A2 Media Product Evaluation

Floor Show

Floor Show Short Film from sam webber on Vimeo.

Final Film Poster

Have You Seen The Cast...? Anywhere...?

After recently seeing a film adaptation underway for the infamous theatre performance, The Woman In Black, claimed to be the scariest play in England, I was thrust back into my own experience of the play I once had back when I watched it in the London Fortune Theatre, its home residence.

'The book follows the story of Arthur Kipps, a junior solicitor, as he journeys to the small market town of Crythin Gifford to attend the funeral of a client, Mrs Alice Drablow. At the funeral, he sees a young woman with a wasted face, dressed all in black, standing in the churchyard.

Bemused by the villagers' reluctance to speak of the woman in black, Arthur goes to Eel Marsh House, Mrs Drablow's former abode, an old building in the middle of a marsh, cut off at high tide. Sorting through Mrs Drablow's papers, he finds a box of letters, and ultimately discovers the dreadful secret of the Woman in Black – to his own terrible cost.' - Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Woman_in_Black_(play)

A group of thirty-forty school kids, four support teachers, one trip to london and one visit to the Fortune Theatre London, to see The Woman In Black. "Hah...Lets see how scary this really is" the chorus rang out as we stormed the small creepy theatre. The lights dim, the curtain rises, the first half bores, sets the scene, slowly and peacefully. Toilet, packet of Revels, back in seat, second half. Man sleeps in empty house, all alone, hears banging upstairs, walks to closed door...door bursts open allowing the audience a brief moment to release their stomach contents, the next half hour, a nightmare. Wanting to walk out of a performance, bad enough, wanting th performance to end, terrible, I loved it. We wait outside afterwards, programmes are sold and bought for the play, we wait by the side of the theatre, for the coach to arrive. Two lonely men leave the side door followed by a selection of other men, the cast and crew of the small performance. No female. No female. Where was the female actress who played the ghost. Nowhere to be seen. We flick frantically through our programmes, the lead male, the supporting male the lead fem...no female. There was no mention or sight of any female performance in the whole play.

It was not scary until you think of it again, and again for a few nights reliving the story within the play, putting yourself within the performance. This is where I pay homage to theatre. For my own performance I will do a similar technique as the play did. Instead of featuring a credited list of cast members at the end of the film, I will only mention the directors and writers name. I want to make people think, once the curtain has closed, was that real, who where they, what was I watching? The lack of identity will only confuse and intrigue the audience even more. I shall also not be including a title for my performance, neither before or after the film. This will make the film just appear to the audience, be there and be seen, perhaps not acknowledged or understood. I want to adapt David Lynch to the point of creating something ambigous enough to not even feature actors/actresses, it can just be there.

My own gun shot

Here is my own gun shot for my short film, the scene in which Michelle Webb's character shots Nik Jones' character for killing her partner.

The effect was created using a pest sprayer, a pump action one shown below, connected to an old piece of tubing, the tube was filled with dark red food colouring and the pump was pumped heavily until enough air was restrained in the sprayer, to be released.

My own gun shot from sam webber on Vimeo.

Finished film review.

Finished film review.

Current progression presentation video

Presentation 5 Feb 2011 from fLIX.TV on Vimeo.

Michelle Webb dance sequence

Untitled from sam webber on Vimeo.

Second Footage

Second lot of raw footage from sam webber on Vimeo.

Retake footage

Retake footage from sam webber on Vimeo.

The final MC footage.

Deconstructed Second Page

Here is the deconstructed version as with page one; less deconstruction is needed as less conventional Empire magazine themes are used.

My own film review page

The first page of my review.

The second page of my review.

Breaking down my magazine review

Below is the Main photograph for the review Below is the stand out line from the main review text

Below is the basic information panel

Below is the main title for the review and the effects around it

Revised target grade for end of unit.

Targets; To complete filming within next three weeks.
To edit before returning after half term.
To complete as much blog work as I can, research/planning/theory, before
return from half term.

Film poster idea

For my film poster I knew from the beginning that I was going to be creating a different more surreal poster with more symbols and depth to it rather than a film still, a photographic image from the actual film.

The main photograph that I loved for this film was a screen printed poster by Martin Ansin, an illustrator responsible for some excellent theatrical and film based posters and advertisements. I simply love his style of creation, his visual technique of the posters that he has created is gorgeous and something that I am hugely inspired by in the thought processing of my own poster.

Below is the Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus poster once again, a more detailed evaluation of the poster is also below.






Feedback.

I questioned various target audience members with my two original poster ideas, the very basic generalised set up, asking them what they thought generally of the overall pieces. The response table can be viewed below.


Hyperlink if does not appear above - https://prezi.com/secure/74b36507bff8ce7ee6d6eb1669bd78bec541a5ed/

Costume

Costume

Jack Evison

MC one (first appearance)

Hat - Bowler Hat

Shirt - Sequin Shirt

Jacket - Suit Jacket

Trouser - Grey Suit Trousers

Shoes - Black Shoes

Mask - Cream pointy black swirly mask.

Makeup - white face. Black eyes. Heart lips.

MC two (second appearance)

Hat - Bowler Hat?

Shirt - Sequin Shirt

Jacket - No Jacket

Coat - Fur coat

Trousers - Grey Suit Trousers

Shoes - Black Shoes

Mask - Cream pointy black swirly mask.

Makeup - White face. Black eyes. Heavy lipstick (Joel Grey, Cabaret like)

Male acrobat one (one in relationship)

Vest - White vest

or

Shirt -White shirt

Jacket - No Jacket

Trousers - Black Trousers and braces

Shoes - No shoes

Mask - Blue, yellow mask

Makeup - White face. Black eyes. Red cheeks.

Michelle Webb

Normal (pre-death)

Dress - Black dress

Shoes - Black heeled shoes

Tights - Black tights

Mask - Most eccentric black mask. Overhead mask

Makeup - Black eyes. White face. Red lipstick.

Death (preparation for death + death)

Dress - No dress

Shirt - Long white shirt with belt? Wears long red fabric which trails down stairs.

Shoes - Barefoot

Tights - White / red

Mask - Feathered black mask. Most eccentric

Makeup - Red eyes. White face. Black lips.

Dance

Dress - Leotard

Shoes - Barefoot

Tights - Black

Mask - No mask.

Makeup - Red bar across eyes. Makes cross on nose.

Nik Jones

Male acrobat two. (Male who kills acrobat one.)

Shirt - Blue Shirt with purple tie

Waistcoat - Grey

Jacket - None

Trousers - Black

Shoes - Black Shoes

Mask - Black. Darkest, glitter mask.

Makeup - Black eyes. White face. Black lips?

Male acrobat two. (As he gets shot.)

Shirt - White shirt

Waistcoat - None

Jacket - None

Trousers - Black

Shoes - Black shoes

Mask - Black mask. Darkest.

Makeup - Black eyes. White face. Makeup being washed off.

Masks

This mask will be one of the two that the female member (Kirby/Webb) of the couple wears. It has more elegance and femine features, the feathers etc. which although is a massive sterotype, will actually only be one of the gender representing pieces that I use in the piece; the MC will be almost genderless along with the other male leads.


This would be hopefully the death mmask for the female fiancè, it is the most theatrical and eccentric of the collection.


This is the mask of the jealous male (Nik Jones) backstage who watches over the couple and kills the male in the partnership. It is the only completely black mask and so this will be used to represent the evilness of the character. It also has glitter on it which is possibly not so dark and evil, but this will let the slight feel of performance echo even in the evil character.

This was originally the MC's (Jack Evison) mask, and more than likely will stay so when filming. It was the brightest and most different from the other small masks.

This mask will be the male of the couples (Jack Evison) as it is the most colourful and has the look of almost innocence, which although the male couple is far from perfect is by far the character who gets the raw deal, he ends up dead at the end of the day.

Jack's new MC look

Below is a photograph of Evison's new makeup design, the overall look of it will be almost a direct linkage to Joel Grey's visual representation of the Master of Ceremonies role from Cabaret.


The mask was still going to stick through whatever evolution his character undertook, but the white face and heavy lipstick was going to be added as a homage to Joel Grey in Cabaret.

White Face-paint.

The white face paint originally developed when theatres and music halls were lit by limelight (or calcium light). An intense illumination is created when an oxyhydrogen flame is directed at a cylinder of quicklime (calcium oxide), which can be heated to 2572 °C before melting. The light is produced by a combination of incandescence and candoluminescence. Although it has long since been replaced by electric lighting, the term has nonetheless survived, as someone in the public eye is still said to be “in the limelight.” The actual lights are called limes, a term which has been transferred to electrical equivalents. - courtesy of wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limelight -.

The actors/actresses had to adopt to wear white lead face-paint that would be picked up by the blue tint that came off of the limelights. The lights were incredibly dangerous due to the extreme heat that the quicklime could be heated to. The face-paint idea was taken forward to film noir films, which had the same kind of lighting, the actors/actresses had to wear the white paint so that their faces could be recognised and picked up on camera.

The fact that Jack having a white face looks more theatrical and like a performance, is also a reference to the reasoning behind why in old theatre productions, the performers actually had to wear the paint.

--------

The lipstick will be added in the form of a heart for one of the takes, and also in thick exaggerated form for another take. This will allow me to include to forms of elaborate and flamboyant lipstick, which will undoubtedly look right next to his theatrical dress code.

Script for MC (Jack Evison)

What needs to be in a film poster?

To find out exactly what the audience would be expecting from a film poster, and also where they would expect to find a film poster, so I can further understand more about creating my own; I questioned a selection of varied individuals all within my target audience, and asked them the following questions in two blocks. I asked a group of twenty individuals to make sure that the results were vast enough, and each person did have mulptiple choice in deciding, on average I am expecting each person to have selected two of the main they acknowledge, as they re such regular daily occurences, people will more than likely notice more than one.



Firstly I wanted to know where exactly people would view or notice a film poster, as to understand where to advertise my own.


The questions I asked are as follow;



Where are you most likely to notice or view a film poster?

• Outside/inside a cinema

• On a billboard


• In magazines


• In newspapers


• On the internet


• At bus stops


• On sides of buses


• Other - please state

What attracts you to a film poster?

• Bold title


• Catchy tagline


• Images of main character/s


• Indication of plot through tagline


• Indication of plot through photographs


• Actors name/s


• Production departments name/s


• Nice bold colours


• Bland dull colours

The results are as follow.

The others stated were subway stations and carrier bags. Subway station is an agreeable source, but plastic bags was, well more productive means of advertising a film.

From these results we can clearly see that the top four places that posters are most noticeable are; 1. Inside and outside cinemas. 2. On billboards. 3. In magazines. 4. On the internet.

The top four important features of film posters, according to this research is; 1. Bold title. 2. Indication of plot through photographs. 3. Image/s of main character/s. 4. Actor/s name/s.

These four qualities will need to be taken in to account when designing and producing my own poster.

Making the gun shot

I needed to fit in shooting Nik somewhere in my film...just a shame Lauren will be doing it not me.

The shot in which the unnamed female kills the man that killed Jack was always going to be a fun part to shoot. Now that I actually want him to be shot, I am going to have so much fun filming it.

I have found various clips online that show how to create a successful clip of somebody getting shot and the bullet impact creating a blood explosion from the impact. The best video, and most easiest to understand is posted below.

The gun shot will also need to have sound, so I will be looking to an online, free and downloadable effects website, where I can download a convincing gun shot sound.

IndyMoguls video for gun shot effect from sam webber on Vimeo.

The method of using a pest spray to create the pressure for the blood to be shot out, it quite expensive let alone how much everything else will cost. This however was not the method that is in the video above, this was another video walkthroughs main equipment piece. This bottle version will be a lot cheaper and will actually create less power for the final explosion, which will be more realistic and believable than that of the pest spray pump which created quite large and over exaggerated blood projectiles.

Poster Research

For the poster section of my production, I turned to my extensive collection of film posters from around the world and from a wide range of films.

What I have always looked for in movie posters, is characters. Nice close up shots of the main characters that create a story and history for them. I love posters which capture the mood of a person and show the context of their existence in the film, their whole life story. I always need portraiture photographs of people which look deep into theirs lives, which speak to me about them, characters that I can get lost in and move around inside their worlds with them. I look for the same thing in movie posters myself.

These posters show specific elements of posters which I find to be the most capturing and gripping.




I love how some posters use objects and everyday visual elements to form other more elaborate and almost symbolic images. Above, for example, the camera angle of looking up at the skyscraper buildings of the city, create the basic outline of the protagonist from The Spirit. The composition here is crucial to the overall piece, without the buildings being placed correctly the final image would not represent the hero in a silhouetted form. The colour of the middle building is also extremely relevant to the film. As the film is a Frank Miller piece, the colour palette will be quite monochrome and mooted, there is little background colour to the film set. The main colour usage in his films, is the blood and red objects through the film/s. The tie of the hero, is one of the mayor elements that you recognise him by, along with his mask and hat, so using the Empire State Building (or at least a building of similar structure) as his tie shows the audience its significance to the film. Also the usage of the building gives a hint that the film is an urban set piece, and more than likely New York.

This poster has the similar affect as the one above, it uses the city to set the basis for the film, but also morphs the main qualities of the film into something else. Here they have used the coat/cloak of the protagonist to look as if a black blanket covering the city as if nightmare or danger. This shows how he is their protector, he is shielding the city from danger, but it also shows that the film will be set mostly at night or in dark environments, and also that his character is not completely moral and also has his bad qualities just like the enemy which he is fighting.

This was one of my favourite, if not my most favourite poster for The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. This poster had such an elegance and soft feel to it, the gentle warm palette shows the softness of the film and the family audience which it was aimed at. It also shows the strong bonds between the characters, the bonds which are made are the warm delicate colours and the bonds which are broken can be the red strong colours either side of the poster. Also the colour red is used on the figure toward the front of the poster, bowing to the audience, which could be an indication to his characters personality, evil, dark and macabre? The same use of image manipulation is used here, the character at the front of the piece is bowing to the audience as the curtain behind him is lifted to reveal the show. Two points can be raised here, three possibly actually. The first is that the curtain that rises behind him is the cloak or gown of Parnassus himself, the oldest man in the poster. The second is that the words of the title are also shown slightly faded through his cloak or on it; this shows that the title is being projected by lights onto the cloak which makes it feel more like a performance. The third point is that behind the curtain there is revealed, the setting of London. This sets the scene instantly and makes the audience feels as if the curtain is opening for them, as if enticing them into the world in which Gilliam has created. The character that Tom Waits portrays, the bowler hat wearing man behind Parnassus, holds a stopwatch/pocket watch close to Parnassus' head. Along with the transportation that is on the bridge in London, the audience begin to understand that there is a theme of travel, voyages and discovery throughout the film.

I have begun to have a love of character based posters, film posters which show certain and specific characters to the plot. This poster above, like most Gilliam posters or DVD covers, includes all of the mayor cast in snapshots from the film. This allows the audience to know exactly who is in the film and to make their own collections of how many famous faces are appearing in the film. It also helps those who are less familiar with names, familiarise the actors by their faces. I like the method of adding the faces to the front of the piece, and this is something that I will play about with when creating my own poster. However I do also find that these posters which show exactly who is staring in the film, tend to look slightly more amateurish and unprofessional, although this is personal preference and at the end of the day I do still like the technique.

I choice this short film poster; as I am a big fan of Spike Jonze, loved the film for which the poster was made, and love the surrealism that the film holds in it. This poster, although does not show much in the way of plot, does show the key characters and the weird visual style of them. I love how the photograph has been taken in a natural environment and how the colours and very summery, and warm and earthy; there is a juxtaposition of the setting and feel against the unnatural look of the 'computer people'. I do find it good as it is very simplistic and only includes the title and credits for the film.

The evolution of Jack Evison's role

Jack was originally the announcer of the show, the main man who comes out onto stage and announces the whole performance. After looking at the way in which the curtains open, once again, I can see how I was obviously inspired by Madonna's Girlie Show Tour from which her whole performance is introduced as being a theatrical production.

The usage of opening the show with large red curtains and large round spotlights, give the whole performance the feel as if everything which follows will be a performance and you cannot believe anything that is going on. This is exactly what I will try and embody in my own piece. Jack himself has begun to resemble Madonna in my eyes, he has become quite ambiguous in gender and very feminine. Below you can see how he resembles, quite strongly, Madonna from her Girlie Show Tour.

Even some of Madonna's characters begin to morph into David Bowie's creations, and Jack once again holds a strong similarity to Bowie. This genderless persona is something that will be enhanced by the use of masks as an identity. Jack, taking on multiple characters will need to have various masks to show and represent these different characters, makeup and costume will also play big parts in how the audience recognizes each character.

The performance is more a Cabaret, it is a collection of weird surreal and odd acts that all bring their own unique skills to the stage. In this case Jack has now become the Master of Ceremonies (MC). He is the master of the show and he has the ability and privilege to announce each act.

Joel Grey is probably the most famous of MC's, from his award winning performance in Cabaret.







The look of this character and the actions of him as well, will undoubtedly lead into my own character now, excessive makeup and everything flamboyant and eccentric.

Change of plan...

Due to a rift in my actors/actresses, I am going to have to look for a new female lead for my film. I will go to my second choice and extra for the film Michelle Webb, who hopefully will still be able to appear in my film during the time that I am filming. Hopefully as well she will have a similar costume to what the male actors will be wearing in my film.

Response to first footage of film

Below are the responses to the first footage of my film. I made sure that everybody knew that the filming order, how I have edited together the footage, is not the final piece as I need to add in the other scenes within this footage. The responses come more from the visual style and also the footage itself.

Mum -

Pos:- Good choice of music, fits really well with it. Already good.
Neg:- Long shot of announcer is slightly to dark, have to strain to see what going on a bit.
[ 4/5 ] - Not five because of long shot, too dark

Brother -

Pos:- Alround good response. Good music, likes music anyway and fits with piece.
Neg:- "If trying to go for weird character, does not look weird enough. Clothes don't make it look weird enough.
[ 4/5 ] - Not five cannot rate as the beginning does not make sense alone, with the whole piece, the beginning will be better as it makes sense and fits in with rest of the film.

Bethany Bull-

Pos:- All round good, visually good and lighting works well for piece
Neg:- Music poor, needs to be weirder. Do not personally like but for piece as well needs to be weirder.

Jack Evison -

Pos:- The substantial plot. Mise-en-scene is good.
Neg:- Needs speach, needs a script idea, costume did not work for first piece, needs to be planned for next film.

Michelle Webb -

Pos:- The all round effect. Camera angles are good
Neg:- Needs to be more dramatic. Music too normal, did not fit the theme.

First footage

The first footage edited together with my chosen score, Atticus Ross' Panoramic (from The Book Of Eli). This is not the final edit of the footage, as I will need to cut this apart and segment it amongst the other scenes from the short film, I also need to enhance certain scenes for their colour and darken/lighten other scenes. This is just a brief quick edit to see how the footage looks.

The first segment of my film from sam webber on Vimeo.

Comments on the first visual look of this would be excellent, as I can improve my technique for further filming, and also I can change certain aspects of the film is they need to be, like lightness, angles, acting etc.

The sound does get quieter nearer the part where the announcer walks toward the left of the stage, this has happened as I want to add speach over this part, but I need to record this seperately as the camera would not hae picked it up very clearly.

Raw Footage

This is the raw footage of the first footage that I have shot for my short film. No editing has been done to this footage, it is pure original shooting.

Raw Footage from sam webber on Vimeo.

The stage has been evacuated!

Fortunately, for me, the stage has been cleared of all of the wooden structures and backdrops from the school production of Fame. This means that I will be able to use the full length and depth of the stage without having to worry about the clutter and other objects that were on the stage, being in the shot or cutting out lots of filming space.

Other jobs that will need to be considered...

For the production of the short film, I have ultimately taken on the role of...well everything. As the production group is me alone, I have had the responsibility of every aspect of the film. This is a lot of work to do alone although I am pleased to work alone as I have more freedom in what I achieve and produce, and there is much less restrictions in the way of working with other peoples expectations and input, as you can tell I was not to keen on working in a group at AS.

For the filming of the piece however, I will need to call upon outside help to control cameras, lights and other things such as the curtains on the stage. I will be directing and so I will not be able to control the lights and other things as I will be to busy dictating where people are supposed to stand.

I can get around some areas of the production, editing for example will be done by me, along with directing producing and creating the story etc. But for the other jobs I will use the excess actors/actresses which are not acting to operate my equipment. I will also call another couple of people I know to help out with the piece.

One thing I had the idea of doing while filming anything for the film, was to have somebody else with their own handheld camera, to move around the set/location and film the filming process, so that afterwards I can evaluate not only the film but the process behind it. This will also allow me to analyse peoples performances that are not acting, and also see my own technique and style of directing, so that I can improve on it.

Props for the film

The gun to shoot Nik Jones will need to be an older looker one to fit in with the weird periodless setting of the piece. The flintlock pistol above seemed to look excellent for the part. It has a very nice intricate detail on the side of the gun, where the flint fires,the wood also looks very magical/fantasy like so the gun in all will look very much like from this same world as the characters.

Test footage into stage location

Here is a very basic look at using the camera behind the stage in front of the stage. I have been unable to get hold of my actors when I have been filming and so I will need to more than likely film after school hours.

Once I have got these few shots done the rest of the piece will fall into place quickly, it is just getting the stage shots finished which seems to be taking the most time.

Test Footage from sam webber on Vimeo.

(The sound in the video is nothing to do with the final piece. It was just the test footage for visual, not sound. I will have to add some of the selected music choices other some clips of the stage however, to see which one works best, as the stage will be the main focal point and foundation stone of the rest of the piece.)

0:00 - 0:37 seconds. - This clip of the opening of the curtains is by far one of the best clips visually, for the stage location. I love the smoothness and elegance of the curtains as they open and the how the spotlight adds just that little bit more theatricality, more like a performance. Hopefully the stage will be cleared soon so that when it comes to filming, I will be able to use the whole stage and have the spotlights on the back of the plain stage, instead of the wood that is currently there. The curtain stutters slightly when closing as I had no idea as to whether the curtain was fully closed or not as I was pulling it open and closed behind stage. (Will need somebody else to open the curtain for me when it comes to real filming.)

0:37 - 1:13. - This long shot of the stage curtains being opened has not got as much of the compact feel that the other shot has, to much of the space is lost to the various un-theatre-like equipment and parts of the stage and floor. I like how with the distance you can see the whole curtain, the whole stage but I do not want to have to worry to much about cutting around the image, to remove the bottom of the stage and hall floor, when it comes to real filming. I would rather use the close up of the stage and leave long shots for if there is any other parts which call for them. Once again the spotlight looks good on the curtain, the dark red becomes a nice brighter and vibrant red which looks more enticing, like the either the love of the couple or the dark blood red of the violence going on behind stage.

1:13 - 1:43. - This shot, of the character behind the curtain lit by the spotlight through the curtain, is also one of my favourite shots. Not one that I had originally planned, but one which looks like it would settle nicely in amongst the other shots of behind the stage. I would use this shot to introduce the announcer, before he walks onto stage to...announce, or as the opening shot to the main act of the show (although the act will not be seen.) Apart from my acting, the only thing wrong with this clip is the camera placement, the camera has been placed badly, so that the full effect of the light silhouetting the characters cannot be seen. I would need a lower angle to see the top of their head and possibly a closer shot of their head from the side, so that you can see who the character is. I also like the slight silhouette that is created as the character walks onto the stage opening the curtain, the quick beam of light dazzles you slightly after looking at the dark for quite awhile, but this could be a good effect to play with for the final piece.

1:43 - 1:52. - This shot has been cut down to soon so that you cannot see the character enough before they stalk off into the darkness. But basically this was the filmed version of my idea to have the camera looking off stage from behind the curtain, with the character/s walking off into the darkness still silhouetted slightly by the red light of the curtain.

1:52 - 2:03. - Here is a very quick shot of the curtains being opened from behind the stage. I liked how the light on the floor created a V like pattern, and how as the curtain opens, it expands gradually to reveal the hall and also to once again slightly dazzle the audience with the strong spotlights that shine through. I would however need somebody to be controlling the lights, so that as they open the spotlights are turned more to look directly at the character/s or just even the camera.

2:03 - 2:19. - I love the shot at 2:08-2:11, the same silhouette like shot that I tried to achieve earlier on. It looks so simplistic, so clean cut and elegant. This shot is definetely the backstage one, unless I can achieve a better off stage looking shot. I love how the ring of the light circles the character perfectly and how they look so precise, so boldly cut. The rest of the shot is just of the curtain opening again from behind, this time however the lights were positioned better, along with the camera, so when the curtain opened, the lights were aimed better at the stage.

New idea for method of filming...

A new idea that I have had for filming one shot in my short film, probably the opening shot of the opening of the curtains or the zoom toward it, is to create my own structure from which the camera can be set upon to film from.



The idea is to take two hula hoops, the plastic version not the crisp, and bind them together with the camera in the middle. The idea is so that as the hula hoops turn role forward the camera will role with it, looking toward the stage, then the back of the hall, then the roof, then the stage etc.


The Process

I manageed to find two, fairly reasonably priced hula-hoops, and also some planks of wood in the shed that were the diameter of the hoop. Cutting the wood to fit just inside of the hoop, I then cut two sections out of the wood so that they could be slotted together to form a cross like structure. Drilling holes into the eight corners of the pieces of wood, I fastened the wood to the hoops and pullt everything together tighter to create the structure for filming on, which is photographed below.

Actors /Actresses

It has proved helpful having friends who do drama...come to think of it most of the people I know take drama anyway...when it comes to doing films and other visual pieces.

For this piece I will calling upon the process, guaranteed, of Nik Jones and Jack Evison. Nik I have seen in various school productions and his way of acting quite dark and twisted characters, along with convincingly portraying various other roles which expect him to play livelier and happier roles. Jack, I have also seen in various performances and from filming my AS piece with him the previous year, I know of his ability to also play various character roles and to mostly portray quite humorous and comicaly sexual characters, not sure how well he'll do in my piece then.

Knowing both outside of school also helps to know their abilities and skills at drama, and I think that they shall do a sound job at performing in my piece.

For the female role, Lauren Kirby was the first to spring to mind as she is also one fo the familiar faces that I have amongst the drama department. I have not seen her in any school or outside of school performance but am sure that her ability at playing the lead would be convincing.

My second choice for the female role will be Michelle Webb. Her acting skills are also not known to me but after hearing great things of her dancing ability, and after already having intentions to use her dancing skills in my short film, she shall also double up as the female couple role if any changes have to be made to cast.

The Brothers Bloom OTS

The opening sequence to my short film has to be attracting, it has to pull the audience in quickly along with setting the scene and possibly even introducing some characters.

The Brothers Bloom, a 2008 film by Rian Johnson, has an excellent opening title, which to me shows the whole theatrical and performance like state that the film also embodies. The brothers being con-artists, there is a huge level of acting, performance, theatrical occurences etc. which are all qualities that will be similar to my piece, apart from the con-brothers. Below is the end of the opening sequence and the title.

The Brothers Bloom OTS from sam webber on Vimeo.

I love the two characters from the film, not so much when they are older but when they are younger, like here in the scene, they look so professional and quite crazy and surreal. The slow motion of the piece as they begin to walk toward the camera is almost a parody of how in action films the large tough attractive man walks out of the rubble in slow motion carrying the heroine under one arm, here we have the protagonists of the story carrying their heroines, their livelyhood and whole lives.

The usage of music here plays with the films generalised look as well, the jazzy fast paces music, courtesy of The Faces (I know im losing you), and also the dress of the characters, makes the film seem from the thirties or fourties.

The best part however of the film is the title itself. I absolutely love simplicity of it, but the effectiveness of it is just as amazing. The bulbs crackle explode and flash into the title, 'The Brothers Bloom', alone it feels like a performance, like the bright lights of Broadway or the west-end. The spotlights as well make the piece like it is set inside a theatre, the way they swoop around the title and toward the audience leading to a white out and the cut for the next scene, it is just brilliant. This is by far one of the best opening title sequences I have scene, not the most expensive or outlandish but simplisitic and effective.

Possible Choice/s for Music

Here is my first choice of music, Beethoven's 7th Symphony, 2nd Movement (Allegretto), which the first piece I actually had in mind when thinking of the story andcreating the animatic.

First Choice of Music from sam webber on Vimeo.

The second piece that came to mind was from Neil Gaimans book inspired film, Mirrormask,a film that really inspired me lots in my ideas for my own short film. This is Iain Bellamy's Mrs Bagwell's Rhumba.

Music Choice from sam webber on Vimeo.

Another great piece is by Thomas Newman, entitled Drive Away from the film, A Series of Unfortunate Events. This was another inspiring film for me and so this music, along with being a great piece, seemed to just slide into place.

Music Choice from sam webber on Vimeo.

From The Brothers Bloom, The Faces song Im losing you became an instant favourite of mine. I have added it to this list for simply being completely different from any of the other pieces that I have uploaded. It has potential as the piece for my film, although it will need to be cut and edited back together to come to a workable formation.

Music Choice from sam webber on Vimeo.

After re-watching the film, The Road, I was attracted to the haunting and yet elegant soundtrack that adds a lonely and isolated feel to the feel, not like the visual does not do this however. One piece in particular that really spoke to me was the piece called, The Road. The soundtrack was performed by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis.

Possible Music Choice from sam webber on Vimeo.

Atticus Ross' soundtrack for The Book of Eli, is also a possibility. The haunting, yet elegant essence in the music is effective, and could work well over my piece. The Journey from The Book of Eli

Possible Music Choice from sam webber on Vimeo.

Panoramic from The Book of Eli also by Atticus Ross

Possible Music Choice from sam webber on Vimeo.

What I need to do next...

Upload rest of animatic

Add music to animatic - Find suitable music for animatic

Add sound to animatic?

Get timetable of school hall and stage

Get timetable of actors/actresses

Get photographs of actors/actresses

Get test footage of actors/actresses

Photographs of costume - masks etc.

Done

Organising Times for Shooting on Stage

It has been brought to my attention that I should really be finding out when the location, the school stage, is in operation and when lessons are present in the hall and when it is available. Below is the timetable of when the hall/stage is booked and when it is free.

I have also realised that the actors/actresses that I am going to be using for my short film, will also have booked in lessons time and free periods. Below is a timetable of each of the actors/actresses who will be used in my film and their available slots.