Props

We have taken a photo of a friend who bares an irie resemblence to Tomos (Ben Db) to have hanging up in the British families house to represent the charcter of Theo Whites. We have got this printed in a large size and matt finish so that when filming the photo there wont be so much light reflection. We have it framed to that it looks natural with the interior of the house. With the room Tomos moves into we have emptied it out so that it gives of the feeling of something missing and emptiness. We are making sure there is no sort of style in the room, giving off a vibe of a prison like environment. To make the mise-en-scene completely realistic we have borrowed a german passport so when Tomos puts his passport port down his foriegn identity is known and made clear. BJH

The Film Industry

1) The introduction of inner city multiplex's has led to an emormous increase of film screens in the UK, but this has not led to an increase of the number of films being shown. This is due to the large film companies such as Odeon and Vue, they only show big blockbuster type films that are current such 'The green hornet' and ' The black swan', this is because they realise that the market is far wider and popular for such high budget films. Due to this the decrease of independant film houses has occured and less 'unknown' films are being shown, therefore closing the gap of films being shown. On one day at a multiplex, there may be 5 releases shown on 20 screens that run every hour, and this is repeated across great britian this is why there is no increase of films being shown in the UK. 2) 'Blockbuster saturation' may be occuring due to the facts that from 2004 to 2008 cinema's have lost 7million paying costumers. One factor could be due to the ease of piracy, torrent seeding has become massive in the past 5 years and is incredibly popular, this means blockbuster films can be downloaded and shown two days after release. It is clear that the blockbusters may be getting too samey and predictable and audiences are turned off by this. in 2004 'shrek 2' was top of box office then 6 years later 'shrek forever after' is released grossing another nice profit- is the film industry become to predictable, and therefore leading to blockbuster saturation. 3) The average money spent for one release in the UK by distrubutors is £627, 000. 4) This recent demand for UK film releases means that more money will have to be spent a year on the distrubtion, and if the films for some reason become unpopular and less people start to view them large amounts of money will be lost. With the current market destroyer (piracy) expanding day by day this may results in a great deal of loss in money, it is risky. 5) If the average cost per production/distrubtion of a US film in $102.8m and this price tag is rising, it may mean that less films are released meaning cinema's only show very big blostbusters and an illimination of good independant cinema. Hollywood production may become for one way, and only start making 'dream' blockbusters such as 'Avatar' making the viewers have a far shallow view on cinema. 6) The Us' top 3 most bankable actos in order of popularity are George Clooney, Johnny Depp and Leonardo Dicaprio. All three actors have been in numerous blockbusters for over 10 years now that proves your longetivity of career in hollywood is incredibly important. In my opinion the most bankable male actors for the 'youth' market are Simon Pegg, Jamie Bell, Nicholas Hoult and Keira Knightley. This proves that male seem to dominate the lead role in hollywood. 7) Avatar made enormous profits Transformers nearly did New moon made 5 times itself a huge profit Up was fairly close but not good enough The hangover only spent $35 and made a great profit Star Trek didn't do too well, and made no money The blind side with a fairly small budget in comparison made money Alvin and the chipmunks made a studio profit Sherlock Holmes narrowly missed out on making a profit 8) 'Into the wilds' was a recent very popular Paramount Vantage production, the connection of output is that the films are used with the same company money but with a great lot less spent on advertising, production, release and distrubution. Paramount are a huge film company and vantage acts like a sister company, still fully associated but with a different approach to money and distrubtion. (500) days of summer was a very popular almost cult film made by fox searchlight, it was based around a strange romance between two people in love with the music around them. The film did vey well are the budget was not too high and the box office loved it, but also on top of this the soundtrack sold on itunes and on cd made a lot of money. When the money is made the money is pushed straight back into the company.

Film Inspiration

In our film our main character, Thomos will be the centre of the story and film we would hope to create a feeling our sharing character emotion thoughout. One key inspiration is 'Donnie Darko' the character of Donnie, is constantly built up upon and you learn about why he is in the certian emotional state he is in. We would hope to do a similar job, as the viewer would learn how to empathise and sypathise with the German teenager. 'Hallam Foe' also uses the same methods to character build through out the film, the innocence of both characters relate very well. The use of soundtrack in 'hallam foe' is also similar to what we would want to create an arthouse vibe to our raw thriller. Gus van Sant's 'Paranoid Park' use a certain unique style to film and editing that we would hope to use; slow still shots, wide angle shots and extreme close ups to really get a good understanding of how natural environments are. 'Bullet boy' manages to capture what London physically resembles ( long shots of estates, housing area and parks) we would hope to capture London in its true light as our character explores his new environment. BJH

Billy Holmes Preliminary task

BJH

30th January Filming – Exchange

30^th January Filming – Exchange

We got to the station on a clear day around 5 pm as it was beginning to get dark, our actor Ben was in the costume we had planned him to wear and we began filming 5.15 pm. We wanted to film at this time because we wanted the footage at night and the take advantage of the artificial lighting. We had no problems with the people getting in the way of our shots and entering the frame, which was why we had planned to film on a Sunday, as this would be a quieter day compared to the rest of the week.

We decided to use our filler lights to enhance the quality of the footage as otherwise the lack of light would have made the filming grainy and unattractive to look at. The lights at times were to bright and therefore cause our actors face to have too much brightness therefore lessening his contrasting features.

We used the small camera attachment microphone for our sound, which was very effective as it meant it cut much unwanted extra sound such as the wind and other people’s voices, it was also very portable and therefore allowed us to film more compared to a larger boom mic, which would have slowed down the process.

We are filming the second half of our opening next week on the 6^th February again on a Sunday and at the same time to keep the continuity of the scene, the filming will mainly be inside rather than outside.

BJH CMV CF

Recces and Notes

Recce Notes Opening shot good: - There was high-key lighting already in place - no need for use other lights - good level of ambient noise - natural sounds such as announcements etc - natural movement within the frame (some people but not overcrowded) - colours and lighting work well within the context of the story bad: - irregularity of trains, particularly on a Sunday Second shot good: - nicely framed - character is easily placed in a central position - high-key lighting - no need for external lights - symmetry adds to the good framing - mise-en-scene - has a 'London' feel to it bad: - can be busy Third Shot good: - no lighting required whilst still maintaining a darker, eerie vibe - smooth surface on floor bad: - one of the busiest parts of the station Fourth Shot good: - highly lit inside the tunnel (dark exterior) - nice symmetry of shot - sign to the left - 'Don't be afraid' - nice colours and light from ATM bad: - busy - the floor slopes slightly - hard to get the shot level Fifth shot good: - nicely composed - ties nicely with the feel of the film - light from window to the left as well as street-lights give nice lighting - usually empty - possibility for different shots/angles bad: - low light - grainy without lighting - uneven floor - no possibility of using a dolly Sixth shot good: - nice light from cars and street-lights - ambient noise of cars etc bad: - low key lighting - hard to focus on individual objects - busy road - noise can be overpowering Seventh Shot good: - light reflecting from the doorbell - easy to capture - outside of a house so no risk of being to busy etc bad: - low lighting - grainy BJH CMV CF