Characters, Locations and Props

Actors:

Person	Role	On Screen Name
Tom Speechley	Acting as the main character, as he progresses to a rap star.	Tom Benson (Real name) Rap  name/nick name: Mr B.
Sam Guy	The main characters role model Professional rap star, already famous	Sam Carter Rap name/nick name: Sam Sparkz
Sol Ilett	Acting as the record producer for Sam Sparkz	Calvin Banks
Extras: Adam Pickup Liam Tilley Kiel Omesher Find others if needed	The characters will be used throughout the opening scene often walking by the main characters, also acting as the audience when main characters are performing on stage.	Names will not be relevant as they may have little or no speaking parts in the opening scene

Locations:

Location	Purpose
Recording Studio (Ken Stimpson)	We will use this location for the professional rap star, recording a new song. We will ensure the shots make the location not look like its within a school.
Tom Speechley’s house	Use as the first shot, as the character wakes up. We will use the bedroom, toilet and front door, as part of the opening scene.
Streets/Alley way	We will use Tom’s street and an alley way close by to record shots of the character walking, while listening to music and rapping out loud.

We are using Tom’s normal house as his on screen house as he is just a regular person in the film when we start so if we use his normal house, his regular status will come across. Were using the streets and alley ways to portray the tough struggle it is to get where he wants to be by walking through rough areas. We are using the studio to as it is very professional looking and when Sam will be in it, it will show Sam’s high status compared to Tom’s non-existent status on the outside of it.

Costumes:

Character	Costume
Tom Benson	Trousers: Nike Tracksuit bottoms, Grey Top: Zoo York, Black T-Shirt Shoes: Nike High tops Accs: New Era Cap, Scull handy Head Phones
Sam Carter	Trousers: Topman Carrot Bottom Skinny Chinos (Dark Green) Top: Topman character top/plain black hoody jacket Shoes: Adidas High Tops Accs: Wooly Hat, Blue, Studio headphones
Calvin Banks	Trousers: Topman Carrot Bottom Skinny Chinos (Dark Grey) Top: White T-shirt, Topman chequered shirt Shoes: Vans Authentic (Grey) Accs: Studio Headphones

We used this costume for Tom as the clothes he will be wearing with his accessories are the most stereotypical rap star clothes around what people can wear. He wears all the expected clothes as he is trying to make it so he does everything by the book. Sam however, he wears these clothes and accessories as he has already made it so he can wear more of what he likes and get away with it. It is still that style but more laid back. Calvin is wearing really casual clothes as he is a record producer and usually they wear what they like on a day to day basis so it’s not too smart, just casual.

Props:

Props

Studio Equipment

Alarm Clock

Mirror/Tooth brush/ sink

Front Door

We are using the alarm clock as when it goes off to wake Tom up at the start is will be a good way to start out soundtrack up while Tom is getting ready and going out. As I have already explained the studio is used to show how professional and high status in the music industry Sam is. The rest of the props will not normally be noticed in the film as much as they are pretty standard things like getting ready in the morning and leaving your house to go out. However as they are normal things to do with our editing and recording we will highlight that to show what a normal guy Tom is.

Main Project Working Outline

Title/working title	Out of Sight
Plot/outline summary	Out of Sight is a film about an older teenager, Tom (Mr. B) around 16 or 17 who is trying to make it big in the rap/music industry but not succeeding. This is not down to his rapping ability, just purely down to his self confidence, skinny and geeky look. He just doesn’t get recognised. From the same city as him, Peterborough, there is already an established rap star named Sam (Sam Sparkz) who is Tom’s favourite artist who he aspires to be like. Sam is already big in the UK rap scene and the biggest thing to come out of Peterborough in years, when Sam sees Tom rising through the ranks throughout the film Sam grows to hate him and does everything he can do to make sure he doesn’t make it big. But as Tom grows in confidence his spirit and his rapping ability shine through as he releases his first song which happens to be very successful. At the end of the film when Tom finally makes it to the level Sam is at instead of fighting with him and taking him down from the spotlight he decides to collaborate with his idol and Sam can only accept after Toms determination to get to the top.
Opening sequence outline/summary	The opening sequence starts with Tom putting on his Street rapping clothes but hiding his geeky identity so people don’t know about his image and think he is a normal stylish guy. However when he is walking the shot shows his pale face with glasses so the viewers know he is a nerd. While he is walking there is rap/hip-hop music playing in the background. At the end of the opening scene while he is walking in an industrialised building area he looks through a window and sees Sam singing in a recording studio and sees himself in the future.  While he is looking through the window watching Sam sing he shuts his eyes and imagines himself collaborating  with Sam but when he opens his eyes again his daydreaming goes and Sam walks out the studio to leave Tom standing there by himself outside alone and struggling to find when his chance will come.
Genre	Teen Drama

Final Ideas and Meetings

After months of repeatedly changing our movie idea trying to think of the perfect one we feel we have finally got it. A teenage drama called Out of Sight about a teenage lad trying to make it in the rap world against all odds.

We presented our idea to other media groups and some peers in our school compared to all our other ideas we have made. They all stressed that they believe this is our best idea and we should go for this. From their encouragement and a small meeting our group had to talk about our movie options we decided to go for Out of Sight.

On Friday afternoon we had a meeting with Mr DeVita our teacher to see our progress so far and to see us progress further. He was happy with our organiastion and what we have done so far but to improve he told us to explain what we wrote and why we wrote it. Taking on board what he has said we have done all of that today.

Making of Juno

In the picture above is how we recorded the shot from the trees. We knew we needed to be high but obviously we couldnt climb any trees to do it. It quickly come to us to find a broken branch and stand from on top of a bench and hold the camera up above the branch using the tri-pod.



While recording, we wanted to use some of Junos original ideas and to make some of our own up for originallity. Here is us out while recording watching the opening of Juno on the laptop so we know some of the shots we need to do.



To create the perfect smooth shot whilst moving we did two things, reversing slowing in the car while holding the camera facing out the window, and Tom pushing Sol on a skateboard. In the picture we are displaying the later option. Awkward but effective!

Sound

Diegetic sound 

Sound whose source is visible on the screen or whose source is implied to be present by the action of the film: 

• voices of characters 
• sounds made by objects in the story 
• music represented as coming from instruments in the story space ( = source music)

Diegetic sound is any sound presented as originated from source within the film's world 

Diegetic sound can be either on screen or off screen depending on whatever its source is within the frame or outside the frame. 

Another term for diegetic sound is actual sound  

Non-diegetic sound 

Sound whose source is neither visible on the screen nor has been implied to be present in the action: 

• narrator's commentary
• sound effects which is added for the dramatic effect
• mood music

Non-diegetic sound is represented as coming from a source outside story space. 

The distinction between diegetic or non-diegetic sound depends on our understanding of the conventions of film viewing and listening.  We know of that certain sounds are represented as coming from the story world, while others are represented as coming from outside the space of the story events.  A play with diegetic and non-diegetic conventions can be used to create ambiguity (horror), or to surprise the audience (comedy). 

Another term for non-diegetic sound is commentary sound.

Lighting

Lighting can suggest atmosphere and mood, e.g. in a horror movie, light and shade are important codes of meaning and major signifiers of genre. High-key lighting is harsh, low-key lighting creates a dark atmosphere, soft-key lighting creates a romantic atmosphere, spotlighting picks out a particular character from a group as special in some way. I will now explain certain aspects of lighting:

• Key Light - Usually the brightest and most influential
• Back Light - Helps counteract the effect of the key light making the character more rounded
• Filler Light - Helps to soften hard shadows, there may be more than one filler light
• Underlighting - When the main soure of light come from below the character, often used in horror films
• Top Lighting - When the main source of light comes from above, can be used to create a glamourous look in a star
• Back Lighting - When the source of light is from behind the subject

Juno... Sharrison Style!

To help us gain experience in editing for a main video we recreated the first scene of Juno. This has lots of different short clips which need editing a lot to get the right clip so this was a perfect scene for us to practice. After doing this we learnt a lot about Adobe Premier Pro and how to edit using lots of different tools and techniques. Here is our final draft of Juno... Enjoy!

New Movie Idea

Today we have been thinking about our previous ideas and have received feedback. The feedback we recieved was to think about our ideas and watch other films in the same genre to gain better ideas. As we want to do a comedy, we believe that except Kool Kids which we don't think will appeal to a broad enough audience, the other two films are to serious to be comedies.

After looking at other films which are in the same genre we found out that the British comedy films generally have very little dialogue or monologue, appropriate music for the theme of the film, and they are generally not funny and have a catch at the end to make the audience want to watch the rest of the film.

Our new idea which we are yet to name, is set in a city at sunset. A teenage boy is running away from a very angry man indicating he has done something wrong. Whilst running away, the teenager encounters unfortunate comedic events like stepping in dog mess, tripping over bins and other various incidents. We will use many different types of camera angles and shots throughout this scene. The penultimate shot shows the teenager, after finding a passing garden to hide in, not knowing where the angry character is. The final shot shows the teenager relax, after he has found a place to hide, sitting against the garden wall breathing deeply. Then his phone rings which blows his cover as the angry man hears it and knows where he is. That is where the scene will end. The titles will be showing during the running footage.

We believe that when the phone rings this will bring great comedic affect to entice the viewers to want to watch more.

Initial Ideas

Today we presented our initial ideas to the rest of the group. We gave a basic idea of the storyline and what we would do for the opening scene.

Kool Kids - The five characters skive a day of school to go to Hunstanton, without realising one of the characters goes missing. The film shows the rest of the characters search for a missing person and what happens during the search.

Feedback:

The End - Haunted Woods at night, people camping, each character has a scene on their own in the forest. They end up disappearing, until the end of the film when the character finds all of them possessed.

Feedback:

Stanton - 4 main characters, go on a day out to Hunstanton. Its planned to be a normal day out but something goes wrong...

Camera Movement

Tracking

A tracking shot is when the camera is mounted on a wheeled platform that is pushed on rails while the picture is being taken

Crane
A crane shot is a shot taken by a camera on a crane. The most obvious uses are to view the actors from above or to move up and away from them.


Tilt
A shot in which the camera remains in place but rotates vertically on its axis so that the character is continually reframed.


Pan
A shot made while the camera swings on a tripod in a horizontal arc

Camera Shots

• Extreme Long Shot (ELS) - Establishing Shot (ES) - This shot is to show the panaramic view of an exterior location. This shot is generally used at the start of a film to establish the location of the scene/film. If there are people in this shot they will be very small figures in relation to other objects in the scene i.e. a large building/
• Long Shot (LS) - This is similar to an (ELS) but just zoomed in. You can still see a persons whole figure but they are closer to the camera and they are shown larger in relation to the surroundings. This can also be used as ELS.
• Medium Long Shot (MLS) - In this shot you can still see the whole character but in a lot more detail to the previous 2 shots. Although you cant see as much as the background in this shot it still retains the setting quite clearly in the mise-en-scene-
• Medium Shot (MS) - Again this is similar to the previous shots as you can still see a good deal of the background but this time you can only see roughly from the knees or waist to the top of the head
• Medium Close Up (MCU) -  This shot is quite a lot closer to the person in this shot. You can only their mid-chest up to the top of the head. You can see a quite a lot of detail of the character in this shot. MCU is usually used on people in a conversaion.
• Close Up (CU) - A close up shot shows the head and shoulders of a person to the top of their head. This shot is very detailed of the persons face on screen. This shot is generally used to show someones emotions, feelings and reactions.
• Extreme Close Up (ECU) - This shot just shows someones face so you can really tell the emotions, feeling and reactions of a character. This shot can build up tension for great dramatic effect

Preliminary Exercise Storyboard

Preliminary Exercise

16/09/10 - First shooting for Preliminary Exercise - After editing the footage we realised we had no audio due to a problem with the microphone. We then had to re-shoot the task to gain a better quality product.

17/09/10 - Second Shooting for Preliminary Exercise

21/09/10 - Editing Preliminary Exercise, we had a few problems when rendering the final video, after resolving the issue we were able to complete the Preliminary Video.

180 Degree Rule

The 180° rule is a basic guideline in film making that states that two characters (or other elements) in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other. If the camera passes over the imaginary axis connecting the two subjects, it is called crossing the line. The new shot, from the opposite side, is known as a reverse angle.

Shot/Reverse Shot

Shot reverse shot is a film technique where one character is shown looking at another character, and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character. Since the characters are shown facing in opposite directions, the viewer assumes that they are looking at each other.

Match on Action

Match on action is any cut that emphasizes continuity. It is a technique used in film editing from one scene to another in which the two camera shots compositional elements match, helping to establish a strong continuity of action - and linking two ideas with a metaphor.

Match on action is during the same scene in a film where the shot cuts to something else happening but to give the illusion the film carries on flowing. Here is a good example...

Continuity

Continuity is keeping the flim flowing as time goes by while the story carrys on. An example of this is if someone is talking with their phone in their right hand and if the shot changes and the phone is suddenly in their left hand, that is an example of bad continuity. Good continuity would be the person keeping their phone in their right hand which would happen without the error.

An example from the movie Star Wars here,

This is an example of very bad coninuity because within seconds and a couple of shots from the film. Something has completely changed which shouldnt have. Good continuity wouldnt have any of these errors in the flim and everything will flow properly

Preliminary Excersice

Our first brief is to produce a continuity excersice 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

Introduction to Media Studies

Hi, my name is Sam.

I decided to take Media Studies for A-level to help pursue a career in media and television. My target grade is a C but i will work hard to hopefully get an A grade.

In my media group is:
Sol Ilett -  http://www.solilett.blogspot.com/
Tom Speechley - http://www.tomspeechleymedia.blogspot.com/

We have decided to call our group Sharrison Productions.