My groups final storyboard

My storyboard contribution

 

What is sound design in film?

First, we were taught about diegetic sound. This consists of sounds that we would hear if we were in the scene aka this is what the characters in the scene can hear. An example of this is a bell ringing. Ambient sound is one category of diegetic sound. This could be chatter in the background of a café scene for example. This is crucial in helping establish location. 

The next diegetic sound used in film is dialogue/ conversation. This typically happens between character talking to one another in a scene. Finally, there is ‘Foley sound,’ which is another name for sound effects, for example someone walking. These sounds are created by people called Foley artists, who record the sounds effects separately from the film footage.

The second type of sound we were taught is non diegetic sound. This sound cannot be heard by the characters in the scene and there are two types. Firstly, there is ‘voice over.’ This can be heard by the characters, but it can also be non-diegetic. It is essentially narration. Secondly there is soundtrack, which is often used for ‘mood building,’ e.g happy music if there is a happy moment in the scene. Theme music is under the category of soundtrack.

Theme music has a recognisable melody upon which part, if not all of the composition is based. A Leitmotif is used in soundtrack as a recurring theme which is composed and associated with a specific person or theme. It is used to indicate specific characteristics of a person e.g major/ heroic music for the hero and villainous minor music for the villain.

Here is an example of me incorporating soundtrack into my short film sequence I made last week.

Age certification and target audience

British board of film classification

The BBFC are a regulatory board. Regulatory boards are organisations that are in charge of setting the rules that control certain sets of products in a specific industry. In this case, the BBFC regulates the British film industry.

Their job is to set rules about what can and can’t be put into films, and are also in charge of rating all films in the UK varying certificates based on the content of the films. A film cannot be released in the UK in cinemas or DVD without the BBFC giving it an age rating.

Things they consider when rating films:

Scenes including violence

Scene including sex and nudity

Scenes including obscure/ discriminatory language

Scenes of self harm

Scenes of criminal activity/ dangerous behaviour

Scenes of drug, alcohol and cigarettes

Scenes involving child actors/ characters

Strobe lighting

They also consider context: Animated or fantasy films are often allowed to have more violence as the BBFC recognises that audiences will be able to tell that it isn’t real. Also, there are often not any serious injuries shown in these films e.g lots of blood.

If a film portrays drugs in a negative way, and how they have bad consequences, it can be given a lower rating. However, if they portray drugs as positive and fun then it is given a higher rating so kids and young adults don’t get influenced. Violence is another example, e.g how realistic is the violence, is the violence punished? Is the violence enjoyed? Is it self defence?

Here are some examples of things that can/ can’t be included in each rating:

PG

Dangerous behaviour- no detail of behaviour that young children are likely to copy

No glamorisation of easily accessible weapons e.g knives

Drugs- reference to illegal drugs or misuse must be innocuous or carry a suitable anti-drug message.

Nudity- there may be nudity with no sexual context

Violence- violence is usually mild however is more moderate if justified by context for example history, fantasy.

12A

Discrimination- discriminatory language/ behaviour must not be endorsed by the work as a whole. Aggressive discriminatory language or behaviour is unlikely to be accepted

Language- there may be moderate bad language however strong language can be permitted with justification

Sex- sexual activity may be briefly and discreetly portrayed.

Threat and horror- there may be moderate physical and psychological threat and horror sequences. However horror sequences should not be frequent or sustained

 

15

Dangerous behaviour- behaviour like self harming, suicide, should not dwell on detail which could be copied. The depiction of easily accessible weapons will depend on context

Drug- may be shown but the work as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse.

Sexual violence/ sexual threat- There may be strong verbal references to sexual violence, but any depiction of stronger forms of sexual violence, for example rape must not be prolonged. A strong, sustained focus on sexual threat is unacceptable.

Violence- violence may be strong, but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury.  The strongest images are unlikely to be acceptable.

 

18

Adults should be free to choose their own entertainment. Here are some exceptions the following areas:

Where material is in breach of the law

Where material or treatment appear to risk harm to individuals or society. For example detailed portrayal of violent or dangerous acts like sadistic violence, rape, or other non-consensual sexually violent behaviour which makes this violence look appealing.

Where there are more explicit images of sexual activity in the context of sew work.

I think the BBFC would make my opening sequence a 15, this is because:

There is quite strong violence, for example when she is hitting his head repeatedly against the lift wall and blood is running down his face. The violence in this sequence is quite consistent as it is a fight scene. Also, the character that is doing this is the heroin, so it shows ‘the good guy,’ being violent, which could promote violence to a certain extent. In this scene, there is, if not a constant, threat to both characters, for example when the man realises that the woman is lying, we are worried that something bad might happen to her, but then the man is in danger after the woman starts to fight him. These injuries and themes would be too violent for a 12 but I don’t think the sequence would need to be classified as an 18.

Workshop 3: Shooting a sequence

 

What is storyboarding and what does it include?

A story board is an illustrated version of what the story looks like/ which shots may be incorporated.

What they include: typically they include an image which is drawn or done digitally

Shot number – which shot they are filming

Location – where the shot is located                     

Action- what the actor is doing i.e pressing a button on the lift.

Shot/movement- what angle the shot is filmed at eg mid shot and what movement there is, if any eg

Sound- what noise is going on eg diagetic noise of the elevator music

Lighting- what kind of lighting is used and what colour eg warm lighting coming from ceiling of lift

Transition- what links each clip eg dissolve or cut that is used in editing.

Why it is important before and after filming:

Before:

Help to plan and organise your thoughts. It helps you grasp how things might look visually

Also time for trial and error; this is crucial when on set because you do not have the time to try out new things/ make errors.

It considers the editing as this illustrates the basic look of the final film.

After

Helps the editor guide their choices of editing as they are able to get a clearer view of what the film will look like.

Step by step outline

Our Step-by-Step breakdown of what happens in our opening scene.

1. Girl walks into the elevator, and presses the button for level 3, with an envelope in hand.

2. There is a voice heard, shouting for her to “Hold the door!” and a man slides through the closing elevator doors right at the last moment.

3. Noticing that she’s already pressed his level, he mentions it to her, “going to the same level I see? Where are you headed?” She responds with apartment D2, his apartment. He finds this peculiar, and begins to question her. 

4. However, when she realises she has been caught, she has to act quickly as the man has now seen her and is highly suspicious, she panics, and in a quick, split-second decision, she lunges at him and they fight.

5. Engaging in a quick combat scene, punches are thrown and suddenly this once perhaps overlooked woman begins to exhibit her agility and strength, dodging punches and using her opponent's strength against him. He punches through the elevator wall, getting his hand stuck in the side. With him sufficiently trapped, she bashes his head against the wall. 

6. Wiping the blood from her brow, she as consequently she managed to kill her opponent, although she wasn’t perfect. Her fight scene was messy and disorganized, leaving both characters and shambles. It is clear she isn’t as experienced as other action movie heroes might be, the rest of the film would be about her learning from her initial mistakes and really mastering her craft.

7. The sequence finishes with a man lying on the floor of the lift, dead. The woman grabs her envelope again, however she looks up and notices something in the corner of her eye, a CCTV camera. It had recorded everything.

Workshop 2: 180 degree rule

The 180-degree rule is a ‘cinematography guideline that states that two characters in a scene should maintain the same left/right relationship to one another.’ 

Imagine drawing a circle around the two points of interest in the scene e.g a person and an object. Then cut that circle down the middle through both points of interest. The film crew then choose one side to film. This is shown in the diagram on the right.

By keeping The camera on one side of the image, it is easier for the audience to grasp where the characters are looking and who they are talking to, otherwise it can look like they are talking to themselves.

I tried to use what I had learnt and created three images of different shots that are commonly used in 180 degree rule scenes. I filmed a wide, over the shoulder and close up shot.

Saul and Elaine Bass Research

 Elaine Bass is an American title designer and filmmaker and has contributed to titles sequences for films such as Spartacus (1960), West Side Story (1961) Goodfellas (1990) and many others. 

In 1955 Elaine got the job of assistant to graphic and title designer Saul Bass and directed the opening tile sequence of Spartacus in 1960. 

Saul Bass has worked with filmmakers such as Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, and Martin Scorsese. He even created a new type of kinetic typography for the opening title sequence of ‘Vertigo’ (1958). 

She soon married Saul bass and they collaborated on title sequences for ‘west side story’ (1961) ‘walk on the wild side’ (1962) and others. 

However, they took a break for a while to focus on bringing up their children and then returned back to the film industry where they worked on sequences such as ‘Cape fear’ (1991), ‘Casino’ (1995) and others. Casino was their last film together before Saul passed away in 1996.

The video below goes into detail about Saul Bass' art style and techniques when making his title sequences e.g less is more.

 

I had a closer look at Saul Bass' opening sequence to ‘Vertigo.’ This title sequence was created by Saul Bass in (1958) There of close-up imagery of a woman’s facial features e.g her mouth and nose. Credits also appear however this face is the main focus. It adds quite a lot of mystery as to who this person is as we can see her facial features but may not be able to completely piece them together as we never see her full face. Because the opening of the title sequence is highly focused on this woman, it is fair to assume that she will be an important character. 

When the title ‘vertigo,’ appears on screen, we are focused on the woman’s eye, this is the facial feature that the camera lingers on for the longest. The imagery of the eye is very interesting and it is clear that sight, and what we see visually will be a key part of the storyline. 

I also believe this opening title sequence hints to the fact that the film will be quite dark and possibly of the thriller genre. After the ‘vertigo,’ appears there is a wash of red and the facial expression drastically changes from neutral to scared. This suggests that she is scared of something which is further emphasised buy the fact that we often associate the colour red with danger and fear.

The next key moment in this opening sequence is the imagery of the swirls used. These first appear in the pupil of the eye and gradually grow in size. This creates a very hypnotic image and the motions are slow but could almost symbolise some kind of dizziness/ uneasy feeling. 

The titles enter by fading in and out or zooming in and out. This also adds to the hypnotic feel as there are no sudden movements to break the motion. The font of the title however does not reflect the theme of the opening sequence. The font is ‘tidy’ and ‘sophisticated.’ It doesn’t look dangerous or mysterious in any way, therefore, maybe there are some quite wealthy characters in this film.