New Opening Sequence (2nd Draft)

Due to the production losing a member we decided to change our first idea and create a new opening sequence, this was also due to the fact we felt we could incorporate both pitches together and create a better sequence.

Our new idea is about a young man who has recently told his family and friends that he's a homosexual, this was made further made difficult because he is from a Muslim family with an Islamic background which as a result meant he couldn't be accepted by his family.

Our idea is to show how society and his family have forced him into a different lifestyle and has made him become more lonely and anti-social.

The reason for us choosing this concept is because we grew up in mostly a Muslim area and has allowed us to gain an understanding about the lifestyle which we feel we can re-create and show through Media. Also we both know some who had recently been through a similar path and therefore want to explore the idea more and allow other people to understand.

In depth storyboard (1st Draft)

We've come up with the idea to have two people living their lives but in real time with a split screen. The spilt screen will show them living their lives aswell as emobdoying the actual spilt that they have to go through. Because we want to show the spilt even more we will start with an establishing shot of a house and zoom into a sticker saying alla which will be over a door. 


This will then dissolve into a shot of the main character getting ready to go to Arabic lessons, therefore she will be washing her face (ablution) when shes washes her face we will hope to do an action match in which we get various shots beginning with aclose up shot of her washing her face, except the camera will be from underneath the sink. then perhaps a profile shot from the side of her washing her face and then a high angle shot of her washing her face.


  The high angle shot will embody someone else watching her perhaps god. When she puts on her headscarf. this shot wil be a reflection of her putting on her headscarf in the mirror. 
 As she leaves the house and checks her phone, we will zoom into the phones screen to highlight who she will be meeting which will be her (secret) boyfriend at a certain time. Her mums saying be back home at this () time see you.. Love you etc. 


AT THE SAME TIME (split screen)  the main male character and his friends are outside walking to their destination, we will also do an action match of his shoes from different angles.  (meeting point for both of them) they might talk about their friends relationship between him and her and telling him, we will then do various over the shoulder shotsand shot reverse shots of they're converstaions. “ah look you could be in a relationship with someone who doesn’t have all these problems and all these secrets” and he could say something pretty touching and powerful, something that represents their relationship between each other. His friends leave him to walk alone and they both walk.. action match here and there and they meet.. (just one screen now, no split screen) perhaps aclose up when he places his hands in hers as they continue walking. Action matchagain to show their body language and facial expressions, she talks about her stresses about their relationship.

Film Production Process Flow Chart

Sound Research

There are two different types of sounds that can be used in our film opening, Digetic and Non- Digetic sounds.

Digectic - This is any sound that audience and the characters are suppose to hear and haven't been added during the editing process.

Non- Digectic  - This type of sound is the opposite of digetic sounds as it has been placed in the clip for the audience to hear purposely. The reason directors and editors do this is put emphasis on a specific sound for the audience to hear more clearly. An example of this is if a character is walking on the other side of the road the director may put a non-digectic sound in the editing to show anticipation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPgUaX1hGW0&feature=related

This is clip from the film Adulthood showing a fight scene between two characters, the director purposely puts non-digectic sounds for the audience to hear every sound during the final fight scene in the movie.

The music during this scene also adds anticipation to the fight because the genre is action and drama. The tempo of scene also fits to the theme of the scene as when it comes to a vital part the music builds up then suddenly slows down.

Production Companies Research

Recently we've been researching production companies to get an idea of which companies would we approach in an ideal situation. This would also give us benefits such as being able to look at the films they produce and learn some of the techniques they use to make their films so effective. As we are doing a mixture of Action, Romance and Drama we each researched different production companies with those genres to make the tasks of group easier. 

Action Production Companies

Warner Bros Pictures is a US production company who have produced many great films including; Dark Knight, Inception, Clash of the Titans and The Book of Eli all of which are great action packed films. The majority of their action films are highly rated and they have more action films planned to be released in 2012. 

Twentieth Century Fox Films is another production company who have a good history of action packed films; Die Hard,  X-Men First Class and Avatar. Currently they're working on a range of different films sue to be released in the next few years. 

Lucasfilm is another US production company that have a range of films, they created the series of; Star Wars and Indiana Jones. These were two very famous series showing this production company to have a good history of films. 


Money Generated

Dark Knight  $1,001,921,825 (worldwide) (1 December 2010)
Inception  $825,532,764 (Worldwide) (6 January 2011)
Clash of the Titans  $41,092,328 (USA)
The Book of Eli $94,822,707 (USA) (9 May 2010)
Die Hard $137,400,000 (Worldwide)
X-Men First Class $352,616,690 (Worldwide) (29 September 2011)
Avatar $2,782,275,172 (Worldwide) (25 November 2011)
Star Wars $4.41 billion 

Drama Production Companies

Voted the best Drama film on IMDB was The Shawshank Redemption which was produced by Castle Rock Entertainment, other films produced by these company include; The Green Mile and Hamlet. These types of films were created and seemed most popular on the IMDB and received high ratings from the website.


One of the most popular and known dramas of all time is The Godfather series produced by Paramount Pictures, since creating The Godfather series they have produced other great dramas such as; The Fighter, Shutter Island and Freedom Writers.


Warner Bros Pictures is another production company that have a great history of drama films they've produced, having worked on the Harry Potter series it's clear they have a team of highly skilled workers that produce good films.


Money Generated
The Shawshank Redemption $58,500,000 (Worldwide
The Green Mile $136,801,374 (USA) (14 May 2000)
Hamlet $4,414,535 (USA) (13 April 1997)
The Godfather Series $245 million
The Fighter $93,571,803 (USA) (27 March 2011)
Shutter Island $294,804,195 (Worldwide) (10 June 2010)
Freedom Writers $43,090,741 (Worldwide)
Harry Potter Series $7.7 billion (Worldwide)


Romance Production Companies


Having researched most the romantic films on the IMDB we've learnt that Warner Bros Pictures has created some of the most popular romance films such as; Casablanca, Sex and the City 2 and Slumdog Millionaire.


Paramout Pictures is also another production company that have a wide variety of genres in their history including some very good romance films such as; What Women Want, No Strings Attached and The Last Kiss. These films are mostly a hybrid and have a mixture of some other genres in them generally comedy.


Fox 2000 Pictures also have a range of different films although their romance films are similar to what we want to include in our productions, specifically the films that appeal to us are; Devil Wears Prada, Bride Wars and In Her Shoes.


Money Generated
Casablanca $1,711,189 (USA) (19 June 1992)
Sex and the City 2 $95,328,937 (USA) (15 August 2010)
Slumdog Millionaire $141,319,195 (USA) (24 May 2009)
What Women Want  $374,111,707 (Worldwide)
No Strings Attached $147,780,440 (Worldwide) (7 April 2011)
The Last Kiss $11,596,143 (USA) (22 October 2006)
Devil Wears Prada $124,732,962 (USA) (3 December 2006)
Bride Wars $113,971,145 (Worldwide) (8 April 2009)
In Her Shoes $83,073,883 (Worldwide)


Conclusion
Having researched production companies in the industry its clear that some companies are generally produce a certain genre of film mostly or some have a wide range of genres that they've produced. Although most production companies are very expensive and have better technology and staff watching some of the films they produce will help us create a better opening sequence, not only does it although us to develop our techniques but we can also learn how to include more generic conventions in our film.


In an 'ideal' situation based upon our research it seems that we would use Warner Bros Pictures dues to the fact they have such a wide variety of films with different genres that have been successful and effective, by watching some of these films and analysing them we'll be able to develop our skills and techniques. 


Another option based upon our research is Paramount Pictures who have a great history of films, they also have a wide range of different genres showing they can adapt of any genre of film. 

Related Films Research

Research

Yasmin –2004 Drama

This is a film about a young Muslim girl living in Britain, which we feel, is related to our film because it highlights the contrasts between two different cultures and what life is like living in Britain. Although our film is about a young Muslim man and him having a problem with his sexuality, family and community it still relates because our main character is a Muslim.

The beginning of the film starts with titles but no sound and picture, this affected me because it meant I was focused on exactly what was written on the screen rather than using my other senses.

  

Titles

These are the first three shots that are shown before any picture is, these tiles show what companies were involved producing the film, without much information such as; music, directors or actors it becomes difficult for the audience to know much about the film. By listing the actors in the film during the opening sequence it becomes easier for the audience to know.

The text font used in the titles are plain and simple making them understandable to the audience, the effect of having simple texts makes the opening sequence more powerful because it suggests there isn’t much comedy and them film is serious. In addition not having any texts moved around the screen and simply separating titles by cutting emphasises the seriousness of the film. The colour of the titles keeps the simple and plain theme because its white writing with a black background allowing the audience to concentrate on the titles only.

The titles don’t flash quickly they slowly dissolve and the screen shows the next bit of information about the film, the editing is simple but still has an impact on the audience.

Sound

The sound in the opening sequence comes from an actor singing the mourning awakening in the local community who are predominately from a Muslim background, whilst the sound is playing there are some powerful establishing shots. This also suggests that the local area is mostly from a working and lower class because the community doesn’t seem well looked after.

Character

During the opening sequence we are aren’t introduced to any characters or given any names although we see to men performing the morning prayer known as, Fazr, although at this point we are still unaware of their names of what part they play in the film. Later in the opening sequence we see another female character getting changed on a field; she’s changing her Arabic clothes and wear casual clothes. This suggests the character could be struggling to embrace another one of her cultures in the area she lives so she is forced to do in secret.

      

Location

The location of the film doesn’t specify where in Britain the film is located although its clear by the establishing shots the community is full of working and lower class people. The shots in the opening sequence show the location of a small community mostly congested with people from an Islamic background.

This long shot of a road in the local community shows the difference and distance between where this is set and other parts of the country.

The shot shows nice long country roads with some houses in the background but the first things seen by the audience is small enclosed space where the location is.

The next shot is of a shop owner cleaning the vandalism from the shutters on his shop, this suggests that there may be a problem with racism in the film. The word on the graffiti says, ‘ Paki’ which is a form of abuse and could be an on-going problem throughout the film. 

 

The final shot that shows the location is set in a lower and working class environment is of children walking through the area on their way to school. In buildings in this shot if very effective because they look similar to council flats which relates generally to lower and working class people.

All these aspects of the location show the type of environment the film is set in and links to the fact the issue in the film may be a result on the environment it’s in.  In addition the establishing shots show mostly Muslim people to be living in the area showing the audience the majority of the community is Muslim, this makes it harder to embrace and live by another culture.

Costume and Character Research

Because our group have decided to create a Hybrid genre we need make our characters as versatile as possible to fit the specific genre. For example, the fact we have chosen to include a drama, and romance we need to be able to create characters that can fit all genres. As we understand a girly blonde rich girl may not fit the idea of being in crime, therefore perhaps we need to create characters that have some sort of grunge-like look. I will be using a mix of description and pictures to help explain and illuminate possible ideas we may want to include in our coursework. To begin with, I will research stereotypical characters in various genres.

General characters in crime:

One example of stereotypical characters in crime are the characters in the film "Taken." the daughter Kim played by Maggie Grace. The stereotypical conventions which I found tend to be the within the victims   are the hairtype, which tends to be blonde- there is a great stereotype regarding this heairtype. Normally, the asociation is being more vunrable, even to the extent of being dumb. Blondes are considered less powerful even in most work fields the brunettes tend to be working high in management whislt the blonde girl works as a receptionist.

Call Sheets

Call Sheet

School/ production office	Nearest hospital	Call location/Address
Sir John Cass Foundation and Redcoat Secondary School Stepney Way London E1 0RH	The London Hospital Whitechapel London E1 Emergency contact:	Barnsley Street E1 5RB  Whitechapel 1 Cambridge Heath Rd

Crew position	Name	Phone	Email
Editor/creative director	Michael		madeboye@hotmail.co.uk
Camera/lighting operator/visual director	Btisam

Equipment and instructions for responsibility

Camera: Btisam - Always ensure the camera is safely locked in its case to prevent any damages to the camera.

Tripod: Btisam - Always make sure the tripod is safely stored in its case to prevent any damages

Props list: Michael - Take charge of the prop list and make sure the props are always on the scene to prevent any delays whilst recording.