Production logo & analysis

The inspiration for our production logo was Joe Carnahans "Smokin' Aces". We were inspired because its contains an image from the film and the production company in the left hand side of the screen, this is effective because the text stands out on the page, yet the action image keeps the tense atmosphere in the credit sequence. As you can see there are a few similarities, yet a few differences, this is because few chose to keep our own sense of style, to go more with our film, which is more darker, dingy and respectively a crime/gangster genre rather than just gangster. We chose the greyscale, black and white look, this shows a sense of tension, suspense and atmosphere to the film. Many gangster films use these styles of font, colour and style, this is because in the sans-serif type font it shows that the film is more contemporary. They are all also bold and stand out on the page, this makes it easier for the audience to read, and easier for them to recognize the production company, cast and the title of the film.

Evaluation Question 7 - Continuity task

For our Continuity task we had to produce a short sequence of different shots in the diagesis, these included, 180 degree rule, match on action and shot/reverse shot.

Evaluation Question 6

When Filming and editing our film we used a variety of equipment and softwares to create the media product, they include:

• HD Camera able of capturing up to 10 hours of footage, and Tripod used for filming

• This picture contains Tracking equipment used whilst filming, this allowed us to move the camera to move side to side smoothly.

• This picture contains Apple iMac and Premire Pro, used for editing our captured raw footage, and adding special effects. this is what made our film successful.

 

• Once the film had be completed and edited well, we decided to upload it to YouTube to get feedback, this allowed us to see what others thought of our film. then simply dropping the video on to Blogger.com

Evaluation Question 5

Evaluation Question 4

Who would be the target audience for your Media product?
Click on the video to watch the commentary over viewing all the point on the target audience:

Evaluation Question 3 - Institution

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Here is a commentary over viewing everything for this task, Click on the link below to view

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NX7PG8b-Wwo

The kind of media institution that might distribute our media product, will be institutions who have distributed action/gangster films in the past, they will be well known but first will be seen by local institutes like the Kent Film Office. If our film became a success then more well known institutes will distribute our media product because they will see that it will be a well invested product which will fit into their categories of Action/Gangster, for instance Warner Bro's have distributed many films of this genre, like Oceans Eleven etc, Paramount Pictures have distributed many films of this genre , like The Godfather and also Miramax Films have distributed many films of this genre, like Reservoir Dogs.

Warner Bros

Action

Paramount Pictures

Miramax Films

Evaluation Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Jack Barber -                                                                         Jason Statham - Snatch

 Last Man Standing    

                                                       

                                                                              






When we first began research on our crime/gangster genre we watched severalfilm on this particular genre, such as Reservoir Dogs, Goodfellas and most of all Snatch, this was because we loved the genre and dialog. Snatch gave us an insight of what this particular genre was and how it could help us with our film. we looked at certain characters which gave us an idea on how ours should act, dress and talk. For this particular bit i am looking at the similarities between Jack Barber and Jason Statham, this is because we got the idea of using Jack as the gang leader, and also the way he dresses and speaks from Jason.

Appearance and Costume

• When watching Snatch we noticed that 'Turkish' wears pretty much anything he wants, yet everything he wears is black, this is because he is a character who in which is come across as someone ho doesn't care about his appearance, but always looks 'bad' and 'hard'
• Jason (Turkish) has a body language that suggests he has very dominant personality showing presence of importance, therefore we had to make Jack act like he is important show a dominant personality.
• Facial Expressions - Jason's and Jack both have similar facial expressions in both films, showing serious expression and sheer dedication to the task in hand.
• Dialog - Jasons speech in Snatch contains a very deep 'cockney' accent, this gives a very impacting feel to his voice and to the scene. we applied this act to Jack in our film

Roles in the film:

Both roles in each of their films are to be dominant, important leaders. but most of  all they both narrate what is happening and what has happened in previous occasions, this is appeals to the viewer as it helps them understand the film that little bit better. both characters are hugely important in their film because they are the lead actors.

Evaluation Question 1

The title of the film:
We chose to call the film 'The Last Man Standing' because we think it can relate to the genre, it makes the viewer feel like there is going to be a mass amount of action if there is only going to be one man left. It sums up the storyline of our film, the fact that there is only one man standing. it gives the viewer an insight of what the genre of the film is going to be. We chose to use bold white font on top of a solid black background because it stands out, thus making it easy to read.

Setting/Location:

The First location seen by the viewer in our film is a dark room with a dull light focusing on the small meeting taking place. This make the meeting seem confidential, yet dangerous and mysterious. to do this we chose to use the drama room because it is a darkroom, no natural lighting can come through and all the walls are black so it was the perfect place to film this scene. This worked well as an opening location because it provides the viewer with an    

intension that the film is going to be dark and mysterious. it also worked well as the opening              

location provided a good background for the credits  (white font)

Second Location:
Our second location used in our film 'The Last Man Standing' was the construction area in school, it is used for BTEC construction so was a great area to film the action sequence. the concrete area outside was used film the two 'bad guys' jog towards the shed in which contains Jack and Georgie who were ready to fight. We filmed behind the gate to give the viewer a feel that they have broken in.
Inside the shed contains loads of scrap and junk, this is a great scene for the action scene as it provides cover for the characters shooting. 

Costumes And Props:
In our film each character had been provided with props and the correct clothing for their role in the film, for instance in the first scene where the meeting takes place the two body guards are equipped with guns, this shows power and also shows importance to the person they are guarding, showing he is a leader/gang leader. They are also equipped with scarfs which have been raised to cover their faces giving them a 'Thug' look. Throughout the opening sequence each character had a key part meaning they had to dress differently, some wee dressed in black to give a masculine feel to the characters and others wearing smart clothing showing their importance. We also disgusted the contents of the bag to create a mysterious feel to the film. 

Camera work And Editing:

Camera work and editing were the two main roles in our film, the editing used was crucial because we had to add effects, move shots, add sounds etc. We used a few types of camera equipment, e.g tacking poles, tracking trolley, tripod etc, these were crucial to keep the camera steady and create still shot.

Title font and style:
Our credit sequence in our opening sequence is vital
we chose to fit most of the credits in the first scene
in the drama room as all of the walls are black, this 
way we could fit all of the white credits in front of the black walls. For most of the credits we added a sound  effect for different ones, e.g swooshes, sound of coins falling to the floor etc. this adds extra motive to the film, otherwise the film would sound bland and boring. we chose bold white font Arial type style because it is easy to read and white is easy to read in front of the black walls.








Story ad how the opening sets it up:
The opening sets up the story because it gives the viewer an insight of what the story is about, in the opening we see how dangerous jack is and the story slowly reveals him as a person. he describes what happened in a meeting and how he finished them off. At the beginning of the opening sequence we see a bag on the table, and then see jack fight for it, finally we see him defend the bag in a shoot out, so the opening scene sets up by giving the viewer an idea of how powerful jack is and how important the bag is.  




Genre and how the opening suggests it:
The genre of our movie is the action/gangster genre  the opening suggests this from facial expression types of props used the locations and the costumes to an extent. The facial expressions suggest its a ganster movie as the guards faces are more serious and threatening where as the other guys facial expression is more intrigured, causious and self statfised over the meeting taking place . This fits more into the crime/gangster genre as it is more how a criminals facial expression would be if they were at a meeting talking about trading illegal goods with a suppler. Also the fact that the bodygaurds are wearing scarfs to cover their faces creates a gangster/thug feel to the film.




Character Introduction:

Each character is introduced at the beginning of the film in Jacks flashback showing the meeting with the supplier, as he described what happened and we are introduced with the characters at the beginning of the film to avoid confusion. They were introduced individually in the flashback using the credit sequence so the audience can more easily identify which characters are which, we did this so we did not confuse the viewer as we have a lot of actors in the film






Special Effects:
We used a wide range of special effects in the film especially in the action scenes, we got a selection of effects from the SFX folder on the system at school transporting them to Premier Pro to put on to the guns etc, from gunshots (muzzle flashes) and smoke effects and many more. This made the film seem and feel realistic.

Final Film

Final Production Company Logo

Personal thoughts on the project.

I personally can say for the the group (Me, Joe and Ed) that filming and creating this short but effective sequence of shots was a great experience. i believe i and Joe worked well leading the cast whilst Ed dealt with the technical issues such as setting up tracking etc. i enjoyed assisting joe with camera work. helping him set up shots and organize cast. before the film i had no experience on any editing software, but now after playing around on Premire Pro i am able to make a running bunch of shots look intense, realistic and possessional, using effects and moving shots across to where they fit best. I believe the cast worked extremely well with the group, and made an extreme difference to the quality of the film, making it intesly realistic, for this i would like to thank them. 
 

Feedback on Final film (incl. cast & crew)

The feedback we received for our final draft of 'The Last Man Standing' were mostly if not all positive, we received one bit of criticism which was the sound effect of jack walking out of the meeting, but we soon altered that. Most of our piers mentioned the sheer quality of the acting and the visual effects. a particular pier claimed that 'the intro was quick and snappy, a joy to watch' a great compliment and one we was looking for as the quick and snappy cuts and shots were made to show the tensity and the action of the diagnesis. Other feedback included 'The Camera shots worked throughout and I really felt Immersed in the scene' and 'There is a great use of sound and music. They really combine well to create tension'.

Final Plot (storyline)

The scene starts of with a man named Jack. He is talking about previous events that had taken place the day before, hence keeping the viewer informed in what is happening and why, this soon leads to a flashback of a meeting between him and 3 other associates, the meeting takes place because of a deal being made between two major gangs in the area. This then leads to bloodshed as Jack walks free. With the bag (contents unknown).

You are then taken to back to real time where an action sequence takes place as a gun fight begins to progress.  The gun fight consists of Jack and his associate Georgie. who conflict in a massacre with the opposition gang. You soon find out why Jack is talking and what really happened after the meeting had taken place.

What films have inspired me to follow on cinematography/props to my film?

When researching for our film, i was given a role for cinematography. for this i had to study films in similar genre and use ideas from these film for myself to create a more realistic feel to the film. for example i watched snatch and studied the accent of the London cockney voice for our actor Jack Barber. Also from films such as Snatch, Goodfellas, Reservoir Dogs. i had been inspired by the the clothing, so i decided that the cast of the film must wear all black clothing with black jackets. the guns used i got the idea from snatch, a mix of types of weapons, pistols, M16, small SMG's.

Digital Storyboard

Last Man Standing



*Flashback*
The first shot will be a parallel tracking shot showing a mysterious man faced by three thugs, this shows th intensity of the meet but also disguises the man.



















*Flashback*
Freeze frames introducing each character:

'Sam Bean'
Medium Shot





















*Flashback*
Freeze frames introducing each character:

'Tom Rigden'
Medium Shot























*Flashback*
The next shot will be (still on tracking) swaying left to right as the mysterious man (Ed) pulls a pistol out ad shoots the thugs.
Establishing Shot/Mid-Shot

A 'Dip to White* will change the flashback to real time with two more thugs entering a warehouse, with a crashing sound imitating an explosion.

This shot will also have a credit sequence title, saying "video and sound editing by Joe Haddow and Georgie Watson"
Long shot - Medium Shot 









This shot will take place and the sound of an explosion occurs. giving the viewer an idea that the thugs have entered. 
Medium Shot

















In this shot we will use a zoom shot to the gun and use visual effects to show that the gun is firing.
High angle - Mid-Shot 

















The same here, also gun firing and the sound of the gun firing.
Mid-Shot





















Camera Shows view of matt (left) and cuts to Jack (centre) who pulls out a pistol and shoots.
Longshot/establishing shot.
Also
Jump Cut 

Tom Runs for safety but get shot and fly's onto trailer.
Tracking/mid-shot

Jack shooting Tom ,camera in on tracking and travels toward jack as he shoots.
Zoom/ long to mid-shot

Location of final draft

These images show the location of our final draft film.
Although many people will just see this style of location as a boring and lifeless one they are key to the Iconography of our film. The gritty Industrial estate is a classic and iconic location in many Crime (Gangster) films.
They are inside my school and so is easy accessible, all we need is a teachers consent for us to us the area privately.

   




This is the vehicle we are going to use. it is a teachers van and another teachers consent is going to be needed. we will use this as entrance vehicle for the gag who are coming to kill the contractor and his guards. we will use a still shot of the gang bursting out of the back of the van then reversing off  (Bruce or Mr martin will drive the van)  

Brief description of final draft

Two men (Me and Ellis Sneil) have taken a man hostage in an Industrial building and are waiting to meet their new contractor (jack Barber). There is a great deal of tension as they are unsure if they can trust the man they are supposed to be meeting. The Hostage is tied up on a chair, central to the room. He has no escape. Soon after the contact arrives and the men begin to question him. The man 'Jack' is carrying a bag of money. Which through a series of flashbacks we find out, is stolen. This soon leads to confrontation and an attack on the Two men. Jack manages to escape and the men pursue. It turns out to be a setup and a group of thugs begin attacking their position.  

Peer evaluation of first draft film.

We recently showed our first draft of our film (last man standing) to a group of friends and selected teachers. We received mixed comments however most were negative. There were certain parts of the film that people really liked, for example, certain camera shots and action sequences. But we received lots of criticism on a lot of things. Mise en Scene was a big problem for us as we had not put our research together properly and had used the wrong type of location for our genre. We hadn't payed enough attention to our audience research. We also received some harsh criticism on certain actors and their un-convincing performance. We have however taken alot of the major mistakes under reconsideration. In the final copy of our film we hope that we can deliver an excellent viewing experience to anyone watching.
Because of the constructive criticism we have decided to pay extra attention the the Mise en scene, as the acting was poor in our first draft. We will plan our final draft in detail. covering each point and each shot so nothing can go wrong.

Change of certification

We have chosen to change our certification of our film from an '18' to a '15'. We have also chosen to keep all swearing used in original script and filming but have 'beeped' them out using the software, Adobe Premier Pro. using this software we were able to cover the swear word with a distinctive beep. This allows younger viewers to watch the film, knowing there is a swear word there and understanding the seriousness of the situation of the moment in the film, without them hearing it.

Re-filming

We have found a local pub, where they hire out there basement for meeting etc. we have thought of this location for re-shooting our film. As it will look more authentic than our previous idea of our school conference room.
contact:


The Railway Hotel Pub 

85 Station Rd, Walmer, Kent CT14 7RL01304 368776 ‎
Photo's of the interior of the basement room will be uploaded tomorrow.We will evaluate these photos and decide whether to book this meeting room or the drama room at school