Interrogation soundtrack

Even though this is a popular Call Of Duty game that is played on Xbox, Ps3 and on the PC, this Interrogation room soundtrack is the type of soundtrack we need for our opening 2 minutes, as a background soundtrack as it fades into the titles. This soundtrack has the eeary effect of being rapped ina room by yourself with one other person who's trying to ask you questions, hence it being called an Interrogration room. This soundtrack is quite easy to mimic if the right software is involved. It starts off as a hard drop of a slight bass with a crackling sound to give the sort of scary/eeary effect that it is trying to achieve and is the same throughout the soundtrack, this would give the audience a fearful effect as they would be able to relate to the person who is getting Interrogated as the actor would feel helpless, full of fear and scared on what is going to happen to him. Overall, this soundtrack is personally the right type of soundtrack needed for our film, due to copyright we are unable to use this soundtrack as it is a part of the Call of Duty franchise. We are going to try and make one ourselves for our film by hopefully using the right software and tools for making a quality Interrogation soundtrack

Codes and Conventions- Our opening 2 minutes- Crime-Action

These are some of the codes and conventions of our Action/Crime/Interrogation opening 2 minutes, some of these were included in our opening 2 minutes but someone of these codes/conventions are the sterotypical action/crime film.

These are some of the codes and conventions used in our opening 2 minuutes of our film

• Weapons - Knifes, Guns etc
• Outbursts in settings
• Outbreaks in windows, doors, houses, walls etc.
• Fights
• Antagonist and Protagonist
• Sinister, up beat nerve racking music

Those codes and conventions are just some that were included in our opening two minutes. There are more stereotypical action/crime codes that are used, these are;

• Hi-Tech equipment - Gadgets etc
• Mass destruction
• Car chases/Chase scenes
• Explosions and crashes
• Many Fight scenes

Comparing the Old and New Titles for Outgone

The two title sequences for our short film were both done on Sony Vegas Pro 11, which is a very good and highly rated editing programme. The first one is just a simple fade in and out from different letts spelling out - OUTGONE. Where as the new finalised one has a more action theme towards it as there is a bullet and the crashing of the title at the start with the title (OUTGONE) highlighted in the centre of the scree, adding bullet holes around the title aswell to give it the action feel towards the audience watching it. It is also 3D in a way as it catches the viewers eyes.
These two were made by two completely different tutorials where one of them was on youtube and the other was on a website that I found by typing it in on google.
Overall i am proud of both of these as they all took time to make and shows the progress of the different types of editing used.

The new one will be used in our opening 2 minutes as it gives the audience a more action/thriller/crime effect that will be useful for our film. It also links in with our interrogation scene that we are using for our film, hence that this will give us the effect needed for an action film.

Outgone-brainstorming idea's

This is just a simple brainstorm/Mind Map of our movie - Outgone. The different colour arrows show what exactly what we are going to use in our film. The Green linking up to the right type of setting/location, Costume, Genre and Extra on what we are going to use/do in our film. The Purple Arrows show the other ideas/possibilities on what we were thinking about using or the setting we were going to use, just before discussing it and then choosing our film idea. The Red Arrows simply just show the different subheadings/sub categories.

We all decided that in our film we are going to be wearing suits, the setting will be in an interrogation room where questions and answers will be asked (action scenes too) and the genre will be Action/Crime.

Time management (part 2)

We have recently decided that we are going to film the rest of the short film on Friday 24th January
Editing has started - Sunday 26th January New Title Sequence and opening titles were made - Tuesday 28th January  and was uploaded to the blogs on that day too.
Script is still to be finalized and last bits needed to be added in, should be finished by Thursday 23rd January and then ready for the filming on Friday Everything should be completed and uploaded to our blogs, including; Finishing the film, editing and checking for any bloopers etc by Wednesday 29th January - Friday 31st January

Equipment -Camera

The Sony CX220 is a Full HD Camcorder featuring a wide-angle Carl Zeiss lens

With this camera we were able to:

• Get more into the frame with a wide angle lens - Record detail-packed, high quality Full HD video using the popular AVCHD format
• Get closer in a click - 32x extended zoom and advanced image processing let you zoom quickly into a scene and capture clear footage
• Shoot in low light and see the detail - The sensitive Exmor R™ CMOS sensor means you can capture detailed video and stills with reduced image noise, even in low light
• Capture quick motion in crisp detail - A high-speed BIONZ image processor gives you enhanced image quality and performance when you’re shooting fast-moving subjects
• Smooth and natural fast action - Perfect for filming sport, the 1920x1080/50p progressive mode records at a very high frame rate of 50 Full HD frames a second
• Capture stills in sharp detail - With 8.9 megapixel still image recording, you can shoot crisp, clear High Definition photos as well as movies
• Easy to review and play videos and images - Clearly see what you’ve shot on the 6.7cm (2.7 inch) Clear Photo LCD display
• Just point and shoot, without adjusting settings - iAuto automatically adjusts settings for the best results, recognising different faces, lighting and scenes such as landscapes
• Pick out the smiles in every scene - With Face Detection and Smile Shutter, you can automatically capture still photos of smiling faces while recording video
• Handy charging and connections - The USB cable stores neatly inside the Handycam®, always ready to connect to a computer, transfer videos and recharge the battery

Opening Titles/Credits Analysis - Casino Royale

 The starting sequence starts with showing the company idents such as Dolby Digital, MGM studios and Columbia. These are shown for recognition and credit for being part of that film. The film then starts its main narration with an establishing shot of the building the sequence is taking place in to tell the audience the location, weather and the time of day at this point. The establishing shot is also accompanied by the place name (Prague) in the bottom left hand corner to indicate to the audience what country they are in. This sequence is in black and white to indicate that its in the past and has already happened. There is no sound at this point apart from ambient sound such as footsteps and the lift door.

There are many enigma codes set at this point such as who is the man entering the building and why is he important? Why is James Bond in the office and why does he kill him?

When in conversation there are flashbacks (within the flashback) to the past. The scene is very white which contrasts the dark black scene in the office.

After the initial narration sequence the films animated title sequence starts. The non-diagetic sound the plays along side this is a real song as there are words. The credits list many names with job titles, they appear in this order: production company, main stars, writer of the book that the film was based on, co-stars, associate producer, sound unit director, costume designer, editor, director of photography, production designer, writer/singer and producer of the song being played along with the director of music for the whole of the film, executive producers and then a repetition of the novel writer. As most films do the credits end with the producer and the director last.

The title sequence is around 4 minutes which is very long compared to most other modern films. I think this is because they wanted to keep the titles the same since the older movies as Casino Royale is now 1 of 23.

In terms of camera work there is a large range of shots.There is an establishing shot of the building where the action is about to take place to indicate to the audience where the characters are to make the narrative easier to understand and follow. There are lots of close ups in the first two minutes on all the characters faces, mostly James and the man who he is accusing of sellling secrets. This is to show emotion as they are clearly in a confrontation and the close ups can give the audience and insight into what the characters are thinking or feeling at that time. Around 1 minute into the sequence, there is a very interesting shot where James and the other man are either side of the shot facing eachother, there is nothing in the middle and you can only just make out where the characters are as there is little light. I think they have used this shot to show that the two characters are the complete opposite of eachother and that one is the hero and one is the villain at the time.

The Shining opening titles analysis

The film opens with a series of shots of panoramic landscape vistas showcasing the bleak desolation of the snowy mountainous surroundings, which will provide the backdrop for the film’s subsequent narrative developments. Various birds’ eye view shots intermittently cross dissolve into one another, and depict an expansive clear blue lake, a snow-capped mountain range, and a densely populated forest of evergreen trees. The camera moves swiftly through its surroundings in each shot, sweeping past the breadth of the natural environs below it, and thus conveys to the audience a sense of the massive scale and large land span of the location depicted.

During the camera’s continual movement, it occasionally captures its views from distorted angles, which undermines the idea otherwise created by this series of shots of the benevolent purity of natural beauty and the wintry American landscape. It thus uses spatial manipulation to contradict the principal connotations of the images of nature captured in these shots, and hence foreshadows the heavy deployment of themes and imagery centred upon the supernatural that will follow.

Also indicative of this theme is the use of slow, sombre, unnerving and deliberate electronic music, which in conjunction with the seemingly oppositional images suggest a malevolence to the surroundings shown and imply an unknown danger amongst them.

Eventually the camera finds a road snaking through an aerial shot of a thickly forested area then picks out and follows a lone car in extreme high angle long shot, making its way along the road. The camera gradually moves increasingly closer maintaining its birds’ eye view position, but also gradually rotates to distort the angle and create a sense of unsettling foreboding in the manner described above. A series of shot changes track the car’s journey and depict a range of different natural backdrops indicating the traversal of time and space. As the camera finally tracks speedily in to a mid shot of the car from behind, revealing it to be a yellow Volkswagen Beetle, credits rise up through the frame from below in blue typeface, and each gives way to the next, departing the frame by rising out of it.

The moving camera overtakes the car and veers away to the left, aerially crossing country before again finding the car and tracking its journey, once again with another series of extreme high angle long shots, while the eeriness of the electronic score continues to aurally unsettle the viewer.

The camera’s point of view eventually shifts to depict an extreme long shot of a remotely located building amongst the mountains, trees and lakes. It slowly circles the building, getting gradually closer. This building is the Overlook Hotel, and will be the yellow car’s final destination, and the principal location for almost all of the film’s subsequent action.

Overall, the opening sequence has been gradually building up to this elaborate establishing shot of the hotel, and has served to highlight its isolation and remoteness and communicate an implication of danger, that the audience should by now have associated with this idyllic yet spectral location and its backdrop.

Dark Knight interrorgation scene

The setting within this sequence is an interrogation room and office in the basement of Gotham police station. It is a naturalistic, interior location similar to that of many police dramas and films; dingy, grimy and isolated. The interrogation room has white marked walls, a dirty floor, two way mirrors and fluorescent lights. The only objects in the room are a metal table, two chairs and a lamp. It is a very minimalistic setting, allowing the audience to focus solely on the action and speech that take place. The office is a direct contrast to this; it is cluttered with desks, filing cabinets and papers. Police officers have filled the room, showing their intrigue into the interrogation of the Joker. The textures within both rooms are very harsh, reinforcing the setting as a harsh, official environment. The colours also reinforce this idea, consisting of blacks, greys and browns – a colour scheme seen throughout the film, echoing the colour schemes used in many police dramas and modern attempts at film noir. However the white walls of the interrogation room contrast with other settings, allowing everything to be seen. This could signify that all that is said within that room is truth, or at least appears to be. The colour of the room also contrasts with the characters of Batman (Christian Bale) and the Joker (Heath Ledger), the main characters within this sequence. Batman wears a very black armoured suit whilst the Joker wears his trademark purple and green suit. Both of these costumes stand out against the background of the white walls, demonstrating their comic book origins.
The lighting within the setting allows the audience to connect with the action. The lighting is all electrical, using lamps and fluorescent ceiling lights. The sequence within the interrogation room begins in darkness, with one ceiling light and a lamp lighting the room. At 01:22:13, the audience see Commissioner Gordon’s (Gary Oldman) face half in shadow, signifying that he is hiding something from both the audience and the Joker. In contrast to this the Joker’s face is fully seen, yet altered in the dim lamp light, creating a rather harrowing image; this contrast demonstrates that the Joker is not lying. When Batman enters (01:23:43), the full ceiling of fluorescent lights is lit, allowing the audience to see his presence. It also allows them to see the action and small details within the scene, such as the Joker’s facial expressions and Batman’s sudden change in mood. The full lighting is contrasted by the lighting of the office which remains in lamplight throughout; this could signify that the people within this office are left in the dark as to what is really going on within the interrogation room, signifying their importance within the scene.
Sound is used in a different way, showing the genre of the film or adding depth to a scene. Non-diegetic sound is used to heighten the tension of the sequence and show the changes in mood. At 01:24:47, soft music begins to play, this could show Batman’s train of thought after the Joker’s line, “Don’t talk like one of them, you’re not! Even if you’d like to be.” But it could also show the change in conversation, to idea of civilised society is nothing but a bad joke (01:25:07). This non-diegetic music becomes increasingly loud, but it slows down, insinuating there will be a sudden change in the pace of the scene, ending at 01:25:59, when Batman draws the Joker over the table. The music then becomes a drum beat, like a ticking clock, indicating that time is running out. After the Joker confesses that there are two people missing (01:25:55), this music changes to a high, piercing note. This note is typical of action and also horror films, creating tension between the audience and the action. However this is contrasted with the noises of the Joker, the cracking of his back and his clown-like laugh echo above this non-diegetic sound, highlighting his comical nature even in the face of violence.
The shot composition of this sequence is also important. The open framing of the scene allows the characters to move in and out as they wish, all except the Joker, who seems to be the highest influence of the space. This creates an uneasy atmosphere for the audience as they are unable to identify who controls the situation. There is a voyeuristic nature surrounding this scene, as police officers listen in and watch from outside the interrogation room. However the fact that one of the voyeuristic two-way mirrors is smashed could signify a link between the interrogation room and the office, opening the frame. Yet this link is restricted by Batman placing a chair against the door. This suggests that the frame is controlled, by both Gordon’s security door and Batman’s placement of the chair.
Nolan’s use of camera distance helps the audience perceive the relationships between characters within the situation. Long shots are used to set the scene within the interrogation room, showing Gordon enter the room (01:22:15) and the Joker sitting handcuffed at the table (01:22:18). Medium close-ups are used to show the Joker’s reactions and speech to Gordon, to show that he is not joking. A medium close-up is also used when the full lights are switched on, showing the Joker wince at the sudden change of lighting and Batman standing behind him. This allows the audience to see one step ahead of the action. A long shot is used to demonstrate Batman’s physical dominance, when he punches the Joker’s hand into the table (01:23:51). As the conversation between the two characters continues medium shot/reverse shots are used to allow the audience to read each character’s reaction. This is coupled with a pan around these characters, slowly taking the audience past the back of both Batman and the Joker. This also enhances their experience of the conversation, allowing them to see every point of it. Tracking shots follow the action, the audience become involved following Batman’s every step and punch. This cuts to a reaction shot of the police officers and Gordon, allowing the audience to see that Batman is out of line, letting his emotions take away his self-control. This use of camera distance creates a links between the audience and the action, permitting them to engage with it.
Camera angles are used to influence the audience further, showing the preferred point of view of the scene. Straight angles are used throughout at the eye level of the audience, allowing them to integrate themselves within the scene. High angles are used to demonstrate the physical power held by the characters of Gordon and Batman. Throughout the scene, Batman is viewed from a slightly higher angle than the Joker, telling the audience that he appears to be dominant. The Joker is viewed as inferior, through the use of low angles. The main example of this is when Batman is beating the Joker for answers (01:26:47 – 01:26:59). The audience is positioned on Batman’s right, with his punching hand, limiting the field of vision, looking down upon the Joker, and then switched to a reaction shot of Batman’s face, following the movements of the Joker. These camera angles conflict with the actions and motives of the characters. Batman appears physically dominant, yet the Joker is mentally in control. He dominates the scene, causing Batman to play his game and lose his temper. There is one camera angle that seems out of place within this sequence. At 01:26:11, a tilted camera shot shows the Joker about to rise from the table. This is the only shot like this within the scene, causing the audience to feel disorientated. However, this shot could be seen as at the climax of the action within the scene. Batman has finally lost his temper, causing him to act violently, just as the Joker wanted him to.

Nolan appears to use this sequence to demonstrate the Joker’s intelligence and power with words. Using camera angles that have differing connotations to the action taking place and non-diegetic sound that heightens the tension, Nolan manages to influence the audience to feel the same confusion that Batman and Gordon are feeling. The dominance of character is shifted, showing the audience that both characters are equally matched, creating an intriguing inversion of connotations which causes them to rethink their point of view.

Outgone - Media AS Level Final Production

Outgone title scene

Outgone title scene ( Practice)

Outgone Possible script

non diagetic music of a struggle, scene is black with the titles showing. mid paced diagetic music
-henchman removes bag of face
-point of view show of dark room 
-jump cut to close up of fairly bruised confused face.
-zooms out to mid shot establishing three character, two henchmen and a victim in the middle.
-shot establishes the surroundings, which is dark and industrial looking.
SAM: w-whats happening? why am i here?
-non diagetic music voice accompanied by footsteps 
-maintaining mid shot of three characters.
Avraj: the reason for your being here is due to the consequences of your actions.
-jump cut to point of view shot of feet the feet of the man walking into the room.
- point of view shot of feet slowly pans up to reveal who he is as he continues to walk in. 
- shot reverse shot,close up of Sam.
SAM: w-what do you mean my actions?
-shot back to mid shot of man in suit as he removes his jacket and pulls chair opposite Sam.
Avraj: Don't play games with me boy, you are well aware of your actions
-Avraj rolls up sleeves
Avraj: however, if you wish for me to clarify 
- grabs sams hand and places it in vice.
Avraj: then i would be glad to make it apparent
-shot reverse shot
Sam: w-who are you?
- shot reverse shot 
Avraj: i am here to deliver punishment for the sins of the wicked
-close up of vice being tightened
-jump cut to sams face, showing pain
Sam: STOP! please, STOP!
cose up of avraj's face
Avraj: Did you stop?
-contimnues to tighten 

Make up and effects

This video shows a tutorial on how to make bruise/busted up make up tutorial, just to show how to make things realistic and have an action feel to our opening 2 minutes. This would really help/benefit us as our group have never used make up before so following this step by step tutorial would help us our a lot.
At the end of this, we would expect to have the finish product just like the person in the tutorial as it would give the audience the effect of someone look like they have been beaten up or attacked in a sort of fight, or in our case, to get answers out of someone. This would have an effect on the audience once completed by giving them the effect of it being an action film and we can see the physical pain that has been inflicted.

Time management

In order to efficiently manage our filming timings we had to create a schedule so that there we could film as quickly as possible and focus more on other aspects such as editing or re shooting.in addition to this, due to the us changing our script and plot, we had to find another location and that postponed filming and we had to change our schedule again.
Currently our schedule is to complete filming within a week and focus on the editing and other things. 

Monday 9th December- location scouting for the appropriate place to film an interrogation scene.

Friday 13th December - costume searching and props shopping.

Saturday 28th December- rewritten script.

Monday 12th January - Film for 2 hours after school from 4pm to 6pm

Tuesday 13th January- film for one hour from 2pm till 3pm

Wednesday 14th January- Edit what filming we had to give us indications of what needed to be improved or redone.

Thursday 15th January- re shoot some scenes if needs be, finish filming.

Friday 16th January- Finish or get close to finishing editing.  

Title scene research

This is the tutorial I used to make the first title sequence for our film, but we are not for certain that we are going to use it. This tutorial showed me how to create a good action title sequence that was effective on the audience and it was quite simple and didn't take long to do. This was just a practice type of tutorial as the next title sequence for our film will be better. The youtube channel has loads of tutorials that can be used and that are easy step by step guides on how to make the titles. Overall I found this helpful as it gave me more experience on how to make different title sequences using Sony Vegas Pro 10, which is a very useful and simple editing program that we are using to edit out film.

Camera movements

Camera Movements are an essential way in telling the story. Different camera movements help show a wider range of text .

   
Pan Shot
The first camera movement I will be looking at is the pan shot. This shows whats left or right of the screen and it helps reveal the setting which also give the audience an indication of what class the characters may be.

Tilt Shot 

Below is the tilt shot and it shows whats up and down of the screen and is most effective whe climbing somthing, facing a task or possibly even a flashback.

Setting idea

Props

Having Props is an important way to identify a character and stereotypes associated with said character. For example, if there is a character wearing a blazer in a big house, you will associate success with him whereas if he is in a alleyway, people may think he is a dangerous gang leader.

Props in Movies:
Props also help separate the main characters from the background characters. A perfect example of this is Batman "The Dark Knight Rises."
Batman wears a mask and cape which shows that he is the main character which is easy to idetify. Throughout the movie, we see hundreds of villains/ criminals escaping but the one that gains most attention is Bane as he wears an intimidating mask.

Props in my movie: 

Props

Props really help tell the story. Some genres share similar props. Our genre is Urban/Action and so we will look at other movies and see what props are frequent. The movies I'm looking at are Taken, Green Street and Rush hour.

My first prop will be a BB gun as we won't be able to use a REAL GUN. Moreover, 2 of the 3 movies contain guns and so I understand that it is a vital part in an action movie. It doesn't always have

Looking at green street and kidulthood which are both urban movies, do have the use of guns but the use of baseball bats are emphasised. This will also be a realistic weapon.

Other props that we use are small props such as, fake blood, make-up for bruised effects and jewellery for distinguising between the status of the characters.

Shot types

There are many different types of camera angles and shot types that can be used to create a setting during a film.

1. Extreme close up.

The first shot I have chosen is an extreme close up is mainly used during a tense or dramatic scene to create suspense. This type of shot would be extremely effective in our film as it would set the scene and make it easy to establish the genre of our film. 

2. Close up.

The second shot i have chosen is a close up shot. This type of shot is effective when it comes to identifying the facial expressions of the person/character which then expresses to the audience what type of situation they are in. This type of shot is is also an effective camera angle to use for our film as it can add tension to the situation.

3. The third shot type is the Medium shot This shot is used to help the audience always be aware of the setting possibly because something may happen. In our movie, we will have the victim in a medium shot with a garage visible. This is important because he will later get thrown into that garage door.

Here we've got a medium shot to remind us that there has been a murder in this room and a medium shot helps the audience remember this without taking any prevalence away from him.

4. My fourth shot is a long shot. This is used to establish the setting and characters thus the long shot is also known as the Establishing shot. A long shot shows the person from top to bottom thus exposing more of the setting. We will try to use this shot to establish the alleyway and introduce the villains.

We see a long shot which helps establish the four characters and help the audience identify that thy will play some part in the movie and we also see the setting which tells me that they live together.

7. An extreme long shot focuses on where the movie will be set and is best used at the start of the movie or if the scene is changing. A good example of this is all three of the rush hour movies where they move from one country to another and that is where we see an extreme long shot.

This will be a extreme long shot for a movie set in Hollywood or even Los Angles.

Film Production Company-Universal

Universal pictures was founded in 1912 and is one of the oldest movie studios in the United states. Founded in 1912 by Carl Laemmle, Mark Dintenfass, Charles Baumann, Adam Kessel, Pat Powers, William Swanson, David Horsley, andJules Brulatour, and its headquarters is in universal city in Orlando.

Universal has made its fair share of famous movies, some of these being:

• Bridesmaides
• Fast and Furious 5
• Tower Heist
• Paul
• Bruno

Universal cover similar films to ours, Fast and Furious has the thrilling action scenes, whilst Paul has three British actors.

Film production research-Warner Brothers

Warner Brothers was found in 1918 known as Warner brothers studios which later changed in 1923 to Warner Brother pictures. The founders were Albert, Harry, Sam and Jack; who were the Warner Brothers. 1966 was the year that the Warner Brothers sold their company but the name of the film production company has still remained.

Warner Bros have made a gargantuan amount of well established and recognized films; some of them being:

• Lord of the Rings
• Rush Hour
• Austin Powers
• A nightmare on Elm Street
• Harold and Kumar.

As you can see, Warner Bros has produced films of different genres and they have also established themselves through television producing such hits like Pokemon and loony Tunes which both later on became successful movies.

During my research i discovered that the film Green Street was produced by DeeGee Entertainment which is funded by Warner Brothers. Green street is a similar type of film to ours, therefore making Warner Brothers an Appropiate production line to use in our film.

Comment from Miss McKinney

Max - you still have a lot of work to do. Upload the blog tick chart, and make sure you complete the tasks you still need to do. The deadline for your research and planning to be complete is the week beginning 27th January.

Possible location/setting

Location Setting of the 2 minute opening

We have various locations we could film our 2 minute opening. As our film is an action genre we would need a crowded, large area of a city or town which would have a lot of places that action could take place, such as car chases and just normal on foot chases)
We have decided between two areas where these sort of scenes could take place and here are some pictures of the locations. This is between the towns of Kingston (Surrey) and Guildford (Surrey)



This location is the Guildford high street, this could be good for a chase scene as there is a crowded area where loads of people would be meaning there would be more of an effect on the audience if the people in the street were extras. This is also good as there are many side streets that link into this high street so that there could be many twist and turns when in a chase scene.


This location is also in Guildford, but further away from the town center, with this river there would be the continuous chase scene where it would stop and further production would take place, this would be good as there is a change of setting and that this is a quite area and also very open with fields next to it.

This location is the other location we have decided on which is Kingston (Surrey). This is the Shopping center and also the high street. This is an Urban area where we would like to get the inner city, busy feel that would get from somewhere like London, also that the high street is very wide so that there would be able to get round people when doing a chase scene. This is also slightly bad as there is a main busy road next to it as so filming might be slightly hard in this area.