Production Planning - Teleportation Techniques

Jumper

This teleporting effect is simple enough to remake and looks really nice. It looks effective but I'm not sure if this will hold the two shots of Leora teleporting together well enough.

The Tomorrow People

This effect is really nice and was the sort of thing I had in mind in the first place anyway. The only problem is that it is quite complicated and will undoubtedly require long hours to figure out how to do and make look good.

X-men: Nightshade

I doubt we'll even think about using this effect as it's really hard to recreate, but I thought it would be good to just have it on the blog for inspiration if we decide to create our own teleport effect.

Test Shoot Review And Reflections

Below is the final edit of our test shoot, which is a shoot we do before the main shoot, in order to give us a chance to practice using the equipment, as well as flagging up any problems that may occur during the shoot, or problems with the opening in terms of narrative or continuity.

On our first location:

Our first location was at the top of Yardley Hill in Epping Forest where we had decided to film our master shots, including the all-important scene where Leora teleports.

We faced several problems whilst filming these scenes, some of which were down to the weather. It was very windy on the day of the shoot so it was more difficult than usual to keep the shots still whilst filming. The ground conditions were very muddy and slippery which made it particularly hard for the chase scenes, and even more difficult for Juliette - who was playing Leora - to jump up high without slipping afterwards.

Although we cannot control the weather, we did check the forecasts regularly for over the weekend and managed to film all of our footage just before it started to rain, minimising the obstacles that heavy rain would have caused us.

                                                     

After finishing our final edit of our test shoot, we got feedback from a teacher, in order to find any problems that we needed to fix for the main shoot, such as continuity errors, for example, or narrative problems.

From this feedback we know we need to:

• take more shots of the chase scenes to create a faster pace and avoid dragging out shots
• improve the costume of the Henchman
• have the Henchman speak louder
• tighten the framing
• add more titles, but not in the dialogue parts

Solutions
- For the actual shoot, we will make sure that the group and any equipment we have stays behind the camera
- The group have decided that the reason the characters look so slow in the running sequence is because the shots are too long. For our real shoot, we will aim to take shots from various angles so we can cut between them a lot faster, just so the pace of the characters is sped up by the pace at which we cut between the shots.
- We will make sure that Juliette, the actor, jumps and lands in the same place. This will be ensured by just using the same shot of her but editing it so the shots of her jumping and landing look completely different. The shots will be differentiated by the futuristic skyline and the shots will be 'sewn together' using a teleporting effect we aim for the character to have put over her when she teleports.
- Our group aim to organise a choreographer to help us make the scene where the henchman is punched more realistic.
- Our group have decided to practice handheld filming techniques in school hours and in lessons.
- We think that the costume for the henchman is not intimidating enough, and so are working together to redesign his outfit. At the moment a few ideas are that we will either get him to wear a protective vest or a long Sherlock/doctor who-esque jacket (black)
- We have talked to our technician about maybe editing out the reflections in the mask, but he has said that this would be too hard to do well, so the best option is to just try and make sure that we don't have anything out of place in the reflections.
- This will probably sort itself out on the day of shooting, as there are going to be at least two people behind the camera whenever we're filming, just to confer what they think the shot should look like.
- A continuity mistake that we're planning to fix by shooting the whole scene from different angles.
- Our group have looked into buying reflective cases for her phone to make I look more futuristic

Pre-Production - Make-Up Testing - Leora

We decided that Leora's hair should be different colours, as this will also make her stand out from the characters in 2014, as this is rare to see in most London areas. 

We decided to use metallic colours for Leora's make-up, as these are associated with sci-fi and the future. The design is simple, as whilst Leora is from the future, she isn't from that far ahead. We based it off the make up from Christian Dior's Spring 2014 makeup:

Whilst we can't exactly replicate this design due to not having the right skills or resources, we're still drawing inspiration from the design.

Pre-Production - Make-Up Testing - Henchman

For the Henchman, we decided that he should have a scar across his face to make him seem more intimidating, and to give the impression that he has survived multiple fights.

Whilst we won't be giving the Henchman this exact scar, we will still use the techniques shown here to achieve the look we want. We will also have the wound as an old scar rather than a fresh, bleeding wound, as using fake blood in our shoot would be more difficult and time consuming, and could cause potential problems such as being ruined during running shots.

We have decided to use Snazaroo Special FX Wax, as group members have used it before, and it gives the realistic effect that we want for our shoot.

For both characters we have decided to apply the make-up before the shoot begins in order to save time, and because applying make-up on location would be more difficult. However, we will still bring the make-up on location in case it needs to be reapplied in order to maintain the continuity.

We took inspiration from a number of action villains. One being Darth Vader, who has a burnt, disfigured face and covers it with a mask. Another one is Two-Face from batman who has half a burnt face. This dis-figuration and abnormality is a common characteristic of villains throughout the genre. This is because they more frightening and shows evidence of violence.

For the scar, we used eyeshadow and foundation to make it look more realistic - on the main shoot we will make the scar thinner, using less wax, in order to make it more believable and less likely to come off and stick to the inside of the mask.

Pre-Production - Costume - Henchman

The long formal coat is a common costume of sci-fi characters. We took inspiration, specifically, from the character Neo in The Matrix, as shown below.

We used silver tape in order to cover the brand label of the armour. Also we chose silver as it is a common sci-fi, futuristic colour.

We took inspiration for the idea of a mask to cover a disfigured face from the character of Darth Vader from the Starwars films, who is forced to wear the mask shown to the left, as well as a full suit, due to his disfigured face and body. We used this as a means of covering the Henchman's scarred face (as shown in the previous 'Henchman - Makeup' blog post).





The fact that the mask has no face shows is frightening for the audience and makes the Henchman seem almost robotic and unstoppable. Also the chrome is, again, futuristic and commonly used throughout the sci-fi  genre.

Pre-Production - Costume - Leora

We have taken inspiration from the character Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games. She is a strong, athletic, female character and so her costume is similar to the costume that we want our character Leora to wear in the film opening when she is running through the forest in the chase scene. 

Kim Possible - although cartoon - is another strong and athletic female protagonist. The main similarities between the costumes are the black gloves, boots and long sleeved black top which Leora will also be wearing in the film opening.

Another famous film and video game character that is renowned for being a solitary, strong female who we have used as inspiration from Leora although she will be a less sexualised character. The black gloves and trousers are another similarity to Leora.

Pre-Production - Storyboard And Shotlist

Storyboard
For our opening, we made a storyboard, planning out what shots we wanted, and what order they would be in. This is extremely useful as it helps to map out exactly what is required for the shoot, as well as beginning to help iron out any continuity and narrative issues. We drew the shots on different coloured post-its, which made it easier to move around shots, and differentiate between shot types. Below are examples of some of the shots we drew on the storyboard:

This is an example of a long shot that we planned, with arrows and annotations explaining what we planned in the shot.

This is an example of a mid shot that is over the shoulder, showing Leora's reaction to the Henchman lifting his mask. We wrote explanations for each shot under each drawing. 

This is an example of a close up, showing what emotion we wanted the actors to show.

Shotlist
This is a typed-up version of our storyboard, in which we have explained what we plan to do for each shot during our test shoot. Our shots were all influenced by the research we carried out beforehand, such as shot 7, where we drew inspiration from the forest chase scenes such as the scenes from Harry Potter.

Shot 1: "A Heyday Films Production" - white font on black background


Shot 2: "In association with Moving Picture Company" - white font on black background


Shot 3: Titles between trees in the forest setting - establishing shot


Shot 4: LS - Leora running through the trees


Shot 5: CU - Leora's feet running past


Shot 6: LA - Leora jumping over camera and continuing to run


Shot 7: ML - Leora running towards camera and hiding behind a tree, looking over her shoulder


Shot 8: ML OTS - focus pull to Assassin appearing and searching for Leora


Shot 9: CU OTS - Leora panicking and trying to use the device - "Come on!"


Shot 10: MS - Assassin pushing Leora into the tree


Shot 11: HA MS - Leora falls to the floor


Shot 12: LA POV - Assassin looking down at her, coming in and out of focus


Shot 13: LS - Assassin lifts Leora up and pins her against a tree


Shot 14: MS - Henchman holding her up against tree, arm on her throat - "I'm not going back"


Shot 15: OTS MS - Assassin speaking - "Hello Leora"


Shot 16: CU -  Leora watching Assassin, still held up with his arm on her throat - "I never thought you'd run"


Shot 17: ML - Assassin stepping back from Leora


Shot 18: OTS - Leora asks - "Who the hell are you?" - as Assassin begins to lift mask


Shot 19: CU - Assassin taking off mask - "Who else were you expecting?"


Shot 20: ML - Assassin steps forward to grab her face


Shot 21: OTS - Assassin grabbing Leora's face - "Working for synergy hasn't done you well"


Shot 22: CU - Leora - "(witty comeback)"


Shot 23: CU - Assassins face drops, angered - "They're not going to let you live after this"


Shot 24: MS- device beeps, both looking down then back up again


Shot 25: OTS - Leora punching Assassin


Shot 26: MS - Assassin grabs his face and stumbles back, as Leora begins to run away


Shot 27: CU - Assassin fixes jaw, pulls down mask, runs toward camera


Shot 28: OTS LS - Leora running away from Assassin, both running away from camera


Shot 29: LS - both running across landscape, Future London skyline in the background


Shot 30: LS - Leora disappears (time travels) as Assassin still runs after her

Shot 31: MS - Assassin tries to grab Leora as she disappears


Shot 32: LS - Leora appearing in new landscape in front of present day London skyline


Shot 33: "Film title"

Animatics - Teacher Feedback

• Continuity errors - could confuse the audience, so be aware
• Come up with our own production company (but we can be working with HeyDay)
• Have single actor titles rather than double, as this is more common
• The confrontation should be slightly shorter - it dragged out

From this feedback, we then went back to our storyboard and carried out any improvements needed, such as coming up with our own production company name - HK Productions.

Animatics - Group Reflections

The animatic is a 'moving sotryboard'. This is to help us see if there are any obvious continuity errors in our planned opening, as well us to help us decided exactly how to frame shots.

In order to do this, we first created a storyboard, from which we took each planned shot and took a still image that displayed what we intended for the shot. We then put this together in Premiere Pro, where we added the soundtrack and any dialogue.

• We need to show the movement more clearly in the stills
• We need to add more titles
• In terms of continuity, we're mostly happy, but need to be aware on the shoot
• The music is how we want it to be