Pictures from our opening sequence

equipment and prop list

Equipment
• Camera
• Tape
• Tripod


Props
• Jacuzzi
• Cans
• Bottles
• Glasses
• Bathroom props (Sponge & Washing basin)
• Guitar
• Cushions
• Demijohn


Costume
• Casual clothing (typical teenage cultured clothes)
-Jeans
-Tops
-Hoodies
-Socks/Shoes

Production schedule

16th November 09 – Film planning

18th November 09 – filmed.

4th December 09 – Uploading and editing film.

9th December 09– Continue editing.

11th December 09– Sound editing.

Location report

The location used is at one of our houses. This is because the film beginning is based on the morning after a house party. The location is easily accessible and there was no permission needed. We used this particular house for the layout structure, and the Jacuzzi for the dead body. Our opening scene was filmed in the living room, the upstairs hall way, the bathroom, the kitchen, and the outside garden which includes the Jacuzzi.
Our film starts off by entering the living room. The camera is then transported around the characters and the room. The camera then goes on to film upstairs. You see the top of the stairs, and goes towards the bathroom. Again the camera goes around all the characters, and then heads back towards the stairs. The camera faces down stairs to give the assumption that they are heading that way. The camera then enters the kitchen and wonders around more actors. It then heads towards the back door. After opening the back door the camera goes outside towards the Jacuzzi. Heading towards the Jacuzzi, we see the scenery around them. The camera then reaches the Jacuzzi, sees the body, and ends.

The living room location includes:
-Cans
-Bottles
-Cushions
The bathroom and hall way location includes:
-Cans
-Bottles
-Sponge
-Guitar
-Glasses
The kitchen location includes:
-Demijohn
-Glasses
-Bottles
-Cans
The outside location includes:
-Jacuzzi

Evaluation of our opening sequence

My Name: Rachel Parkes
Name of our film: Under Pressure

Certificate: 15

Genre: Crime Thriller

Other group members: Briony Lake, Charlie Henderson and Becki Forster

Planning:
We came up with other ideas that frequently changed before coming up with the end result. We thought about doing a opening sequence to a mystery/”who done it” film about the death about Marilyn Monroe but we could not come up with a good idea about how she died as it is unsolved anyway. We were going to improvise but it seemed to complicated to get the actors, props and location. It would of turned out to be a lot of money and hassle.
We also researched real life crime to get ideas for our crime film, we were planning originally to focus on a real life crime and make film about the crime.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The audience of our film intended was for teens or young adults. We show this by including the teenagers in the the film and using a stereotype of a teenage party with alcohol, which teenagers can relate to so the they would be the target audience. It is not intended for young children as it shows a bad influence towards alcohol and contains partial nudity. The rated audience is for ages 15 and above. Any audience below that rating would be unacceptable and not decent for their viewing.
Our film is similar to other crime films because of the murder crime. Like “Kidulthood” our film is about teenagers and youths in particular.
Our film is different to other crime films because it has no music. It has silence throughout the first scene whereas other films start with music or people speaking.
The genre of our film is a crime thriller. As the film involves a crime it is classed as a crime film. However as there is suspense and thrill during the rest of film is fits in the genre of Crime Thriller.

The opening scene of our crime film, shows how our film fits into the crime genre for example the use of no sound at the beginning which is done to build suspense as this shows that there is perhaps something wrong or something bad has happened in the film.
Also towards the end of the opening scene you begin to hear sound as it builds up more suspense when the camera is shown on the Jacuzzi, and then you hear the scream which immediately tells you that the body shown is dead and a crime has occurred.
The scream at the end also shows the audience that the film is a crime film and not for example a romantic comedy or a science fiction film.

Real life crime films:The Godfather
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Plot: The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.
This plot is completely different to our films. Our film plot is about people not being able to pay their drug money so they get killed. This however is a completely different plot.

The Departed
Director: Martin Scorsese
Plot: Two men from opposite sides of the law are undercover within the Massachusetts State Police and the Irish mafia, but violence and bloodshed boil when discoveries are made, and the moles are dispatched to find out their enemy's identities.
This plot is similar to our with violence, but the meaning behind the violence is completely different.

American Gangster
Director: Ridley Scott
Plot:
In 1970s America, a detective works to bring down the drug empire of Frank Lucas, a heroin kingpin from Manhattan, who is smuggling the drug into the country from the Far East.
The genre of this film is a crime gangster film. Ours is a crime thriller so there is a slight different between the two.

Strengths of our opening sequence:
Obvious links to being in the crime film genre.
Keeps the audience guessing as the the opening does not give too much away.
The use of no sound beside the spine chilling scream, adds a more dramatic feel to the film.
Suitable for an adult or young adult audience.
There is a suitable amount of titles and the time used for the opening is appropriate.
Well Structured.
We use a variety of social groups through the film but not in the first scene.

weaknesses of our opening sequence:
Props and scenery could be improved. The set could have been set up with more props and given more of a party look.
Music could be seen as a distinctive weakness, by adding music it could have built up more tension as well as making the film flow. We chose not to add music as we felt it looked more dramatic with a build up of music at the end of the sequence rather that starting at the beginning.
Whilst editing we could have experimented with special effects to make our film more eerie.
More hints could have been shown throughout to make it more obvious what kind of film we were making.

Research done:
We watched a few crime films to get an idea or an inspiration of crime films. One of these was kidulthood, a film about teenage violence and their lives in one day. The ending contained a party which made us think about using a party idea. Underage drinking was used in the film, which we used in ours and the death of a teen at the end was also an inspiration for our opening scene. Kidulthood has more of an older target audience whereas we have a lower one. Ours is rated 15 and Kidulthood is an 18.
We also analysed different crime films and posters which gave us inspiration and ideas to use in our opening scene.
We also researched codes and conventions of crime films to get ideas for what our crime film should include.

Analysis of other films:
We all analysed 3 different films each. For instance once of us analysed “Public Enemies, The Green Mile and Rock ‘n Rolla.” In these films we found a variety of similarities and differences. They all had a crime related plot, as of what you expect in a crime film, but however they were all different in some way.
“The Green Mile’ is about a death row, which involved a man (Wild bill) who uncontrollably killed and raped 2 young girls, but an innocent man (John Coffey) who was found comforting the dead bodies was accused. Even though he did not do it. This film includes brutal murders as well as false accusations. John Coffey is a spiritual man. He can feel other people’s pains. In the end he cant take it in the death row anymore, and asks to be killed.
This film is rated an 18 as it contains strong violence and language. Violence usually refers to a crime film is some way or another. There are many connotations to prove this is a crime film. For instance the amount of police and guns used. The type of location (In a prison) and the props used, such as the death electric chair.

Kidulthood

The background shows it is set in the city, an urban area where there is much violence. Which is common and also stereotypical.
There is a guy standing with a baseball bat in hand, he is stood in a violent stance and holding the baseball bat defensively showing violence in the film.
The people on the front of the poster are all teenagers which also shows the target audience as teenagers will relate to the film.
The review on the bottom of the poster mentions kicking a door of its hinges hints at violence in the film.

Preliminary task:

For our preliminary task, we had an interview between an police officer and a witness.
We had to produce a conversation between two people so we could try a variety of camera angles. This involves close ups, low angels, long shots and long shots. This task helps us edit and frame shots. It’s also helping us getting used to the camera editing and shooting.
Our preliminary task links well with our crime film, as one of the witness’ from the party is being questioned by an officer. It’s like what happened after the founding of the body at the party. Everybody was questioned.

Analysis of our film:Our opening sequence to our crime film is portrayed from the point of view of a character who was the first person to wake up the morning after a house party.
We did the opening sequence in a point of view style, which originally opened with the person we are seeing the POV of, waking up. We cut this scene as it would not fit with rest of the opening sequence and took up too much time, also it made no sense to start the film in the same location as the end. We didn’t have sound in our film piece because we thought it would seem more dramatic and mysterious. Also as it’s a point of view, you don’t repeatedly hear music in your head. The only sound we involved was a man screaming at the end, where he wakes up and sees a dead body.

Audience feedback:After showing our opening sequence of our crime film to our class we asked for their feedback and what they thought was good and was bad about our film, which would help us improve our film by making any of these changes.
Here are some of the points they made about our film:
The point of view could have been changed so now and then it had a blinking effect to make it more clear to the audience who’s point of view it was from.
We originally had a male voiceover for the scream at the end, due to audience feedback they suggested we should change the scream to a females voice or make it seem as if a male looks like he is about to scream, so we know who it is. We took this on board and made necessary changes. We felt this improved our film overall.
Another comment made was to improve the grain in our shots inside the house, we decided against this opinion as we thought it didn’t need any altering.

Storyboard

Cast list

Becki Forster - ‘Emma’ – Bathroom Character
‘Stephnaie’ – Lounge Character
‘Rachael’ – Kitchen Character

Briony Lake – ‘Zoe’ – Person’s Perspective

Charlie Henderson – ‘Marie’ - Staircase Character
‘Kerry’ - Lounge Character
‘Lisa’ - Kitchen Character

Daniel Upton – ‘Joe’ - Staircase Character
‘Callum’ - Lounge Character

Jack Blumfield – ‘Jack’ - Bathroom Character
‘Josh’ - Lounge Character

Jacob De-Vine – ‘Harry’ - Bathroom Character
‘Peter’- Lounge Character

Josh Shenton - ‘Luke’ Deceased Character
‘David’ - Staircase Character

Luke Fletcher – ‘Daniel’ - Bathroom Character
‘Oliver’ - Lounge Character

Rachel Parkes – ‘Susan’ - Staircase Character
‘Angela’ - Lounge Character