Live and Let Spy Opening Evaluation

This is the finished evaluation of our entire coursework

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-lLGQo0Ymo

Unfortunately Blogger does not recognize this as a video on you tube, but here's a sampleof what it looks like

enjoy

Finished Version of The Package

Here is a link to the finished version of The Package

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5zwAa1Ny8M

Finished Opening of Live and Let Spy

Here is a link to our finished opening for Live and Let Spy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z568PBom5KY

Title of the Film

When we looked at some classic american styled action films, we found a lot of titles with simply "The..." and then another word that involved the main object of the story. For example; The Matrix, The Terminator and The Mummy. This is why we decided to call this opening "The Package". This not only tells our audience what the film is about but also the genre of the film.

Choice of Music for the Chase Scene

Adam had found various examples of music for us to use. In the end though we chose only one piece for the whole scene. There was an upbeat piece of music which didn't match the mood of the scene, then there were two suitable tracks left. One was less sudden and didn't have the repetition of the other, so we chose the other one. So far it seems to have been a good choice as it fits well with the time line. 

The music was from:

http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?keywords=movement+proposition&Search=Search

The site itself looks like this 

Risk Assessment

This is the risk assessment, as created by Adam Lewis (http://adam-mediacoursework.blogspot.co.uk/)

Shooting Schedule

We plan to shoot the entire opening in one session. This will take place on Wednesday the 6th. We will start filming at 10:00 and finish at about 12:30. Thankfully all we need is two locations and one of these is on route to the other. To conserve time we will shoot the end of the opening before the beginning due to the ending being closer to school than the beginning. This is a much shorter time frame than that of our previous opening, however it may be an appropriate day to film as the weather forecast says it will be overcast that day so the weather will suit the mood of the shots. Even with less time spent on the shots i believe that it is not impossible for us to shoot all of our opening in this time scale.  

This photo shows the sort of shot that we wish to establish by shooting in a overcast weather condition

Time Line

This is how long our film should be and how long each individual shot lasts.

Shot List

Shot     Action in shot
1          Man is walking away from camera and drops a piece of rubbish on the floor.
2          Zoom in to rubbish and a foot of a man runs over the rubbish
3          Protagonist runs towards the camera then once he passes it the antagonists run towards the camera
4          Protagonist runs onto shot and looks slightly off camera
5          Protagonist runs around a corner of a building, antagonists run in behind
6          Protagonist vaults over a barrier, antagonist are held up by the barrier
7          Protagonist runs behind a corner and looks at the package he is holding, antagonists catch up
8          Protagonist runs towards bridge
9          Split screen shot of both the protagonist and antagonist running across a bridge
10        Protagonist runs towards camera then runs off screen with antagonists in mid-ground
11        Protagonist (after whip pan) is running down steps with antagonists behind
12        There is a POV shot of the protagonist looking at another bridge and focusing on a brick
13        Protagonist runs down the bridge and picks up the brick, threatening to destroy the package
14        Close up of the package and the brick
15        Antagonists come around the corner and freeze with their hands in the air
16        Protagonist walks around to the side of the bridge
17        Protagonist seems to fall off the bridge, antagonists are shocked and run towards the edge
18        Protagonist runs towards camera which is focusing on the antagonists at the top of the hill
19        Protagonist runs to in front of the camera and looks for a hiding place
20        Protagonist hides against a wall whilst the camera pans to show the antagonists running away
21        Protagonist relaxes and opens the package as the screen cuts to title

Storyboard for the Action/Thriller

This is the storyboard for our action/thriller film opening

Narrative

The main story of the opening is this. A man is walking down an alleyway, he throws a piece of rubbish on the floor where it lingers fro a few seconds. Then a foot stands on the rubbish as the camera cuts to see 2 men running out of an alley way. One running the other chasing  They run through an urban environment whilst performing various maneuvers of parkour. We see them then running across a bridge with some trees in the background. Then there is a whip pan to a set of steps which they run down and then to a bridge. Here the protagonist (the man being chased) stops to pick up a brick. He threatens to destroy a package that is in his other hand as the chaser runs around the corner. The protagonist throws the brick at the chaser and thus distracts him so that the protagonist can run away. He now enters a woodland area where he searches for a hiding place and sees the antagonist run past. Now he calms down and opens the lid of the package he is holding. Just as the lid is fully open the scene cuts to the title page.

Like in the above photo, the package will have no trademark logos or patterns as to emphasize the audiences wonder as to what is inside.

Roles of the Group

Our group has now been split into 3 main areas of the filming process.

Adam Lewis: Adam is in charge of finding the sound track, creating the risk assessment, he is an actor in the film and he is a part of the editing system

Jacob Simpson (me): I'm in charge of creating the storyboard (shot list and timeline), I am an actor in the film, I am editing the film and i created the narrative for the film.

Joe Cockburn: Joe was the cameraman for the entire filming, he is a part of the editing system and was an actor in the film.

Research Into the Action/Thriller Genre

A film that defines Action/thriller is that of Inception. This film's opening however focuses more on the thriller side. That said, the opening scene does cut straight away into an explosion. This itself is a very powerful effect. The beginning is a scene that is very powerful and intellectual, one could class it as civilized  Then this juxtaposed next to one of the least civilized events possible, an explosion, emphasizes that this is indeed an action film. This is an effect we could well use. The idea of starting off in a peaceful/calm opening only to be invaded by an item of action is a great idea which is also easily replicated. Another technique we could use from this film is the idea of confusion. Straight away we see the same character but in three completely different settings. This confuses the audience, making them pay more attention straight away. We could apply this theory, however it would require a lot of planning and we don't have a lot of time to do it in.

   

The First Draft of Our Opening

For some reason, Blogger will not accept that "Live and Let Spy" is on YouTube so the only way i can incorporate it onto my blog is via a link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlOQsikUYrg

This shows our first draft of our opening and is what i will show in my feedback from target audience.

Second Trial at Coursework

For our second idea we have decided to try a action/thriller genre. We are trying to portray this in a chase scene. From our initial idea we think that the protagonist should start being chased off camera and he will run onto our establishing shot. From here we see him running through a suburban area whilst performing various jumps and vaults over objects. We then see him run across a bridge until a whip pan takes place and we see him on a bridge which goes into a forest. Here he distracts his pursuer and then runs and hides where we cut to the title. 

Most of these ideas of shots and the range of emotions came from watching the begging of the Bourne Ultimatum. From this film we gained the basics of chase scenes for us to expand on.