Evaluation Q7: Learning from the prelim

Evaluation Q6: learning about technologies

Evaluation Q5: Who would be our audience?

Here we have a video containing a range of students across a small age range. When we started this project, we decided to aim for an age group of around 16-21 as this would work well with the BBFC rating and many of our peers (around 17 years old) were very keen on the horror genre, as shown in our questionnaire from February.

For this reason, we decided to ask our members of our target audience what they thought about our sequence. Any negative feedback that was consistent across the ages would mean that we would have to rethink our target audience.

However, all the feedback we did receive was positive and only a couple of criticisms came to surface such as the angle of our first-person shake-cam within the dead bodies scene (the camera would point at the floor too often). This is could be easily fixed as our film was made with re-filming kept in mind (small number of props, storyboards, scripts, etc).

The positive feedback we got back from our brief interviews reinforce the fact that our target audience of 16-21 is likely to be well received, they are keen on our production and the BBFC rating is in keeping with this audience (15 rated). All critical to the success of The Tale of Demise's distribution and exhibition.

Evaluation Q4: addressing audiences'

AS Media OCR Evaluation Question: addressing audiences' from thetaleofdemise


Alongside the audience identifying with their age group from the actor's performance, we also have our proposed BBFC rating to target audiences. With a rating of 15 and a target audience of 16+, we can ensure that our target audience can legally view our film at cinemas and/or purchase physical copies.

Evaluation Q3: institutions distributing our film

Evaluation Q2: Representation of social groups

How does your media project represent certain social groups?

 

Gender:

Our media project represents both men and women being vulnerable. One male and two females are murdered in our media project. This shows that men are just as weak as women and is a counter-type. However, only one man is murdered, not two women. This could be playing up to stereotypes as more women are murdered portraying they are the weaker sex. Furthermore, a women picks up the camera and screams at the scene she witnesses. This could portray that women are more sensitive and emotional than men. 

Age:

Age is also a heavily stereotyped factor of our characters. Our characters are quite young and are associated with an age group that is quite irresponsible. Teenagers are also stereotyped to be loud, stupid and to have a lack of word knowledge. This is both challenged and reinforced by our characters. On one hand, our characters could be seen as vulnerable. They find themselves in a situation they cannot control, no way out, running away from danger. Or, they could be seen as stupid for getting themselves into that situation in the first place, that it was their fault.

Ethnicity:

The actors we have chosen in our media project have a range of ethnicity's. Our "hero" characters are counter-types. As main characters, the stereotypical "heroes" are of a white ethnicity. Our "heroes" are of a black ethnicity. The idea of race being used to represent different types of characters these days can be considered backwards and frowned upon.   

Evaluation Q1: challenging forms and conventions

AS Media OCR Evaluation Question: forms and conventions from thetaleofdemise

Shot list

This is our shot list for the production task; complete with equipment, props, the setting and its completion.

The props and camera equipment required for our sequence is small in number, with only lily petals, stringboard (paper, blu-tac, photographs, string) and a mobile phone needed for props; and only a hand-held camera with a tripod required to film.

This shows that The Tale of Demise may be a low-budget production, but also one that can be easily refilmed by our group.

Bloopers/Outtakes

These are our "bloopers" or "outtakes" that show all the attempts at a perfect shot while filming. This highlights how many attempts it took to get the right shot for our final cut, and also how difficult it can be to remain composed during filming.

The Tale of Demise FINAL CUT

This is the final cut of our production task. It has a black and white filter for the flashback sequence, the sound has been adjusted and all text animations have been applied.

The Tale of Demise SECOND CUT

This is our second cut of The Tale of Demise. Note that this version has a few corrections in comparison to the first cut including refinement of the opening credits with added animations and correct spelling. There is also the addition of our film's title and the addition of a fade between text-on-screen shots.

The Tale of Demise FIRST CUT

This is the first cut of our sequence. There are improvements that need to be made, however. Once the the first cut was finished, we realized that re-sizing the ident was necessary to keep within the shot. Also, the addition of a frame that contains the film's title needs to be added.

• The flashback scene could also benefit from some sound editing as the conversation is rather hard to hear.
• We will also add credits for the opening as they are absent for this cut and we still need to decide on its order and position.

Adding the opening credits

The second cut of our sequence saw the addition of the opening credits. This included the actor's names (our group member's names and friends who have helped us) and appeared on screen while the opening was still playing. This was done in a way that the text was not overly intrusive to the opening, but still allowed the footage to play.

The writing was also kept small and did not have any distracting effects applied to keep attention on the sequence itself. This was done as we saw this very often on larger Horror/Thriller productions within the mapping sequence research. I noticed that small text was utilized when the opening requires the full attention of the audience, like ours does.

Props within opening sequence

Our sequence only featured a small number of props as The Tale of Demise is a small production and a large number of props simply was not required. These props included:

-Lily petals to surround the bodies of the character Lilith in the dead bodies shot
-The construction of a stringboard with post-it notes, string and printed images
-One of the group member's mobile phones used for a brief cut to an unknown phone call
-Ketchup used for a fake blood effect
-Make-up for our characters to convincing appear dead in the respectable shot.

Storyboard: Main Task

This is our storyboard for the production task; complete with transitions, shot types and duration. Note that there are a couple of long takes for conversations and short takes for brief shots establishing setting.

Script

Script for dead bodies scene: Positioned EXT. Time of Day around early afternoon, approximately 12:30 - 1:00pm. Outdoor setting, the woods of Addington. 

(THANA, LILITH AND DETECTIVE BLAKE run through forest, the camera being held by THANA as they sprint)

THANA: Go, go, go!

DETECTIVE BLAKE: I'm going, I'm going!

THANA: This way!

(All characters eventually reach a dead end)

LILITH: (breathless) We can't go this way.

(All characters run in another direction. Sprinting continues for another five seconds)

THANA: If my mum can hear this, tell her I love her!

(fade to black, then high angle shot of three character's bodies, lifeless on the ground)

(camera picked up, diegetic, asynchronous scream from female)

(fades to film title, leading onto Detective Scene flashback)

Script for Detective scene: Positioned INT. Time of Day around mid afternoon, approximately 3:00pm. Indoor setting, makeshift detective office.

(DETECTIVE RAVEN walks through wooden door to enter the office, instantly acknowledges DETECTIVE BLAKE waiting for him)  

DETECTIVE RAVEN: Detective Raven.

DETECTIVE BLAKE: Detective Blake. 

(shake hands)

DETECTIVE RAVEN: So what do we have here?

Both detectives turn to string board of crime scene. 

DETECTIVE BLAKE: We have a body within the Byward area, and a possible murder weapon too.

DETECTIVE RAVEN: Any leads?

DETECTIVE BLAKE: None as of yet.

DETECTIVE RAVEN: Well, if you need anything, let me know. 

(DETECTIVE RAVEN hands over business card to DETECTIVE BLAKE, they shake hands, nod, and DETECTIVE RAVEN exits room)

(DETECTIVE BLAKE ambles around office and then his mobile phone rings. DETECTIVE BLAKE picks up mobile phone cautiously)

DETECTIVE BLAKE: (answering phone) Hello? Who's this?

(Fade to black)

Deciding on Film Title

Choosing the film title's animation and appearance onscreen was done in editing. The first animation shown in the video is the one we selected for the sequence. The reason being that the animation allowed the text to remain onscreen for a fraction longer than the other two, and this allows the title to have more presence without interupting the tension of the opening.

Idents and Production names

Choosing Intensity Films and Shadow Pictures as our production names represent our film's genre of both Thriller and Horror.
The Intensity ident relates to Thrillers as the genre is all about keeping the audience engaged through an 'intense' narrative.
As for the Shadow Pictures ident, it represents Horror as the name 'Shadow' connotes mystery, darkness and also fear when paired to the hooded skull image of intensity films.

Pencil Drawing of ident

Our two idents for Shadow Pictures and Intensity Films include a hooded skull and crossbones and silloette walking through a lit open door in a dark room.

Make-up used for our Dead-bodies scene

As the person who we anticipated to help us with the make-up for our dead bodies scene was unavailable when we wanted to film, we decided to do the make-up ourselves instead. Sophie decided she would be the best and creating the look we wanted and all the products you see above were used, plus talcum powder.

Firstly, we mixed talcum powder and blue eye shadow into a tub, then using a lightly wet sponge, Freya applied the mix to our faces to work as the base as it gave us a deathlike pallor.

Secondly, to make the eyes look sunken, she used black eye shadow and put it on the eyelids as well as around it.

After deciding that the eye shadow on the eyes alone was not enough Freya then added it to the cheekbones, temple and nose as these are cartilage areas.

BBFC research

For The Tale of Demise, I believe the film would be rated a 15 as the level of violence within this film would exceed what is exceptionable for a 12 or 12A. It is not permitted for a focus on blood or injury and that would have to be a must for our film as our opening sequence implies violence and gore in detail.

While the violence of this Thriller/Horror is a definite 15 rating, other aspects would not necessarily be at the same level of maturity, but would allow the directors, writers and actors to be a little more flexible within their performance and script. For example, if character development over the course of the film opened up the opportunity for a sexual relationship between characters, the production team would have the option to allow this because of its 15 rating. In addition, the target audience of our film is around 16+, so a 15 rating is in alignment with our target audience which is good for the film's exhibition.

As for the other BBFC ratings in consideration, I would not want the rating to exceed 15 to an 18 rating as it would (legally) be too mature for our target audience and this may reveal ample opportunity for piracy if it has a high age rating simply due to one or two scenes and people want to find a way around it. Also, strong, detailed violence would be onscreen but it would not reach the level of "sadistic or sexual violence"; as permitted in an 18 rated film. I believe that the film should be available to as many people as possible for its maturity level and this requires keeping the content below 18 rated scenes in this particular case.

The U and PG ratings are simply unrealistic for the film we are trying to create and the scenes we intend to implement. If it was to be lower to these levels, far too much footage would have to be cut and this may lead to a decrease in quality as well as age rating.

Story Proposal for Production Task

Narrative: Protagonist Detective Blake is investigating an eerie murder case in which the murderer in question tries to rattle the protagonist by stalking two other innocent females: Thana and Lilith. Knowing that Blake will come to their assistance due to his moral compass, the killer uses this to get to all three characters and the events following this eventually lead to their "demise" after a number of close calls throughout the film.

Theme: As people and actions from the pasts of Thana, Lilith and Blake begin to surface during the investigation and evasion of the killer, all three characters begin to learn how burying certain actions from the past can catch up. They also learn from their mistakes over time.

Format: 2 minute film opening in order to pick up on the theme and pace of the film.

Tone: The film is set around Addiscombe and Addington, mostly at daytime. The filming and directing style has similarities to The Blair Witch Project in that many shits and scenes look much like found-footage. There is a serious tone to the film and a moderate level of violence that suggests a life-threatening situation for the characters. It is also set within the current time and context.

Character: Detective Blake is a relatively calm character in high pressure situations due to his profession, but this new, horrifing experience pushes his abilities to the limit and shows signs of pressure and fear by the end of the film. He is also very secretive, with very few people truly knowing his character and life outside of work.

Thana: A strong, yet pessimistic character who sometimes struggles to see the positive in some scenarios. She is highly driven however and very intelligent which leads Thana to pick up information quickly. She is able to effectively use her skills to aid Blake's investigation.

Lilith: Shares a similar ability of picking up new information quickly and using it to her advantage during this stressful scenario, but she is much better at staying positive in negative positions. She also knows when she is out of her depth and isn't afraid to acknowledge her own strengths and weaknesses. Her innocent nature makes her the more targetted character by the unknown murderer however, and she suffers many injuries and close calls in the film as she lacks Blake's physical strength and has less encounters with the killer than Thana.

Example of a Story Proposal

This is an example of a story proposal for a Thriller/Horror film like ours. The story proposal has to include:

• The main point or moral of the story itself.
• Who the story will be portrayed and focused around.
• What the theme and atmosphere of the film will be. Humourous nightlife experiences? Fictional fairytale story? A violent, dramatic narrative?
• How the film will be rated (BBFC) and its duration. Might be worth including distribution in addition (wide run, saturation, online, traditional marketing, etc)
• What are the requirements of the actor’s character? What will they have to do to convincingly portray our narrator?

Premise: Never underestimate your potential enemies, all your actions have consequences.

Narrative: Michael Fedora, early 30s, currently unemployed with a previous career in organised crime. Escaped the clutches of his previous crime organisation after murdering his boss and living on his parents’ inheritance. He has now developed a pleasure and a talent for killing in different methods and the film is now focused on how Michael continues to wage war with his past criminal members and how he murders each member one by one with increasingly vicious methods. Works completely alone and is clearly unhinged throughout.

Theme: Michael Fedora’s psychotic behaviour means that while he is an expert at killing and he has the talent for covering his tracks during each murder, he does not consider every single angle such as police investigations, or the friends/family of his victims taking revenge which will eventually be his downfall.

Format: Full feature film, 1 hour 45 minutes, rated at 18 due to its violence and intensity. Trailer also created at two minutes with intended violence rather than full-feature gore so it can be viewed at many more placements (online, print adverts, etc).

Tone: The film is set in North London, within the very grimmest of settings to set a depressing, derelict scene for each murder (as if each victim has been `abandoned`). Criminal twist relates to films such as Run All Night and main protagonist relates to films such as American Psycho with a rather twisted manner and completely comfortable committing murders without hesitation. The film has a serious tone that will have the audience in shock with plot twists and extreme violence.

Character: An actor that can pull off the character of Michael Fedora with an unstable and unhinged mental state, show a clear pleasure for killing and someone who can maintain tension throughout the most important scenes such as murders or being questioned by police; or even gathering his thoughts and plans within his own household.   

Equipment used and why

Our media department was limited in terms of equipment choice, but in the end we decided to use a Canon HF Legria R606 along with an adjustable tripod with a spirit level. This combination allowed us to switch between hand-held shots with various movements, stationary shots with high and low angles, and even selfies if the need came about. The large selection of shots at our disposal is why we chose this equipment specifically.

While the shots themselves were not of the highest quality, the portablity and versatility of this camera was very good

Canon HF Legria R606

Tripod used in the sequence

Shooting the film opening (2 out of 2)

On the 28th of February, my group filmed the dead bodies' scene for our film opening. We met up early around 11am to 12am midday so that the lighting would be adequate and so that we would have plenty of time to setup our shots.

We began with a shot of the main three characters (myself, Sophie, Freya: i.e Blake, Lilith, Thana) running through the woods to suggest they are running from something. During this scene, it would be a 1st person, handheld shot that looks blurry and intense on-camera; a perfect way to start a Thriller with action and enigmas.

We then moved on to the dead bodies scene which would follow the running scene. A fade would be the preferred transition between these shots. We used ketchup for a fake blood effect on our T-shirts, and used lilies spread around our bodies for a sign or suggestion of innocence.  

Dead Bodies Scene (Josh's Blog) from thetaleofdemise

Initial ideas for editing

At this point in time, both scenes have now been shot and it is time to consider what kind of things will need to be done during editing.

Initially, we should consider creating/adding an animation for our production names (perhaps through the creation of a GIF on Serif) and then moving on to cuts, transitions and making the sequence as fluent as possible.

This could be done by cutting parts of the footage that does not add anything to the overall effect or story, and then making sure the footage cut does not make an abrupt gap in the middle of a scene. Then, its a case of selecting and adding transitions. This will involve going over the footage with Sophie and Freya, then deciding whether we should use a cut, fade, dissolve etc and then applying it to necessary parts within the film.

After this, we can move on to filters, exposure compensation, and ensuring that the footage we have is perfectly watchable for an audience. This should be a relatively simple process that will involve choosing an appropriate filter for our film and adding effects to our sequence that look "right".

Now, we should have a smooth, well lit film with only relevant content on screen and an animation for our opening.  The only thing left in terms of editing is the sound. Everything the audience sees should be fluent and watchable.

Shooting the film opening (1 out of 2)

On the 16th of February, my group filmed one of two of the shots required for our two minute film opening. The shot included meeting up at a friend's house and setting up a makeshift stringboard for a scene that would hopefully create a convincing detective scene. Myself and another friend featured within the (approximately) 45 second shot with the other two in the group handling the camera shots, going over the scene's continuity/consistency and going over the props in view.

As well as the stringboard, we also took a number of images that included a specialized prop and details such as a character's name coming up on a phone call on the detective's mobile for an enigma code.

 





Detective scene from thetaleofdemise

Costume Considerations

Costume Considerations

For our first scene showing my character, Sophie's, and Freya's lying dead/still on the floor, we are initially considering wearing white T-shirts for an enhanced effect if/when we choose to use fake blood for the shot. Besides this, the outfits will be casual and not too far off what we would usually wear to give the impression that the death was unexpected and perhaps even unplanned.

For the second shot, which shows a flashback of two weeks ago before the character's deaths, my character will wear a button-up shirt accented with either a leather jacket or a three-quarter length jacket to give the impression of a stereotypical police detective: an image created by other films and TV shows. My counterpart will also wear something similar as I am supposed to be talking to another detective.

UPDATE 16th Feb: As aforementioned, a long jacket was used for the flashback scene (for both featured characters) to give a more convincing impression of both detectives. The T-shirts have also been purchased for the second shot that should be filmed by the 28th of Feburary (5th of March at the very latest).

Outfits for detective scene

Black long jacket for Gray; character name Detective Raven. Chosen as it is stereotypical for detectives

Navy blue long jacket for my character; Detective Blake. Very similar to Gray's but accented by casual jeans suggesting a familiar surrounding or a wish to be comfortable for his next course of action. 

The outfits for the dead bodies' scene

Detective Blake's costume for this scene; black t-shirt for a hint at dark past, and/or a play on words with `Blake` containing connotations to `Black`. 

Lilith and Thana's character costume. White T-shirt for hint at innocence in character. 

Location planning

Byward Avenue bird's sanctuary
1 Sundridge Road

The plan for our shooting locations include using the woods around Byward avenue to film a shot in which three characters lie dead for an enigma based opening; followed by using a friend's room to film a shot of two detectives discussing a case that links to the murders we see in the first shot.

UPDATE: The detective scene has been shot on the 16th of February at 1 Sundridge Road (friend's house) with a plan to film the second scene on the 28th of February.

These locations were chosen because having a friend's house to set up the stringboard and camera equipment was convenient for the group and it was an appropriate setting/background for the detective scene when the props were set up.

The woods were chosen for the second shot as it is a stereotypical place to find
a dead body and a good place to set up a character(s') death.

Google Maps images of our woods shooting location

Questionnaire

Questionnaire and Analysis of Questionnaire from thetaleofdemise

The data above shows good support for our film opening as the target audience of 17-21 year olds (with a secondary audience of 15-16 year olds) is in correlation with the people we gave the questionnaire to. We also had quite a lot of enthusiasm about our Horror/Thriller.

We found that while our target audience only goes to the cinema occasionally for the most part, they still selected horror as their favourite genre and they selected other members of their age group as most likely to watch the film with. This is reassuring as there appears to be strong interest in our film's genre (Thriller/Horror) and one interested person in our target audience age group could bring further interest and more viewers.

The questionnaire's results on cinema viewing frequency within our target audience's age group shows that home cinema release and online availablity would be very important for our film as they do not frequently go to the cinema and we can therefore assume that other platforms are their preffered way to watch movies.

Limitations of our questionnaire include a lack of variation with our participants. The majority of them were female and convieniently within the 17-21 age group. A few more male participants and a wider age group being questioned may have revealed a niche audience previously not considered and perhaps different results to the ones gathered.

Also, within the genre question listed, Thriller was not available as an option for participants which was a fairly major oversight as our film could be considered a Thriller as well as a Horror.

Preliminary Task evaluation

With the preliminary task, we was tasked with setting up a collection of shots in a 30 second sequence; including someone walking through a door and a conversation that follows the 180 degree rule and a shot reverse shot.

Continuity errors included the position of certain props and proxemics changing in some shots. This would be combated by taking a picture of the set and then making a note of the characters and items' positions; taking care to ensure they don't change dramatically without intention.

For re-filming purposes, we would measure how much the tripod height changes so that we have an appropriate height for each shot and set.

In terms of props, make a list of the vital items and make sure their position remains in the same place for different shots

For sound, we will use relevant/clear sound and dialogue for the main production task and be careful of cutting sections out so that the whole sequence flows. Also, we will be careful of ambient sound within indoor sections.

The scenario within this preliminary task included a conversation between two friends in which one friend became more `cool` after eating chewing gum. The same friend would then offer the same gum to their friend for a more comedic effect than our original scenario (a friend with a plan to make money).

If I was to film this section again, I would re-film any shots that included errors in continuity or that had poor sound. I would also pay  more attention to the height of the tripod used for filming so that the shots that were re-filmed had an appropriate height when viewed on-screen.

Genre Conventions

Our opening sequence could be considered a Thriller/Horror due to its main narrative being an investigation, violence being present in the opening, and enigmas/mysteries being central to keeping the audience under suspense.

While we are only showing two minutes of our film, if we was to put the entire film into production, it would feature many common conventions of a Thriller including:
- An enigma that has to be solved by the protagonist or "hero"
- Scenes of violence or close calls that keep the audience "on the edge of their seat"
- A plot twist or a cover-up of information to throw off the audience (restricted, intrusive narration, red herrings, etc)


Thrillers have many different conventions and its genre covers a large number of films which has given us some flexiblity in production. I believe it to be a sensible choice for this task as it does not demand special effects or a particularly complex setting like a sci-fi might demand. Also, this genre means that we can create a highly engaging opening that holds an audience within a short amount of time and goes straight into the story.

vlog progress check

This is our vlog progress check; from around the date of January/Feburary.

As quoted above in the video, a large part of our film is intended to be viewed as if it is found-footage (much like The Blair Witch Project) and our dead bodies scene shows what such a sequence would appear like during action, with first person shots and asynchronous sound from the person/character holding the camera.

Also stated in the vlog, my absence has admitted been something my group has had to work around. Due to an illness that often renders me unavailable to work for long periods of time, Sophie and Freya have had to make decisions and complete research without me.

What I Have Learnt From Mapping Out Title Sequences

When mapping out three different title sequences of two action films and a drama, I have found that the number of credits usually ranges between 30 and 40 but it is surprisingly common for a large production to have only one or two credits which include the production/distribution companies and no mention of the main actors. The main actors are sometimes not mentioned presumably because they are already very well established and are instantly recognizable. I also found that when the anatagonist or protagonist is not as well established as other actors (e.g Transporter 2) there are more credits included in order to cement their presence in the film.

For our film opening, we will include approximately 11 credits which include:

2 to 3 for the production/distribution institutions

5 for the cast

4 for the director/screenplay etc

Institution

institution

cast

cast

cast

cast

other cast members (more than one name onscreen)

title

costume

producer

screenplay

director

The order may change within the post-production stage in order to reflect any changes we may have made within the film opening's production.

From the film mapping, I have gotten an idea of how these credits should appear on-screen and I now have an idea of how many credits should be used for our production. For the institutions, I noticed they were almost always included on-screen with an animation so I believe we could do the same with a GIF. Also, the text size varied much in size and effect, with everything from graphic matches and bold writing for each actor to simple, small text appearing in order to not dominate the opening. It all depended on the approach each opening was going for. Tense, vivid openings going for smaller texts and slow build-ups had larger texts that didn't interrupt any important scenes.

Our film opening will have both enigmas and tension that is important for the audience to see and a less intrusive style of credits will be included with smaller text size and no overly distracting effects on the text's font or entry on screen.

Film mapping for Need For Speed

Film Mapping for Need For Speed

Time: 0:00-0:58

EONE entertainment 0:00 - 0:13

dreamworks 0:20-0:23

reliance entertainment 0:24-0:30

EA 0:31-0:36

dreamworks pictures and reliance entertainment present 0:38-0:46

NEEDFORSPEED 0:48-0:58

Film Mapping and Opening analysis for American Gangsta

Film mapping for American Gangsta

Time shown: 0:00 - 2:00

Twenty second Universal animation

Twenty second Imagine animation

Twenty second animation for Imagine icon

30 Second film opening, scene showing Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington) setting alight and then shooting an unknown character, in the presence of his mentor

AMERICAN GANGSTA (5 second zoom on text, black background, white text)

BASED ON A TRUE STORY (6 second zoom)

Graphic match from black, doors lifted as mentor from opening is seen in a juxtaposing scene giving away food to citizens

HARLEM - 1968 (1:55)

Film Mapping for American Gangsta

Within the opening to American Gangsta, there is violence being shown instantly on screen to cement the film’s genre and level of maturity from the beginning. It also opens up a large number of enigmas as we know nothing initially about the man being set alight or the people committing the act, or why. There is also a clear hierarchy of power between the two characters as they are clearly dressed differently and carry a slightly different attitude. One character (frank lucas)  performs the execution and is dressed casually in a Cardigan that does not appear especially powerful or commanding; while his mentor is dressed in a suit and tie,  accented by an overcoat and scarf that looks expensive and secures his higher status.

When this violent scene is paired with the sinister setting of an alleyway at night, the enigmas are even more profound. Even within the short thirty seconds we see, the audience gets the sense that no-one is coming for the victim and there are no witnesses. This also makes the victim seem a little insignificant as the character is not named at this point and maybe suggests that this execution is not critical to the storyline,  the most important aspect of this true story-based film.

After the aforementioned murder scene,  we see a totally juxtaposed image of the character dressed in a suit previously. Now he is giving away food (what appears to be Turkeys around Thanksgiving) and smiling brightly in the middle of dawn as citizens look upwards at him, begging for food. This is a powerful juxtaposition as not only has the time of day changed to perhaps represent two different personalities, but he looks completely unfazed by the actions he witnessed being performed (presumably) last night. Also, his level of power has not been adjusted here as others are begging from him and there is no-one yet positioned above him on the hierarchy. His proxemics also place him above every other visible character as he is standing on the back of a van, giving even further levels of power and control.

Finally, this is the only scene within the opening that gives a sense of time chronologically; not only by the text appearing on screen (Harlem 1968) but by mise-en-scene. Props in particular play a part here as they are clearly from a certain era: the buses, cars, surrounding shops, street signs etc all represent the late 1960’s that the film is placed.

Film Mapping and Opening analysis for Transporter 2

Film Mapping for Transporter 2

time in minutes when credits are shown 0:00-2:00

20th Century Fox logo (signature 20 second animation)

TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX presents

a EUROPACORP production        in coproduction with TF1 FILMS PRODUCTION

in association with CURRENT ENTERTAINMENT

with the participation of CANAL+         and TPS STAR

JASON STATHAM

ALESSANDRO GASSMAN

AMBER VALLETTA

and KATE NAUTA

with MATTHEW MODINE

and JASON FLEMING

TRANSPORTER 2 (film title)

time in minutes when credits are shown 3:30-6:30

KEITH DAVID

introducing HUNTER CLARY

SHANNON BRIGGS

and FRANCOIS BERLEAND

casting by ED ARENAS    MELISSA HIRSCHENSON

costume designer BOBBIE READ

original score by ALEXANDRE AZARIA

martial arts choreographer CORY YUEN

car stunt choreographer MICHEL JULIENNE

editors CHRISTINE LUCAS-NAVARRO    VINCENT TABAILLON

production designer JOHN MARK HARRINGTON

director of photography MITCHELL AMUNDSEN

executive producer TERRY MILLER

produced by LUC BESSON and STEVEN CHASMAN

based on characters created by LUC BESSON & ROBERT MARK KAMEN

written by LUC BESSON & ROBERT MARK KAMEN

directed by LOUIS LETERRIER

Film Opening Analysis for Transporter 2 

The first thing that is made apparent within this film’s opening is that it begins in a very similar manner to the first instalment. We initially see an extreme long shot of a black german saloon car sitting still within a car park at which point the camera will pan across to the left and zoom towards the vehicle, before cutting to a close up of the side profile of the vehicle and continuing to pan across until an extreme long shot of the Audi logo on the front grille is visible.

The first Transporter instalment (featuring the same protagonist) had a film opening that was almost identical to this one apart from driving a BMW rather than an Audi. I suspect the vehicle choice was a matter of advertising for the manufacturer in question as they get to feature their high end luxury vehicles in a high-grossing box office film.

Another thing worth noting is that the original film’s opening eventually lead to the preparation of a bank robbery and a very memorable car chase. The fact that the second film begins the same way would perhaps lead us to suggest many more scenes as memorable and action-packed as the first.

As for the protagonist himself (Jason Statham playing as Frank Martin, unnamed at the film opening), he appears to carry himself with discretion, looks totally in control and an aura of formality given off by his black suit and choice of vehicle. An example of the character’s relative calmness and control is that within two minutes of the film’s starting, he is already threatened by an amateur car-jacking. A gun is pointed at him initially and he is threatened with melee weapons when he refuses to unlock the car’s coded ignition for the carjackers. He never looks frightened, anxious or even slightly concerned about losing a then brand-new car. He takes the whole situation as if it is a minor irritation before disarming the thugs of their weapons without permanently harming them; showing us that he has a touch of empathy as he could have easily killed them for the threats and inconvenience, and more importantly, the brief fighting scene reminds us in abundance that this is an action film through and through, and the genre is clearly confirmed within the space of three and a half minutes.    

Preliminary Task Video

This is our preliminary task video. Within this video, we have attempted to include all of the task's stipulations. Walking through a door, a corridor, a room in order to begin a conversation and following the 180 degree rule are all present features here.

Preliminary task storyboard

This is the storyboard for our preliminary task. It includes the length of each shot with a brief description of what is included too. Most shots included movement in order to cover the main stipulations if the prelim task (walking through a door, meeting someone for a conversation, etc) and these are all listed.

Ideas for our movie name

While brainstorming ideas for our opening sequence the topic of the name of our movie came up. We created, with the help of some people within our class some names which we could use. We picked the best five and wrote them onto large pieces of paper. We then asked some people in a year 12 class (aged 16-17) to write their name on a sticky label and put it on whichever name they most liked.

We selected to ask this class of people because they fall directly into our target audience, teenagers, we kept the task open to both males and females.

As you can see the name "The Tale of Demise" was the most popular, receiving 5/11 votes. We therefore will be using this name as the title of our film.

Ideas PowerPoint

Ideas powerpoint from thetaleofdemise

As a group, myself, Sophie and Freya set up a page of ideas in a word document to brainstorm our initial plans and ideas. When presenting these ideas, we decided to use a PowerPoint to clearly illustrate them. 

Preliminary Task Scenarios

Here we have a small collection of ideas that could be used for our preliminary task. All of these scenarios would cover the requirements of the preliminary task (providing a conversation and footage of walking through a door is included). The task stipulates:

-Footage of someone walking through a door
-A conversation between two people, obeying the 180 degree rule
-The conversation being staged in a (class)room

Potential Challenges of Preliminary Task

Potential Challenges of Preliminary Task

For our preliminary task, we was tasked with filming a 30 second scene of a character walking through a door, filming both opening the door and closing it behind them, and setting up a conversation of some kind within a room obeying the 180 degree correctly.

Initial ideas for this plan included having a character entering a room where two friends are waiting for a private conversation about saving and making money, until someone suggests an ‘unorthodox’ method of making money quickly. This can then be twisted into a tense of comedic scene and hopefully creates an engaging 30 second viewing.

The filming should be mostly still in movement, but there will be the occasional hand-held movement for the shot where a character must ascend the stairs to the classroom. Also, a shot reverse shot must be included in this sequence and making sure that each shot within this engagement is close enough in continuity to be identified as a shot reverse shot.

Following the 180 degree will also be a challenge as this will be the first opportunity to follow this rule in practical work.