Final Film Opening

Response to feedback

After receiving feedback about our opening, we made a few changes:

Firstly, we added heavy breathing over the beginning and ending of the film to ensure there were no awkward silences.

Secondly, we overlapped the sound from one shot to the next shot to make the change in frame less abrupt and make it more authentic.

Thirdly we changed the font from red and white to just plain white, which we felt worked in favour of our film opening. 

We altered the sequence of the shots slightly in order for the audience to understand that he has just left home and is now returning to fulfil  his motif. We added the only dialogue to the film opening "Did you forget something?" in order for the audience to realise that he has only just left home, and is returning very shortly after leaving, which is why he turns around when he reaches the crossroads as  he  has 'made up his mind. 

Evaluation Activity Seven

Evaluation Activity Six

Evaluation Activity Five 

Evaluation Activity Four

Evaluation Activity Three

Evaluation Activity Two

Evaluation Activity One

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

1)     The font we have used for our opening title is American Typewriter, we have used this font to highlight the military feel of the opening and we believe that this conforms to the genre, as typewriting is normally associated with war and the military. For example, the font used in Atonement is typewriting and this also reflects on the genre conventions as it creates a harsh and regimented atmosphere

2)     An upward panning shot is used to introduce our main character. The first thing that the audience sees is their feet. We used this shot to create an atmosphere of mystery; the main character could be anyone, emphasising the fact that anyone could be affected by the consequences of war. We believe that the silence of Tim enhances the mystery of his character, which is very similar to protagonists in other films of similar genres, such as Dead Man’s Shoes and Full Metal Jacket, who are introduced as secretive. The reserved introduction to our main character therefore conforms to genre conventions. 

3)     The close-up, panning shot, which focuses on the picture, establishes the family aspect of the film. The drained colour and grainy quality highlights the tension between the relationships. A key feature in social realism is conflict between characters and the shots of family photos throughout the opening hint to the audience that the film will focus on the relationships and how they are affected and changed by war. A similar concept is used in films such as Private Peaceful and American Sniper. 

4)     This close-up shot of Tim’s trousers focuses on his military uniform, allowing the audience to understand that he is a soldier. The shot also highlights the gaffatape, which is being used to repair his uniform, representing him as rough and resourceful. This representation of character also conforms to film openings of a similar genre, with characters such as Anthony in Jarhead and Eversmann from Black Hawk Down.

5)  The setting used for our film opening is very rural, shown in this shot.  The overgrown and harsh surroundings emphasise the roughness of Tim's character, and his internal struggle.  The colour of the location is very earthy and dark, further highlighting the lack of colour and brightness of Tim's character.  Harsh settings are commonly used in film to reflect the mood and atmosphere of the plot, and we feel that our opening therefore conforms to convention once again.

6)  An extreme close-up of Tim's eyes is used to enhance the intensity of the opening.  The closeness teases the audience, as so far Tim's intentions are unclear, and the extreme close-up could lead the audience to think that they're about to uncover the mystery.  Instead the Extreme close-up is contrasted with a wide shot and an extreme long-shot, creating an anti-climax for the for the audience, playing with their emotions.  This subverts the typical genre conventions of social realism, as situations are often established quite early on in this genre,such as Submarine.

7)  A long, POV shot of Tim looking at the house could challenge conventions of Social Realism.  The dark, contrasting shade of the trees and sky, combined with the shaky camera and heavy breathing could conform to a genre such as horror.  However, the themes and mood of the film is more associated with Social Realism.  This shot provides the idea of mystery, and the inevitability of something bad happening, which builds on the genre which focuses on conflict, a key aspect of Social Realism.

8)  Special effects are often not used in typical Social Realisms, as the aim is more focused on real issues and authenticity.  Therefore, we have only incorporated basic effects into our opening as we wanted the audience to focus on the issue the characters are facing.  We used slow motion to build on the key moment of the opening, and linger on the tension between the characters.

9)    The title of our film was inspired by the poem Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep, an 18^th century prayer which contains the lines ‘If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take’. We chose it to reflect the uncertainty that soldiers face in war and also reflects the non-linear chronology of our film as the scepticism of the opening is rectified when he shoots the gun. This structure challenges Social Realism conventions as they are normally chronological and have a clear plot.

Feedback on First Showing

We showed our first cut of our film opening to a small audience, and the feedback we received has highlighted aspects that we need to improve.

Many people pointed out that a lot of sound was uneven,  too much silence was used in the wrong places, and although a lot of our diegetic sound worked very well, and the overlapping of our sound was regarded very highly, we needed to include other sounds such and breathing and breeze to fill unnecessary silences. 

Other things that we needed to work included, colouring in some shots, as the saturation had been brought down to far, pacing was slow at times, and some of the audience were slightly confused by our opening, but also intriuged which was an aim of our opening as we wanted the audience to want to find out had lead up to the shooting happening, and continue to watch the film if it was there.  The rest of the improvements that needed to be worked on have been and we know that our final cut has improved since this showing.

We also gained a lot of positive feedback from this showing, including comments on the quality of the camera work, variety of shots, framing and sound excluding silence.

Overall, showing the first cut of our film opening was very helpful, we took on board comments and have improved our opening accordingly.

Alterations to StoryBoard

Like with every film opening, changes will be made so that the final cut will have similarities and differences to the original story board.

Some shots have stayed very similar, for example:

Other shots have changed however, for example:

Whilst out filming and editing, many shots and edits have been inspired by further knowledge of our genre that we did not have when completing the story board, meaning that some shots have either been taken out, added, replaced or changed in order.  While filming angles and framing may have also been changed depending on what look we felt would work best, and fit best with the genre.  Despite many differences between our final cut and our original story board the outcome of the opening is the same, and the atmosphere that we wanted to create has still been achieved

Film Research

While continuing with coursework it came to our groups attention that in the film industry at the moment, there were many other new releases, or upcoming releases that were exploring a similar theme to our own film opening.  Including:

American Sniper

American Sniper focuses on the true story of Chris Kyle - The most lethal sniper in U.S. history, directed by Clint Eastwood.  Described as 'intimate and harrowing', the film explores the Kyle's internal struggle and how he finds that once at home, it is the war he cannot leave behind.

 

Good Kill

Good Kill focuses on a fighter-pilot turned drone-pilot, based in Las Vegas, who fights the Taliban by remote control.  However he starts to question whether he is creating more terrorists than he's killing, and whether is he fighting a war without end? Exploring another soldiers internal struggle.  Directed by Andrew Niccol.   



The Gunman

The Gunman, directed by Pierre Morel focuses on a former Special Forces soldier and military contractor suffering from PTSD who tries to reconnect with his long time love.  It explores the effects of the former soldiers past employment and how it effects his future, and also exploring another soldiers internal struggle.





All these current films are also exploring the effects of war on soldiers, and focus on the internal struggle that they face, very similar to what our own film would explore.

                 

                                                                                                                  

  

       

Technologies Used


To edit our film opening we used iMovie.  This was downloaded onto the school computers and was relatively easy to use after being guided through different processes.  By using iMovie we were able to make our vision a reality, we altered saturation of some shots to create a drained effect, overlapped diegetic and non-diegetic sound and created our titles using iMovie, creating a captivating and intriguing film opening.  



The text used in our film opening was American Typewriter, as we thought that it reflected the genre and action in our film, which is set around war.



The camera we used to record our film opening was a Canon EOS 600D DSLR, the quality of the footage is excellent and this can be seen through many shots.  The quality of the shots was very important to our opening as we wanted to focus on small details, like facial expression and setting, as this sets the tone of the film and is the main focus of the opening, as there is no dialogue.  The quality of the camera has given our film opening a very professional look, that we would not have achieved if filming on another camera or iPhone.

To record sound we used an iPhone and would then edit the sound using either iMovie or Garage Band on the macs to create the desired sound.  This worked very well when creating the gun shot, breathing and breeze.

Talent Sourcing

As our film opening was to have no speech, our choice of actors was simple as we were able to pick someone on looks rather than acting ability, reducing the time spent on sourcing.  For our opening, we wanted a man in their early 20's playing the soldier and a young girl in their late teens for his sister.  Helpfully Anna had an older brother who was 20 and available for filming, which worked perfectly as Anna would be able to play his sister



Name: Robert St. Pierre

Age: 20

Role: Tim

Eye colour: Blue

Hair:  Short, light brown

Name: Anna St. Pierre

Age: 17  
  

Role: Sister

Eye: Green

Hair: Curly, medium brown

Health and Safety

When filming the main risk of health and safety was the fact that we were filming near and on roads.  As the crew we were only responsible for ourselves as our actor was over the age of 18, but as there were four of us working together, we were able to warn on another if any cars were passing by and overall, there was no risk to our health.

Story Board

Here is the Story Board of the opening credits to our film 'If I Should Die'.  It is in two parts.

http://www.flipsnack.com/XyliaGrey15/if-i-should-die.html?b=1&p=16

http://www.flipsnack.com/XyliaGrey15/if-i-should-die-fdh3ypjuw.html?b=1&p=16

Iconic Director

Social Realism in film has seen a huge development in the 21st century, with films such as Train Spotting (Danny Boyle), This is England and Dead Man's Shoes (Shane Meadows).

Film director Steve McQueen is well known for his films Hunger (2008) and 12 Years a Slave (2013).  His film Hunger was based on the story of Bobby Sands, an Irish republican who leads the inmates of a Northern Irish prison in a hunger strike.

Hunger won the prestigious Camera d'Or award for first-time film makers at the Cannes film festival in 2008, went on to win the Sydney Film Prize at the Sydney Film Festival, it also received two BAFTA nominations, winning one, and was also nominated for eight awards at the 2009 IFTA's, winning six.

Responses included:

• Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times - "Hunger is not about the rights and wrongs of the British in Northern Ireland, but about inhumane prison conditions, the steeled determination of IRA members like Bobby Sands, and a rock and a hard place."
•  Peter Travers of Rolling Stone - "Shockingly immediate and philosophically reflective, Hunger is an indelibly moving tribute to what makes us human." and praised "... McQueen's way of showing the body itself as an arsenal, arguably the last weapon any of us have to fight back."

McQueen's films focus on modern issues and captivate the audience, I have taken inspiration from his films while developing my our own work.

Production

Due to the genre and nature of our opening credits, it is most likely that our film would be produced and distributed by Film 4.  They have also produced many other films focused on Social Realism such as Dead Man's Shoes (2004).

A Reservist Before the War and After the War (1902)

A Reservist Before the War and After the War, directed by James Williamson is known as one of the most important films of its time.  Renowned for its development of social realism in film and its ability to encompass contemporary social criticism.  
The film centres around the return of a Boer War serviceman and his struggle with unemployment and his life back home.  
In A Reservist Before the War and After the War the pleasant pre-war scene is poignantly contrasted with "a post-war scene of sickness, poverty and unemployment." [Royal Pavilion, Museums & Libraries].  This use of social realism became a key theme of British cinema.

This film was the first in its kind, giving a different spin on how we see film, and how it can be used to criticise society and its views.  It gave realisation to viewers, allowing them to interpret the effects of war in a different light.
Myself and my group while coming up with the idea of our film opening, related to the intentions of Williamson, we wished to present the effect of war in a different way, allowing the viewers to understand that not all soldiers react in the same way, that war can consume and take over, leaving the former soldier as a thing of the past.

Social Realism

In early British cinema Social Realism was first emphasised in James Williamson's 'A Reservist Before the War and After the War'.  A film focusing on the return of a soldier from the Boer War, and his struggle as he tries to fit in with normality.

Social Realism in film was reflecting Britain's development through war, with films such as Target for Tonight (1941), In Which We Serve (1942), Millions Like Us (1943), and This Happy Breed (1944).  Historian Roger Manvell explains that Social Realism was such a success in the 1940's as the public were "searching for relief from hard work, companionship, release from tension, emotional indulgence and, where they could find them, some reaffirmation of the values of humanity."

In the 1950's and 60's, a British New Wave movement emerged.  British auteurs like Karel Reisz, Tony Richardson, and John Schlesinger were very popular.  British New Wave films include Room at the Top (1958), Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960), The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962), and A Kind of Loving (1962).

Social realism as a genre grew dramatically during and after the first world war, it allowed its audience to gain a deeper understand of the situations surrounding them, and enabled them to reflect with others and not just alone.

Film Classification

Universal - suitable for all.

Focus on subjects which are generally suitable for younger audiences.
At the most there may be occasional very mild bad language.
Mild violence only. Some mild threat and menace is allowed.
Moments with ghosts, witches and monsters should be over quickly and not be too scary. Nothing at U should really frighten or disturb young viewers. The film or DVD should tell children that everything is okay.


PG - Parental Guidance 

Focus on more mature topics such as crime, racism, bullying or violence in the home. There must be nothing which suggests these are good things.
Mild bad language only.
There can be stronger violence than at U, but without detail. Violence which takes place in a comedy, fantasy, or historical film may be treated less strictly.
Frightening scenes should not be too long or scary. 



12a & 12 Ratings

Mature themes are acceptable, but their treatment must be suitable for young teenagers.
The use of strong language (e.g. 'f***') must be infrequent. Racist language used as abuse is also a concern.
Violence must not dwell on injuries or blood. Sexual violence may only be implied or briefly and discreetly indicated.Dangerous techniques (e.g. combat, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on things which can be copied or appear pain or harm free. Easily accessible weapons should not be shown as glamorous.
There can be some threat and menace, including scary scenes which are intense or last a while. Only occasional gory moments can be shown.

15 Ratings

Strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic or sexualised.
Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming) can be allowed provided the detail of such is low so that it can not create too much of an impression of the viewer. 

Frequent use of strong language can be permitted, although very strong language needs to be restricted and would have to be seen as reasonable in the context. 

Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. The same applies to references. Any sexual violence should be discreet and be strongly justified.

As long as the film is appropriate for 15 year olds, no certain themes are prohibited.

When reviewing the different criteria of each group, we have decided to classify our film opening as a 15, as it deals with sensitive issues and would distress younger audiences.

Developing Skills

When starting Media Studies this year, I had no experience in using an apple mac, editing on iMovie and also creating music on garage band.  Now in my second term I am much more confident in doing research on apple macs, I have been able to edit my groups opening title sequence in iMovie, and I have also been able to create sound effects in garage band.  My skills in editing have improved and I am able to help my group create an opening sequence that looks professional and has good continuity, something I would struggle with if I had not developed my skills in using macs.

Making the Gun Shot sound effect

After trialling different sounds and editing on iMovie, this is the making of our Gun Shot sound effect for 'If I Should Die'.