Wednesday 2nd December(Recording of corner shop scene)

on the 2nd of December we recorded the corner shop scene. we ran into a few difficult situations with findong a corner shop location. we decided we were going to use the cafe at our school but then we saw the uniform shop would look better for it. when recording there we also did encounter problems of people being around meaining we had to wait till they were gone before filming. Overall from filming i would say that i learnt that when filming, it is important that you are organised and quick.,

Monday 30th November(Fight Scene Rehearsals)

On the 30th of November me an Luke Mcadams met up with the two characters taking part in the fight scene in our movie in order to teach them the choreography. below is a storyboard for how we intend for it to go.



this is the choreography for the fight scene we made up.
James picks a cigarette and as he reaches to put it in his mouth he purposely drops it
JAMES sharply turns bringing out his weapon and hits gun out of LI’s hand at that same time LI kicks his gun out of his hand.
LI gives a sharp quick kick to JAMES. She grabs JAMES by his shirt punching him 2 times.
James grabs her third punch turns her arm into a shoulder lock and knees her she boots his leg they both drop and quickly get up.
He punches her twice and then boots her leg causing LI to drop.
He then notices his gun and runs to get it.
As he is running LI grabs his legs and he drops.
LI then strangles him from behind for 5 seconds and then he elbows her.
They then both look at the gun then look at each other for 1 second then roll away and run after their guns.
JAMES gets there first and begins shooting. LI gets her gun and takes cover. She reaches out to shoot when she is shot by JAMES in the arm.
She then retreats (leaving behind a note) under pursuit from JAMES.
JAMES pursues her but stops when he notices the note. He picks it up.

Storyboard

here is the storyboard for the first 2 minutes of my groups movie

Screenplay

Title DIRECTOR, DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY

EXT. STREET—-NIGHT
MURDER 1 takes place (LI strangles using CHAIN)
TITLE—- Actor... (James Dylan)
INT. House, RECORDING STUDIO-—NIGHT
MURDER 2 takes place (LI turns off lights OFF suddenly kills agent with a GUN)
TITLE—Actor... (LI)
EXT. ALLEYWAY—-NIGHT
MURDER 3 takes place (in ALLEY, LI impersonates a PROSTITUTE walks up to car talks to agent. They mouth. She enters car. She leans over and STABS him)
TITLE—-FATAL SCORN
INT. CORNER SHOP—-NIGHT
JAMES walks into SHOP, picks up carton of milk and sugar
INT. EVA’S OFFICE—-NIGHT
EVA
Where is he?
EXT. OUTSIDE CORNER SHOP—NIGHT
LI
In a shop.
INT. CORNER SHOP—-NIGHT
SHOP KEEPER
That will be 80p.
JAMES
Here you go, how’s the family?
SHOP KEEPER
There good thanks.
SHOP KEEPER hands over change.
JAMES
Cheers mate.
JAMES EXITS.
INT. EVA’S OFFICE—-NIGHT
EVA’S office is her study at home. She is clenching a PHOTO of all her colleges in her hand looking at her next target. (JAMES DILLAN)
EVA
Make it quick
EVA hangs up and sits on chair in SILENCE.
EXT. PARK—-NIGHT
LI back into some bushes, JAMES crosses road and notices LI in BUSHES. DISCRETLY and SLOWLY reaches for his GUN and continues walking. LI creeps up from behind and attacks.
Fight scenes takes place, LI RETREATS and leaves behind a note. James notices note. A piece of paper FALLS OUT of LI’S pocket. JAMES DILLION picks it up.

choreograhy Research(fight scene)

The rules of stage combat:

DISTANCE: the fighters should never be close enough to actually hit each other's body with the weapon. This is going to keep your fighters safe. If someone messes up and swings their weapon in a way they're not supposed to - if they have DISTANCE - the other person will not get hit or hurt.

PLACEMENT: This is how and where you move your weapons. NEVER swing a sword across someone's body and especially their face. There is nothing scarier than seeing someone's sword point at your face. With placement - this is an added SAFETY feature - so if someone messes up and they forget to keep DISTANCE - but they are keeping their PLACEMENT - the other actor won't get hit or hurt.

Placement for stage combat sword fighting: When attacking your targets are always OUTSIDE the body (about 8 inches) - not the actual body itself.

TIMING: is the next rule of stage combat. You have your safe DISTANCE, the actors know their PLACEMENT, and now it is a matter of working out the timing so it looks like the parry is coming just in the nick of time. If the parry comes to early... the actor looks a bit psychic and it's not believable. If the parry comes too late, the person throwing the attack looks a bit lame if the other person hasn't parried and they're just hanging out there waiting for the other person to remember to parry (even though it looks silly - this is what you should do if such a mistake happens - there is NEVER any improvisation in stage combat.) It takes work to get the timing right - but the timing will make or break a fight - whether it's exciting or whether it just looks sloppy and amateurish.

you need a TRAINED fight choreographer to teach you and correct mistakes. It takes a lot of practice, just as you do if you were going to choreograph a dance. Stage combat is a dance of implied violence. You need to think about all of the same things as you do with dance, but now you have the added complication of a weapon (or two) involved.

A general rule for stage combat is: for every SECOND of fight you need to have an HOUR of rehearsal. That's a lot of practice. And it's important to have a safe and well-executed fight.

A fast fight isn't necessarily a good fight.

A fight that is slow, but precise, well timed, and well acted - is going to be a thousand times more exciting and more interesting to watch - than sloppy fighters just trying to be fast.

act out slowly and sped up in editing.
taken from http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080124235449AADdhR1

Media Research Part 2

The film Watchmen uses traditional action/adventure conventions within the opening sequence. It begins with a debate about political conflicts over their ‘human nuclear deterrent’. It then goes on to have the comedian attacked by a mysterious man/woman. Within in the opening a fight then takes place which from my research I have discovered that it is very alike to that of action genres. It also begins with a serious murder of an important person which is controversial to the story which is popular to action genres. The murder/fight in action genres usually end with a trademark for the murderer but they have twisted this convention by instead showing the logo of the Watchmen with a blood stain on it as a significant trademark to the comedian’s death. It then goes on to the titles being shown with images that appear to be moving(it appears like a montage). This is slightly going against the conventions of action drama as it is not usually done.
The comedian is the centre of attention within the opening sequence and in the opening as he dies they try to describe his character as much as possible. They use his choice of magazines for example to show his love of sex. He appears as a violent, abusive and unserious man (which is shown in his name). The mysterious murderer is a typical generic character within the genre. They remain unknown yet highly skilled in a fighting style.

The next film i researched on was the first Mission Impossible. the opening sequence for this wasnt very long or spectacular. they kept it simple however presented a twist to it. it begins with a screen in screen shot of a editor watching some actors do take through a screen.then suddenly a bit of drama takes place when one of the actors appear to posion one and then he takes of this latex mask and turns out to be Tom Cruise. this opening sequence is very unique from other sequences in the sense that unlike other films of this genre they choose to not begin the film with some action packed chase/fight scene although they have created a little bit of drama and the fact that they beginning make little sense makes it very good as it leaves the audience with question waiting to be answered.

Narrative
A group of people from a secret detective company have retired and one by one are getting killed off by a certain someone with a twisted grudge.When the retired leader is attacked he manages to defend himself but this then forces him to come out of retriement and regather the remaining members so that they can find out who this mystery person is. They go on to do investigating around the deaths until they get a lead. It is none other than there ex member who was the only female. She was mistreated as a female and held a grudge and wanted revenge. A huge fight takes place between the woman and her army and the ex agents until eventually she is defeated.

Genre Research

Green Street
Like most crime genres the titles usually are bold and displayed in a black background to attract attention. Not only that but it also starts with a fight scene. This is similar to most crime/action genres as they usually start with a fight/chase scene or anything ‘action packed’. One thing they have also used is a monologue which usually tends to be used through dramas and occasionally in crime.
The Mis en scene is typical in relation to the genre and the typical setting. They used a pub which is traditionally known to be a common setting for hooligans. In addition there clothes also fit typical conventions of a hooligan. They are dressed very scruffy and this fits in well with the stereotype of them as this is how they are perceived. They have also stuck to the traditional conventions of a fight scenes by having many different shots and having a quick shot duration. The accents used also fits into the view of crime and hooligans of east London as they are usually seen as people with cockney accents.
They have also stuck with typical characters within the genres. You have Matt, the new guy to the scene however they have changed him from the typical characters like this in the genres. He has been viewed as a shy and innocent person. Pete’s character is very typical. He is the leader who is very confident but unlike other bosses who are usually quiet, humble, fearless and powerful he is very loud aggressive and confident. Steve is a character that fits in with the genre. He is the responsible law abiding citizen however they have created a twist to his character. He was not always like this he was the ex leader which makes his character interesting.
Next
Like most action films the titles are shown in a black background and appear more striking along with action music. However to bend the convention of this to there own style they have changed the traditional plan font to a graffiti writing. In addition they also show flashes of clocks and has the character watching clocks and his watch which signifies the importance of time. they have also fit in a monologue like most action films and they have also added a ‘action packed’ scene which is the chase scene which fits in well with the conventions of the genre. They have however bent the conventions of action films as they have made this character a psychic which isn’t a particular typical convention. They used quick shot duration in the chase scene which works with the conventions well as it is very popular with ‘action packed’ scenes.

Preliminary Evaluation

Here is my preliminary and my evaluation


Preliminary Evaluation
The first step my group and I took in creating our prelim was to first produce a script. We were originally asked to practice this in class with a partner and because I had a different partner to my group we had to different scripts already planned. We had the option of and interview between a Detective and a murder suspect or two security guards on duty guarding top class information when they witness someone break in and attempt to apprehend the person. We had a discussion and at the end we voted as to which one we preferred. We all agreed that the security guards script was the one we wanted to do as we did not want to do a typical interrogation of a murder scene. However the script was incomplete so we were required to continue it but as we went on we decided that we wanted to change the script again and was therefore required to find time outside lesson to write the script. After we required to make a storyboard. As we fell a bit behind we were required to make this outside the lesson. When doing this we took into consideration many different ways of representation such as what angles to use etc.
Although we had a storyboard when it came to storyboard when it cam to storyboarding we began making changes as we had better ideas. Whilst shooting we ran in to a number of problems. One was because we were shooting in school when it came to end of lessons there were problems as kids kept getting into the shots. Also we forgot about continuity in our work(e.g. Luke had 2 different tops). We also did quite a lot of takes mainly because there were times when the actors got their lines wrong or laughed. When we finally came to editing the clapperboard we used in shooting was really good in helping identify what takes we needed. When editing we first chronologically edited making sure we used the correct shots for each. Once we had don this we then added titles and got the sorted out the transitions which we did not take long as we only had titles at the beginning and the end. Next we added the music and SFX. We decided to use action music for our chase scene. This is as it made it sound more dramatic and exciting. Another piece of music was a jazzy sort of music which we used when I entered the elevator music. This worked well for us as it was amusing as the two pieces of music contradicted. We used on SFX which was when me and ‘the bandit’ bumped into each other.
I my prelim we made a range of creative decisions. In our chase scene we had this action music which made the chase more interesting and to make it more amusing we had elevator for when I entered the elevator to contradict it. Also instead of to use the opening and closing of doors as our match on action we decided to do it when I’m pressing the button on the elevator. In addition we also used a rubix cube. This was to aid in showing that my character was not a ‘smart’ character as he was unable to complete it. It also showed he was a tad childish as he appears playful as he is playing with his rubix cube whilst on the job.