Film Making and Production Company Logos
Table Top Filmmaking
Throughout our table top filmmaking I focused on opening film sequences and different uses of them in different films across every genre. I researched by watching a collection of three opening sequences and analysing the techniques that they used. All the opening sequences I watched used a type of shot known as a Rostrum shot which is a top down shot (see an unedited and edited example from my work below).
My Rostrum shot and intro sequence as a whole focused on China and Russia
with an overall hint towards the Cold War and inter-country relations
such as spying and espionage. This relates to my previous work on the
effect of the Cold War on media. We (Matthew S, Alex W, Kai and I)
decided to keep our opening sequence short as to not give much information to the audience. This adds an element of mystery so that it leaves the
audience curious about where the story leads, we did not introduce many
characters and only one actors face was seen.
The specific live action portions of our Rostrum table top shot
directly lead into our live action shot.
Live Action Filmmaking
After filming our table top Rostrum shot we filmed a live action shot with our main character (played by Alex W). We focused on lighting and had an emphasis on props from our table top shot, the USSR beret, trench coat, briefcase and handgun all make a feature as prominent parts of our live action shot. Our main character (Alex W) receives a briefcase from an unknown individual (played by Kai W) in an over the shoulder shot where our main character steps from dim, ominous lighting into a beam of light as he receives the briefcase and proceeds to shoot the individual (Kai W), the kind of betrayal foreshadowed by having our main character in such dim lighting paints our character as a bold, ominous figure. Without the context of why he shot the man who handed him the briefcase he may even come across as a villain to the audience, this confusion keeps the audience on their toes and overall makes a more exciting story in my view. (See the unedited and edited shot below).
Post Production
We titled our film Communist Clash. The non-diegetic track I used for our film was Imagine by John Lennon. I added in two pieces of diegetic audio not originally recorded, the gun cocking with reverb added for effect and a gun shot with a visual muzzle flash on the gun. I credited the actors, Kai W and Alex W, the lighting crew, Matthew S and Kai W, the cinematographer, director and editor , myself (Jagger C-D) and special thanks to the CFCS media department and Ms Mann.
My Experience
I feel that our film project went well, the end result (attached below) had little to no major issues or hitches with production. The lighting in our live action scene lined up perfectly and we utilised the materials we had at hand well to manipulate the light in the way we wanted it. Our lack of access to a wide aperture lens did impact the quality of video, making it grainy however, it is passable. I enjoyed this project very much.
Thank you for reading.
