WELCOME MODERATOR

Welcome, moderator! I am Alastair Simpson 1452 and I worked with Calum Gethin-Barkway 1418 , Oliver Roberts 1449 and Callum Drewett 1413.

I hope you enjoy my blog, which contains my work on my G321 Foundation  Portfolio. We chose the video brief, the titles and openings of a fictional thriller film which we named Contradiction. My evaluation questions are above in the menu and my preliminary exercise follows immediately underneath. 

I was the cameraman and editor for the construction of our media product as well as helping direct the shots and actors whilst making the movie opening. I also was responsible for creating the ident for our production company.

This is our finished product movie opening

PLANNING: Opening Credits

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PLANNING: INTERVIEWING OUR CHARACTERS

We have decided to interview oour characters, to get to know them. This screenshot is from a website called Film Escape, and on this post Charlie Sierra writes about a man called Pen Densham who is an Oscar nominated film maker who has made 16 feature film. Pen Densham uses the technique of questioning his characters in order to get to know them better. This way he can learn how the characters work which allows Pen Densham to understand each character when filming a feature film. Questioning the characters mean that Pen Densham can understand their personalities as well as the way they work.

For our film opening we will be interviewing our Police Man at the stage where we find out he has been involved in a hit and run accident. Here a police psychiatrist questions the police officer, questioning him about his mentality as well as getting to know what made the police officer commit such a crime and not report it. The interview is here:

Psychiatrist: Hello, how are you?

Police Officer: Not bad, I’m pretty good thank you.

Psychiatrist: So, have you been alright recently… has there been anything on your mind at all and still there now?

Police Officer: I’ve just been under a lot of pressure recently.

Psychiatrist: From work?

Police Officer: Mainly from work, but also from home I guess.

Psychiatrist: What’s been happening at work that’s causing you to stress?

Police Officer: I am failing to meet deadlines, my boss is angry, the work is piling and don’t get much time at home for my family.

Psychiatrist: Ok, do you think this has affected you mentally, like do you think it has influenced the accident that happened earlier this week.

Police Officer: What accident? There wasn’t one that involved me.

Psychiatrist: I want you to be honest with me now because I am suspicious of the way you are acting. (Squints eyes)

Police Officer: Okay, yes there was… but it wasn’t anything major I promise. (Rubbing his hands acting aggravated in his chair)

Psychiatrist: Ah, I see. So I am right in saying that there was an accident on your terms and yours only?

Police Officer: Unfortunately yes. (Looks down to his feet)

Psychiatrist: Right… Here is how I’m going to help (places hand on the file of paper before fading black into a cut away shot)

PLANNING: PADLET

Padlet is a platform that we used so that everyone in our group can see posts that we share, we can put photos, videos and links on the padlet which allows everyone who is connected to the dashboard of the padlet to see it.

RESEARCH: BRITISH INDEPENDENT FILM AWARDS

Link to the BIFA website: Here

I have been following the BIFA website with interest recently, looking up the nominations as well as seeing all of the winners.  I have research the BIFA (British Independent Film Awards) to have a look at the winners from this years awards. American Honey which is a new British independent film has had a few nominations as well as a few wins for certain awards. I have decided to research this because I am also making a film opening which will be classed as independant as well as having a low budget like many of the winners of the BIFA. We also know that in American Honey they didn't have big name actors which will be the same with our film opening. We also learnt about Independent film when we went to the BFI study day. We learnt the American Honey is in fact an Indpendent British Film which had a relatively small budget of $3.5 million. It is an example of a BFI and Film 4 funding project. Andrea Arnold, the director of American Honey, is also well known for her directing of Fish Tank (2009) which had a budget of only £1.3 million. Comparing this with the budget of £230 million from Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015). 

Another independent film that was succesful this year in the BIFAs was I, Daniel Blake which is a more significant film due to its real story line and current issues in recent times within less fortunate communities in the UK. This is called social realism. The director Ken Loach is know for, within his films, addressing very real and relatable within many communities. Some of these issues are petty crimes, illness and not having enough money.

PLANNING: THE TOP LINE AND THE BIG QUESTION

I watched a video on Frank Ash who is the creative consultant for BBC Films, who has taught storytelling and creative techniques to people and film crews across the BBC and beyond. 

  
THE TOP LINE: The story is about police discrimination towards adolescents, who are placed into police custody. However one day the tables turn... The policeman hits a adolescent and he happens to be related to the two discriminated adolescents that are put in police custody. The next day the two adolescent people confront the policeman, they are now in control. 

THE BIG QUESTION: What will happen to the policeman? Will justice prevail?

TREATMENT: The scene is set in the street. Outside two boys are in a huddle. We see a police officer approach the teenagers who are in a suspicious formation. The police officer has visions that the boys are spray painting the wall, we see that the boys have a spray can in their hands. The boys exchange looks as the police officer comes up behind them. The police man asks them why they are spray painting, the boys deny this and run off. A middle aged policeman who has been watching the boys, shout: 'hey you!'

Cut to interview at police station.

Cut to teenagers being released from station and greeted by a friend who is waiting for them wearing a distinctive hat.

Cut to scene in which the police officer takes a call from his superior.

Cut to scene where police officer is driving home from work and pulls out into the path of a teenage cyclist, the cyclist turns out to be the boy that the other teenagers met up with earlier with the distinctive hat.