Production Log

4th October

I set up my blog today. I will use it to share all of my progress towards maing my own film opening such as any film openings I have watched and my thoughts and opinions about them. I may also post any ideas I have or problems that I face.

13th September

Today I watched the opening of the film 'The girl with the dragon tatoo'. It used extreme close ups and point of view shots to create tension and to allow the viewer to see the chaacter's emotionswith the extreme close ups and to see through his eyes with the point of view shots.

There is also no music. This further adds to the tension as the sounds of the parcel being opened are very loud and dominent. This shows the viewer that the parcel contains some very shocking or important infomation.

17th September

I designed a treatment for my fim opening today. It will almost definatley be the one that my group uses. Here is my treatment:

Throughout the film opening the music clubbed to death by Rob Dougan will be playing. The sequence starts with a young teenager playing football with a goal in the garden of his house. The viewer is led to believe that he is being watched as the camera is filming from behind bushes and trees. The sound of photographs being taken then starts and still images are shown to show the photographs. All the while the credits are being typed in the bottom left corner of the screen accompanied with the noise of somebody typing on a keyboard.

We now see a man get out of his car and walk inside the same house which has the garden in which the boy is playing football. He is wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase (the camera zooms in on the briefcase) which he hurriedly and nervously puts inside a cupboard. He turns around to find that his computer is on. It shows a black screen. The man looks surprised and sits down at his desk in front of the computer. The screen suddenly starts to type messages. During the one way conversation flashes of the boy being snatched by two men dressed in black. We are not shown their faces. The messages appear one at a time and read:

Hello Arthur

It has come to our attention that you have something that belongs to us

(At this point the man nervously and quickly looks towards the wardrobe (reaction shot) and the music gets louder and faster)

It is no use trying to hide it

You can not

(At this point the wardrobe door opens and the suitcase falls to the ground with a huge crash and the man jumps and lets out a gasp of panic. The music becomes louder and the viewer can see the man sweating and becoming uncomfortable and panicky)

While you have what belongs to us

We will have what belongs to you

(A photo of the boy earlier seen playing football appears on the screen. The man jumps up and rushes to the window, outside the goal has fallen over and the football lays still on the floor. The boy is gone. The man looks back at the computer)

We have found you

We will take you

(The music stops. There is a pause on the screen as no words are show)

And we will kill you

(Music starts again and credits)

Goodbye

 23rd September

My group and I today confirmed the use of the treatment that was designed by me.

11th October

I will be profiling the character of Arthur's son. My group mate Marcus will be profiling Arthur and Ali the two kidnappers.


11th October

Arthur's son does is not given a name in the film opening. His role is to show the viewer that Arthur is ddealing with serious and dangerous people. He is 11 years old and will wear tracksuit bottoms or shorts and a T-shirt.


17th October

I am taking responsibility for organizing a call sheet for the scenes taking place in the garden of my group mate Ali's garden.


GCSE B324: Production portfolio in Media studies
Call sheet 1

Film: Firewall

Location: Ali's house

Shoot date: 30/10/11
Length: Undersided

People needed:
Michael Shaw- Arthur
Ali Gibson- Kidnapper
Marcus Allen- Arthur's son
James Peters- Kidnapper

Equipment needed: Camera, tripod,
Props: Fotball, goal, briefcase


20th October

Today we decided the date that all 3 callsheets will take place on. The date is the 2nd of November..

30th October:
Today we filmed our film opening. During filming I did not act but filmed all the shots and played a large role along with my group mate Ali in the directing of the film.

 31st October:

During my school half term I decided that it would be a good idea to take a look at some film openings on the website ‘the art of the title’. I decided to analyse two of them.

300

Right from the start and continuing all the way to the end of the titles there is blood and gore everywhere. Soldiers are being impaled by objects such as spears, arrows and swords. This immediately lets the viewer know that the film is about bloody battles and gruesome fighting. The ancient Greek music tells us where and when it is set. The characters are all shown as black silhouettes against a dark orange sunset and a black landscape. This links to ancient paintings and ads to the ancient theme. The black silhouettes also takes away the character’s individuality and just shows him as part of a mass group, this means that they are more of an object than a person and the viewers do not feel anything when they are killed as they have no individuality.

Iron man

The ‘Iron man’ titles are filled with extremely complex designs of the iron man suit. The sequence takes place seemingly inside a computer showing just how complex the suit is. It also gives us an insight into how it was designed. We are shown all of the weapons and gadgets that the suit is equipped with and the electric guitar music tells us that there will be lots of action and daring stunts in the film.


Casino royale

Throughout the title sequence we are shown many objects such as playing cards that lnk and relate to a casino. This along with the name of the film allow the audience to expect and to know that the film will take place largley in a casino. We are also given an insight into the shooting and action which is later to come as during the opening people are shoting others and being shot in turn. We are shown the two main characters who are of course James Bond but also the character of Vespa, who's mystery is conveyed as she at first appears to be just a playing card but at a closer look her identity s revealed.

I thought that it would be effective to cut between two shots (the boy in the garden and the man in the house). I did this as it shows a clear connection between the two and adds an element of tension and susspense.,

While I was editing I found that many shots went on for one or two seconds too long. This took away much of he films suspense and tension. I cut out the start or end of some clips and took out any bits of the shot where the camera wobbled.

When filming I was also responsible for thinking of many of the shots used in the film. I also filmed all the shots and directed much of the film. I particuarly liked the idea of the boy being filmed from behind a bush as it gives a huge sense of forboding and shows clear danger.

 Finaly I wanted at least one hand held camera scene as I think that the effects that it gives is perfect. It clearly and straight away lets the viewer know that you are looking through somebody's eyes and therefore gives a great sense of realism and suspension.







When filming I was responsible for most of the directing and was responsible for most of directing and camera shts. I was responsible for the shots such as the hand held point of view shots and the aerial shots among others.


24th January:

I started making outline ntes about my target audienxe for 'Firewall'.
Age group: 15-40+
Gender: Mainly male as the central character is male but it would appeal to some females.
Our target audience would probabley watch films such as 'Taken' and 'Inception'. They would enjoy watching action packed dramas and thrillers.
Media: Blackberry, Iphone, Facebook, Twitter
Clothes:
Music:

26th January:

Today I created a profile for my target audience. I arranged images of different things that my target audience are likely to watch or use. I will put this in my power point.