Final Film

Lighting

As we filmed during the winter the environment got darker quickly meaning there was a problem with continuity. This made the process of editing more difficult due to the fact that some scenes were in the nigh and others were in the day. We did manage to gradually go from day, to dusk and then to night, with the sky visibly turning darker, however when we wanted to tweak anything we would have had to wait till the right lighting to do so. This lead to us filming all of the film during the daylight.

Mistake

Mistakes

The mistakes that we made were leaving tripods in the shot and the reflection of the cameramen in the shot. An example of this was when my reflection was on the car that Big Jon was in. We found this out after editing and had to film again, which lead to us being more cautious the next time we filmed.

Here we can see the the tripod in the bottom right corner of the shot

We fixed this by making sure that in all of our scenes there was nothing there that would lessen the realism of the sequence.

Additional scenes

An additional scene was shot in the subway, that was to follow Sam G and Matt Don into the subway, where they wold meet another character, who would be working for him, this would enforce the theme of the a hierarchy within Big Jon's criminal organisation.
However we decided in the end that the scene would have slowed the rest of the sequence down, as it was too long and was not necessary to the narrative.

Target audience

Target audience
Our target audience were males aged between 15-24. Similar to that of other crime films. The criminal nature of the film would mean that the film would to be suitable for children and would get a treating of 15 or 18, therefore raising the target audience age. The fast pace nature of the film suits the younger target audience
Fans of the crime genre will also like our film because of similar themes it shares with other films of the genre.

In order to make sure our film targeted towards the appropriate, we interviewed 2 students aged 16 and 17, asking them:

1. Does the crime genre appeal to you? Both responded positively saying that it does
2. What aspects are most appealing to you? The writing and escapism were both themes that came up in their answers.
3. What was intriguing about the character Big Jon? His mystery and his threatening personality were answers given.
4. What aspects of our film were good? Our camera angles, the different locations and the character Big were all said to be intriguing.

Character inspirations

Big Jon - Brick Top (Snatch)
Brick Top was a major inspiration for the title character of my film. I wanted the other characters to fear Brick Top and to do as he says. I showed this through the phone conversation, where Matt Don says 'Sorry, I forgot who I was talking to for a second.' This shows how he has authority, but that other characters are scared of him and do not want to offend him. An example of this in Snatch is shown




 I also wanted to show how Don Jon has complete control over those who work for him. I did this by making the scene where Jon tells a Kyran to get him another newspaper after Kyran brings him back the wrong one. This shows his authority and through the use of authoritative shots such as... we see that he has power over the other characters. Although Big Jon's ruthless attitude is not to the extent of Brick Top's, we can still see that his authority over others, similar to Brick Top.

Matt Don - Don Corleone (The Godfather)
All though Matt Don is not nearly as powerful as Vito Corleone, both are respected and level headed, who are cautious about what they do. We can see this as Matt Don says he 'does not know' about whether he should do the job that Big Jon is offering them. He then says that the job is ;risky' again showing his cautious approach to his field of work.



Sam G - Henry Hill (Goodfellas)
Henry Hill is an ambitious, hot headed gangster, who is willing to take risks. I wanted to recreate this with  I wanted there to be ambition within the duo of Matt Don and Sam G. Sam G's desire to get to top of the criminal scene and his willingness to take risks works well with Matt Don's cautious approach to their 'work.'

Camera angles

Long shots
We used a series of long shots to establish the settings and the characters of the scene. As seen here on the right. This shot lets the audience know that the sequence is not only focusing on Matt Don and Sam G, but is focusing on Big Jon. The shot establishes the surroundings and the characters









Low angle shots
For example the low shots we used represent Big Jon's authority. The low angle shots makes it look as though Big Jon is standing over the audience, making him look intimidating, matching the characters personality.






Extreme close ups
The extreme close up shows the audience of Big Jon's face. This shot highlights his importance and lets the audience know who the scene is focused on.

Mid shots
The Mid shot fit in both characters and allow the audience to see their surroundings, actions and re-actions.

Opening sequences

An Officer and a Gentleman
What happens? The opening sequence has the character Zack Mayo, played by Richard Gere, riding towards the military base to sign up for the Navy's Aviation Officer Candidate School to become a Pilot. The opening sequence follows the main character on his journey, similar to our opening sequence. However our opening sequence follows two people and has two stories going on at one time.
How does it bring the viewer in? Although the opening sequence is only short, it draws the viewer in by the impressive environment that surrounds the protagonist.
Camera shots: There is a close up shot of Zack, however after he gets on the bike there are a series of long shots which shows the character as well as his surrounding, which is the military base.
Music: 'Up Where We Belong' is playing in the background a song which fits in well with the genre of the film and which contrasts with the surrounding. The music is upbeat and creates a feeling of optimism.

Trainspotting

What happens? Many different events are going on at once. The sequence starts of with Renton and Spud running away from the police. It then goes to Renton in his house smoking and then cuts back and forth between the house and them playing football. During the football match the character names are introduced through the credits. During all these events Renton is narrating, which indicates to the viewer who the main character is.

How does it bring the viewer in? The film immediately starts at a fast pace, bringing the viewer into the story. The monologue helps the viewer connect with the character, however the extreme scenarios that Renton is in means that the viewer cannot empathize with him.

Camera shots: There are a mixture of shots due to the varying scenes. There are long shots for the chase scene, plenty of cuts during the football match and there is a shot from when Renton falls down after being hit by the ball, which cuts to Renton falling down after smoking in his house.

Music: The upbeat music matches the tempo of the scenes.

The Shining

What happens? In this iconic opening sequence, the camera follows the car of the main character, Jack Torrance, driving on long winding road through the mountains.

How does it bring the viewer in? Although in terms of the story, not much happens in this sequence, it brings the viewer in by combining the stunning scenery with the mysterious music. The extreme long shots not only engage the viewer but convey the theme of loneliness and isolation a theme which runs throughout the rest of the film. The sequence is mysterious and builds up tension as the viewer does not know what will happen next.

Camera shots: The camera sweeps through the Mountains following the car on its winding journey. The shots also intentionally do not show all of the road as it is covered up by the mountains, which make the viewer not know where the car will go and builds up tension.

Music:The music is important in this sequence as it builds up most of the tension. It emphasizes the theme of loneliness and its sudden changes lead the audience to question what will happen next.

Instititions

Paramount Pictures
Paramount have previously invested in films within the crime genre such as:

• The Godfather Trilogy
• The Wolf of Wall Street
• Pain & Gain

Paramount have invested in a large range of genres ranging from comedy (Jackass), Horror (Paranormal Activity), Action (Indiana Jones), etc. This company invests vasts amounts of money into films and therefore a low budget film such as mine would not attract the attention of Paramount.

Films that would invest in my film are independent institutions such as Film 4, who are a company from the UK who have invested in British films such as Attack the Block, The Inbetweeners movie and East is East. I feel that as my movie is from the crime genre and film 4 has invested in a film such as The Football Factory, a film which is based on criminal activity, Film 4 would be the company which would most likely invest in my film.

Preliminary sequence

In our preliminary sequence we tried to make the narrative clear and wanted to follow the character and create a sense of mystery about what she was talking about. In the sequence we used match on action when the character walks through the door. The script was given to us and involved no creativity however we were able to use a range of shots including close ups, mid shots and and low angle shots. we used low angle shots to show authority as we did in our final film.

The preliminary sequence taught us that we had to:

• Plan what shots to use in advance.
• As well as helping us to get familiarised with PremierPro
• Helped us to get to know who was good at what and who 
• Improved teamwork skills

Evaluation question one

Evaluation question two

Evaluation question three

Evaluation question five

Evaluation question six

Evaluation question seven

Evaluation question four

The impact of technological convergence on the film industry.

Technological convergence has impacted the film industry to a large extent. The new technology means that the film industry can be advertised in all forms and to almost every audience. The use of social media websites and advertisements within technology help attract the attention of a wide range of audiences and helps the film industry grow.

Films such as Skyfall used technological convergence to its advantage by using different methods of advertisement. For example Skyfall had a twitter page, a website, had its own brand of aftershave and more. These products promoted the film to wide range of audiences.

Genres

Crime
My movie has many aspects of the crime genre. Examples of films that are in the crime genre are:

• The Godfather
• Snatch
• Goodfellas
• Pulp Fiction
• Scarface
• The Usual Suspects

Aspects of this genre, which I have replicated in my opening sequence include:

• These films are based on a criminal organisation and focus on different characters of this organisation, focusing on the hierarchy and greed within the organisation.
• The characters in this genre wear suits, which show the professionalism and seriousness of the characters.
• Films in this genre often include meetings in quiet places to avoid suspicion and attention of the criminal activities taking place. 
• Aggressive behaviour from characters with authority.
• Themes of loyalty and respect (shown through the attitude towards Big Jon).

Titles and Credits

Order of Credits:

1. Name of the studio
2. Name of the production company
3. Name of Director
4. Name of Actors/Actresses
5. Name of Casting Directors
6. Name of Music Composer
7. Name of Production Designer
8. Name of Set Designer, Costume Designer, Hairdresser, Make-up Artist, Visual Effects Director
9. Name of Editor
10. Name of Director of Photography
11. Name of Producer

Spider-man 3
In this opening title sequence as well as recapping the events of the previous film, the titles introduce the cast of the film. The titles also involves animation of the venom symbiote invading the screen, which fans of the spider-man comics would know, represents the fall of spider-man which is shown later in the film. The sequence also uses colour to its advantage, with the black symbiote, taking over the white webs, which represent evil taking over.

Catch me if you can
The sequence sums up the plot of the entire movie through its use of animation and credits. The animation of credits attract the viewers attention and keep them interested. The credits become part of the environment, with people walking into and hiding behind the credits, which shows the theme of the movie which is of escape and hiding. The opening credits tell the audience what to expect for the rest of the film through the animation of the text and the animation used.

Snatch
In the opening sequence of Snatch, rather than display the credits in conventional order and fashion, the credits tell the audience of the characters names. This suggests that the characters have a more personal role than most characters do in other films, or that all of the characters are important and deserve their own credit. As the text comes up, the screen changes colour for each character, showing their individuality. The font appears as if it has been stamped on the screen, which conveys the theme of their being an aggressive attitude, which will be shown throughout the rest of the film.

Opening sequences related to my film

Snatch

What happens? The sequence focuses on all the characters and cuts between them with .... editing. The characters names are introduced through the credits. The tempo if the introduction is fast, indicating to the audience what the rest of the films tempo will be like. The fast cuts and aggressive nature of the characters builds tension. The themes shown in the opening scenes convey a theme of greed, gambling, violence and anger, a theme which runs throughout the rest of the film. I wanted my opening sequence to match the tempo and have all the themes conveyed throughout. 

How is it similar? The genre of the film is crime-comedy, similar to my film. Different characters are introduced at a fast pace, with each of the characters being in different surroundings. The cuts are fast, which build suspense and tension and bring the reader in, as well as show the characters to be interesting. One of the characters introduced in my opening sequence, 'Brick Top' was an inspiration for the character of 'Big Jon'. In the opening Brick Top shows his authority and his violence is shown immediately, as the first thing that the audience can see is him hitting someone with a hammer. Immediately after seeing this the viewer is shocked and it can be seen that the character of Brick Top has authority. I tried to do show the authority of 'Big Jon' by making him boss a minor character around, again to show that he has dominance.

The Godfather

What happens? In the opening scene the character of 'Vito Corleone', the Godfather, is introduced as well as Amerigo Bonasera. Bonasera, a minor character in the film, is pleading to Corleone for him to do him a favor. After begging, Don Corleone agrees to help Bonasera with his problem regarding two men who were not punished for a crime they committed.

How is it similar? Through the use of dialogue and close ups in the shots, Corleone is shown to have a great presence of authority, I tried to replicate this with the character of 'Big Jon'. For example I have shown the character 'Big Jon' to have authority over all of the characters by close ups and the reaction of characters towards him, however the character 'Big Jon' is less patient and more aggressive than the character of Don Corleone.

The Dark Knight

What happens? The opening sequence starts off at a fast pace and is filled with action, the scene is a bank heist. Throughout the opening sequences there are many unexpected deaths and a plot twist at the end. These unexpected deaths and plot twists unnerve the audience and leave them in anticipation of what will happen and draws the viewer by the suspense throughout the rest of the film. A theme of hierarchy and loyalty are shown by the betrayals and backstabbing, which occur commonly in the sequence, which lead to the audience doubting all of the characters loyalty for the remainder of the film.

How is it similar? Both sequences introduce characters who are partaking in criminal activities and contain a plot twist in the end. However in this sequence more action takes place and characters are killed off throughout the opening sequence, again mirroring the film; the more the film progresses the more deaths there are. A theme of hierarchy and loyalty are shown in this sequence as are shown in our opening sequence.

Sound

Swingers

The music in this opening sequence is Dean Martins 'your nobody till somebody loves you'. The song choice emphasizes the movies theme of the 1990's swing revival and sets the tone for the rest of the film. As well as setting the tone for the rest of the movie, the song has meaning and the lyrics of the song sum up what the movie is about and it is only after watching the movie, where we can see this, adding to the replay value. There are also no moving images in the background, which emphasizes the importance of the song.

Goodfellas
In this opening sequence as well as take the audience back to the time in which the movie is set in, the song 'rags to riches' describes Henry Hill, the protagonists hopes of becoming a 'gangster'. The song helps create a positive atmosphere, which contrasts with the previous scene, where murder and violence are shown. The optimistic nature of the song fits in well with the opening sequence overall and helps with the overall theme of the movie.

Live and Let Die
The title song for live and let die creates a tense atmosphere through the use of an orchestra, which comes at the audience in bursts and surprises them and sets them up for the rest of the film. The pyrotechnic explosions during the climactic moments of the song mirror the events of the film and let the viewer know what to expect.