building music which we will find on the media departments free film music section. We have decided to use this type of music because it is commonly found in thriller films, the slow tension building music creates anticipation amongst viewers as they can feel something is going to happen but don't know when. The ambient sounds of the environment will also help our film because it shows the real feeling of the surroundings; in the boiler room for example will be hearing quiet machinery and hissing sounds which suggest danger .

Another option we have available to us is the ability to create a piece of music using music composition software which will be more suited to our film as I can decide when certain music elements happen, eg. Changing dynamics for tension building moments. I will be able do this in the Music department at college.

We most likely won't use sound fx in our film as it doesn't require them, but if some sounds come across to quiet we may need to record the sounds separately to the film then import them in when we are editing.

Nathan has found some good ambiant background music for our film. He has found this using www.sounddog.com which is a copyright free music distrubiting website which ticks all the boxes for the project guidelines. An example of some good background music can be  heard in the draft of our film.

Roles of group members

For this we have organized each member of the group a specific task and a responsibility. All of us will take part in the editing process. We will all try to do some camera work, this can be in the form of setting up shots and filming when not appearing on camera.

Jack- Will play the kidnapper and will collect items for both of the characters, he will also get props organized for the film. He will help film when not in the scene and take an equal part in editing. He will help Nathan find locations to film as well as making sure we have permission to film there.

Manya- Will be the camera man throughout our project. He will take an equal part in the editing process.

Nathan- Will play James and will be responsible for the equipment used. He will help set up shots and will take a major part in editing. He will also help Jack find locations + make sure that we are allowed to film there.

What happened in the end?

Jack - Played the kidnapper, collected items for both characters, equally helped Nathan with camera angels/shots, helped Nathan find locations to shoot the scenes, created music for the film, helped Nathan with editing.

Manya - Hit record on the camera when Jack and Nathan were in the shot. Did not help with editing as he did not turn up.

Nathan - Played James, brought equipment + made sure the shots were on a pendrive, helped Jack with camera shots/angles. created a title sequence, found sound effects, helped Jack with editing.

Storyboard for our Opening Sequence

Here is the storyboard I made for our film, it shows what shots we want to use and when we want to use them; however it could change over time if we have other thoughts, want to include new ideas or have to remove some which are already there.

After some consideration we have decided to include fading transitions in ninth panel where James is escaping the ropes to show that time is passing while he is doing this.

Research Feedback

This is looking better but please check the grids in the yellow booklets to see what else needs to be finished. Research is generally good but use my comments to make it better - it is not quite proficient yet. A few posts now have second comments added, as you still need to add more info. Jack and Nathan's contributions are more substantial than Muhammed's and this will be reflected in the marks if things do not change.

Prop and Costume List

The props we expect to use in our film include:

Fake Blood
Bags
Ducktape
Pictures
Chair
Mobile Phone

The fake blood in our film will most likely bought from a shop, however if it isn't the way we like it we will create our own fake blood from this recipe: Mix 1 Tsp Syrup, 1 Tbsp Water, 2 Tbsp Red Food Colouring and 1 Tsp Yellow Food Colouring together in a bowl untill at thickness you desire.

The costume we are going to use in our film include:

Shirt
Trousers
Nice Shoes
Scruffy Top
Ripped Tracksuit Bottoms
Scruffy Shoes
Mask
Watch

For the cheap more scruffy clothing we will use old things of our own or buy cheap items from shops and customize them.