Research and Planning : Titles, part 1.

I have decided on a temporary title and have been applying various effects to titles to make them look intriguing and not boring, the name of my film is currently 'ABSOLUTION', despite the religious undertones of the term, I think the word has connections with contemplation, redemption and potential revenge. As well as this, there may potentially be a church scene in the montage scene. These titles are the first simplistic design for graphics, I will soon be posting a collection of fonts that are possibilities. These are mainly simple filter jobs on Photoshop Creative Studio 3, but they show three clearly dissimilar concepts.

Research and Planning : Idents

First of all I searched for independent idents that looked reasonably professional and attempted to notice trends in the industry, I noticed that essentially one of most recurring factors in idents is the stationary logo. Many independent film companies have stationary logos central to the screen, and the more high budget company has a full screen animation. So, to begin to work on making a low budget ident. Below are examples of independent logos that are prime examples.

As you can see, they often have a 'boxed' image with text below, the image is often quite simplistic and preferably quite bizarre and memorable , sometimes they are connected to the film, e.g. (A high-budget example) the color changes and additions to the Warner Bros. logo in the Matrix or Harry Potter an often film companies that make certain kinds of film have logos that relate to the genre of film i.e. a thriller will not be made by a company that is represented by a cartoon bunny.

My first ident is designed to look like an independent studio. It has a stationary image that is

meant to look like some sort of scientific cell, the name 'Green Bros.' is both a pun on the idea of the Warner Bros. name and is also an anagram of my name. The colour of the logo is

of course, green. The image is meant to look like a green cell, there is no real reason for this other than it looks good on screen and does not disrupt from the mood of the trailer, in fact I would say that it retains it's own dark qualities. However, it does contrast from the general colour scheme of the trailer which is mainly going to be slightly greyscale footage and reddish maroon titles.

Recce - 3rd and 4th Shots.

Shot 3

I thought that this shot had an intriguing aspect to it, the angles of the walls all avoid strict 90 degree angles and I think that this makes the shot look sort of off. The arch under which someone could easily stand would make a good meeting place for two characters. I think as well that the shade and colour of the bricks (particularly in the first photograph.) are not too colourful and thus allow the shot to appear drained of colour and thus perfect for the idea of grieving and the negative themes of the film. I think it would be easy to film nice shots here, and it easy to travel here, but I may have to ask the permission of local resident.

SHOT 4

This final little alley way is once again, very close to my house and other locations that I will be filming at, unlike the areas I have looked at, this has significantly less space which might suggest less space for cameras, but at the same, it captures a more claustrophobic and tense scene, which could look better in a trailer, it gives a sense of pressure. As well as this, this area has more vegetation and appears a little more colourful on camera, to be honest this may be a negative thing, on the other hand, the area, if I am choosing to portray this as a meeting place arranged by the main character.

Research and Planning : My Trailer Animatic.

As well as making a storyboard, I scanned it in and made an 'animatic' from the original frames, I chose some temporary music and used a temporary font for the title, it is in no way perfect, but it is a vague overview of the order of my trailer.

Recce - 1st and 2nd Shots.

I went on a photographic recce over the weekend to a collection of places in the area that I could potentially film a few outside scenes, my aim was to find either run-down areas or shabby built-up areas. In the scene, where the main character meets his 'shifty' friend and I chose areas that are inconspicuous, because I thought these would be the best place for the characters to meet secretly.

SHOT 1

In my first shot, I thought this would be good because it is a secluded area around the back of a local football and near a substation, the walls are quite grimey and the bars and locks in the background look very foreboding and link to criminal activity and danger. In a way they are almost symbolic. As well as the sort of angle-shot that I would shoot from, I have included a picture of the locks and the door in detail. This location is good for several reasons: it looks good, it is within a kilometre of my house and thus is relatively easy for traveling to and finally it is not within in the vicinity of anyone's house and thus I will not be disturbing people when filming.

SHOT 2

I thought that this shot was good because it appears really wide and so there is a lot of space to film and yet at the same time, it feels quite compressed which helps give a good feel to the scene. I think this also looks good because it looks like it's a garage that could belong to the main characters friend. The garage doors alternating between vertical and horizon patterns, this looks quite nice in shot. I think it would look quite natural to film here as it seems like the kind of place people could meet one another. Again, this is reasonably close to my house although less secluded than the first location, being on an estate, I may have to ask people if I can film here, I do not know yet.

The 3rd and 4th Shots will go up soon.

Character Designs

PLEASE CLICK ON THE IMAGE FOR BETTER QUALITY

The Conventions of the genre of Revenge thrillers and trailers. My trailer and how it will fit with aforementioned conventions.

The main aspects of the revenge thriller are the first (and probably most important) scene, which will consist of an event that will ‘drive’ our character’s behaviour to beyond what we are expecting. This will usually involve an injustice being committed against our character e.g. a murder, a framing. Before this scene we will usually have character development but in a trailer, we are usual given some form of overview of this in a voiceover or small clip, this is done effectively in the Harry Brown trailer when his friend tells him that he fears for his life. This often adds some sense of moral duty for our character, and will later motivate his revenge. However these scenes do not provide the action that many of the potential audience will be looking for, that is why these sections must be short but effective, that is one of the reasons that some trailers use sound-bites. The first major scene takes up the largest section of the trailer, the aim is to capture the entire build-up and the main action, and the end result in the trailer is to use the entire scene of the ‘point-of-no-return’ or at least the main action because it is undoubtedly the most crucial scene, it is central to the plot. Also it contains the action that the audience will want to see.

The second section serves as a sort of contemplation scene, where the character is contemplating potential possibilities of what he must do, an inner conflict must be present both physically on screen as well as in some sort of sound-bite that will convey how unsure he is of what to do next. The other thing to do is to have an external source of advice e.g. a friend (in my case possibly a father) who shows him a way of thinking that inspires him to take justice into his own hands. These sections are often set in churches, graveyards and areas that are quite solitary, due to the mourning there is often an extended family involved.

The third section is the main section of the film, yet however much of this is not shown, there is a montage flashed of images that show violence and action, this is the clincher the bits that the audience do not see everything they want to see. The music always picks up pace quite rapidly and ends with a bang with an important shot and then the title and that thing that always come after the title with the cast and crew. It is important to give a massive build up that shows what the audience wants. Guns, fights, redemption, perhaps a message, a definitive bad guy etc. and finally some sort of shot that will stick solidly in the minds of the audience e.g. a twist, a selling point. The title itself should have a memorable font but not too over-the-top because that would end up making the film look less serious.