The task for our next assessment, to create a 2-3 minute movie trailer in groups of 3-4 began. My group consists of Liam M, Liam J and Luke. Firstly, Liam M drafted a poster in pencil, demonstrating which would likely be the main concept for our trailer. See poster below:
A possible name we thought up was 'Jamie Of The Jungle'. We also liked the idea of a war film parody. By doing this, we would be able to incorporate the two film genres: War film and comedy. The group also begun brainstorming possible plots/story-line. Many of which included myself acting as the main protagonist: a lieutenant, who retired from the army due to both injury and the news of his wife being killed, with the goal of stopping a terrorism plot utilizing the recently stolen top secret colonel's KFC recipe. This would be done to convey the genre of comedy. On this day, I thought that it went quite well, although I didn't contribute much as I spent pretty much the whole time thinking of ideas, such as another possible plot of a discharged policeman on the hunt for a stolen crate of firearms which were originally heading for incineration.
6/6/14:
On this day, we thought of questions for our survey. By doing the survey, we would be able to gain valuable insight as to what sort of genre etc. that our target audience, the year 11's ("next years year 12's'), like to see in movie trailers hence we would be able to put this new knowledge to good use when it come to actually producing the movie trailer itself. At first, as a group, we joked around thinking of silly questions that we "would use" but in the end we thought up of serious questions that actually would be used on the survey itself. I contributed a few ideas, such as which genre of movie do you enjoy, which lead ultimately to some of the finalized questions and in the end I agree the final questions are suitable for the survey. All'n'all, even though we joked around a bit, I think that it went very well in terms of brainstorming and production of the survey.
9/6/14:
Part of the assessment is to keep a log of how exactly we contributed to our movie trailers during this assessment, in this case, on our blogs. I begun and finish my entry for what we did on 5/6/14. As I began my entry for the 6/614, Luke called me over to test out the survey which was to be done electronically. In the end, the survey was carried out successfully as I was able to answer all the questions on it.
11/ 6/14
I managed to finish entries for both 6/6/14 and 9/6/14. In the process, we decided to do the survey(s) on paper as it would be easier to do and cost less, plus we decided to what yr 11 classes will participate in/undertake the survey. We also discussed the plot further with the main antagonist being the head of research facility whose aim is to declare war on and imperialistically take over NZ and take it using a series of clones. However in order to stop this, I, the main protagonist, must take back the recently stolen KFC secret herbs and spices recipe which will be utilized in the making of the clones. As a group, we thought up other possible ideas. One of which included all the clones 'being really bad shots'. If this were to be done, this would convey the idea of a comedic movie, however, this idea was scraped as we agreed that as a group, we will make the movie trailer more along the lines of the action genre, implementing snippet of comedy in the process. The Wednesday double period, in my opinion, went remarkably better than I expected as we decided on how we were going to do the surveys (distributing them to a few year 11 English classes) along with discussing further ideas for the movie trailer and the possible finalization of the plot and genre(s) of our final movie trailer product.
12/6/14
The survey's were carried out and the results were in the next day. Liam M begun a tally so we would be able to accurately tell what to put in our movie trailer such as figuring out type of genre people enjoyed etc. See results below:
Male
|
Female
| |
age
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14: 0 15: 20 16: 4
|
14: 0 15: 7 16: 2
|
movies a month
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1:0 2:7 3:4 4:5 5:0 6:0 7:0 8:0 8+:6
|
1:1 2:0 3:0 4:2 5:4 6:0 7:0 8:0 8+:2
|
mock movies
|
Yes 21 No 2
|
Yes 8 No 1
|
did you like them
|
Yes 16 No 5
|
Yes 7 No 2
|
Male female
action 17 3
comedy 12 8
horror 1 0
war 5 8
romance 2 3
sci-fi 2 2
Other 5 4
Mentions of liking dry humour = 8 (50/50)
Mentions of batman = 4 (50/50)
From the survey, we see that not only the preferred genres for the year 11's consist of action and comedy but also that the year 11's enjoy mock movies. Because our original movie trailer idea coincides with these results, we decided to keep the "Jamie of the Jungle" idea and use it for the final product. And so we began to finalize and make further changes to our plot and story line, with the stolen KFC recipe idea being no longer part of the story line. Unfortunately, I didn't really contribute with the new ideas with the rest of the group as I used my time thinking of gags and/or joke to put in the script. One of which included "the terminator being in the wrong movie". However, I wasn't able to share this idea due to the bell ringing, signalling the end of the class. In this period, I believe that we as a group progressed considerably well, in terms of thinking new ideas we would use in the final movie trailer product.
13/6/14
On this day, there were only 3 people in our class due to the rest being out on a physics trip. Liam M and I were the only ones in our group in class on that day. No new ideas were discussed and no changes were made to the story line. I only continued my blog in order to get it up to date.
16/6/14
Liam J and I begun the script for the movie trailer. By this time, we had scraped the KFC recipe idea and have the movie trailer solely focus on the idea we had involving the clones. We decided to have the script begin with the general (played by Liam M) tell the main protagonist: Jamie [hence the title "Jamie of the jungle"] about the mission of stopping the Australian's plans of using their recently discovered cloned humans to declare war on New Zealand:
Black screen: The general says - “Jamie, we have intel the marsupial lovers have managed to successfully clone a human and are planning to use the technology to build an army to invade NZ. We need your help”
Jamie: “You know I can’t go back out there. Not after what happened.”
General: “You’re the best we ever had. You’re the only that can do this! We need you”
Jamie: “I said I’m not going back out there!”At first, he declines the mission but then accepts of being told Major (at this point we hadn't figured out a name) is charge of the operation. Major (still deciding the name) killed Jamie's love interest and Jamie wants the chance to kill him for that, thus that is the reason as to why Jamie accepts the mission:
General: “What if I were to tell you that Major John Johnston is the charge of the operation”
Jamie: …
That was all that was written in the script on this day. Starting off like this, I feel like this script will turn out to be one that incorporates both gags and action sequences like shootouts and fight scenes, plus combining our three main genres for our movie trailer: war, action and comedy. However, the direction in which the script will head is yet to be decided.
18/6/14
Liam and I continued to write the script for our movie trailer. We came up with several ideas in terms of gags. One of which being the clones being bad shots and have Jamie stopping and wondering "Um... what?" but being the stereotypical hero that he is we decided on this day to just think "eh" and make him a really good shot. We thought up of several ideas on this day. Most of which we thought weren't good enough. I also continued to update my blog entry by entry, getting it up to date.
Over the course of 20/6/14 - 2/7/14 we continued to write the script, thinking of several gags as we went along. I thought up of what to put on the disclaimer:
Opens with disclaimer:
This following is not suitable for kids under the age of 13… ah, seriously who read these things anyway?
Websites will displayed in the bottom corners of the disclaimer:
www.JamieTpRoductionZ.com/notarealwebsite www.kinguguisgreat.com/”totally’arealwebsite
and Liam J thought of the idea of Jamie pulling the finger at the general during an interrogation after being captured:
This fades into a medium close up panning shot going up Jamie’s body which is tied to a chair. The major opens a door and straddles the seat across from him and looks Jamie directly in the eye.*
Jamie: “Guess how many fingers I’m holding up?”
Major: “Two.”
*this shot will mostly be aimed from behind Jamie’s where he pulls the finger on both hands. The major looks pissed off.*
*Jamie switches to one. He then pulls the finger at the major.*
Jamie: No! It was one
*the major punches Jamie in the face*Several other ideas thought up by both Liam and I involved Jamie escaping the enemy base climatically while incorporating several war/army related "punny" one liners we found on the internet. Even though both escaping the base and the use of one liners are good ideas, we were unable to figure out where these ideas would fit into the script. As a result of this, these ideas were put to the side unless we figured out how they would fit in. However, during these several periods of MED21F, while some of our ideas didn't work, others were successful. For example, another idea I thought up was the idea of a fight sequence consisting of Jamie fighting the general. It was agreed that this fight sequence would take place during the rapid flashes of action, a convention that is commonly utilized in film trailers of the war genre. By including this, we would be able to further demonstrate the war film genre in our movie trailer. Liam J also thought up of the idea of a gag involving the clones. This is written below:
*Cut to rapid flashes of Jamie shooting the clones along with snippets of a fight scene against the major. This then cuts to Jamie shooting the clones. 5 clones surround Jamie. There is an extreme close up of Jamie’s face for 1 ½ seconds. Dramatic music plays as Jamie shoots one of the clones. The music then cuts”
Clone: “No Jimmy!”
Other clone: “What are you talking about? My names Tom. Jimmy’s over there”
Jimmy the clone: “Hi”
*Jimmy gets shot*
Gags such as this are needed for our movie trailer as it thoroughly shows the sub-genre of comedy hence enhancing the parody aspect of our movie trailer During this time Luke attemptted to the find the dramatic music that would be used in the rapid flashes of action which would be shown throughout our final trailer. Also, Liam M started and worked on the storyboard for our trailer. This is what was accomplished over the course of the several periods of MED21F between the dates of 20/6/14 - 2/7/14.
3/07/14
My contribution to the group on this day was that I continued writing the script, incorporating the fight sequence and clone shooting ideas that we had thought up of over the previous several periods. We also continued to think of beneficiary ideas for our trailer. Many of which included Luke being a stunt double and some of the clones obviously being cardboard cut-out's. If these ideas we to be put into the movie trailer, it would demonstrate the parody aspect even further, which was why I personally thought these were good ideas. As a group we attempted to think of a surname for the character of Jamie. This is all that was done on this day.
21/7/14, 23/7/14, 24/7/14, 25/7/14:
Over these days Liam J and I altered gags and lines as we went continued to write the script. By this time, we had decided to scrap the ideas of Luke being a stunt double and some of the clones being cardboard cut-outs. Another idea we scraped was the "No Jimmy" scene. Because we scraped some ideas, it mean't that new ideas could thought up and implemented into the script. We had a little bit of trouble figuring out how to introduce the fight scene that would be in the final climax of action. This is a common convention used in action/war movie trailer as it keeps the viewer enticed, resulting in them wanting to see the movie. It's the hype created from this climax of action that makes the viewer want more, which is the overall goal of a movie trailer. An idea to introduce the fight scene which was thought up was a confrontation between the main protagonist: Jamie and the main Antagonist: Major Barbdwyer. As another gag, I thought up the idea of Major Barbdwyer killing Jamie's wife which was why he wanted to kill the Major. This was then altered to the Major killing Jamie's dog: Sasha, another gag which would be incorporated into the script. The confrontation would then transition into fight sequence(s). I feel as if the script is coming along very well since Liam and I have been able to involve both of our ideas in order to come up with the script which would used in our final product.
28/7/14:
While going through the script, Liam and I realized that we forgot to incorporate 2 scenes: Jamie's escape from the enemy base after the interrogation and his extraction. We both had a lot of trouble figuring how to integrate these ideas into the script. Because we had so much trouble sorting this out, I ended up altering and writing in more entries on my blog, which as a result would get my blog up to date. This is all that was done on this day. At this point, I personally feel like we're getting very behind as both the script and storyboard remain unfinished and the shooting/production schedule is yet to be done. As a group, if we want to get on track, we will have to make a vast amount of progress. This means finishing the script and the storyboard, along with creating the shooting/production schedule and finishing off the script and schedule.
30/7/14:
Since Monday, Liam J had written the scene of Jamie's extraction, which would be done in the form of voice-over and would involve Liam M (the general who sends Jamie on the mission) and Luke. Alterations to the script were also made, with the interrogation scene changing from the Major just punching Jamie and cutting to a black screen, which would last a second, to Jamie catching the punch and temporarily knocking out the Major, giving him a chance to escape. With the script finished and the storyboard being completed, I utilized the two periods we had of MED21F to get my blog up to date. I feel like we're making steady progress, slowly getting back on track. Our pace of progress is slower than I initially thought it would be, however the filming we plan to do over the weekend should get us back on track. The script can be found here: (will paste link here)
31/7/14:
Entries of our contributions to our trailers, along with the concept, style and treatment of the movie trailer are to be recorded on our blog as part of our assessment. With the script and storyboard done, I continued to work on my blog, adding more entries and a vast amount of detail to previous ones. As a group, we agreed that Liam M would do the production schedule. Liam J also looked for the props we would use in the filming of the product. Props such as guns are vital to our trailer as they help reflect and emphasize the genres (action and comedy) of our Jamie of the Jungle movie trailer. This was all that was done on this day.
1/8/14
With plans made to film the bandana tightening scene along with the interrogation scene confirmed, after school I met up with Liam J and Luke so we could get the filming underway. We decided to the bandana scene first and it was decided that it would be filmed in front of a bush. This way we would be able to get the dramatic effect we want, which is to connotate to our target audience (the year 11's) that the movie trailer, PREDOMINANTLY, is set in a jungle. Soon after this scene was completed, we moved onto filming the interrogation scene which was filmed in Liam J's garage. As a result, this would give the impression of the scene take place in the enemies "base/evil lair". This is a common convention used in action movies as it clearly demonstrates the theme of Good VS Evil, one of the we're going for in our trailer. In this movie trailer, I star as the main protagonist, which means all the scenes we filmed on this day involved me. The filming of this scene was successful. Personally, I believe this filming has gotten us back on track, with two scenes we can and will use in final movie trailer. All that needs to done be now is the filming of the rest of the movie trailer, which was to be done in 11 days time.
10/8/14
As a group, we all met up at bottle lake where we filmed the rest of the trailer. The reason as to why we decided to film of our product is to, as I mentioned previously, show the movie trailer is PRIMARILY set in a jungle. The rest of the scenes include the main protagonist Jamie shooting the clones, the fight sequence and and the sprite product placement scene. Filming of these scenes along with the others went extremely well, with several takes of each scene being carried out so when editing, the best shots would be picked and implemented into the final trailer. As I also said earlier, because I'm the main protagonist in the trailer, most of the scenes we filmed involved me thus my contribution to the trailer on this day was me being filmed as the this tough, serious character. With the filming done, I feel like we are now on track and thus I believe we have made phenomenal progress towards the completion of our "Jamie of the Jungle" movie trailer. Also now that we have the filming over and done with, all that needs to be done now is the editing.
11/8/14
Today, we had permission to go into Mr Parsons' classroom. We did this as we needed a quite location in order to record the rest of the voice-overs. This is a necessary convention in our movie trailer as it will demonstrate the story-line to the target audience. Plus it would ensure that the audience understands what is going on in each scene and the reason(s) behind them. The Voice-overs that we recorded were the main protagonist in our trailer: Jamie receiving his mission and the interrogation gag. Overall, the recordings went successfully as they were recorded onto Liam J's laptop without the occurrence of any problems. Thus, because of this, I am looking to see how the trailer will turn out.
13/8/14
We once again met up at bottle lake, where we shot the rest of the trailer the weekend prior. It was discovered that we had to re-film both the sprite scene along with the fight sequence and Liam J's stills after complications last weekend (cold temperatures affected my ability to move my hands, which mean't I couldn't open the sprite can). With that in mind, we headed to the location where we had filmed previously. Because I'm the main actor in our "Jamie of the Jungle" movie trailer, I was needed for the scenes we had to re-shoot hence my contribution was acting in these scenes, as the character of "Jamie Harris". We successfully managed to shoot these scenes. During this process, we also changed the original plans from shooting just the three scenes to also re-shooting the bandana tightening scene, so it would be filmed in front of a better setting and thus, have a more dramatic effect in the final product. Between the filming of the sprite product placement scene and the other scenes, we moved filming locations so that each scene wouldn't take place in the same area hence also adding variation for every scene. The other change we made to the original plan was that we decided to film more shootouts. This was done so we could add variation to the final rapid flashes of action thus creating tension which would then "keep the year 11's on the edge of their seat" causing the target audience want to see more of the trailer. On this day, at times, I helped re-watch some of the footage so we could figure out what we would need to improve on (in terms of acting) so we could get the right shot and implement it into the final product that is our movie trailer.
Concept:
The findings from the survey show that our target audience (the year 11's) enjoy action/war films along with mock movies or parodies, which is perfect for our "Jamie in the Jungle" trailer since it consists of the genres: action/war film and comedy, meaning that our movie trailer will appeal to the target audience. At first, our main plot or story-line consisted of the main protagonist: Jamie being on a covert mission to retrieve the stolen KFC recipe which would be utilized for terrorist plots. The idea then transitioned into the KFC recipe being used to clone humans. These clones would then be used to invade and imperialistically take over New Zealand. However, we soon scrapped the KFC recipe idea and decided to just keep the clone idea in the script. That way, our final movie trailer would be able to reflect the main action and war film genres. As a result, the trailer would also demonstrate the sub-genre of comedy since we had decided to implement gags, like the pulling the finger scene, into the script from the very beginning. However, when writing the script I decided to change the story-line so that the final plot would start as a covert op that ends turning into a fight for survival. A mission turning into a fight for survival is a common story-line that used in action or war movie trailer as creates it that tension which keeps the viewer enticed.
Thus, our final concept involves the main protagonist "Jamie Harris" a former army lieutenant sent on a covert operation to stop the main antagonist Major Barbdwyer from cloning humans and using them to invade NZ. This, however turns into a fight for survival when Jamie finds that he's been hunted by the Major and his army of clones. In order to come up with this story-line however, as a group we had to make quite a number of significant changes to the original plan. These changes include the following: the trailer starts with the disclaimer and logos, this is done to demonstrate and foreground the fact what the viewer is watching really is a movie trailer. The scenes involving the main protagonist and the voice-overs where the Jamie Harris receiving his mission are significant as they demonstrate the plot of the trailer. I originally wrote the voice-over to be the character of Jamie receiving the mission as a scene involving Liam M and I but as a group we made the decision to alter this to just so voice-overs. We decided to do this as it will not only enhance the main genres of action and comedy but also so that the story-line/plot would be connotated to the audience right from the beginning of the trailer. Also, before the initial filming, we never originally intended to have our main character Jamie escape the enemy (Major Barbdywer's) hideout. At first, we had decided to have the main protagonist primarily be captured and interrogated by Major Barbdwyer. The reason why we chose to do this was because it would add a 'fight for survival' aspect to the story-line, creating tension within the audience as a result. These are the most significant changes made as they contribute and have a major impact as to how the outcome of the final movie trailer (final product).
I believe that, as a group, we have made phenomenal progress in terms of the movie trailer pre-production. The script and the storyboard are both finished and the dramatic music we would use in our final movie trailer product has also been found. My overall contribution to the pre-production of the movie trailer is the thought and incorporation of several ideas, including the fight sequence, what to put on the disclaimer along with the co-writing of the script. This will be help overall as the script foregrounds what will happen in our final trailer and the ideas that have been thought up and implemented help contradict this, thus my overall contribution has been vital as it will benefit the pre-production in terms of planning and finalization as a whole.
Treatment and style:
Five specific conventions that will be utilized in the "Jamie of the Jungle" movie trailer are the following: dramatic music, fight sequence(s), Voice-overs, Good VS evil theme and gags. Dramatic music is common convention used in action movie trailers and is one that is used in "Jamie of the Jungle". Typically, the music is fast and upbeat and is used to create the tension that keeps the audience enticed. This is why we have included this convention in the trailer. The 2nd convention that is/will be used in the trailer is a fight sequence. In action movies, a fight sequence is when both the main protagonist and the main antagonist face off against each other near or at the end of the movie, typically in hand-to-hand combat. The aim of this is to wrap up the story of the movie. However, I thought up the idea of this so that, in the trailer, it would instead add to the tension created which I have already mentioned. Plus, it would aid in the foregrounding off the trailer's MAIN genre(s) which are war and action. The 3rd that is used in the "Jamie of the Jungle" is definitely one of the most vital conventions; Voice-Overs. Our trailer will consist of a high number of these right of from the start. We did this for two reasons. The Main reason is to enhance and connotate the plot of the trailer. This allows the viewer(s) to get a greater understanding of the main story-line or the objective of the main protagonist. The second we decided to have voice-overs is for keeping the audience enticed. As I have said before this is the effect we want to our movie trailer as it will create a certain amount of tension, making the audience experience a variety of emotions in the process. The theme of Good VS evil is an extremely common conventions seen in a variety of the movie trailers in the media today. Not only does this theme help in creating tension but it also reinforces the plot of the trailer, connotating it even more. Another convention we have used in our trailer is gags, a convention which runs along the lines of the comedy genre. The aim of this convention is to show humor, which has the effect of making the viewer(s) to laugh, adding to the range of emotion in which they do/have already experienced. Combined these convention work together in order to make the viewer feel a range of emotions, through the main character's eyes and how they see things. In the instance of Jamie of the Jungle we get insight and understanding as to the main protagonist Jamie and his experiences on the mission of he goes on. This is main goal and desired effect of our movie trailer.
Through this, we can see the style of the trailer or in other words, how the trailer is presented. The conventions that go along the lines of the action genre demonstrates that we want the movie trailer to keep the audience on the edges of the seats, stirring emotions and making them want to see more. Coupled in with the gags that cause the audience to laugh, the style in which we want in our movie trailer is having an even amount of action and comedy, thus creating an atmosphere, one that consist that is equally intense like other action movies today but also shows the exaggerated, unrealistic parody feel of our trailer. This is what we want to do in our movie trailer.
Final product:
My overall contributions to final product are as follows: The incorporation of ideas (like the disclaimer and fight sequence in terms of planning), the co-writing of the script with Liam Jones [this is one his contributions] and acting in the trailer as the main protagonist. Both the planning and script are extremely vital to the trailer since, in the end, they foreground the trailer, acting as pinnacles for what will happen. The contributions of the others in the group include idea brainstorming, the storyboard, the product schedule, sorting out costumes and editing. The main goal of the storyboard is to again reinforce what will happen in the trailer, the production schedule contains the details as to what we do i.e what will be filmed, costumes etc, and sorting out costumes means we will have figured out what each character will wear. The editing, however, is probably the biggest contribution of all. With editing, everything including the raw footage, voice-overs and dramatic music is brought together. Adding in other things such as CGI effects will help and end up creating the final product in which we planned at the start of the unit. All of these contributions were successful as they were incorporated into the final trailer in some way or form. Because of this, it is the combination of these contributions that end determining how the final trailer is presented as a whole. Personally I feel that while the trailer definitely reflects the comedy genre within the trailer, it lacks however in showing other aspects. For example, the final trailer only follows some parts of the initial script like the main protagonist Jamie receiving with several other parts such as the sprite scene, the escape from Major Barbdwyer's headquarters and the fight sequence been left out. For this reason, comedy becomes the MAIN genre and action as a sub-genre whereas we originally had planned for it to be the other way around. The intense action movie atmosphere is not connotated in the final trailer hence the creation of tension that would stir the emotions of the audience did not take place. Because of this, I believe the trailer really did not follow the original plan as much as I thought it would. As a result of this, I think the trailer could have better executed in terms of ACTUALLY following the plan we had set (this includes the script and storyboard). If this were to be done, my viewpoint on the trailer would be altered toward having a more positive stance on how I believe the trailer has turned out.
