Mean Boys

Here is our finished product 'Mean Boys'

Rough cut

Test Footage

The following videos show our test footage taken around the college, this would benefit us when it comes to filming our real shots so that we don't waste time deciding the frames of the shots. We figured the best positions and distances between the actors and recording equipment and mapped them out so we could take them to the filming location. (The shots are finding positions not showing the quality of the acting so please ignore any laughter). We have slowed each shot down to 70% so we can find any problems with the filming.

Firstly, we have the eye-level full shot.
This shot is disadvantaged by the movement in the camera


Next, is the second attempt at the eye-level full shot.
This shot is disadvantaged by the character showing his feet at the beginning of the footage.
In order to match the research into full shots, the camera would need to hide the actors feet and let his head touch the top of the shot.


The following shots attempt to show characters reactions to the lead male.
In each shot the characters must be absorbed by the main character by following his movement with their eyes and face. However, we needed to use test footage to decide the distance between the camera and the lead male. We want to show him walking past without revealing too much of his looks.
This first shot has a slight distorted angle, as shown in the research, but we feel the lead male is too far away from the camera and reveals too much which doesn't match our specification; (walking past without revealing too much of his looks).


Other than the slight jolt in this footage, we feel comfortable with this layout in camera and actors.


This footage doesn't display enough movement in the characters face and eyes, we want to emphasize the importance of our lead male by showing that people stop what they're doing to watch him come into the location.


This final shot shows the reactions of characters without seeing the lead male walking past. We feel this isn't as effect as the other shots.

Research for Storyboard

To find the the perfect shots for our storyboard we decided to study some scenes from famous films including Superbad and It's a Boy Girl Thing. Both of which have scenes introducing changed characters in a similar way we would like in our film opening. The following picture show the classic introductary shot of the important character(s) from the film. This influenced our idea to use an eye-level fullshot of our central character.

This camera shot has been illustrated onto our storyboard, shown below.

Throughout our film opening we warmed to the idea of swapping between footage of our ideal character and various views/opinions of this person. The footage of our character would begin as close-ups showing aspects of his body (such as his legs or feet as they walk into the college ground or whichever location we choose). The following image is a snapshot of the film It's a Boy Girl Thing as the newly changed character steps off the bus, this sparked our idea to film our character as he steps out of his car. However, after experimenting with different angles of this camera shot, we found that a low angle close-up of our character would emphasise his appears without revealing too much of his character.

This camera shot has been illustrated onto our storyboard, shown below.

The following images show our investigation of the different angles of the close-up camera shot.

Furthermore, we would like to display peoples reaction to his entrance not only through the opinions of other people but by filming other characters watching him as he walks past. In order to accomplish this we would need to film several people as their heads follow his movement to show the impact of his arrival. I think it would appropriate to use either a midshot of a specific character with heads moving in the background or use the rule of thirds technique and use a row of characters with their movement seperately. Another possibility would be to use focusing techniques and use distance to show the line of people and their reactions individually.

During the opinion footage in our opening sequence we decided to use mid shots of the characters when they're in their locations. It is very important to use the same shot in each location to match the footage in mean girls, as shown in the moodboard below.

In order to incorperate both our central character and peoples reactions, it would be perfect to use an overthehead shot. This would also show his status in that the corridor or pathway would be clear for him to walk down with no obstacles. The following images show this technique being used in It's a Boy Girl Thing. Our overthehead shot may use the unusual angles that are being used in that scene of the film in order to achieve a purposeful entrance.

This camera shot has been illustrated onto our storyboard, shown below.

Major Film Production Logo's

Fox Entertainment Group
This group consists of Twentieth Century Fox Animation, Fox Searchlight Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, Fox Atomic and Blue Sky Studios.
Many opening logos evolve around fictional monuments. Such as twentieth century fox which has the words written into stone in what is supposed to look like the hollywood area. This is then lit by various sky lights which illuminate the words!




Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group
Similarly, the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group uses the concept of a fictional statue to display their logo. The Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group consists of Walt Disney Pictures Animation, DisneyToon Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, Touchstone Pictures, Miramax Films, Hollywood Pictures and Jim Henson Pictures.




Lionsgate
Other logos are more simle, with basic movement and simly incorperating their name into a sylish font and displaying it on an scenic background. Lionsgate Entertainment consists of Lionsgate and Artisan Entertainment. This production company is a prime example of an independant-major production company along with StudioCanal and Spyglass Entertainment.



DreamWorks SKG
Finally, a popular production company that follows Lionsgate is DreamWorks (including DreamWorks Animation SKG) follows the aspect of simply having the title in basic font on an stylistic background.

Film Opening Analysis

Vantage Point (2008) falls into the category of 'A Crime Caper with an Ensemble Cast' and follows many of the typical opening sequence elements.
Between 1minute 15seconds and 6minutes 20seconds we see the introduction to this cleverly constructed film.
Firstly and most importantly, we're introduced to the location of the story - Salamanca, Spain. This is the setting of the entire film and shows the story from different parts in Salamanca. This shows the first characters of the ensemble cast; the news team. We are also given indications of the historical period. This film is very much contemporary due to the technology and security of the event. There is a very tense mood due to the presidential visit, everybody is excited by the treaty he is about to sign so everyone is very positive. The tone is sudden altered as the President is shot! This also arises questions that the viewers find intriguing, such as "Why has the President been assassinated?" or "Who was the shooter?" or "Did the man with the camera catch the shooter on tape?"
Next we are introduced to the signature theme tune. The long repetitive melody adds uncertain sustain to the situation, thus creating more atmosphere and accomplishing the mood. The voice over of the news presenter will later be echoed throughout the film to indicate the different views of each character.