Actors and Props Research

International

Actor and Props 

Cast:

• Billy Cottee (Kingsley Brother #1)
• Matt Cottee (Kingsley Brother #2)
• Chloe Hicks (Agent Miller)
• Amy Knight (Agent Knight)

Props:

Package: When Agent Miller flies to NYC she has to pick up a package, we want a rather small package as we will have to carry it around whilst were out filming so a massive box would simply be impractical. We shouldn't have any trouble finding a package as they can be easily purchased online or get one from home as many things are posted in similar packaging to what we hope to have.

Phone: This is one of the more crucial props that will be used continually throughout the trailer, key scenes are when Agent Miller is sat in front of the Lincoln memorial in Washington, when she is contacted at the party in London. It is a handy prop as not only does it make sure our film isn't stuck in the dark ages but it allows us to easily link multiple locations quickly and cheaply and requires less actors - something which we were initially worried about.

Gun: As this is a spy movie a gun is key, this will be a simple prop that Agent Miller and probably the antagonists will have as it's a convention of the action genre. We will obviously use a toy one but will have to be careful when using it in public as we could get told off by the police.

Newspapers: This is a minimal, simple prop that we may use when Agent Miller is sat in a cafe and reads the news of the brothers release - to make it more modern though we may use a phone or laptop.

Location Research

Location Research 

For an action film the settings are unlimited, you could shoot underground, in a fancy house/building, in a field - anywhere as long as it looks visually stunning. We live on the doorstep of one of the most impressive cities in the world - London - and best of all its free and to film there and only takes and hour or so to get to therefore this is a must have for our film, even if its just a few establishing shots of London from the south bank, with it sat right on our doorstep it would be foolish to miss out. Not only that but the trains going up to London look very impressive on film and, just like Big Ben or London eye, are great signposts to give the audience awareness of where they are in the world.  

For a action trailer the conventions are that there are lots of long shots establishing setting as they want the audience to know what part of the world they're in and what to expect from that environment, also fancy buildings, chase scenes in cities and views from high above the skyline are conventional to help make the film look amazing and eye catching. This is therefore a great excuse to jam in as many establishing shots of fancy cities all around the world as in a trailer they don't necessarily need to be elaborately explained - as long as they're in your film trailer it's going to look high budget and visually stunning. As we're going to America early next year it's a golden opportunity to get some amazing shots of the skyline and other signpost buildings in NYC (Empire state building, Statue of liberty) that will make our film look more like a real action trailer.

To make things even better we are also going to Washington in America so can get some great shots of the White House and we plan to film one of our opening shots in front of the Lincoln memorial - really making our trailer look good. Any other opportunities to film scenes in America we will cease but we plan to have back up shots filmed in London before we go in case for any reason we are unable to get the desired shots. 

We also plan to hopefully get some shots of a plane taking off or landing to add in to our trailer to show our character leaving/arriving certain destination and also possibly get a shot of our main character on the plane which we will take when we are actually flying. A great shot which I fear we may not achieve but we will try anyway is a shot of our main character walking through the airport, this poses so many filming problems and is technically quite hard so I don't hold out much hope of achieving it but never the less we will try.

Also linking back to our shots of London is a perfect opportunity to get night shots of London and shots of a party is when we go to our sixth form boat party on the Thames in London. A few establishing shots of London at night and interior shot of the boat party should be enough so that later on in filming we can add context to these shots and fit them in with the rest of our trailer.

Another possibility is filming on the Isle of Wight - a few shots of our main character stood on the cliff top at dusk could look amazing and add to the effect that our film has a massive budget. This is an added extra and if we don't achieve this our film trailer should still look amazing. Boarding/exiting/riding on the ferry could be a back up for if we cant get the plane shots in America.

For our dramatic pinnacle to our trailer we thought using a rooftop would be dramatic - this is quite hard though and to make it more exciting our characters will race up a multi story car park to the top where they will have a stand off to finish our trailer.

So after some time thinking about different settings we have come up with quite a variety that should hopefully make our film look visually stunning and seem as if we have a very large budget. A summary of the locations we expect to use are:

• Washington
• NYC - plane
• Isle of wight? - ferry
• Boat party
• London
• Multi story car park

Diary Of Filming - 21/10/15

Wednesday 21st October 2015

This was one of our first official filming days, we went to Chloe's sisters house after school and filmed some shots of Agent Miller researching the Cottee twins, as well as some fighting scenes which will be included in the end fast pace montage of the film so make it look action packed and exciting.

Institution Research

Our Film
Institution Research

Twentieth Century Fox Film is one of the six major American film studios. The company was formed in 1935. Twentieth Century Fox distributes various commercially successful films such as Avatar, Stars Wars. The majority of popular films that they have created are comedy and family for example Alvin the Chipmunks, Diary of the Wimpy Kid. They prefer to make these film genre as it’s most profitable however when it comes to action movies they do have many successful films under their belt. As they are a large corporation they have made a worldwide gross of over $250,000 for many of their X-men films, this shows 20th century fox could be a good institution to use. 

Lionsgate is a Canadian-American film production and distribution studio and a division of Lions Gate Entertainment. It’s the largest and most successful mini-major film studio in North America. They produce and distribute motion pictures, TV programming, home entertainment and family entertainment. Majority of their films are similar genre and the genres they produce/distribute are Drama, Action and Thriller. Liongate has some of the best horror films in the decade; these include Saw, The Last Exorcism, and My Bloody Valentine. Its first major box office was American Psycho; it earned $4,961,015 (USA) and £749,526 (UK) in the opening weekend. After researching action films from Lionsgate I have found that they have produced many successful action films like Crank and more impressively the hunger games film series so are definitely a potential institution we could go for.

Universal is another of the six major American film studios, the company was formed in 1912. Universal has distributed various commercially successful films such as Jurassic world, Despicable me and the Fast and furious film series which has grossed over $3 billion worldwide. The majority of popular films that they have created are action for example back to the future, gladiator and the fast and furious film series which is perfect for us as we are looking to create an action film trailer - something which they seem to specialise in. They prefer to make these film genre as it’s most profitable and when it comes to action movies they do have many successful films under their belt. As they are a large corporation they have made a worldwide gross of over $6.5 million for their most successful film - Jurassic world , this shows Universal could be a good institution to use. 

Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly called Warner Bros., Warners, or simply WB) is an American entertainment company that produces film, television and music entertainment. As one of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner. It was formed in 1923 as is known for producing the harry potter film series as well as other sensational blockbusters such as American sniper, The Blind side, Inception, Gravity amongst other things. Therefore it is a serious possible candidate for use to use for our institution as it's most successful film is the two films from the dark knight trilogy that grossed over $5 each.

Certificate Research

Certificate Research 

U:

·         Suitable for audiences aged four years and over

·         At U we only allow infrequent use of very mild bad language (e.g. ‘damn’ and ‘hell’).

·         Characters may be seen kissing or cuddling and there may be references to sexual behaviour

·         Violence will generally be very mild. A U film may include brief fight scenes or moments where characters are placed in danger.

·         ‘Baddie’ characters may carry or use weapons, but there will be no emphasis on these.

·         E.g. Curious George, The Bee Movie

PG:

·         PG stands for Parental Guidance

·         A PG film should not unsettle a child aged around eight or older

·         A PG film will not contain any theme which is inappropriate for a child. PG works can explore challenging issues such as bullying, bereavement or racism.

·         There may be mild bad language (such as ‘shit’ or ‘son of a bitch’)

·         Sex references are unlikely unless they are undetailed and infrequent.

·         Violence will usually be mild.

·         E.g. Saving Mr. Banks, Shrek

12A

·         12 contain material that is not generally suitable for children aged under 12

·         The 12A requires an adult to accompany any child under 12 seeing a 12A film at the cinema

·         The BBFC's Guidelines state that strong language (e.g. 'fuck') may be passed at 12 or 12A (Non Aggressive)

·         Moderate language (e.g. uses of terms such as ‘bitch’ and ‘twat’ at 12 or 12A).

·         Sex may be briefly and discreetly portrayed at 12A or 12. Verbal sex references should not go beyond what is suitable for young teenagers also there may be nudity

·         At 12A, moderate violence is allowed but it should not dwell on detail. There should be no emphasis on injuries or blood,

·         Some horror films are passed at this category. Moderate physical and psychological threat is permitted at 12A or 12A.

·         E.g. Hancock, The Switch

15:

·         Strong violence

·         Frequent strong language (e.g. 'fuck). Occasionally there may be uses of the strongest terms (e.g. 'c***'),

·         Portrayals of sexual activity

·         Strong verbal references to sex

·         Sexual nudity

·         Brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence

·         Discriminatory language or behaviour

·         Drug taking

·         E.g. 21 Jump Street, Bridesmaids

18:

·         Very strong violence

·         Frequent strong language (e.g. 'fuck’) and / or very strong language (e.g. ‘c***’), There is no limit

·         Strong portrayals of sexual activity

·         Scenes of sexual violence

·         Strong horror

·         Strong blood and gore

·         Real sex (in some circumstances)

·         Discriminatory language and behaviour

·         E.g. Taken, Kill Bill

Considering all the features of each certificate we have decided our film is a 15 as it will contain some use of strong language and violence, although there will be no sexual  activity we still feel  is should be classed as a 15 as that’s the  most appropriate seen as the level of violence and strong language wouldn't be appropriate for a 12 year old yet we want to avoid an 18 certificate as that would cut out to large a portion of our audience would be unnecessary as the blood/gore won't be that strong and nor will the violence

Costume Research

Costume Research 

Costume of the protagonist: The protagonist will be wearing some smart clothes as she is an agent so has a formal job and its conventional for agents to dress smartly, unless undercover. At the party scene she will wear a dress to blend in and in America it's likely she'll wear a coat due to weather differences - black is conventional though, or at least darker colours. 

Costume of the antagonist: The antagonist's costume will be very straight forward, the spies costumes are often more causal than the 'bad guys' who are usually very smartly dressed therefore our antagonists will be dressed in suits or similar attire. Our two antagonists will probably be dressed very similar to agent smith (far left) from the matrix and even adopt similar sunglasses like him.

Soundtrack Research

Soundtrack Research

The expression soundtrack generally refers to the music in a movie or television program, and to an album sold containing that specific music. Sometimes the music has been recorded just for the film, often but not always depending on the genre of the movie the soundtrack album will contain portions of the score, music made for dramatic effect s the movie's plot occurs. There are three different types:

- Musical film soundtrack (not relevant to our genre)

- Film scores (background music)

- Albums of pop songs heard in whole/part of non-musicals

• Action: usually include high energy, big budget physical stunts and chases, possibly with rescues, battles, fights, escapes, destructive crises (floods, explosions, natural disasters, fires etc.), non-stop motion, therefore a soundtrack with spectacular rhythm and pacing as well as being fast paced and having a high tempo would be suitable to carry the audience on this physical journey and to get them feeling energised like the characters.