Drafting and planning: Detective scene

As I have set myself a deadline of 12th December to get all of my footage done, as highlighted by my recent blog post, http://lewisglennonmediaa2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/organisation_22.html, I have started to film a large amounts of my scenes for my trailer. This is the detective scene where the lead detective announces that they are going after both Poezzi's and Castro's gang. As shown in my storyboard post, http://lewisglennonmediaa2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/drafting-and-planning-second-storyboard.html, this scene will be shown then cut to the gangs fighting and running from the police to emphasize to the audience the two big tasks Poezzi is facing. However I think this scene is perfect for my trailer. This is because I chose my Sociology teacher to play the head detective as he looks the part with his suit and he fitted the role perfectly in my opinion. I also used a classroom for the detectives room as well as printing out pictures of the cast for Poezzi and Castro, to stick on the board to give off the impression that this is a serious meeting between the top detectives on how to deal with both gangs. I might have to crop out just a small part of the frame so certain things are not seen such as the celebrations box however this could add to the impression that this is a detectives room as it is just a normal daily object used in most places. Also if I feel this clip does not look good enough for the trailer I might re-shoot it will a close up of the head detective giving the orders to focus more on the gang pictures and the head detective to show how badly he wants to catch them. Overall I thought the location and cast for this scene is correct and am really happy with how the scene came out.

Organisation: Trackers

Here is a tracker of my blogs which have been created by my teacher. This tracker shows me how many blog posts I have made overall as well as splitting them up into the 4 key areas, target audience, drafting and planning, similar products, and organisation, which shows me which areas I am doing well in as well as areas where I need to improve. As shown by the tracker I currently have a total of 35 blogs which I am happy about as it is quite a high number of blog posts to have at this stage and it shows me that I have a lot of important blogs to look at to help me make an effective media trailer.  I have quite a nice balance between the 4 key areas and am glad that I have the highest amount of blogs under organisation, as that is key for me this year, as I need to organize cast, shooting dates, props, locations etc to make my trailer good. However I am a bit low of drafting and planning which is something I will need to address, because I will struggle to construct my trailer if I haven't done enough planning and drafting. However if I can up that I will be pleased with my blogs as I will have a nice balance which sets me up nicely for the construction of my trailer.

Target audience

Recently I recorded the footage for Poezzi's first scene in the trailer in which he gives the orders for his gang members to start committing crime before it cuts to quick snippets of action in the trailer.  I planned to make the lighting low key so it would make Poezzi mysterious and intimdating but feared that it was two dark. Therefore I uploaded three different clips I recorded and asked my target audience which one they thought was the best and whether they thought it was to dark. These were the three clips I asked them to us
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As expected I got some very good feedback from my target audience as shown here. Most of them preferd clip 2(middle one) or clip 3 (the top one)  which was what I felt the strongest clip with the top one, so therefore was pleased that the audience showed me which one they felt was best.  I was also pleased with the fact that most of them said that the low key lighting was good as it added fear and ambiguity to Poezzi which is what I am trying to create with the character in this scene as it is his first scene in the trailer so I need to get the fear and power of Poezzi through to the audience. Paige did suggest that  I could use a little bit more high key lighting which I will try and do through the editing program MoviePlus X6. However I feel that it will take away some of the mystery from Poezzi, but if it looks effective I will use it in my trailer. Overall I am happy that my target audience feels that I have got the lighting and shot type correct here as it is such a crucial part of my trailer. This leaves me in a very strong position for making the rest of my trailer.

Organisation

At the moment I feel that I am in a very strong position with gathering footage for my trailer 'Poezzi.' However I still have some scenes to shoot and re-shoot so have set myself a deadline of 12th December to try and get all my footage done, so then I will have enough time to go back and re-shoot certain scenes which are not good enough to use in my trailer. On Tuesday 24th November I plan to re-shoot the scene of Castro's gang appearing. As shown by my previous blog I have already shot this, http://lewisglennonmediaa2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/target-audience_20.html, and while I feel the scene is alright I want to try and make it a bit longer so will re-shoot it. I will also get Poezzi's voice over, as well as Castro attacking one of Poezzi's gang member and the detectives discussing Poezzi's gang. Once I have gathered all of this I will have most of the start of my trailer completed. Then on Friday 27th November I will do some more shots of the Birmingham skyline to allow me a wide range of choice over which shot is the best one to use, before finally on Saturday 28th November going down to my local police station and asking if I can shoot some of their cars for the quick snippets of action towards the end of the film. However if I am not allowed to I will just cut it from my trailer. Hopefully everything goes well on those days and by the end of the week I will have a clear idea of what I need to include and change to make my trailer as good as possible.

Target audience

This is some edited footage of Castro's gang appearing which I can use in my trailer. I have cut it down to just a snippet and know that I need to edit out the sound, however I decided to get people in my class to comment on the YouTube clip to see if the actors fit 'the bill' of gang members. This is crucial for my plot because if the cast don't look the part then it will be hard to pull in my target audience as the trailer won't look serious.

As shown by the image here most people are happy with my casting as they which is a good think as it means that they look the part and fit the bill of looking like gangsters. I have also been praised for the mid shot I have used as it clearly shows that Castro is the leader and portrays him as powerful and dominant. However most of my target audience feels that Castro's other two gang members should both have their hands in their pockets instead of just one. I did this because I did a shot where they both had their hands in their pocket but I felt Daniel (one with the glasses) didn't look serious enough.  However as my target audience think it would be better as it would make Castro look even more powerful as well as making the gang on the whole look better I will re-shoot this scene with the gang members having their hands in the pocket and Castro having his free. It was also suggested that I should perhaps try I medium close up of the gang to make them look more intimidating. Once again when I re-shoot this scene I will do this to see how good it is. Overall the feedback from my target audience has been very helpful in their feedback and I am pleased to know that my cast do look the part and I won't have to re-shoot them.

Target audience and Organisation: Who will distribute my film?

Despite planning my trailer and beginning filming I have yet to decide who will distribute my film 'Poezzi.' I need to decide whether it will be a major distribution company or a small independent company. This decision needs to be correct as it can help me attract more of my target audience.  The two companies I was thinking of distributing my film are Universal or BBC films so will evaluate which company would be best to distribute my film in this blog.

Universal film studios's is a major film distributing company and is part of the 'Big 6' when it comes to film distribution.  It was founded in 1912 by Car; Laemmie, Pat Powers, Mark Dintenfass, William Swanson, David Horsely, Charles Baumann, Adam Kessel, and Jules Brualtor. It has produced plenty of famous films on large budgets such Jurrasic Park and Jaws and has a revenue of 4.239 billion dollars. There would be plenty of benefits with having Universal as the film distributor for Poezzi as I would be able to pull in a larger amount of my target audience as people will be drawn in by a universal film due to it's success with other famous films. Also the gangster style films I have studied such as Legend, GodFather, http://lewisglennonmediaa2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/similar-products.html and Reserviour dogs, http://lewisglennonmediaa2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/similar-products-reservoir-dogs.html, have been distributed by major film companies and have all been a success which would make my audience assume 'Poezzi' will be a success and they will be attracted to the film.

• The other film company I am contemplating to distribute is BBC films. While the BBC is a big company as it is a public service broadcaster in the UK, it's films are usually low budget. Some films that have been produced and distributed by BBC films the Mrs Brown movie and Saving Mr Banks. However despite BBC films not being as big as universal I still think it would be good for Poezzi to be produced by it. This is because Poezzi is a British based crime drama so it would make sense for it to be produced and distributed by a British company.  Also because of how big the BBC is in the UK I am confident I would still be able to pull in a fair bit of my target audience, especially as films made by BBC films are aimed at younger people.

Verdict

While I agree that both of these companies would be good to produce and distribute Poezzi as well as helping me pull in my target audience I feel that it is best that I choose BBC films. This is because while I can pull in a much larger audience by choosing Universal I don't think that the British crime drama would fit in with films they produce where as I feel it is a perfect fit with the BBC because they are both British, and I can still pull in a fair bit of my target audience. 

Organisation

Over the last week I have been filming a number of scenes for my trailer. I did filming on Tuesday 10th November, Thursday 12th December, and Friday 13th December. Roughly I have recorded 6 scenes for my trailer. I did this so I can see what angles are best for each shot as well as allowing me to get comfortable with the camera. I am also filming 2 scenes today located in the alleys for the chase scene, as pointed out in a previous blog, http://lewisglennonmediaa2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/organisation-locations_13.html. Once I have done this I will upload and edit them on Movie Plus 6 before putting the edited versions onto YouTube and getting my target audience feedback on each clip. On Tuesday 17th November I will also get Poezzi's voice over for the start of the trailer as well as the film logo's and audience rating picture. I still have to decide whether the film is a major film or an independent one. Finally on 27th November I will record some more skyline's to decide which one is best for my trailer. Once all this is done I will have a whole month to collect my final scenes for the trailer as well as deciding what scenes can be done better an re-shooting them thus putting me in a strong position.

Drafting and planning

Here I have edited one of the skyline shots I have taken. I have cut down the footage so it is very short as the skyline won't feature to much in my trailer. However I probably won't use this shot in my trailer, but just used it to get a flavor of the editing program, movie plus 6. I also added in a song by Yelowolf called 'till its gone.' This is the song used throughout the trailer of Johnny Depps new film 'Black Mass.' The song has a real nice beat and slowly builds up as it gets further on. Therefore I thought the song would fit in the skyline bit to set the scene although I won't be using it in my actual trailer.  The software I used  is very easy to edit and add music to and this session has made me confident in it for when I come to edit my trailer. I will continue to edit some more things on the program to get better at it but feel very confident in it at this point.

similar products: Mean streets trailer

I recently decided to analyse the trailer for the 1973 film 'mean streets.' This film uses some different techniques to pull in their target audience and these are things I could use to pull in my target audience.

The first thing which interested me in this trailer though was this mid shot 16 seconds in. This is because of the location as it is a bar and he is playing snooker. This portrays the gangster as powerful as you can clearly see him in his suit, showing he has style and wealth, but also the club is empty which hints to the audience that he owns this club. This once again demonstrates the gangs wealth and power and is a location I could use in my trailer as I work in a social club so could set up it up as Poezzi's 'office' if the shoot in the drama studio does not go to plan.

Also the trailer shows hints of comedy in it from 28 seconds to 32 seconds with the gangster lip syncing to the song. This is a classic technique used in most movie trailers to pull in their target audience, especially in gangster films as it shows the audience that the film will not be serious throughout and won't just feature corruption and violence though pulling a few more in. I am already trying to add in a bit of comedy in my trailer to pull in my target audience.

  I also like how throughout the whole trailer there is low key lighting which creates mystery around the gang but also adds intimidation. This is a technique I am going to use in my trailer when I introduce Poezzi to add intimidation about him but I will not use low key lighting throughout the trailer like mean streets does as I don't think it will be effective.

Another technique that the trailer uses is shown from 1 minute 10 seconds to 1 minute 55 seconds. This is a long segment in which Charlie helps his fellow gangster out and shows his caring and sensitive side. This will help pull in the audience as it reveals that Charlie is perhaps a good guy and gets them to root for him out of actually liking him, rather than out of fear and thinking that the gangsters are cool like most gangster trailers do. However despite it being a good technique it will not on I will use in my trailer as I want to demonstrate that Poezzi is not a good guy in any way possible and this is why and how he has got to the top and stayed there for so long.

Drafting and planning

Over the last few days I have filmed 2 different shots of the Birmingham skyline which will feature at the start of my trailer. I have yet to cut and edit out the sound of the skyline but will do that on Thursday. I have used a tracking shot for each video, but will use other shots when I film the skyline again. I also plan to film the skyline in other destinations.
This is the first shot I took of the skyline. Here I was trying to get familiar with the camera hence why I filmed more than the skyline. However I opted for a tracking shot to try and show how big the city Poezzi run's is so that I can express how powerful he actually is. I plan to cut this shot twice first just for the first 3 seconds, and secondly from 13 seconds to 19 seconds. I will then decide which one to use in my trailer if they are the best shots. I film the footage from 13 seconds is better as it lets the audience see clearly the city Poezzi runs as it will be on for 6 seconds, however due to time it might be wise for me to use the 3 second one.




 This is the second skyline I filmed. As you can see it is a bit darker than the first one, which is what I am aiming for as I feel skyline at nights look more effective, but also the darkness will reflect the world Poezzi is in. Once again I have used another tracking shot to carry on getting used to the camera, and will cut this down to just the first 4 seconds, as well as editing out the sound. This clip of the skyline is sort of what I need as it will be roughly the perfect timing for start of my trailer as well as being dark. However I will also try filming in different locations and with different angles to see if I can come up with a better skyline view.

These two shots of the skyline have been very useful for me as they are sort of 'my guinea pig' shots. They still might be used in my trailer but these shots have helped me get familiar with the camera and will also be the shots I use to edit, thus helping me get familiar with the editing program. On the whole this 'experiment' will help me when filming for my trailer overall.

Organisation: Rest of the cast

Here I have gathered pictures of the rest of my cast. As I have already cast the two main charchters, Poezzi and Castro, http://lewisglennonmediaa2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/organisation-casting.html.  I have decided to cast their gang members. Here I have split them into each part.

Poezzi's gang
In Poezzi's gang I decided to cast Jake, Connor, Dominic.T, Ben and Nathan. I did this because all of them range from different sizes which is what Poezzi wants as he relies on smarts and speed rather than just muscle to get what he wants. I believe that they all do look the part for the role the only thing I might have to change is certain people's hair so they have more of a 'gangster' look rather than just 17 year old lads. Here I have pictures of some of the cast.

 I did have to borrow some of these pictures of social media due to mine coming out blurred, but the look I am going for it the one shown by Dominic.T at the top. The hands in pocket and the jacket gives him that gangster swagger and his face shows that he is serious about the business and working with Poezzi. Also I will keep Ben and Connor's hair the same (second and third picture) as it has the gangster swept over look although Connor's will need to slightly be swept over. However the key man out this cast is Ben as he is Poezzi's second hand man as well as his muscle.

Castro's gang
Meanwhile for Castro's gang I decided to cast Luke, Daniel, Dominic B and Steve. I decided to do this because they are all quite young looking, which is what Castro's gang are a group of highly rated young gangsters who are feeling there potential quite quickly. I have also added a bit of similarity to Castro and Poezzi's gang by making Dominic B Castro's second man in charge as once again he is the muscle of the group. However as he is not quite broad himself, the new style Castro has opted for is using speed in his business with a bit of muscle hence why I have opted for small guys to play the part.  Here are pictures of them.

 Once again the main issue I will have to deal with is the hair but it should not be to much of a hassle as they all should be easy to sort out. The costume I am going for is shown by what Dominic.B is wearing in the third picture with just a black jacket and a top similar to Poezzi's gang. This will show that despite challenging Poezzi, Castro still has some respect and admiration for him as he gets his gang to wear nearly identical outfits. However I might need to change this for the scene where they are chasing each other as it might be confusing. I will also do two shoots with both Luke and Daniel not wearing their glasses and wearing their glasses to see which one makes them look the part more.


Overall I am pleased with my casting for the gang members roles and this will allow me to      start filming some scenes and editing them ready for my deadline.

Similar products

This is the trailer to the 1987 film 'The untouchables' starring Robert Di Niro. This film is quite different to mine as it is set in the 1920's, unlike mine which is set in modern day but still includes things I can use in my trailer.

For starters the way Di Niro is dressed is similar to the way I want Poezzi to look like when he is giving orders. This will include a suit with a handkerchief in his pocket to show that he is a man of wealth and power.  Also the way Di Niro demands that the officer is killed from 2 minutes 8 seconds to 10 seconds is the way I want Poezzi to demonstrate his authority and power. I could also use this later on in the trailer to add in a bit of charchter development of how Castro's gang is getting to Poezzi, as that will help pull in my target audience as shown by my last blog, http://lewisglennonmediaa2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/target-audience.html.

Another thing which I though was effective in this trailer is how the lead detective has such a massive role in it and does everything he can to catch DiNiro as shown by this GIF, with him shooting someone. However as shown by 2 minutes 30 seconds to 2 minutes 35 seconds, it shows how this case has forced the detective to bend the rules to get his man. Once again this is an interesting character  development fitted into the trailer, and it could be an effective idea for me to perhaps give the lead detective a more major role in my trailer to show his development at dealing with two gangs rather than being a side piece to them. I will try and do this but I feel it will be to complex an idea to include without showing the struggles between the two gangs. However I also like the long jackets the detectives are wearing as this makes them look the part and I will try and get some for my detectives.

Also another idea I gathered from the trailer is how early the first bit of action is, taking place just over 20 seconds in with an explosion as shown here. Now as shown by my storyboard, http://lewisglennonmediaa2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/drafting-and-planning-second-storyboard.html, I plan to include quick snippets of action early in my trailer (roughly 40 seconds) but if I do it within the first 20 seconds of the trailer, like the untouchables have, I might be able to grab my audiences attention straight away thus helping me pull them in. Like the detective development scene I will try to fit this in as I think it is a more efficient way of pulling in my target audience but if it disrupts the format of my trailer I will keep it the same as now as the action will still come in fairly quickly into the trailer.

While this trailer is set in a different time period to my film idea it has still helped me come up with new ideas on how to make my characters look like serious gangsters, as well as showing me how I can fit in character development which will be one of many ways to pull in my target audience. While some of the ideas are a bit complex I can still fit in simpler ideas, such as Poezzi's anger being show due to Castro, thanks to this trailer which will help me create a more effective trailer as well as sticking to the conventions needed to pull in my target audience and not bore them.

Target audience

Recently I made a tweet asking if I should include character development into my trailer. Most of my followers are the same age as my target audience (18) so it was important I got there views as it could help me pull in my target audience.

As shown by these number of responses most of the people agree that I should bring in character development into my trailer to intrigue my audience more but they also all agree that I should not include to much as it could give away to much about the film. I was quite happy that everyone had the same view and not all different views as it has shown me that I do need to add in about Poezzi's charchter developing to pull in my target audience. It will be difficult to try not to include to much charchter development in the trailer but I do belive I could do it and have two ways to do it. I could show the difference between the start of the trailer showing how Poezzi was clearly top dog but is now struggling to deal with Castro's gang, or I could show how the challenge of Castro has caused him to become much more viscious and violent throughout the trailer. I think that both of these development would be easy enough to portray without giving to much away but think the best way to pull in my target audience would be to have a mix off both as the violence fits in with the certificate of my film,  http://lewisglennonmediaa2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/target-audience-certification.html, but also the change in Poezzi's status could fit in with the song 'Feeling Good,' which I will use in my trailer (http://lewisglennonmediaa2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/organisation-choice-of-songs.html) and also show the audience the tension between him and Castro.  This tweet has helped me add the final bit into my trailer and now I am ready to start filming all of it.