Our Animatic

This is our animatic, I advise you have the sound off, simply as there is an error (we didn't experience whilst editing) where it makes a horrible noise every 10 seconds after the 4 second mark.

However, we chose not to include a backing track as the track has to be the we're officially using. And as we are both unsure, we'll choose to keep the song 'anonymous' at the moment. What our Animatic shows is a clearer story board and what we aim to make our various frames look like. What can be learned from using an animatic is that its very useful for planning as you can draft the kind of shot you need, however there is an artistic side to it to enhance what is going on in frame.                                                            

Opening sequence necessities

Setting:                                                                 Characters:

• Sunny                                                           Main - Someone in teens
• Morning                                                       Mains friend - Similar to main
• Town/Village                                               Car driver - Anyone as character remains anonymous

Props to consider                                              Notes to Actors

• Car                                                           Set in Ottery St Mary - Small town
• Phone                                                       Main character - needs to be dressed in dull colours-
• Daily household items -                            will be the only one using props - little dialogue in film
• Spoon/fork/knives                                    Will have to do overtop narration for the majority of the
• Cereal                                                       two minutes.
• Alarm clock                                              Second character - Bright colours -Lively-very little
• Headphones                                             dialogue, enthusiastic acting - In view for only 10-15s
• Picture

Storyboard draft for final task

For our final task, we've been given the task of making a storyboard to summarise our task. On the storyboard we've written the vast amount of media terms we will be using for our camera, editing and sound.

Our story is about a teen boy who hates life and finds is just a frustrating never ending viscous cycle, however our short opening films the daily start of his life, where we open the sequence with establishing shots to set the tone, and use a lot of diegetic and non-diegetic sound. At the end of our sequence something happens to our main protagonist which will take a green screen to edit. Our opening sequence is an enigma its self as its the ending and opening. Stay tuned and our Animatic will be up soon to give you the idea of how the scenes/sequence will pan out.

Editing techniques

Graphic match and cut away are two very effective editing methods, and for me they will be used a lot, as in our opening sequence there is going to be a lot of movement in different environments - so we will need to use these shots to move on the frames so we can get our full intro into the 2 mins, and not bore our viewing audience. By spoon feeding them our character constantly doing one action throughout the whole sequence.

We will be using Graphic Match because there will be scenes where in real life they may drag on, but with this technique we can speed up the intro and keep the audience more involved, an example we will use is filming into an alarm clock and back out but into a different environment.




Cut Away will be effective to use as in our piece there will be a lot of things going on, and to help get these gestures across we will use the cut away affect, an example will be the car we use in a variety of shots, where we film the inner of the car whilst keeping the protagonist in frame, then cut away to get the characters view with the car in the background shot.

Film opening analysis

The opening I will be analysing is; The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead is a TVseries (Horror/Drama) made by an American company, it is also vastly popular worldwide, and for me there is some inspiration of the opening sequence. As we are doing an opening on an unconventional teen skater who isn't quite like the rest, we wish to use scenic establishing shots which are quiet and empty to resemble our characters feelings.

In the first shot obviously there is minimum to see but a broken window with overgrowth to emphasise the lack of life or emptiness of the scene, the ident for AMC is well placed in order to take some attention of the shot but also not make it dull.

Our first shot of a character, in a bloodied up newspaper, where the words 'Atlanta' read to give you sense the film is American. Not much going on in this hsot to keep the film a mystery.

A lonely teddy bear lies in an empty shot placed on the rule of third line well. The shadow emphasises the light to create a contrast between light and dark to create happiness through the bear as you associate it with children, but the murky atmosphere of the film darkens the frame.

A cracking establishing shot with subtle titles stacked in the middle of the screen simply as there is nothing going on. The empty roads and litter flying about like hay bails suggest silence and emptiness - the exact feeling we are going for when we create ours. The fact that its also set in Atlanta (A busy city) is unconventional given that cities are busy where as this one is not giving it the creepier atmosphere enhanced by the mise-en-scene of the litter and empty roads.

The dark hallway shot with low key lighting gives better contrast as to what the film is about, being framed in a hospital the frame creates a more powerful effect to suggest something bad has happened.

The broken police station resembled by an establishing shot creates the atmosphere of emptiness reinforcing the films aims of a post zombie apocalypse, well placed titles look good due to the positioning and timing of the frame.

Mise-en-scene again still strong, littered roads and crashed vehicles on a long shot give better emphasis on how bad the situation really is.

The contrast of the frame gives it an essense of age which suggests time has come far from the picture we are seeing. Smart use of an establishing shot to show both highways and the ghost cars of which the audience can connote have been absent for a while. Giving stronger emphasis on what the film really may be about.

Nothing fancy 3 words down in quick succession gives away what the film is about, working really well due to the contrast being so low and dull. Really gives an old horror feel.

Cinematography - The various camera shots

AERIAL SHOT

 A shot taken from an airborne device, generally while moving. The main source of light is behind the subject, silhouetting it, and directed toward the camera. 

ESTABLISHING SHOT

An ESTABLISHING shot is usually the first shot of a new scene, designed to show the audience where the action is taking place. It is usually a very wide shot or extreme wide shot.

HIGH/LOW ANGLE SHOT

In cinematography, a LOW-ANGLE shot, is a shot from a camera angle positioned low on the vertical axis, anywhere below the eye line, looking up.Sometimes, it is even directly below the subject's feet. Psychologically, the effect of the low-angle shot is that it makes the subject 
look strong and powerful.

 HIGH-ANGLE shots can make the subject seem vulnerable or chicken when applied with the correct mood, setting, and effects. In film, they can make the scene more dramatic. If there is a person at high elevation who is talking to someone below them, this shot is often used.

HANDHELD SHOT

HANDHELD SHOT or hand-held camera is a video production technique in which a camera is held in hands as opposed to being on a tripod 

ARC SHOT




An ARC SHOT is a camera move around the subject, somewhat like a tracking shot. In mathematics, an arc is a segment of the circumference of a circle. A camera arc is similar, the camera moves in a rough semi-circle around the subject.

CLOSE UP/MEDIUM SHOT

A CLOSE-UP or closeup in film making, television production, still photography and the comic strip medium is a type of shot, which tightly frames a person or an object. Close-ups are one of the standard shots used regularly with medium shots and long shots.

In film, a MEDIUM SHOT, mid shot (MS), or waist shot is a camera angle shot from a medium distance.