Ideas for what I want in my film

Here is a plan of what I want to be included in my preliminary video and how I might actually represent the characters too:

Opening sequence analysis: Warm Bodies

As part of my research I am going to analyse an opening sequence to warm bodies, the reason why I chose this film is because; it is a really interesting film that uses a lot of camera angles and a lot of different body language to show how the different characters are feeling (or not feeling if they are a zombie). Listed below will be information about each scene and how the camera is used and the effects that may be used in the opening scenes.
The makers of the film Warm Bodies was the summit entertainment company, these have created many different films before, which include: insurgent, twilight saga films, enders game, the darkest hour and 12 years of slave.

What happens during the beginning credits?

At the beginning of the film there is an extreme close up of the zombie R which also makes the audience recognise that because he is pale he isn't actually alive, this can also show how the character is feeling and his facial expressions. Also as the titles appear on the screen they are used to link to the film, the writing looks like blood which links to the zombies loving the taste of human flesh and brains. This is important at the beginning, the reason for this is that it shows what R is thinking about even though you don't know what he is feeling because he is in fact dead. Also the music is very slow and calm, this is used to show the movement that he expresses as being a zombie and that they don't move really quickly, also the music goes in time with how he walks.

While R walks he starts asking questions which makes the audience feel sorry for him because he isn't able to talk much or move very quickly. When the titles appear the sound goes up beat, also long shot is used to show what the main character is seeing. This then helps the audience to understand what has happened to some people in the story and when the title ends this then make a noise like blood being squirted out of the body, which is disgusting but it certainly links to zombies eating humans. The film makers used this idea to show how life's still carry on and that they do anything they can to survive.

Medium shot is used here to show how the man is feeling and what he might of done in his past life before he became a zombie, this happens when R starts talking about what he thought the man's past life was. When this happens Jimmy Cliff - sitting in limbo is quietly played in the background to show that he never moves. Maybe suggesting that many of the zombies might want their past life's back and have a heart beat and feelings back again.

Here we have a medium shot of the character, he starts talking about how the apocalypse started the reason why this is done is so it sets the scene for the audience so then they understand why a lot of people became zombies. Music in background is a little quiet maybe showing his train of thought, this also makes it more interesting for the audience and it also makes them want to know more about what has happened on earth and whether anyone actually survives this apocalypse.

Here the lighting is dark to show danger and that no one can survive from the "Bonies". Also the music goes up beat this also represents the danger that many people are in, this is if they have blood running through their veins and a heart beat, besides this these creatures never turn into humans and that the taste of blood is what they can never stop wanting, feelings are unknown when it comes to food for these creatures. on this picture it shows them having different positions, maybe showing how dominant they are to the other zombies and that people should fear them.

close up of this character is used to scare the audience. As well as this how the character is represented makes the audience really hate this character, by showing this the producer uses the body language and the stare to show that these are the bad guys. Maybe the person who made this film wanted to use this close up as a warning, which would foreshadow what happens next in the movie.

On this bit of the film a long shot is used to emphasise how long they have to walk. This also foreshadows them searching for food and that the world has gone to a stand still - not many humans (that are alive) are actually in this area. This bit of the film uses a hermeneutic code, this is where it refers to any element of the story that is not fully explained and gives a bit of mystery towards where the zombies might actually be going for the taste of flesh.

Overall this beginning bit of the film for Warm Bodies is aimed towards young adults, the reason for this is that it isn't really that disgusting and that many younger viewers would love to watch it because there is a bit of romance involved in the story about two characters, which include a zombie and a living, breathing human being. The film also isn't very boring and is very action packed and aimed towards younger people who like zombies and a bit of blood and cuts, but not as revolting as 18+ films.

Timeline of the history of film

Below is a mind map that I drew out, this is to show what changed throughout the years of filming with the years in which each thing happened:

YouTube preliminary influences #1

Casper Lee who made this video makes a variety of vlogs on his channel. I chose this YouTube video because it is an example of something that I might want to add in my preliminary video where someone talks to someone about the characters troubles. But for my preliminary video it is going to be like a detective scene. This video also is really funny because it shows Casper's friends in the video too, including when he is talking to Joe about what he did at the photo shoot. There is a lot of great emotion coming from Casper showing how deep and upsetting that photoshoot was and that he regrets firing his friends too. During the end we see Maisie Williams and she uses a brilliant quote from The Game Of Thrones "when you play the game of thrones you either win or you die". This has definitely given me some ideas for what I might want to do for my preliminary video.

Things a good character needs to be successful

1. PERSONALITY - This is important because if each character has the same personality then that would make the storyline very boring or even if they changed a characters personality trait then the audience would also become confused. For example, if you had a Dalek who could have feelings and be kind towards other people/aliens (that would be against time and space) it wouldn't go right with the storyline - they are suppose to take over the world and EXTERMENATE every last living thing on the planet. Also the character needs to make the plot unique and they need to show different characteristics that you wouldn't see in another character, this then tells each character apart and you either hate them or love them for it!

2. AGENCY - Agency means that the character is active, not passive, this is where the character makes decisions and is attempting to control his/her own destiny as an independent operator within the story. Also this gives the audience a better look into there past life and that they feel as though they have been with them all the way through there life's. When filming someone you wouldn't want them to become a scarecrow who doesn't have a brain and didn't act like a character that would be boring. What you do need is someone like The Doctor, who has different faces and different personality traits by saving the whole universe with his TARDIS you certainly got to love him for that!

3. MOTIVATION - Characters want things. They need things. They are motivated by these desires and requirements and they spend an entire story trying to full fill them. Without motivation characters like Sherlock Holmes would never get a case solved, The Doctor wouldn't save planets from alien threats and The Avengers wouldn't of ever become Avengers. All of these well known characters need motivation to become what they want to be, if that's saving life forms from a dangerous alien threat then go for it, just always make sure that a character is motivated to get every plot solved.

4. CONNECTIONS TO OTHER CHARACTERS - We respond well to those characters who contain a little bit of us. We want to relate to them. The best characters are a broken mirror: we want to see ourselves reflected back, if in a distorted, unexpected way. Many characters have different connections to different characters, whether that may be love, hate or friendship it all resolves around the plot of a film and what is needed to make it run smoothly till the end with many of the plots having a twist at the end, something that you weren't really expecting to happen.

5. EMOTIONS - A character without emotion is soulless . They don’t exactly need to reveal those emotions to the world around them, but they should reveal them to you as the reader, as well. Characters feel things! They feel sorrow. Anger. Despair. Love. Hate. Friendship. Many characters need these emotions to show what there character actually is like, but they need to be completely different to the other characters around them to show a bit of individuality.

6. THE RIGHT NAME - The name is important to a character to show who they really are. You wouldn't want names that are already out there because sometimes the audience thinks that character is going to be like the character that is already out there like "Coraline" or "Martha Jones" it is easier to choose a name that hasn't been used before to make the film unique and then people can't compare them to another character as well. Also you want a name that doesn’t sound like the name of another character in your film, the reason for this is that you don’t want readers confused and you want them to just sit and enjoy the film.

Above is some ideas that I need to use when making my own character, it has to be different to everyone else's and have it's own personality and dialect so the audience can then tell each character apart. Click here for an example of a character profile.

Different camera shot angles

Below is some examples of different camera shots that are used in films, also I have done my own research by taking pictures of different camera angles and I will be explaining about them too on my presentation. The website that I used to make this presentation was Prezi. Here is my prezi presentation below:

Mind map

Here is a mind map on the type of things needed to make a professional opening title for a film, this is important because without the techniques below the film would be very boring.

Action plan

Here is my to do list for what I am going to put onto my blog, to then meet the success criteria. The website I used for this is bubbl.us, click the link below:

This mind map gives me an idea of what needs to be on my blog

Preliminary Excercise

I am going to make a plan about what I would like in my video by bullet pointing different ideas that I have thought of, I think this would be useful so then I know what I will do in my practice video. the task that we have been set is that we have to film a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom he/she exchanges a couple lines of dialogue. This should also demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180 degree rule. Below is a few ideas of what I want to do:

ideas for Preliminary film:

• Starts off with a scared/crying girl walking into the room where she is supposed to be getting asked questions from a detective, but it actually isn't (lights turn down with just a spotlight on the girl and the man)
• close up on child's toy to show how scared she is and that she doesn't know what to do, so she holds the toy really tight for dear life!
• A man asks questions about what happened when the girl's parents got murdered
• When looking at the man while he is talking, you only see his chest
• Kid cries and the man disappears out of the room

I decided to do a detective like scene, the reason for this is that I can then give suspense to the audience who watch my video. Also this would then make them want to know more about what happens to the kid, and therefore makes them ask questions like who really is the man supposed to be? And why does he want to talk to the girl? Therefore while I do the preliminary exercise I will then be able to build skills for my real video, this then gives me a higher advantage of producing a better film than this one because I don't make as many mistakes in my overall product.

Research and planning ideas for blog

I have been looking up some different ideas for what I could add on my blog, which would then help me to achieve the highest possible grade in my coursework. Also I have come up with a few ideas that I might want to put on my blog by drawing out a table as seen below:

As you can see I have made up a lot of ideas that will help me make my blog a bit more interesting and adds more detail to my blog for you the examiner to be able to read and understand the process I went through throughout making my video for my coursework.

The hyperlinks I found useful during the process of my table where: http://freddy-will-get-an-a.blogspot.co.uk/2014_04_01_archive.html and

http://hollynortonfoundationportfolio.blogspot.co.uk./