Production company logo

We have chosen two different designs for our logo for 'pizza plant productions' they are both stylish and can be easily recognised by viewers. I personally prefer the one on the left as it is simple and more suitable for the genre.

Change in time period

We have chosen to change the time/genre period of the film from 'Film Noir' to 70's/80's period. this is because e have found that making the scene and set that period will be easier for us being in the 20's, meaning pre-war costumes may not be available. music from that time period may not be appropriate. where as the 70's/80's period can be easy to produce a scene, we can use disco lighting which will be easily available. Also we have found the perfect genre of music from this time period, Jazz Fusion.  

Location

The scene of the set will be in a dark club lit by disco lighting, and gloom red atmosphere, candle light on the tables. the set will include a round table, with 6 chairs seating the main characters. there will be brandy glasses on the tables and the scene of a poker game mid-game, cards in hands, money/watches/jewellery/valuables in the middle of table. with crystal glass, slightly filled with brandy. lighters on the table. with a smoggy atmosphere (from chain smoked cigar). With sound of pino and jazz fusion in the background


The location of our film set will be in the drama studio, this is a perfect location as it is blacked out. meaning we can create a night scene in a club, where there is no natural light. we will collect a round table and through a black cover over it. a pack of card and i will bring in a couple of crystal glasses in from home and fill with apple juice. There is a smoke machine available in the drama room with will create a smoggy atmosphere. We will bring in a piano and take a few shots of  the band playing (alex, ash, matt,) who will be used as extras in the film.

Props

In our Gangster type film. Authentic props are needed, such as revolver guns, top hats, cigars, brandy glasses, braces, black suits with white shirts underneath.        

Character costume: Smart business wear. Typical of the 60's-70's era. including, hats, ties/bow ties, braces, suits etc.

Having this style uniform is vital for our film to keep its era authentication. Also the use of props, because if you were now to look at a film that includes intimidating men with slick hair in a corner of a club smoking cigars, drinking brandy wearing suit & ties that look quite scruffy. The viewer will automatically think it is a gangster film. filmed in the mid-late 1900's.

Research on the certification on my film.

To Help understand what certificate my film will be, i have researched every category in the film industry and found that i think either 15 nd 18 will be the right certificate for this film. as it will contain, 'strong language', 'strong violence', drug use and scenes of the sexual nature.

Symbol	Name	Definition/Notes
	Universal	All ages admitted, there is nothing unsuitable for children. Example: Bambi
	Parental Guidance	General viewing, but certain scenes may be unsuitable for children under 8. Example: The Simpsons Movie
	12A	Cinema only. May be unsuitable for under 12s. Those aged under 12 are only admitted if accompanied by an adult at all times during the motion picture. The general advice to parents is that 12A movies are not suitable for under 12's to view. Example: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
	12	Suitable only for those aged 12 and over. No-one younger than 12 can rent or buy a 12 rated VHS, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, UMD or game. Example: Pirates of the Caribbean
	15	Suitable only for those aged 15 and over. Nobody younger than 15 can see a 15 film in a cinema. No-one younger than 15 can rent or buy a 15 rated VHS, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, UMD or game. Example: Final Destination
	18	For adults only. Nobody younger than 18 may see an 18 film in a cinema. No-one younger than 18 can rent or buy an 18 rated VHS, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, UMD or game. Example: The Exorcist

found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Board_of_Film_Classification

Group Film idea (brief)

A more advanced storybord and character designs will be brought across soon.

Brief Description of opening scene:

The first thing you see is nothing..(suddenly production company 'PizzaPlantProductions' creeps across bottom right of screen) The sound of a record player scratching and starting up soon follows. The sound of familiar sounding 50's Italian-American music then floods into the scene giving you a slight hint at what sort of genre this film is. The first shot is of a waiter dropping cutlery onto the restaurant floor..The ambient sound of laughter and people chatting accompany the shot. The camera then pans across to a poker table surrounded by 'mobsters' playing a social game of cards.Each character is then introduced through means of still shots and their name/nickname being displayed on these 'freeze' shots They are chatting amongst themselves about a recent job/heist and how there were certain problems with a few select individuals. There is then silence and suddenly everybody pulls their weapons upon each other. There are close ups of the gun shots but not of the characters themselves. This doesn't allow you to see who is actually killed in the fire fight. The camera then shows one character leaving the restaurant whilst dropping their cigar. The camera follows the cigar as it hits the floor and rolls. The screen then fades to black and the title '3 months earlier' appears.

Our Production Company.

The production company is called 'Pizza Planet Production' founded by Ellis Snell. we kept it because of the alliteration.

Production Company's (my chosen genre)

We have been asked to research on production companies that produce films in certain genres (in our case crime/gangster/post war film noir)


Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerateViacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio's headquarters is the Hollywood district of Los Angeles. Paramount is consistently ranked as one of the top-grossing movie studios.


Paramount Pictures have made many famous films such as:
Paranormal Activity
Saving Private Ryan
Forrest Gump


Paramount have also produced many films of my chosen genre (post war Film Noir):

• Among the Living (Paramount, d. Stuart Heisler)
• This Gun For Hire (Paramount, d. Frank Tuttle)
• Double Indemnity (Paramount, d. Billy Wilder)
• The Blue Dahlia (Paramount, d. George Marshall)

Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. is a major production company in which have received many awards for their achievements in producing. Everybody has heard of the iconic name 'Warner Brothers' this maybe because of there work on producing world wide known films such as:

• Harry Potter
• Sherlock Holmes
• Lord of the Rings

Warner Bros  have also invested in creating animated  programmes/film and smaller animation producers/distributors and animators. these include:

• Looney Tunes (featuring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Yosemite Sam, Marvin the Martian, Elmer Fudd, Speedy Gonzales,Foghorn Leghorn, Sylvester, Tasmanian Devil, Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner, Pepe Le Pew, Granny, Tweety, Baby Looney Tunes,Animaniacs, Tiny Toon Adventures, etc.)
• Tom and Jerry (Through Turner Entertainment Co.)
• Warner Bros. Animation
• The CW (in partnership with CBS)
• Warner Bros. Television
• Hanna-Barbera (The Flintstones, Yogi Bear, Hong Kong Phooey, The Jetsons, Magilla Gorilla, Huckleberry Hound, Scooby-Doo, Top Cat,Wally Gator, Wacky Races, The Smurfs, The Quick Draw McGraw Show, Josie and the Pussycats, Jonny Quest, The Pirates of Dark Water, Space Ghost, Two Stupid Dogs, SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron, The Herculoids etc.)

Warner bros have created a few pre./post war film noir/mobster type films these include:

• They Drive by Night (Warner Bros., d. Raoul Walsh)
• High Sierra (Warner Bros., d. Raoul Walsh)
• The Maltese Falcon (Warner Bros., d. John Huston)
• The Big Sleep (Warner Bros., d. Howard Hawks)

Analysis of 'Gangster' genre

In my media class I have been asked to make a 2 minute film sequence containing credits, titles and an opening scene. Me and my chosen group have chosen to do a 'Gangster' (crime) style genre.


For general research to help me understand the meaning of crime/gangster I am going to study 3 different films  in this genre.


Goodfellas


This film is a classic example of a American gangster film. it contains action, crime and violence.
in the introduction of this iconic film by Martin Scorsese, there is major tense when the characters are tired. in the dark, driving down the free way and two of the three in the car are asleep. then suddenly there is a bang in the back, the driver says 'what the fuck is that?' then calls to the resting person beside him 'Jimmy?' Jimmy says 'Whats up?' then go's back to the driver 'Did i hit something?' then again 'Is that a flat?'. this type of dialogue creates a tense atmosphere.
A classic crime/gangster film always has violence and criminal acts,
so this is definitely an iconic film for this genre as it has violence in the first scene!
 Where they pull over because of the loud banging coming from 'the trunk' and find a blooded body wiggling around in excitement of three grow men standing there with guns and knives. Then one of the main characters stab him several times then another finishes him with a gun shot.
These first couple of minutes show the viewer that n the film that they are about to watch there will be violence and excitement. Also mostly the viewer gets an idea of what the characters are like (nasty) and roughly what the story line will be about (how he wanted to be  gangster/ how he became one) because of the last quote "as far back as i can remember, i always wanted to be a gangster".


Reservoir Dogs


Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dog's opens with all of the characters, who are assigned code-names (apart from Joe and Eddie), having a breakfast in a diner; Mr White, (Harvey Keitel) Mr. Blonde, (Michael Madsen) Mr. Pink, (Steve Buscemi) Mr. Orange, (Tim Roth) Mr. Blue, (Edward Bunker) Mr Brown, (Quentin Tarantino) Joe Cabot (Lawerence Tierney) and his son ‘Nice-guy’ Eddie, (Chris Penn). Mr Brown is discussing Madonna’s famous song ‘Like a Virgin,’ while Mr. White and Joe argue over an address book and Mr. Pink initially refuses to tip the waitress. The shot of the characters walking together in a group like fashion was intended to introduce the characters individually to give the viewer an idea of the characteristics of each individual. shots that take close up shots of each person pauses for 4 seconds whilst their name comes up and shows the viewer who is who in the film. In the first few moments of the film the director uses the the shot wear the group walk past a blank wall then show them walking towards the camera 'strutting' showing a masculine, and prominent posture (as a group) almost feeling intimidated. this shows the viewer the the film will be about this group of men who look well dressed and seem like they get up tp no good (e.g. gambling). 

Research: ITV viewings (BARB)

ITV1

w/e 24 Oct 2010

		000's
1	THE X FACTOR RESULTS (SUN 1959)	13,731
2	THE X FACTOR (SAT 1945)	12,390
3	CORONATION STREET (MON 1932)	9,851
4	CORONATION STREET (MON 2029)	9,611
5	CORONATION STREET (FRI 1932)	9,475
6	DOWNTON ABBEY (SUN 2103)	8,926
7	CORONATION STREET (FRI 2029)	8,754
8	CORONATION STREET (THU 2032)	8,629
9	PIERS MORGAN'S LIFE STORIES (SAT 2159)	7,755
10	EMMERDALE (MON 1901)	7,677

This tables shows the results of last weeks viewing results. The most viewed programme on ITV was 'The X Factor results) with 13,731,000 views.

Research: viewing summary

weekly viewing Summary (Individuals 4+ inc. timeshift)

Week ending: 24 Oct 2010

Channel	Weekly Reach		Av. Weekly Viewing	Share
	000s	%	Time per person	%
ALL/ANY TV	54,119	94.5	28:05	100.0
BBC 1	48,207	84.1	05:49	20.7
BBC 2	38,641	67.4	02:02	7.2
ITV1 / GMTV	43,935	76.7	04:46	17.0
CHANNEL 4/S4C	36,635	63.9	01:40	5.9
FIVE	30,560	53.3	01:18	4.6
Channel 4+1	11,290	19.7	00:13	0.8
Other Viewing	49,715	86.8	12:07	43.1

Snatch

The film 'Snatch' by a british director Guy Ritch

• The first location is in what is presumably a Jewish-run bank with a Jewish community, which the men are pretending to be involved in.
  The men are shown after that in a a warehouse and then a pub- showing they probably like drinking.
• There is a cultural reference to the Jewish community, and they are also talking about the bible.
• The genre is crime.

Young Guns

In the opening sequence of Christopher Cain's 'Young Guns' it includes and individual cast shot. The camera  shot shows the characteristics of each member of the cast. The first shot showing all the individuals is shot in a 'sepia/negative' type frame colour... this creates a mysterious type environment. when the camera shows each person individually the director purposely chose different costumes and characteristics for each person. for example; one will wear a bandanna and will chew a 'pick' and another is wearing a cowboy hat and spits. this shows the different personalities of each person in the cast.

Findng Nemo

The first 5 mins of 'Finding Nemo' starts with two clown fish, 'Marlin' and 'coral' they are both happily swimming around there new home with an ocean view, they are new to that area of the reef and the animated scenes suggest happiness with bright colours used and busy shots. The animators use many shots that make the scenes look happy and vibrant. like when the two adult clown fish peer into a cave like hole to see thee children (eggs) the animators used a shot in which allowed the viewer to see both the hundreds of eggs and the two adults with light creeping in. this provides happiness into the shot. later on in that scene shot get darker and more grim as a predator hunts 'coral' and kills her. shots are mad grim and dark to provide a more upsetting scene.