Characters and Casting - Part Three

We decided the quickest way to find actors and actresses was through a 'send-to-all' email. This would allow people to come to us, which would hopefully mean they are dedicated and enthusiastic. Once we had narrowed down our possible actors, we firstly decided to cast the male protagonist. We did this by taking some practise shots of scenes and deciding the sort of character we wanted Liam (our protagonist) to be and deciding the sort of person we wanted to cast him. A video is attached below along with the email, with some of the scenes from the auditions as well as our decision and reasons for it. I have also attached a picture of me editing and making this short video. This is quite new for me and although not part of the trailer, I found it useful to have experience with editing videos, photos and music.

Character and Casting - Part Two

In an earlier post, a Google Slides presentation was attached which described a rough idea of the sort of characters we would like in our trailer as well as the traits of the cast that we desire. We also considered issues that we could face and how we will find the right actors and actresses for the trailer. Since this post, Vince, Max and myself have had many discussions into the story line of our characters. We all agree that it is important that the characters have a strong background story, because even if this isn't shown in the trailer, it helps us to understand the characters as if they were real and helps us to know how we want them to be portrayed. We are also in agreement that we should make a film concept as if we were to make a full feature length and then decide what would be in the trailer instead of just considering this to be a trailer. This allows us to make sure the trailer makes sense and that we don't add random parts to the trailer for effect only. Below is a Google Docs table I have created which shows the characteristics and background story of both our protagonist, antagonist and female role. We discussed these characters in great depth and keep making little changes to the story. One significant change we made was to alter the story of the main characters mother. Initially we had the idea that she had once checked her phone whilst driving causing her to crash and costing her life, we then discussed this on our Facebook group chat (as posted below) and changed it to a story that meant another driver checked their phone, causing them to crash and kill the protagonists mum. This is posted below.

The Comedy Conflict

This post is not a part of the planning stages for our film trailer, but instead something I found when investigating how to have a strong connection between film producers and actors. It is true, that in our film trailer, it is likely that we will all have much enjoyment and probably a lot of laughs but when making films on a large sum of money where you can't afford to go wrong, you can imagine the tension in the studios. In another of my A Level subjects, Economics, we look at something called the 'principal-agent problem'. The principal-agent problem describes the tension and difference of opinion between managers and shareholders. It is the case of two parts of a business having different ideas causing tension. For example, a shareholder may want money quickly and in a large amount whereas a manager may be spending heavily on investment ready for the future. The article I found between actor Bill Murray and director Harold Ramis reminded me of this theory. The film 'Groundhog Day' made in 1993 is one of my favourite ever but behind the scenes were huge tensions. Murray had worked with Ramis for years before and they became a some-what comedy duo. However, during Groundhog Days production, Murray reportedly often turned up late, argued with Ramis a lot about the direction of the film and had many different ideas. Many believe that Murray had had enough of his career always being because of Ramis and wanted to prove he had what it takes to be successful without Ramis. The duo didn't talk for around 21 years but when Ramis hit his deathbed, Murray did visit and had personal talks. It is believed the duo made up at the last minute and Murray can be seen in the clip below respecting Harold Ramis at the Oscars.

 

More and More Hacking

The hacking theme that we are interested in pursuing is giving more and more to us. The more I listen to the radio news, read Facebook articles or even hear people talking about issues, the more I realise that hacking and cyber-security is such an issue at the moment and so seems such a contemporary theme and has come at a perfect time for us. Below are some news articles I have found and collaged all written within the last week from around the world. There is a post from the BBC News Facebook Page, The Guardian, BBC News Website, Bild (a German news corporation), CNN (an American news corporation) and Russia Today. I found the articles were all relevant but also interesting that when I typed 'hacking' into the search news section of RT the top result was a satirical video of Donald Trump.

Storyboard - First Draft

At this point we have just done the characters and casting stages and still need to decide on costumes, props, location, etc, however I wanted to look ahead to the story-boarding stage and create a first-draft storyboard. I did some light drawings and many captions and potential dialogue. In the future, I plan on creating a more in-depth storyboard. The story is below and hopefully understandable but in summary, it is a story of a hacker that is upset with how the world works and the lack of security and knowledge and is faced with two options, doing nothing or releasing everything include businesses, governments and citizens pictures and messages, etc.

Our Initial Ideas

We have been saying between us for a little while now that we like the idea of action and more specifically the theme of hacking. It is an exciting premise and can be taken in multiple directions. Recently, I have enjoyed the story of the Russia-American hacking which has dominated the news for a while now along with hacking articles related to Yahoo, iCloud and Anonymous. We want to look further into this and so went onto YouTube and news sites to get an understanding of the latest hacks and why it can be a threat to us. This is a concept we are all interested in, and although it is still in early stages, I am sure our finished piece will have either a story based around hacking or if not, an element of hacking to it.

Characters and Casting - Part One

For the first part of the planning stage in this task, we will be discussing the main characters in brief detail. Although (at this stage) it is unclear exactly which characters we require, we can determine the type of attributes we are looking for. We can also decide our casting process and auditions, if necessary. An important part of this task is to also consider what could go wrong. To begin with the characters are casting part of the planning stages, we make a collaborative 'Google Docs' file in which we would all make suggestions and voice our opinions, we then gathered the information and made this Google Slides presentation below.

Meet The Team / The Planning Stage

I've now reached the planning stages of the course which is an exciting step because it means I can use all the knowledge I have learnt in lessons and in the research tasks towards the actual piece. Much of the work we have done to date has been very much independent. Before continuing on with the tasks together, we thought it would be a good idea to discuss what we are looking forward to in the task, discuss any possible concerns and explain why we chose to work with one another. By doing this, we would greater understand each others expertise and concerns. The document is attached below.

Christmas 2016

Today is the 12th day of Christmas, it's been a great Christmas and New Year but now I am excited to continue with my media work. Prior to Christmas, some of us were given the opportunity to contribute to the Christ The King christmas video. This was an enjoyable but also helpful task. We were split into groups and given camera's and tri-pods, for this task I stuck with Vince and Max which was a great decision as it meant we could have some experience working with one another and discovering our individual skill sets and how we can work together to produce a high quality film trailer. The Christmas film give us all some experience filming, but also with dealing with people that are in the scene and the equipment. Overall, it was a highly helpful task but also a lot of fun which is an important part of media, as it will always appear greater if the people behind the production are enthusiastic about it. The video is attached below and at present, has 44,000 views :