Tricky shot list

1 - Match on action when Adrian kicks over the homeless guy’s cup of money. To do this shot we will have to film the whole scene from one angle and then from the other. We will then have to edit both shots together so that the film flows.

2 - All shots with the demon in, where we need to hide his face. This can be achieved by lighting the demon from above or behind, creating shadows and / or a silhouette.

3 - Shot down the corridor as Adrian leaves work - elliptical edit. In order to cut out unnecessary walking shots, the scene showing Adrian walking away from his office will be cut like the shot at 4:43 in this video, except we will slightly crossfade the shots to further exaggerate the passage of time. This will be done by filming him walking down the corridor in one shot. It can then be edited to look like an elliptical shot by cutting a few seconds out and adding a fade.

6 - Match on action when Adrian drops his keys - have to make the demon appear behind him as he bends down to pick up keys, whilst keeping continuity in every other element. To do this shot we will have to film it when he drops his keys all in one shot. Then we could film it from another angle to be able to edit the clips together and create the match on action.

7 - When Adrian's car refuses to start. The sound of engine cranking, and the headlights flickering on and off will be done in an editing suite, rather than being done on-set. They will most probably added in Adobe After Effects with the VideoCopilot lens flare plugin.

8 - Pull focus when Adrian is sitting in his car, and the demon is in the back seat. Focus pulls from Adrian's face, to the demon in the back of the car. This will be done with the manual focusing ring on the lens of the cameras.

9 - Rear view mirror eye-line match. When Adrian gets in his car, he glances at his rear view mirror and sees the demon in the back seat, before spinning around to see it has disappeared. This will require an eye-line match from the drivers' seat of the car, with Adrian's hand adjusting the mirror.

10 - End transition as Adrian is laying on the floor. The shot is meant to look like the transition used in the Final Destination films where the camera quickly zooms into the character's eye then back out again in a different location.

The Script - Scene 4 (Back To The Future)

This is our final scene, and it has some form of time travel. The audience won't be sure whether it's forward or backward, but it is linked to what is previously seen, by the bruise on Adrian's head, from when he fell over in the previous scene.

The final line is a quotation from Wayne Dyer, and it is the premise from which our film comes from.

The Script - Scene 3 (No-Park Zone)

This is Scene 3, and our longest scene in the film. It is the key scene, which displays fear, and most of our special affects. These include; Blood, sound affects, and possibly some smoke and mist affects. 

It is also the scene that the protagonist Adrian sees the full force of karma.

The Script - Scene 2 (Post-Work Blues)

In this scene, the Homeless Man is introduced. Adrian wrongs the man, not by refusing to give him some coin, but by kicking over his glass, which is what brings on the events to come.

The Script - Scene 1 (Yo Adrian)

This is the opening scene in the film. It introduces the protagonist of the film, and shows the title 'Karma' quite small and insignificant in the bottom corner. This will be referenced later, when the title will appear much larger, to show how powerful the force is.

There is also a reference to the 'Rocky' film series in our first scene, when the Co-worker says "Yo Adrian...", as the protagonist is named 'Adrian'.

Karma

Karma is said to be the force that rewards us when we perform good deeds, or punish us when we stray from the will of good. Our film uses this force in order to teach our protagonist a lesson. It is shown as a powerful force. When the protagonist, Adrian refuses the homeless man some coin, and then adds insult to injury by kicking his glass over, the force of karma comes for him.

Quotes
We discovered some quotations that we may use as speech, and as part of our tagline. These are as follows:
"How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours." - Wayne Dyer
"As long as karma exists, the world changes." - Nina Hagen

These will give the effect we desire to our film. The effect we wish to create is that: "Karma will come for you, one way...or another".

Film Poster Ideas 2 - Person in Background

The second idea we've had for our film poster is to have the main character (Adrian) in the foreground of the poster, with the demon in the background.



The first film for inspiration is 'Sherlock Holmes; A Game of Shadows'. In this poster, Robert Downey Jr is in the foreground of the shot, with another character from the film looking back at him from further down the street. This idea would be good as it would accurately represent how Adrian in our film is unaware of the demon for the main part of the film.






Secondly there is the poster for a film called 'The Unborn'. In this poster the woman looking the mirror sees a strange-looking child looking back at her, but there clearly isn't anyone behind her in reality. This is a similar idea to the shot in our film where Adrian sees the demon in his car through the rear-view mirror, but then turns around and there is nothing there.




Finally, the poster for 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'. This poster shows Harry in the foreground taking up the main focus of the poster, but then there is Professor Snape in the background when you look closer. This is similar to the Sherlock Holmes poster, except in this shot Harry seems to be walking away from Snape, in contrast to Sherlock seeming to stand his ground in the top poster. This may be more relevant to our film as Adrian never stands his ground against the demon, instead constantly tries to run away from it.

Film Poster Ideas 1 - Half Faces

Our first idea for a film poster is to have half the face of the old man and half the face of the demon, blurred into each other or with a dividing graphic between two halves of each face. Some examples of these type of posters are shown below.

This poster to the left advertising 'The Ideas of March' is vaguely like the effect we want to achieve, except the cut between the two separate faces isn't obvious enough. At a glance or from a distance, the two different halves of faces could be easily mistaken for one whole face. We want to make the two separate halves more distinctive.





This poster for 'Warrior' is the closest match to the type of thing we want to achieve that we've been able to find. The colours are dreary and dull with only a hint of colour, and the two face halves are separated with a graphic instead of being blurred together. This poster may well inspire our poster for 'Karma'.





Finally, the poster for 'Me, Myself & Irene' also has a graphic to split the two faces, but it is much too clean and neat, whereas our horror film needs a grungier, more ragged graphic. Also, the colouring on the poster is far too vibrant and bright for our film poster, which has to relay the dark, demonic feel of the film.

Propp's Narrative Applied to Die Hard

The 8 Character Roles:

Hero – John McClane

Villain – Hans/Karl/‘terrorists’

Donor – Villain with the detonators

Helper – Argyle/ the policeman

Princess – McClane’s wife / hostages

Father – The policeman

Dispatcher – Christmas

False Hero – Hans/TV journalist

The 31 Functions:

1. John  McClane goes to LA and leaves home

2. Building is on shutdown

3. The Villain enters the building

4. Hans looks for Tekagi 

5. Finds him and gets infomation

6. Hans attempts to get the lock code

7. Tekagi tells Hans to kill him

8. Hans kills Tekagi

9. McClane sees and escapes

10  McClane sets off a fire alarm to signal firemen

11 .McClane travels to the top part of the building which is still under construction

12. McClane kills villain, gets radio and detonators from him

13. McClane puts the body in the lift with a note saying he has a gun

14. Uses radio to contact cop and limo driver

15. McClane comes face to face with Hans in the room with glass doors

16. Shoot-out in the room 

17. McClane gets wounded (glass in his feet)

18.  McClane shoots the villains

19. Hans gets the detonators back 

20. McClane goes back to the bathroom

21. The Villains capture McLane at the top of the building

22. McClane hangs Karl with a chain

23. FBI think he’s a terrorist when he’s seen on the roof from the helicopter 

24. TV journalist reveals McClane’s identity, meaning they now know his wife

25. To escape from the roof he uses a fire hose

26. McClane escapes and rescues his wife Holly after killing hans

27. McClane meets the cop

28. Deputy chief of police, shown up

29. McLane is given a new coat

30. Karl is shot by Cop and journalist is punched by McClanes wife

31. McClane meets family and returns home in a the limo he arrived in

Media Theories

The Hypodermic Needle Model

This is meant to give a mental image of the direct, strategic, and planned infusion of a message into an individual. It is also known as the "Magic Bullet", it assumes that the media's message is a bullet from the "media gun" into the viewers "head". The phase "Hypodermic neele" is meant to give a direct, strategic and planned infusion of a message into an individual. But as research methodology became more highly developed, it became apparent that the media had selective influences on people.

Barthes Code

Barthes code consisted of 5 different codes that could be applied to most narratives. These include;

• The Hermeneutic Code

This refers to any element in a narrative where the story is not fully explained, this then becomes and enigma for the audience, this can be done in several ways. For example;

• Snares (avoiding the truth) Snares 
• Equivocations (partially complete answers) or 
• Jamming's (in which there is no answer to a question

• Proairetic Code

This builds tension, referes to an action that may happen somewhere in the narrative. The Hermeneutic and Proairetic Coes work as a pair to develop story tensions and keep the reader interested.

• The Semantic Code

This takes the use of hidden signs throughout the narrative that may contribute toward its progress. These signs can be applied to;

• Text 
• Images
• Dialogue

• The Symbolic Code

Similar to the Semantic Code but acts at a wider level and usually with a deeper meaning. It is typically done in the use of antithesis, where a new meaning arises out of opposing and conflicts.

Does our script follow Propp's narrative?

Our film doesn't quite follow Propp's narrative, but there are still some similarities. Propp said that most films have the same 8 main character roles:

Hero (main character) - Adrian (Sean)
Villain (conflicts with hero) - Demon / Homeless bloke
Donor (provides an object to help the hero) - None in our film
Helper (aids the hero) - None in our film
Princess (reward for hero) - Adrian's life
Princess' father (rewards hero) - Homeless bloke
Dispatcher (sends the hero on his way) - THE Pencil Company
False hero (pretends to be a 'good guy') - Adrian at the start of the film

Vladimir Propp - Narrative Structure

Vladimir Propp researched the narrative structure of films, and came up with a theory that most blockbuster films follow.

He said that there were a total of 31 functions within a film. These include things such as; absentation, which is the initial tension of something or someone not been where they should be, or the struggle, where the hero a villain face one another.

He also came to the conclusion that there are 8 types of character roles in each film. Sometimes one character can take up more than one role. The roles are as follows;

The Villain - This character is the antagonist of the film, and will be in struggles with the Hero.
The Dispatcher - The character who tells the Hero where or where not to go.
The Helper - There can be more than one Helper, these help the Hero on his/her quest.
The Princess - The one the Hero attempts to save throughout the film.
The Father - Gives the task to the Hero, and identifies the false hero.
The Donor - Gives the hero something to help them with their quest.
The Hero - Reacts to the Dispatcher and Father's information and saves the Princess.
False Hero - Takes credit away from the real Hero, attempts to steal the Princess.

Not every film sticks to these rules entirely, but it is generally correct, as it covers every possible outcome, and every possible character role.

Head cut makeup test

At one point in our film, there is a scene where Adrian (Sean) trips over and cuts his head open. This injury is a vital part of our film, so it needs to look convincing in close-up shots.

To see how difficult it might be to create a prosthetic cut, Matthew used a simple halloween makeup kit consisting of red, black and purple paint, a sachet of fake blood, a fine brush, and a blending sponge.

The finished result is good enough to use in our film, although it might not be as big in the final piece as Adrian only trips and bangs his head on the floor so it wouldn't need to be that serious of a wound.

Simple Film Test - I'll Get the Next One

This is a very short film we made to test a number of techniques and methods such as manual focusing (shown in very first shot), match-on-action (shown throughout the first 20 seconds) and deliberately & correctly breaking the 180 degree rule (shown at 16 seconds in).

The manual focus in the very first shot is used to give the film a professional, modern look. It is also a good introductory shot as the foreground is static, giving room to add a title with all the activity happening in the out-of-focus background.

The match-on-actions throughout the first 20 seconds help link the shots together and make for successful continuity. It also enables us to seamlessly link together shots that were filmed in different locations, as he walks through the door at 16 seconds.

Finally, breaking the 180 degree rule usually should never be done either deliberately or accidentally, but there are a few exceptions; walking up stairs (you can only go up one way and down one way), moving the camera around without a cut at all, to cut on the line so there are 2 cuts altogether, or to cut through a door like we did.

Director - Connor Jackson
Main actor - Sean Martin
Cameraman - Matthew Jones
Editor - Kieran Charlesworth

Research into Film Trailers

In my research of different movie trailers i have noticed what the producers and editors include. The main aim of a trailer is to not give to much away and to make the audience want to go see the film. Usually the trailer will explain what the film is about and sometimes show scenes near the end of the film to grad the audiences attention. In the horror genre this is normally common where they have parts near the end of the film showing. As well as that they also include a scary scene to make the audience jump bringing in the horror genre. A good example of this is the new film called Sinister. Throughout the trailer the story is explained through text on the screen. There are a couple of scenes showing the mysterious character to make the trailer scary. The reason why its a good example is because the final scene of the trailer is where all the children are sat in a dark room. You notice the children and keep your eye only on them. Next thing that happens is the scary character jumps out from the left. Adding this right at the end of the trailer makes the audience jump and remember the trailer after the film they are watching.

Research on Film Posters

Many Hollywood films tend to follow similar patterns in the way their posters are made and advertised to the audience, common trends pop up such as; the main character of the film centred in the middle, the title below the character, a wall paper in the background, the name of the actors in the film located at the top of the page, its release date and a slogan to promote the themes of the film.

Examples from modern cinema include:

The Dark Knight Rises

SkyFall

Final Destination

However, in the past, and in different countries, there have been a lot of abstract and more unique ideas for certain posters, which I believe would be useful for the story in our film.

Pull Focus Research

In our short film we are hoping to use the pull focus technique when Adrian starts to drive off in the car. The first part of focus will be on Adrian looking forward while slowly driving off. The camera will then pull focus to the shadowed figure in the back of the car. The reason why we are doing this is to make the scene look more effective. Doing this means the audience will wonder whats in the back of the car until the camera focuses on the back. Below is a Youtube video of what a pull focus is and whats the best way to do it to make it look professional.