DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
27th November 2017- RESEARCH INTO AUTEURS
Wright is most known for his comedic Three Flavours Cornetto film trilogy that consist of 'Shaun of The Dead', 'World's End' and 'Hot Fuzz', working with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost as his main actors for all three films. He also collaborated with them as the director of the television series Spaced and has become well known with his new directory in 'Baby Driver.' Wright is still a new director to the scene but has marked his place as a well known director with the films that he has directed, having a strong sense of comedy and a fun, but energetic, story line.
'If you ever watch police chases on, like, helicopter cams, they very quickly become nightmarish when you start to see the police coming in from the edge of the frame. I always find that terrifying.'- Edgar Wright
Edgar Wright gained many inspirations from different films and directors, one being Tim Burton, and he would watch as many films as he could each day, his favorite film being the criminal comedy film, 'Raising Arizona (1987).' Edgar wright loved watching films, dropping out of school to pursue his dreams in film making and directing. Despite the fact that they contain numerous fantasy elements, his films are heavily autobiographical and on most of his films, there are certain features such as a trivia track that runs with the movie or a scene of the movie with the characters voices dubbed. He has drawn deeply from the sight-gag, gore, violence, action scenes and wordplay that are wacky and heartfelt and outrageous.
Another thing Edgar Wright is well known for is his quick action montages, all three films in the Three Flavours Cornetto film trilogy using this technique to it's best quality in each of these films. The quick action montages are used to create a sense of comedy in this genre, being able to take away from some of the more serious sections of the film. These scenes can also be some of the most memorable out of the films, the audience taking a liking to the quick edits and the detail in each shot. Edgar Wright uses this technique to keep structure in his film as it can sometimes lose structure after a scene of jokes and comedic relief, this bringing back the comedy and the structure to the film and re-gaining the audience's attention to the story.
'I'd rather try and cram in another two gags than leave a pause to say, 'Hey, wasn't that bit funny?' '- Edgar Wright
Something that appears in all of his films is a pub or bar, a place where the characters meet or choose to visit. It is used in 'World's End' as the main topic of bar hopping and in 'Shaun Of the Dead' as the place where they'll meet up after zombies have taken over. Pubs or bars have become an iconic scene in his films, just like Tarantino, and is a main turning point of the story as it normally starts the dramatic scenes, whether it be zombies attacking and eating your friend or aliens taking over people in the bathroom. The audience enjoy these scenes and know that the film is going to hit a turning point which gains the audience's attention on what is going to happen next. Everyone who watches all of his films expect a scene like this in his films as it has become such an iconic part of his films.
Another classic scene that happens in all of the Three Flavours Cornetto films is the fence jump fail, being a unique scene that everyone enjoys. The fence jump fail is a form of comedy and is normally placed quarter way to halfway through the film before the turning point of the film, helping you get into the story line of the film and to understand the line of comedy in these films. This is a clever technique to keep the story line light-hearted and to keep the audience's eyes on the screen, the two actors being a big part of the act as their dialogue together adds to these scenes. 'Hot Fuzz' is most known for the fence jump fail, the first officer acted by Simon Pegg jumps it clearly, and the more funny and less athletic officer, Nick Frost, falls through the fence. It helps underline the personality of the characters that he creates and how they may develop throughout the story, keeping you wanting to watch the film to see if your predictions are correct.
Wright also uses the technique of repeated dialogue, this being a memorable scene along the sides of the fence jump fail and the pub scenes. The most popular scene of this technique is in 'Shaun Of the Dead' where they keep repeating the plan and changing it when one part of it has been disregarded by Nick frost's character. The repetition makes it memorable to the audience from the comedy behind it, the quote of this being the most popular from the film in itself. It isn't much effort but works well with the comedy that Edgar Wright writes down on his scripts, this also being able to add some comedic relief to the scenarios going on. It adds flavour to the film and makes it unique to the audience, something that they won't forget any time soon.
29th November 2017- SIZZLE REEL
Editing the sizzle reel after the first edit became easier, knowing the beat of the song and the clips I wanted to use, being able to implement them better to the music. I wanted to make the clips look epic throughout before a comedic piece at the end. By researching into the auteur like I have already done, I was able to understand his style better and find the right clips to include in the edit. This sizzle reel will act as a moving mood board for my own stylistic video, this being a good way to see what repeats in each of his films and what is different. I made sure to include the fight scenes, sayings and the more famous scenes from each film, trying to see the best of his work and how he changes it throughout with the different genres of film, making it fit better for the film and his audience.
I wanted to choose the best of his clips and my favourite moments to help inspire my own when it comes to writing and the overall style. I want to get the style correct and make it feel like a film directed by Edgar Wright, this being an easy way of me seeing a mood board of his work that I can watch when writing my own script or developing the style of my own video. It holds the information needed and the different styles that he uses, allowing myself to watch it and decide which style I want to follow after in my own, being able to place the characters I will create into the World and make them feel like they all fit in.
4th December 2017- CHARACTER ANALYSIS
Shaun- Simon Pegg
The first main character of the film is Shaun who is acted by Simon Pegg. Shaun is a 29 year old man slacker that works as an electronics salesman, being disrespected by his co-workers and is a dead end job, Shaun having no direction in his life. Along with his dead end job, he also has a strained relationship with his girlfriend, Liz, and is trying to re-kindle their relationship throughout the film despite the bromance that he has with his best friend, Ed, being called boyfriends throughout the film from how close they are, both living together in the film. Shaun is lazy, useless and a mummy's boy at the beginning of the film but also very snarky and naive in what is happening in the world around him and his friends.
Shaun develops through the film, becoming a bad ass fighter with a cricket bat as his weapon and becomes fairly intelligent by the end of the film; also considered as going crazy when he puts his tie around his forehead. Shaun only wants the best for his relationship with Liz and has a heart of gold throughout the film which is hidden behind his stupidity and his naive tendencies, Shaun wanting to go and save Liz from her flats as well as his own mother. Shaun manages to find direction in his life with the zombie apocalypse, managing to become stronger, more loving and more intelligent throughout the film. Shaun suffers from having no initiative which leads to his girlfriend breaking up with him in the first place, the zombie apocalypse forcing him to take action and fix the broken bonds, Ed being by his side from the very beginning on the film where their roommate, Peter, turns into a zombie.
Ed- Nick Frost
Ed is Shaun's best friend and roommate along with Pete, Ed having even less direction in his life than Shaun and sells weed to gather money, Pete wanting him to move out but Shaun managing to convince him to allow him to stay. Ed is unemployed, the reason why Peter wants him out the house, being a slob that sits on the sofa all day and doesn't clean up. Although Ed is vulgar, annoying and careless in some of his actions throughout the film, he has a heart of gold when it comes to Shaun. Ed is never shown shouting at Shaun although he sits through Shaun's lecture but shouts at some of the other characters, showing how close Shaun and Ed are to each other and can explain why they are called boyfriends by some of the characters in the film.
Although Ed is the most obnoxious of the group he keeps the spirits of others high throughout the film and becomes a bad ass like Shaun, using a shovel as his chosen weapon to fight the zombie apocalypse. Ed shows how much he cares for Shaun when he is caught in the pub and bit, telling them to leave him behind as he becomes a heroic sacrifice, allowing Shaun and Liz to escape to the cellar of the pub. This shows how much he cares about Shaun as he allows his self to die for him, Shaun coming back to rescue him to find him as a zombie. Ed develops through the film, becoming more understanding of the issues around him but is the only one excited at the beginning of the apocalypse, crashing a car purposefully to drive Shaun's step-fathers car instead. He stands by Shaun's side from the very beginning to the very end, showing how loyal he is as a friend hidden behind his annoying and careless attitude, showing their is a deeper meaning to their friendship.
Nicholas Angel- Simon Pegg
Nicholas Angel is a dedicated but humourless police officer, sent to Sandford for making his colleagues in London looking bad in comparison to him. Nicholas is competent, socially inept and by the book, not liking to stray from his ways and takes every crime that the village sees as useless seriously, being stuck in his ways from the London police force. Although Nicholas tries to keep serious throughout the film he is comically serious, making some of the other officers laugh when he is being serious about the situation at hand, having a cold heart that is slowly warmed up by Danny who he is partnered with, both of them being different to each other.
Nicholas has a heart of gold that Danny manages to break, him opening up about his broken relationship from being a police officer, Danny teaching him to have fun. Nicholas opens up to Danny, laughing at him during the pub scene and slowly becoming closer to him, developing a close relationship. He is also highly intelligent, the first of the police officers to realize something is wrong with the town and the first to take action, Danny coming along for the ride and helping him uncover the mystery of the town. Nicholas manages to gain Danny's trust, showing that he is caring for him at the end of the film as his father tries to get him back to the town, Nicholas wanting to get Danny away to somewhere safer, showing that he grows to see Danny as a friend although he hides it throughout the first half of the film.
PC Danny Butter man- Nick Frost
Danny is a police officer in the Sandford police force, his father being in charge of the police force and has taught him to have a sweet tooth, giving him cake often throughout the film. Danny is a happy go-lucky, friendly officer without a bad bone in his body, all of his actions being with good meaning as he hasn't got a bad bone in his body. Although Danny is a little dumb he sees Nicholas as an influence and starts to understand what being a real police officer is like, understanding the rules by the end of the film. Danny wanting to be like a cop in the movies to carry out shoot-outs and car chases, seeing Nicholas as someone who may of experienced these and becoming inspired by him, quoting many of the things that Nicholas teaches him.
By the end of the film Danny gets his wishes, becoming similar to a cop from the movies and once he understands the situation at hand he becomes more bad ass and more clever, managing to understand Nicholas' point of view on the town. Danny is the only character that manages to break Nicholas' hard shoulder, managing to make him laugh when pretending to stab his eye out with a fork and watching movies together, making them become very close as partners and friends. Their friendship shows when he takes a bullet for Nicholas and knocks a lady off of her bike when he is shooting at Nicholas, showing that he becomes very protective over his friend and partner by the end of the film, understanding his issues and why he is so cold as a character.
20th December 2017- RESEARCH INTO MUSIC IN EDGAR WRIGHT'S FILMS
Today I look the time to research into the music that Wright uses in his films, looking at the titles of the songs and how they are used in the films. By researching all of the songs and listening to them I could gather knowledge on what kind of music I should use in my own film and how much meaning they should have behind them. Half of the songs relate to the characters or have important factors such as the titles, four songs from Hot Fuzz having Fuzz in the title. Music is an important factor to Edgar Wright in his films as the music choices are used to build characters, used for comedic relief and to help develop the story. Edgar scores his self with music whilst writing the script of his films, adding important value and emotion into the scenes through music and his writing.
21st December 2017- WATCHING HOT FUZZ
I spent my free-time watching Hot Fuzz to gain a grasp on Edgar Wright's style and to watch the kinds of transitions he uses between shots. By watching his films I can visually see and hear how the story line is presented to the audience and how he produces comedy visually. Watching this film also allowed me to understand the characters better and to see more behind the characters as I have been researching them, managing to notice key elements in the characters and the story line that Wright has produced. This process allows me to understand the elements that I may of not thought about as a viewer, understanding how the music is selected and how detailed the story is to make the audience feel different emotions throughout. There are many cases of serious scenes where it will be dismissed by a perfectly timed sound affect or joke that will make the audience laugh. With watching this, I will have to dive into more research about visual comedy to understand how to present it better in my own film.
8th January 2018- MUSIC IN EDGAR WRIGHT'S FILMS
Music is an important factor to Edgar Wright in his films as the music choices are used to build characters, used for comedic relief and to help develop the story. Edgar scores his self with music whilst writing the script of his films, adding important value and emotion into the scenes through music and his writing.
In the first film of the Cornetto Trilogy, 'Shaun of The Dead', the music is used in many different ways from being used ironically in the pub where the jukebox is on random and plays "Don't stop me Now" when fighting zombies or a sad song about a breakup when Shaun is crying about his breakup to making Ed's death scene much more dramatic and emotional by the music choice. 'You're my best Friend' being the credit song to refer to the death of Ed in the film, showing the two character's friendship and how they developed throughout the film. The way Edgar Wright uses music is the most important value of his films as it adds an increase in the audiences emotions and how they observe the scene, music always being able to sway emotions.
In this film the music is mostly used for comedic value such as the pub fight with 'Don't Stop Me Now' playing and when the music stops when he fails to jump over the fence, cutting off just in time to hear the breaking of the fence. Although it is used mostly for comedic value the music is also used to develop the story, getting more suspenseful throughout the film but also providing comedic relief when it gets too serious. All of the songs refer to the story such as 'Ghost Town' by The Specials being the song at the opening scene of the bar and 'Kernkraft 400' by Zombie Nation as Shaun catches the bus to work and others being Panic and Meltdown. The songs are memorable to the audience, the most memorable song from the film is 'Blue Wrath' once the town is being turned into Zombies at the beginning of the film. The songs are recognizable and when the film comes onto TV, it is easily recognized without having to look at the screen.
15th January 2018- COLOUR WHEEL AND SCHEME THEORY
Complementary colours sit on opposite sides of the colour wheel as they compliment each other and is the most commonly used in film, a common example being blues and oranges that contrast each other well. This technique matches a cool colour such as blue with a warmer colour, orange, to make the contrast strong and vibrant to the visual eye.
'Analogous colors are easy to take advantage of in landscapes and exteriors as they are often found in nature. Often one color can be chosen to dominate, a second to support, and a third along with blacks, whites and grey tones to accent.'
Analogous colours sit next to each other in the colour scheme, matching well and creating an overall harmony without making anything of the image pop from the background. The colours are normally warmer colours or cooler colours such as brown or grey to make it have less contrast and tension of the complementary colours. Triadic colours are sat evenly spaced from the other colours, one being more dominant and the two others being used as accents to the main colour. This choice of colours makes the scene more vibrant as the colours stand out against each other and don't blend together, making a different kind of feel to the other colour schemes that can be used.
Split complimentary has two colours sat next to each other and the one directly across to them, creating a triangle shape on the colour wheel. This colour scheme works similarly to complimentary colours, sharing the same high contrast but has less tension in the shot. Some of the more popular colour choices for this are teal, green and red which make the background blend in or pop out as needed against the characters in the shot. Tetradic colours consist of four colors arranged into two complementary pairs, allowing the colour scheme to be wide to allow variety in the shots. Although this scheme allows a wide selection of colours to be used, creating a full pallete of colours to be used, one colour is normally still dominant to the others.
Finally we have the monochromatic colours scheme. Monochromatic colours are all rarely used but is when a shot uses one colour off the wheel in different hues and contrasts. The most common cause of this is blues and browns to create a colour that pops which can either make the character blend into the background or stand out.
16th January 2018- COLOUR THEORY AND VISUAL COMEDY
From researching the colour schemes and analysing some scenes from Edgar Wright films, I can see that wright uses the analogous colour scheme to complete the look of his films. The main colours are browns, blacks, grey and creams, using complimentary colours such as blue, pink, green and red to make the characters stand out from the background. 'Often one color can be chosen to dominate, a second to support, and a third along with blacks, whites and grey tones to accent.', is a statement that can be seen in Wright's films, the main colours being beige, creams and browns which all blend in with each other to give an overall harmony in the colours and the contrast.
Wright uses colours that contrast the main colours used, becoming one of the most vibrant colours for the film and can be seen throughout. For Shaun of the Dead the colour was red, being visible in many scenes and costumes, some examples being on the bus and Shaun's tie. It makes the characters and scenes pop from the mundane colours that surround them from the use of the analogous colour scheme, allowing the audience to focus on the characters more than the background. The colours he uses aren't always directly across on the wheel, using colours such as blue and green in his other two films in the Cornetto Trilogy to make the characters pop out from the background and to add some different contrasts to the scene.
By seeing the colours and the scheme that Wright uses in his films, I can take the colours as inspiration and try to represent them into my own film. I will need to consider the colours of the set before I can determine the costume and the overall colour palette of my own film to represent to the audience and to use the analogous colour scheme to the best of my ability, trying to make the colours create an overall harmony but using some other colours to make certain elements pop out from the background.
VISUAL COMEDY
Visual Comedy is something that many directors play around with to make it their own and Edgar Wright is no exception, taking visual comedic events that many films use but using different techniques to make it his own. Wright plays with the genres that we have seen many times throughout film and uses his own visual comedy to make it unique and interesting, using the genre to tell his own story. Wright plays with the genres that we have seen many times throughout film and uses his own visual comedy to make it unique and interesting, using the genre to tell his own story.
Edgar Wright uses the genres to focus on his characters, developing them throughout the film rather than over multiple films, showing how the Cornetto Trilogy worked out so well and none of the films could have a sequel as they have all been wrapped up and developed as best as they could. Edgar Wright has stated in an interview that Hot Fuzz wouldn't be able to have a sequel because Nicholas Angel had become the bad-ass cop that he wanted him to and for a sequel would have to diminish this title to be able to invest in a story line once again.
17th January 2018- SCRIPT WRITING
I planned out a timeline of all of the main points in the story on the right before adding the parts to link the main points on the left, allowing me to know how much needs to be added between each main point for the story to develop properly. With this, I started to write the script, planning out the main points and working my way through the left hand column to apply to the script, knowing what jokes and actions I wanted to be included throughout my short film.
I gained the idea of doing a timeline of the main points and filling in the parts in between from this video where the interviewer asks for writing tips from Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. They suggested knowing all of the points in the story and then to write how to get to each point, making it easier to write and plan out as you know where you want the story to lead. I learnt from this that it is easier to plan out your main points and have a clear idea of the beginning, the middle and the end before filling out the gaps in between, making it easier and less stressful through the script writing process as I know which points I want to make throughout the script.
18th January 2018- COSTUME DESIGN
When designing the costumes I had to think about the analogous colour wheel, making sure that the style of their clothes and the colours would work well together. Analogous colours sit next to each other in the colour scheme, matching well and creating an overall harmony without making anything of the image pop from the background. The colours are normally warmer colours or cooler colours such as brown or grey to make it have less contrast and tension of the complementary colours. This meant that I had to be careful on the colours I used, many of the colours I chose being browns, blacks, grey and creams.
I also decided for the shirts of the two main characters to be red and blue, making the characters pop from the background. I wanted the colours to be complementary as the two characters are opposites to each other, this contrast working well to express this to the audience. I styled their outfits after the characters in 'World's End' with the long coats and British tone behind the outfits, allowing the feel of Wright's costume design to be expressed in my own film.
22nd January 2018- AUTEUR THEORY
I learnt that an auteur is a director that can be seen as the author of their films, creating a certain style that feels and looks different to other auteurs and stands out from the crowd. Their individual style and complete control over the filming process creates a trademark stamp to the audience that any of their films can be noticed at first glance as they have so much creative force in their films. Auteurs have an individual style and normally don't aim to create a blockbuster film, the story and characters being an important and heavy part of the films that they produce.
Before the theory was introduced to the film industry there were still many directors who unintentionally had made their own style which had made them noticeable to the audience. Some of the most popular Auteurs throughout history have been Stanley Kubrick, Alfred Hitchcock, Quentin Tarantino, David Lynch and Jean-Luc Godard. Some other auteurs that are well known are Tim Burton, Steven Spielberg and Edgar Wright, although Tim Burton and Steven Spielberg are different auteurs as they create blockbuster films with their own style. After the idea of the director as the author was presented to the film industry, later directors more frequently began to create more self-consciously personal and self-referential works to create their own style and make them more noticeable to the audience.
WHIP PAN TRANSITION
The Whip pan transition is used frequently in Edgar Wright's films, being the most noticeable out of the transitions he uses. Knowing this I found three videos to help me understand how to perform a whip pan and execute it properly, making me understand how it is performed and what I need to do whilst filming. This gave me a better understanding of the transition to allow me to go and experiment with the transition in the future.
The videos taught me that to create a whip pan you need to start from your frame before whipping to the right, allowing the shot to become blurry when moving. Once this has been done, for your next shot you need to whip from the left onto your frame to complete the action, this being harder to execute as you need to land on the subject you wish to film. In editing you need to layer the shots to allow the blur to fade to each other, creating a smooth transition between the two shots. This allows you to change the setting or the character's outfits in a simple transition. In editing you can also add a cross dissolve which allows the two shots to blend if the transition seems too noticeable.
The videos I found also taught how to fake a whip pan transition for shots that are still and you want to create into a whip pan, this allowing me to change my mind during editing and still be able to perform the transitions that I need for the film. With a better understanding on how these transitions work and how to execute them properly, I will have to experiment with the shots to make sure that I can perform them and that when it comes to the day of filming that the transitions will run smoothly in editing.
23rd January 2018- MISE EN SCENE
Mise en scene is the placement of props and people that are visible in frame, which can be affected by four main aspects; the setting, costume, make-up and lighting.
The setting is the space in the frame and creates the overall design of a setting to which the audience can understand the action in frame. 'Setting creates both a sense of place and a mood and it may also reflect a character’s emotional state of mind. It can be entirely fabricated within a studio – either as an authentic re-construction of reality or as a whimsical fiction – but it may also be found and filmed on-location.'
Costume and make-up is the clothing and attire of the characters or lack thereof depending on how the director wants to present the characters to the audience. Many films are known to follow the expectation of a handsome and exceptional character such as James Bond but some auteurs have broken this mold. Tim Burton is known to create characters that don’t fit in with society, making their costume and make-up be different from those around them to make them feel different, a perfect example being ‘Edward Scissor Hands.’
Lighting is the illumination of the objects and characters in frame, being able to highlight or shadow characters to amplify their emotions or inner characteristics such as in ‘Batman: The Dark Knight’ where the lighting is used to make the Joker seem mysterious and unpredictable to the audience. Lighting can also set the mood for a movie, whether to bring tension or dramatic tendencies, an example of this being from ‘Blade Runner’ as the light shines through the wooden planks on the door, creating tension for the audience as the character tries to escape.
NARRATIVE STRUCTURE
Todorov produced a theory in 1969 that was believed to be applicable to all films and their narrative structure, believing that all films progressed in a linear fashion.Many films do follow the narrative structure of films, starting at the beginning, moving to the middle then the end.
There are five stages the narrative can progress through:
1. A state of equilibrium.
2. A disruption of that order by an event.
3. A recognition that the disorder has occurred.
4. An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption.
5. A return or restoration of a new equilibrium.
Tzvetan Todorov's narrative theory suggests that all narratives follow the structure above where they begin with equilibrium where the characters are in a balanced setting before progressing for something to disrupt that equilibrium and finally reach a resolution before the equilibrium is restored. Although this theory is used the most in film there has been other narrative structures that have occurred such as non-linear and circular narrative.
Circular narrative is where the story starts at the end, the film joining back to the beginning of the film to find out why the character was in the position they were in. This narrative can be seen in films, as stated by 'The Pen and Pad', 'The movie “Looper,” for example, centers on characters who travel back in time to be killed by their past selves.'
Open structure allows the audience to interpret parts of the film by their self, normally in the form of a cliff hanger or not all of the questions being answered in the film. This allows the audience to come up with their own ending or answers which makes it unique to them, allowing theories to occur between fans of the film. Although this can be used in film, it is normally more suited for Television shows such as 'East Enders' as it allows the audience to come back to understand the unanswered questions in the episode beforehand.
Non linear is where the story jumps around, a good example of this being Tarantino's 'Pulp Fiction' as the story doesn't flow from beginning to end, some of the parts from the end of the film being shown at the beginning. Films with a non linear narrative structure normally have to be watched multiple times before the audience can understand the full meaning behind the film, being the most complicated to perform correctly.
“A story should have a beginning, a middle and an end, but not necessarily in that order.” – Jean-Luc Godard
24th January 2018- VIDEO ESSAY
'The video essay will critically describe a range of contextual perspectives influencing a chosen discipline in creative media production. Identify a range of relevant academic and cultural sources for a personal research project. Critically evaluate information from a range of sources to inform ideas.', as stated by the prospectus for this project, I had to show my understanding of different sources about Auteur Theory, Mise En Scene, Colour schemes and to give examples for each one.
I think that I managed to show my understanding of the topics I spoke about, being able to go into detail about the different sections and to give an example for each. I explained how each point can influence the audience and showed clips as I spoke that related to my explanation. I sectioned the video to make it understandable to the audience and made it clear when the topics were changing. I didn't add titles at changing each part as I wanted all of the points to work with each other and to show that they all go hand in hand.
What I learnt that an auteur is a director that can be seen as the author of their films, creating a certain style that feels and looks different to other auteurs and stands out from the crowd. Their individual style and complete control over the filming process creates a trademark stamp to the audience that any of their films can be noticed at first glance as they have so much creative force in their films. Auteurs have an individual style and normally don't aim to create a blockbuster film, the story and characters being an important and heavy part of the films that they produce. I also learnt that Mise en scene is the placement of props and people that are visible in frame, which can be affected by four main aspects; the setting, costume, make-up and lighting.
What I could have added is the research I did about Narrative Structure but decided to keep out of the video as I believed it would make it too complicated and wouldn't link with the points I was making to show my understanding. I learnt that Tzvetan Todorov's narrative theory suggests that all narratives follow the structure above where they begin with equilibrium where the characters are in a balanced setting before progressing for something to disrupt that equilibrium and finally reach a resolution before the equilibrium is restored.
26th January 2018- LOCATION
I ventured out to a pub called King's Arms, asking whether I'd be able to film in their pub as the location fitted my colour scheme and looked very British, an important element in Edgar Wright's films. I was able to book the pub for the 11th of February and have access to the location any time throughout that day, allowing us to come back between scenes or after having a break from filming. There is well priced food with good portions and has a range of fine quality real ales, wines or non-alcoholic beverages, being perfect for getting food and drinks for my actors rather than having to venture off location. This was my first choice and my second was the Crown and Sceptre, both being local and easy to access.
I chose this location as it is local and has a British feel to the location, the inside of the pub fitting my colour scheme and resembling some of the pubs seen in 'World's End', this pub being my first choice to visit and ask to film at. When we went into the pub the atmosphere was calm and nice and we spoke to the manager, him being welcoming and accepting us to film at his establishment. I explained what I was filming and that I wanted to film here and he agreed without hesitation, not knowing the films his self but his colleague knowing the films I was discussing. On my way out after signing the booking form I took photos that can be seen above to compare the colours to my colour scheme, both working alongside each other.
30th January 2018- STORYBOARD
I planned out the storyboard shot by shot, excluding the chase scene as I will want to improvise the chase depending on the weather and health of my actors. After completing the story board I used it to help me write the column script, having both the audio of the characters and camera movements next to each other in the same document. By doing this the storyboard helped me envision the shots whereas the column script helps descriptive the shot and the audio, giving you an overall idea of the whole film. Doing it this way allows me to manage the time of the video and footage to the smallest detail and to have the exact shots planned for filming day.
5th February 2018- WHIP PAN TEST
I learnt that to create a whip pan you need to start from your frame before whipping to the right, allowing the shot to become blurry when moving. Once this has been done, for your next shot you need to whip from the left onto your frame to complete the action, this being harder to execute as you need to land on the subject you wish to film. In editing you need to layer the shots to allow the blur to fade to each other, creating a smooth transition between the two shots. This allows you to change the setting or the character's outfits in a simple transition. In editing you can also add a cross dissolve which allows the two shots to blend if the transition seems too noticeable.
7th February 2018- NEWS POLICE CHASE SCENE
Today I spent the time in after affects making a news report scene for the beginning of my film. I watched and followed a video tutorial to create the film and altered the text to fit to my story line.
I learnt how to create the news banner that appears across the bottom of the screen and filled it with the information relating to my storyline, being something that I haven't done before and learnt the software in after affects much better than I knew it before and understood the tools available to me to create this; through the help of a video tutorial. I had some issues understanding some of the steps but would go back and re-watch them to understand the steps better than I did before, making sure that I wouldn't make the same mistakes.
Video tutorial: https://youtu.be/4s7w4DKr2nQ
11th February 2018- FILMING DAY
The filming process went well, the three actors turning up on time and being able to perform to the standard needed from them. They understood the need of re-doing shots to make the performance much better and took the production seriously, coming up with ideas that they thought would be best implicated into the film. With their understanding of the script and the filming process, it was easier to direct them and they could easily get into their characters. Throughout the filming process I felt that it was going well didn't know whether it would be long enough overall, this being a constant worry whilst filming as I altered to get more shots that I didn't plan to have beforehand, making sure that I would gather enough usable footage.
I chose Kings Arms as my location as it is local and has a British feel to the location, the inside of the pub fitting my colour scheme and resembling some of the pubs seen in 'World's End', this pub being my first choice to visit and ask to film at. The manager of the pub was welcoming on the day and left us to our own devices, making sure that those around in the pub were aware that we were filming and that we were comfortable throughout the filming process. They played music suited to the style, being able to be heard in the background and didn't overtake the audio of the talking but works as filler in the background. When we went into the pub the atmosphere was calm and nice and we spoke to the manager, him being welcoming and accepting us to film at his establishment, making the filming production feel much more calm than beforehand.
What also went well in the filming process was the camera movements, being able to perform the whip pans from the practices that I did beforehand. I learnt that to create a whip pan you need to start from your frame before whipping to the right, allowing the shot to become blurry when moving, making it easy to perform on the day and remember which were the exit and intro shots in comparison to each other. The camera movements were made easier with the use of a gimbal, making the shots steadier and made the running scenes easier to record and follow after the actors, being able to keep the audience entertained and interested throughout. I believe that I managed to fit to the style of Edgar Wright as an auteur but was proven to be a challenge. I had researched and practiced the techniques to try and perform them but are nothing in comparison to the originals. By using a well thought out script and the camera techniques necessary, I think that I managed to replicate his style but also implement some of my own style throughout the video.
