This is my finished film poster for Chasing the Dragon. The main colours I chose to use are purple and green because I feel it fits in with the Hong Kong skyline in the background and creates a sort of neon effect on the text. Howard did some filming in Hong Kong for his original project, but since he joined our group he used the footage for our project, seeing as the film is about a Chinese triad. He gave me permission to print screen a still of the skyline to use for my movie poster. I shopped Hao Zheng onto it and used the skyline as a background.
The original logo
The original unedited drawing.
For my logo I drew an outline of a dragon on a piece of A4, then uploaded it onto photoshop. I altered it slightly and coloured it, and then I added "CHASING THE DRAGON" over it. I then changed the colours to red and white but later changed it to black and changed the size.
Goodwins theory is based around eight different points
when analysing a music video. I am going to use When the Sun Goes Down by the Arctic Monkeys (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqkBRVukQmE)
Links between lyrics and visuals
On screen actions which where the lyrics match them.
"And I've seen him with girls of the night.."
Links between music and visuals
Complimentary, contradicting or amplifying.
Each time the guitar strums at the start, the video cuts to another shot
Multiple close ups
To put emphasis on the main people in the video and
emotions.
Voyeurism
Voyeurism is the act of watching people with/without
their knowledge. Its usually shown in music videos with intimate behaviour,
undressing or sexual activity.
Intimate behaviour
Demand of the record label
Representation of the artist. Who the record label
wants the video to appeal to.
The band briefly appears in the video. They are seen putting things in a car and could just be normal people, making them easier to relate to.
Goodwins theory is based around eight different points
when analysing a music video.
Links between lyrics and visuals
On screen actions which where the lyrics match
them.
Links between music and visuals
Complimentary, contradicting or amplifying.
Genre characteristics
Is it typical and conventional of the genre or
contradictory.
Intertextuality reference
References to other media texts or forms.
Multiple close ups
To put emphasis on the main people in the video and
emotions.
Voyeurism
Voyeurism is the act of watching people with/without
their knowledge. Its usually shown in music videos with intimate behaviour,
undressing or sexual activity.
Demand of the record label
Representation of the artist. Who the record label
wants the video to appeal to.
Performance based, narrative based or concept based
music videos
(Starts at 00:26) This song fits well with the overall gritty and British feel that we could portray through our trailer, and would make it easier if we were to include this song. I was thinking we could have about 30 seconds of the intro to the trailer with the monologue and Nathan getting ready. The trailer could then cut to a violent scene such as someone being thrown against a fence and music could start playing. The song is also upbeat which is reflective of what we intend to do with our trailer, lots of fast paced cuts and action. The lyrics would also be relevant to what is happening in the trailer and the overall plot of the film "One...Take control of me?/You're messing with the enemy/Said it's two, it's another trick/Messing with my mind I wake up". Nathan is the enemy of Hao Zheng though he doesn't know it, and Hao Zheng is messing with him by making him perform meaningless tasks. We also intended for Nathan to wake up in our film introduction so this is how the lyrics reflect the plot of the film.
This is an upbeat and happy song, as you can see just from looking at the album art, which would juxtapose with our film trailer. I think it could provide an interesting effect, lots of quick cuts and violent scenes with this song playing over it would work well. I think the Grand Theft Auto 5 trailer does a good job of this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IB-duhPR0H0) The lyrics are relevant to the visuals in the trailer, but the song is upbeat and cheerful.
Dirty Harry by The Gorillaz. The song has a modern feel to it which will be reflected from the visuals in the trailer. The lyrics are also relevant to the plot of the film "I need a gun to keep myself from harm" is the first line in the song, which applies to Nathan who feels the need to bring a gun to his meeting because he fears for his life. The following lyrics are also very relevant to Nathan "With lightning fast reflexes on constant alert/From the constant hurt that seems limitless/With no dropping pressure/Seems like everybody's out to test ya/'Til they see you break/They can't conceal the hate that consumes you". Nathan is on constant alert because he feels his boss or any of his rivals/co-workers could betray him at any moment. Nathan feels like everyone is testing him because when he gets outdone and the drugs deal everyone laughs at him and judge him, so he feels like it's a test of sorts. They see him break when he finally snaps and pulls out the gun, and finally they fail to conceal the hate that consumes him when he pulls the trigger on his boss, Hao Zheng.
This song has a British feel to it and the lyrics reference strippers, violence and drugs, which are essentially the ingredients needed for a gangster film. The music could be synced well with the cuts, which would keep the trailer going. Since we have a lot of violent scenes throughout our trailer this song would be a good choice as it represents a violent and carefree attitude. While this isn't entirely true of Nathan, it is true of the majority of the characters in the film. The song isn't too long and we may be able to use all of it throughout the trailer if we decide on it, which could be good as cutting the song may be difficult to do without it looking or sounding bad.
Intro by The XX. This songs makes effective trailer music in my opinion because it is ambient and can be played in the background when there are monologues. Because there are no lyrics to the song the audience aren't distracted from focusing on the monologue and the visuals of the trailer. The beat in the song could also sync well with cuts. I think we should use this song for the start of the trailer, when Nathan's getting ready, because it is heavily focused on monologue and there are no violent scenes so the slow background music is reflective of the visuals. I think the song would juxtapose in a bad manner with the violent scenes and it wouldn't really fit, so I think before the trailer cuts to the violent scenes we should have this song fade out and have one of the songs above start playing.
To get a better understanding of film trailers, I picked one and decided to analyse what made it different and what made it appeal to an audience. The film trailer I have decided to analyse is the trailer for Quentin Tarantino's movie, Reservoir Dogs. (you can watch the trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvoKT481EmU)
The title is revealed near the end of the trailer so it stays in the mind of the viewer.
I chose Reservoir Dogs not only because it is a film I was interested in, but also a film I drew inspiration from in the early stages of my planning, meaning the trailer should give me some good ideas for my own as they are of the same genre. The premise of the film is a diamond robbery goes wrong, the thieves meet up at the rendezvous point and begin to suspect one of them is an undercover cop. Reservoir Dogs was Tarantino's debut film, and as a result the trailer needed to catch attention.
The first frame we see in the trailer. Hints at the title of the movie.
The trailer grabs our attention with the first frame. "EVERY "DOG" HAS ITS DAY". The fact that "Dog" is in quotation marks makes the audience begin to ask themselves questions. Could "dog" stand for something? Is the film literally about dogs? Could the film be about ugly people? The trailer is relatively dialogue dependent, which is typical of both crime films and Tarantino's films. Tarantino often has lots of humorous anecdotes that don't advance the plot in an obvious way, such as in Pulp Fiction when Vincent Vega tells Jules Winnfield about a Quarter Pounder with Cheese from McDonalds being called a "Royale with Cheese" in Paris. The first words heard in the trailer are just after "EVERY "DOG HAS ITS DAY" fades out. The words "Freeze! Put the gun down!" are shouted out with no indication as to who says this or in what context it is said because all we can see is a black background. This further grabs the attention of the audience and makes them want to carry on watching.
A lot of focus is on these men throughout the trailer, indicating that they are main characters.
After the first words "Freeze.." are uttered, the music starts. The song they have chosen for the trailer is "Stuck in the Middle With You" by Stealer's Wheel. The song is lively, upbeat and perhaps slightly comical, which is reflective of the film, slick, fast, with elements of dark humour. When we hear diagetic sounds such as the gun 26 seconds in, the music stops and we hear a bit of dialogue "What happens if the manager won't give me the diamonds?" "Cut off one of his fingers. The little one." It then cuts to a scene of the main characters laughing and the music starts again from where it left off. This is an effective technique that is used throughout the trailer to keep the audience interested.
Due to lack of equipment we have struggled with the gun shot scene in which Nathan shoots Hao Zheng. Originally we wanted to just have a shot of Nathan shooting Howard with blood going everywhere in slow motion, with a juxtaposing song playing in the background. However we can't edit blood in because it will look cheap, and we can't use a blood substitute because we can't ruin the location. What we came up with was Nathan holding the gun, the screen going black and a gunshot being fired. The idea is inspired by the [spoiler] scene where Jesse shoots Gale in Breaking Bad. It is filmed from the point of view of Gale, looking at the gun being fired.
The idea of our main character, Nathan, having a monologue throughout the trailer is somewhat inspired by the opening scene and the business card scene in American Psycho. Patrick Bateman explains what is happening through his monologue, and it allows the audience to understand his emotions while he remains calm and collected on the outside. We need Nathan to remain calm and collected on the outside too, but we also need the audience to understand his emotions and his thought process. We agreed a monologue would be the best way to do this.
Due to problems with lots of locations and actors we initially chose, as well as the amount of time put into the script and planning, we haven't been left with much time for filming. The group has agreed it would be better to do a 2/3 minute trailer instead of a 5 minute intro. We are still going to stick to the script and make the direction we want the film to go in (if we were to make it) clear.
Today me and my group planned the arrival of 3 of the main characters to the drug meeting, Eddy Goodwin, Pete Crowley and Hao Zheng. Later on in the day we filmed the shots and I edited them at home using Movie Maker, this is the outcome.
Here is an example of some of the script. We spent a lot of time working on this and are proud of it. In total the script came to be 8 pages long. A lot of our initial ideas are contained in this script and you'll notice differences and similarities in our end product.
Script
for Chasing the Dragon Dimly lit room. Fade in, slow panning medium
profile shot of main character putting on his tie.4-5 seconds, 1-2
sentences
NATHAN (MONOLOGUE)Today is a significant day concerning my
current position. I need to -
Sharp, quick cut, long shot, sitting at his
kitchen table slurping coffee, background of his kitchen visible. 2 seconds,
character looks vacant. Small monologue, one sentence NATHAN
(MONOLOGUE)- Stay focused on the task at hand.
Quick cut, medium
shot, inside the house, top of the door to mid waist of character closing the
door, 3 seconds. NATHAN (MONOLOGUE)Appear calm and
collected
Outside the house, door shuts, medium close up, Nathan puts on
sunglasses. SFX: wind/metal sound.NATHAN (MONOLOGUE)I only have one
priority.
Tracking shot, chest up of Nathan walking down a street. He’s
looking straight forward, while camera follows him on a tripod inside a car.
Facial expression does not change, 6-7 seconds
NATHAN (MONOLOGUE)The
need to deliver has intensified recently and I can’t let anyone see me cracking
under pressure.
Establishing shot, from the right, low angle of
garage, shot is frozen. 1 second. Clean cut, straight on, long shot, low
angle, about 10-15 metres away, frozen shot, see character enter the shot from
the left/right, and enter garage. Inside the restaurant, straight on,
medium shot, walks past camera. 3-4 seconds
From a distance, main
character sitting down, looking thoughtful. 8
seconds NATHAN(MONOLOGUE)But that’s what this is all about.
Hiding….your fears. Anxieties. Whether it’s by a fake persona. Getting
drunk.
Camera zoomed in on his face, profile shot, focuses on his
sunglasses. Pouring himself a glass of wine. NATHAN (MONOLOGUE)Taking
drugs…..or deceiving people into buying them from you…..
First gangster
arrives. Enzo Costa. Two female escorts approach him to take his coat and
bag. ENZO COSTA Just the coat. Thank you.
Nathan stands to
greet him. Drink still in hand. ENZO COSTANathan! My man! Early as
usual I see
Freeze frame. Enzo “The Cobra” Costa RANK: “Vanguard”
Operations Officer Hao Zheng’s Right Hand Man. (For monologue)
NATHAN (MONO)Enzo Costa is the least incompetent of the group of
morons I’m forced to work with.
Camera, profile shot of Nathan, feigning
a cheerful smile. Extremely slowly closing in on his face.
Enzo shares
similar taste with me. We even share the same taste suit, although mine looks
slightly better. NATHAN(Smiling) You know me
Enzo
ENZO How’s things been going in Enfield? (gesture with hand,
seeming curious) Word on the street is you’ve got that place locked
down?
NATHANWhile (emphasis on while) maintaining my distance from
those intoxicated imbeciles.
ENZOSo you’ve found a new supplier? Who
is he?
NATHAN (places drink on table, turns to face Enzo) New guy.
MUCH more reliable than Derek
ENZOMy dead Nana would be more reliable
than Derek, God rest her soul NATHAN My span of control has increased now
that Derek’s gone, distribution has-
Voices heard in background. Pete
Crowley arrives. Nathan’s main rival. Nathan hates him the most. Pete is snarky
and arrogant. Pete is at the entrance with the 2 escorts and bouncer.
ESCORT Bag and coat sir?
PETE Thank you
The other
escort goes to reach for Pete’s bag, in which she is harshly
rebuffed PETE THAT. Will…be enough….thank you.
Pete makes his
way to Nathan and Enzo. PETEGentlemen
NATHAN AND
ENZOAfternoon, Pete
PETENice and early I see.
Wonderful
FREEZE FRAME Pete “The Butcher” Crowley RANK: “Red Pole”
Enforcer. Pete has killed 7 rival dealers within a 9 month period through
decapitation. Pete is notoriously known in the south east region.Camera
zooms in on Pete’s half snarl NATHAN (MONO)I have grown to hate
Pete more than anyone I have ever known.
Camera shows Nathan’s
emotionless face Pete is a fool, an inbred cretin with a, a blood lust,
a-a nincompoop, his idiocy-
PETEDay dreaming again Nathan? Off in
your fantasy world again I suppose?
Nathan is taken aback
Eddie
Goodman arrives. Small, black and eccentric gangster. Nathan has little opinion
of him. EDDIE WHAT’S GOOD HOMES? EDDIE G UP IN THIS MOTHER
Freeze frame Eddie “The Clown” Goodman RANK: “White Paper Fan”
Administrator Eddie has numerous high profile contacts in and around
London. 2 females escorts approach Eddie to take his bag and
coat EDDIEWhy thank you ladies! Look at dat ass, MM! Fellas, good to
see ya!
NATHANAfternoon, Goodman
ENZOEddie! Great to see
you. You’re looking well
EDDIE“Well” is my great aunt after she’s
taken her medication. I’m fantabulous. You seen that new place down
in..
Sound fades out. Slowly pans in on Eddie engaging in
conversation. NATHAN (MONO)Eddie Goodman is a liability to our
operations. He’s loud, idiotic and despairingly careless.
Camera zooms in
on Nathan looking expressionless.
NATHAN (MONO)Eddie is not just
stupid. He’s taken the art of stupidity and mastered it. Eddie couldn’t pour
piss out of a boot if the instructions were written on the heel…
EDDIE NATHAN!
NATHAN Yes?
EDDIE I said how’s things been with
you?
NATHAN Oh. Great. Great.
Talking. Talk dies down. The
footsteps slowly grow louder and the door opens. An Asian woman walks in
confidently and calmly. She nods at the bouncers and they nod back. She takes a
seat at the foot of the table. Everyone stares.
Loud footsteps. The
arrival of Hao Zheng. Tracking shot behind Hao Zheng, with everyone at the table
in the background. Everyone stands up out of respect. Cuts to everyone standing
up from a separate angle. Walks in slowly without talking and sits down. Hao
Zheng raises his hand and nods, and everyone sits down. He pulls up a seat next
to the Asian woman (translator). Freeze frame Hao Zheng RANK:
“Dragon Head” Leader Hao Zheng is leader of the gang and the most successful
drug lord in Europe. Hao Zheng talks to the translator in
Chinese. TRANSLATORHao Zheng is pleased to see all of you
here.
Enthusiastic chatter (“we’re pleased to see you too” “it’s great to
be here” etc.)
Hao Zheng mumbles to the translator. TRANSLATOR Hao Zheng’s running short on time, so let’s make this quick. You’re due to
present a sample of your product.
Gangsters begin to rummage through
their bags. Nathan is the first to present his product. NATHANThis
is MY product.
People chattering, gasping. “Ooh very nice” “Look at
that!” etc.
NATHANThat’s cooked at 190 degrees. 89% pure, straight
from Columbia. What do you think?
Hao Zheng talks to translator.
TRANSLATORVery nice.
Nathan grins widely, smug. EDDIE
GThat’s cute Cole. But it ain’t got nothin’ on mah product,
bitch. BAYUM! Eddie puts down his product. Slightly bigger than Nathan’s.
Everyone looks closer.
EDDIE GDat shi’ cooked at 193 degrees! 94%
pure straight from Cuba! Check it.
Excited chatter. Eddie looks very
smug and cocky. Hao Zheng picks up the product, raises eyebrow and nods his
head.
Camera slowly zooms in on Nathan’s face. Tense music. NATHAN
(MONO)How the hell did the clown find such a high quality product, at such
short notice? I wonder how much oral* he had to perform to get
that.
*change to favours if this isn’t cool
NATHANV-very
nice. Nathan regains his composure. Pete begins to clap loudly and
slowly, almost sarcastically. Smirking. PETENice product Eddie.
Mine’s from Cuba too, although mine’s slightly different.
Everyone looks
at Pete. Focuses on Nathan and Eddie’s products. Pete puts down a much
larger product, which overshadows the others. PETEThat’s 99.4% pure.
Cooked at 200 degrees. This is extracted straight from Andes Mountains in
Venezuela. This sells at £120k per kilo.
Profile shot of Nathan slowly
taking off his sunglasses, hands shaking. EDDIEDAYUM
BITCH! Whistles. Excited chatter. Hao Zheng looks serious and grabs the
product. Slits it open with large knife and places some cocaine on the knife.
Close up of Hao Zheng’s face. Slowly lifts knife with cocaine to his nose.
Snorts slowly while moving his nose across the knife. Silence for a few seconds.
Hao Zheng opens eyes widely. He grins and mutters something in
Chinese. TRANSLATORHao Zheng says the product is
excellent.
PETE 非常感謝。Fēicháng gǎnxiè.
HAO ZHENG (facing
Nathan) Mr Cole (smile) What do you think of your partner’s
work?
NATHANIt’s…good
HAO ZHENGGood? These products are of
a much superior quality to yours. No further comment?
NATHAN(Bitter
smile) No
HAO ZHENGNo? There’s an old Chinese proverb
Nathan
NATHANReally?
HAO ZHENGJealousy is thin because it
bites but never eats
NATHAN(nods) NATHAN (MONO) (shouting)
The audacity. Of this. This…overgrown gerbil. To humiliate ME. After I’ve been
loyal to him. All this time. ME. I. Almost single handedly revived this whole
business. (regaining composure) You know what….
The first scene of our intro is now finished, and the entire script is nearing completion. For the first scene we wrote the script, then drew the storyboard, and finally filmed it, as seen below. The first scene can be viewed here: (although it may be altered and the monologue needs to be dubbed in).
I am in the process of typing up my script for the opening of my film with the rest of the group. We are unsure of the name of the film and the main character, but have placeholders that we may use. Our current name for the film is Slick Icing (icing meaning cocaine) and Charlie is the current name of the main character. The premise of the film is a gang of drug dealers work for Hao Zheng, a Chinese drug boss. Charlie has been under performing with his amount of drugs that he delivers to the boss (as revealed by his monologues), but thinks that he has got the best quality and amount of drugs by far this time. After confidently placing his stash on the table before Zheng, another dealer places his next to Charlie's. It is much bigger than Charlie's, and the other dealers place theirs down, which are also much bigger than his. Zheng tells Charlie he is going to have to fire him, and all the other dealers begin to laugh at him, the laughter gradually getting louder until Charlie can't take it anymore. He stands up and shoots Hao Zheng in the chest several times and leaves.
UPDATE: We have decided to call the film Chasing the Dragon for the multiple meanings it would have. According to Wikipedia, Chasing the Dragon "refers to inhaling the vapor from heated morphine, heroin, oxycodone or opium that has been placed on a piece of foil." The title is also a reference to Hao Zheng, who is implied to be the leader of a Chinese criminal organisation, or triad. The leader of a triad is called a "Dragon Head". My group and I were thinking Charlie would not have actually killed him but, at the risk of sounding cliché, instead imagined the whole scenario due to his excessive use of drugs. It is simply revealed that Charlie detests Hao Zheng from the opening scene, and is paranoid about being let go.
I've decided to do a different genre of film than horror. I changed my mind because I feel horror is cliché and is an overdone genre post 2007 (roughly), especially the found footage type (Apollo 18, Paranormal Activity, The Last Exorcism etc.) which is what I was planning on doing. I also felt my idea revolved mostly around the location, for example I decided to do a horror film because of the location and began to write my script around the location. Whilst this could be seen as a good thing, I felt it was uninspired and dull. I would also be working alone on this project, doing all the script, angles and editing by myself and felt the work load would become overwhelming. Other genres I have considered are action and crime because these genres interest me and I feel like there is a lot of freedom. I went against action because it is very difficult to do considering school equipment and action tends to rely heavily on explosions and violence, I didn't want to cheapen my film by constantly having badly edited in effects. I also wanted my film to be dialogue dependent and psychological, which I felt was easier to achieve through a crime film.
I share this idea of doing a crime film with the new member of my group, and we are in agreement in the direction we want to take our project. We are doing a film opening, and have begun to draw some inspiration from films such as American Psycho, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and Inglorious Basterds. The premise of the film intro is a paranoid schizophrenic man goes to a gang meeting to deliver his drugs, under performs as per usual and is let go by his boss.
I have begun planning my storyboard for Redoubt. It is a written law in the film industry to display your production company name at the start of the trailer, and I plan on following this rule to make my trailer look more professional This will be the first frame showed in my trailer. The next frame will be the text shown below, giving some information about the location and the story behind the footage that is watched in the trailer.
The text implies that something bad is going to happen to the protagonists who the audience are to assume are the students mentioned. This is very reminiscent of the style of the start of the trailer for The Blair Witch Project. A lot of the more recent horror films follow the found footage convention, such as the Paranormal Activity franchise, Grave Encounters, and The Bay.
I have decided to call my film Redoubt. The reason behind this is that the location was a redoubt. By definition a redoubt is; "A temporary or supplementary fortification, typically square or polygonal and without flanking defenses." This has led me to question my original choice of antagonist which was going to be a female (either a witch or a possessed girl). On the Essex Ghost Hunter website they have reported a commanding officer shouting, and I am not sure whether to change my original antagonist to the commanding officer.
I am planning on doing a horror film in the style of The Blair Witch Project. On the Blair Witch trailer it says "An entire movie filmed with a hand-cam." This is called "Cinéma vérité" and it is a "style of documentary film making, combining naturalistic techniques with stylized cinematic devices of editing and camerawork." - Wikipedia. This is an increasingly popular style of filming in the genre of horror, as it implies that something bad has happened to the "crew" that were filming the events and the footage was found later on. This is normally displayed at the start of the film - in the trailer for Blair Witch Project the first thing you see is "In October of 1994, three student filmmakers disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland while shooting a documentary." This foreshadows to the fact that something bad is going to happen in the film ending in the explanation behind the possible demise or disappearance of the filmmakers.
The entrance to the bunker.
The location for the filming will be North Weald Redoubt, an abandoned fort/bunker that was used for the storage of weapons and ammunition in WW2. It is rumored to be haunted, and would make a good location for a horror film. According to the Essex Ghost Hunters' website "There are numerous reports of footsteps, commanding officers shouting." They state that "Orbs are also a common around the site." To the left is the entrance of the bunker.
One of the rooms inside of the bunker.
The building is covered in graffiti. Some of the graffiti as displayed to the right depicts symbols of the devil. This benefits my filming as it back ups the idea of the area being haunted. The antagonist of my film will be a female, either a witch or a possessed girl. We will be in a large group and will go down into the bunker, confident that the area isn't haunted and find the girl down there. The trailer will mostly be a build up to finding the girl down there. The group will be unable to escape or leave and they will be killed off one by one. I am going to make efficient use of text in my trailer, to build suspense.
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