Team Action Plan for Week 1 - 09/01/12

Detailed Storyboard including:

• camera shots/angles
• character positioning
• timing
• transitions

Confirmation e-mail to actors including:

• what they need to wear
• where they need to be and what time
• props they need to bring
• information on their character

Confirmation of shooting date must be arranged with the school caretaker so school can be opened for us on a Saturday. We have chose to shoot on a saturday becasuse we can get a lot done in one go, the light will be constant as after-school it will be too dark outside, our actors mainly come from other schools and school will be too busy on a weekday with pupils.

Science Boys Character Profiles

Based on research in programmes such as 'The Big Bang Theory' and 'The Inbetweeners' which have really inspired out Science Boys concept, me and Kirsty have created these four basic character outlines:


Matt
....he is the groups 'leader' and will be providing the voice-over for the opening sequence describing his friends to the audience. Matt wants to be cool, thinks he is a bit of a ladies man and tries to not fit to the 'science nerd' stereotype so attempts to wear fashionable clothing and use fashionable sayings, but unfortunately fails. 


Ashley
...is a very feminate character who looks stylish, but does not fit in with the 'sporty' boys and finds he fits in more with the 'science nerds'. He is the sarcastic and blunter member of the group which is where his humour comes from and he does tend to look down on the other science Boys seeing himself as superior in all ways.


Fenton
...is an extravagant character who is seen by others as 'weird'. He wears sunglasses and strange hats and says odd things but has a real passion for physics and is very intelligent. He is the quietest of the Science Boys group who doesn't see it as nessasary to talk unless it is to say something he sees as useful. 


Daniel 
...is the clumsy and forgetful character who is very intelligent at science, but forget minor things like his house keys. He will be the character who drops his belongs which will be used for the credit sequence and is always lagging behind the other Science Boys. His humour will come from a slap-stick side as he will trip and fall and bump into things.


We have sent our actors lists of what clothing we would like them to wear and any props they may be able to bring for when we shoot so they have time to find an outfit. The clothing lists me and Kirsty created were based on what the characters are like.

Week-by-Week Plan

Week 1

• create final storyboard together with Kirsty
• create voice-over script with Kirsty
• plan to film on Saturday 14th January if can get permission from school to open for us

Week 2

• maybe shoot that weekend (21st January)
• record voice-over
• may have to shoot individual video's of each character to create character montage
• create production company logo

Week 3

• begin editing to submit first rough edit on January 30th

Week 4 & 5

• continue to edit to create final film

This brings us up to the February half-term when we can review our progress. 

Initial Storyboard

Me and Kirsty decided that we would both make initial storyboard's of the opening sequence of Science Boys and then bring our idea together to make a detailed and larger storyboard which we will use when filming. Here is my initial storyboard:

As this storyboard is very basic, I have only put some idea of camera shots we may use. Together we will make the final decisions on what we want to do and how we want it to look. 

Science Boys Scenario

Me and Kirsty had a good idea of what we wanted to do for our Science Boy's idea. From our continuity project, we wanted to use the idea of making a film about British teenagers which revolves around a group of friends who are 'science nerds'. The whole film will be about how these four friends get into comical situations such as ending up in detention for a science experiment gone wrong.


However, for the opening sequence we are going to create it is just going to consist of the four friends walking through some school corridors early on a morning to reach the science room and during this journey the audience will have a chance to get to know the characters. 


Scenario Breakdown:

1. One clumsy character drops sheets and textbooks on school yard
2. The clumsy character scoops up some textbooks and runs after friends who walk into the school
3. Goes back to the dropped sheets spread across school yard and these are used to do the opening credits
4. Cuts back into the school and follows the friends walking down the school corridors while a voice-over is used to explain each character by one of the characters in the future
5. Dolly-shot used to follow the characters and freeze-frames and superimposed character names used to show each character to the audience
6. The group of friends approach the door of a science room and walk in

Distributor & Production

After looking at a selection of films to help inspire mine and Kirsty's Science Boy's idea we also looked carefully at the distributor's of these films. The one seemed to be the most common was Optimum Releasing which distributes British, Irish and American independent films which attracted me to use it for our opening sequence as Science Boys seems like an idea that would be an independent film. 


Optimum Releasing (Distributor)  
In 2011, Optimum Releasing was renamed Studio Canal UK - which you may also have heard of. As a distributor, they release over 200 films a year which are independent films and this makes them the most prominent distributor of independent British movie's. It was founded in 1999 which does make it a fairly new distributor as it is only 13 years old. Also, their work is split into three categories:

1. Optimum Releasing - this goes to cinema's
2. Optimum Home Entertainment - this is on DVD's
3. Optimum Classics - re-releases of films
4. Optimum World - this is world cinema

 Big Talk Productions
This was another name which came up during our research and was involved in films such as Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead and Attack the Block. One interesting point is it works closely with Edgar Wright the director & producer we researched. Big Talk was founded by Nira Park, a successful woman, in 1995 which also makes it a fairly new production company like Optimum. Nira Park was named in 2005 'Top Ten Producers to Watch' in Variety Magazine (weekly entertainment magazine in America.) Big talk productions is 75% independently owned. Me and Kirsty will probably use Big Talk in our opening credits.

Hot Fuzz: Opening Sequence

General Information

• Directed by: Edgar Wright
• Genre: action dark comedy / for geeks
• Box office takings: $80,573,774
• Distributed: Universal Pictures
• Starring: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Jim Broadbent 

Watch the opening sequence here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVcOVgf_x4M&feature=related

Analysis 

The clip begins with a long shot and then a slow zoom in towards a characters silhouette walking into a modern building which has a lot of light coming into it. As the character gets closer to the camera, you get a close-up on his face and then on his police badge which displays his name "Nicholas Angel" which has immediate connotations with the audience that he is a good police officer. 

A voice-over then begins which matches with what the audience watches explaining about Nicholas Angel and his police life which is an effective way to get character information across very quickly and clearly. Fast editing and fast-paced music is also used which adds to a humorous feel and doesn't pair with the monotone narrative voice which makes the film more interesting to watch straight away as the audience will wonder how these two elements pair. Also, the quick editing matches with the quick and short pieces of action being shown about Nicholas Angel. A range of camera angles are used to show different things from low-angle shots on bike wheels, to plenty of close-ups showing Nicholas Angel's facial expressions which adds humour to tracking shots of him walking down a corridor which pairs well with the fast editing and keeps the audience constantly gripped and stops them losing interest in the film. After the montage of Nicholas's life, it goes to a conversation between him and another superior officer where shot reverse shot is used and again quick editing between the two characters to gain both their reactions which adds to the humour. 

Credit Sequence

1. Distributor
2. In association with
3. Movie title

Influence on Science Boys

I like the use of a montage of different sequence which show something about a character and as I have said before, me and Kirsty would like to use a voice-over in our Science Boys opening sequence. I also really like the use of the quick editing which keeps the pace of the film up and makes it much more interesting to watch and immediately shows the audience the film will be comical. Also, watching this opening sequence I know that we must shoot a lot of different camera angle's because this will add interest and if we want to do the faster editing it will make it look better.