Costume: Victim

We've come to the conclusion that the victim will be dressed in normal clothes so as to reinforce the fact that he is basically undercover and doesn't want to draw attention too much. These normal looking clothes will include things such as casual jeans, t-shirt, shoes and coat which will have to be suitable for the conditions we'll be in. This clothing will still have to be slightly more noticeable, such as brighter than others to signify the importance and that they are actually the protagonist.

Audience Survey

Due to our recent development of our production in wanting to give the antagonist the power of telekinesis Maddy decided to conduct a twitter poll to see what our audience thought about that idea.
Looking at the other polls and surveys we'd done, where most people would vote yes to the 'protagonist' having powers. We instead asked what they thought about the antagonist having powers. The results came back as 50/50 meaning that the views on it were very evenly split. We have decided to keep the idea in our production but may have a back up plan if the footage doesn't come out looking good. People may have been split because some may have liked the supernatural feeling and feel as though the antagonist is suited to having mysterious powers, while others thought it might seem weird and maybe even unfair to have these odds against the protagonist.
Credit to Maddy

Theoretical Research

Genre Research:
Genre research draws the audiences attention to each film's individual differences in what an auteur creates, rather than the similarities such as their signature. This covers what is expected to be seen by an audience and what they like in a certain genre, as well as how this is shown through various characteristics and features.

Audience Theories:
The hypodermic Needle Theory-  An outdated model of audience consumption where not all aspects are as relevant now as they would've been. The audience is seen as a single mass 9or demographic) that passively receives messages from media. It implies hat the media injects, like a needle, messages and ideas into unsuspecting and unquestioning audiences. However, this theory has been seen as being an oversimplified model, since there are so many other factors. Some possible relevant examples of this theory though are propaganda, the internet, news stories (more specifically different newspapers).
Uses and Gratifications Model- Emphasises that consumers of media have the power to do what they want them and use them, mostly, how they please. This means the individual consumer can use the power that lies with them in various ways, such as satisfying certain needs or interests. Some theorists have concluded that there seems to be five main reasons why people consume media:
1.To be informed or educated.
2.In order to identify with characters and situations.
3.To be entertained.
4.To enable themselves to socially interact with others through discussion of what they've       seen/consumed.
5.To escape from their daily troubles or worries.
The Influence Model- Emphasises the more subtle and less direct capacity of the media to influence perceptions. It recognises that people respond to other influences who may mediate the message of media too. Therefore, the effect of the media can be seen as one of reinforcement since it is closer to being entirely influence based, rather than 'brainwashing'. Some research found that rather than the autonomous individualised audience members of the Uses and Gratifications Theory, that audience members shared certain frameworks of interpretation and that they work at decoding media texts within these frameworks.

Auteur Theory:
The auteur theory says that a film is a representation of the directors thoughts, and reflects their personal creative visions since they were the primary auteur (The French word for author). Also, since the auteur is the creator of the film, which are considered pieces of art by law; they are the original copyright holder. Film making auteurs usually have their own distinctive style which almost becomes their signature for pieces of their work and keeps creative control over it as it makes them very recognisable, but also individual. A few examples of auteurs styles i can think of are how Michael Bay is well known for putting high amounts of special effects, or more specifically explosions, into his films and Tim Burton's quirky, dark and unusual take on all sorts of ideas.

Michael Bay

Tim Burton

Textual Analysis of a Student's Work

Textual Analysis - Students Opening Sequence 

This is a textual analysis of another AS students Opening Sequence for an action film. 

To the left is the students ident, it has some very clear font and it's eye catching and simple it also has a strong soundtrack over the top that fades out however, the ident itself doesn't move. The transition between the ident and the first scene flows which is very good. The first shot is a long shot of someone walking very slowly away connoting a very calm atmosphere and that nothing is going to happen. There is no sound almost unbearably silent. There is minimum light, the only light coming from a street lamp. Personally, I think the shot should of had some more light as I struggled to stay focused on where the person in the shot was as they blended into everything else in the frame. The camera was handheld as it was slightly shaky which seemed to fit into the dark and mysterious atmosphere as though the person was being followed.

Yet again the transition between scenes flowed keeping the atmosphere calm, the character also walks into the frame which i find is a very good in keeping the scene flowing. There is still no soundtrack but there is some digetic sound when the character unlocks their car and you hear the click of the locks which is followed by some narration saying "he was the only one." This starts to introduce the character to the audience, they now know he is a male and he's all alone but it also adds even more mystery as it adds more questions the audience wants answers to. As the scene goes on and he gets into the car the narration picks up and swearing is involved which would connote that their target audience could be 12PG or higher as it's only mild swearing. The lighting is the same again, it's clear that they have films during nighttime to add effects but it is a strain on the eyes to focus on the main character in the frame and they aren't well lighted.


In this shot the narration fades out as a soundtrack fades in, the soundtrack itself is calming, constructed by string instruments and drums. The shot itself is a tracking shot as it follows the car as it drives away, as it does you can hear the digetic sound of the car engine and it getting quieter and the car gets further away. The shot then pans upwards towards the sky where font is then edited in saying "Fifty Fifty" which is the title of their production. Looking at their description of their production I noticed that they had a copyright strike due to using that soundtrack which meant that they didn't use royalty free music which is there to avoid copyright or certain rights to your film can be owned by someone else which is something you don't want. Instead of using the track they did they could of made their own through a software like garage band or found a non-copyrighted version through royalty free music, the youtube library, freesound etc.

The left screenshot is an establishing shot which is the duration of 10 seconds and it gives an over view of the surroundings giving the audience a feel of the location. The location itself is an ordinary setting with cars passing by which links back to the beginning of when the narration says "he was the only one." it's clear that it was not meant literally as we can see that there are other people driving around which then keeps the audience gripped to see what was actually meant by it. The screenshot to the shot is an over-shoulder shot of them driving. Also, by the positioning of the car mirror, camera and the character you can see a part of the characters face in the car mirror without the camera being visible which shows that the student(s) have paid close attention to detail. 


This is the same shot except slightly closer up. The shot continuous for 16 seconds of credits, which include the production distributor that the student(s) created and who it was directed by, the credits are slow paced in fading in and out of the shot which keeps that calm atmosphere which can be typical of an action film as if to lead the audience into some false idea of calmness before the action and chaos
s breaks out. The soundtrack is the same and you can also hear the diegtic sounds of the car and passing cars.

The shot to the left is a first person view which makes the audience see what the character sees but also makes the audience feel like they're apart of whats going on. You can the digetic sounds of the seatbelt, the opening of the car door and the calm breathing of the character. The next shot is a long shot of the character locking the car followed by the digetic sound of the clicking and footsteps. During this shot a name fades in, in the same font as the credits connoting that it is part of the credits however, i found that it was confusing as to whether that was the characters name or if they also directed it. I found it interesting that as a lyric in the soundtrack said "you just, walk away" the character is walking out of the frame, not sure if they was planned but i found that it was very good and interesting.

In the shot to the left we have a long shot of two people standing very far apart and you can tell through body language that they aren't there to hang out but more of a business type meeting. Through this shot we can see a clear view of the clothes they're wearing and it's ordinary everyday clothes, hoodies, jeans no special suits or anything out of the ordinary. I think that the location that they have used for the exchanging of the bag should of been a place that would of been seen as more private. I think that the location used in the previous shots of him getitng out of the car would of been good as there was no one around and it was much darker which would of added to the secreacy of this exchange.

This production was does by an AS student called Grace White.

Textual Analysis by Maddy Flaherty

Technical Research

Equipment

Equipment

Camera:

This is a Nikon D5100. It has a 3.0-inch, 921k-dot Vary-angle LCD screen, in-camera Effects mode for stills and D-Movies and 1080p. 

Tripod:

The Velbon DF-41 Tripod Kit is a standard-size, heavy-duty tripod that is ideal for regular SLR cameras and video camcorders.
It is distinguished by such features as a quick-release pan head for tilts and pans, a sure-grip handle that is positioned on the left side for easy access to the main camera controls, a dual-position quick-release platform, and a geared centre platform for quick height adjustments.
Maximum Height; 152cm
Closed Height; 58.6cm
Leg Sections; 3
Weight; 1.38k

This is the equipment we are going to be using to film, both the camera and tripod are owned by me so we don't need to take anything out of media. 

Software

  Software

Editing Software:

To edit we will be using Final Cut Pro X. We chose this software because I personally have already used it to edit other things so I know how it all works. I did debate between Imovie and FCP but I can to the conclucsion that FCP had more to offer and we would do more of what we wanted by using it. With FCP it's easier to edit the clips to the duration you want them to and the effects in FCP with audio and video are more advanced then in Imovie. We also chose this software as not only do the school have it but I also have it meaning i won't have to rely on the school computers working and this way i can back up our work as we go along incase someone decides they want to log on to the school computer and mess everything up.

Soundtrack Sources

https://freesound.org/

FreeSound is completly free, all you do 
is have to make an account with them.

http://www.audiomicro.com/

AudioMicro requires a subscription however, it does have some very good soundtracks on there that many big companies use.

https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/music

You need a youtube account to access the Youtube audio library but it have thousands of non-copyrighted and free soundtracks.

Information credited to Maddy

Initial Ideas 2

Due to our recent social media research/polls we have decided to give the antagonist some small powers that aren't hard to work into filming as the power itself (telekinesis) can easily be betrayed. We did they due to one of the polls I did where I asked whether they would prefer the protagonist to have powers or not and they said they would want them to have powers. However, instead we have given the antagonist powers to try and mix it up. I am going to create another poll asking our target audience how they feel about this.

Action Movie Settings

Some notes on settings:
Action films are generally set in cities or other built up urban areas because of how it tends to give a better sense of the speed and action when rushing past buildings, than if you were rushing through the countryside.
Any locations that connote a sense of speed and danger are important and perfect at keeping the action alive during the film.