Evaluation Part 7

From prelims to the final product - what has been learnt. Many technical aspects of our production needed to be addressed. The 180 degree rule is very important, as breaking it can result in confusing the audience and making the action seem unnatural and jumpy. In our final product we did not break this rule, yet in the prelim we did jump over the wrong shoulders - something that was picked up on and feedback from the prelim helped us to make sure we didn't do anything like that in the proper production. For shot reverse shots - this is where, in the prelim, we broke the 180 degree rule, so in the final production, we were sure not to do the same. As there was not much direct diaglogue between characters, the main shot example of this is when I shout "It's cigarettes!" and the others look around - we made sure to have an eyeline match so that it matched up nicely and also they we in the same spot as they had been before - no continuity error. Match on action is very difficult to get, but with careful editing together, we obtained a good flowing opening, where actions and reactions happened effectively, and the sample audience didn't pick up on anything out for being unnatural.

Evaluation Part 6

Camera/Tripod: We have used a video camera that the school provided us with to do the filming of all of our shots for our two-minute production. The camera was generally very easy to use and we found the quality of the filming to be very good. It was very useful for us to rewind bits that we filmed to watch them back before shooting the next shot. Also, the quality of sound that it picked up on was good, although it was almost too good - wind did become an issue for some shots, yet we got around this by dubbing over the top and bringing down the sound level of the clip (on iMovie). For the tripod, we found it necessary to use for the normal shots, yet we did not need to use it for the point-of-view shot (which was from my eyeline). It is always useful to have a steady camera throughout - and a piece of equipment like the tripod is essential in production.

iMovie: For editing our shots together, we used the Apple software iMovie. In general, this was successful, as we could add transition fades to shots, and editing them - for example, the zoomed p-o-v shot onto the packet of cigarettes - we used iMovie to change the colour of the shot to red, and to speed it up to make it look better and less jerked. Also, it allowed us to put on the credits onto the shots, giving us a lot of options to choose from.

Garageband: To create an original soundtrack to accompany our film, we used this software to get the wide variety of musical sounds that otherwise we would not have access to. Also, because we could do this all on the Apple Mac, it was easy to transfer out soundtrack onto the iMovie project. Of course, we had a few attempts at creating soundtracks, but in the end, I think we have a perfect scoring to our opening two minute production.

Youtube: For this project, we have use youtube an incredible amount. To begin with, we used it to find clips for research purposes, although that did become difficult as certain videos had been removed because of copyright enfringements. Youtube has also been very useful for us to exhibit our prelim tasks and also our promos and rough/definitive cuts of our film.

Evaluation Part 5

Our final product:



Attracting the audience: The audience for our film is young adult males - stereotypically enjoyers of a range of humour, the desire for women, and action elements. So for this teen-comedy, we decided to get straight into the plot in the opening 2 minutes. The voice-overs are supposed to introduce the characters a little bit - get the audience engaged in relating to one or more of them, or laughing at their personalities. We included the beginning to the encounter with two 'smokers' (which will be concluded later on in the plot, after the film goes back into the past) as an incouraging element to what passes for action with the nerd superheroes. The cast is all teenagers - a young cast makes it easier for the young target audience to relate too. To entertain is the main purpose of film - and if we fail to engage the audience in the opening 2 minutes, then the viewers are unlikely to fully engage in the film and stop watching it.

Evaluation Part 4

The audience our film will be aimed at is a primarily young adult audience, from the ages of 15-25 and will be mainly male. We feel that they would best relate to a superhero story, and the comedy genre we are following is modern and so younger adults will be more inclined to come to watch. Personality-wise, our audience will generally be interested in comedy shows, having a good ranged sense of humour, average job, appreciative of entertainment over money spent.

Our audience will shop at places like HMV, Forbidden Planet, Game, but will also use the internet to buy things - sites such as Zavvi, Play.Com, Amazon etc.

Musically, i think their interests may be mainstream pop (in conjunction with being Rubicam and Young's mainstream) but also, there will be a lot of alternative rock-style soundtrack in our film, which I think they would enjoy and it would appeal to them.

Television programme interests that the audience will have - likers of The IT Crowd (comedic aspects), Spaced (comedy/sci-fi influenced sitcom), Doctor Who (sci-fi/teenage audience), The A-Team (action sequences), The Big Bang Theory (widely loved mainstream audience), The Inbetweeners (young, teenage humour).

In terms of Rubicam and Young, our audience will be the mainstream, the everyday people, who are the largest type of people who will watch a variety of genres from sci-fi to drama and would respond to a comedy film produced by established names and companies within the semantic field of fim.

By the sbbfc guidelines, our film is rated 15, as we include strong language, violence and adult humour. We feel that this rating would help to advise people of the primary audience, that no-one under the age of 15 would be advised to watch as the language used would be too strong for them

Evaluation Part 3

A production company will produce a film. They will have direct links to funding and the film's budget. For our film production, our production company is Drunken Elephant Productions - a very small company that our group have created (primarily for Youtube) but we have used it because it is very much so a small production.

However, we have selected Universal to be our distributors - to release the product, mainly because they are a trusted and well-established institution in the film industry, but also because they have a big influence in today's cinemas.

The funding for our film will have come from independent investors, and would be sorted out by the production company. As this was a small production - we did not have the budget, and the production company has been set up by ourselves and did not receive investment.

Only certain jobs were credited in the title sequence - the actors names. We did this because it is the most factors to the audience. Additionally, we did not include a director or producer credit, because these roles were performed by the group as a whole. Furthermore, it is more of a convention to include actors names (particularly comedy films - to establish the comedic actors) whereas unless the director is an especially household name (i.e Steven Speilberg) then it is not likely o be included at the start.

Institutionally, our films are similar to:

In terms of budget: Hello, Friend - the 2003 comedy short film had an estimated £40,000 but I would think it was actually probably less than this. I think if we had to produce the feature-length film, then a figure around this would be enough to do so.

In terms of location: the television programme Skins - set in Bristol, although it would be from a completely contrasting social group - our production being about nerds, and Skins being based around partying teenagers who do blown-out-of-proportion things.

In terms of cast size: Phone Booth - the 2002 film which revolves around Colin Farrell's character being controlled by a mystery caller has a relatively small cast and has a few main characters - Farrell, Forest Whitaker and Kieffer Sutherland.

In terms of where it would be released: Submarine - the recently-releseased coming-of-age film has been only released in a small amount of cinemas because of the budget that it had - the creaters have not anticipated it to be a mainstream success so are limitting expenses on having it distributed to all major cinema companies (to all of their major cinemas).

Evaluation Part 2 (4)

Protector (Adam Bown): can be twinned with Hancock from the film Hancock. Although Hancock was played by Will Smith - the characters have some similarities in them. Hancock is an often agressive hero, yet still has his heart in the right place. Additionally, costume is similar - they both often wear a wolly hat - although Hancock wears it as his normal self, and Protector wears it as a disguise. Also, they are both out to protect and help people - as their main goals.

Evaluation Part 2 (3)

Mega Boy (Josh Chivers): can be paired to

Scott Pilgrim from Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, because of his surprising strength and all-round combat ability. They also have similar hairstyles - quite a modern teenage look. Although Mega Boy is a sidekick (for comedic purposes) and Scott Pilgrim is the main character of that film, they both have similar interests - music and amusment games.

Evaluation Part 2 (2)

Mysterious Man (Sam Hocking): can be linked to the character Alex Rider in Stormbreaker - being quite stylish, a snappy dresser (in terms of costume), yet with a poor social status. Athletically, they are quite similar - Mysterious Man being relatively fast (in direct comparison to the other 3 heroes, for example, this is shown by him catching up with Captain Awesome in the encounter with the youths.) and Alex Rider is a very athletic and well-trained (in martial arts and other sports).

Evaluation Part 2 (1)

Captain Awesome (me): can be linked to the character Dave (Kick-Ass) in Kick-Ass because of his desire to come protect people in his local area. Additionally, they are both of the stereotype of the socailly awkward teen who wants to get the girls - 'for the chicks'. A key prop for Kick-Ass is his two battons - and for Captain Awesome, it is his lightsaber - cementing him as a more nerdier stereotype.

Evaluation Part 1 Continued

Our own production company; Drunken Elephant Productions would be the main producers, however we would use Universal Studios to distribute the film, as a major name within the film business and an institution which is strongly associated with comedy productions, such as Scott Pilgrim, Kick-Ass, Johnny English and Evan Almighty - with the first two films in particular being very influential with decisions being made in our production.

After having a clip of a close up of the character's faces, then an enhanced freeze frame that has been altered - coloured differently for each actor. All of the actor's names come up next to their character. The colours we chose were chosen because they made the picture still come out properly, yet it was different enough to separate the film from the reality. This was something that was done very effectively in Scott Pilgrim, where the acting credits were done with some strong colours and an original font. The font that we chose to use, was the Comicbook one - the same that we used for the title name.

We used a long shot (to show all of the four main characters and the school in the background) at a low angle to signify our wishful-thinking of the power that we hold.

This is another low angle shot of the four main characters, preparing to go in to the battle. This also gives the viewer the impression that the heroes have the power in this situation, and are looking to win the fight. Yet, afterwards in the plot, they are defeated, so these shots are building up to make the fall of the heroes even more funny.

This is a medium-close-up shot which helps to show the over-exaggerated facial expression, which is designed to make the audience laugh. Inspiration from this has come from the legend that is Ben Stiller, who has produced very comical facial expressions in such films as Dodgeball and Zoolander. Another key inspiration for this sort of body language is Rowan Atkinson, whose performances as Mr. Bean are filled with great comedic expressions, something that he also brought to his role as Johnny English in that film.

This point-of-view shot that shows the zoom to the cigarette packet. We sped up the shot, to put more comedic emphasis on this 'power' and making red to signify the danger and urgency of the situation, and then added in an alarm sound effect - blowing the situation out of proportion for humour.

This is a three shot, from the point of view of Captain Awesome is to catch the reaction of the other heroes to some action. Their expressions are quite funny because of the lack of a conclusive response from them all.

For this shot, we have used the use of lines - from the pointing finger, to highlight the key objects of the shot. As our film has slices of action into it, to appeal to the male teen audience as well as the comedy elements, and the imminent action sequence, to complete the introduction to transition to the rest of the plot.

FINAL CUT!!

Evaluation Part 1

Title for the film - Having decided upon our plot line, our group sat down and threw some ideas around as to what the title of the film should be. As there was the 2010 film 'The Expendibles' which starred heavy-weight, established actors in physical roles, we thought something along those lines, mocking the fact that our cast is 4 average teenagers. It was then that I threw out the idea of 'The Kickables' - signifying that we are easily beaten - which would reflect the plot of the film, which is about having a poor superhero status. The others liked the name so it stuck.

Setting/Location - As a key aspect of our story is that we are sixthformers who attend school and lead 'normal' lives as well, we thought that it was necessary to start the film close to the school itself. That is why we chose to film on Pomphry Hill, directly behind Mangotsfield School, so that we could be standing in front of school buildings and yet not be still on school property. Another key aspect of our plot is that The Kickables are protecting Bristol - the local area, from crime and this is highlighted from the line "I felt the urge to bring justice to the World... well, Bristol, at least.".

Costumes/Props - As the characters are all average teenagers trying to be unidentified superheroes, we created our own individual costumes and props, with the view that they would be sub-standard and unprofessional-looking for the effect that it would have on the audience - for comedic effect at the laughable nature of the characters and what they are doing.

Camerawork/Editing - The camera was operated by Joe Westlake, yet we all pitched in to direct where and what shot type we were going for. At times when we weren't on camera, we were behind it - ensuring that we got the best possible result. After every shot we took, we watched it back, to check that it was good enough, and reshot it if we needed to. We used a variety of camera shots and movement including close-ups, long shot, a pan (which was cut from the final edit), a tracking-point-of-view shot amongst others. We tried to use low-angle shots to signify that we have the power, but ultimately, that is just to help secure the idea that we try to be powerful, but we end up getting beaten up by the two youths (cut from the final cut due to timing issues - trying to get the opening as close to the two minute target as possible). We edited two shots to try to speed them up - by upping the tempo on the the first production credits (Universal Studios) which we did to cut some time off, but in doing so, we discovered that it sounded very humorous, and worked well as a variation to the classic credit - much like the variation at the beginning of Scott Pilgrim Vs The World (http://nerdymatt.blogspot.com/2010/12/additional-textual-analysis.html) where a retro variation is used.

Title Font/Style - The font that we used for The Kickables, is called Comicbook and, having browsed through a lot of fonts, we concluded that this one was the best, as it gives a comicbook effect - which we wanted to achieve to mirror the effect that Scott Pilgrim has on the audience. We decided that it should follow us across the screen, right in the middle, so that the characters would be still very visible, but also the title would be read at the same time.

Story and How the Opening is Set Up - As a group, we felt that it would be necessary to have a slightly relatable story to appeal to the audience, whether it would be directly appeal to the nerdier teenagers, or also the young audience that will know people that would attempt something like this. The opening is out of chronological order of the film - as after this short opening section we would go back in time to before they became heroes, and the film would develop the characters into what they are at the beginning, and then further to the end.

Genre and How the Opening Suggests it - Right from the beginning, from the production credit for Universal being funily sped up, we establish our comedy genre. From our introduction of our characters and our naive and youthful characteristics, we try to establish the teen comedy aspect of our audience. By staring teenage/young actors, it is easier for a production to attract the target audience because they can then relate to them, and situations they may encounter.

How the Characters are represented - Each character is represented similarly socially - as teenage nerds, yet individually they have their own qualities. Firstly, as Captain Awesome (me) is the first character we are introduced to, it signifies that, on some level, he is the leader of the Kickables. Captain Awesome's choice of weapon is the lightsaber, identifying him as the Star Wars one. Mysterious Man is up next and is stylishly dressed, identifying him as perhaps the coolest one of the group. Then Mega Boy is introduced - we chose to even have a line of his to be "I'm called Mega Boy because I'm unusually tall for a sidekick" - which immediately shows him to be one of the opening two character's right-hand-man. For Protector, the fact that he has no mask shielding his face, is a parody on traditional superheroes that barely change their facial area and yet can still remain anonymous, such as Superman. He is primarily represented as the gamer who swears, a convention stereotypically held by teenagers in general.

Special Effects - For one clip in particular, the point-of-view shot that shows the zoom to the cigarette packet. To that, we sped up the shot, to put more comedic emphasis on this 'power' and making red to signify the danger and urgency of the situation, and then adding in an alarm sound effect - blowing the situation out of proportion for humour.

Rough Cut

Promo - Teaser Trailer

This is a quick video that will help the marketing for our film and promote it to get more people aware that it will eventually be coming out in cinemas.

Our Target Audience

The audience our film will be aimed at is a primarily young adult audience, from the ages of 15-25 and will be mainly male. We feel that they would best relate to a superhero story, and the comedy genre we are following is modern and so younger adults will be more inclined to come to watch. Personality-wise, our audience will generally be interested in comedy shows, having a good ranged sense of humour, average job, appreciative of entertainment over money spent.

In terms of Rubicam and Young, our audience will be the mainstream, the everyday people, who are the largest type of people who will watch a variety of genres from sci-fi to drama and would respond to a comedy film produced by established names and companies within the semantic field of fim.

By the sbbfc guidelines, our film will be rated 15, as we would be looking to (if we created the whole film) include strong language, violence (some blood) and adult humour. We feel that this rating would help to advise people of the primary audience, that no-one under the age of 15 would be advised to watch as the language used would be too strong for them.

Animatic

Storyboard

Institutions

Films like Kick-Ass and Scott Pilgrim Vs the World are produced by smaller companies such as Big Talk Productions (for Scott Pilgrim) but then presented by a large well-establish brand such as Universal Studios. Roughly $60,000,000 was spent on the film and on the opening weekend grossed $10,609,795 (USA) (15 August 2010) (2,818 Screens), £1,604,545 (UK) (29 August 2010) (408 Screens). The film was marketed by pre-film trailers, with public appearances for the actors, publicising the film coming out into the cinema.

For our production we would use a small production company (Drunken Elephant Productions) and get it presented by Universal, who have presented films such as Kick-Ass and Scott Pilgrim amongst others and got more recognition and consideration.

Music Score for Teen Comedy

Kick-Ass:

At the end of Kick-Ass, the score becomes very majestic and serious - as he ultimately saves the day. Throughout the film, when the action becomes prominent in a scene, the score becomes louder and is non-diegetic, being quick-paced to accompany the scenes perfectly. The soundtrack is not always apparent throughout the film, but when conflict is in a scene the music helps to give it a feel of good and success for our hero in the film, in this instant, Kick-Ass.

Titles for Teen Comedy

Scott Pilgrim Versus the World: Production credits are on the floor as the camera pulls back from a medium shot to a long shot - half of the title of film is with all characters "Scott Pilgrim", then pulls down to join with the rest of the title ("VS. THE WORLD"). Then the actors' names burst in, jumpy (rave-time) as separate frames and cut quickly, with the quick-paced music . The background to this is strong, dark shades of colours, particularly reds and green. There is also bits of artwork flashing up, and its very student-like - artistic but not professional, nor too young child-like. The font is quite bold and 'in your face' which is stereotypical of teenage personality.

Also, for character credits, there are black boxes that pop up everytime Michael Cera's character, Scott, meets another character who has been previously unseen in the film. In these black boxes it gives brief information about the character.

Opening Sequences are Important

In the first two minutes of a film, conventionally, the main characters/actors can be introduced, through appearance or credit. The films opening can have a good effect, by using generic conventions to help the audience establish the type of film it will be and also build up expectations of the plot-line. If the opening sequence is engaging and connecting to the audience, then they are going to enjoy the film and perhaps going to see it again/purchase the DVD or any other merchandise - working as a marketing machine for the franchise. There are some very memorable, effective opening opening sequences - for example, every Star Wars film begins with the suspended space writing and then getting straight into the action.

Presenting to the class

I haven't finished the list, except for the filming dates and the storyboard (which we are re-do at the moment) but currently my blog is a bit out of order but i'm going to change the dates and sort it out soon

Shot Sequencing

We will go from:
Establishing long shot of setting
to
medium four shot of the Kickables
to
medium close-up of Captain Awesome
pan to
medium close-up of Mysterious Man
pan to
medium close-up of MegaBoy
pan to
medium close-up of Protector
jump back to
medium shot of Captain Awesome
to
hand-held meduim-long shot
to
long shot from behind trees
to
medium-long shot over bin
to
title credit
to establishing long shot outside school

Roles and Responsibilities for Filming

During filming, as the four of us have acting roles, we will have a cameraman and we will decide as a group how to direct the shot variations and if any alterations are needed to stray away from the script/storyboard then we will talk as a group before coming to a democratic decision. Individual costumes are being left to the individual actors, so that we get our characters spot on for representation of their individual personalities. After every scene is shot, we will watch back to confirm whether or not we need to shoot it again - this will be fine for what we actually have to film, because there aren't that many scenes.

Response to Treatment

The treatment will be roughly the same, yet perhaps an alteration may be made over the ending, but has yet to be decided.

Additionally, the names will be changed to avoid being too silly: from Nerdman to Captain Awesome, Geekboy to MegaBoy, and Shoc-King to Mysterious Man

Actors

For the role of Captain Awesome, it is likely that I, Matt Vicker, would play that role due to my already real nerd status.

Mysterious Man will be portrayed by Sam Hocking, because his blonde hair will help to diverse the group and also help us to stray away from the stereotype that blondes are stupid, and that there are blonde nerds too.

(Right) Adam Bown would play Protector, putting his nerdiness into practice.

(Middle) Josh Chivers would be Mega Boy, the comedically taller sidekick.

(Left) The left hand side of my body, see first paragraph for my role.

Location

As our film is a comedy surrounding teenage nerds, the perfect situation will involve a school. Therefore our location choice will be in and around our school's grounds.

Questionaire

Script for The Kickables

The Script (82.1secs)
All voiced over, by the individual characters.
Matt: DANGER! Ha you weren’t expecting that were you?
I’m captain awesome and I’ll be your superhero for your lifetime!
I became a superhero because I felt the urge to bring justice to the world… well Bristol at least… and also for the chicks. Superheroes get the ladies… hopefully. Of course there is also Sam… (17.5secs)
Sam: Cheers Matt. Hey I’m the mysterious man. Ever been called a queer or a bit of a loser. I have. So I made a stand against crime. Injustice is everywhere and its up to me and my fellow partners against crime to do something about it.
Lets not forget josh… (18secs)
Josh: Thanks Sam. Mega Boy is my name. Kicking crime is my game. I stare punches in the face. I became a superhero because I was bored at home and mum says I need to get out more. I’m called mega boy because I am unusually tall for a sidekick.
Now over to Protector… Adam? Adam? (17.2secs)
Adam: Hey hows it going?
Josh: Its going good… Remember were supposed to say a bit about ourselves…
Adam: Alright lets get to it! I’m Adam and I like Doritos. Best game of the year Fifa 11 I fucking did it with that game…
Josh: No no no… you are supposed to tell them about your superhero!
Adam: oh okay okay… I’m protector and I’m an alcoholic.
Josh: Perfect…
Matt: Wait you’re an alcoholic??
Sam: You actually serious?
Adam: Well not really, I mean it only counts if you throw up right?
Matt: Guys, man alive; we’re frozen in time right now! (29.4sec)