Risk Assessment

Before filming started it was important to carry out a risk assessment. This was significant because if any our scenes contained potentially dangerous acts or actions, we would have to assess how to carry it out safely.

There was no particularly dangerous scenes in the teaser trailer, but there were some aspects to the filming we had to think about. Pete had to film a shot from a high position,to acheive an establishing shot of a complete urban area. This meant we would have to find a safe place that the camera could be taken too,which allowed a good high angle shot. Therefore Pete found a place at the top of some stairs, which was safe enough to shoot the clip, and had safety railings around it.

Another point we had to include in the risk assessment was how we were going to get around using a gun in the teaser trailer. Obviously we could not use a real gun as you have to have a license, and using one in public was not an option. Therefore we opted to use a fake 'BB' gun, that would still look believable enough. Their was still a risk that using a fake, yet believable gun in public could cause to distress to passers by. Yet we were able to overcome the risk of distress to the public by shooting the two gun clips in an empty alleyway, and a tunnel. Both times we filmed these clips we made sure there was nobody passing by, who could get the wrong impression.

Empire magazine Cover Analysis

Empire is perhaps the most well known film-orientated magazine. It regularly uses images which take up the fall front cover, the iconic bold title 'Empire' catches your eye and impresses you. Unlike 'Little White Lies' this shows what else is included in the magazine, and what articles/interviews etc you would expect to find within it. All of the writing is in a large font which stands out from the cover, it normally includes, alongside the picture, a title and tag-line of the film 'Empire' is focused on most in that issue.

Little White Lies magazine cover analysis

Little White Lies is an independent film magazine. This then ties into our film as 'How to Poison a Dog' is an edgy independent film. The magazine cover is very original and strange, it is obvious that this is not about high-budget, star-studded, films. The use of the cartoon picture taking up the main space on the cover shows that Little White Lies tries to hook the potential reader by using a film that they may be interested in. The logo plays a large part in getting the magazine noticed as it is identical throughout all of the issues. The tag-line Truth & Movies shows that there is more to this magazine than simple reviews, it shows that it seems to go deeper into the analysis of the film than other similar magazines.

Revised Storyboard

This is an establishing shot of the setting used during the sequence.

A pan of the area is used and there is a slow fade at the end.

Shot lasts around 5 seconds.

We are thinking of changing this shot in order to convey a more urban setting.

One of two jump cuts showing two people walking through alley.

Lasts less than a second per shot – keeps with fast pace theme.

High angle shot of two gangs exchanging the drugs.

Hoodies are worn to show genre of modern day gangster crime.

Shot lasts 4 seconds.

First sign of danger to the teaser, with someone begin shot.

This is shortly followed by different angles of the gun shooting with sound effects.

Match on action shot showing the man running away.

Speed is reflected in the speed of this shot by having is less than a second.

Fast paced drum and bass non-diegetic sound is introduced to add to the rush.

This shot reveals the other end of the phone call.

Lasts 1 second.

New character introduced, who is angry because of the phone call.

A bin is kicked over in frustration.

Voiceover from the first guy is playing, he explains what has happened.

A threat to the other gang is made here.

This shot lasts for around 3-5 seconds.

A gun is used to reinforce the crime genre. Here it is seen in a close up being reloaded.

Lasts 1 second.

The men wait for the group to walk around the corner before shooting at them.

Whole shot lasts 4 seconds.

As a result of the shooting, one person goes down, and the camera tilts up to see a point of view shot of the two men with a gun. A heartbeat sound is played to represent the fear she is experiencing.

Title of the film comes up, followed by a coming soon title.

Lord of the Rings Magazine Cover

Below is a Total film magazine cover of 'Lord of the rings'. this cover is fairly similar to our sequence as it reveals a few characters, as apposed to the generic one character covers that are more common. This is a good example of how to frame multiple characters, but with still keeping the eye catching effect. This poster uses images of the characters from the film instead of taking individual photos of them. Another technique used tat can be used for our magazine cover is to have the characters looking into the camera, by doing this it creates the feeling that they are targeting the audience more closely by looking directly into their eyes. This idea has been used for many film posters and is a good way of encouraging more people to watch it.

Our Poster

After researching typical posters of our type of genre we came up with our poster. The main image is of Steven and one of our actors. The image was taken from a screenshot in the film, before being cut out and stylized in Photoshop. We chose to stylize the image with a dark charcoal effect, which made the poster look dark and shady. This helps to emphasise the themes portrayed in our film, i.e. crime and violence. Steven is holding a gun in the image, which tells viewers there will be severe violence in the film. Sam (one of our actors) is standing with his hood up and half his face shaded. This follows stereotypical ideas of youth in todays culture.

We included a bold title and chose to substitute the 'I' in 'poison' for a syringe. Reason for this is it suggests drug abuse will be portrayed in the film. We included a quote that we hope will urge people who see the poster, to go and see the film. Also we included a billing block, as it is a vital aspect in film posters. 

 

Magazine Cover Analysis

I have chosen this magazine cover to analyse as it has similar conventions to the ones that we intend to use e.g. guns, dark clothing, dark setting. However this idea does differ from ours as there is a single protagonist on this cover where as ours will feature a pair of characters, which will be more of a challenge to still portray a single idea whilst featuring multiple characters.

In terms of the poster itself it depicts many of the conventions of a typical film magazine cover, first and most obvious is the fact that the image itself is over much of the title of the magazine which brings it forwards and almost off of the page to directly grab a passer by's attention and create interest in the film. Also there are a lot of bold eye catching statements to pull the reader in such as World Exclusive or PLUS all to make the reader feel like they will be getting their moneys worth.

More Poster Research

I have chosen to analyse the film poster of lock stock and two smoking barrels because i feel that it is a film with many of the same conventions as ours e.g. the guns and menacing looking characters. also ive noticed that much like our own poster, this poster uses a mainly monochrome theme with only a little colour in places This gives a sense a realism and danger especially when used on the vinnie jones charecter carrying two shotguns, to make him look like a cold blooded killer which is the feel that our group tried to emulate.
In terms of actual poster conventions it has all the features of a typical movie poster e.g. a billing block in the bottom right and quotes from various publishers. However i did notice something very clever the quotation marks around the quotes are one of the only items that are in colour and when looking at monochrome your eyes are naturally drawn to colour, this guarentees that viewers will read the quotes and futher increase the chance that viewers will come to watch. Finnaly i noticed that vinnie jones is at a slightly canted angle while this may be stylistic positioning it later occured to me it was most likely to make room for text.

Poster Research

In order to create a good looking poster that follows general rules and conventions it was important to research posters first.

I decided to look at the 'Harry Brown' trailer, pictured below:

This poster shows all the general guidelines of a poster. A billing block must be included, as should a bold title. The fact there is quotes that people have said about the film is not something that is always used in film posters. However seeing as they are such flattering quotes, it seems a good idea to put them in. There is also a tag-line that reads 'One man will take a stand.' This is used to get the public wondering about what he is taking a stand against, and how he will do it.

The colours used in the poster are quite dark, with shadowing faces to emphasise dark themes that may be expressed in the film. The centre red circle focusses on a man, much like a target. This once again emphasises crime and that we can expect action and gun shots.

Filming Schedule

Tuesday 3rd November – Whole group filming the majority of the shots in the alley with gun shot and running away.

Tuesday 10th November – Sam was doing voiceover, and then shots filmed at house.

Tuesday 17th November – Whole cast again filming the rest of the shots in subway.

Props

In order to make the sequence be more believable, props that would be used in real life were included in the shots. 

One example is the use of a drug package. This was used in the drug exchange part of the trailer to show something physical being transferred over. This was simply made by wrapping a wallet in tin foil, which gave the effect of being a drug package.

Another prop used was the guns. This is a highly common factor in all crime genres, as it re-asserts force and authority. In the filming we used two guns, one was used by the leader of one gang and the other was used by the friend of the guy in the other gang. In a couple of the shots, this gun is shown firing at someone, which lets the audience know that there is going to be some action involved in the film. 

A mobile phone was also used in the sequence. This was to show a match on action from the guy calling to the other guy picking up. Having this shows the modern day society, where technology is a highly recognized aspect, this separates the older crime films to the modern ones. 

These props listed above are the main 3 that have been used to convey a modern day crime genre, as they represent both the fear associated with guns, but they also show the modern day technology. 

Feedback on Rough Cut

Today we screened our rough cut to the rest of the class and received feedback on what is good and bad about it, and how it can be improved. 

Generally people thought that the titles, mise en scene and camera work were good, and worked with the conventions we were displaying. Obviously there is still a lack of a soundtrack, which people could not comment on, but people did like the voice over we had. 

Points that people touched upon were that the trailer is still too slow for the crime/gang genre we have chosen, and needs to build pace. This can be achieved in our final edit with more montage editing and more shorter shots. It was also thought that our teaser trailer is too much like a sequence. This is something we must avoid in our final cut. We can do this if we film a wider variety of shots in some new locations. This will help to split up the clips, and therefore make it look more like a teaser trailer. A soundtrack will also be nece

ssary for the final cut.

Below is a chart to show the feedback of our rough cut trailer: 

Here, you can see that the mise en scene and camera work were rated excellent by most groups. this is good as it cannot be re-filmed due to short amount of time left, however factors such as editing still has plenty of time to be improved. Overall we believe that the comments are fair, and we are happy with them. Doing this has been very useful as it has given us points to work on in order to achieve a higher grade.

Rough Cut

Today we completed our rough cut however we are yet to add in the sound. We have created titles and graphics to use amongst the teaser trailer, which included a company logo (Lionsgate) a review quote from "Total Film" and the title animation of the film name. We chose Lionsgate as they are a company that recently funded "Harry Brown" - a film of the same genre as ours. We also kept the title as a relatively low-key animation, as the film is not a big hollywood blockbuster. 

We edited the sequence with the intention of promoting our genre to the audience, without giving too much knowledge of the plot away. We tried not to have too many similar and long shots, and therefore aimed to use a wide variety of shots, all short in length. Generally we were happy with this, but realise the trailer doesn't yet hold much pace to it.

Sound is still needed as it will play a key part in the trailer. For example in the "Harry Brown" trailer the non-stop drum and bass helps to achieve a sense of fast paced action and excitement. Therefore we will begin to start creating a soundtrack that helps build the pace of the trailer, and fits in with the genre.

Below is a screenshot from our rough cut. This shows the alleyway location we used, and the scene where one gang member shoots a member of the opposing gang, shortly after doing the drug deal: 

•  CLICK ME to go 'Harry Brown' international teaser trailer 
  

Second day of filming

Today we went to James' house to get more shots in a different location. We filmed a selection of shots where Steve answers his phone to his other gang member, who is in trouble. We also filmed the shot where Steve gets angry and kicks over a bin, whilst removing a gun from his back pocket. We tried to include a wide variety of shots so we filmed each clip from at least two different angles. This included getting a close up of Steve's phone ringing, and then a further extreme close up to show viewers who is calling him. 

The filming was a success and we then went back to college to start uploading the rest of the footage.

First day of filming

Yesterday was our first day of filming, we managed to get a lot of footage captured, we used a small alley inside reigate town which was a prime shady location. one problem with the location was the amount of elderly people passing by, as they tend to move much, much slower than other people we had a lot of time between shots which became tedious and as a result not all the footage was captured. we still require another day of filming which will take place next tuesday on the 10th. we should have enough footage to create a rough cut of our teaser to meet our deadline on the 6th.

Poster Ideas

These are a few ideas of what could be used as our teaser poster for 'How to Poison a Dog':

We chose to use black and white in this photo as it is subtle and fits in with the genre of our teaser trailer. Having a big colourful blockbuster poster would not be suitable, as this is a relatively low budget British film. Since our teaser trailer primarily focuses on gangs and violence, using a vicious looking dog helps to promote the themes that are going to be shown in our film. Obviously for a final poster we will need to include a billing block, so that it follows regular poster conventions.

Filming Plan

We have planned to film with our actors on Tuesday 3rd November. We are going to need a range of props/costumes. The actors will be dressed in tracksuit bottoms and hoodies, which follows typical conventions of our type of film. Below is a list of props we need :

• camera/tripod/tape
• drug package
• a handgun
• hoodies/tracksuits
• James' house
• bottles to be smashed
• baseball bat
• a phone

Change in Cast and Plot

Yesterday we met the actors from an A2 Drama group, who will be appearing in our teaser trailer. Since starting the planning we have always thought we would be using male characters to appear in the trailer. However the actors we were assigned were all female, except one.

This therefore caused for a change in the plot. To challenge stereotype we will now feature a female protagonist, and generally completely female gangs. This is in contrast to what we had originally planned, which was to use male gang members.

Generally gangs are seen to be male, yet we feel our idea could still work, because it is original, and by no means are females never present in gangs. Below is an example of a girl, who appears in the film 'Kidulthood' as a member of one of the gangs.

Gun Shop

We went to both of the gun shops in Reigate today in hope of being able to film a sequence, where the gun is taken apart and put back together again. However one said they weren't happy with this, and the other said that we should come back next week when the manager was in. Another thing we might try is to contact a gun club, to see if they'll allow us to film this sequence there.

EDIT: We decided not to use this shot after all, and instead use a different shot using a BB Gun we managed to get hold of.  The decision not to use this came after realising our teaser trailer followed too much like a sequence. We therefore substituted this 'gun' clip for a different gun clip which shows a close up of one of the characters shooting somebody. We can therefore use this different clip to help break up the sequence, and therefore make it more like a generic teaser trailer. 

Graphics Research

all three of Harry Brown, Kidulthood and Adulthood use large, plain white text, which is simplistic but effective, however revolver uses very stylistic italic red font which gives a sense of intelligence in the the film but violent because of the red colouring.

Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels uses a typewriter font and even types it out onto the screen as the title appears. Snatch however uses plain white text over stylistic stills of famous actors that star in the film and the title is also plain white bold text. Rocknrolla uses the most stylistic graphics out of all of the trailers we have seen as it uses almost animated stills of actors with yellow and brown dynamic looking block font.

Sound Research

Common Diegetic sound: all of the films that we looked at included all of these sounds; police sirens, gun-shots, heavy breathing, tyre screeching, shouting, fighting noise

Common Non-Diegetic sound: from looking at kidulthood and Adulthood the typical trend included drum and base fast paced music, dance music, voice overs, guitar, although sometimes more classical scores e.g. revolver



This is the soundtrack for the new harry brown film, we hope to emulate the feel that this fast paced action music gives in our own trailer.

Shot List / Storyboard

1st. Lionsgate company logo appearing on screen for 3 seconds. No digetic/non-digetic sound. Fade into next shot.

2nd. Establishing shot of location. A housing estate or similar urban area and not a crowded place. Shot will last about 2 seconds.

3rd. Men shuffling about, looking nervous. Mid close up of both characters, with digetic sound of them speaking. Shot length about 3-4 seconds.

Photos

These photos were taking to decide which shots looked good so that we knew which types to use in our piece to keep within the genre.



This shot can be used in our trailer to show he two gangs exchanging drugs. the high angle represents their slightly worried feelings.



















This photo shows a silhouette, which gives an eerie sense. This could also be used to create some mystery as to who one of the characters is.