ideas

Title/working title	Clear Bets         (?)
Plot/outline summary	Due to the assassins actions 3 years ago, a gang rivalry has been created, two mafia families fight each other over the money being taken 3 years ago.
Opening sequence outline/summary	Assassin receives a phone call, and is told to murder 6 rival mafia guys who owe money. He then walks into a closed restaurant through the back door, and proceeds upstairs where an illegal poker game is taking place including thousands of pounds. This money is owed and the assassin then pulls out two guns and shoots everyone there, except the waitress who hides and survives, the assassin then takes the money.
Characters (consider genre, role, image etc)	1 – Main Assassin 5/6 – Gangsters gambling 1 – Barman 1 – Waitress
Mise en scene Setting: Locations: Costumes: Props: Lighting (what mood are you trying to create? etc)	Guns, Money, Poker related things, drinks. Dark, empty, closed restaurant. Upstairs. Restaurant Dark, not to reveal much character. Shirts, waistcoats, blazers. Guns, shot glasses,money, poker. Toplighting, backlighting to create a sense of being superior. Low ambient lighting. Few lights used with mise on scene.

Risk Assessment

Action Carried Out	Risk	How this can be prevented or changed
Filming the first shot of the opening scene.	The weather being different than forecast (snow) or a reflection in the windows which shows the film crew in the background from the windows.	Check the weather consistently and if the weather was to change, we can sweep any snow away out of the shot or break and remove any ice. We also shall angle the camera away from the door so there is not a direct reflection of the camera.
Lighting up the inside of the restaurant.	Wires on the floor causing health and safety risks. The angles of the lights may be difficult to produce and also in some cases depending on what is in the restaurant	Using proper ladders and stand if needed for the lighting and tape the wires to the floor to insure that there are no hazards of people tripping and injuring themselves.
Props and Clothing	All props and clothing may not match the theme and this would ruin the atmosphere. The clothes may also make the characters had to see in the light because of the colours used.	All clothing and props must be decided on and if this problem occurs the colours must be changed.
Glass Breaking in the shooting of the gun shot	Breaking glass would be really dangerous and this would be a health and safety hazard as someone could be cut or seriously injured.	There will be no real glass used in this shot but sugar glass alternative to resemble the smashing of real glass but with no hazard to anyone who is taking part in this scene.
Shooting of a gun inside a restaurant	The public outside of the restaurant maybe able to see into the scene while the shooting is occurring and may be distressed to see  gun being shot even though it is not a real one but a look alike. This could cause problems as a member of the public may do the correct thing and call the police although they are unknowing of what is going on. This could get our whole shot into a lot of trouble	As we are in a private place we should have no problems gaining permission to use guns on set although with this issue we will need to tell the authorities of the area of the restaurant that we are going to be using a look alike firearm to insure that there are no miss under standings and that no one is forced to waste their time.

DIY Camera Dolly

Research: Lighting

Key Light

Its the most important light, its mostly the highest intensity light.

Filler Light

Used to soften the harsh shadows created by the key light and the back light. There can be more than one filler light.

Back Light

This light is set at the back of a character or an object. It makes the character or an object standout. Back light also helps to counteract the effect of key light 

Top Lighting 

Top lighting is when the light source is lighting the character or an object from above.

Under-lighting

 Under-lighting is when the main source of light is bellow the character or an object

High Key Lighting  

Hight key lighting is when most of the shot is brightly lit with few shadows.

Ambient Light
The light already present in a scene, before any additional lighting is added.

Incident Light
Light seen directly from a light source (lamp, sun, etc).

Reflected Light

Light seen after having bounced off a surface.

Spot

A controlled, narrowly-focused beam of light.

Flood

A broad beam of light, less directional and intense than a spot.

Tungsten

Light from an ordinary light bulb containing a thin coiled tungsten wire that becomes incandescent (emits light) when an electric current is passed along it. Also known as incandescent light.

Incandescent

Incandescent lamps produce heat by heating a wire filament until it glows. The glow is caused by the filament's resistance to the current and is called incandescence.

Halogen

Type of lamp in which a tungsten filament is sealed in a clear capsule filled with a halogen gas.

Fresnel

A light which has a lens with raised circular ridges on its outer surface. The fresnel lens is used to focus the light beam.

Codes and Conventions

Opening


This is the first few minutes of a film which is placed so that the audience watching the film know what the plot is, as the plot of the movie is in these first few minutes. If these few minutes are not good than these can make the audience feel confused and lost when the rest of the film is playing.


Gangster Movies

Motifs of The Gangster Genre

1. The hero is an immigrant who dislikes his low status in life and wants more.

2. Unlike the Western, this story takes place in the big city. The wide open plains have been traded in for the seedy alleyways and wharves of the urban jungle.

3. The gangster can only gain power by taking it. It is survival of the fittest, and the only law is the law of the jungle.

4. The only loyalty the gangster feels is for his own immigrant roots.

5. Success is measured in material goods - flashy cars, expensive clothes, and mansions. Women are measures of success as well.

6. The hero's antagonist is society, and the enforcers of the law. The police, the FBI, the CIA represent the enforcers of societal status quo.

7. The end justifies the means.

Main Production plot

Title Clear Bets

Plot/outline summary:
Due to the assassins actions 3 years ago, a gang rivalry has been created, two mafia families fight each other over the money being taken 3 years ago.

Opening Scene

Main production idea

This scene from "Casino Royale" can help us do our gambling scene in our main production as the light in the scene is focused in at the poker table and the main characters. We as a group hope to take the scene like this and take in for our main production.

Tutorial (film making & Lighting)

Research opeing scene

This opening scene show us the main characters in the movie. Also shows the audience the names of the porducters, directors and editers. There are no moving scenes as such but there are pictures of the main characters, setting the sence in this case USA, with very close up views of main character with a angry look at the eye, indicating he either wants revange or wnts something illegal. The scene also shows the audience some neon lighting which could be a club or something. Towards the end there are snap shots of characters and what could be men they have taken down. This then leads in which fades into black from a picture of the main character's eyes to this eyes when sitting in a café.

Ideas

We today presented our ideas to our class. On the presentation we came up with 2 ideas these were Mafia and to use green screen. But we have decided as a group to go with Mafia as our main idea.

Main Task Research

Different Camera Angles

High Angle

A high angle shows the subject from above, e.g. the camera is angled down towards the subject. This makes someone or something look more superior to the audience and make that character look more powerful than another person in the shot.

Low Angle

This shows the subject from below,looking on to someone as a small less powerful person.

Bird's Eye

The scene is shown from directly above. This is a completely different and somewhat unnatural point of view which can be used for dramatic effect or for showing a different spatial perspective. This can be used to see the poistion of the different objects and people.

Slanted

Also known as a dutch tilt, this is where the camera is purposely tilted to one side so the horizon is on an angle. This creates an interesting and dramatic effect. You can see these shots on movies like Batman which see things in a different angle.

Framing or Shot Length

Extreme Long Shot

This can be taken from as much as a quarter of a mile away, and is generally used as a scene-setting, establishing shot. This would normally be in an opening scene which would set the scene like a landscape or city so the audience can see were the scene is set. This would be in movies of disaster or thiller movies to set the scene for the audience.

Long Shot

A long shot typically shows the entire object or human figure and is usually intended to place it in some relation to its surroundings.

Medium Long Shot

Medium Long Shot shows more detail on the character but retains the setting quite clearly.

Medium Shot

A Medium shot focuses on the character or an object showing them from knees or waist to just above the head.

Medium Close Up

Shows the subject from mid-chest to the top of the head. This shows much more detail of a character and what sort of person they are but their fashion.

Close Up

This shot shows head and shoulders of an character. It is used to show emotion, feelings and reactions.

Extreme Close Up

Shows a small part of a face or object, can also show extreme fear or emotion if focused on the eyes.

Camera Movement

Pans

A movement which scans a scene horizontally. The camera is placed on a tripod, which operates as a stationary axis point as the camera is turned, often to follow a moving object which is kept in the middle of the frame.

Tilts

A movement which scans a scene vertically, otherwise similar to a pan.

Dolly shots

A movement that follows the action, the camera can be placed on a track or attached to a vehicle.

Crane shots

Its like a dolly shot, but in the air. It can move up, down, left, right, swooping in on action or moving diagonally out of it.

The aerial shot

An exciting variation of a crane shot, usually taken from a helicopter. This is often used at the beginning of a film, in order to establish setting and movement.

Preliminary Exercise

Preliminary Exercise

We had a problem with continuity when the a lorry passed by in one shot and the other with a car passed in the next shot. When I came in the building a car when by and this was a bad flow. Also the editing we found the the sound was very bad and so cut the sound out until the shot with speech.

Preliminary Exercise

When filming our shots our group had a problem with the cameras was that we had to different resolution of camera this meant that the size and quality are different. Another problem we had as a group was the light of the room it wasn't light enough and so you sometimes couldn't see so actors. With these mistakes in mind we went back and filmed again, but this time we used one type of camera and we changed the light in the room to make it clearer on the film.    

Preliminary Research

180 Degree rule

The 180 Degree rule allows the person watching a movie see two sides to a interview or argument. This means the people watching the movie won't have to see the side of their heads and instead you will see their faces and therefore should be able to see facual expressions and moods. It also makes the conversation look like they are looking at each other.

Preliminary Research

Shot Reverse Shot And Match On Action Media

View more presentations from leviwigglesworth.

Preliminary Reseach

Continuity could be bad or good depending on how well they film the movie. Having a bad continuity could be something as simple as a shirt staine or hair. Like in some "Bond" movies they could have two different angles and the hair could be wet and on the other angle they could be dry in the same point. They could even make a mistake in see unwanted cameras.



These can also be seen in  movies like in Star Wars as one of the soliders hits his head on the door in the final cut. This is a bad continuity which is seen in most movies, good continuity is when you don't make any mistakes.

Brief

Produce a coutinuity exercise which involves a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom they exchange a couple of lines of dialogue.
The task should demonstrate;

• Match on action
• shot/reverse shot
• 180 degree rule

Main exercise:
The main titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maxinum of 3 minutes.

Introduction

I'm Luke Sheridan, welcome to my Media Studies blog. The members of the includes Luis Mendes, Zygimantas Pukas and Tom James.