Editing

This is the process that we took when editing the shots that we had for our film opening.




These are the shots that we edited together. To do this we simply dragged the shot that we wanted down from the project media, dragging the end of each shot to cut it or make it slightly longer. This consists of jump cuts as the fight goes on for a while we used jump cuts to show the passage of time. 

This is the uncopy righted sound that we added in . We did this by downloading it and then adding into the suitable scenes of which we selected it for . we had to shorten some bits and copy and paste more bits in to make it longer so that it would fit in . we also had to rewind a bit to make it fit in with the rest of the music .





This is the narration that we inserted we used this narration because i thought it was the best technique to get the audience to feel like they know the audience. We found trying to insert this a little tricky but once we had a little play and got the hang of it we was really able to use it to its ability.



This is the speech and sounds that was picked up on the camera we kept this as we thought it gave a good affect int he fighting scenes as you can hear the shouting and the screaming of the rival gang we had this in the back ground really quiet.

This is the text that we used. we searched through the internet for fonts to use for our titles and this one caught our eye we thought that it matched the genre and setting perfectly.

Shot Lists

Shot list (2) from gemmagreen1234

Shot list (1) from gemmagreen1234

Risk Assessment

              Risk Assessment 

Filming Locations

 This is Caistor Equestrian Centre, where the first scene will be shot.

 The second scene will be shot of the main character/characters coming down this road.







At this point, the main character will reach the front door of this house and then there will be a jump-cut to the next scene.

 Here is where the characters will enter the fight scene.

This is where the final, fight scene will take place which will then end with a black out.

Final Storyboard

Storyboard Draft

This is the first draft of our storyboard for our film opening.

The titles and production team will be shown here.

This establishing shot will pan to show the location of the first scene.

 This shot will show the main character riding a horse. There will be non-diegetic music playing in the background.

 

Here, we will see the main character lighting a cigarette, looking into the camera and then saying some dialogue.

 

 Non-diegetic narration begins here. This long shot will show the main character walking down the street directly towards the camera. Here there will also be a shift in the tone of the music.

 

Whilst the main character is walking down the street, the camera will focus in on her feet.

As she approaches the front door, the title of the film will appear on it.

This is an over-the-shoulder shot of the main character knocking on the door.

 

Here will be a long shot, tracking the characters coming down the street.

 

Like a previous shot, the camera will focus in on the main characters' feet.

 

As the narrator mentions each character, there will be an action associated with them and then a freeze frame where their name will be indicated.

It will be the same as this for the following characters;

Tiffany

 

Jodie

 

Becky

 

       

At this point, the opening will end with one final punch coming towards the camera and therefore will end with a blackout.

 

Roles Within Our Production

Camera - As a group we have agreed that we're all going to take turns in controlling the camera and so this duty will be shared. The definition of a camera man is a person whose function is to operate the camera.

Sound - We have decided that I (Megan Johnson) am going to be in charge of sound because I am creating the non-diegetic music for our production. The definition of someone who controls sound is a technician who is responsible for recording sound.

Lighting - All of our scenes are outside and because of this, the lighting will be beyond our control.

Director - We have come to the decision that we should all participate in this role, because we feel that no one should be the only person to take control of the production because no one person's input is more important than another's. The definition of a director is a member(s) of a team who is in charge of a situation and with a vision of the finished product.

Producer(s) - We have decided that all of us will take this role because we should all be able to contribute to the finished product. The definition of a producer is someone who edits and creates the overall product. 

Tag Line, Blurb and Synopsis

Tag Line: Fisticuffs - The art of fighting with the fists.

Blurb
Leading a double life is a talent that comes all too easy for Elizabeth Smith; one - drinking champagne celebrating her successes with her aristocratic - yet highly controlling family acquaintances, and another drinking Special Brew with her less noble associates in the depths of the urban jungle on the other side of town. However, when her life is knocked out of balance when her devoted crew become aware of her disciplined, middle-class existence, which way of life will she choose?

Synopsis

Elizabeth Smith comes from a very comfortable, middle-class background, however, to escape the pressures of her parents great expectations, she forms an alter-ego that goes by the name of Lizzie. Lizzie is feared by many but known by few; her 'crew' are a group of passionate and loyal girls from the estate who are notorious for their affinity for violence. They view Lizzie as their first in command. However, when they learn of her home life and compliance to her parents' demands, they insist that Lizzie must stay true to herself and choose just one way of life. In order to do this, however, she must first learn who her true self really is.

The Script

Fisticuffs

FIELD, EXT, DAY TIME.

Mother: Elizabeth! Elizabeth, darling! Posture!
Elizabeth [on horse]: Sorry mother...

Elizabeth gets off horse.

Mother: You did good today darling.
Elizabeth: I did, didn't I?!

Mother exits scene.

Elizabeth leans against the wall, lights a cigarette and looks into the camera.

Elizabeth: See, I am a good girl. In fact I'm everything a well brought up girl should be... I just like to f*ck sh*t up...

Narration. Introducing the characters.

Elizabeth: Oh, I'm Elizabeth by the way, but the f*cked up girls that are my friends call me Lizzie.
- Here's Stella, well Stomper Stella. You'll see why.
- That's Tiff, she doesn't look like much but trust me, she's a psycho.
- Ow! [wincing] That's my girl! That's Jodie, she's, erm... good with her hands.
- And of course- our Becky, she's brutal. A gob like my arse on the morning after a vindaloo; a terrible pain and spitting out sh*t. It's not nice.

And those c*nts, have been well and truly destroyed...

Target Audience Profile

 

Name: Elisha Johnson

Age: 20

Top 10 Favourite Films: Green Street, Football Factory, Legally Blonde, White Chicks, Mr and Mrs Smith, Troy, Dude Where's My Car?, Kidulthood, American Pie.

Top 3 Favourite Film Genres: Crime, Comedy and Romance.

Top 10 Favourite Singers/Bands: Britney Spears, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Plan B, N-Dubz, Ed Sheeran, Devlin, 50 Cent, Jennifer Lopez.

Favourite Food: Spaghetti Bolgnese, Chicken Korma, Jam Doughnuts.

Favourite Drink: Ribena, WKD, Apple Sourz.

Hobbies: Shopping, Socializing.

Top 5 Favourite Telvision Programmes/Series: Eastenders, Hollyoaks, I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, X-Factor.

Favourite Books/Magazines: Katie Price Autobiographies, Heat Magazine, The Sun.

Interests: Celebrities, Gossipping.

Idols: Katie Price, Jodie Marsh, Paris Hilton.

Favourite Actors: Brad Pitt, Danny Dyer, Johnny Depp, Reese Witherspoon, Cameron Diaz.

Top 5 Favourite Clothing Brands: Lipsy, Paul's Boutique, Addidas, River Island, Oasis.

Cast

Main Characters

Elizabeth (Lizzie)- Billie Blake
- Age 16 from social class AB but has working class friends...















Stella - Gemma Green

Jodie - Jade Clarke

Becky - Jess Hordon

Tiffany - Megan Johnson

The Rivals

Working Class aged between 16/17.

Charlene - Ebony Daley

Bianca - Kerry Green

Cheryl/Chezza - Vanessa Chow

Stacey - Sarah Brown

Inspiration

For our film opening, we have taken inspiration from Trainspotting. Our film will be of a similar genre and we are going to incorperate Danny Boyle's style of introducing the main characters through freeze frames and titles.

Analysis of a Student's Film Opening from Our Genre

Mise-en-Scene
Most camera shots throughout this film opening are point-of-view shots so that the audience feels as though they are looking through the eyes of the stalker. In this particular shot we can see the victim's torso in a back street through the reflection of a car mirror. The fact that it is located in a back street suggests the sordid, squalid things that are going on in the film due to the association with back streets being where a large amount of criminal behaviour takes place. In the reflection, we can only see the victim's torso; she is wearing dark clothes which cover up the majority of her body. The dark clothes could be reflecting her dark, sinister surroundings and the fact that we can see no flesh could be suggesting her innocence and blamelessness of the ordeal in the film. The mirror also indicates how we are looking at each scene from the stalker's point of view, and that there is a sense of mystery and secrecy about the whole opening.













Lighting
For the first scene where we are looking through a car window until we meet the main character and the whole scene is filmed in black and white. This emphasizes the stalker's obsession with the victim, and how he feels as though without her, his world is dim and that she - quite literally - brightens up his world! Throughout the rest of the opening, it is filmed with natural light; this indicates how these problems that the film focuses on can and do happen in reality. The very last scene however, is filmed in low-key lighting which suggests that the shrine is in an indoors confined space, like perhaps a bedroom.

Setting
Most of the film is located inside a school/college. The setting connotes how the victim is simply a young student living life like everyone else in her age group, and emphasizes her vulnerability and innocence. A camera shot that also highlights the threat of the stalker is when we see from his view when he is peeping through the blinds at the school to get a closer look at her. It makes the audience feel as though the main character is exposed and succeptible to danger due to his obvious easy access into the school/college- a place which is often considered a place of sanctuary.

Editing
The font of the titles that apear in the opening immediately suggest a sense of unease and mystery before we are even introduced to any characters. It is written in bold capitals and is a similar font to that which you would expect on a stamp on documents of reinforcements or declarations. This could be suggesting that the acts in the film are bypassing the law which adds enigma to the opening.

Iconography
The emphasis om the disposal of the cigarette in the medium shot of the car adds to the indication of the genre of Crime in the opening. It signifies depravity and wrongdoing, and the elusive actions suggest corruption and perversion.

Sound
Non-diegetic back ground music starts off simple with one melody, and gradually as the camera focuses in on the main character, more layers of sound are added to the music. The layers in the song add tension and the simplistic repetitive riff sounds alike music which you would find on similar films of the same genre.

Enigma
The opening creates a number of questions;
Why does the stalker have an obsession with her?
What has she done wrong?
What is her importance?
What is the secret behind the mystery?
Who is the stalker?
Is he a crminal or an authoratative figure?
What does he want with her?

Pros
I like the point of view shots because they add to the sordidness of the opening and they help indicate the plot.

Cons
Although I can see the meaning behind the black and white lense in the first shot, I don't think it had the desired effect as what it was intended for and that it would have been better without it. I also think that the back ground music was a bit too cliched and detracted the attention from what was happening in the opening, and that a simpler song would have been more fitting.

Interviewing Our Target Audience...

- Target Audience Research

Our first interview was with a middle-aged woman who was almost definitely passionate about Crime/Drama films! Despite this however, from her detailed answers I assume that she was particularly fond of films such as 'Sherlock Holmes' and 'The Da Vinci Code' as oppose to 'Football Factory' or 'Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels' - alike the films we will be focusing on. Despite this, she did give us some useful detailed answers; too much action and over dramatic scenes within the first opening would be enough to put many viewers off watching the film, and that some suspense is vital to keeping the audience engrossed in the plot.



The second person we interviewed was more fitting for our intended taget audience - teenager from social class D/E who takes an interest in Crime/Drama films. She said that to keep her interested in the film, the opening would have to contain some action and violence but also some suspense and enigma.

Lastly, we interviewed two more people also from our intended target audience. They said that what draws them to Crime/Drama films is the thrilling action sequences and tension that they create, and that to keep them involved in these films, the opening would have to contain both of those things.

Our Pitch

- Our Pitch
Our first idea is based on the plot about a teenage girl who leads a double life; one riding horses and meeting the expectations of her comfortable middle-class home life, and another on the opposite end of the scale - socialising with working-class council estate kids causing trouble and getting involved in things that she probably shouldn't. The opening would involve highlighting the main character's different lifestyles and introducing her friends individually.
     
     
Our second idea follows the lives of two best friends as main characters as oppose to just one. The film would show how the two characters influence one another's decisions in life and how they help eachother through the struggles of growing up as council estate kids. Due to there being two main characters in this film, the opening would be focused more on the setting and location, showing establishing shots of urban scenery.

- Feedback
As a whole, the class preferred the first idea because they said it seemed to have been thought through more thoroughly and was the most original idea of the two. Because of this, we have decided as a group to go ahead with the first idea for the rest of our project.

Box Office Data

Box Office Data

 

Www.boxofficemojo.com says that 'Inception' is the most popular Crime Drama film since 1980 bringing in a lifetime gross of $292,576,195. 'Inception' is based on the story of a thief who possesses the power to enter into the dreams of others. Dom Cobb doesn't steal things, he steals ideas. By projecting himself deep into the subconscious of his targets, he can glean information that even the best computer hackers can't get to. The nature of this film suggests that audiences are more intrigued by Crime Drama films if they have an abstract twist.

 

 

According to www.imdb.com users rated 'Shawshank Redemption' most highly out of the genre of Crime Drama. This suggests that among the audience, it is the most popular film of this genre. 'Shawshank Redemption' is about two prisoners who, after a number of years of controlled freedom become close friends and eventual freedom through acts of common decency. The popularity of this film indicates that although the audience are interested in the vice and corruption aspect of the Crime Drama genre, they are also engaged by relationships and bonds in characters.

 

 

Taget Audience

Target Audience

 

 

Statistics on the UK Film Council show that our chosen genre of Drama has been rated as fourth most popular, and 19% of the 1,978 who voted said that Drama films was their favourite genre of film. Because of the genre's popularity, our group agreed that it would be an appropriate genre to choose for our film opening.

From the statistics we have found, it has been shown that the average person who enjoys watching a Drama film is a female parent, aged over 35 years old belonging to social class AB. However because of our sub-genre of Crime, we have agreed that a more suitable target audience would be the younger generation of people aged between 15-25 years old from working class families. This is because these people are more likely to be familiar with the situations in the film and the chance of them relating to the film will be much greater than those aged over 35 years old in class AB.

Analysis of Film Opening Conventions from Our Chosen Genre

My Presentation on Conventions of Film Openings of Our Chosen Theme

Film Conventions Presentation

My Presentation on Conventions in Film Openings

My Group and Genre...

In my group there will be Jade Clarke, Gemma Green and Jess Hordon and our genre will be Crime Fiction.

Film Opening Analysis

My Film Opening Analysis