On Set

Harry using the tripod as a counter balance for camera movement shots

Harry using a tree for filming high angle shots

Harry positioning the camera for low angle running shots

Harry framing the over the shoulder shot of Juliette

Harry framing the over the shoulder shot of Juliette, using the tripod to keep the camera stable

Whilst Molly and Harry filmed on the shoot, we only have those photos, as Juliette and Josh were in almost every shot so we couldn't film and Molly took the photos, meaning she isn't shown to be filming.

Grading

For our footage, we have decided to also make it more blue and cold so as to conform to the sci-fi genre. We also made the shots more contrasting and darker to connote the tense mood, and to conform to the general aesthetic of action and sci-fi films.

As shown, the original footage is more green and brown, and not as contrasting, whereas the graded footage has a colder look.

We drew inspiration for our grading from action and sci-fi films, such as:

Star Trek

Alien

Blade Runner

Titles In After Effects

For our titles to be integrated into the action as we had planned, we needed to use After Effects to achieve the look that we wanted.
After planning which shots would have titles and where, we opened the clip in After Effects, added the title where we wanted, and used masks to make the title appear as though it was in the action, for example with this shot, where Leora's boot covers the title as it goes past.

Reshoot Criteria

For our reshoot we don't need to re-do all of our shots. The opening shots up until 21 seconds are good to use.

However, from 21 seconds to 36 seconds we need to make some adjustments:


- more focus on the the device itself and closer up with more detail
- the shot where the henchmen disappears, and Leora loses sight of him
- the landscape shots in the final scene

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 - 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

Treatment - Forest Chase Scene Research And Inspiration

We have looked at some forest chase scenes that feature in other films to use as inspiration for when we film our own chase scene.

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows - The Snatchers Chase Scene

This scene in Harry Potter relates to our scene in several ways as the protagonists are being tracked down by henchmen, and being chased through a forest.

There are a number of techniques in this clip that we plan to use in our own sequence; for example, tracking the characters as they run through the trees. We also plan to use the the techniques of following the characters from behind with handheld camera movement, and close ups of different body parts, such as feet running. We hope to replicate the fast paced editing in our own sequence.

Sherlock Holmes - A Game Of Shadows

In this scene, there is a variety of shots used. For example, there are low angle mid shots of the characters running away from camera. We hope to incorporate this technique into our project, as well as other aspects of this scene, again, such as tracking the characters as they run through the trees, and following behind them using handheld camera movement.

We would have liked to use slow motion, which is heavily used in this clip, but due to the equipment and software we have, this wouldn't be possible to the standard we would want.



Proposal - Our Presentation Handout

This is our handout for our second pitch, which was about the details of our opening. We again had to show actual film references and research that we had done in order to come to informed decisions. We again received feedback, which we again used to help improve our ideas.

After the pitch, we changed a number of things about our opening sequence idea:

• We decided our location - Location 2 (Epping Forest)
• We've changed our actor, due to Adam not featuring in the sequence
• We also changed the plot of our sequence - instead of having Leora bump into Adam, we decided to have Leora being chased by the Henchman, then having a confrontation, before jumping to 2014

Treatment - Storyboard And Script

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.

(posted by Juliette)

Treatment - Locations

UPDATE
After the pitch, we decided to use Location 2 as it meant we were able to get the long shots of the London skyline, which helped us to convey that the film was set in London.

(posted by Juliette)

Treatment - Introducing Characters/Themes/Settings

In the opening, we introduce:

• the protagonist - Leora
• the villain - the Henchman - the audience know he is the villain as he is seen to be chasing Leora, and looks frightening due to his mask, which makes him appear faceless and cold.
• Adam is also shown at the end of the opening.

The setting is introduced through master shots, such as the forest and the backstreets of London

The theme of time travel is also conveyed by the characters appearing in the forest - their costumes make them seem out of place, suggesting to the audience that they are not from 2014, but the future (for example Leora's metallic makeup)

(posted by Juliette)

Treatment - Actors

We decided to use actors from our and group, and from our school, as it was easier to organise them, and they know the importance of our project, so they will be reliable, such as arriving on time for shoots.

(posted by Juliette)

Treatment - Visual Style

Gritty, with high contrast between highlights and shadows, with blue-green tones, as blue and green are commonly associated with the sci-fi genre, and gritty visuals are associated with action films.

12 Monkeys (sci-fi, action) - very dim lighting, with high contrast between light and dark, as well as the time machine lit completely in blue, which helps to connote the sci-fi genre.

Star Trek (sci-fi) - once again, prominent blue tones, especially within the spaceship itself. However, it has lots of high key lighting, which isn’t a common feature of gritty action films.

Alien (sci-fi) - high contrast between shadows and highlights, as well as blue being a dominant colour

Blade Runner (sci-fi, thriller) - high contrast between shadows and highlights, as well as blue being a dominant colour

(posted by Juliette)

Treatment - Soundtrack - Darkness Falls

For our opening, we decided to use this soundtrack, as it fits the genre - action and sci-fi. The beginning of the audio clip is tense, building suspense, before the drums begins, which quickens the pace of our running shots. The metallic noises connote sci-fi, as they are associated with technology. With the audio, we tried to time certain actions with the claps, and the time jump at the end with the noise at 0:58.
Due to practicality issues and the fact that the clip is only 01:09 minutes long we would have to edit the audio clip in order to fit with our opening sequence which is over 30 seconds longer than our sound clip. This would make our editing process more difficult, since this sound clip was most suited to our opening sequence we thought it was worth the extra effort.

Below we have posted some clips of chase sequences in action/sci-fi films that have soundtracks that have inspired our own chase sequence.

The music in this scene of Inception starts off very quietly whilst the two characters are talking and then as the action begins and the chase commences, the music becomes a lot louder and the beat comes in. The difference between this scene and our own was that this scene includes much more fighting and dialogue than our own. The music in our opening sequence has a much more of a sci-fi feel to it, and creates a much tenser ambience.



This clip is a chase scene from The Bourne Identity; the music in this clip didn't heavily influence the ambience and mood of our music but there are some points of this soundtrack which we really tried to capture in our own music. The heavy, fast beats in this scene are something that we really wanted to include in our scene.

Treatment - Conventions

HENCHMAN
the chrome mask is futuristic, as the metallic colour connotes sci-fi, and the mask is like nothing we usually see today, connoting the future

LEORA
Gold makeup, again connoting the future with the metallic colours, and how it is not typical of today's society.







TITLES
white, blocky font which is similar to films of the same genre, for example Attack The Block

Titles from Attack The Block

SOUNDTRACK
fast paced and techno-sounding, connoting sci-fi and action

THEMES
time travel, which connotes sci-fi, and good vs. evil, which is typical of action films

(posted by Juliette)

Proposal - Inspiration From Similar Films

We also decided to research this film, as it is also a British sci-fi film, like our own film opening. Whilst this features robots rather than time-travel, we drew inspiration from the visual style of the film, planning to grade our film similarly to this; mostly blue with high contrast.

Title: The World's End

Year It Was Made: 2013
Genre: Action/Sci-Fi
Synopsis: Five friends who reunite in an attempt to top their epic pub crawl from 20 years earlier unwittingly become humankind's only hope for survival.
Production Companies: Universal Pictures, Relativity Media, Working Title Films

Distribution Companies: Universal

This film inspired our idea for having the Henchman as almost robotic, because the robots in this film are unstoppable, and frightening due to their lack of faces when they are attacking. This film also inspired our grading choices as it is also predominantly blue when the aliens are in shots, for example:

Looper is another film we used as inspiration for our own film and opening sequence. We referenced the idea of characters from the future disappearing and reappearing in the present day. The idea of them appearing in a more baron, unfamiliar setting was something else we took an idea from. Below is the scene from the film where the character appears.

Proposal - Our Presentation Handout

This handout was for our first pitch to our teachers about our film opening idea, demonstrating what research we had done, as well as explaining our initial ideas. From the pitch we received feedback, which we then used to change and improve our ideas.

• After the pitch, we thought it would be better to simplify the plot of both the opening and the film itself.
  - the opening will instead decided that Leora would be caught by the Henchman, they would have a confrontation, from which Leora would escape and jump back in time to 2014.
  - the film plot itself will also be different - Leora escapes to 2014 after getting away from the Henchman. Synergy uses an incomplete duplicate of her device to send the Henchman after her. Leora in the mean time has lost the device, only to find it with Adam. However, the Henchman tracks her down, and brings back up, resulting in a battle between Synergy and Leora and Adam; Adam manages to help save London, destroying all the devices used except one replica. Leora then has to make the decision whether to go back to her time, or stay with Adam.
  
• We also changed the institutions, deciding instead to have a production company that is associated with Moving Picture Company, and distributed by Warner Bros.
• In terms of theories, we referenced Todorov's theory of having an equilibrium - disruption - hero's journey - new equilibrium. However, we decided to change this slightly, and start with a disruption - Leora being chased by the Henchman/Synergy.
• We also referenced Propp's theory of the 8 character roles (villan, hero, donor, helper, princess, father, dispatcher, flase hero). In our film, we incorporated some of Propp's character roles; the villain(s) - Synergy and the Henchman, the hero - Leora, the princess - Adam
• Another theory that we used was Levi-Strauss' theory of narrative structure in terms of binary opposites. In our film we have the contrast between good and evil (Leora and Synergy), past and present (2014 and 2071), known and unknown (Leora's present and when she jumps back)