Health and safety

Health and safety

Health and safety clearly is a big part of filming as no one wants to injure them-selves due to lack of planing. We looked at the possible problems before going to the set to film, ending up with a small list but still these would need to be taken into account to ensure everyone’s good health.

Our list contained things like falling while heading through the heavily wooded terrain, getting any fake blood in open wounds or eyes, taking care with set pieces and tent equipment such as hammers stoves etc.

All of these are quite low risk luckily so we went forward to film without any real need to change our plans however everyone was more aware of the possible risks hopefully leading to a greater professionalism during filming.

Location

Location

Our group, Flatline finally choose Virginia waters as it would be near empty in the morning with minimal risks and boosting an awesome woodland set. The set allowing the campsite set up to be completely believable and authentic. The vast area the land covers allows us to avoid the public however due to being nears busy roads the noise of cars is almost inescapable, we will use editing to take this out.

development video 2

This is our second development piece in which we focused on the colouring of our film. in the end we choose black and white with a red filter.

Story boards pictures

Story boards

Story board

Above you can see our storyboards this was a great tool to use because you get the idea of what shots and cuts to use. Organisation was also helped by the story boards so we had a good idea what we wanted in our shots providing a perfect spring board and plan to actually get filming. The storyboard has notes on sound our folley artist will add later and the type of editing and cuts required on each shot allowing us to confidently start. However these are not concrete ideas just guide lines to work with so if the location boosts extra brilliant looking shots we can simply follow our hearts with filming. Better to film to much than just enough.

development video

This is our small development and research film to show the creation of fake blood and other effects our film uses.

Screen shots of secondary research

Target audience

Researching our target audience

Undertaking the task of researching a good target audience I started by using the peal and dean planner (http://business.pearlanddean.com/filmplanner) with this I took similar films as examples to use as secondary research for our film. As flatline productions wanted to do a horror/thriller style film I looked into these two categories for the demographics and Psychographics of our possible target audience. From this research I have suggested to my group mates that our film has to be aimed at least at over 15 year olds simply due to content. I believe that our film should be aim at 16 year old to 21 as the older generation will have a very bleak output on horror films as well as trying to keep on top of plots which require a modern look for some of the ideas thrillers could portray. People under 16 will simply not like the gore and scare factors within the film, parents wouldn’t show this to young children due to its content and gore.

Age however is not the only demographic gender is also a demographic we will have to take into account. The research shows that on average more males would see a horror film compared to females thus we would be looking for a higher male percentage in our audiences. Hopefully we will be able to draw females to coming to watch the film with the thriller aspect but our main target audience will be males aged 16 –21.Social class also comes in to play we are targeting our film at the class groups C1 C2 D.

Psychographics

The idea of psychographics is how any society can be divided into 7 groups and what is important to them by doctor Maslow.

These are the 7 groups and what they generally look for:

Mainstream- family security

Reformers- change

Succeeders- control

Resigned- survivor

Strugglers- escapes

Explorers- excitement

Assipirers- image

Thus I believe our film shall sell more so toward Explorers who will look for a scary new experience that our film offers and as a secondary target.

Flatline productions logo

Knowing

Knowing is a film made in 2009 directed by Alex Proyas and starred Nicolas Cage. Knowing is a thriller/disaster film. The plot is students in 1959 leave behind a time capsule containing student’s drawings of their ideas of the future. A girl named Lucinda Embry puts in a page full of random numbers although she is stopped before she completes the page. That night however she is found in a closet, where she has scratched the rest of the numbers on the door with her hands.

In 2009, the time capsule is opened and finds its way to Nicolas Cage who soon realises some of the digits represent the dates and death tolls of every major disaster over the past fifty years, and suggests three disasters still to come. John (Nicolas Cage) goes about finding more about the mysterious forecasts which finally ends the world while sending caleb and abby with aliens.

Knowing starts with the brand logos of summit entertainment and escape artists animations and sound affects to accompany the logo to grab the attention of the audience and show off the brand. To reinforce this the summit entertainment text shows again fading in and out with a assortment digits related to the film. At this early stage the folly artist has already added the sounds of whispers and an errie sound track setting up a spooky atmosphere. As the non-digetic sound crescendos Nicolas Cage appears in the text, this shows the quality and style of actors and film will be. The first shot cuts quickly away from the sky into a close up of a girls face showing a deadly serious loo, the camera then zooms out slowly expressing the importance of the shot. Then it cuts to an establishing shot of a school play ground text at the bottom clearly shows the place and time (Lexington, Massachusetts 1959) digetic sound is all that can be heard at this point. Enforcing the unreal nature of the girl showing that something is very wrong or odd about her in someway rising the tension of the viewer. The shot cuts again swiftly on the a bell sounding the camera facing towards the door of the school, a teacher calls for Lucinda to come back inside however a quick cut to a close up of the serious looking girl with the non digetic whisper soon shows that she is hearing something the others can’t. This scene raises a lot of questions about the whispers like who/what are they coming from and why can only she hear them allowing the film to hook views into watching more. The scene ends with a shot of the sun and sky where the sun light shines over the scene creating a good cut into the next scene also perhaps providing viewers with the suggestion that the whispers are from other worldly things. The next cuts leads the audience to a class room where the teacher has shown that the odd girl from before has won and thus the school has decide to use a time capsule. All the students are asked to draw a picture however Lucinda fills a page full of numbers while the sound of the non-digetic whispers comes back on. This is shown through shot reverse shot from teacher to student and through match on action as the teacher notices the numbers instead of a picture. A close up reaction shot shows a look of huge concern from Lucinda as the paper is taken away from her. The shot then goes black with the non-dietetic ghostly whisper.

Preliminary task main points

1. What preparation did you undertake ahead of the preliminary task?
Storyboards were created to guide us through the preliminary task by our team, agreeing on different angles and shots (I will upload the story boards in the next post).
2. Where did you shoot it?
We shot it in the Windsor boys’ school, in an empty English room.
3. Why did you choose this location?We choose this location because it looked the most official area and more alike to a doctors office than the other rooms. The location provided the shots of the stairs as well; we took these shots in particular to use the high angle to make the patent look vulnerable.
4. What equipment have you used?
We used very little equipment besides the HD camera, three chairs and two desks. for mis-en-scene we used our school wear as it looks official. The set was a hallway, the stairs and the room.
5. What went well?
The teamwork was great everything ran smoothly and there were no disruptions.
6. What difficulties did you face?
The preliminary task film is actually the 2nd version; unfortunately another student from a school media group uploaded a file to the HD camera, which resulted in all the film failing to upload to a computer. Time was a factor as well after the first problem we were pushed for time and the set, which we first used, was occupied however we overcome the problems and produced the work on time.
7. What is your overall impression of your preliminary task outcome?
My team and I are happy with the outcome of the preliminary task, we were very pleased with the editing adding the fade and dissolve we feel made it more professional. We met all the specification points so we are happy with the task.
8. How would you improve it?
I would like to add more dialog and perhaps make a better more hospital style soundtrack.
9. What lessons have you learnt that you will keep in mind as you continue working on the main task?
Editing plays a major role, even shots that didn’t go well can be salvaged and parts can be used to continue the film. With that in mind if you as a team think that the shot is poor then never delete it always wait to see if it can be amended and produce better work.

The Preliminary task explained

In this short sequence we choose to have a plot involving a doctor and patent character the doctor welcome the patent into his office where he then explains the patents test results which have life changing consequences. The patent who is a main character along with the doctor, is followed by the camera to the office the scene on the stairs and as he rounds the corner on the top floor is sound bridged by a non-diegetic soundtrack which was created by our assigned folly artist and team. we hope this was the closest to prefect hospital theme to match the current location on screen. After rounding the corner the patent opens the door to the office, we cut to a match on action shot showing the door being opened to keep within the rules of continuity editing and thus make the scene run more fluidly. The patent then shakes the hand of the doctor and sits down to listen to his results, at which we used the dissolve tool in final cut to show time passing. the patent then asks the doctor about the results shown through a shot reverse shot conversation however there is no conclusion as a cut takes the audience outside in the hall. leaving the audience questioning what the results are and if anything is wrong with the patent. The short film ends with a pan away from the action and a fade to black gradually.

I hope the film meets all the requirements for the task at hand and that the plot can be understood by all viewers.

feel free to comment

Josh

The Preliminary task

Push film cover

Push introduction analysis

Push is a 2009 film directed by Paul McGuigan, following the genre of thriller action sci-fi. The plot is based in and around Hong Kong, where the "mover" Nick Gant is contacted by the "watcher" Cassie Holmes to seek out the "pusher" Kira Hollies. She has just escaped from the Division, a governmental agency that chases the people with abilities so that they may make super weapons. the names such as "movers" etc. describes the type of power they have, "movers" for example can move objects with their mind.

Push starts with the brand logos of summit entertainment and icon productions these have their own animations and sound affects to accompany the logo to grab the attention of the audience. After the producers the films subtitles set the film 10 years in the past allowing the audience to understand the past of the characters and start to develop the plot by leaving narrative questions. An establishing shot shows the setting, which seems to be a inside a flat building in a hallway where a cleaner is working. the camera then tracks down the hall way perhaps on a dolly rail. A man and his son fill the hallway as they round the corner in haste making the audience wonder why they are rushing. A cut from the scene then turn into a close up of the sons face suggesting his importance and showing the look of fear reinforcing the worry for the character in the audience. A close up of his watch, which has been edited by the folly artist, makes the ticking louder representing the lack of time and suggesting the danger that the characters are in. They enter a room shown through a match on action then through a shot reverse shot the father tells the boy that on day a girl will give him a flower and that he should help her at all cost which he stresses the importance of what he is saying. the boy accepts his father plea. this makes the audience ask why does the girl need help and how the young boy will be connected. The dad then tells the boy that he is gifted. later he is a "mover" this tells the audience that he has a clear destiny that the film will show. After that the father "forces pushes" the venting allowing the boy to escape the unseen mob following. This rises a lot of narrative enigmas like are there more of the gifted, powerful people etc. when this happens the dads then talks about the "division" and "watchers" both of which are unknown to the audience so they would inquire about them to find out what roles they have in the film, they are clearly shown as a military organisation. A black character is introduced with a bodyguard of S.W.A.T no name or information is given about the character however he is clearly important but the audience is positioned to not like the character and instead take up the father and sons side against the "division". The body guards smash through the door and are then blasted back through by a wave of energy allowing the audience to witness the kind of gifts the boy has and also to show off good affects that the film offers. Then more credits roll in while a girl talks about the world of gifted people who don't ask to be gifted at all this is followed by an eerie soundtrack. the gifted people are shown to be living in terror which needs to be resolved. the background for the credit are parts of testing physic warfare suggesting were the film leads and that the film has serious moral issues enticed within it. A war is explain that is happening between the division and the gifted people, which is in favor of the division but now the tide of the war will change making the audience question how.