Film Planning: Developed Idea No.1

The main plot behind our first idea is a young gentleman who cannot race any more. This is due to a previous accident which has occurred. During the scene, he will have emotional flashbacks to his racing career whilst he is at Silverstone circuit.

The character will be seated either in the grandstand or in a viewing point of the track. As he will be in a wheelchair, being seated in a disabled area is a more believable concept.

•  The logistical issue with this will be permission to use the disabled grandstands. On weekdays, when we can film, the grandstands are not for public access. Permission to use these will be difficult to get so areas that we can use may be limited.

The flashback we intend on including will show either racing or the main character preparing for a race. For this, editing will be used (cuts and fading in edit) to highlight the beginning of a flashback scene.

• Due to the time of year we wish to film, racing will be relatively infrequent and may not include cars we desire. A more appropriate decision will be to show the character preparing for a race, as long as suitable racing costumes and costumes for other characters are found.

Finally, a scripted voice-over will be used so audience can gain some background on the story.

• At the Silverstone UTC, we lack high quality sound equipment, so it will need to be sourced from outside of school. We have been informed that Gaby has recording equipment for us to use.

Film Planning: Initial Ideas

For our first task in film planning, our group had to create ideas to base our film on. As a group we decided to create 6 different ideas, before expanding our 3 most favourite ideas. Here are our 6 initial ideas:
Idea 1

• Main character in the scene is an older gentleman/ younger man who ,for an unknown reason which will be revealed later in the scene, cannot race.
• This character will be placed in the grandstands.
• The opening scene will mainly consist of the character flashing back to when he was racing.
• During this there will be a voice over by the main character whilst he reflrcts on the past.

Idea 2

• Main character will be someone who is currently racing. He will either be at home or in the garage in this scene.
• There will again be a flashback but this will be to his childhood and how he grew up around cars.
• There will be a voice over during the flashbacks as with Idea 1.

Idea 3

• The main character will be someone of young age, who aspires to be a racer much like his father/grandfather who died whilst racing. The two characters would have never met.
• Shots of trophies and newspapers will reveal how successful the relative was in racing. 
• Introduced to the relative when the younger character watches films of him racing.

Idea 4

• The main character of the scene will be a mechanic, who will be working in the garage on the race day. He aspires to be a driver. 
• Performance is lacking as he dreams of being a driver.
• Voice over included once again.
• The mechanic could possibly be in the grandstands.

Idea 5

• The main characters will include two rivals in racing, possibly team mates (Rosberg vs. Hamilton rivalry) 
• We would follow one particular driver and his version of events.
• The scene will involve press and will be set at the beginning of the race or the preparation, where there is some tension between the rivals.

Idea 6 

• The main character will be a marshall at a race, who could be involved in an accident which occurs on track.
• This could either be a flashback or could trigger flashbacks.
• The marshall could be an ex-racer which could be reasons for the flashback (accident in racing).

Film Planning: Group Introduction

Our project is to create a short film opening to a film, which will be based on the motorsport-action/adventure genre. Our group consists of 4 people, they are:

• Amber Runnacles: Not completed GCSE Media
• Amy Martin: C-grade for Media at GCSE
• Gaby Stocker: B-grade for Media at GCSE
• Me (Aidan Carter): Not completed GCSE Media

I feel that this group will work together very well as we all individually and collectively want to achieve the best possible result in A-level Media. We as a group gel well together meaning we can express our creativity to each other and creat the best possible film opening.

Film Opening Evaluation Of: Carrie

This is my evaluation of the introduction to the film Carrie.

Genre: Horror

Film Director: Kimberly Pierce
 Box Office: $84,790,678 Worldwide (24th November 2013)
Awards: 5 wins and 7 nominations

Preliminary Film Evaluation

Group Skills
I felt that Jordan and I worked well as a pair in this task. We both had specific ideas about what we wanted to include in the film, which we compromised well on. As I starred in the production, I didn't do as much filming as Jordan did in the production of our prelim. However, I did get some filming in when Jordan was infront of the camera. We both had equal input on the editing process of our product and so we both felt we had equalled out the tasks we both had to complete.
Planning
As we had to complete our prelim in a short amount of time, our planning for this task was very minimal. We decided quickly on what room to film in, due to availability and not preference, and we planned our storyline as ideas came to us during the filming process. However, when it came to what skills we needed to show, we planned exactly what we needed to do and where, so we got the filming done that wasn't in the room very quickly.
To improve our planning next time, we will create a storyboard so we know what we are going to film and so we can decide where we need to film in advance.
Filming Skills
As we included a match-on-action shot, a shot-reverse-shot, a pan and an establishing shot, Jordan and I felt we met the ideals of what was needed in the film. However, due to our limited time, we rushed a few shots. For the pan especially, the shot was fast and wasn't smooth. This could be improved if we slowed the speed of the pan and/or could have been rectified if we filmed this pan multiple times. As we used a tripod forthe rest of our filming, we did not struggle with shaky shots, however, we were limited to filming still takes and pans only. In future, we would include trackshots to show a diversity in skills.
Editing Skills
For our prelim, we only inlcuded cuts in between shots where it suited the flow of the film. This was to be expected as we were in the early stages of learning to edit, so we did not know any advanced editing techniques. I am hoping to improve as the year goes by, and I feel that is achievable. 
Sound 
We planned not to add any additonal sound to our film to create tension between the two characters on screen. It was also a more feesable option as we were not sure on how to add additional sound to our film initially. As we did not have any unnecessary background sound, we were able to leave additional sound out of our film.

Overall, I feel that we created a good film considering the stage at which our skills were at the time of filming. To improve, we aim to focud more on planning, so that we can clearly identify what and where we need to film. We completed all that was asked of us, so as a group we are pleased.

Preliminary Film

Below is my Preliminary film, which includes a match-on-action shot and a shot-reverse-shot. Enjoy!