Research

GENRE RESEARCH; Looking at possible genres I looked at Spy ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spy_film ) Mystery ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystery_film ) and Thriller ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thriller_(genre) ) genres. My ideas were fitting in with all of the categories.  The original thoughts I had were doing a chase scene but focussing on one person’s story and not a number of people’s. I looked at Alex Pettyfer, who played the main character, Alex Rider, in Stormbreaker a teen spy movie, who was mentioned in an article by Sarah Lyall ( http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/18/movies/18stor.html?_r=1 ) who said that the main characters of spy movies were too old like a dad’s age. I used this to create my main character as a teenager because it appealed to the age group I wanted to design my product for more than using an older character. I want to design my film around fitting in with the thriller and spy genre because that appeals more to my target audience and I think I can achieve a good product working with these in mind.

STORMBREAKER; I looked at the film stormbreaker on IMDB ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0457495/ ). The storyline was a quite interesting one and appealed to me. I liked it because it involved a normal school boy whose life had changed completely. However I didn’t like how confident the main character is seen to be, even though they were a teenager. I would like to create my main character as being naive and helpless because many teenagers may not be able t cope under the pressure of having to deal with big responsibilities at such a young age. Also by looking at this film I liked the fact it was shot in British surroundings starring a British main character, Alex Ride. Looking at this film has given me a bit of inspiration because it shows that British actors and British surroundings can be viewed and enjoyed by all worldwide in this genre. However Storbreaker has its negative aspects. In a review by Richard James Havis he states that ‘Operation Stormbreaker lacks the star power to hit big in the U.S.’ ( http://www.filmjournal.com/filmjournal/esearch/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003254136 ) which shows that even though this genre can have a big impact in Britain it would not in the USA.

STORYBOARD AND SCRIPT RESEARCH; I now need to look at scripts so I can write down my ideas and set it out how everything should flow and move along. By having a script I can make sure my actors will be moving in the right places, know what they are doing, and save time messing about explaining what is going to happen. I will make sure I give the script o my actors in enough time for them to look over their lines and actions before I start shooting. I looked on the internet for a script to use as a reference how to write mine. I went onto a script website ( http://www.simplyscripts.com/ ) and looked at how directors had set out their scripts previously. This gave me some idea of how to lay out my information and what fonts to use for it. On google imags I typed in ‘storyboard’ and looked at a few of the top images that appeared. The first one I looked at was ( http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.fuse-studio.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/storyboard-3.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.fuse-studio.co.uk/%3Fcat%3D14&usg=__u-xFfTNm1btvvbKCuQo8n51ryQ4=&h=497&w=600&sz=212&hl=en&start=3&zoom=1&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=SE3IGBrHb5_0DM:&tbnh=112&tbnw=135&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dstoryboard%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dstrict%26tbs%3Disch:1&ei=LfKBTdqFDI-WhQfrkOzCBA ) because it showed everything clearly on it. It had no text or speech to show what was being said but showed where everyone was and the locations people were in.

ACTORS, LOCATIONS, PROPS; For shooting I wanted to film in different areas. For one of my areas I wanted to base a chase scene in a wide open space like a park, or woods. Living in Halifax I decided to look at filming at Manor Heath Park, Shibden Park, or Copley woods. I went down to Copley woods and looked at the trees and ground to see how a chase scene would work. It looked like a good, mysterious place to film. However I want to get a lot of filming done in mornings, and being in a woods with just 2 teenagers alone I decided that because there could be a safety risk with the area of land away from main roads and not in hearing distance from houses that it wasn’t the safest place to go and film a chase sequence where a lot of the time myself and my main actor would be alone. I then looked at Shibden Park, a wide open location to film my piece in. The wide open areas would be good for a feeling of being alone but because of my ideas of being chased by someone not seen it would be harder to show this without having to film somebody else. Transport getting too and from Shibden Park was also a problem, busses weren’t regular and take a while to get up to the Park so most of the time I could be shooting would be wasted travelling. I looked at Manor Heath Park ( http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://bournvilletimes.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/dsc00435.jpg&imgrefurl=http://bournvillevillage.com/sunset-over-row-heath-park/&usg=__3zaxZWxEpni8i_EGqgdTaE81j2g=&h=1944&w=2592&sz=1319&hl=en&start=28&zoom=1&tbnid=qXY6tXvUTAGlFM:&tbnh=152&tbnw=202&ei=nl6CTZqaLNDS4gaogcnrCA&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmanor%2Bheath%2Bpark%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1679%26bih%3D820%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=343&oei=l16CTbGxLcy6hAfm7ti5BA&page=2&ndsp=28&ved=1t:429,r:20,s:28&tx=49&ty=111 ). This seemed the perfect location. Within a walking distance of mine and my actors’ houses meat that there would be no time wasted getting to the location, if anything was needed there would be a short journey to recover it. Manor Heath Park also looked like the safest location. By being a hot spot for local dog walkers means that there would always be somebody around if any trouble happened, and my neighbour walks their dog there early mornings so I would not be in any danger, nor would my actors. The second area of shooting was a house and bedroom. I wanted to make the film look like it could be a dream sequence where the main character could wake up. The easiest place to use was my own house. This is because if more shots were needed at a later date I could always go back to using the area. Because of it being my own house I could make sure that all props, items, and decorations were in the same place from the previous shots. By using areas close to where I am from gives my 2 minute film a very British feel to me because it is the view of British-ness I grew up with. For my actors I wanted to have reliable people very close to the area of filming so that if any last minute work needed doing the people were available. I decided to ask my mum and friend to star in the film because they both lived very close to the area and were the most reliable people I know. When I asked they were both happy to help and I informed them of exactly what I needed before they agreed.

MUSIC; I need music for my 2 minute opening.  Every film I have ever watched, from Cinderella to Dead Silence, has had a distinct soundtrack to the opening of the film. Finding un-copyrighted music was a challenge to do, however from my preliminary I remembered a website (http://www.audionautix.com/index.html ). I needed to get the exact music right for my film so I looked onto the Film /Orchestra option and listened to the options that were there to find the perfect music for the genre and ambience I wanted to create. The best soundtrack I could find was called ‘Emerald Therapy’. I think this music will give it the spooky and mysterious feel I want it to have