Evaluation of the Preliminary Task

Evaluation of the Preliminary Task

In the task we had to make a short video involving a conversation between two people (using the shot/reverse-shot), someone coming through a door (match-on-action) and use the 180 degree rule, which is when the characters in the scene are connected by an imaginary line which the camera only operates on one side of for every shot in the scene so the characters are always on the same position in each shot.

What went well?

The use of the shots was executed well. We had two instances of the shot/reverse-shot in a conversation. The 180 degree rule was also used in these conversations as for the duration of the conversation the audience never sore anything behind the camera and the characters stayed don the same sides of the scene. Out match-on-action was used when Oli Harbord walked through the door to start the first conversation. The camera shows his hand opening the door then cutting to him coming through it, the door being open the same amount as the first shot.

Our editing skills were also used well for this clip. We used a variety of shots and different angles, editing them together in most instances very well. The most frequently used shot other than the shot/reverse-shot was the match on action which can be very difficult to use as it may cause continuity issues if not edited properly, however we used them very well.

Match on Action- A match on action is an editing technique used for continuity editing in which one shot cuts to another shot portraying the action of the subject in the first shot.

Theo 180° rule-The 180° rule is when filming only takes place within the 180° angle in which this is maintained in a conversation. This allows the audience to have a greater understanding of the location.

Shot Reverse Shot- A shot reverse shot is another continuity editing technique. It is used when a conversation or simply characters looking at each other or objects. It could be what the character is supposedly looking at, either a point of view shot or over the shoulder. If the character is looking at someone or in a conversation with them, the next shot would be a reverse angle shot of the character they were looking at looking back at them. We used this when Theo and George had a conversation, switching between both of them.

Improvements:

There were three instances were the audience could see the Josh Graham, our camera-man, in the reflection of windows. The first was the shot of Oli reading the text message, we can see Josh’s hand in the reflection of the screen. The second was the shot of Oli walking past the water fountain when Josh’s shoulder is visible in the reflection of the door and finally when Oli and I leave the scene after the first conversation the audience can briefly see one half of Josh as he films.

Another minor problem was ensuring that the video had continuity. For filming we had to ensure we had access to the areas of the school for both days and that all people involved wore the same clothes on both days. This issue was handled well and we prepared very well for any potential continuity issues. However the was an instance of a continuity error. In the scene were Oli is coming down the stairs, there is a shot of his feet coming down and he leads with right foot but in the next shot (a match-on-action) he plants with his left, this was minor but still noticeable by us and the audience.

Lessons learnt for next time:

Firstly we learnt the importance of location. As we could only film during school time we had a very limited number of locations. We took this into consideration for our final piece, ensuring that our location matched our characters behaviours and our stories narrative.

We also learned the importance of costume. As we were in school we could only were our sixth form suits, however for our final product we spent time assessing what costume our characters would wear and then developed a full costume list so it matched our narrative to give the video a more authentic and genre specific feel.

Between the time we filmed the Preliminary task and our final product we developed our editing skills so we could incorporate more challenging shots.

Common Actors and Directors Featured in Westerns

RESEARCH - common actors and directors of westerns

Actors

There are many familiar actors who star in a few westerns. often because of their cold characters and popularity within the genre.

Clint Eastwood - staring in many famous westerns like a fist full of dollars and the good bad and the ugly. Clint always plays a good guy who acts like a bad guy. Very stern and dangerous he creates a great deal of atmosphere. Often with Clint Eastwood film there came a higher budget. this allowed westerns to become a bit more extravagant with its settings and scenes of violence which made them so popular in the 60's and 70's.

John Wayne - really the face of western films was John Wayne. he stared in classics such as the shortest, true grit and the searchers. John plays a good guy in all of his films as often appears as a Marshall or sheriff who tackles the issues of a town weather it be bandits or Indians. Wayne spent so long on western sets in the desert where nuclear tests were held out he developed cancer from the radiation. John had many classic lines where he intimidated his enemies. Often he shot his enemies and beat them with a cunning plan, outsmarting his opposition. The directors soon built on John statue as a hero by making him popular with towns folk and using his size to show how he dominated them with power, but yet used it for good.

 Joanna Dru - a famous actress who featured in red river and she wore a yellow ribbon. Women were not so involved in western films and were often just a damsel in distress. She broke her character in and was a important role in many westerns with John Wayne also. Often used for her attractiveness as the hero rescues the town and wins the lady over brings a romantic side to many western films with good-looking women after the hero.

Directors

John Ford is a big name in western film industry back in the 60's and 70's, the peak time for western film production. he is said to be "Of all American directors, Ford probably had the clearest personal vision and the most consistent visual style. His ideas and his characters are, like many things branded "American", deceptively simple. His heroes.... may appear simply to be loners, outsiders to established society, who generally speak through action rather than words. But their conflict with society embodies larger themes in the American experience"

This style and trademark touch gave a worldwide audience the American feel, which suited westerns as that’s where they are all set and characters were always true American stereotypes. His vision of the film was so extensive he never used storyboards or shot lists. He simply filmed it when it happened and knew exactly what he wanted. 

Another key feature in his work linking to westerns was the use of wagons and trains at the start and end. Often a vehicle of that kind would enter into a town or a station, which began the story, and consequently at the end the wagon or train would be leaving. This brought the story round a full circle as the problem began and was dealt with in turn often many scenes are copied now of some of Fords iconic films.

Shooting Schedule

Production shooting title: Raising Sands

Producer: George whiting

Director: Josh Graham

Shooting schedule

Shoot day #1    Date :30/12/13

Scene:	underpass	D/N:	D	Location:		Milton Keynes
Cast:	Josh Graham Oli Harbord George whiting			Props:	Hero outfit
Set Dressing:	Rain and puddles. Use leaves from surroundings to make it a little more interesting			Camera: iPhone 5c
timetable
12.30 – arrive and change costume				13.20 clear up set and change out of costume
12.35 – set up for first shots and find angles				13.30 leave set
12.45 – stop the pedestrians to film the shots.

Shoot day #2    Date :3/1/14

Scene:	Pub entrance	D/N:	D	Location:		New inn pub Buckingham
Cast:	Josh Graham Oli Harbord George whiting Theo Daniels			Props:	Hero outfit 2 gang members outfits Victims outfit Coke + water + ice Playing cards Glass Money
Set Dressing:	Bar stools and tables around, bar complete with variety of drinks. The tables must all be clear of objects.			Camera: iPhone 5c
timetable
9.30 – arrive at set, all characters come in costume				11.25 – lunch
9.40 – set up for establishing shots of pub. Starting with still shots of whiskey, cards and bar area.				11.35 check clips for errors on laptop and see if they are good enough
9.55 – begin filming the fight scene in the backroom.				11.55 reshoot any scenes that we are unhappy with
10.30 begin filming entrance of gang through door into the pub.				12.20 – change out of costumes, clear up the pub.
10.55 – shoot the hero’s entrance to the bar scene				12.30 – leave set

Shoot day #3    Date :21/1/14

Scene:	Pub scene opening	D/N:	D	Location:		New inn pub Buckingham
Cast:	Josh Graham Oli Harbord George whiting Theo Daniels Jamie Vaill			Props:	Hero outfit 2 gang members outfits Victims outfit Coke + water + ice Playing cards Glass Money
Set Dressing:	Bar stools and tables around, bar complete with variety of drinks. The tables must all be clear of objects.			Camera: iPhone 5c
timetable
8.30 – arrive on set and set up bar area and pub				10.00 - shoot the bar fight scene (re-filmed) and check after each shot to see if correct and okay for lighting
8.35 – change into costumes				11.00 – begin shooting documentary with producers, actors, directors and editor.
8.45 – shoot barman’s 4 shots, including hero drinking shots				12.20 – clean up and change costumes
9.10 – begin re-filming entrance with and extra shot angles. This must be checked after each shot to see if right

Shoot day #4    Date :23/1/14

Scene:	News report	D/N:	D	Location:		The Buckingham school
Cast:	Josh Graham Alfie Bradbury			Props:	Table Papers chair
Set Dressing:	Have a clear background with reporter sat in the middle of a desk with some papers on.			Camera: iPhone 5c
timetable
14.00 - Arrive on set and set up table				14.25 - Clear table and chair away
14.10 – set up camera in front of desk				14.30 – leave set
14.15 – shoot the one shot of the news report

Mood Board

This is our mood board made by myself. The pictures used are from both old and future westerns  featuring a snapshot from the first ever western, The Great Train Robbery and one of the newest westerns, Django Unchained. There is a picture of a Stetson and Revolver which are the two main props associated with a western.

Distribution

Distribution

Film Distribution

This means getting the film out in to the public eye and getting cinemas to show it.

Distribution companies are used

The distributors are then responsible

5 major distributors

-Warner Bros

-Walt Disney

-20th Century Fox

-Paramount

Paramount Pictures

Adolph Zukor, Jesse L. Lasky and Cecil B. DeMille are credited as Paramount's principal founding fathers. The visionary Zukor laid the foundation for the company by acquiring the U.S. distribution rights to the silent French film Queen Elizabeth, a groundbreaking four-reel feature in a time when two reels was the norm. Its overwhelming success propelled Zukor's Famous Players Film Company to great heights, and in the process, transformed the business of entertainment forever.

Paramount works in a variety of genre’s. They have very high grossing films and high budgets and work a lot with british actors and big cinema’s.

Their big name gives the cinema’s a high likely hood of showing their films as they are high budget and wider audience.

20^th Century Fox

-It is one of six major American film studios

-Film Series they have distributed:

·      Star Wars

·      Ice Age

·      X-Men

·      Die Hard

·      Planet of the Apes

·      Fantastic Four

·      Alien

·      Predator

Television series:

·      Family Guy

·      Glee

·      The Simpsons

·      The X-Files

·      Buffy the Vampire slayer

We can see that 20^th century Fox main theme in distribution is animation or extreme special effects. Star wars and Ice Age are animations where as X-Men, Planet of the Apes, Fantastic Four and Alien & Predator are using a lot of special effects. Tends to be the Humans in them are either changed or are against a CGI character.

Legendary Pictures

Thomas Tull founded legendary pictures in 2000. by 2005 they released their first film which happened to be the brining back of batman. Their films are almost always aimed at men. their very high action and big guns kind of style. they have been proved to venture around in different styles and genre’s of comedy to high action films.

They have done such films as:

-300

-Man of Steel

-Wrath of the Titans

-Inception

-The Dark Knight

-Watchmen

-Ninja Assassin

-Jonah Hex

They do have high budgets in their films but often their films are green screened and they do not make sets that much. This saves them money on props but they do like to experiment with special effects.

We believe that legendary pictures should be used as the distributor for our film ‘raising sands’ as it is aimed at male audiences. The dark settings and hard cold characters work well with the distribution company and believe that people who follow legendary pictures films will be interested in our film.

Our opening will fit legendary’s style with the red tints in the pausing credits. many of their films use this such as watchmen and 300. it will work well with the production company and the legendary’s style.