Character Profiles

Instead of using a script fo our trailer we decided to create detailed Character Profiles to give to each of the characters so they could gain an idea of how they needed to act in character. This links in nicely with our idea of using Mike Leighs concept of improvisation with character lines in the film.
This meant that during the film when lines were required all the actor would have to go on is their charater profile of the character.
Here are the character profiles we created.

Filming Locations

Screen shots 1,2,3 and 4 could be the location we choose down Gracious Street. It is planned to be used for two particular scenes, one when DC Summers chases the robber down the road with him being caught at the corner of the alleyway used in possibly another scene. This may also be used for the news report scene as the report will be all about the robber getting caught by DC Curtis. So naturally the reporter would want to talk to DC Summers about the capture of the robber at the scene where it all happens. This location will be suitable for these two scenes as it is a discreet location with a lot of houses nearby which is where notoriously a robber would be located. It is also near to the alleyway we wanted to use for another scene so it was the obvious location for us to use. The location also looks quite old compared to other parts of the town and we want to have a 1980s era for the film and if filmed correctly, we feel we can create this feeling. Screen shots 5 and 6 will be used down Old Crown Lane and will be used for the end of the last scene where the robber will be caught by DC Curtis (the entrance to the alleyway) and where DC Summers is chasing Billy to try and arrest him. We may use this alleyway as it is near to the previous location (reason mentioned above) and it is also full of sharp corners and for the type of atmosphere and situation we want to create for the scene, this location was perfect. When DC Summers chases Billy down the alley, because the corner is so sharp, he cannot see around them and the tension therefore builds to a high level, especially where Billy turns to fire at DC Summers. In Screen Shot 6, we could use the car as an explosion as this is a common feature of other action trailers through research we made. Through searching around the nearby location, we feel that this vehicle most represents and looks like an 80s vehicle and we want to make sure that we keep with the 1980s era. This car is permanently at this location and so it would be quite easy to get to and complete because it is a near distance to two other locations we think we will be using. Screen Shot 7 is where we will put the vehicle when DC Summers and DC Curtis are waiting for Billy to appear so that they can arrest him. This was opposite the alleyway shown in Screen Shots 8 and 9. We decided to choose this location for this scene because the alleyway is straight all the way down and you can see down it from the entrance of it. This is also why we need to pick a different alleyway from the previous one that we researched. For this scene the policemen needs to see down the alley from their vehicle in order to find Billy. Before we start to film we have researched each location so that we knew that we wouldn't change our minds and we made sure that the alleyways we used met the requirements of the scene, genre and film respectively. Screen Shot 8 is where the Drug Lord and Billy meet in order for the Drug Lord to give Billy a gun to protect himself from the policeman with. We are pretty sure we will do it down this alley as we want the audience to know that he is very close to being caught by the policeman as he is just round the corner from their view. It will also show that the policeman are right to suspect that Billy is in that area and park the car outside the alley for the intent of trying to arrest him. Screen Shot 9 is also down the same alleyway where DC Summers and Curtis aim to raid Billy's property in order to gain information about him that could lead to his capture. We will do this here as through researching the area before filming, we feel that because we want to make the audience think that this was a hideout and a place that he visits often, and we found a door we could use as if he lives there. In this scene DC Summers and Curtis will kick down the door to enter as a dramatic effect because they cant enter any other way. We know that previously this door does lead to private property so we will make sure that we will do no damage to the door or anything through the door. Screen shots 10 and 11 are from inside the car which we may use for screen shot 7. We made sure that the car was as '80s' as possible my removing any foreign objects so none will get in the way of the filming. Screen shot 12 is where DC Summers and DC Curtis will walk towards the camera. We will use this location because the linear angle of the garages along one side of the road will match in well with the linear movement of DC Summers and Curtis. Also the basic and dulled colours of the garages will fit in with the style of our piece as being 1980s British era. Screen shot 13 is where DC Summers will meet Billy in order to exchange drugs for information. This is to lure Billy in to arrest him. We are choosing this location because it is in a remote area and away from the public eye. This area also includes a small area inbetween the garages which could be especially effective as there is hardly any space for Billy to escape when DC Summers will aim to arrest him. Screen shot 15 is where DC Summers and DC Curtis will interview Billy after they arrest him when they catch him down the alleyway where he meets the Drug Lord, who will escape. This will be a suitable location for us to use as if structured correctly (like we have in the image) and use of the correct camera angles, we can portray it to look like a real interview situation inside a police station. We will have DC Summers and Curtis on one side of the table, with Billy on the other to look like a formal, traditional police interview, with use of props and equipment added to further show this. We have different options for different scenes and we will decide on which scenes we feel will meet the demands of the scene best. Screen shots 16,17 and 18 are where we could do what we are planning to do in screen shot 13. We are considering this because it is very notorious in other films of where informats are found and it is also a good location for a drug person because nobody would suspect them of being there. Screen Shots 19 and 20 are where we are thinking of doing the scene in screen shot 14. We are thinking of doing this here because it is very discreet and that is the aim of this scene, for DC Summers and Toby to meet without causing a scene, exchanging the information and leaving (although Billy arrives). Finally screen shots 21 and 22 are where we are planning to do the scene where I chase and corner Billy in order to try and arrest him. This is probably a scene we will not do, but if we did, we would do it in this location because there is no way out if you get to there, only back the way that you came. So it is the obvious choice for a scene such as this.

Initial Storyboard (Before filming)

This is our original to storyboard to help guide us through our filming..

Research: Editorial Experimentation/Skill Development

I have  recently purchased a  program called Sony Vegas that we will use to edit the film.
I am not very familiar with this software so i have decided to do some experimenting by watching tutorials and doing some practice editing.

Firstly as i am new to the program i watched the following tutorials to gain a basic idea of how the program works.
I knew some bits and peices as i had used editing software before, but i felt it better to research the program and gain a basic understanding of how to use it.
I also knew that if i became stuck during editing i could easily use the internet to find out how to do certain things.

After looking at the above video i felt that i had gained a basic enough understanding of the software.
So i then decided to look into some of the more complex fuctions of Sony Vegas by searching terms such as 'Sony Vegas' and 'Sony Vegas Effects' and also looking at further sont vegas tutorials on youtube.


I watched these following youtbe tutorials to develop more specific sony vegas skills.
Title Tutorial.

Explosive effect tutorial(this could come in handy for our action trailer)

General Effects tutorial:

Muzzle flash effect( again may come in handy in our action film)


Most of these tutorials encouraged you to have a go, so i did i played around in sony vegas creating effects and title sequences.
I found that just spending a little bit of time in sony vegas playing around really helped me to understand the functions of the program and also opened my eyes to what was possible, and what i could suggest to the group that we could include into our Products.
I created many project files, here is a snipet of a few of the videos in my video file folder.

Research/Mike Leigh/Outnumbered Dialogue improvisation

In our media studies lessons we discussed the possibility of instead of scripting trying a technique we have learnt about in the theory side used by Mike Leigh.
Michael was the director for our piece and had also completed a research section into directors, one of which was Mike  Leigh.
We decided as a group that it would be a good idea to research into Mike Leighs method of using improvisation instead of scripting and probably use this technique in our trailer.

Mike Leigh:

Born 20 February 1943 (1943-02-20) (age 68)
Brocket Hall, Welwyn, Hertfordshire, England.

 I found this description of what Mike Leigh does on

http://www.thevillager.com/villager_136/themasterofimprovisation.html"

"Mike Leigh has for 40 years now employed his own unique method of starting and building a play or a movie, and he has built plenty of both, gathering praises and prizes along the way. “First, the actors take part without any idea of the process,” he says. “Second, each actor only knows what his character would know." 

I feel that this is a perfect description of Mike Leigh's Non-Scripting Method and descibes the method perfectly.

It makes me wonder if we would be better off using this method rather than the traditional script as due to the nature of our task their should be minimal dialogue, and any peices of dialogue we do use need to be very effective.

I found this clip of Mike Leighs method being discussed on BBC Radio 5 live.

I watched this clip through and it just makes Mike Leighs method intregue me even more, its such an intresting method as it goes against the norm of modern movie making.

A good example example of Mike Leigh's method in action is in this trailer as all the dialogue in it is not scripted..

After researching into mike Leighs method it made me think where else i have seen this method, or a similar method applied.
In the BBC Tv Comedy 'Outnumbered' it was revealed in an article that the three kids in the show are allowed to improvise their own lines.
This can be read in the following BBC article
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/dec/06/television-bbc

Or alternatively an image of the article is below

To Sum up, i would say i am very intrested in this method and am willing to try it out. I beleive that if done correctly this improvisation method can be used to great effect, and just might be the perfect solution to dialogue in our trailer.

Research-Camera Angles

Firstly we researched what camera shots and angles there are:

High angle: A high angle shot is usually when the camera is located above the eyeline

Low angle: A low-angle shot, is a s from a camera positioned low on the vertical axis, anywhere below the eyeline, looking up.

Dutch angle:Dutch tilt, Dutch angle, oblique angle, German angle, canted angle, or Batman Angle are terms used for a cinematic tactic often used to portray the psychological uneasiness or tension in the subject being filmed

Birds-eye angle:A Bird's eye shot refers to a shot looking directly down on the subject

Long shot:A long shot typically shows the entire object or human figure and is usually intended to place it in some relation to its surroundings

Medium shot: A medium shot is a camera shot from a medium distance.

Close-up:A close-up tightly frames a person or an object

Over the Shoulder shot:Is a shot of someone or something taken over the shoulder of another person

Point of view shot: Shows directly what the character is looking at

Reverse shot:Is defined as a 180-degree camera turn to the preceding image, common in point of view and over the shoulder (in the latter, care must be applied to avoid a continuity error by violating the 180 degree rule

Two shot: This is where two people are in the picture

Establishing shot:This is established by given a broad overview of the entire scene

Ashes To Ashes and Life On Mars

This is reasearch post into two current well known old style police drama's. We felt doing a bit of research into these would help us in our production as the creators of these two dramas would have had to deal with the same problems we will face when filming of making sure that nothing post 80's is included in our filming scenes as this would represent a massive continuity error, a good example of this would be making sure that modern cars are not included in our trailer.

 

 To research in to these two dramas we watched a few clips on youtube to gain a basic idea of what kind of indoor and outdoor locations where used as this will be an important choice we will have to make when it comes to finding and choosing locations that fit in witht the time period we want our trailer to appear from. We also used these clips to help us gain an idea of what police figues in the 70/80's would wear as attire,and what kind of props we would need to fit in with the time period.

Here are some of the clips we found we could use as inspiration for our costumes and  locations ect.

When we watched this video i struck the idea in our head that we could use predominantly leather jacket based costumes as this would be a lot easier for us to access than some other 80's clothing.



We felt that this trailer showed us a lot about costumes and props. It also in a way gave us an idea of how to included mutilpe fast short clips in sequence, and provide certain 'cliffhangers' such as gunfights and explosions. We found that watching particully this trailer got the ideas flowing in our head,and gave us good idea's on how to succesfully construct the trailer.



This 'Life on Mars' trailer is quite a short trailer but we again felt since it showe firstly in the may, and then in the 80's it again presented with an idea of how our film to exclude modern items from our film.

The thing that i noticed was that when he is in the modern day and drivng, the road signs are really modern and so are the roads and sourounding buildings.
This then changes to him in the 80's and you can clearly see the difference in the locations, clothing, props.This giving us a good idea of what we need to do to create this effect in our media.