Final

For a full quality version on YouTube copy this URL:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbtGjhhRm_I

rough cut evaluation

This is what people thought about our rough cut of the sequence.

pro's and con's

Effective beginning as there is no visuals, so you can concentrate on the phone conversation. New scene is realistic.
Shots are very long and close viewers attention
voice overs last to long
credits are very effective
black screen draws attention to conversation
logo is very good
production logo slightly unprofessional
but a good length
mystery with political theme
interesting narrative
costumes are good
location fantastic
characters dont have enough characteristics



we learnt that our opening sequence needs improving.
We also learnt that we have the upperhand on other groups, ours is quite blatently better.

Rough Cut

Hello! While i am writing this up luke and oli and putting the final touches into our roughcut due in... half an hour. Our rough cut is our title sequence in order on final cut, it will be good to view online. Once the rough cut has been uploaded we have a number of things left to do. So far our project contains the completely edited phone call, completely edited news report and completely edited 'shifty man' scene. this makes a good foundation for our project and a quality rough cut as this is our filming complete. We do however have things left to do. We have to place our collage in between the phone conversation and filming, we have left this out of our rough cut because we have not as yet gathered all the relevant media ie news reports and pictures of crime scene. Once we have put these in place we will do a final edit of everything to make sure everything is perfect and then make the music. The gaps in the rough cut is where the other media will be placed. Thanks for your time.

Production Logo

Finally... we have created our logo! It has been a long time coming and we have gone classic: 'Long Road Pictures.' It took around a lesson to produce led by Oli with assistance from Andrea. Our label consists of text flying in from the distance, titled long road, the picture of a deserted road is very apt. Here, take a look at some screen prints.

Filming Weekend

The weekend commencing 29th February 2010 was our filming weekend. We designated the Sunday to film as we had only little filming to do. We could fit this filming into one day because we had made detailed plans beforehand (see past blog posts). We knew what we were filming, the script, who played each role, costume, sound and how long each scene would take.
We had planned to film outside the 'Mitre Pub' in Cambridge because it is a bustling landmark in the center in the city, however when we arrived we realised that the people eating inside would make void the claim that this was a crime scene. Therefore we decided to go film at the 'University Arms Hotel' just by the Grand Arcade in town. This location fitted perfectly with the idea that there had been an assassination and it was a crime scene as we filmed in a desolate car park... implying that the public had been cleared from the area.
The first scene we filmed was the news report. Oliver Theunissen took up the role of the news reporter as he had apt clothes on. Instead of wearing a suit he wore a dark smart coat and a jumper with a collared shirt. He also wore black jeans so that it appeared he was wearing dark trousers. We had prepared a script before hand lasting around 60 seconds, which worked perfectly as it lasted indeed around 60 seconds. The actual filming on the other hand took around 22 mintues. This consisted of Oli replaying his script in about 20 different takes. Nevertheless, we got the scene down before the battery went dead and the prolonged filming actually meant we ended up with a perfect cut. There were mistakes, but the reporter had just arrived at the scene and had little time to prepare the actual report. We placed the camera mid shot so that we could see above waist. The frame of the shot was also perfect, we had the window of the lobby on Oli's left hand side and the name 'University Arms' on the right hand side.
The second scene was of me, Callum leaving the hotel door. In this clip we wanted to imply that this character had maybe played a part in the crime. We wanted the character to wear casual clothes, something that someone would wear everyday, but also something concealing. Therefore I chose to wear an outfit I normally would wear for college but include a big coat with a hood, something that would almost hide my identity while at the same time giving away key characteristics of myself. Luke made a close up to mid shot possible by walking with me as I walk out the hotel door and put my hood up. He films me walking away. We bring in a match on action shot by Luke moving to facing me walking from the door of the hotel and then away down the street.

Phone Call Draft

This is the first phone call we have made. We wanted to make it sound as if the two people were in different locations but we forgot that by having two different background noises it would ruin all continuity in the call itself. Here, have a listen.

Awful right? Next time we will record our conversation in the same place as to keep the background noise the same.

how the phone conversation went

We decided to separate the background noise after a preliminary practice of the phone conversation. We found that as there was similar background noise in both voice selections, it could make the audience think the characters are meeting, not in a phone conversation.
Character X - based in the refectory to make it appear as if he was in a cafe.
Character Y - based in the library where it is much quieter.
We did this in these settings because: character Y is much higher up in the group so he sounds in authority, however, character X is less in authority therefore, showing that Y is the boss over X.
To make the conversation sound like its a phone call we added a 3-band equalizer, making the frequency high and the Gain low, this made it appear more muffled, sounding like a phone. The other thing we are adding to make it sound more like a phone conversation is a dial tone or drone, which will aid the viewer to know thy are in separate places.

Update.
We found that having separate background noise can make it have little continuity.
The 3-band equalizer muffles the background noise a lot, however, we may have to refilm the section to improve the audio.

Target Audience

Our target audience for our thriller is both male and females aged between 15 - 30. We have chosen to utilise this target audience because we believe they are the most interested age group in thrillers. There is no way that our thriller can have a younger target audience for two reasons: 1. The storyline will be difficult to follow for anyone younger than 15 because it is a crime thriller. The complexity of the storyline will also keep people of 25+ interested and not bore them.
The 15 rating is only used for films shown in cinemas. It is given to films that are best suited to those aged 15 or older.

News Reporter Script

This is a draft script for the 'Video Clip 1'. Video Clip 1 is that of a newspaper report by a news journalist just on scene of a murder. The journalist will be holding a peice of paper and a microphone. Although journalists dont generally hold sheets of paper we can justify this case with the fact that he is first on scene and the crime has just happened. As this clip will be used in ou rmedia collage from the title sequence it needs to give certain components of the plot away, let some light on to the storyline.
As it stands I will be acting the part of the Journalist wearing a suit.
A mid shot from the camera should have the background in shot, and I should be centered, the camera focused above the waist. Hopefully we will be setting up some 'Police Crime Scene Tape' behind the reporter to create a stereotypical crime scene.

For the purposes of this script the journalist will be called Z.

Z. I am standing outside the Mitre Pub in Cambridge where police have rushed to the scene of the crime. I arrived only a few minutes ago, almost simultaneously with the 'Police Tape' you see behind me. There is general confusion to what has happened. Apologises to viewers for my lack of preparation, there has been little warning coupled with only a few key facts. The Prime Minister began his stay at the pub in the centre of cambridge which also boasts 5 star bed and breakfast services at 7pm last night after international discussions with foreign representatives from around the world. The only information I have been given is that a phone call was recieved at 6 am this morning by BBC News from a resident who lives nearby that there was extreme emergency service activity at around 5.30 am. An ambulance left the scene at 5.40 am with police escort. There has been no statement released as of yet from the police. More information as it develops, for now, James Stevens from the Mitre in Cambridge.

The Phone Conversation - Update

Today was the first lesson dedicated to filming/producing the planned project. As our title sequence doesn't revolve around actual filmage we devoted todays lesson to recording our phone conversation. We used Callum's Script (see blog post 'Callum's Script' for details). To do this we used my phone which contained the script and then spoke into the camera. Due to time we only managed to record the conversation, not to upload it. We spent so long recording because the conversation needed to be perfect as the phone conversation is an instrumental scene in setting up the storyline. Next lesson (on wednesday) will be devoted to checking the phone conversation, uploading it to garageband, editing the conversation, and then placing it in our final cut project. This should take around 40 minutes to 1 hour to perfect. Depending on time we will then move on to setting out exactly what media we will be using for our collage, and who will be collecting what. The basics for our media are newspaper reports, pictures of inner Cambridge and shifty characters leaving the building and then video clips.

Filming

4.10 Friday 25th - 9am Monday 28th
On this weekend we will film the two video clips.
the first outside a well lit public place and the second of a shift man leaving a shadowy doorway.

Location and Video Clip Pictures

We are using this picture of 'the mitre' pub in cambridge as an example to what our crime scene will look like as the journalist reports in front of it. We will put some police 'do not cross tape' up behind the journalist to give the effect that this is a real crime scene. The location we are looking for needs to be somewhere in the city, with a lack of people, but looks as though it is a popular destination and has key features of an old building (preferably a dull colour and intricate brick work).



This picture is an example of what location we will be using for the second video clip. 'The mysterious man'. Hopefully the building will be 'in the shadows', especially the door way. It needs to be on the main street however as the male character will leave the building and walk down the street looking suspicious, it would be better to have people walking past our character.



This is a picture of a news report, to show you what we are looking to overlay on our news report clip.

Callum's Script

THE SCRIPT.
BY CALLUM ADAMS.
AS T1-29 WE HAVE DECIDED TO CREATE A SCRIPT EACH. BY DOING IT THIS WAY WE CAN UPLOAD EACH SCRIPT TO THE BLOG, ANALYSE EACH OTHERS, THEN CHOOSE THE BEST AND MODIFY IT. THE SCRIPT WE ARE WRITING IS FOR THE PHONE CALL THAT OPENS THE FILM. THE PHONE CALL IS DESIGNED TO TRIGGER MYSTERY IN THE AUDIENCE BY DISCUSSING FRAMING A CHARACTER, INTRODUCED LATER, FOR A MURDER. THE PHONE CALL WILL BE RECORDED IN OUR NORMAL VOICES AND THEN EDITED IN GARAGEBAND TO MUFFLE THE SOUND TO GIVE A HEIGHENED EIRIE EFFECT. SO IN GENERAL, THIS PHONE CALL WILL NEED TO CREATE SUSPENSE AND TO DO THIS IT WILL HAVE TO GIVE AWAY KEY FEATURES TO THE STORYLINE. THE AMOUNT OF INFORMATION GIVEN AWAY HOWEVER IS SOMETHING THAT WILL BE TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION. THE CONVERSATION IS WRITTEN TO LAST AROUND 30 - 45 SECONDS.

THE TWO CHARACTERS WILL BE GIVEN THE NICKNAMES X AND Y FOR THE PURPOSE OF THE SCRIPT.

X. PEOPLE ARE BECOMING INCREASINGLY SUSPICIOUS TOWARDS MY EFFORTS INTO ACQUIRING A PASSPORT. LEAVING MY JOB WASN’T A GOOD IDEA EITHER, MY FAMILY HAVE STARTED QUESTIONING ME, NOT TO MENTION MY EX WORK COLLEAGUES.

Y. THIS ISNT EASY, I KNOW THAT MYSELF, EVERYONE AROUND ME RAISED ISSUES WHEN I JACKED IN MY JOB. FORTUNATELY I FLEW OUT A WHILE AGO, THE DUST HAS BLOWN OVER, AND ALL INQUIRES INTO MY REASONING HAVE DIMINISHED.

X. MY PASSPORT IS DUE FOR ARRIVAL ON SATURDAY AND ORGANISING AN ESCORT TO THE AIRPORT HAS NOT BEEN EASY. I NEED TO ERASE MY IDENTITY BEFORE I LEAVE, I MEAN, I CAN’T LEA… (Y SENSES LACK OF CONFIDENCE IN THE PLAN AND STEPS IN BEFORE X BECOMES HYSTERICAL)

Y. YOU ARE AN ESSENTIAL PART OF THIS TEAM, YOUR ACTIONS WILL CREATE A BETTER AND BRIGHTER FUTURE FOR THE BRITISH EMPIRE, ULITMATELY, YOUR DECISIVE MOVEMENTS, WILL SAVE OUR GREAT COUNTRY FROM ITS UNCONTROLLABLE DECLINE.

X. THE CHILDREN, HIS WIFE?

Y. THERE WILL BE INEVITABLE LOSSES, THEY ARE INSTRUMENTAL IN RESURRECTING WHAT ONCE WAS A ECONOMY WORTHY OF LEADING THE WORLD TO BIGGER AND BETTER THINGS. ARE YOU WITH US?

X. YES.

Y. WE HAVE ORGANISED YOUR IMMEDIATE WITHDRAWAL FROM THE COUNTRY AND ONCE YOU HAVE CARRIED OUT WHAT WE AGREED WE HAVE MEN READY TO TAKE CONTROL. OUR PLANS HAVE BEEN CHECKED AND DOUBLE CHECKED, THERE’S NO DOUBT, HE WILL BE FRAMED.

(THE PHONE LINE GOES DEAD AS CHARACTER Y HANGS UP, THE DIAL TONE PLAYS)

X. (X BREATHS HEAVILY ONCE AND HANGS UP)

StoryBoard and Shot List

These are the pictures of our shot list, storyboard for the opening sequence and storyboard for each video clip.

Collage Media

In our collage of media we will have different pictures and newspaper reports as well as video clips.

We will include 4-5 Newspaper Front Page shots
4-5 Pictures of the Outside of the building with 'Police Line' Tape
2 Video clips: 1. 'On scene News report' 2. 'Mysterious Man'

Updated Deadlines

Filming starts Monday 8th February
Carries on week beginning 22nd and 1st March
Monday 8th March Filming must be finished.
Wed 10th March: End of Lesson - Rough cut deadline.
Wed 17th March: End of Lesson - Final cut deadline soundtracks credits etc.
22nd March 9am Interim Writing Deadline
Monday 29th March Final Deadline for evaluation.

Credits: Titles/Names

In chronological order from start to finish of title sequence. Inspired by earlier post describing Title Credits by Luke Butcher.
A Callum Adams(Fades in first) 'And' (Fades in second) Ollie Theunissen Production (Fades in 3rd)
A Luke Butcher Film

Mark Callaway
Julian Tristan
Lauren Hue

Framed

We are not sure whether to use these credits overlaying the black screen of the phone conversation. One thing we are sure of however is that we want to use the title 'Framed' twice. Firstly when the person speaking on the phone finishes the conversation with the word 'Framed.' And again at the very end of the title sequence as the collage is engulfed with a black screen. In the first occasion the word 'Framed' will be small and in the bottom right of the screen whereas the second time the word will be large and take up the majority of the screen. Both times the credits will fade in to keep with the genre of 'Thriller'.

Details of Costumes

We will only need two costumes in our title sequence as we only have two scenes.
The first scene: News Report.
We, as a group, were advised to use a more mature looking actor in the role of news reporter to make it appear more legitimate and realistic but we realise this may be hard to organise. To combat this we are planning to act ourselves and use a suit to not only make us appear older than we actually are but also to comply with the stereotypical dress code of British Television Journalists. A black or Grey suit with tie, coupled with a microphone and piece of paper will leave the audience believing that this news reporter is a seasoned professional.
The second scene: Shifty criminal.
This scene consists of a 15 second shot of a shifty man leaving a building. To create the mysterious effect via costume we are planning to use a big coat and dark clothes. We may possible include a hat for him to pull down as he leaves on just use the big coat for him to pull across and do up as he walks away. So, this actor will wear black shoes, black trousers, a big coat and a dark t-shirt.

Thriller Mise-en-scene

An important scene that will have to be taken in to consideration will be that of the news report. We are not sure whether to go for a English approach to television journalism or an American one. We are leaning towards and English version however as we ourselves are British and we have British patriotism!
Although this is of a Student American journalist it is a good example of the kind of clothes they wear. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gbk6jKa_Fq0 The female reporter often wears casual clothes whereas the television journalism we are used to is that of smart clothes for both women and men, usually suits. The American Journalist is also very blunt and to the point... very stereotypical American.
In contrast this is an example of a British Television Journalist: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mxFRigYD3s. Both the anchor and the on scene journalist are very professionally dressed and the language is very intimate and detailed. Such details about the World Trade Center's that you possibly would not see in Rash American Reports.

Another scene which mise-en-scene will be considered is in the phone call. In this case, less is more, with just a black screen for the audience to look at. As the phone call unfolds the audience will sit in a pitch black cinema. The whole idea of this is that when in a real conversation with someone you can't see their face can you? By imitating this on the big screen we are creating the idea that the audience are helpless, and making the characters even more mysterious! The conversation itself will be very blunt and not give away too many details as not to give away plot line. Once the phone call has been recorded and uploaded we create a muffled effect as if the characters are talking in fear of being heard talking or of the phone call being tapped. Throughtout the conversation there will be white credits of the actors on screen fading in and out, as to comply with the stereotypical mysterious thriller genre. As the conversation reaches its peak and the dirty gossip is spoken the title will appear on screen. This title will not be big as to not make the product look over the top or silly. It will fade in as the character says the word 'framed' (script to be detailed at a later date). Therefore we are creating continuity. The phone call will end abruptly and will be left with the dial tone, as music is slowly merged in.

The transition between phone call and media collage
This tranisition is extremely important as to grab the audience's attention and engage them with the content on screen. As the phone call finishes the dial tone will kick in and then the music will merge with this. The black screen will not be changed and the media such as photos and newspaper reports and video clips will fall on to the screen, creating quality continuity and a smooth unheard of transition in the student world. Not having any cuts in our title sequence will be easy to achieve but have a very professional effect on the audience.

More about mise-en-scene later.

Prop List

Our filming has been planned so it just covers the specifications required to get top grades, we don't want to elaborate in fear of making the final product look cheap and taccy. Don't threat however, we will satisfy an A grade with other elements of our title sequence. The props we will require are simply and easy to find.

• Firstly we will need Ollie's HD camera to film, we have chosen to use this camera rather than a Media Department supplied camera because 1.It is a better quality and make a film smoother and less pixelated in the final cut. 2. We will not have any restrictions on when we can film and our out of college filming won't be rushed. This is all subject to whether the camera is compatable with the Mac's we shall use for editing. Although this technically isnt a prop I thought it would be a good idea to include it in the list as it will spell out to you, as the marker, intricate details of our plan.

• Another piece of equipment we will be bringing from home is my digital camera, we would prefer to use a home camera because it would allow us to take it home and upload the photos to email and then send them in to our macs at colleege. It will minimise stages in which we take and upload photos ultimately cutting time and meaning we can get other things done.
• The first prop we will need for actual filming is a microphone. In the scene where there is a news report the reporter will require a microphone to speak in to to make the scene look realistic. I am pondering on whether to give the actor, who is yet to be identified, a piece of A4 paper so it appears that the event is so recent he is first on scene and hasn't had time to revise what he is planning to say. I can supply a microphone from home which may be able to plug in to Oli's camera meaning the report will truly sound realistic. If we can't find a suitable microphone from home we will ask around college.
  
• Other props come under the other post detailing costumes.