As mentioned in our feedback from the first draft we had a major problem with music or just lack of it. We thought of trying garage band to make our own special and unique track to go alongside the scene but in the end it proved too hard and what we had in mind would have been too complex to make ourselves. This left us with finding an existing track on the internet we could use.
So to make sure we had it sorted me and Ollie met up and searched through several free non copyrighted music sites for the best one, the best one turned out to be a simple website called freeplaymusic.com which contains tons of tracks to use in filming such as our own all ranging from simple beats to massive orchestral sounds.
We knew from the start the best track to use for the main part would be a very simple, low bass beats track which would get more upbeat as it carried on, so to find this kind of track we searched 'progressive' in its search tool and received over 20 responses giving us exactly what we needed just in different genres of music. But after lots of searching and previewing we found the perfect track which gave us under tones of suspense but progressively got louder and more upbeat.
The final track we needed was for the fight scene and needed to dramatic, deadly, orchestra based and around 44 seconds long-this we thought would be hard to find. But only after a short search of tracks relating to 'fight' we came across a very well constructed track of orchestral instruments being played fast and jumpy giving the sense of being trapped and feeling death slowly approaching. After doing research on fight scenes within the type of films we based our on we found out that this kind of orchestral music was perfect for building tension and grabbing the audience quickly and not letting go. The track was perfect for our gore and blooded fight.

To make the ident more interesting our practical teacher Miss Frearson suggested we create an animation with the logo. As the vocal point to our ident is the blood splatter Miss Frearson saw this and capitalized on it by suggesting we animate the blood by making it appear after the audience sees the logo. With this in mind Ollie then thought of quickly doing this on photoshop by saving the logo as a JPEG on photoshop, then erasing part of the blood splatter, then saving it as a JPEG again until all the blood had been removed. This would then give us the foundations to our animation.
But to quickly animate the ident i decided it was best to import the pictures into imovie which automatically converts the pictures into 10 second clips allowing us to edit the picture as if they were filmed camera shots. We firstly cut all clips to a second so they could be easily managed and set out on experimenting with different times for different blood splotches so the blood would appear to be dropping naturally.
Finally after getting the best balance of times we added a final music track to add to the unusual logo. The music was from imovie and called suspense so naturally it provided the thrilling edge the ident needed. all this combined meant the animation was original, inventive and very fitting for the final draft.

These were the pictures in order:

With our final film company name we started to think of ideas for portraying it and the essence of the filming effectively. As always we looked into existing products and examples for inspiration and what seemed to be common in all film production names was the use of a picture and lines to break up the name. But before we even started on this we looked into graphical fonts which would be the foundation to the rest of the ident, to do this we used good ol' myfonts.com which had thousands of different fonts and allowed us to search for our most ideal one. We typed in film first and got a whole range of cheesy fonts so we revised our search to Gritty and street which gave us loads more fonts connecting to the film corporation name, of all fonts the best one was called streetbrush.

But to follow the trait of the other film company idents we needed to find some pictures that related to the genre of film, to do this we looked into some free copyright picture sites to find the one that had the biggest range and the most professional look. This led us to freedigitalphotos.net. Within the site we searched action and other classic genre traits but we found the most shocking search to be Blood which turned out around 20 results of high quality pictures using fake blood in creative ways:





After playing with the pictures in Photoshop elements 5 we found that the best one to use in the final ident was a blood platter from the third picture, this has accurate spread of blood and covered most of the logo.

We then applied this to the classic set up of idents with a surprisingly dull outcome:

After making this first logo we started to realise the flaw in the design-the font was too dark and the blood was a poor quality cut. We then revised the whole method of cutting and set out to make the final logo with no lines and better quality mix of colours and pixilation.

After thinking of our film institute name it was time to look into original film names. This posed as a hard task to carry out because of the diversity of action film names already having been used, we couldn't just pick a random aspect of action films and use it as a name. But just in case that worked we brainstormed ideas:
• Head to Head
• Bullet time
• Lost in identity
• Derailed
• Right to kill
• Ghost instinct
• Firing line

Unfortunately these names were either cheesy or had been used before. So to get past this we looked into our film story and the basic story of the opening sequence, we knew the strongest piece of narrative was the corrupt boss being framed so we looked into other ways of framing someone and changing the words around to create a new name with action packed connotations.
• Body trap
• The framed
• The set up
• Tricked
• Enticed

Being realistic with our names we singled out: The set up and Tricked, because of strong means they had behind them and the obvious action related aspects. Also out of all names the set up seemed to be the closest to the story line and would give the mysterious presence we needed without detracting from the story too much. Overall we chose 'The Set Up' for its quick and punchy words which seemed to simple but gave us and our peers so many ideas of what it could mean or where the story could go.

At this stage in filming and planning we had to think of a film corporation name which would reflect our type of filming and the genre of film so that the feel and setting of the film would be described before it even started playing.
We first started to think of ideas for names by using inspiration from other names of film corporations, we looked into he type of name to the type of filming they normally do. Strong examples were Universal Studios who will films almost anything, Focus who concentrate mainly on dramas and unusual films, Marvel studios who concentrate of film depictions of comic books. This gave us ideas such as:
• Adrenaline
• The Extreme
• Disaster
• Urban films
• Blooded
We thought that overall the best name that described us was the Urban films, but this was lacking any real description of our genre so we then started to develop it further.
• Urban Shot
• Extreme Urban
• Urban blood
• Urban Action
Of all these names the final one: Urban Action, was the best in terms of look, style and description. This name combined with a sleek and sophisticated ident logo would look mysterious but give a strong professional presence, an ideal combination for any film production company but mainly for our serious and realistic filming.

For the new film we thought using Karl again would be our best bet, he was perfect for the running in the draft but because of his martial arts history and constant spa and fight demo competitions he had the perfect build for our new fight scene. For these new reasons we chose him for the main character/spy.

But for the position of contact we chose a character and friend that wouldn't mind being beaten up and give a realistic edge to everything, so Richard Mackey was the best choice. He had enough strength and stature to look like he could take on Karl but ultimately his efforts would be outdone in the final scene. Also similar to our reasons for choosing Karl, Richard is a close friend so his efforts would be more than standard and working with him would ease the overall process. From experience I know that Richard has a strong resilience to most things and when asking him to be part of the film he was happy to accept and put enough time in it until it was completed.

For the final role as the corrupt boss we chose another close friend called Alex Prichard who at 6ft 4 would give the perfect adult look and add a sense of sophistication to the whole film. His slow and smooth style of talking would add an over confidence to the character and ultimately provide a the best representation of a boss type person without detracting too much from realistic scene.

When me and Ollie were looking through films for inspiration for our final scene we looked at the trailer for Bourne Identitiy to pick out its use of music and shots, whilst doing this we found a clever bit of editing which made it look like the Bourne character had appeared from behind a passing car. we thought this little bit of editing would be great for the final piece to make it even more mysterious. To see if we could even do it we pulled in our friend beau and got him to stand still whilst we filmed.

How we did it:
We're not sure if this was the same technique but we set up the camera in a fixed place and filmed a short clip of our friend Ross walking past with a film board in his hands, this would cover the whole screen making it possible for beau to just appear out of no where. We then filmed the same clip again but with beau standing just a foot behind the film board. Took off the camera and put onto imovie we quickly edited the two clips by cutting off the amount of film on each one from beginning and end and then trimmed down the first clip to half way then the same with the other clip so that when played together they looked like the same shot.

Of all places we looked into for filming we thought that a general and homely house would be the best to suit the story line and the ideal filming conditions for this type of mysterious scene. Filming in a house would allow us to be relaxed about time and be able to keep continuity.

We got the idea for filming in a generic house from the film Hitman in which the beginning scene sees a man entering his house and being startled by an assassin who wants to talk. The shots involved in this scene were fantastic and ranged from different shades of lighting to different shot angles and distances. If we could copy, or even better, improve the shots used in that scene we could gain some shocking suspense and instant mystery.

To do this we chose a house that closest to the actors and was the most available for the planned time, with all factors considered my house was the best option. The reason for choosing my house was even further enforced by its strong layout which carries on right to a garage outside which had the perfect look for our dialogue.

After deciding this we started to draw up the thumbnails using the shotlist in comparison to the layout of my house and its rooms, fortunately the two fitted well and only a few shots had to be changed to fit the required action. I also made a small plan view of the Kitchen where the fight scene takes place on Microsoft Paint so that we could plan the fight in detail to fit the size and shape of the room.

Before filming we thought it was best to draw out basic drawings and depictions of the shots we've described in our shot list, this way instead of reading from a long sheet of paper we can help ourselves visualise each shot and use the thumbnails as a basic foundation to how each shot will work. This is perfect for our new idea because of the simplicity it will have compared to the previous draft but mainly because the draft wasn't planned and had way too many shots.

Because of the detailed shot list we made and the simplicity of the final idea me and Ollie decided making a full story board wouldn't be necessary and that we should instead rely on the combined effort of the thumbnails and shotlist to direct our shots. This would ultimately be risky but prove that we could use our strong vision for the final piece to help us but also allow for actor input and improvisation which would vastly benefit the filming process-making it more creative and less stiffly constructed.

The final idea is an opening sequence to a high certificate rated spy film that is based on a realistic background and story.

Planning for Final Movie

The big changes we have designed for this new film are as follows:
Filming inside for controlled lighting and easy continuity management.
Filming at dark to keep lighting at a constant throughout the filming process.
Relying on artificial light to give a realistic feel and look to the film.
Change in acting roles.
No chase scene, only action coming from small fight/beat up.
Dialogue.
Mystery obtained through suspense.
Strong narrative.
Effective and suitable music.

After handing in our draft and going through all feedback me and Ollie got down to business and started brainstorming new ideas. To do this effectively I thought it was best to get some strong inspiration from the films we first thought of when getting ideas for a film genre. From the start our main inspiration has been James Bond and to be more specific: the film Casino Royale has been our model for everything. We then looked back over the opening sequence for Casino Royale and also the beginning of Hitman which used fantastic use of close ups and panning shots.
After doing this we tried to pick out the most important feedback we received which after long discussion we thought was the comment on narrative. This meant we had to forget all ideas of a chase scene and focus on some aspect of dialogue and strong story which would be apparent throughout the whole scene.
As a basis for our new film idea we took the Casino Royale story and changed the motives, the setting, the destiny of the characters and the overall cinematography. what we planned to keep was the realistic feel of the scene which would be perfect for our target market. Overall the new idea was going to use less Action and concentrate on suspense to give the real enigma behind the scene, which after watching several more action film opening sequences we noticed to be the best way to draw the audience in.

To get feedback from our peers we had to set up our video on a computer and allow each other film team to view it and give comments and constructive advice, their responses were laid out as:
Name:
Audience:
Successes:
Improvements:
Comments:
Level:
Most of the feedback was brief but still extremely helpful in showing us key areas of failures and needed improvements, these were generally pointed out by just key words such as 'Lighting' but this helped us list the problems and reassess the video our selves with these aspects in mind.
The most mentioned problem was the lighting which was said to be poor and lacking 'close to the end of the film', this was by far our worst problem. Other points raised were the lack of music and titles which didn't give the film much presence and left them feeling confused. And finally a small comment was made on how the actors looked too young, but this was the least of our worries.
However out of the bad points many good points were raised such as the use of shots which were 'constantly changing a different' and the clever use of a new board in part of the filming. but oddly enough one of our peers thought that the lighting was great and a clever use of the dark was used, we put this down to sympathy and took little notice.
The final comment each peer would leave was a grade, for the filming a 1 is the worst possible and a 4 is an epic success. We averaged a measly 2 but had a few 3s creeping in which shows how close we were to a success.

Finally was our teacher's feedback which came in a much smarter format and gave extremely blunt yet in formative advice, they cleared up the problems with lighting and music but then started to comment on deeper and more pressing issues we should have looked into. Firstly was the comment on how the chase was too long and left them feeling bored, even with music very little suspense would be achieved. Then to resolve this they pointed out that the problem was lack of narrative which would have been presented in our film with flashbacks (unfortunately we never got round to that bit). A quote given in person from our practical teacher was 'just looks like a couple of guys playing tig' in a really ironic way we found this to be the most constructive comment made. The final addition was asking for more 'dramatic tension' which they said would be achieved by giving a close up of the gun.
With all this in mind me and Ollie decided it was best to start again with a new idea and learn from all the obvious mistakes made to produce something quite different to a chase.

To help plan the whole draft more closely and view every shot as how it should be we made a story board which depicts the whole film in boxes which represent shots. Our story boards and thumbnails have all been drawn by Ollie who took the challenge so I had to do the next ones for the final film, however all planning for the filming has been done equally by both of us.

This time instead of hanging the bullet from invisible string and taking the pictures from the side we decided to glue the bullet to a wall and take the pictures whilst moving the camera slowly forwards. This should, when put together, make it look like the bullet is quickly approaching the camera, if it did this then that would work perfectly for our draft by making the audience jump.

What we did differently:
After the first test we realised we would need a ton more photos to get a better quality result, so this time we took over twice the previous amount: around 36. This would make the bullet flow easily and give a more fluid trajectory instead of having massive jumps which were all too common in the first test. Also another big problem was how the bullet appeared to jump and move on its travels, we instantly solved this by sticking it to a white background. The background was key in this test because the illusion in making the audience think the bullet has moved but instead the camera is only getting closer to it. To do all this we simply blue-tacked a glue stick lid to the projector board and attached the camera to a box resting on some books we moved forward a centimetre after each photo.

To edit the photos we added them to a imovie project on the school Emacs and made each photo transaction 0.1 of a second, we debated on the speed but this appeared to be the best to reflect how fast a bullet travels but also to make the audience jump.

Overall I like how the bullet takes a while to get close and appears to be a blue dot for the first half, this means the audience has time to guess what it is before it gets bigger and closer within a second and finally ends covering the majority of the screen. We could have stabilised the camera more and ensured it was on a continuous path to avoid any mistakes like a jumpy bullet but the end result showed we could do the final bullet shot within 50 pictures, we would just have to be extremely steady and keep the camera on a constant and planned path. This method is extremely better than the first.

After filming for 6 hours until it got pitch black we had filmed enough shots for a 2 minute opening sequence. Although the shots had been planned we hadn't scoped out the area well enough and ended up improvising most of the filming which was great at the time because we had flexibility and could try several ideas for one shot but this meant we spent way too much time thinking and not doing. This caused the filming to take longer than the predicted 4 hours so we had to film in the dark which in terms of continuity wasn't the best result. The chase ended up starting at mid-day and got dark in 2 minutes.
Apart from this the shots we recorded were unusual and used loads of different angles to add a quirky and realistic edge to it. I think personally the best part of our draft is the running around the church where we mixed two lots of shots and combined them together, this was maybe a bit too confusing but it took us a long time and had the best shots of the whole thing. Finally the area that we lacked in the most was music, with absolutely no music at all our draft had no pace and without the sub-conscious notice of music going on the draft had no essence of a film.

After watching a few examples of action film opening sequences from previous media students mine and Ollie's media teachers said the best and most effective way of making the film interesting and gripping was to use unusual shots from either behind objects or the actors. For example in a video we watched called Plan B the students found new shots by placing the camera underneath cars and creating low angled close ups which looked spectacular. Also the key advice from our practical teacher was to film a series of continuous 3 second shots which we could cut and add together to make a fast paced mesh of running. this would ultimately make the running look faster and add a thrilling edge we wouldn't be able to obtain any other way. Advice from our peers was to use the area to our advantage by looking for parts of Lutterworth that could give us good lighting or a great bit of free running, then try to loop all of these areas together in one big trail.

From the beginning of planning me and Ollie had chosen our close friend Karl Green to be the bad guy in our opening sequence. This choice was mainly based on how athletic Karl is but also because his general looks are (to put nicely) mean. Also this choice was based on availability and our relationship with Karl which we understand to be a key point in making a film from doing analysis on Shane Meadows who found working closely with actors more than benefited the end result. Finally Karl is an old free running buddy of mine so I had to choose him.


For the main spy we're finding it hard to cast someone so we decided for the time being that I will take that place.

After discussing the best time to film with Ollie and the Actors we decided on a Wednesday during February when the teachers at our school have a mentor day, this would meant we could start filming early and have flexibility to our schedule. Unfortunately when me and Ollie rang the Abbey Park College campus to ask for permission to film they advised against it because of the many forms we would have to fill out and just in case we caught any of the students in a shot we would have to ask them for permission to use it.
This meant our plan B had to come in to use and our filming would happen in Lutterworth, this also meant changing some shots and the story board, but overall the change in location was for the best.

When planning the film me and Ollie decided the best place for filming would be in a city because of the urban landscaping which would provide a gritty and realistic vibe to the whole filming. Also the darkened and grey colours of natural erosion that the city would have around it would make the whole opening seem like it could happen.
We then thought of specific areas of the city that would be easiest to film in and also so that we could film some small stunts and free running without causing trouble, ideas of areas like parks seemed to make sense but to keep the urban feel we wanted we decided filming in part of the Leicester College Abbey Park campus would be best.

Of course to do this we would need specific permission and possibly have to be escorted around and watched at all times so in case this didn't work out for the actors or for the college our back up location was decided as Lutterworth. This wouldn't reflect the proper scene but at least we could film at ease and leisure and he location isn't too hard to get to. However our main problem with this location is lack of urban styling and shapes which we planned as key elements for free running and small stunts.

At this stage in planning we didn't have many ideas for locations so we stuck with the idea of filming at the Leicester College campus and based our thumbnail drawings of what we could remember from walking around the college.

The first few bits of planning for the film was a basic range of shots and a few ideas for the name of the film. These plans were basic but they made the foundations for the whole draft, also note that although I'm making this entry now the shot list was made before the film pitch entry which is the introduction to the whole media project.

film name: Tracked or Adrenaline
film genre: Action
beginning scene: chase scene/flash backs
setting: dusk, inside shopping area-interchanges between outside areas

1st shot: a busy road, cars going past. big car passes and main character appears from behind it. mid angle

2nd shot: a lower angle of the same street, main character crosses road.

3rd shot: POV shot which goes to over the shoulder of the main character to view the bad guy.

4th shot: POV shot of the bad guy he turns and notices the main character.

5th shot: FLASH BACK low angle close up of man sitting behind desk, saying dialogue on not being seen.

6th shot: mid angle shot past the bad guy looking over his shoulder to see main character. the protagonist then shuffles.

7th shot: close up of bad guy's face watching his revelation of who the main character is.

8th shot: close up of 2nd man followed on from 7th shot. bad guy runs away.

9th shot: far shot-mid angle-main character starts running

10th shot: shot from across the street both men running, quick cut to 11th shot.

11th shot: low angle behind car watching legs running past.

12th shot: high angle from a vantage point on a wall, the two men run past and the shot pans across.

13th shot: from behind corner of wall, bad guy runs past wall and camera. mid angle

14th shot: from the opposite side of corner, main character runs past camera then past wall.

Unfortunately this is as far as the shot list got which meant most of the planning of shots from then onwards was whilst doing the thumbnails, leaving the development of the planned shots for when story boarding.

After going through my blog entries and previous work I noticed a lack of interesting features so to spice it up and give a good feel to the work I'm doing I chose a new theme and a short playlist of music that reflects not only myself but the kind of work I'm doing in media at the moment.

The choice of music is odd but most of these tracks give a real urban and gritty feel with under tones of relaxation and deep tunes.

With the deadline fast approaching I have made a final to do list to help me set out time for each task and hopefully (in theory) complete the needed work before Friday.

Majorly needed
• All tests
• Thumbnails for draft
• Storyboard of draft
• Development from draft
• New idea/shot list
• Script
• Actor profiles
• Film corporation ident
• Film logo
If I have time
• Extra film opening analysis
• Area chosen for draft
• Area for new film

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/film_reviews/article6847491.ece

The article although well constructed and informative was basicly a hissie fit on the dissappointment the author had after watching the film. He included a basic interest and some fair sided comments but the main jist of his response was based on the lack of £7 he felt after the cinema had nicked from him.

The most unfortunate side of the authors aritcle was his comments on joe wright the accomplished, british director, who he tyhough was out of place and slanderised his work in this recent film forgetting the unusual setting he was in and his inexperience in the area he was filming. This responce was highly critical and indefinitely unfair.