Main Task Mood Board

Planning for lighting

For the opening scene, I would prefer the lighting to be natural, as I want my film opening to be filmed outside. I would also like a dewy, dusky sky, as I feel that this will emphasis the destroyed world after the post apocalyptic event.

As we don't have the budget to be able to use professional lighting, the natural lighting on a misty day would benefit the opening scene.

Script for the opening scene

I decided that I was going to use voiceovers in my opening scene, as I felt that these were necessary to guide the viewer through what had happened. They would describe the inner thought of the character, and how she was feeling and how she is feeling now prior to the post apocalyptic event.
I wanted the voiceovers to be placed over subtle music and the videos of the character playing in the background; I want the videos to match the voiceover.


"It's 2022. It's been exactly 2 years since the apocalypse happened. I miss how it was before. I miss my family and the way I used to live.
Life's been a struggle, especially with the little supply of food that I have left.
I haven't even seen another human being, since they all got wiped out by the deadly virus.
Was I really lucky to not have caught it? Was I immune to that thing?
I always feel like I have eyes on me, watching my every move. Is someone out there? Or am I imagining things in my deluded mind?"

Main Task Plan

For our main task, we have decided that we are going to base it in a forest. This will be done in the daytime, where we can see everything going on in the footage. We don't have a budget which we can work with, so we will try our best with the lighting and use as many props as we possibly can which fit our genre.
We've decided that our main character will be female; we thought this would be different as this isn't generally seen in films, and the woman is stereotypically shown as the weak one. She will be dressed in old clothing, which shows that she has been in the forest/woods for a while and has few supplies.
She will be shown as an isolated character, who has experienced a post apocalyptic event (a virus has wiped out the population).

Weather

We decided that the day for our filming would be Sunday, as this was the day where it wasn't predicted to rain. We thought that the best time to film would be at 10am, as we thought that not many people would be around. It was a cloudy day, which helped us with our setting (as this is what we wanted).
We filmed our footage without any problems, however, discovered that in one part of our film, there are a few people walking pat.

Location

 For our filming, we decided to go to Brieley Park in Sutton, as we thought this would be a good place for greenery and would enable us to show the isolation of the place and character.
This place was just right for my opening scene, as it included areas which looked rough and showed that the place was derelict.

Storyboard

This is the storyboard for our main task. I took individual photos of my storyboard so that they are clearer to see. 

Animatic for storyboard

The storyboard gave my group and I an idea of how the film may turn out. However, I think that this may change slightly, depending on the location, the props that we have and the weather forecast.

Timelines of opening credits

For research, I had to analyse the opening credits of two post apocalyptic, and two other films with a different genre. I decided to do Mad Max and World War Z as my post apocalyptic, and Divergent and Tintin as my others. Whilst watching the opening credits, I found that there were slight variations in the order in which the credits came, and will explain this as I go along.

Firstly, in the opening credits of Mad Max, the production house has been placed first, as this shows the audience who has produced the film. The actors and actresses come second, as these are important and have been placed near the beginning of the credits. The title is quick to come in, as this comes next, even coming before the casting and screenplay credits. Throughout the whole opening credits, tension building music is used, as this leaves the audience wondering what will happen next and will leave them with questions in their mind.

Mad Max

Secondly, the post apocalyptic film World War Z had a slightly different way of portraying their credits. The title of the film is later on in the opening credits than that of Mad Max, and they have used footage from the actual film to create the title. After the actors and actresses names have been displayed, the music starts to get louder and begins to add tension to the piece, and this is when the title is displayed on the screen. Brad Pitt (the main actor) is shown on screen first, as he is the actor who is the most well known and enables the audience to see who the main star is. 

World War Z

 I decided that I would look at the opening credits for Tintin (2011 film). Throughout these opening credits, the Tintin soundtrack is played as a cartoon version of the film is shown throughout the opening scene. I think that this is quite nice, as it is calm and sets the scene.  In these opening credits, the producers are shown first, similar to World War Z. Steven Spielberg is a well known director, however his name is shown later in the credits, after the producers. The title of the film is displayed on the screen in bold writing, which is bright yellow and contrasts with the red background. The main actors are displayed first, as this shows the order of importance of the characters which appear in the film.

Tintin

The opening credits for Divergent included a lot of different names for different things. Firstly, the film producers are shown first with their company logo. Neil Burger (the director) is shown just before the film title, which continues onto the actors and actresses names. Throughout the opening credits, the opening scene of the film is played whilst the names appear on screen and while the characters are being shown. 

Divergent

The opening credits for all four films are very similar, as they introduce the people behind the scene before they do the actors/actresses which appear on screen. I think that this is a form of importance, as the directors/producers are the ones who put the films together, and the people who play the characters are being paid to star in blockbuster films. The more well known the actor/actress, the more money the directors, producers etc will make; this is why I think the names of the well known person are used first. 

Foley

1. What is a Foley artist?
A Foley artist is someone who creates the sound effects for a film during post production.


2. Who was Foley?
Jack Foley established the basic modern techniques, which are still used today, and was named after him.


3. Why are Foley artists needed?
Foley artists are needed in order to create the sound effects in a film. They include sounds such as footsteps, clothes rustling, doors opening and slamming etc. They are needed to emphasise the sounds in a film which sound hollow or thin. Another common use for Foley sound replacement is adding it to documentary footage and used to enhance comedy or action scenes. By punching objects such as cabbages, celery and sides of beef, Foley artists can record unique and much more realistic action sounds.


4. Give examples of how Foley artists traditionally achieve their outcomes.
Foley artists achieve their outcomes by standing on a Foley stage (an area with a variety of possible surfaces and props) in a Foley studio, which is a specialised studio. The Foley artists can see a screen which displays the footage they are to add sound effects to and will perform their sound effects while watching this screen for typing. The actions they perform can include walking, running, jostling each other, rubbing their clothing, handling props and breaking objects.


5. How is Foley work completed nowadays?
Increasingly, many simple Foley sound effects are done without Foley artists. The sound effects are stored electronically and performed by the post production sound engineer on a keyboard whilst watching the visual. It is much cheaper than renting a Foley stage and paying Foley artists to create the sound effects. However, if done poorly, this type of Foley effect sounds repetitive and bland, and is nowhere near as flexible as the real thing.