Action film codes and conventions

There is a lot of useful information here however if i need to refer back to this it is here for me to do so. I now need to have a look at some script layouts and just some tips and tricks on how to create one. This is because i have never created a short film that has dialogue in it so I just get this part correct so that my actors don’t have any problems when reading my script.

Ref:

Henderson, J. (1993) Comic Hero versus Political Elite pp. 307–19 in Sommerstein, A.H.; S. Halliwell; J. Henderson; B. Zimmerman, eds. (1993). Tragedy, Comedy and the Polis. Bari: Levante Editori. (Anatomy of Criticism, 1957) Marteinson, 2006

“Action Top rated Most Viewed – AllMovie”. Allrovi.com. Archived from the original on 2012-04-21.

Rainer, Peter (June 27, 1993). “FILM COMMENT : Endangered Species : The American action-fantasy epic is in danger of becoming terminally musclebound and knuckle-headed”. The Los Angeles Times.

I needed some film production ideas so that i can use these with my clashing two main characters.

What i understand Film making as:

After doing some research on film making I have learned that with most film nowadays there are 3 main aspects of making a film.

These include pre-production This would be the planning stage of me making my work here i decide who to use within my film and what locations and times these shots are going to be taken even what the shots are themselves. This also includes a production schedule so you would have a deadline that your going to try to meet so there will be a release date and also you would put everything you’re going to do in time order so you keep on track with what you should be doing on certain days. In this section, you should properly know what locations you would want to film in before it comes to the production stage.

the second aspect of film making is production arguably the most important step this is the actual practical side of things like test shots and the actual film itself. There will be lots of second takes and maybe even more just to make sure I capture the emotions that I want to. This also helps if I want to get different angles of shots without the cameras seeing each other for example I might have a camera on the characters back or fro a distance then I want to get a close up of the characters to face to capture his facial expressions. The main parts of this section are to stick to the budget and schedule and to remember that communication is key.

The last stage is the evaluation or post-production this means making sure I understand my feedback and I work to improve it to help make the film more successful. This step also includes the editing stage after the shoot to review what’s been filmed.

Here is what Film Production In more detail and how i am going to apply it to my short film:

Development

The first one being the very beginning of your project. ”The start of a project varies, but generally will begin with the development of a script, be that an existing script, a book, a brief story outline. Development may also start with a Director and/or Writer pitching an idea to a Producer.” So when starting my project I need to do develop my idea. Which i am really close into completing. Then i will need to start my script and work on my directing and writing skills, which is also something i am really good. So everything looks good with level one.

Pre-Production

For the second step, it says that pre-production will come next. ”This is the phase where you would narrow down the options of the production. It is where all the planning takes place before the camera rolls and sets the overall vision of the project. Pre-production also includes working out the shoot location and casting. The Producer will now hire a Line Manager or Production Manager to create the schedule and budget for the film.” With this in mind, i will have to create storyboards of my favourite scenes, test shots, shortlists, location recces, risk assessments and call sheets. When i have done this i might have problems that i faced through the test shots so i must fix these before going into my short film production.

Production

For the third step, it goes to the production stage. This is the hardest part for some people as if you don’t have your mindset set on the project the production stage will fall apart. This is what i found out from an independent film making eBook by Josef Steiff. ”Production officially begins when you roll cameras or start what is called principal photography, the period of time when the main scenes of the film are shot. The primary responsibility during this phase is to capture the actors’ performances on camera and to get the film ‘in the can’ or shot”. With this in mind, i must film the hardest scenes of my short film first like the interview as this is the one that takes the most time to set up. Then once this has been filmed I can then start my effect after it. ”In the productions where the director and producer roles are performed by separate people, this is the one phase of production where the director is in charge, through the producer has to keep tabs on the schedule and budget to make sure that there are enough resources to finish the film.” This is very useful when creating a big film that is 1-hour plus long however my short film will be no longer than 5 mins so I will be able to do all the scheduling and budgeting for my film. I would prefer to do this as well as this allows me to have full control over my short film.

Post-Production

This is the fun part for me as I really enjoy editing. It is always good though to get an idea from other sources, like this one. ”This stage starts when principal photography ends, but they may overlap. The bulk of post-production consists of reviewing the footage and assembling the movie – editing. There will be contributions as required from Visual Effects (VFX), Music and Sound Design. The picture will now be locked and delivery elements will be created. Further information on Post Production can be found later on in Week 1 of the course.” The Visual Effect is going to be the most tedious part as this takes the most time to edit. My effect will hopefully be taken from other peoples effects so that I can follow how they did it and put my own twist to it for my short film.

Who will I need to create my short film?

”Some shorts made with a few friends can go on to win awards at festivals, giving the filmmakers a calling card to use as they navigate their way into the industry. Short films shot by established filmmakers use their contacts to pull together a crew. Goodwill and the knowledge that the shoot will be run properly are often a draw for the professional crew.”

They are exactly right. With my short film, I will not be spending hardly any money on the short film because i want to see how far i can take this short film whilst it is free. I am going to be filming it with ”a few friends” because actors can be expensive and it takes time casing everyone. It just makes things easier and cheaper.

The knowledge side of things will be all me. The audio recording, camera work, directing, set designer ext… will be all me. This is because i want my short film to have a little help as possible involved with other people. I wish i could act in my short film however if i get a cameraman I will be worried if they keep messing the shot up. I would prefer to do all the work as i don’t have to worry about anything going wrong if i give someone a job. I would prefer the person to make a mistake would be me as i can develop from my mistakes and work on them to become better.

How much experience will i need to create my short film?

”None! If you are picking up a camera for the first time, working on your own short film project, or offering to do some floor running for a student production, short films are the industry training ground for professionals and newcomers alike. If you want to make films and call yourself a ‘filmmaker’ you are going to need to come up with the goods. You can film it on your mobile phone, you can borrow or hire the kit, what matters are the clarity of your ideas and how you use film as the medium to convey them. So get to it, and go create!”

I do have quite a bit of experience but here it says that if i have a good story I can create something special. However, i am lucky because i do have access to good equipment from my college that i can hire out so there won’t be anything to worry about. As long as I have a solid plan that will work alls i need to do is follow that plan and everything will work out fine. If i do face any problems i will make sure to blog about them and how I overcame it.

I should do a small reflection on some of my blogs so that i can add these elements into my short film in a way that make everything look seamless.

Ref:

Steiff, Josef (2005). The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Independent Filmmaking. Alpha Books. pp. 26–28.

FutureLearn. (2019). The seven stages of film production – Film Production. [online] Available at: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/film-production/0/steps/12304.

Myfirstjobinfilm.co.uk. (2019). My first job in film: How do I make a short film?. [online] Available at: https://www.myfirstjobinfilm.co.uk/short-films.html.

Process, T. (2019). The Beginner’s Guide to the Filmmaking Process. [online] Student Resources. Available at: https://www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/the-beginners-guide-to-the-filmmaking-process/

Hajare, A. (2019). what are the three stages of filmmaking. [online] Films to Films. Available at: http://filmstofilms.com/3-stages-of-filmmaking-video-production-in-film-pre-production-production-post-production/

Action Comedy movies like Rush Hour Franchise, Jump Street Franchise and The Other Guys fit my target audience. This is because in my questionnaire people liked funny action comedy’s that look dramatic and have close to realistic jokes. These movies fit my target audience so I decided to look into why they are such good movies all around.

Rush Hour Franchise Documentary:

Website: ”All three films center on a pair of police detectives: Hong Kong Police Force Chief Inspector Lee (Jackie Chan) and LAPD Detective James Carter (Chris Tucker), both of whom go on a series of misadventures often involving corrupt crime figures in Hong Kong and Los Angeles. The films were released theatrically between 1998 and 2007, attaining commercial success, and incorporate elements of martial arts, humour, and the buddy cop sub-genre.”

The concept is already funny a Black Detective, with wild personality, teams up with a Chines Inspector, can’t speak English very well, and is incredibly good at mixed martial arts. Chris Tucker really makes this movie for me because the way he reacts to Jackie Chan makes things so much funnier because he doesn’t know what he is talking about. Having two characters that are completely different make an action comedy movie. When i create my short film I am going to add this in my two main characters. In my case, the interviewer is going to be boared and unenthusiastic and the interviewee is going to be over the top and normal.

Knowing this information about and applying it to my two main characters i must get some film production idea so that i can apply that to my characters.

I wanted to get my editing knowledge up a bit as my example interview question works so well.

I will be using the advanced muzzle flashed as I want my project to look as realistic as possible.

Hears what I learned.

Drop your footage into After Effects and change the footage to 32bit and the workspace to sRGB IEC61966-2.1 and check to Linearize Working Space. This mimics what the real world does with light meaning if there’s no light its black and if there is light its white. The other settings simply allow more effects to be added and the sRGB IEC61966-2.1 setting makes colour correcting easier and look better. I learned this in a Photoshop tutorial a while back.

To add the muzzle flash you need quick a lot of different effects. go to the timeline where the gunshot starts. Then add a sold that’s a light orange and change the blending mode to colour dodge. Then with that solid selected and then mask around the character. If the character is near a wall you might want to mask part of the wall as well. Add the muzzle flash to the timeline, line it up to the solid and then move the flash and position it over the and of the gun (using the 3d setting make it a lot easier to achieve). Then if actual footage is blurred make the muzzle flash blurred to make the footage. You can also change the blending mode of the muzzle flash to add. This is to make the flash look like it is in the scene.

Adding smoke added a little bit more realism to the muzzle flash. Drop the smoke film into the project, change the blending mode to add or screen and then line it up to the gun. You can also change the opacity of the file to blend it in even more. However, if there is a camera shake you must track the shot and then add that info to the smoke effect. This is because the smoke will be on screen for a lot more frames than the muzzle flash so it will be noticeable if the smoke isn’t moving with the shot.

There are some additional effects that you can also add such as a flash, lens flare and a distortion of the environment. These effects are fairly simple to add and must only be on screen for as long as the muzzle flash is shown.

Some things I came up with: You can animate the gun so that the slider looks like it is moving. You do this by duplicating the layer, masking around the slider and tracking it. Once you have done this you can move the slider by using keyframe markers and moving the position to match the way a gun would look. Or you could just buy a bb gun that is a replica of a real gun and buy blank bullets. Blockbuster films use these however if you are on a low budget just edit them in instead.

(This video is if I need any more help creating wounds on characters. This is just an extra thing if I need any more help. I can also look at some of the other videos in this playlist if i need any more help when creating my imagination sequence.)

I now need to get back on track to and find out more about my target audience. So I much do some research on where i should publish my short film. There is no point in creating a short film if i don’t know where to post it in the first place. I am going to start off with Twitter and then work my way up from there.

Now i know the basics of short films i want a more in-depth understanding in Cinematography and how i can add this to my short film.

What is Cinematography?

Before a film ever makes it to the screen, it’s first a script— descriptions of what the characters do and say, as well as the events that happen to them. But for that script to become a movie, it requires the transformation of those descriptions into moving images. That’s where cinematography becomes essential to the filmmaking process. So I need to do some research on script writing for my comedy aspect and script layout in general.

What are the Cinematographers main focus?

Define Cinematography

”Cinematography is generally defined as “the art of making motion pictures.” But a truer description is that without cinematography, there is no motion picture. A Screenwriter might create the story and a Director may guide how the Actors perform, but it is the Cinematographer who permanently captures that story and the Actors in it.”

”But cinematography is so much more than just recording what happens on location or a sound stage. It is a language that is not spoken but seen. Showing not telling Because beyond what the Actors do or say is how the audience watches it all unfold. At its core, cinematography is the visuals that support the story being told.” This is great because i can add a phone or a clock showing the audience that they have gone back in time and then the character has these powers.

”Not only do those visuals show the audience what is happening from scene to scene, but they also have the ability to influence their response to what they are seeing. How? Through the many different elements that cinematography encompasses, including camera placement, camera movement, focus, lighting, composition and equipment choices.” Having a camera angle that goes in and out of focus slowly shows that one of the characters is thinking about something and thinking out what to say to the interviewer. Also, I could have him lock focus on the clock so that i can show the audience that he is checking to see if he has gone back in time or not.

Camera Placement

”A film is only a live performance without a camera to capture it for future viewing and enjoyment. But where a Cinematographer chooses to place the camera in relation to the action or conversation unfolding in front of it can heighten the meaning of a particular scene. I will use this because i need to show the audience what the two characters personalities are like. So for the interviewee, i can have him laughing and joking around to show that he is remembering what he has done in the past because he can’t tell the interviewer what he has done.” For the interviewer, for example, i could have him slouching showing the audience that he doesn’t want to be having the interview but he has too. This shows that the interviewer is lazy and has a cant be bothered attitude.

”For instance, perhaps the scene being shot is a date at a restaurant. If the Cinematographer decides to place the camera far from the couple at dinner, the audience may sense that they are spying on an intimate moment. Or the space between the camera and couple might be used to mirror the emotional distance between the two individuals on the date.” I can use this concept in some of my imagination sequences where if i have my actor demonstrating an extremely talented skill i can make that a wide shot to show that he is competing for this task from afar distance when in reality he is quick closeup too, its just the way the angle looks that make it look like a hard task.

”Conversely, should the Cinematographer decide to place the camera right at the dinner table, the effect could be one of claustrophobia. That one or both of the individuals on the date feels pressure to be or act a certain way. With every single shot, the Cinematographer is making a choice about how the camera placement will influence the emotional weight of the scene.” I could definitely use this in my interview scene because i need to have my interviewee feel uncomfortable (and stook in a loop) so I could have a tight over the shoulder shot to make this happen.

Lighting

”While the Gaffer — or Lead Lighting Technician — is in charge of the execution of the lighting design, the Cinematographer typically is the person who decides what that design will be.” This will be me. However, i need nor information about lighting which i am going to find out in the next two paragraphs.

”Lighting has become such a fundamental component of supporting a film’s story that many people take for granted its use in different genres. For instance, to highlight their lighter tone and emotion, comedies are often filmed with high-key lighting that removes any areas of darkness or shadows. In direct contrast are thrillers or noir films, which tend to favour low-key lighting to emphasize the moodiness and mystery of the stories being told.” This relates to my short film because my interview is going to be realistic and not very action based. More comedy realism because people find jokes funnier if they can relate to them and if the lighting is bull and close to real life people are going to find them even funnier. This is shown in shows like The Inbetweeners and The Office. I will ask my audience about this later on in my blogs. However, i am going to have my imagination sequences being shot is a log format so that i can do what is best with the lighting by editing the colour correction. I am also going to do a blog about this in the future when i get to editing my imagination sequences and my interview scene.

”Regardless of genre, lighting is always a fundamental consideration that a Cinematographer can use to subtly influence the tone of the film and the audience’s emotional response to it”. I mentioned this briefly before but this point emphasizes it more. With my interview scene i am going to have the lighting on a mid-scale as if it is too bright the realistic aspect will be taken away so I will have to make the lighting not as bright but if it isn’t that bright i will just up the iso on the camera to a minimum level because if it is too high i won’t be able to edit the colours in post.

I know need to develop my idea by using this information, and past information, into developing my idea.

Ref:

Hutchinson, P. (2019). One perfect shot: the unsung power of cinematography. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/jan/10/cinematography-cinematographers-films-role-directors-artistry

Keizer, A. (2019). What Is Cinematography?. [online] Careers In Film | Film Schools & Colleges. Available at: https://www.careersinfilm.com/cinematography/

Coming from my Proposal Blog I wanted to get a little bit of knowledge about the basics of short films. This would help me re-jog my memory about short films as I had no created on in a while.

What is a short film?

(Link)

A short film is any motion picture not long enough to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as “an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all credits”

How do you write a good short film?

(Link)

1. The Shorter the Better. …
2. Keep the Practicalities of Writing in Mind. …
3.  Make It Visual. …
4. Find Single Moments. …
5. Tell a Story. …
6. Engage the Reader. …
7. Beware of Cliches when Writing Short Films. …
8. Fade Out.

How Long should a short film be?

I needed to no this information because in my Pitch I was asked ”how long do you think a short film will have to be?” and I said 1+ mins. Wrong!

(Link)

There is no official consensus or definition for the length of a “short.” Any film shorter than 50 minutes qualifies as a short film for the Sundance Film Festival, while any film with a run-time under 40 minutes is eligible for the shorts categories at the Academy Awards.

This was the problem i faced in my original idea where my short film was going to be too short and must be a lot longer. So now Cinematography is the next step so that i can develop my knowledge on Cinematography, camera placement, lighting ext… and add this too my short film.