FILM OPENING

                                                            MILLIE LEVINE 1997

 I worked with Ollie Hill (1942), Olivia Davies (1921) and Grace Clare (1976). Our brief was to make a film opening of a new fiction film which lasts a maximum of two minutes. We made a thrilling, psychological film opening entitled Extraction. 

I took on the role of the main actress, acting as the female victim. 

I took responsibility for directing scenes such as the outdoor action shots, along side Ollie. I came up with ideas and different shots and acts we could use to make our opening better.

I took responsibility for the set design, designing and setting up the pin board to present the stalker images and evidence pieces, a key prop in our production. 

I helped suggest ideas with Ollie when he edited the shots and put together sound tracks and effects to produce a high quality, effective opening.

I designed a company logo at the start of the opening which presented my company, Levine Loops, and helped create a small animation for the logo with Ollie. We used Adobe Illustrator then edited the image in Premiere.

I edited and filmed the Continuity Exercise, using the app iMovie. 

My Film Opening: 

file:///Users/millielevine/Pictures/Photos%20Library.photoslibrary/resources/derivatives/9/9AA4B218-523D-4291-B0AA-66F0DCF5AC0C_1_105_c.jpeg

This feedback is necessary to explain how and why changes were made for improvements, and which edits were done. For example, I wrote about why we changed the initial titles, and explained it was due to constructive criticism from our peers. Getting advice from an outside perspective was necessary as it enabled us to understand what other viewers thought about our work and helped to produce a successful opening. Not only was this helpful for others to understand, but also showed ourselves what improvements we made and why, showing progression throughout.

Using a target audience's feedback is also a helpful when editing and looking back on clips as to make our production successful and popular, we would be able to gain a better understanding of what was wanted by audiences and how we could manage to do that. 

SHOT LIST

A Shot List is a detailed list of each camera shot that needs to be captured in video production, created by the director. This is helpful to put on my blog as it documents each part of our production, and acts as a checklist, giving viewers a sense of direction. A successful shot list will contain elements such as the type of camera used or the shot type and outline the reasonings for the purpose of each element. It's essential for any production to give producers a brief idea of what will be shot and needs to be done.

CHARACTER CASTING

                                                   CHARACTER CASTING

CONSTRUCTION: FILM POSTER

 

I wanted to create a film poster for personal desire and pleasure, to help myself display my movie visually. I included elements such as the title, the release date in cinemas, participants involved in the production, awards and social media. I think it's important to include these in a film as it informs viewers with brief information which may be crucial when attracting people.  This may be because some members of public could be more likely to go and watch something if they're interested or familiar with the actors or people involved e.g producers. I discovered this when I asked in my survey what reasons people had to watching a film and one response was because of actors involved. I had to think about how I would want to portray my film if I were to release it, and what message I'd want to get through to an audience. 

Film posters are necessary for advertisements and promotions for productions, trying to influence and persuade the public to watch. Making them eye catching and bold are significant to therefore do so, including distinct fonts and colours which stand out.

For my poster above I used the app, Powerpoint, as it was simple and helpful when adding text and images. I chose to put in the image of our stalker behind his victim, taken when filming, as it sums up the main idea of someone being tracked down, as well as having chilling connotations due to someone being followed unknowingly.

SOCIAL GROUPS & ISSUES

 I used the app, Pinterest, to identify categories included in my film opening such as identifying social groups and issues. This included posts such as book covers, photographs and objects. This gave me visual ideas and inspiration e.g locations. 

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/MillieLevs/_saved/

THEME

ISSUES

LOCATIONS

Using Pinterest boards for inspiration, I were able to create visual ideas such as locations to film at (remote), issues present in todays society (kidnapping) and social groups (teenagers). Kidnapping is a foul but relatively common crime, usually done for money. An individual is held to ransom by an individual or gang who stand to gain financially with their ransom demands. However, the kidnapping in our film opening is very different. The subject of the kidnap is of immense value because of her innate gifts: she has full access to her brain which therefore makes her extremely intelligent and unique. In our production an agent who is played by Ollie Hill wants her, so that she can be recruited and studied for his own personal gain. In the Location board I included isolated venues and dark streets which attach connotations to chilling atmospheres.

My mood boards show films alike our own production, eery settings and common issues, all which come together to create our overall theme. We had props in the boards such as scientific brain scans, criminal weapons, crime scene boards and thriller book covers.

Overall, I aimed to create a visual representation of my ideas relating to my production which would help portray the ideas in my film optically. 

CONSTRUCTION: BBFC CERTIFICATE

 Film Certificates are decided and awarded by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), who watch the film all the way through to decide on the suitable audience. It's enforced for public protection, and restrict those who may find the content distressing or unsuitable, especially young children. There are four main restrictions: PG (Parental Guidance advised), 13 and above, 15 and above, and lastly 18 and above. Not only does this age rating protect audiences, but also may be helpful when selecting a suitable film to enjoy.

This certificate is constructed using a suitable template and edited in Powerpoint.

I researched how the BBFC allocates films by viewing productions before they're released. Our film doesn't contain any warnings such a dangerous behavior, drugs, discrimination, nudity or sex/sexual violence, only threat and horror, concluding our film EXTRACTION would be likely to receive a 15 certificate due to scenes containing threat and violence throughout, which may disturb or upset younger viewers.  

 

INTERVIEWING FILM DIRECTOR

 To explore the character and directors aims in this movie, I set up a hot seat interview, questioning Ollie who plays the character of the stalker, as well as being the director himself. This enables viewers to analyse the story and gain a more in-depth idea of the plot and motive. When directors create character roles, they try and get the actors to inhabit the role and make it as realistic and believable to the audience that they are who they're acting as. From the interview I was able to learn things such as why this movie is unique and different to other productions, furthermore acknowledging the influences such as Elon Musk and science. 

BEHIND THE SCENES

BEHIND THE SCENES

PLANNING: RISK ASSESSMENT

 A risk assessment is necessary to avoid any injuries or dangers which we may come in contact with throughout our filming. This table below presents these possible dangers and how we avoided them. I categorised this table into the main themed risks: Location/Environment, Weather and General Public. 

HEALTH HAZARD: 

These are all the factors which could be dangerous and are highlighted as risks to us. For example, we identified the fact there were rabbit holes where we were filming, factors of which may be dangerous to us due to if we accident stood in one it may injure us.

RISK LEVEL:

This is judged with labels, H, M or L, standing for high, medium and low, judging the health hazard by how dangerous it is. None of our risks we discovered were labelled H, mostly medium and low. An example of this is when we labelled the rain risk as M due to the rain wasn't an extremely significant risk, however it could effect us when filming.

RISK EXPOSURE:

This is a list of how and why the health hazards are dangerous, for example, we evaluated the 'trespassing' problem by explaining that being found in a location which we weren't given permission to film in may result in us being banned from there or just get in trouble with the teachers. 

CONTROL MEASURE: 

This box explains how to avoid the dangers and reduce the risk of them, such as wear more layers of clothing to avoid the cold weather when filming.

CONSTRUCTION: CALL SHEET 3

CALL SHEET 3 - CLAREMONT GARDENS/SCHOOL

Call sheet 3

Date of shots 16th of November 

Filmed at The Belvedere Tower at Claremont Gardens , in which you can see here on the map. 

Crew members include:

Name: Olivia D

Number: 077899764

Email: LivLovesPonies@gmail.com

Name: Millie L

Number: 0798657223

Email: MillieMillie2005@hotmail.com

Name: Ollie H

Number: 0766539821

Email: OllieWollie@outlook.com

Name: Grace C

Number: 0758834892

Email: GracieC1889@icloud.com

Used to Film:

IOS 14.2 iPhone 11 Pro Max Camera 

Used for Lighting:

IOS 14.2 iPhone 11 Pro Max torch light 

Props:

iPhone x2

Headphones x1 

Wardrobe: 

Millie L - Black hoodie, headphones, school uniform

Ollie H - Full suit in black

CONSTRUCTION: CALL SHEET 2

CALL SHEET 2 - BELVEDERE TOWER

Call sheet 2

Date of shots 15th of November 

Filmed at The Belvedere Tower at Claremont Gardens, in which you can see here on the map. 

Crew members include:

Name: Olivia D

Number: 077899764

Email: LivLovesPonies@gmail.com

Name: Millie L

Number: 0798657223

Email: MillieMillie2005@hotmail.com

Name: Ollie H

Number: 0766539821

Email: OllieWollie@outlook.com

Name: Grace C

Number: 0758834892

Email: GracieC1889@icloud.com

Used to Film:

IOS 14.2 iPhone 11 Pro Max Camera 

Used for Lighting:

IOS 14.2 iPhone 11 Pro Max torch light 

Props:

iPhone x1

Headphones x1 

Coffee Mug x1

Wardrobe: 

Millie L - Black hoodie, headphones, school uniform

Ollie H - Full suit in black

Grace C - Lab Coat and suit/smart attire 

CONSTRUCTION: CALL SHEET 1

CALL SHEET 1 - CLAREMONT FAN COURT SCHOOL (OUTSIDE)

Call sheet 1

Date of shots 11th of November 

Filmed at Claremont Fan Court school (outside), in which you can see here on the map.

Crew members include:

Name: Olivia D

Number: 077899764

Email: LivLovesPonies@gmail.com

Name: Millie L

Number: 0798657223

Email: MillieMillie2005@hotmail.com

Name: Ollie H

Number: 0766539821

Email: OllieWollie@outlook.com

Name: Grace C

Number: 0758834892

Email: GracieC1889@icloud.com

Used to Film:

IOS 14.2 iPhone 11 Pro Max Camera 

Used for Lighting:

IOS 14.2 iPhone 11 Pro Max torch light 

Props:

iPhone x2

Laptop x3

Headphones x1

Wardrobe: 

Millie L - Black hoodie, headphones, school uniform

Ollie H - Full suit in black

Olivia D - Smart work attire 

PLANNING: MY TARGET AUDIENCE & HOW I ENGAGED THEM

From the Future learn course I'm following (Distribution: Connecting Films with Audiences), I have learnt that all products are targeted at specific audiences, known as a target audience. This allows me to understand who I'm producing my production for and therefore what's appropriate and will be the most successful to include.

 I needed to plan how I'd determine my target audience. Therefore I had to identify who they are (factors relevant include age, gender, ethnicity and social class), what their desires were (so my production would be successful and fit their needs), and how I could reach them (to market my film). I also needed to show how my research impacted and influenced my planning.

I began by investigating how brands define certain audiences, in preparation for creating my own audience profile for my AS Foundation Production. An example of this is when I noticed how Bauer Media, NME and Sky defined audiences. This assisted me when profiling my audience. 

From making this poster (by using the app Pic Collage) I was able to show a visual brain storm of the types of interests my target audience have, such as including their most used apps (Snapchat, Instagram..) as well as popular companies (The North Face, Netflix..). This visual representation is useful as understanding their interests influenced me to decide on a genre. 

PLANNING: OUR COMP LIST

This movie fills the audience with both interest and tension due to the main character, Holly, played by Bella Thorne, who acts as a crazy obsessed teenager, desperate for the love of the other main character, Tyler, played by Taylor John Smith. The plot 

Today we carried out similar research, watching Kezia Williams' presentation for the FDA, and learning about how the distributors identify their target audiences. 

Kezia Williams, who's part of Entertainment One UK on the FutureLearn Film Distribution, informs her audience on how film distributors build a comp list- comparable films which our targeted audience may enjoy. By watching her presentation we gain a deeper understanding of a comp list and it's functions, considering the best elements our target audience would be interested in. 

 She draws attention to the importance of knowing and understanding your target audience. Learning their interests and what motivates them is key in  enabling the creation and development of ideas which furthermore can be more appealing and suitable, creating a more successful production. She asks questions such as "What encourages them to visit the cinema?" and "What are some of their personal interests?". She also explains how distributors will compare data of films that are similar in their genre, selling points and story. The comparison of previous films allows a greater consideration of details like what type of audience did it attract more, such as male or female. The target audience and budget is formulated from what box office take was like with previous films and the types of audience that saw those films. The target audience can be analysed and investigated to find the suitable gender gap, and discover which cinemas the target audience may use the most frequently. 

PLANNING: MY AUDIENCE QUESTIONAIRE

I am using Google forms to construct a questionnaire for my targeted audience and send it to people who are likely to watch our film. My questions will refer to age, gender, what types of films they prefer to watch, what influences them to watch a film and where they prefer to watch it. Our production team want to make a film that would appeal to young people aged 15-35 (target audience). This will be significantly useful to ensure the genre is appealing to our desired audience. Google Forms will ensure I gain my required data.

                            

These are the type of questions I ideally intend to ask:

(Opening message) I would be grateful if you could complete this short survey on films and you're preferences.

1.  What's your gender?

- Male/Female/Prefer not to say

2.  What age category do you fit into?

-16+

3. What's your preferred film genre?

-Comedy/Romance/Horror/Thriller 

4.  What was the last film you watched?

-Type in answer

5.  What platform would you most likely use to watch a film?

-Television/Netflix/Theatre/Cinema

6.  What platform do you use to find out about films?

-Social Media/News

7.  What is the most likely reason you would watch a new film?

-Type in answer 

(Ending message) Thank you for completing this form!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdE3z3htU0AcxrEv-XyG9kQ1PPU1DqArtmu8tC_kIp5YafvIg/viewform?usp=sf_link

Responses and findings:

The results were presented on google forms as pie charts, making it simple and easy to read and gain the results of preferences, contributing to understanding my target audience. Here are the responses: 

1.  What's your gender?

- 50%: Male

- 50%: Female 

2.  What age category do you fit into?

- 100%: 15-24 

3. What's your preferred film genre?

- 60%: Thriller 

-40%: Romance 

4.  What was the last film you watched?

- Sinister

-The Purge

-Rush Hour

5.  What platform would you most likely use to watch a film?

- 100%: Netflix

6.  What platform do you use to find out about films?

- 100%: Social Media 

7.  What is the most likely reason you would watch a new film?

- To keep up with trends 

- Genre/Actors 

- Interests/Actors 

Overall, from my Google Forms quiz I was able to identify my target audience and their interests, which will enable me when creating my film opening to produce something suitable and wanted by my audience. 

PLANNING: INITIAL FILM TREATMENT

A Treatment will usually include a: 

TITLE: Usually a good title is used to present a solid central idea

LOGLINE: A one/two sentence stating an idea proposal 

SYNOPSIS: Outlines the key idea in more detail (300-500 words)

CHARACTERS: outline each main character with a short description and introduction 

TOPLINE: an 'elegant sentence which sums up the action' 

BIG QUESTION: What is the enigma which will unfold? 

NEXT:

•  After writing the treatment, you create a STORYBOARD (hand drawn on sheets we are given) which presents a brief visual idea of a storyline 
• and a SHOTLIST

BRAINSTORMING IDEAS: 

We initially brainstormed multiple different ideas and genres . We have access to a boat house, and therefore thought planning something which involves that location would be successful as well as using contrasting lighting to create certain moods within the audience. 

FILM IDEAS: 

Props: 

• Pin Board
• Documents
• Pictures
• Files
• Doctors notes 

Plot:

• Genius girl with access to the whole/majority of her brain, is being stalked (IQ-166)

Effects:

• Clips from YouTube
• Titles
• Background music/sounds
• Filters

Suggested Locations for Shots:

• The Mansion corridors 
• Isolated places 
• Woods
• Empty car park
• Walking down an empty dark road
• Flats near my house 
• Elevator 
• London

Crime board-black shot-hand over mouth-blackout

TITLE: Abnormal, The Exception, Nature of Human Mind, Unsettled, Extraction

CHARACTERS: The doctor, the stalker, the girl who's being stalked (main)