Filming 29/01/13

Today we managed to shoot the majority of our opening sequence. I felt that it was very productive and was the best our group has ever worked.

Location: We filmed our shots in Kingston Upon Thames. We filmed the walking shots by TKMAXX which lead to the river. We filmed the shot of Matt and Theo exchanging the briefcase by the River Thames (Kingston). 

Props/Costumes: We used a briefcase which has the cure for the virus inside it. Theo wore a camouflage outfit. 

Group Update- 24-25/01/13

On the 24th and 25th of January we filmed all our lab and office scenes. In all honesty we were very disorganised when it came to casting and we were unable to find anyone available at the times we wanted to film. Due to this Theo and I acted in our opening sequence. As we were not filming we decided that Mat and Serena should shoot the scenes that Theo and I were starring in then we film the other scenes we are not in.

I feel that over the last two days we managed to get a fair amount done and we managed to get some good shots. Some of the framing was off e.g. half of Theo's head is cut off. We may have to re-film this but we will make this decision after we have all our footage.

Audience

Our audience is the most important element to focus on, as they will be the ones watching our film. It is important to understand what sort of films they enjoy watching and whether they would be interested to watch our opening sequence. Towards the start of the year we filmed a focus group that we organised. That will be uploaded onto the group blog. I did some research on who our target audience would potentially be.

Action/Thriller movies are usually, if not always, for 15+ or even 18+. This is because there is a lot of violence and psychological issues which could disturb younger viewers. I have decided that I am targeting young adults between the ages of 15-26 both male and female. I have concluded that this will be the best audience from the results of my questionnaire. 

I asked students from my sixth form and different family members of different ages to give their opinion of my opening sequence idea. These were some of my responses:

"I like the idea of the sequence. It sounds very similar to the film I Am Legend which happens to be one of my favourite films. I am not a big fan of Action/Thriller films, however I would definitely be interested in seeing this movie." Student, 17. 

"Does not really sound like something I would pay to see. There are many T.V movies with the same concept. Although I am sure you will do a good job with it, it is not my cup of tea." Family Member, 36. 

"Definitely something I would want to watch. I like the idea of there being an apocalypse. The only problem I have when watching these movies in that genre, is that if i don't find the beginning interesting  I would not want to sit throughout the entire movie." Family Friend, 23. 

From looking at these responses, I picked up that the opening sequence is crucial and if we do not get it right the audience will not be interested. When I asked some people from outside the age range, I read that not many were particularly interested in the film as it sounds similar to other movies. Our audiences responses is the most important thing for our opening sequence to become a success and we will try our hardest to take all their opinions into account. 

Continuity Editing

Opening Sequence Storyboard

Storyboard/Schedule planning

On the 8/01/13 we managed to discuss and finalise what locations we would use to film our movie opening.  This is a picture of our plan.
We also began to work on our storyboard.

My chosen genre

My chosen genre for my film is Action/Thriller. This is my research of this genre.

The aim of a thriller/action is to create suspense and excitement for the audience. It heavily stimulates the viewers moods giving them a high level off anticipation and anxiety. There are usually many car chases, violence and revenge.
The setting varies depending on the narrative. For example Taken was set in a suburban town, but then was moved to Paris, France for its new location.
The music is fast paced in scenes of violence and action to match the speed of bullets for example.
There are many cuts in the scenes of violence which allows the audience to see the action from many different angles. There are also many close ups on the face (sweat dripping) and weapons of violence.