AMERICAN PIE

Here is a selection of awkward moments from American Pie.

THE INBETWEENERS

Here is a selection of scenes from the inbetweeners, we hope to recreate these types of situation in our film.

AMERICAN PIE WRITERS - TEEN SEX COMEDY CLICHES

http://www.atom.com/blog/2009/12/01/an-american-pie-writer-presents-teen-sex-comedy-cliches/

Above is a link to a post on the Atom blog, written by the writers of American Pie, they explain how the teen comedy genre generally use sex comedy cliches and it has become a convention of the genre. After further development with our script we have decided to attempt to create a teen frat type film, in the shape of american pie but continuing with the birthday theme and the same characters.

FULL STORYBOARD

We have used a booth in the media room to lay out all of the development of our pre-production.

DICKS BEDROOM

CAMERA

This is the camera we will use to shoot Dick's Day.

AERIAL PLAN OF DICKS BEDROOM

LOCATION PHOTOS

Here is the location we will shoot in.

PRE-PRODUCTION

We have been given a booth in the media classroom to put all of our research and planning up to help with the organisation of our pre-production.

SOUND AND MUSIC

Here are some songs we may use for certain parts in our film. After looking at the music choices in The Inbetweeners, we noticed they use indy type music so we have followed suit by using these songs in these scenes.

Titles/opening scene: It's The Little Things We Do by The Zutons - Upbeat, Alternative song

Scene 10/gets soaked: Buttercups by Cajun Dance Party

Scene 12/caught with porn mag and tissues in hand: Amylase by Cajun Dance Party

PROPS

here is a wordle of our props.

Here is a selection of the props we will need.

DICK MOOD BOARD

CASTING FOR DICK

We looked through the website STARNOW for actors who suit the character description of Dick. Below is a selection of the people we chose. We then decided to use Petros to star as Dick as we felt he fit the character description.

Here is an in-depth description of Dick.

Here is a description of what Dick will wear.

Here is a Wordle defining the type of character Dick will be.

The images below show what we feel Dick should look like.

SALLY MOOD BOARD

Here is a Wordle showing the type of character we want Sally to be.

Below are some examples of what we want sally to look like.

SCENE BREAKDOWN

This is the scene breakdown of our script, when we embark on filming this will help to structure and organise our crew.

SCRIPT, FINAL DRAFT

Over the past few days we have been developing the original script with guidance from our teachers.

SCRIPT, FIRST DRAFT

To create this script we have used CELTX a software that will feature a lot in the pre-production of our film.

RESEARCH

We as a group decided to make a comedy film in the style of The Office, The Inbetweeners and curb your enthusiasm.

After viewing some scenes from each program, we noticed that the camera work seems handheld, perhaps to give the shows a more realistic, documentary style. To achieve this style our teacher informed us that we would need to use the camera on a tripod with very loose settings, Petros and i proceeded to practice this technique as we are responsible for the cinematography. We decided to use two cameras to help with continuity but we are aware that we will have to take the 180 degree rule and not get in the way of each other during filming. We also decided that one person would focus on capturing expressions, gestures and reactions, while the other focuses on more wide angle shots to show locations and or other characters in the scene.

ROLES

Here is a list of the roles each member of our group has been given.

Petros

• Producer
• Camera
• Editing
• Music
  
• Scheduling
• Casting

Franklin

• Director
  
• Costume
• Location
  
• Title Sequence

Edward

• Camera
  
• Sound
• Location
• Props
• Casting
• Set Design

Charley

• Editing
• Sound
• Sound FX
• Location
• Casting
• Make-up
• Costume

PRODUCTION MEETING

From last years experience we learned that we would have to be alot more organised when it came to filming and production.

SCENE LIST, SECOND DRAFT

After having a discussion about the first draft as a group we decided that we needed to add depth to our characters and the plot.

SCENE LIST, FIRST DRAFT

Here is a list of what we hope to convey to the audience. we have built on the original story so it sets the scene instead of seeming like a section from a film like the original.

AN IDEA FOR OUR FILM

For this idea we combined 2 pieces of research being "Lovefield" and "The Empty House" and came up with this idea.

The story follows a seemingly depressed 18 year old male leaving a friends house saying, "see ya mate", the friend replies "happy birthday see you soon". The camera follows him on various parts of the journey home, with P.O.V shots of someone following him behind, the objective for this is to build as much tension as possible and to create the illusion that the protagonist is in danger.

As he arrives home he see's his front door ajar and his belongings strewn across the floor. "oh shit", he immediately thinks his house has been burgled, he cautiously enters his home and hears a noise coming from the living room, he grabs a bat and approaches the room. By now the suspense will be at its peak, he slowly turns the door handle and swings the door open. "SURPRISE", a look of relief crosses his face as he realises he has been thrown a party.

The film Lovefield shares comparison to ours in the sense that the illusion of one thing is contradicted near the end. The empty house story gave us an idea for the setting and tone we want to create. The style we have in mind for the film is a realistic documentary style, perhaps taking the shape of the Dogme 95 style.

SHORT STORY #3

His Story

http://www.poemsonly.com/his-story/#more-2003

This poem has a good narrative which would be fairly easy to portray through film, the poem shows the effect that bullying has on a person.

SHORT STORY #2

Death in the Morning

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/free-form-death-in-the-morning-death-death-death-death-death-death-death-death-death-death-

This poem explores the death of a loved one which a lot of people can relate to. It would be very interesting to portray through film, although it would be quite hard to.

SHORT STORY #1

The Empty House

http://www.shortstoryarchive.com/b/empty_house.html

This story stuck out to me from the first few sentences. It strikes me as a story that would be fairly simple to convert into a short film, but would still make an interesting film. I decided to aim in the direction of horror stories to find a suitable idea for our film. A problem i encountered in doing this is that alot of the short stories feature a monster, ghost or some other type of unusual character that would be hard to include in the film.

LUCKY (short film by Nash Edgerton)

This film follows the conventions you would expect to find in an action film. It features the writer and director Nash Edgerton playing a seemingly all action man stuck in the boot of a moving car attempting to escape. There is no dialogue and little music though, almost all sounds are diagetic perhaps to give the film a more realistic feel. The film follows the protagonists struggle to free himself and pull the car to a halt. He uses a wide range of shots in this sequence including one that arcs across the front of the car to combat the 180 degree rule, which i think was very successful. The film-maker uses various cinematic techniques to show the characters struggle, overall i think the sequence is successful in its portrayal of the protagonists attempted escape which eventually contradicts the feeling that he has escaped the audience gets by blowing the car up with him in it. This links to Lovefield in that it tricks the audience in to feeling one thing, then, the opposite happens.

BITCH (short film by Dom Bridges)

This humerus short film follows a normal young man queuing behind an elderly lady in a supermarket. The opening sequence shows the directors name, and other members of the crew on various products on the conveyor belt, this is a nice way to introduce the film, it immediately sets the scene but also introduces the makers of the film. The films protagonist, a young male, seems like the character who would be causing the trouble. He looks slightly menacing at the beginning where as the old women seems innocent, we then learn the opposite. Therefore taking the stance of Lovefield and lucky, where you think one thing will happen and the opposite does.

LOVEFIELD (short film by Mathieu Ratthe)

This film builds suspense very well, it starts off with quite dull colours, grey skys and the continuing sound of a bird squawking. All of these components build an eerie atmosphere as the camera pans through the corn field. These elements all give this film the feel of a horror film. After a few moments on tension building techniques and sounds we hear the sound of a womens voice begin to increase in volume, she continues to cry while the shot pans across the floor until it reaches a close up of her foot which then lies motionless on the floor. Then a knife is thrust into the ground which shocks the audience and is also successful in building the illusion of this being a horror film. As the film continues we see the apparent murderer, a hill billy looking character, wearing a trucker cap, a vest and some dungarees which are a fairly conventional costume choice for a horror film. The man acts suspiciously as he rummages through the car looking for something to conceal the body in but when he returns we see him wrapping a new born baby in blankets where the realisation of what has actually happened hits us with the colours becoming more vibrant and the smiles on the faces of the mother and the man who helped her give birth, contradicting the image the audience had in there heads. The film at first feels like a typical horror film portraying death, where really the film shows the opposite in birth.

DOGME 95

Dogme 95 is a style of film making that includes the following guidelines.

• Filming must be done on location. Props and sets must not be brought in. If a particular prop is necessary for the story, a location must be chosen where this prop is to be found.
• The sound must never be produced apart from the images or vice versa. Music must not be used unless it occurs within the scene being filmed, i.e., diegetic.
• The camera must be a hand-held camera. Any movement or immobility attainable in the hand is permitted. The film must not take place where the camera is standing; filming must take place where the action takes place.
• The film must be in colour. Special lighting is not acceptable (if there is too little light for exposure the scene must be cut or a single lamp be attached to the camera).
• Optical work and filters are forbidden.
• The film must not contain superficial action (murders, weapons, etc. must not occur.)
• Temporal and geographical alienation are forbidden (that is to say that the film takes place here and now).
• Genre movies are not acceptable.
• The final picture must be transferred to the Academy 35mm film, with an aspect ratio of 4:3, that is, not widescreen. (Originally, the requirement was that the film had to be filmed on Academy 35mm film, but the rule was relaxed to allow low-budget productions.)
• The director must not be credited.

Here is an example of a dogme film that i analysed last year in film studies called Gypo.

MY FAVOURITE DIRECTORS

MARTIN SCORSESE, Films seen:

- Goodfellas

- The Departed

- Casino

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000217/

ALFRED HITCHCOCK, Films seen:

- The Birds

- To Catch A Thief

- Rear window

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000217/

QUENTIN TARANTINO, Films seen:

- Death Proof

- Pulp Fiction

- Kill Bill

- Reservoir Dogs

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000233/

FRENCH NEW WAVE

French New Wave is a term often associated with a group of French filmmakers of the late 1950s and 1960s, it was influenced by italian classical hollywood cinema and Neorealism associated with a group of French filmmakers from that period because of their self-conscious rejection of classical cinematic form and their spirit of youthful iconoclasm. Although never a formally organized movement, it is an example ofeuropean art cinema.

FILM NOIR

Film Noir or black film is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as stretching from the early 1940s to the late 1950s. Film noir of this era is associated with a low-key black and white visual style that has roots in german expressionist cinematography. The term was widely adopted in the 1970s, many of the classic film noirs were referred to as melodramas. The question of whether film noir qualifies as a distinct genre is a matter of ongoing debate.

AVANT-GARDE FILM

Avant-garde is a French term that literally translates to advanced guard, it means innovative or, ahead of the time and is generally more experimental than conventional film. Avant-garde film makers experiment with new ideas, forms, techniques, and expressions. The objective is to steer clear of typical film conventions.

A film that springs to mind that demonstrates this is called "Rope" directed by Alfred Hitchcock in which the film is taking place in real time and being edited so as to appear as a single continuous shot through the use of long takes. I'm not sure if this film falls under the category of avant garde but its struck me as experimental.

CINÉMA VÉRITÉ

Cinéma vérité "truthful cinema", is a documentary style of cinematography. it combines naturalistic techniques with cinematic editing, camera work and stage set-ups.

it was developed by French film directors in the 1960’s. Their production techniques did not depend on star quality actors, sets, props, casts of thousands, special effects and big budgets which was and is the trend in Hollywood films. The cinema verite directors would tend to use non-actors, small hand- held cameras, and actual homes and surroundings as their location for a film.

Cinema verite reminds me of the dogme 95 technique which i learnt about in film studies last year. The techniques used are fairly similar in terms of them using fairly basic equipment and filming is done on location without the use of props and sets, although there are a number of other rules which don't apply to cinema verite.

Here is an example of a Cinéma vérité

THE BRIEF

Short Film

The OCR brief asks you to produce a short film and two from these three:

• Poster.
• Radio Trailer.
  
• Film magazine review page.