I Am Legend.

I Am Legend

I Am Legend is a film about a man who survives a virus pandemic. A cure for cancer went terribly wrong when the cure turned everyone rabid. He is now surviving with his dog, the film shows the struggles and how he discovers a way to reverse the cure.

Camera Angles and shots
The first shot is an over the head/pan shot. It begins high to introduce the main character and his dog but it then pans down to then reveal the street that he is in. It shows how ruined and wrecked the, once cared for, street is now. There is then a mid shot, showing the character, his costume and his body language. It shows how agile he is moving and how careful he is being with each step he takes. It also shows us the massive gun he is using, which suggests to us that he is in danger. There is then a close up of the characters dog, to show how well trained but oblivious the animal actually is in this terrible situation. Then there is a shot through the guns telescopic lens which quickly switches to a close up of the character. This shot shows the frustration in the characters face because the previous shot showed us that he missed the deer he was aiming at. Finally, there is a range of different shots from 0:43 seconds to 0:58 seconds which shows the character running through the abandoned street, these shots allow us to establish where he is and how ruined and secluded the surroundings are. The shots used in this short sequence are long shots, mid shots and tracking shots.

Editing
The editing in this clip start off reasonably slow, which is good at the start of a film because it allows the viewer to settle into it and understand what is initially going on and where the first scene is set. But at 0:43 seconds the character starts to move faster and faster, to eventually begin running, this is when the editing begins to pick up the speed too. This shows the panic and movement the character is making and it makes it look quicker and full of more action.

Lighting
The lighting at the very beginning, when there is only overgrown grass being shown,  is rather dark and dull. This suggests that something terrible has happened or is about to happen. But as the camera begins to rise, the lighting gets slightly brighter in places. The sun is shining through the gaps in the buildings so some of the scene is light and some is dark. This suggests to me that something terrible has happened but the character is adjusting and learning to accept what has happened and finding good, secure ways to live. When the character runs to the edge of a building and begins to peer round, the lighting returns to dark again. This suggests to me that the character has now entered a danger zone and may be at some sort of risk now. Dark lighting is a typical convention of post-apocalyptic films so this films does follow those conventions to a certain extent.

Sound-
There is not any sound in this opening apart from the diegetic sounds of the footsteps rustling through he grass. There is also the characters breathing and sighing. You can also be able to slightly hear the dog breathing when it is running. No non-diegetic sound has been used in the opening.

Costumes-
The character is actually rather well dressed in this opening, which doesnt typically follow the convetions. Typically in post apocalyptic films, the character are wearing dirty, ripped clothes. This character however, is just wearing large, protective clothing that isnt worn out at all. This suggests to be that the character has infact found himself a good place to live, with access to luxuries, such as clean clothes.

Setting-
The setting of this opening is a street in America. This street is usually bright and thriving, it looks like it would normally be a busy street on an average day. The fact that they have used a street that used to be busy, just emphasises how much the world has changed now. The street now contains wrecked buildings, abandoned and crushed cars and litter and rubble spread across the street. The overgrown grass is also a good symbol to portray abandonment, it shows that no one is around to care for the grass or the streets any more, therefore they are now abandoned.

This opening makes me wonder what the character is hunting. It also makes me wonder why the dog is so trained and how it got to be like it is now. The dog is also not on a lead so the dog and the character may have a special bond in order for the animal to stick around because it would be so easy for it to run away if it really wanted to. It also makes me wonder what has happened, why it happened and how did the character manage to survive.

We are putting some of these ideas into our film. For example, we are using a gun too. We are also using he gun to kill whatever has killed off the population. We have used the storyline of this whole film as our inspiration. There pandemic started from a cancer cure, whereas, ours started from a cure for the common cold.

The Walking Dead.

How Upcoming Films Attract Their Audience.

How upcoming films attract their audience

 

Advertisment plays a large part in releasing a new film. Film companies need to advertise their films because if they don't, noone will know about the new film, so noone will go to watch it. The whole aim when releasing a film is to advertise to get as many people watching as possible.

When i was on facebook yesterday, i saw this clip called 'Scary Bathroom Halloween Prank' I thought it was really scary and caught my attention really easily, other people obviously thought this too because this video has 146,069 viewers! The video comes across as just a prank that has been pulled on certain people but little does everyone know, it is actually an advertisment for an upcoming film. It only tells us that it is made for a film at the very end, once people have become interested and watched the video. The advertisers have obviously noticed that pranks are popular videos on youtube so have decided to use this to their advantage. They made it very clear at the end that this was advertising their upcoming film, with a poster showing the film and the release date.

This is the video:



Many films are promoted by posters, adverts or radio announcements. This is a very different way to advertise a film and its something people enjoy watching and can easily talk about and recommend. They thought outside the box but still appealing to their target audience. This advert has clearly not followed the conventions of a typical film advert but it appeals to their target audience more than a typical trailer would. It would remain in peoples memories and would be a very easy thing to remember because it is so different.

How Upcoming Films Attract Their Audience.

New films that are due to be released need to advertise their film to make people go amd watch it. If people in the film making industry fail to attract their audience they will not make back enough money and will have lost their own money. A huge part in film marketing is advertising, correct advertising will mean sucess. The film needs to look good to the potential audiences.



I was watching telly the other day when i saw this traielr, the trailer was very interesting and funny! The film is called 'Bad Grandpa' and is due to be released on the 23rd of October. The advertisers have been very clever and noticed that funny things and funny films are very popular amongst different audiences, so they gahered short clips of the funniets moments in the film and made a short but funny and enticing trailer. This is a very simple but very good way of promoting a new film and it helps to attract the audience and convince them to see the film when it is released.

Advertisers also use techniques called smart advertising and use different methods to promote their films. Some films are advertised using TV, radio, billboards etc. These techniques do work, however, smart advertising is a more interesting thing for potential audiences to watch. The films that use smart advertising do not fit into the stereotype of film advertising, which may also attract the audience even more.

Research.

World War Z.

How Posters Attract Their Audience.

Ratings.

Ratings

Audience.

Audience

I would imagine that the target audience for a post apocalyptic film would be males aged 15-30. This is because the content tends to be gory and fighting, which typically females dont like to watch. Im now going to look at a few statistics on http://www.imdb.com/list/f0vG-RUAoT8/

After Earth-

The majority of people who have viewed this film are males aged 18-29 (31569)

 

Elysium-

The majority of people who have viewed this film are males aged 18-29 (37725)

 

Oblivion-

The majority of people who have viewed this film are males ages 18-29 (86032)

 

The statistics drawn from this website prove my thoughts that males aged 18-30 are the main target audience for this genre.

The Walking Dead.

The Walking Dead.

 

http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/the-walking-dead-season-3/

I created a time line for The Walking Dead.

The main title of this sequence appears at the end, which is not typically how films show it. In films, the title may be shown at towards the beginning.
The titles only appear for a short amount of time each and reach no more than 5 seconds.
I am now going to analyse a film title sequence and compare the two.

Pacific Rim

 

http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/pacific-rim/

 

Pacific Rim compared with The Walking Dead is very similar. Both the titles appear at the end. I am going to compare one more film, to get a complete idea of how the titles should be shown and should appear on screen.

By comparing these two time lines, we can see that the producers and directors come before the actors in films but in tv programmes, the actors come before the producers and directors. I now also have a rough idea how long each title is shown for.

 

 

World War Z.

World War Z Title Sequence Analysis

 The opening credits for World War Z lasts quite a while and is shown for 2 minutes 15 seconds. 

 

The credits are shown with short clips of things that happen in the film, which attracts the audience's attention because they want to know why that clip is shown and what is happening. Although this is a good way to intrigue the audience, it can also draw attention away from the actual credits.

The actual title of the film is shown on a black background with white capital letters and one bigger, red letter. The colour red connotes anger, which could suggest a level of violence during this film. It could also connote urgency, this could be because in everyday life, police sirens are red. This could create a link with the colour red. In this circumstance, red could certainly mean emergency or urgency.

The sound goes almost silent at this point with a quiet, short amount of eerie music, which easily creates further tension for the audience.

Warm Bodies.

 

Warm bodies-

mise en scene:
Setting- 

The opening is set in a shopping street. Although, all the shops are smashed up and everything is messy. This is allowing the audience to initially see what the surroundings are going to be like. It also allows the audience to see what the other characters look like, it shows the audience that the world is crashing down around this character.

 

 

The next location is in an airport. The airport is really run down and smashed up, which shows their has been a big event to cause such a state. The security officer is so careless about the security check. The fact that he does not care about something so important shows there much have been quite a significant thing happen to cause such carelessness in a place that is normally so careful.

 The final scene is a flashback of a man cleaning the floor. The flash back is in the same place but in different circumstances. The surroundings are normal, like in the world now. The fact that it is a flashback confirms that there has been a significant event to cause such a dramatic difference.

 

Lighting-

The lighting throughout the opening is all dull and dark. The darkness shows mourning and realisation of what has previously happened. The dark lighting also emphasises how pale the characters are, which is quite a significant part throughout the film opening.

Costume-

The only significant costume we see is the one that the main character is wearing. The costume is just a plain grey t-shirt, a red hoodie and some jeans. He is wearing normal clothes but they're just a bit messy and torn. This shows he has experienced some kind of fight or trauma. He is probably just a normal person who has been through an ordeal recently.

Sound-

The only sound throughout the whole opening is the main character talking. The rest is completely silent. This can indicate loneliness, he does not hear any other sound or interact with any other character. This could also indicate emptiness as it sound as if we are inside his head and we can hear him thinking.

 

Camera Angles-

This first angle is an extreme close up of the characters eye. This helps introduce who the main character is. It also helps the audience see that something is not quite right with the appearance of this character.

This next shot is from behind the character, it shows the whole surroundings and helps establish where the character is. It also shows us the setting, location and surroundings.

 

We then switch back to another close up of the characters eyes, this can show the emotionless state in which the character is in. This can help us show what kind of person this character is and this helps prepare us for the film.

Then comes just a normal close up. This shows us more of the character and shows more detail of his face. It begins to show his facial expressions and emotions. This shot also begins to show us what costume he is wearing.

 

This shot shows us the character as well as the surroundings. It begins to inform us of what has roughly happened. Listening to the dialogue as well tells us that everyone is dead and has turned into some kind of zombie. This lets us know that this film is based around a zombie apocalypse.  

A tracking shot is what we see next. This continues to show us the settings and where the character is. Because the shot captures the body language of the character. This shows the character walking almost like he is dead and has turned into a zombie, this tells us that he is like the other characters we have seen previously.

Ender's Game.

That is the link to Ender's Game title sequence. 

 The title sequence in Ender's Game is quite long and lasts around one minute.



The title to Ender's Game is in a techno blue colour and capital letters. It is placed on a black background which emphasises the title and highlights the audiences attention. The title also occasionally glitches which could signify how un-smooth the world is being run in this film. The colour blue could connote emergency in every-day life,this could be because the police cars sirens are blue. Making the font blue could be an attempt to make

the audience wonder what is so urgent

and attract them in to watching the film.

Film Openings.

Review of The Book of Eli.

Mise en scene

Setting:

In the first shot, the first location we see is an empty, eerie looking forest. Its very empowering and creates that first bit of tension. The location stays the same throughout the rest of the opening. The forest seems very scary and dark and the trees have no leaves which could be setting the mood of emptiness and loneliness for later on in the film.

Lighting:

The lighting remains roughly the same throughout the opening. The only light there is, is the light coming through the trees from the sky. The small amount of light barely shining through may suggest there is still life but it is suffering greatly. Although it could suggest that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and things are about the get better.

Costume:

Here we see the costume on the only character in the whole opening. The character is wearing a large gas mark type thing covering his face. He then proceeds to get up and you can see the rest of his clothing..




This is where the character gets up and you can see fully what he is wearing. Although the lighting restricts us from seeing details, we can still see enough to know he is wearing thick, long clothes.


The protective clothing and protective face wear tell us that he is in danger of something and clearly needs protecting. The gas masks suggests a disease or something that is contagious and he really does not want to catch whatever it is putting him at risk.

Props:

The arrow in this screen shot is the main prop in the opening. Combined with the setting and the lighting, the fact that the character has an arrow strongly suggests he is in great danger and desperately needs to protect himself from whatever is putting him at risk. The arrow is a quite weapon so maybe he doesn't want to attract any attention to himself by creating noise.

 

The gun in another prop in this opening. The fact that the gun is just tossed down and disregarded shows that is it almost normal for someone to have a gun, otherwise they might have covered it up properly rather than just throwing it down anywhere. It also suggests that there is danger around, that combined with the setting and lighting creates very much tension and curiosity.

The body in the following shot connotes murder. The gun has been so carelessly disregarded and the body is just laying there in the open for anyone to see. Although the forest is empty, bodies are usually found so the fact that the body is still lying there and hasn't been found suggests there is not much life in this forest and perhaps not much life at all.

Sound

To start off with in the first shot, we hear the non-diegetic sound of a blast of scary sounding music. That creates a lot of tension and creates a suspicious mood. It then continues to play quietly as the camera sets the scene. It combines with the camera to set a complete scene for the viewer.

Then we hear the digetic sound of the cat walking, which is on-screen. The fact that we can hear the cats tiny footsteps on the leaves shows how quiet it actually is in the location, which also connotes emptiness and loneliness.

Then we hear another digetic sound, which is the breathing of the man who is wearing the mask. The fact we can hear his breathing suggests the same as above. The location is very quiet! The breathing is also heavy breathing which also creates tension.

Editing and camera angles

 

The first shot is a tracking shot but it could also be an establishing shot. It tracks along the setting to show us what is there but it also establishes what kind of scene we are in. The next shot is the insert shot which shows the gun. This shot is very useful because it helps to set the scene and let us know roughly what is happening.
The tracking shot also shows us what is in the scene, like props and characters, it is a quick way of showing us what is there and creating a mood without wasting too much time on it.
The camera then starts to zoom in and focus on the character. The zoom in is to emphasise the importance of the character. But it also shows the insignificance of the character compared to what is happening in the rest of the film.
The camera then switches to a full body shot of the cat, which holds a significant part in this opening. The fact that the cat is hairless, so skinny and fragile shows how the cat is now struggling to live and is obviously not being cared for.
Following that, there is a close up of the main character, this may be to show what he is wearing, in detail. This particular shot cannot be to show facial features or emotion because he is wearing a mask and we are unable to see that. We then get shown an insert shot of the arrow, the way the arrow is portrayed in this shot is an important part in the film opening. The arrow is shown clearly and the surroundings are blurry. This makes the arrow seem powerful.
We then see a point of view shot from the cats perspective. How the cat stops what it is doing to look around shows the cat may be feeling paranoid, which also suggests that the cat has been in danger recently and has a reason to be paranoid about it safely and surroundings.
A pan shot is what we see next, we see the camera pan while watching the arrow shoot past.

A long shot is next, we are shown a long shot to show us what has just happened. We see the cat get killed by the arrow. The fact that the man just shot the cat with no hesitation connotes the brutality of living in a post-apocalyptic state.

Film Briefs.

Film Briefs

 We receives our three film briefs to choose from today, these were the options:

Post-apocalyptic:



Physcological Thriller aimed at a female audience:

Sci-fi:

To Do List.

To Do List

To-Do List

More PowerPoint presentations from Abbie

Here is a list of things i need to do for my research. These things are a minimum and i aim to exceed these tasks.

Planning.

Planning

 

 

This is our story board for our preliminary task. We created a story board to show we put thought into our planning and our task. Our story board was to keep us on task and to remind us of our initial ideas. There are a few things that we did differently to our storyboard because when we rethought it all, we decided some things would be better when done differently. We found our storyboard helpful because we forgot some of our ideas and it reminded us of what we thought.

 

 

 

 

This is our script, our script is very long because we are not professional or good actors and it didn't look as good with conversation. We decided our script should be kept short and we should concentrate on our camera angles and editing rather than our conversation. We think the conversation was our weak point and maybe we should concentrate on practising a little bit.

'Jacob: Have you got the gold?

Abbie: The package has been delivered. (Passes the box)

           Here it is'

Filming- Preliminary Task.

 

Filming- Preliminary Task

 

As a group, we decided to try and add a wide range of camera angles, to make our clip as good as we could with the little experience we had.

Establishing shot- Here we thought an establishing shot would be most appropriate to let the viewer know where our clip is set. It also helps to introduce Jacob, one of the main characters in the clip.

Mid Shot- Here we used a mid shot to show that Jacob is now inside the building. We also used it to show the costumes we chose. Although we didn't actually chose any costumes this time, when we do choose specific outfits, this will be the shot to help show what we have chosen.

 Low Shot- We used a low shot here to show Jacob is the dominant character in our clip. He is the stronger one, the one in charge and the one everyone obeys, as will become clear in the rest of our clip.

 Pan- This was a camera technique we used as an attempt to get in a variety of shots and techniques.

 

Match-on-action- This was one of our attempts to compete the match-on-action technique. We tried this in our preliminary preliminary task and we found it worked really well, so we thought we would put two lots in this one.

Filming- Preliminary Task 2.





This is our second attempt to perform match-on-action, we decided that we should get it in twice seeing as Jacob goes through two doors and it is easy enough to do. All it takes is a little bit of extra editing and getting the cut just right. But we think its is actually quite easy.

 

Editing- Preliminary Task.

Editing

 

 

When we finished filming our filming we began editing. Half way through the  editing we realised we accidentally didn't film one scene so we had to go and film a whole section again. Next time we will definitely think about the planning more! We need to ensure we definitely have the same outfits and handle the camera with more care and make 100% sure that it is definitely filming before we continue. I really enjoyed the editing because we get to show off our skill and what we can actually do when we put our minds to it. We had to cut in and cut out at exactly the right time and make sure we did some good continuity editing. I think we achieved this quite well, as you will see when you watch our final film. To my understanding, continuity editing is when you edit your film really smoothly and when you switch from angle to angle it is not noticeable and all the film runs really smoothly. It is an overall term for things such as match on action, 180 degree rule and shot reverse shot, we have attempted to include some of these techniques. You will see these in our final video, which i have uploaded on another post.