Film Planning- Characters.

These are the two characters that Me and Oli want to base ourselves on. In the films that they star in, they both wear suits and this gives them an important and sophisticated look, it gives them authority and also makes them look powerful. They both also star in action films which is the same theme for our film. We want to base our looks on these characters because they are powerful actors who have a good deal of authority and look good and this is what Me and Oli want for our film.

Film Planning- Costume.

Me and Oli were thinking that we wanted the actors to be dressed up in suits, the actors are going to be involved in some sort of chase through the woods and off road and we think that having them dressed up will make the scene look really effective. We got this idea through films such as James Bond, you always see the characters in that film, getting right into the action while looking rather smart. As our theme for our film is an action, we followed many action films by deciding to wear suits. This will give us a professional look and it will also make our film look very effective.

Possible location shots.

These are two other photos of the woods that we are thinking of using for our film, the environment is perfect as we want it to be an off road chase between two characters, there are good places to hide from each other and there are a number of trees with could be good to experiment with when we are filming.

This is another photo of the park that we could use for our media film shooting, as you see in the photo there is a lot of space so we could use this to our full potential.

Film Planning

These are two photos of a possible place where we could shoot our film. Me and Oli both discussed that we wanted to have some sort of chase off road and i thought that these woods in Leatherhead would be perfect for the scene. There is lots of space to move around in and the environment is perfect for what we are looking for. Also having the scene shot in the woods gives an excited feel to it and could contribute to the build up of tension in our scene.

Film Planning

Yesterday i went down to Leatherhead park to take a few photos of the location that will be using for our film. I took a few photos of the overall location and also took a few photos of the woodland area that we could use for our possible chase scene. I also located a place where one character to hide from someone or something.  The photos are just a starting point as if we wanted to we could change the location or what we want to shoot.

Film Planning

Me and Oli have decided that we both want to act in our action film aswell as having a few more actors/actresses to bulk up the numbers. Having a good number of actors will allow us to be flexible about shooting our film, we can take it in turns to film and experiment with the different scenes that we will shoot.
We have been thinking about what the scene will actually be based on. We like the idea of some sort of chase between two characters either on foot through woods or off road terrain or in a car or we could use a moped which would add excitment and tension to the film.
We also like the idea of having a specific task that needs to be completed in a set time, we have mentioned that we as the actors could get clues or hints to find something and get it delievered to a specific place otherwise the world will end!
We thought that having a clock ticking throughout our scene we could keep going back to the clock ticking, cutting from the scenes, this would be extremely effective as it would build up the tension in the scene.

Movie Cliches- Action.

The classic action film features a small group of world-weary assassins or Green Berets or Navy Seals or mercenaries who assemble to pull off one last suicidal mission, after which they will retire. In the contemporary action film, the villains are either heavily accented Russians, Serbs, or unidentified, all purpose eastern European sociopaths. The women in action films tend to be promiscuous femmes fatales or crusading journalists or medical support staff or hapless rebels or victims or miscast. The action film, Angelina Jolie and Zoe Saldana notwithstanding, has little use for women.

A good action film will usually include some impromptu emergency surgery, a fall from a great height, a reasonable amount of torture and a lot a rappelling. Men in action films rappel down high-rises, mountains, and into the holds of ships. The principals should have lots of scars, and each scar should come with a story.
In addition to this, nobody drives a car in action films: off-road vehichles only.
Many cliches in action films are too obvious to mention: the pas de deux past a stream of deadly machine-gun fire, the leap away from expolsions, the slide down the sloped exterior of an all-glass skyscraper, the massive tractor trailer's attempt to destroy the vehicle from behind by ramming it over the guard rail, the inability of the bad guys to hit anything with their weapons.

In the first two minutes of Casino Royale a lot of things happen and there is a very action packed theme to the beginning of the film. The film starts with a shot of a very hostile atmosphere in a village somewhere in Madagascar. We can see clearly that the crowd are hyped up about the fight between two animals, there is a lot of shouting, pushing and waving of arms, one man is taking pieces of paper off the crowd which gives the idea that the crowd are betting on the outcome of the fight. All of this adds up to give the beginning a very exciting and pumped up atmosphere, it immediately throws the audience into the action and grabs their attention. We then see what seems to be James Bond's assistant keeping an eye out for a specific person, we see him conversing with Bond through their ear pieces, we then see among the pumped up and excitable crowd a man who seems to be their target, he receives a text which he opens and has the word 'ELLIPSIS' on screen. This word immediately gives off the impression of some sort of code word or a trigger for a plan to take place. These sort of things are commonly used in action films to hide the real identity of what is going to take place and this is something i believe that me and Oli could use in our opening of our action film. The man starts to move after he has received the text and this shows that he may have a strict schedule to follow. The man moves towards Bond's assistant and the assistant makes a blatant mistake giving away his identity. The man sees this and realises that he is in danger so starts to run out of the crowd, the assistant follows him but falls into the pit, his gun goes off and this creates massive unrest in the crowd, they start to panic and begin to flee the scene.

We see a high angle shot of Bond on a tin roof following their so called target, and then things begin to get very action packed. The music that is used in deep and loud and played at a fast tempo giving the effect of excitement and tension being built up. For the remaining parts of the scene, it is very quick and has short takes, everything goes quickly and at a high pace and the camera angles at shots are changed almost instantly to another style. This all adds up to give the scene an exciting and pulsating feel to it, it pumps up the audience with the hostile environment and throws them straight into the deep end, even though it is just the beginning of the film, the opening scene has you on the edge of your seat.

Action Film.

Me and Oli decided today that we are going to do an action film for our 2 minute beginning of our film, we decided to do an action as we thought we could make it exciting and we could have a lot of fun with it.
Me and Oli both started to look up action films and watch the beginnings of them, Oli focused on one of the James Bond films, while i started to watch Saving Private Ryan. We expect that from watching all different types of action films we can get ideas and inspiration for our own action film.

In the first two minutes of the film Saving Private Ryan we get a grip of what the film is all about. The scene starts with brass instruments being played, the music that is being played is very heroic and gives the effect of bravery, this gives us a hint at what the film is about. The music continues throughout the beginning and the first thing that we see on screen is an American flag flapping in the wind. With the flag and the music being shown at the same time, it gives the film a patriotic feeling and obviously lets the audience know where the film is set. Having the American flag in the scene and the bravery styled music also could indicate that there is something that people have done or taken part in which is seen as a proud thing and something that should be respected.
We then follow a family walking down a pathway, and we see an older man a few yards ahead of the group. There are close up shots of the characters, showing their facial expressions and by the looks on their faces, it doesn't seem as if it is a good time for them. We eventually see the older man turn off the pathway and walk onto some grass, the camera has a close up shot of his face and it is clear to the audience that he is crying, then gravestones and memorial stones come into shot and we know that the family along with the old man have come to pay their respects to a certain person. We also see the American and French flag flapping in the wind at this point, and this gives a clear indication that the memorial site that they are visiting could be linked to the war. Another link can be made as the old man could have fought in the war and he could be coming back to pay his respects to fellow friends who weren't as lucky as him.
The start of the film has quite a relaxed mood about it, it isn't rushed but what is very effective about it is that it has a strong emotional hold on the audience, with the music playing and seeing the characters upset entices the audience and makes the want to find out more. It is a clever way to start a film as it makes us want to find out what has happened in the past, this is a good example of an action film and we could get some good ideas from this opening.