Extended Beginning by William Haines

Improved Beginning Opening Scene

Title Sequence, Demarco (Main Protagonist) is standing over a case, a man comes up behind him and swings at him. Cuts to black during mid-swing (minor cliffhanger) (adds tension) and shows the name of the main actor (lasts for 3 seconds), fades from black and Demarco is smacking the man’s head against a fridge and then the screen cuts to black again showing the name of another actor. Fades from black with them both still fighting eachother. (Many angle cuts and transitions, reinforces the tension of the scene). Quick camera movements (Shaky Cam). The men continue to fight in the kitchen. The man pulls out a gun on Demarco and then the screen cuts to black once again. We hear a gunshot as the last actor pops up on screen in the transition. The screen fades from black to reveal a bullet wound in the mans head. (Hinting at Demarco shooting the man before he was shot). Demarco walks out of the building with a phone pressed against his ear.

Demarco walks down the dark and dreary street with a phone against his ear. We hear his conversation with his boss, Nikolai, who greets him and congratulates him on his successful mission. We then cut to another man who is within the building. Screen cuts to black and shows another actor but you can still hear the conversation, Nikolai tells him that someone might be hunting Demarco. Fades out of black showing the man who walks into the room where the fight took place. Cuts back to Demarco who is walking along the street (Long shots to show Isolation). Nikolai remains silent as Demarco stops and turns around. Demarco asks for more information, he wants to know who it might be and what their goal is. Nikolai replies with “It’s Matteo”. (Demarco worked with Matteo for a very long time and became best friends, they fell out at some point)

Demarco begins to turn around on the spot, checking every corner and roofline. He then begins to walk back to the fight scene where he finds that the door is open. We cut to Matteo who is inspecting the case. Demarco suddenly appears and runs up behind him. A fast paced action scene starts and the criminal is choked to death, it was one of Matteo’s henchmen.

Research into the Action Genre by William Haines

Action + Crime Action Genre Research from William_Haines

Extended Beginning by Daniel Robb

Demarco's face suddenly fills the frame. Heavily breathing, his sweat drips from his forehead and slides down his pale face like a raindrop. The street meets a two way divide and Demarco looks both right and left. Towards the right is a long and winding path leading into the horizon however towards the left is a shorter route containing an alley. Demarco sprints towards the shorter route, whilst looking behind himself to ensure the chaser is not in view. The ground is sucked in as his pace increases. Suddenly, Demarcos sprint stops and in plain sight is the huge alleyway; littered with waste. Quickly scanning the area, Demarco decides to move himself directly behind the nearest waste container- hoping that it will keep him hidden from the chaser- Mr Viceroy. 
Mr Viceroy, a sharply dressed man in a business suit, arrives at the crossroads where Demarco had arrived at the start, panting for breath. Looking, both right and left, he takes no time in deciding that the path left is the one to take. As he dashes down the street and comes across the alley, Mr Viceroy reaches into his blazer and pulls out a 9mm pistol. The pistol is a deep black seemingly blending into the night yet contrasting with the bright white of the moon. Mr Viceroy slowly creeps around the alley checking for any signs of Demarco, the luminescent bulb of a streetlight spills onto the ground dispersing against the concrete. As his eyes scan the area, a glimpse of a silhouette appears.

Could this be Demarco? 

Mr Viceroy edges closer to the silhouette whilst silently cocking the gun. In a sudden jolt, the local chef drops his cigarette in fear and begins to tremble violently. Realising that it was not Demarco, Mr Viceroy decides to use the gun as a method of robbery to cover his tracks- he demands for the chefs wallet. The chef instantly throws the wallet at him and Mr Viceroy sprints away into the horizon. Only the slow burn of the cigarette is left behind, dwindling away as an ember.

Film Storyline by Jamie Sykes

Introduction to Task

 

The task is to create the first 3 minutes of a film including the title sequences. Due to this, I have elaborated the beginning of the film and included more detail.

Beginning

 

The main protagonists of the film are ‘Johnny Demarco’ and ‘Nikolai Kamarov’, they are driving through a fairly busy outer city street in a Green 1969 Mustang GT Fastback, the pride of Nikolai's extensive collection. Nikolai is angry and Demarco looks nervous. Nikolai's car is full of bullet holes and covered in scratches all around the metallic green body, the windows are cracked. The two men are conversing about the failed drug deal and how it happened. As this occurs the audience are seeing flashbacks of the events in small snippets. Each snippet is approximately 10-20 seconds long.
Demarco is stood with several other dark figured men in a wet, murky alley way. At the side of the alley way is Nikolai, parked up in his green muscle car. The trade starts off smoothly but soon turns bad when an immediate whirring of sirens appear from nowhere. Red and blue police lights fill the dark alley way and the men are surrounded. An all-out shoot out begins in the alley way. Demarco jumps into the passenger seat of Nikolai’s car and the two men escape unscathed, barely.
As the car revs up and pulls away from the gunfight the title music starts and the actors names, group logo etc. appear on screen.

Climax

 

Demarco is one of Nikolai’s most reliable and experienced partners. They have worked together for many years, ever since Demarco came to him as a young man in need of extra money and protection.
Demarco is sat in a dimly lit, very basic front room one night. He is preparing individual packages of drugs for Nikolai’s many clients listening to classic 90s hip-hop and singing along. As the track changes, Demarco’s apartment door is busted open and Federal Agents burst in, with nowhere to go Demarco surrenders himself and accepts being caught.
Demarco is imprisoned and the audience see him in distress pacing back and forth. The film moves to an interrogation chamber where Demarco is pushed down into a seat in front of an official looking gentlemen, well dressed and articulate. He is the special agent in charge of the ongoing case surrounding the crime empire surrounding Nikolai. The special agent enlists the help of Demarco in bringing Nikolai down. Demarco refuses at first, and then the special agent brings out a thick, old looking ring binder that extensively details the myriad of charges surrounding Demarco. The special agent promises to make them all disappear, if Demarco helps them out with the final phase of their investigation.

Resolution

 

Having reluctantly agreed to help, Demarco starts feeding information back to the FBI. Progressively, other members of Nikolai’s gang become suspicious and one informs Nikolai of what he believes is happening. Nikolai is very mundane about the whole idea, he cannot believe one of his oldest and best partners is working with the FBI to bring him down. Regardless, Nikolai acts accordingly, he brings Demarco into his beautiful home and sits him down. They discuss business for a while and then Nikolai decides to hint at the idea of rats scurrying around and causing trouble, a metaphor for un-loyal partners running around doing the same. This makes Demarco tense and that is clear from his body language and facial expressions.
Nikolai moves the topic of conversation back to business. He entrusts Demarco with the largest shipment of drugs so far, much to the surprise of the entire gang. Demarco informs the FBI and they decide to move on this tip off.
Demarco is stood with several other dark figured men in a wet, murky alley way. At the side of the alley way is Nikolai, parked up in his green muscle car. The trade starts off smoothly but soon turns bad when an immediate whirring of sirens appear from nowhere, the FBI have arrived. Red and blue police lights fill the dark alley way and the men are surrounded. An all-out shoot out begins in the alley way. Demarco jumps into the passenger seat of Nikolai’s car and the two men escape unscathed, barely.
Nikolai and Demarco drift around the tight and narrow corners of the alleyway and smash through a pile of cardboard boxes and corrugated metal sheets into a public street. Nikolai drives erratically trying to escape from the FBI. Having experience, he is successful. The men pull up by the side of the deserted Los Angeles storm drain, where they climb out of the car and assess the damage. They walk up to the side of the river and talk, Demarco says that he has something he has to admit and before he has chance to start Nikolai has drawn a large revolver and his it aimed at the back of Demarco’s head. Demarco turns around and Nikolai pulls the trigger. Demarco is shot dead and falls half into the river, blood flows out of him and into the river. Nikolai lifts Demarco’s body up, kisses his head and pushes him into the fast flowing water. As the sun sets Nikolai torches the car and walks off into the sunset.

 

Film Storyline by William Haines

William Haines' Film Storyline Idea

Genre = Action

This is my personal film storyline idea. Due to the final project we are making being the opening sequence of the movie. I went more in depth for the beginning opening scene then I did with the middle and end.

Beginning Opening Scene

Title Sequence, Demarco (Main Protagonist) is standing over a case, a man comes up behind him and swings at him. Cuts to black and shows the name of the main actor, fades from black and Demarco is smacking the man’s head against a fridge and cuts to black again showing the name of another actor. Fades from black with the man on the floor and Demarco walking away, leaving the building.

Demarco walks down a street with a phone against his ear. We hear his conversation with his boss, Nikolai, who greets him and congratulates him on his successful mission. We then cut to another man who is within the building. Screen cuts to black and shows another actor but you can still hear the conversation, Nikolai tells him that someone might be hunting Demarco. Fades out of black showing the man who walks into the room where the fight took place. Cuts back to Demarco who is walking along the street (Long shots to show Isolation). Nikolai remains silent as Demarco stops and turns around. Demarco asks for more information, he wants to know who it might be and what their goal is. Nikolai replies with “It’s Matteo”. (Demarco worked with Matteo for a very long time and became best friends, they fell out at some point)

Demarco begins to turn around on the spot, checking every corner and roofline. He then begins to walk back to the fight scene where he finds that the door is open. We cut to Matteo who is inspecting the case. Demarco suddenly appears and runs up behind him. A fast paced action scene starts and the criminal is choked to death, it was one of Matteo’s henchmen.

Middle

 Demarco walks out of the building with the case, he then turns a corner and walks down the street to Nikolai’s building. They meet up and talk, they find leads regarding Matteo. Action scenes of a fight with some random guys on the street, Demarco goes undercover and joins up with the team of professional bad guys that Matteo might be a part off. Demarco has to try and get closer to Matteo through his friends. He infiltrates deep into the group and even becomes friends with some of them. He goes on heists with Matteo’s group

End

 He finally gets close to Matteo. Matteo is aware of Demarco among his friends and points him out during a meeting. (Demarco is watching in the shadows and is surprised when Matteo turns his head to face him). Demarco has to fight off Matteo and some of his groups. Some of the others don’t actually like Matteo and eventually during their fight they give up on Demarco and start fighting Matteo. Matteo is bested and killed, Demarco walks away.

Film Storyline by Daniel Robb

Genre: Action

Beginning

Demarco, the main protagonist sprints towards the end of a street. He pants for breath, clearly exasperated by the sheer amount of time he has run. Looking both left and right, Demarco decides on the next destination. Towards the left leads a further strip of concrete heading into the horizon however the right offers an alleyway. Inevitably, he opts for the alleyway and quickly glances his head backwards, ensuring that the chaser is not in sight.
The chaser, Mr Viceroy, arrives at the point where Demarco just was; his suit still pristine. Almost instantaneously, Mr Viceroy, dashes to the right certain of Demarcos movement. Eventually, an alleyway is reached yet Demarco is nowhere to be seen. Mr Viceroy pulls out his 9mm pistol and scans the area, a silhouette suddenly appears in view. Mr Viceroy, edges closer to the silhouette in hopes he is being quiet enough to not disturb. Finally, the culprit is determined however it isn't what Mr Viceroy intended, the local chef is busy having a cigarette. 

Middle

Demarco has managed to escape successfully, enjoying a meal at the nearby restaurant; his fork drives into the spaghetti like a speeding vehicle. Suddenly, his phone rings and a voice resonates through. However, this voice is recognisable, its Nikolai.
Nikolai proposes a trade, an unlimited supply of drugs for the information on "Los hombres de la muerte" ("The men of death"). Demarco laughs at the absurd offer, clearly causing Nikolai to be desperate. In response, Demarco orders Nikolai to meet in person at the rooftop of a building close by- Nikolai is forced to comply.
The rooftop is desolate and howling winds surge around the atmosphere. Demarco drops a usb stick on the floor, he tells Nikolai to pick it up but in a twist of fate, Nikolai pulls out a revolver and pulls the trigger. 
No bullets. 
Demarco drops the bullets out of his hand one by one and describes that Nikolai will die very soon. Nikolai looks bewildered but charges in anger at Demarco, failing to see the gun in Demarcos hand. Demarco fires a warning shot and places his foot directly above the usb stick, Nikolai produces a flurry of empty threats but finally understands his place of power.
Demarco has complete control, asking that Nikolai should retire early if he wants to live. Nikolai rejects the proposition and accepts death. However, Demarco does not deal the bullet, instead Mr Viceroy appears by surprise and brutally strangles Nikolai from behind. 

End

Inevitably, both characters have met again. Mr Viceroy demands the usb stick, claiming that without it, he will never be able to take down "Los hombres de la muerte". Demarco understands this but informs Mr Viceroy that he has just killed their ringleader. In shock, Mr Viceroy realises that the gang were not a group of drug dealer murderers but a one man army; Nikolai. Demarco throws the usb stick to Mr Viceroy and casually strolls back inside. Nikolai is brought to justice the way Demarco wanted him to be so that now the only drug kingpin in the urban underground, is himself.

Maintaining Continuity by Daniel Robb

Technical Continuity

Continuity is important for film making as it maintains professionalism and ensures that the immersion isn't broken. Ways to introduce continuity include keeping the props in the same place throughout a films scene as well as keeping the lighting the same. However, technical continuity regards the positioning of the camera such as whether it is placed upon a high angle or low angle so as to ensure the level of depth is consistent. If the camera moved position and angles per shot, each one would not appear to be properly stitched together therefore the films quality would suffer and an unintended effect of disorientation would be given.

180° Line Rule

The 180° line is essential in maintaining continuity as this ensures that the audience don't lose track of the positions of the characters nor lose orientation. It is mainly used for conversation between two people and is effective for keeping consistent continuity. An example of misuse from the rule would involve having a camera placed on the left shoulder of an individual then having the camera placed on the same side once the opposite character initiates dialogue. As a result there would be confusion from an audience therefore the camera would need to be positioned on the right side instead due to the unintended effect of losing placement of characters within a scene. Both characters would appear to be in different locations and immersion would be lost. One of the only ways that you could break the rule successfully, involves including a constant panning shot during the conversation as the audience are able to establish locations of characters completely and the continuity would be kept intact.

Match on Action

Match on action is also a vital part of keeping technical continuity and involves ensuring that movements appear fluid throughout a scene. One example may occur during the action of sitting down, there could be a long shot of a character moving towards a bench and then a transition to a medium shot whilst they finally sit down, this would create a sense of fluidity and demonstrate more immersion as it appears more natural.  

Shot-Reverse Shot

Using shot reverse shot is not dissimilar to maintaining the 180° line rule as it involves being used only for specific reactionary shots between oppositely located characters for example in conversation.

Audio Continuity

Audio in a shot should be kept continuous as there may be some disturbances such as a car driving past in the background which may disturb the sequence considerably therefore the best way to maintain audio continuity is to ensure that no disturbances can be allowed to occur by well thought out preparation and planning. 

Colour Balance

Colour balance can also disorientate an audience as change in light would give a completely different tone than the one intended therefore it is important to keep the lighting the same and record the film during which ever lighting is right for the particular sequence (have knowledge of when the sun will set). Yet, colour corrections can be used to edit exposure and saturation of a scene if the intended effect is to produce more unnatural frames. They can also be used to fix frames with lack of light or over exposed light so that they appear as they were when the scene was shot.

Maintaining Continuity by William Haines

Technical Continuity

Continuity is an essential component of films and film making. Technical Continuity is quite different from Story Continuity. Technical Continuity refers to the practical side of things, such as props, locations and characters that are present in the shot. Maintaining Continuity is very important and you can do it by making sure you have props in the correct places, you can do this easier if you make sure to write a continuity report before and after you finish filming.

 180° Line Rule

The 180 degree line rule is perhaps the most important continuity rule that must be followed at all times. The line is a virtual line that you should not pass with the camera. The line is formed when you have a conversation between two people, or two parties. Once you establish that the camera is on one side of the line, you should not bring the camera past the line suddenly.

It is important you understand the 180 degree line rule as a filmmaker as it directly correlates to many other filming techniques.

It is possible for the camera to pass to the other side but you must use a panning shot that moves over the line. This is allowed as you are actively establishing that the camera is moving, thus you know where you are in the scene.

The 180 degree line rule, when broken, can disorient viewers gretly as it might be disorienting for some to have the background change drastically. It would also give the idea that they have moved locations during shots. It is possible that you may have given them the unintended/intended impression that the room that the scene takes place in is small. So to avoid lowering the overall quality of your film, you must make sure to actively follow the 180 degree line rule.

 Match on Action

It is possible to break continuity through actions. In order to maintain this type of technical continuity, specifically during scene changes, a match on action is used. It creates a seamless transition when a character is making a movement such as sitting down or walking through a door.


Maintaining Continuity

Before a director was easily able to view back the footage to see what the shot that was taken a day before looked like, they had to use instant photography to capture a location and it's props so it could be compared with the scene the next day. Polaroids were often what was used for this, this helped a bit but wasn't that useful if props on the scene were props that characters interacted with.

For example, a man might pick up an object from one location, switch to the next shot that may of been filmed a day later due to the director needing to do a redo of a particular shot, and the object might change position in the next shot which has a knock on effect as the character will noticeably move position when his arm is no longer reaching for the original position of the object in the scene.

In modern film making, it is easy for a director to watch back the film and get the shot just perfect before film making, so breaks in continuity have become much rarer.

"Shooting a movie over a period of days, weeks or even months can be a very difficult task - especially when it comes to maintaining continuity. When everything in the shot, scene and movie is consistent, then you've succeeded in maintaining continuity." 

However, they do sometimes slip by and mostly tend to go unnoticed but a well trained eye (perhaps a film critic) can spot these and point them out to the general public.

So there is a person in charge, the person in charge of continuity on a film set is the script supervisor, who must maintain a record of scenes shot and how they may have deviated from the original script. The script supervisor also creates a continuity report and works with an assistant to make sure continuity is maintained at all times.

A continuity report provides a detailed record of the day's shoot, including a crew list, camera settings, weather and the acting, audio and picture quality of each shot. The continuity report also describes in detail the action that occurs during the scenes and any possible continuity problem areas.

It is obvious that continuity is a big deal as professional film makers actively seek to keep continuity good and thus the quality of the media high.

Story Continuity by William Haines

Story Continuity

While there is technical continuity, there is also story/cinematic continuity. This often involves the plot or story of a film. If a movie was to establish that a certain character was British and the follow up sequel to that has the character speaking Spanish, it would both be a break in technical continuity, and if done on purpose it would be a major break in story continuity.

A second example of this would be something like Batman, let's say his batcave was in America where it has always been. In the next direct sequel the film was to show him coming out of his batcave into a desert in Saudi Arabia, that would also be both a break in technical continuity and a break in story continuity.

Story continuity is often broke when a new writer is hired to do the next screenplay, some information might be changed by accident.

Niko's Proposition

Maintaining Continuity by Jamie Sykes

Technical Continuity

Continuity is a vital part of film making. You can maintain continuity by; having props in the same location each shot and characters making the same movements during a shot change. There is a second type of continuity called technical continuity, technical continuity varies as it places a primary focus on how the camera is set up, what the shot is looking at and where the camera is placed. Breaks in continuity are infrequent in high-end productions, but they do still occur and are sometimes highlighted for humour in the blooper roll of a film.

180° Line Rule

The 180° line rule is an invisible line that you should not pass when film making. The line is formed when you have a conversation between two people, or two parties. Once you establish that the camera is on one side of the line, you should not bring the camera to the other line suddenly. It is important you understand the 180° line as a filmmaker as it directly correlates to many other filming techniques.

It is possible to go to the other side, if you have a panning shot that moves over the line, this is allowed as you are actively establishing that the camera is moving thus you would expect the background to change with it.

 It might be disorienting for the audience if the background was to change, it would also give the idea that they have moved to a different location during shots, and it might also come to a surprise that an entire room is behind them. You may have given them the unintended/intended impression that the room was/is small. So to avoid breaking technical continuity, you must actively follow the 180° line rule.

Match on Action

In order to maintain technical continuity, specifically during scene changes, a match on action is used. It creates a seamless transition when a character is making a movement such as sitting down or walking through a door. A match on action is effectively used in our preliminary exercise.

Shot-Reverse Shot

A shot-reverse shot is used to exhibit emotions or reactions in characters during dialogue exchange. The camera is moved to either end of the 180° line and pointed at the speaking subjects face, it is then moved to the opposite end to show the characters reaction.

Audio Continuity

Audio in a shot might suddenly change, for example, a vehicle may be driving by as the shot changes so the audio might get cut off, or the audio might suddenly appear in the background. A change in background noise should be avoided if possible. Large budget productions close roads in some circumstances to avoid issues with audio continuity.

Colour Balance

A change in colour balance is also something that should be avoided, an example of a change in colour balance is light. If you were to film outdoors you must be wary of changing light as the sun moves which can lead to over exposure and under exposure between scenes. Similarly, colour corrections used in scenes must be consistent as drastic differences in saturation, brightness and contrast will make the production look poor and badly edited.

Preliminary Exercise

Afterthoughts

We felt that what we did for the preliminary exercise was pretty decent, while our acting was certainly lacking, especially that of William's; the key components were there.

We had match on actions for sitting down, shaking hands and the door handle as well as just general movement.

We had established the 180 degree rule and kept to that through the entire video.

We had shot reverse-shot to show reactions and emotions, as well as to show action (we used shot reverse-shot to show William nodding.)

Group Picture