Filming and Editing of Opening Sequence

Filming our Opening Sequence was relatively easy as it only took about 2 hours on one friday night. this meant that we didn't have to try and replecate the room and costume and lighting again to achieve continuity, we just did it all at once which made us achieve continuity. We managed to capture enough footage that we could just piece it together and turn it into a film. Another advantage of filming in one night is that we didn't have to try and find another date where all the actors and everyone from the group were free.

Throughout the opening sequence there we used lots of different camera angles such as over the shoulder, zoom-in and zoom-out, low angle and high angle shots, close ups, panning and birdseye. There were points were the group disagreed on the shots but we agreed that we would shoot both ideas then see which looked best when edited. Because we were using a soundtrack and voice over we knew that we could vocally direct the actors as we filmed because we wouldnt hear the voices in the final piece. Before we went to film, it was just a case of getting some cool shots to add into the piece to make it more entertaining.

The editing phase was alot harder than filming as we as a group were not as confident as this than at filming. Gregg was the best editor so we tried to get him to teach us a little bit but made him the 'head editor'. The editing As a group we spent alot of time in free's media lessons and even lunchtimes to make the piece perfect. We made it black and white and had to get the balance right for the different shots. I did alot of this because I worked out how to do it at an earlier stage. Gregg cut and pieced together most of the video and Alex and Tom told us what looked good and bad as they had a good eye for seeing mistakes and what looked good. Our whole group worked brilliantly together through the editing stage even though we were't the most confident at it.

We were having real trouble with finding a soundtarck to go on top of the film, in the end we decided on the theme tune to scarface. The song as an Italian speech in it so it fitted with the piece nicely, and it was also the same length as the opening sequence. After such a long and painful process of trying to find one we were thrilled that we found this and that it was so perfect. Fiddling around with the settings we found that you could make some parts louder and some quiter this was helpful as we had voice overs that were drowned out by the music so we made some bits louder and some quiter were appropriate. The voice overs were also a bit of a pain as we had to find someone with a good American accent, we tried alot of people because no-one in our group thought they could do the American accent. But in the end it was Alex (the person in our group who played the character) who had the best accent. The accent needed to be American as the character is American this establishes characterisation.

We posted our video on Fcebook, these are some of the comments we got back:

Danny White- "Thats pretty sweet"
Shaun Bladen- "Love it. The soundtracks awesome"
Jack Travers- "I'd go watch thatat the cinema"
Sam Jones (fellow media student)- "Love the camera angles and effects, looks very proffesional"

We were happy with these comments obviously and knew it was a hit with friends. abaut wanted to see what people who weren't our friends thought. So we published it on ayaouTube, these were the comments we got back:

"This really works, well done guys"
"Not sure on some of the editing, but overall very good. Well done"
"Love the actors!"

We were even more hapy with this feedback as people were telling the truth as they did not know us, this was good for us and boosted our confidence in the piece.

Planning Opening Sequence

Before we could begin the OUCH Productions opening sequence we had to plan it which meant planning props, setting, costume and location, but also naming the piece and brainstorm what the piece would actually be. This takes alot of hard work but we will do it thoroughly to make sure the filming and editing process is alot easier.

Location
We had to pick a location that would go well with the film and would be easy to change into how we wanted it to look. The basic outline of the room needed to have a table in the middle with no windows in the room and 1 door leading to an outside area. This would be hard to find so we new we had to adapt another location to this.


We chose somewhere where it was easy for the whole group to get too, this location was good as it was close for everyone. This meant we could film pretty much whenever we wanted.




The location we ended up choosing was my friend in the group's house, to be precise his dining room. This had a table in the middle with a door leading outside and a cabinet at the end of the room. This was the best we could find. It had a window but with black out blinds that would look good in black and white, it was also leading into his kitchen so we had to cover the kitchen up with a large sheet. When we had done this it looked very authentic. The cabinet at the back of the room we filled with spirits and Italian pictures, and also hung some pictures on the wall this made the whole room look very authentic.


The picture below is the finished product just before we started filming.


Setting
The setting of the piece is very important, because the whole look of the room makes the difference to the authenticity because if it looks bad this will effect the whole piece. This is what the setting consisted of:

Wooden Cabinet
Door straight to the outdoors (only door)
Low Light
Table, Poker Table on top of it
Converted Dining Room
Smokey Room
Poker Room
1950's Italian/American



Costume
The costume is just as important as setting and props to the genre, characterisation and setting because it will not look authentic if one of the characters is wearing a pair of tracksuit bottoms especially after you've been to the trouble of making the setting and props so authentic. They will have to look like they are corrupt but also Rich and ready for gambling. Below is the things we used for our costume:

Shirts
Ties
Suit Jackets
Cocktail Sticks
Jewellery
Watches
Cigars/Cigarettes


The pictures below show the costumes of the main characters in colour (they change appearance when in black and white)




Props

We had to make our opening sequence authentic so we used props that would be around during the time our film was set. Props help set genre, characterisation and setting, this is why we wanted it to be authentic. Props we will use:

Cigars
Money
Poker Table
Spirit Bottles and Glasses
keys
Poker Chips
Briefcase
Cards
Olives and Nuts
Knife
Holy/Italian Pictures
Ashtrays

All the props shown below are some of the props we will use, they all help establish genre, characterisation and setting.

Synopsis

Our opening sequence will consist of 3 older Italian men playing poker with a younger American for money and high value goods such as watches, jewellery and keys. The filming area will be made smokey by 2 of them smoking on cigars and cigarettes; we will also try to make the smoke be seen on the camera as we believe this will add great effect.

The beginning of our opening sequence will begin with one of the men smoking on a cigarette with a religious/Italian picture seen on the wall behind. This will then cut/fade into the 3 older men shuffling the cards ready for a game of poker when a younger man enters with a briefcase of which he opens and pulls out cash notes and cocktail sticks. The 4 men then carry out an intense game of poker of where OUCH Productions as a group can use a range of camera angles and techniques to show this to the audience. At the end of the opening sequence the younger man will be seen to have won and begin to collect his winnings but the largest of the 3 men will prevent him from doing so and another male figure will be seen at the door holding a knife; this is when the film, 'L'asso di Cuori' will begin!

We will try to make sure that when the male figure in the door is seen that the audience will see this from the younger mans perspective. We think this is one shot that can add extra effect to our opening sequence. Also we are going to have the whole of our opening sequence filmed in black and white to portray the time era of the 1950's and partially portray the genre as a few older gangster films are filmed in black and white. Within our opening sequence we will include no dialogue but include some voice over from the younger mans perspective and also a soundtrack that will fit our genre and time period.

Deciding on the film Name
We decided as a group to come up with an Italian/American gangster film, taking inspiration from the classics sch as The Godfather. For our Title name we thought it would suit the style of film to have a Italian name. We brainstormed names in English and translated them to find the one that sounded the best, we came up with "Lasso Di Cuori" which translates to Ace of Hearts. We decided on this name as in the opening sequence the young American character posses the Ace of Hearts in the poker game, this will hopefully keep the audience guessing the importance of this card.

Risk Assessment
There are many risks that need to be taken into account during the filming prosses of our media video. These can be anything that pose a danger towards actors or cameramen.

Glasses and bottles... there is a risk of someone getting cut from a broken glass or bottle, we will keep them away from the edge of the table to make sure they dont't fall off.

The knife... one of the props we are using is a knife, there are obviouse risks using a knife of cutting yourself or someone else accidentally. We will make sure that the knife is only out when we need to use it for the shot, making sure there are no accidents. When I am using the knife in the shot we will make sure I am not near alot of people and we do the shot fast and get it out of the way.

Cigars and cigarettes... the use of cigars can burn people or potentially cause a fire, this means that we will have to ensure that they are only lit when we are shooting and that we have plenty of ash trays and know where the fire extinguisher is and that its in a easily accessible place.

We have a first aid kit and we will know where it is so if there is an accident we can treat it fast and if need be call for help.