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