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Opening Scene Pre Production and Planning

Here this shows the basics of my idea of what I want to do and how I can use sound for it. However, this will change and evolve a lot through the production process this is just a start.

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Notes

Synopsis

I am making an action genre themed opening scene it follows a bounty hunter trying to catch his next victim. There will be one main character the bounty hunter and there will also be two other characters who will be chasing after him, driver one and driver two. There will also be only two locations, my house where the scene will start and then the bounty hunter will get on a dirt bike and drive through the village of Wickham St Pauls until he arrives at a house which he enters to do some work. My plot follows a bounty hunter who starts of at his office gets a call then runs to his dirt bike drives of up an country road for a mile or so until he arrives at a house he drives down the driveway and pulls up then enters this house where he then sets a laptop up to try hacking into a computer system but then out of nowhere two guys come speeding down the drive way pull up into the parking space and then the bounty hunter hears them and runs of leaving his laptop working and then hides behind a tree you hear him breathing heavily then the scene cuts to a title. I hope my scene will be quite fast paced and include lots of sound such as a phone ringing, running on stones and carpet, door slamming, engine starting, engine running fast, driving on road, driving on stones, gates opening, door opening, laptop typing, mouse clicking, shouting, running and heavy breathing. Lastly, I will include some very light dialog between the two drivers and the bounty hunter as he tries to escape.

Risk Assessments

Obligatoire Story Board

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Here are my storyboards that shows what I would like to do in my opening scene in the three different locations I have chosen. it will help me when filming and directing so I know what to do to get the idea across I had planned.

Location Scouting

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This is the location scouting I did in order to make sure the three locations I picked would fit the mood of the film and give off the look I'm looking for. The locations will be used in the order of my house then the backroads and lastly the farm. I am doing this like this so the film can flow as well as I want it to.

Obligatoire Shot List

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Here are the shot lists I have made in order to help me when filming the film I plan on getting lots of different shot types to enhance the production value of the film I will be using a selection of lenses and equipment to make this happen to the best standard I can. The shot list also helps me when knowing where to position my self for certain shots to speed up filming.

Production Schedule

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I have made a production schedule to ensure I can keep to the schedule in order to get it all filmed during the right times of day I plan on shooting in-between 10 am and 3 pm but I will allow an extra hour on top of that in case any unexpected issues occur. This also will help me with what actors need to be in what places when and what props I will need on set to make sure everything runs smoothly.

Obligatoire Script

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Notes

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Here are the notes I have made and updated throughout my planning and I feel this is most likely what I will do.

Experimental Planning

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This shows the tutorial me and Joe did to teach me how to screen write properly and professional. we first went through a script from a scene in Juno he then showed me the Celtx software how to use it to write an effective screenplay.

 

Post Production Plan

I plan on having quite a fast-paced opening scene with credits transitioning in and out the film as it progresses as I like the way this looks it means people can still be watching visuals while credits are playing. I plan to add the music "Saturday Night" by Elton John in the background very quietly so there will never be any silent parts this will also help me edit to the beat which I enjoy the look of finally I also think this music will go very parallel with my visuals I will have on-screen. I plan on adding in lots of text as the visuals progress to show credits and I will transition these in and out throughout. In addition, I plan on having a few clean smooth transitions between camera angle changes to add to the production value of my scene. I plan on doing some light color grading to make my scene more colorful to convey exiting feelings to the audience. In additon, I will use some warp stabilizer on any unsteady footage to make sure it is cinematic and I will try and cut the end film down to around 3 to 4 minutes.

Sound Job Adverts Reseach

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I found it really difficult to find any job adverts for sound in the film and tv industry as most adverts I found where to do with game design or something not relevant to film. However, I did find these two adverts above and from them, you can see how even tho the advert is focused at sound in some way they both expect the potential candidate to work in other areas too. For example for the boom operator advert the person they are looking for needs to be able to work in videography as well as lighting and in the audio technician job they also need to be able to work with rigging speakers and making deliveries and collections. This shows how in the industry to do well you need to be able to do multiple things even if you are specialing in one particular area. But then there are also the obvious expectations for the jobs as they are focused within sound they expect you to be able to work with sound equipment and for the technician job they even expect you to be able to work with a certain microphone brand (Sennheiser) which shows how specialized the industry can be. Lastly you can see how the salary you could expect for the job is not properly displayed nor are the exact days and hours you would work, like a standard office job would display, this is due to the media industry being so different to anything else in the way it works and the expectations of making yourself availble when you are needed to film or in this case record sound.

Codes and Conventions

Through watching these three opening scenes (Guardians of the galaxy, The hunger games and Starwars phantom of the menace), from watching these I found that there are a few very typical conventions that are as follows; the title of the film, the production company and studio funding the film itself, the credits of any big actors involved and lastly there will either be some non-diegetic or diegetic sound to fill in any silent areas which I like as it keeps it engaging. Sometimes there is both in the form of, music and foley. However, I did find for example in guardians of the galaxy they used visuals with the credits which I feel looks really good and interesting and I will do this in my film. In addition I found that the film opening scenes I looked at also gave some light backstory or in the case of StarWars a lot of backstory which I find is good as it sets the scene and feel of the movie but I will not do this in my film as I want to focus on what is happening on-screen than not later.

Opening Titles

I have coincided having an opening title sequence but I have decided I will not be doing it in my opening scene as I like to focus more on the visuals and film. My plan is to have the opening scene as I have planned above but to have title cards transitioning in and out throughout. Saul Bass the famous title sequence designer and graphic designer was a big help in letting me see how a good title sequence is made and if I liked it enough to do it myself, I have researched him further in my research tab. Overall I will not be using a fixed title sequence as I prefer to have exciting visuals on screen with title cards on top as I feel this helps to keep and audience engaged and interested further.

Notes

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Here are the notes I made while going through pre-production so I could get my ideas written down ready to copy down to the pre-production paperwork and I can see visually what I need to do it.

Sound Cue Sheets

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Here are the sound cue sheets I made so I know what sounds I need to record to add to my film to hit the sound design target. I will be recording all of them after I record the video and will edit them, in post. The reason I haven't filled in the time code parts yet is as I don't know what times they will come into the film due to it not being filmed yet I am just using this sheet so I know what sound to record.

Equipment I Will Be Using

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I am using a mixture of both mine and borrowed equipment I am using my Canon 250D to film along with my own zoom lens and a higher zoom lens and macro lens that I have borrowed so I can get the close-ups and wide-angle shots I have planned for. I may also be using my drone to get some really cinematic shots but I'm not sure if I will be yet. Next, I am using two tripods a slider along with a  shoulder mount to keep the camera steady throughout the filming to help give a professional look. I will also be using my RODE video mic pro to record some foley sounds. Lastly, I will be using two lights for my first shot in order to make it look the way i intend.

Location Photos

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Location 1 (OFFICE / MY ROOM)

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Location 2 (GARAGE)

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Location 3 (Dirt Road)

Here are the four locations I have chosen I have an office a garage and the dirt road I will be using and these are shown above. I have chosen these locations as they are all near to me and I can drive the dirt bike on them. In addition, I feel they fit very well with the theme of my opening scene and will go parallel with it.

References

GammaCaeles   (2014)    Guardians of the galaxy (2014) – opening credits scene – starlord dance 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNlnQwHWSYw&feature=emb_title

 

Jen Lalalaw   (2015)    The hunger games – First Scene HD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_weY7t6kq0&feature=emb_title

 

Marcelo Zuniga   (2015)   Opening scene – the phantom menace [1080p HD]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQBV9pXleF0&feature=emb_title

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