Saturday 28 March 2015

Warp films

Warp films is an independent film company based in Sheffield, London and also has an office in Melbourne, Australia. 

Warp first started off as a record company however when it received funding from NESTA it decided to produce a number of short films.
Due to the company being independent and not as large as Warner Bros they have to adopt the horizontal method and will contact several different companies to deal with the production of each part of the film they are working on. 

Warp distribute its films through companies such as Optimum Releasing and over in the US, distributors won't be willing to shot Warp films in the larger and popular cinemas. Instead, they will be in the less attended cinemas and only shown at certain times throughout the day.

Distributing through Optimum Releasing allows for a better way of cross media converging as films on DVD were released under four strands: Optimum Releasing (new theatrical releases), Optimum Home Entertainment (new DVD and Blu-ray releases), Optimum Classic (DVD re-releases of back catalogue films), and Optimum World (new and back catalogue world cinema releases). The latter three appear to be still be in use, despite the company's name change.

Funding for Warp is also considerably low compared to that of Warner, with their largest budget film being '71 that cost £8.1 Million whereas Warner Bros invested over £1 Billion to the entire Harry Potter franchise, 
 
Recently Warp Films has produced '71 a British historical action film set in Northern Ireland despite being filmed across various locations in England such as: Sheffield. The film had to based in England because the story line focused on the Catholic- Protestant divide. This shows that Warps audience would be British, compared to companies such as Warner who wouldn't produce a film based on this story line because their films are applied to that of a global audience. '71 was received well by critics averaging 7.7/10 on Rotten Tomatoes. It also won best director at the British Independent Film Awards. The star of the film: Jack O'Connell won the Rising Star Award at BAFTA 2015, this shows that smaller production companies are gaining more attention and are capable of doing so.

Wa

Saturday 24 January 2015

Filming Day 3

The aim of today's shooting schedule was to film all the indoor shots needed for our piece. We filmed our shots in the interior of Emmas' house, and used her sisters room to film in, due to it being more appropriate for the story line. We also used the satanic symbols, drawn Emma's friend, in the room to hint at the idea of the ''thing'' under the bed being more than just a coincidence. 

Sadly, once again the day we filmed happen to fall on a day where I was unavoidably absent. I felt bad that I had let the team down as I had only been present during one day of production. However, the guys went ahead and there were only a few shoots left anyway. My absence did in fact turn out to be a blessing in disguise as three people would have made the place cramped and awkward to film. 

The guys managed to film all the shots we intended to and stuck to the shots on the shooting schedule. They were also able to experiment with the mirror and how we could create different meanings with use of the mirror from different angles. Also they were able to experiment with shots from within the wardrobe and the room altogether before the character had even entered, which gave the thriller opening more depth due to the fact that we had tried this alternative shots, rather than the average midshot.
Overall, filming went very smoothly and we filmed the correct amount of shots to finish our film as well as some surplus shots to experiment with.

Filming Day 2


The next shots we needed were at Emma's house and on her street, it was only a few days after beginning the film so we could still shoot at the same time and not have to worry about the light levels being different.

Me, Oli, and Emma all lived in different areas and were far apart from each other so we had to be efficient in filming and try and get it done all in one night as we had to get to Emma's house and back at our own expense. 

We began by filming the female character walking down the street and got lots of different shots from various angles, this way we could mix and match with what looked good and what didn't in post production. 

We ended the night with Emma entering her house as this would make continuity better and then we didn't have to worry about the clocks going forward as all the exterior shots had been done. 


Wednesday 21 January 2015

Sunday 18 January 2015

Filming Day 1


We decided to begin filming at around 1730 and try to carry on until it was no longer effective.

I wasn't available on this particular day due to other arrangements, so Oliver and Emma had to film alone. They went and got the scenes that were out doors in the Town Centre and at the train station.

They took the basic equipment we needed (DSLR Nikon Camea, LED Light attachment for DSLR, standard tripod) to the location we had decided best to create the best feel and tension for the storyline. 

We faced the problem of having to film in public and at the worst possible time however we didn't bump into any unruly people. 

Overall, our great pre-production and planning management caused production to be easy 

Monday 12 January 2015

Roland Emmerich

I decided to do some research into film directors as this should give me a perspective from the view of an actual thriller director and may help spark creative ideas. This will also allow me to gain more industry knowledge as to which we could apply to our film making process.

The director I have chosen is Roland Emmerich. I decided this as he has directed some of my favourite and also highest grossing films.

It has been widely criticised that Roland relies to heavily on special effects and CGI. This is a major fallback for us as we don't have the equipment or computer software to create them ourselves.

In 1977 Emmerich enrolled at the University of Television and Film Munich intending to become a production designer however decided to take a film directing course instead. During this time he directed his first film the Noahs Ark Principle, which was screened at the 34th Berlin International Film Festival.

In 1985 Emmerich founded Centropolis Film Productions with his sister,

Monday 8 December 2014

The Kuleshov Experiment

We did a bit of experimenting with the camera and decided to do the Kuleshov Experiment as it is a widely used effect in the film industry and will help us when we make our film. The video below is the one we made ourselves:

It shows the idea of love, sadism, and pride.



Friday 5 December 2014

Storyboard Post

We storyboarded the best idea which was the 'under the bed' one for our thriller opening, this will help us in planning ahead and timing.
 The storyboard shows an ordinary girl going home and is met by an unexpected fright from underneath her bed.