Planning: Inventory List, Locations, Actors

Inventory List:
-P90 (gun)
-MP5 (gun)
-Deagle (gun)
-Sunglasses
-Knife
-Army Combats
-Leather Jacket
-Army Boots

The main location I shall be using is a nearby park. It has various different forests that can be used, and as they are rather hidden away, it makes it easier to use the weapons in public. Another reason for using this is the numerous places that can be used as 'covert' places so that the actor can hide away in the bushes without being seen. We shall also be using a building in the town of Croydon, just to get a few shots of the actor walking through the front door and lastly we shall be using my school to finish it off, and get a few clips in the board room. This shall be used as the setting where the actor is given his 'hitlist'.

My actor is called Tom Springall. He is about 5"9 and has experience in combat forces due to the school CCF. He has many of the items that we have included in the inventory list, therefore saving us costs and time searching for these items. He also has many ideas as to how we could make certain scenes work. The other actor being used is Harry Gartell and he shall be seen for a short amount of time passing the hitlist over to Tom. I have used him as he looks like your stereotypical 'hardman', the 'big boss'.
My other actor is Charlie Tonge who is the other mercenary involved in the trailer who can be seen during the snow scenes.

Planning: Sound

The sound for our trailer is going to be fairly simple. The majority of the trailer will just have a heartbeat playing in the background which quickens up through the timeline where it finally reaches a point where it goes silent. Before this, we have approximately 30 seconds of establishing what it is our character does in which we will be using some sort of dramatic orchestral piece to give a sense of tension. As of yet, my partner and I have not decided whether the soundtrack will continue quietly behind the sound of the heartbeat, whether we shall just have a very low noise or whether it shall just be the heartbeat. This will have to be tested at a later stage.

Planning: Script

For the trailer we have decided that there will be very little in the way of the script, we shall be limiting it to on screen title sequences and a few pieces of voice over.

Ideas for the voice-over:
1:Sure you're up to it?
2: This is what I was born for.

1:Have you ever thought about doing something else?
2:Anything other than killing? No

1:You're in way over your head//You're taking too much on//One day your luck will end

Ideas for the Title Sequences:
-A man fixated on money
-His only motivation is money
-His only emotion is greed
-Becomes careless/sloppy
-A lack of feeling for other humans
-Born to kill
-His greed is his weakness
-1 man..........2 rules.........kill..........survive

Planning: Changes to Storyboard and Idea

Even though at first this seemed like a huge problem we are now using the weather to our advantage. After waking up this morning, we found a huge amount of snow outside, yesterday we were hoping to film the scenes with charlie as the weather has said raining. Instead of just waiting for another day, we have decided to take advantage and use the snow to add more effect to our trailer as a snow scene will be rather impressive. Thank You Snow!

Planning: Filming and shot lists

Tomorrow after looking at a weather report and seeing it is raining we have thought it best to film the scenes with Charlie in them. The fact that it is cold will be useful as I can film the warm air freezing in the air as he breathes. We are prepared, have all the rain Macs and umbrellas to protect the camera and to keep warm. Obviously stocking up and hot drinks and food, so our actor is not starving. Below are all the shots that I would like to get. This includes tomorrow and future filming:

-Tilting the head up into the camera (half of head filmed) Facial expression-angered.
-Turning body round quickly and then dropping to the ground
-Turning the whole body around quickly with the weapon adn taking a shot
-Shots of both Charlie and Tom getting shot in the leg or arm
-Tom dropping out of a tree onto someone running past, breaks his neck.
-Hand to hand combat, disarming Charlie of his firearm
-Rain dropping down the face
-Washing face in the rain
-Collecting rain in water bottle (army issue)
-Tom on the ground, beginning to give up
-Patrolling through the rain (long and close up)
-Running through the woods, water splashing up, close up of feet
-Gun to the back of Tom's head
-Throwing a knife into a tree
-Heavy Breathing
-Walking through Croydon in a big crowd
-Pitch Black, light flashes on, just see Tom's eyes
-Camera underneath Charlie, he walks over it as he patrols
-Running out of ammon with the MP5 and reloading
-Running out of ammo andgetting the deagle out to finsh off the job
-Clouds moving over the sun
-Shaking Hands close-up
-Passing over hitlist, maybe in briefcase, has money
-Shaking hands over the desk, with the big boss
-Patrolling a jumping from tree to tree, taking cover

Planning: Storyboard

Planning: Final idea

After much consideration, I have finally decided on my trailer idea. The concept is that there are two men, who are both hired for agencies as they are mercenaries. THe first mercenary is Tom Springall who shall be seen the most during the trailer is the actor during the scene in the forest where he shall be hanging from trees stabbing people and doing a lot of running around. The second actor Charlie Tonge we shall be using for the forest also, but when it is raining, so it seems like a different time and place as to imply a different mission. The story as a whole is that, these two mercenaries are very greedy, they take on too many jobs and eventually end up taking on the same target. THey end up getting in each others way and it turns to killing each other, which does not exactly work out for the best.

Planning: Idea 2

My second idea was a romance/action film. It would have been set around the 1940's during the World War. The plot would have been fairly simple. A British soldier on deployment in Germany where he meets a woman that is one of the prostitutes for the German soldiers situated outside Berlin. He meets her on an ambush of one of the German bases and 'saves' her from this nightmare. But after a week with her they fall in love, what he does not know is that her children are held captive by the Nazi's and she feels obliged to tell the Germans about the location of some British troops. She realises the mistake she has made and confesses to her new lover who informs his Captain of the attack and then sets out to get her children. He is clearly outnumbered and does not survive but sacrifices himself so that they never know of her betrayal. After careful thought i realised this would be rather hard to do, firstly because of the setting, I would have to get clothes and equipment from the time of the World War, and would also have to find a location that resembled that of the German outskirts during 1940's.

Planning: Idea 1

Our first idea for this piece of coursework was going to be a hybrid between horror and comedy. I thought about using a similar basis to my AS work, a stalker who is fixated on a girl that he knows from work or school and tries to make her love him. As she rejects him over and over again he realises there is only one way for them to finally be together or at least keep her for himself, Death! This is where it would begin to take on the feel of a scary movie film, whereby every attempt to kill the girl is made funny with some stupid accident or mishaps that are not planned. But to maintain a horror film, there would be plenty of blood, screaming, surprises and most importantly, Death! After consideration and some feedback from friends and family I decided it would not be a great idea, solely because, with comedies, it is hard to tell what is funny and what is not, for one person falling over could be hilarious whereas to someone else it could just be seen as pathetic, and as I had already done a horror i decided against it as I felt like more of a challenge.

Planning: Influences for Trailer, Magazine and Poster

The First Trailer shown above is an action genre that was released 3 or 4 years ago, Black Haw Down. The first point I took from this influence was the soundtrack used. It is a rather intense piece, you can hear string instruments, drums and trumpets, but the clearest instrument so to speak are the vocals. They are loud and dramatic which enforces the idea of a war not being easy. The second aspect of the trailer that aids it in the dramatic effect is the voice-over and script that has been included. They produce snippets of dialogue which reveal the gist of the film but do not give away so much that it is pointless seeing it. I will consider both these points when making my trailer.



This trailer, Green Zone is still the same genre as the previous one, released recently but there are a few differences. Firstly, the soundtrack in the background is different. Again there are the sound of drums, but in general, there is a continuous beat throughout. There is no voice heard until the end of the trailer at which is sounds like a rap of some kind which quickens up the pace as rapping is rather fast paced and 'actiony'. This does work well with this trailer and it may be because it is based around one man on a mission. Because of this, I have decided to rule out the idea of a vocal soundtrack, but still using strings and drums to maintain a dramatic beat but still tense.



The first magazine cover that I have linked to this blog section is that of 'Total Film'. One aspect of this magazine that I shall definitely be including in my magazine cover is the use of a large and bold font for the title. The font seems to be Arial further supporting the boldness and helping the magazine to stand out on the shelf. This being the case, my magazine will have a large font size and most likely use the boldness of writing tools. Another aspect of the title is the colour used. All the colours are fairly plain, whites or gold's have been used which gives off a rather modern yet 'antique/professional' look. The use of white helps it stick out as it is a light colour and contrasts with the fairly dark background of character and setting on the magazine cover. Lastly, compared to other magazines that I read, this front cover is very simple, there are no other photos, and limited pugs. Still, there are some incentives on offer for the buyer so I feel that with my magazine I should include something like this.



The second magazine cover that I have linked is 'Empire' magazine. Once again the title is large, but this time not as bold. Another difference is the use of a red font colour, in my opinion it stands out better against the dark background whilst still sustaining a professional look whereas Total Film looked too simplistic. Once again there is a large main image on the front cover, but it does not follow any rule of thirds and fall down the middle third, instead, the image is off to one side. Also, the image covers part of the title which seems like an interesting idea that i may implement into my magazine, but i must note that this is a well known magazine so even after covering up a letter, they can still know what the magazine is. A lot of the pugs unlike total film are a reasonably small font size, they are not all bold and stand out, which makes it easier to fit in pictures of articles that are in the rest of the magazine. This helps to draw the eye of the consumer to the magazine as it gives them a quick overview of what is involved.



The first poster that influenced me was James Bond Golden Eye. The reason I took interest in this was the fact that it is based around one man army who everyone relies on to get the job done. As this is the basis of my film i thought it a good one to inspect. You can instantly tell this will be an action film, it is 'busy'. There are explosions, helicopters, cars, and guns and the whole poster just shouts action. I notice that the main actor Pierce Brosnan, even though slightly in front of the 2 female actresses, he is the same colour and about the same size which does not help him to stand out, which is not what I want. I feel that the poster should make a person stand out especially the main actor.



The second poster achieves this very well. After looking at the green zone trailer and realising that it resembles the idea of my film, i felt it best to have a look at the poster. The first thing you notice is how domineering Matt Damon is in the poster. He fills up the whole page leaving very little space for anything else. It is not colourful, rather dull, but war is not a happy place. Also the title of the film is rather large and a lighter colour making it stand out against the dull background. One problem with this though is that there are no signs of action, i.e. guns or explosions, but I am assuming that as Matt Damon is a well known actor, the majority of people will know that is the type of film he acts in.