Last Lesson of the Year

Storyboard Analysis





18/12/15
Things to do:
-Source the black gym bags
 -Have a trial run of the symbols on hand
-Source the fake barbed wire and do trial run
-Create the letter
-Sort out map for the ipad
-Have saved the animatic to a disc so I can do the analysis over Christmas break
-Prepare shooting schedule
-Take mock photo for my poster design




THE SHOOTING SCHEDULE


In order for use to ensure we are organised for filming we needed a  shooting schedule. Me and my partner came up with each of the locations which we needed of our filming and placed each numbered shot under the location it would be filmed. She then went through and highlighted each shot to show when our characters would need to look clean and when they would need to look dirty so that I knew when I would need to change their outfits. The shooting schedule created is shown below;

Final Animatic and Analysis

Animatic analysis from mmmillie13

Animatic critical analysis five shots from mmmillie13

Defieance Plot

This is the final plot for our film trailer. My partner and I came up with the idea together within lessons based on the individual plots we created and then I typed up the plot at home and brought it in to show our teachers.

Defiance (Plot Synopsis)

Setting the scene: In the year 2056 the world has become over populated and is struggling to cope with the demands of every citizen. It has been decided that something needs to be done in order to reduce the population of the planet. Teenagers are being targeted, as well as their families.

A group of teenagers wake up and find themselves on top of a mountain, with no recollection of how they got there. The teens are confused and disorientated. The main character, Olivia, is established. Olivia mutters “what is this place?” under her breath, when she hears a voice saying “hey, check this out” in the background. She turns to spot her ex-boyfriend Connor, walking towards a rock with a note on top.

Meanwhile, at a ‘control room’ two people are watching monitors whilst another person is taking down notes. One of the people sat at the monitors turns to the note taker and says “station 21 is now active.” This is where the characters are situated.

Back at the station, Connor removes the note from the top of the rock and begins to read it. Whilst Connor reads the note, Olivia scans around the group to try and find a familiar face. She spots Nate, a boy who attended her school, who seems strangely at ease. When Nate looks up he sees Olivia, Olivia quickly changes her attention to Connor reading the note. 

“Hello Station 21…as you are all probably aware today’s world is becoming over populated. We are struggling to provide for future generations. As teenagers, you are the future of our planet. You have been put here so we can distinguish the elite to ensure that only the strongest people both mentally and physically survive. You will notice a letter on your left hand, which corresponds with four other people; these are now your groups. Each member is your assigned group must be alive and with you in order for you to survive. The winning group will become a part of our new world along with their families. All other groups will be eliminated as well as each member’s families. There are 8 stations for you to reach. Each one will house a pack for your group containing vital necessities for members of your group. Intelligence is the key to your survival, my the best group succeed”

Connor slowly lowers the note from his eye-line and looks out over the group of teens. The whole group look astonished at what they had heard. Could this really be happening? After a moment of silence the group begin to look at their hands and find their group members. Once in their groups, each team picks up a pack from the rock and head off in separate directions, Olivia with Connor in group A and Nate with his group, group C.

We follow group A whilst they find a safe patch to go through their pack, Connor automatically takes charge handing out rations of food and bottled water. He then finds a map which gives directions to the next location of their next pack. Connor suggests that before they head for their next pack they should find water, to help keep them hydrated. Group A split up and head in different directions in search of water and decide to meet back at their safe spot.

Whilst searching, Olivia forgets the way back to her group and becomes lost in a forest. She comes across group C, who are calling out for Nate. They are searching for him. Olivia tries to stay quiet and hidden. Nate spots Olivia and places his hand over her mouth and pulls her to behind a nearby  tree, before removing his hand Nate whispers ‘shh’ to Olivia. Nate removes his hand and his group head off in the background. Nate then says quietly “we need to get out of here” as Nate begins to walk away Olivia stays put. He then asks her “are you coming?” She then follows him.

Nate leads Olivia to an abandoned building where he has already set up camp with some of his group’s supplies, including their map. He invites Olivia to sit down where she then asks him why did he leave his group. Nate is silent at first; he then begins to explain that he has nothing left to fight for. His mother passed away when he was younger and his father left him and his little sister alone. They had been raised in foster care ever since. He explains to Olivia he left his group because he felt that he could try and escape to find his little sister. “We’ve never been apart, I don’t want to abandon her like my father abandoned us” says Nate. Olivia comforts him saying that none of this is his fault. They then fall asleep in the abandoned shelter.

When the pair wake up Olivia feels guilty and says she wants to go back and help her group, as she is about to leave Nate shouts after her saying “even though they left you for dead?!” Olivia stops in her tracks and begins to realise that none of her group have been to look for her since they parted. She decides to stay with Nate, on the condition that if they find her group then she is leaving with them. They then look at the map and head for the next station where Nate hopes to get his ration from his groups pack before his group collect it.

Back in the ‘control room’ a person who seems of high authority asks the people watching the monitors, “what is going on at station 21?” the people at the monitors reply “they seemed to have formed an alliance, what do you want us to do?” after consideration the person of high authority says “add another pack to the next pick up point, it looks like we have ourselves a rebellion”

Back at station 21 Nate and Olivia reach the next station where they spot one more pack than usual. The pack holds the letters “A+C” on it along with a note. Nate reads the note with Olivia near “we have been monitoring you closely and have decided to bend the rules slightly and allow you to form your own group…good luck”

Nate and Olivia look bewildered at first but then accept the new rule put into place. Whilst on their way back to the ‘safe house’ someone grabs Olivia from behind. When she turns around she sees Connor who says “come on we have to leave” Olivia struggles to get away from Connor when Nate comes along and intervenes. The boys end up in a disagreement, when Olivia splits them up and says “come on Nate we have to go.” Tired from the fight Connor lets them go. On their way back to the safe house Nate and Olivia pass another group. One of the members of the group’s members has been stung and is in anaphylactic shock, very unlikely to survive. In desperation the other group members grab Nate’s bag in search of medication for the group member. Nate shouts back “it doesn’t work like that! We won’t have anything that can save him.” There is no medication in Nate’s pack as each pack holds items specific for each groups needs. The member who is suffering dies, the group member holding Nate’s pack then looks down at the pack and spots the two letters. In a moment of anger he shouts at Nate “what’s this supposed to mean?!” Nate begins to explain how he and Olivia had been placed into their own group. The group then realise that they no longer stand a chance at winning so offer their pack to Olivia and Nate telling them to go forward and save their families.

Back with Olivia’s old group, group A, Connor is unsettled and unaware of the new group which has been formed. He says that they have to search for Olivia. His group however are more concerned with their low running supplies and suggest they go for their next pack then search for Olivia. Connor then agrees and says as he is the fastest he will head for the next pack whilst his group search for Olivia.

Meanwhile Nate and Olivia settle down for the night, however, Nate is still bewildered as to why the group just gave up their pack. Olivia says they just wanted to help them save their families. Nate feels guilty as he doesn’t really have a family to protect.

Olivia and Nate are woken up at the dead of night to a horrendous scream. They head out to investigate. Olivia comes across Connor, who seems to have been pushed from the top of the mountain and is trapped in barbed wire. Olivia rushes to his aid and tries to get the wire off of him, when she eventually gets all of the wire off of Connor; he has already lost too much blood and is becoming weak. She cradles his as he struggles for breath. She begins to cry and shouts to Nate “you have to help him!” Nate replies “Olivia, I can’t save him now” Connor then grabs her hand and says “please don’t hate me; I was coming back for you” The teens share their last look before Connor dies. Olivia weeps for a moment then looks up at Nate with tears rolling down her face saying “we have to complete this”

The pair then leaves Connor at early hours of the morning and head for the next station. As they get to the next station, they see two members of Nate’s group collecting their pack. They keep low. However, they notice one of the members struggling with the windy conditions on top of the mountain; the member kneels down on the floor and appears to be struggling. Before they can get to their pump they fall to the floor and dies from a severe asthma attack. Nate steps out and apologies to the other member. They then turn to Nate and say you’re the last group.

Olivia steps out and joins Nate where they look down at the packs and see each team which hasn’t made it. The pair looks at each other and exchanges a smile. Nate then reaches out and hugs Olivia saying “I couldn’t have done this without you” before Olivia can reply two men appear from nowhere and grab Olivia and Nate. They then take them to two separate helicopters, it is then Nate and Olivia realise that they are being separated. The pair exchanges one last look whilst Olivia shouts “give my love to your sister” Nate grins and says “I will.” They then step into their helicopters and set off. Olivia begins to weep with exhaustion and sadness as to what has happened over the past few weeks. A man then looks at her and says “chin up, you and your family are joining the new world.”

Props and Costumes.

Today in class we had a discussion about the use of props and costumes in our trailer and what we want them to represent. We have come up with a list of what needs to be made and how I will do it. I will be in charge of making the props as we felt I had a better background in that area, having made props for previous school shows and having studied art through out my education.
Props
The Map- Originally we thought that we would create a paper map but after thinking about what this would represent we changed our minds. Our film is set in the future so we have decided to use an ipad. This will help convey that technology is more advanced. Paper maps are barely used now so why would they be used in the future? On the ipad we will open maps and add marks where each station will be and it will create a route. We have decided to use the Breacon beacons as our maps as it will show the most rural amount of land as well as water such as streams which is involved in our trailer so is important.
The Rucksacks- We have decided to purchase plain black drawstring bags to keep it simple as they don't need to be very high-tech. In the trailer we only need to see the symbol on the bag to understand the narrative.
The Note- The note I feel is a very important part of the trailer and has a lot of focus on it towards the begin, this prop really helps to set the narrative. Again we need to remember that our story is set in the future so we need the note to be clear, clean and crisp, currently leaning towards it be printed on white card and then signed at the bottom.
Name Tag- The name tag is to represent that the character is below the female in power. He's less important so he needs to be 'tagged' to show that he is part of the group. This will be made by printing a photo, along with the name and job title onto a piece of card and laminated. We will then clip this to his t-shirt pocket.
The Control Room- In the control room it is vital to have multiple screens in the shot. We will be using laptops and a projector for this. On each screen will be a slide containing still shots of places all over the world so we can show that this is happening on a global scale.
School- When our characters are in school we have them stood next to lockers. In this scene to show that they are in school we will also have them holding books and folders. For each character we will have them holding a book for a subject that you can just about see in the shot. We will do this so we can represent more of their personality before they get put in that situation.
Bedroom Scene- Although it is a girls room we need to create, the room should be poorly decorated at she is an orphan and there will have been no one there for her to do it. The main focus will be on the bed and the teddies. We want the character to have a lot of teddies surrounding her to represent that they are almost a comfort blanket for her. Almost like they are protecting her.
Costumes
The groups- When placed in the situation they wake up coordinated into groups by both colour and symbol. We carefull1y thought about the symbols and eventually decided upon animals and then placed certain characters into different animals based on both their personality and ability. This is what we decided on.
Wolves- Grey T-shirt
Snakes- Green T-shirt
Owl- Orange/ brown T-shirt
The colours were chosen to coordinate with the animals. Along with the t-shirt the characters will wear either black jeans or black outdoor wear and a natural coloured pair of shoes that they can run in.
Station Room- For the station room we want things to feel almost clinical/sterile, almost creating an uncomfortable atmosphere. So when doing this we will have our minor character wearing a white shirt and black tie and black trousers and then to represent power our female character in the scene will be wearing all white, fitted to give more or a dynamic silhouette.
School Scene- For all the characters in this scene we will have them in school uniform so it easier to instantly identify that they are in school.
Nate and sister scene- For this we will have Nate in his own casual clothes but have this again so it reflects some of his personality. For the sister we will have her dressed in pyjamas. We have to remember with this that both of them are orphans so haven't had a good up bringing so wont have the same luxuries as others.
Continuity Considerations
Clothes will need to be getting dirtier as it goes on, hair more messy, face and body less clean.
In school scene they need to look more done up and the way they look should reflect their personalities.
These things will be important to remember when shooting as it will need to be consistent in the trailer so this will have a big affect on the way we order our shooting schedule.

Props and Trial Runs

Divergent Poster Analysis

Divergent poster analysis from mmmillie13

Poster research from mmmillie13

A2 Media Poster Analysis- The Host from mmmillie13

Coursework Lesson/ Mood Board for our genre

On Tuesday (17th) we had our first meeting with some of our cast members. We exchanged details and t-shirt sizes so that we could begin to plan our shooting schedule and start buying the costumes. Having only just met our actors we got to know them a little better so we could decided who would suit what role. We have now planned a full cast meeting for Friday (20th) to give our main actors a copy of the plot and to do a screen test. We also plan to have our shooting schedule ready to give to them after having now received everyone's timetables.
In todays lesson (19th) we began taking shots for animatic. Unfortunately due to weather conditions we couldn't take the shots that we wanted to outside and instead got some of our flashback school scenes done. I feel like the shots we took went well and although we mainly took the shots from our storyboard that we planned to do we also took some experimental shots to see what worked and what didn't in different situations.




Moving Forward.
With in the next week I want to have the following things done:

• A shooting schedule to be completed and given to our main actors for the animatic.
• Our questionnaire to be handed out and the data collected.
• For all costumes to be bought and tried on by our actors.
• To have our screen tests done of our three main characters and up on the blog.
• To have filmed our storyboard explaining each shot and uploaded onto the blog.
• To begin sketches for our props and symbols.
• To buy fake barbed wire and do a practice run with jess for that shot.

Mood board for my genre from mmmillie13

Locations decided upon for the trailer.

Locations from mmmillie13

Original Plot

Looking Film Trailers

What i’ve learnt from looking at dystopian trailers from mmmillie13

The Hunger Games
What is the genre? - The Hunger games is a hybrid of genres; it's adventure, science fiction, drama and action.
How is the audience able to identify the genre of film? -You can see the action/ adventure through the shots of the training centre and the arena.
The most dramatic moment in the film is when Katniss the lead female volunteers for her sister. The relationship with gale also shows drama in the trailer.
The science-fiction aspect is shown through the establishing shot of the capitol along with the futuristic soundtrack, sterile setting and the white sterile costumes typical to that genre.
How does the trailer target an audience? -The trailer really plays on emotions and there is at least one aspect in the trailer that everyone can identify with from love, family, fear, loneliness or relationships.
The fan base of the main actors are mainly teens aged 12-19. the main characters are purposely younger so that that age group can see themselves as them. However, it's not just teens that watch the movies it's all ranges. In the trailer it effects more than just the teens but families too which makes a wider variety of ages identify with it.
How long is the film trailer? - 2 minutes 38 seconds.
How many shots? 144
What transitions are used? - Jump cuts were used for the action sequences and tense moments. Fade into and fade to black were used for the more dramatic moments.
How does the trailer represent characters and their relationships?
Katniss and Prim: Close sister relationship shown through their body language with each other; holding hands. They are often together in a shot highlighting that they have each other and the most important thing from the trailer that we learn about their relationship is that katniss is willing to die for her sister when she volunteers.
Katniss and Gale: Their relationship is close and protective between them. This is often shown through their facial expressions.
Effie: In the trailer she doesn't fit and is seen as an outcast but still someone with high importance as she reaps the names of the tributes.
Haymitch: His character is seen as guidance and a mentor. This is shown through is wise tone and dialogue.
Peeta: To me Peeta is one of the most relatable characters from the trailer as he often looks the most scared and vulnerable. His words "If I'm going to die, I want to still be me" shows us how he thinks and is something we can relate to.
How does the trailer create a narrative? - Mainly through the diegetic dialogue and order of the trailer. "Welcome, the time has come to select one courageous man and women for the honour of representing district 12 in the 74th annual hunger games". Settings and costumes also help us follow the story line.
What does it reveal about the plot? - That a man and women from each district gets 'reaped' (randomly drawn) to be part of the hunger games. Prim gets pulled out despite her name only being in there once but Katniss volunteers for her. Peeta is also chosen. They then go to the capitol where they are 'made to look pretty' for interviews etc. They also go through training in practice for the arena. Towards the end of the trailer we finally see the arena and 'The Hunger Games' begin.
How does the trailer create a code of enigma? - By leaving us with questions, not telling us the full plot.
-Ultimately who survives?
- How do they win?
-Peeta says in the trailer "I just wish there was a way that I could show them that they don't own me'. Does he prove this?
-What is the capital and the districts?
-Why is there a Hunger Games?
How does the trailer communicate with the audience? - Through the inter-titles mainly.
-'The games will change everyone.' This speaks directly to us.
- 'From the best-selling EPIC NOVELS.' This speaks directly to people who have been long term fans of the books and have been waiting for the films.
What type of camera shots are most used? -
- Close ups to show and make the audience connect more with the characters emotions.
-Long shots to help show the audience more of the situation.
-Establishing shots helps with the narrative.
-Low angled shot of people looking up, this shows power.
A lot of screen time is on Katniss, this help the audience identify that she is the main character.
How does the trailer establish the mood and expectation of the film? - In the trailer it has a slow start which makes you calm and then at the reaping it gets a lot more tense. It then movers onto the capitol where things are rushed and very modern/futuristic and then the arena where its gets faster and where the action/adventure comes in. We expect the film to follow the same pattern as the trailer. Slow and calm, getting more tense, and then leading to a faster more action filled end.
How is the mis-en-scene constructed?
Costumes- District 12 has very muted tones showing no wealth. Which is a strong contrast to Effie who wears strong colours and has a very expensive look. The tribute uniform is combat wear and is very appropriate for what they are doing. Peacekeeper uniforms are white with helmets. White shows peace witch matches there name. The president is in a suit which again shows peace but also power and he has a white rose in his pocket to represent peace.
Setting- Clear contrast between district 12 and the capital. District 12 looks broken, old and like it's in the war times. Where as the capital looks very sterile, modern,extremely futuristic compared to the districts. The settings really help to explain the narrative in the trailer.
Why has the film studio used the trailer to market the product? - Allows you to see some of the narrative and leaves you with questions that you need answering. It hooks you in and also shows you how good the film might be. It also gives you the oppitunity to look at the actors and their roles in the film. This can help with creating a direction for the character and helps you to identify with the characters.

Final trailer analysis from mmmillie13