Split - Opening Sequence

Split-Opening Sequence Pitch

Preliminary Task

Our Prelimiary task covers a lot of film features, such as the 180 degree shot in discourse, and does show continuity also. However, our main cameraman Shingai had to become an actor due to another member, Omar, wanting to actually film the footage. This lead to several errors in the actual filming, such as the fact that there were continuity errors, even though the directing had been done right, the fact Omar was inexperienced in using the tool, led to this. Furthermore, in the elevator scene, there was a mirror that showed Omar recording, which also links back to his inexperience. However, that it was Media is about, learning and adapting to new technology.

Evaluation Activity 3

The Production company could be directly responsible for fundraising for the production or may accomplish this through a partner. Production companies are well-known for its variety of task-handling which varies from handling the budgeting, scripting, scheduling, cast and setting and the organization of staff.

Production companies are known for its own production (e.g. Lucasfilm LTD. are widely-known for their production on the critically-acclaimed Star Wars series as well as the Indiana Jones series which they had also produced which led to its own exclusive video games etc.), post-production, distribution and marketing (e.g. Lionsgate Entertainment are well-known for owning the rights to the Hunger Games potential franchise and distributing the movie in the United Kingdom and United States of America).

Production companies are often either owned or under contract with a media conglomerate, film studio, entertainment company, or Motion Picture Company, who act as the production companies parent. They can also be mainstream/independant production companies such as the production company examples which were provided above this piece of information --Lucasfilm LTD. and Lionsgate Entertainment.

A film distributor is a company or individual responsible for releasing movies to the public whether it is on the silver screen/ on a theatrical basis or a straight-to-DVD basis/home viewing in general (e.g T.V/Blu-Ray Disc viewing, Video-On-Demand viewing such as Sky Box Office).

For our Split movie, we would decide to go with the Momentum Pictures production company and this is due to the fact that they were the same company that had produced a notable amount of Bafta/Oscar-winning successes such as The King's Speech, Defiance, and Lost in Translation plus we would have enough budget to be able to request for them to own the rights to our movie (or franchise if the Split movie is released to a lot of positive reviews from audiences and critics alike).

This is due to the fact that momentum Pictures is one of the leading independent motion picture distributors in the UK and Ireland and releases approximately 20 theatrical films a year which means that when marketing our movie, it would be more likely to be a success rather than failing with an independent company that is not really known to the British audience let alone any audiences overseas.

The film production company would usually appear at the start/introduction of the movie as it would establish which production company has produced the movie along with any other companies involved in the production, distribution or marketing or the movie which would then be followed by the list of cast names or just the opening sequence itself.

We had decided to utilize this approach due to the fact that we felt that it would have been more beneficial to formally introduce the audience who would be watching the Split movie, to the production company followed by the New Cinema Entertainment company which would be followed by the opening sequence (with texts full of cast names appearing throughout the opening sequence). This is due to the fact that a particular structure would need to be used when formally introducing film audiences to the people who have had an involvement with the movie itself rather than a random structure that would seem ambiguous.

Evaluation Activity 7- Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

With our preliminary task, it sort of started out as something we wanted to just get out of the way. However it got us thinking about different angles to use in order to avoid continuity errors, and stay inside a time limit. This mean't we had to ensure that everything was accurate, even if the character had actually moved 2 floors, we had to think about how to make it look he had just turned a corner, and how we could express that. This lead to us standing in different positions, and using different video's as inspiration.

Furthermore, when in dialogue scenes, and that how I discovered the 180 degree rule, which in fact I had never paid attention to it in Film's. This technique has its virtues, and has huge significance in dialogue scenes. The preliminary task taught me that continuity is a big part of filming, whether your shooting a film or an interview, it is important to set the scene and establish your characters in order for the viewers to be able to smoothly follow the action, and more importantly, understand what is happening. The 180 degree rule is simply that  2 characters in a scene should always have left/right relationship to each other, to ensure that the continuity is correct.

I also learnt that I could play with the viewers imagination by ensuring that I got my continuity right through the shot, reverse shot technique. This involved making a character look at a specific direction, presumably at something of screen, and then having a second character seemingly look back at the first character, who is now off-screen. The fact that they are looking at specific directions, and that the shots are being taken from specific angles, I learnt that you can sort of make the viewers emphasize more with the character, as they sort of become them since they are sussing what they are looking at. It is a very useful technique.

The preliminary task acted as a sort of guideline, and induction to the actual final product, as I let it all rip then, and ensured that most techniques where used in order to actually represent the main character. We used tripods to make everything more steady, and ensured that we actually used our camera angle's to represent Bradley Keano, as we were aware that those first few minutes of the film, were the most crucial.

The continuity reverberated throughout our Final product, which in itself, expressed how much of an impact it had had on us. An example includes when we showed the football scene, although their were many errors, we actually did a good job through the editing to ensure that it actually all went together smoothly.

-Liban Ali (Split Movie Co-director, Producer, Co-ordinator and Actor)

Evaluation Activity 6- What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

I have learnt that in order to make a good film you don't exactly need the best of the best, but instead a good plan, and a good idea which will enable you to actually generate a good media product. Examples include the film Monster's, a film that revolved around CGI effects, only cost £500,000. That itself conveyed that the fact that the producer had a plan in mind, he would be able to actually construct this, without using the best technologies. That film made a box office over £4 million.

What this process has taught me is how to make good imaginations come to life, and how to create my innovative ideas through the aid of technologies. By this I mean the fact I was given the opportunity to work with the likes of Apple Mac's, and Panasonic HD camera's as well as the helpful stilts. This itself, lets your imagination run wild, as it gives you that leverage to actually represent scenes in an accurate manner, and to actually achieve my aims with this film.

The Mac proved to be one of the most resourceful tools

The Apple Imac was the key to the editing of the Split opening sequence through the pre-installed Adobe Premier Pro. Although it's way of style is different to that of a ''normal'' computer, this piece of technology allowed us to reach our aims.

Other pre-installed programs included the Photoshop Cs3, which I was familiar with due to my experience with the software, however, I still managed to learn more than I ever thought I would through utilizing this Computer.

The quality of this camera was superb

The Panasonic HD camera's enabled me and my crew to actually achieve what we wanted by representing the character in the opening sequence to an authentic style. This camera allowed us to adopt different techniques, and its production proved to be to a very high standard.

Although it tooks us many reattempts due to our amateurism, so it was ineivatbale, but none of those deleted footages were due to us using the camera incorrectly, more of us actually getting our representations wrong. This insinuates that this Camera was an easy tool to use, and really did aid us with constructing Split.

The way the camera captured footage's, whether quick or slow, was absolutely phenomenal, and the only regret we as a team have, was the fact that we were beaten to one of these camera's for our last scene, which mean't that, in some form, the standard dropped, although it was a significant scene.

Blogger has astounded me in many ways

This allowed me to actually justify everything that I've done,  and has been a very useful tool in expressing myself. Furthermore, it has given me that confidence since I am aware that whatever I do, I can then explain and justify and ensure that is made obvious that it was done intentionally.

It has also had an affect on me, and this process has introduced me to Blogger, which I think, will be using for the foreseeable future, in a personal manner. The way that it allows one to actually post, and construct they're on web, and the manner it records how many posts you've done in each month has astounded me. I am very fond of Blogger, and I am very grateful for this process to have introduced me to it.

Prior to this process, I had never come across this, but after the Split opening sequence, I have somewhat become an addict to this program, and how it enables you to construct your imaginations to such a level that it exceeds what you had initially imagined.

Without this technology, our Split product would most likely not have been produced to the standard it is today. It enabled us to edit this video using various effects such as the flashback monochrome, which in brief, which aided in strengthening our movie-editing skills. We utilized video transitions such as well as being able to experiment with audio effects too. Examples of this include, expontential fade, which we used to change the volumes of our sound track at specific parts within the opening sequence that were editing with the aid of this beautiful program.

Evaluation Activity 5- How did you attract/address your audience?

In order to attract the right people, you would need to of course actually use the tag's that would be popular, or varied. An example would include, ''Gang'', or ''London'', or even ''grime'', this would ensure that we would have a much wider base of people actually viewing it, and we would get constructive feedback. Furthermore, we would still actually reach out to the audience we hoped we would.

Films that could be compared to Split would be the likes of Kidulthood, Shank etc. However, none of these films focus on the peer pressure that teenagers go through, which in today's society is a very serious issue, and that is something Split covers, and revolves around. Like the titles listed above, Split does not just focus on the actual gang-life, and the problems that can occur to a Gang, but focuses more on the individual, and how those who aspire to escape from the clutches of the gang life are held back.

The movie itself has been designed in such a way to actually inspire our audience, which is also another key reason why we have actually chosen a teenager audience. Hopefully the determination represented by Bradley Keano will be something our audience, who may be in a similar situation, can gather confidence from and use to converse themselves to actually do the right thing, and make something of themselves.