The Script

Connor: Since I am the leader I think I should look after the stone of eternal life

Jonny: Well I think I’m more reliable than you to look after such a precious artifact

Tom: Just because you are the tallest out of us doesn’t mean you have to be the most

trustworthy, remember what happened in Egypt? In the Pharaoh's tomb?

Jonny: That was a misunderstanding!

Connor: Quiet, the both of you! You two do realize the consequences of breaking this stone; an unforgiving curse will be unleashed upon your souls!

Tom: And where did you get that from?

Connor: It’s a well known legend that was passed down my fore fathers

Jonny: I never heard of this “well known legend”

Tom: Yeah, you’re just trying to scare us!

Connor: You will listen to me and understand that I need to keep this stone in my possession

(Darren sneaks his hand through the door, reaches for the Stone, grabs it and flees
Jonny and Tom argue at the same time- )

Jonny: But that means we won’t have eternal life, and you’ll live for eternity doing great things

Tom: That’s not fair, just because you’re the leader doesn’t mean that you have to keep all the good stuff

(Connor talks over the two- )

Connor: Shut up! (Jonny and Tom go quite) The stone is missing you fools!

(Mid shot on Tom and Jonny gasping and the close up on Connor opening the door, who sees Lauren and Darren running, Mid shot of Darren running towards Lauren, behind shoulder shot of Darren)

Lauren: Did you get it?

Darren: Eye

Lauren: Let’s go

(They run off. Long shot of Ninjas running through trees towards the camera)

Jonny: Look! Points in front of him

Connor: Which one has it?

Tom: I don’t know!

(Behind shot of Lauren and Darren running off in different directions. Then the same shot but with Jonny running to where Darren went and Connor and Tom running to where Lauren went. Long shot of Connor and Tom running and Tom takes over Connor. Then the camera changes to a mid-shot of Tom falling as Connor runs past. Mid-shot of Darren hiding behind a tree as Jonny runs past. Mid-shot of Jonny stopping then a close up of him turning around slowly. ong shot of Connor getting closer to Lauren with Nun-chucks in his hand. Extreme close up on Jonny’s eyes then on Darren’s eyes. Long shot of them facing each other. Close up on the stone then Jonny’s nun-chucks then Darren’s sword. Mid-shot of them holding their weapons, ready to fight.)

The Stone of Eternal Life

For the stone I would like a symbol on it to represent it's power give the holder eternal life. I have researched symbols and their meanings, I have found the perfect one to be on the stone, the Phoenix. This is a big bird, on fire that is "a universal symbol of the sun, rebirth, resurrection and immortality".

I think it would be better if I had a symbol of a Phoenix, rather than a picture like this one.

I've researched "Phoenix Symbol" on Google Image and I was amazed at all the beautiful symbols from the first page. Here are my top three designs that I would like to have on the stone:

I will have the colour of the stone black and the phoenix red because I want the symbol to stand out. Also red can be seen as the colour of power and fire and this would suit the phoenix perfectly.

Cast, Costume and Props

I will be playing a pirate. I will wear black eye shadow, torn black trousers, a muddy green t-shirt and a black bandanna with a skull on it.

Darren Stapleton will play a pirate. He will be wearing black eye shadow, black torn trousers, a muddy green t-shirt, a black jacket and a pirate hat.

Tom High will play a ninja. He will be wearing a black dressing gown and a bandanna around his mouth.

Jonny Ellis will also play a ninja. He will be wearing a black coat, a folded bandanna around his head and black trousers.

Connor Laurie will be playing the head ninja. He will be wearing a white karate outfit. His weapon will be real nun chucks, we will have to keep this out of the public view so we don't scare anyone or get in trouble for possessing it. Luckily Connor's dad does karate and he has permission to use his gear.

My final decisions

For my film I will be an action/adventure film in the Catton Park woodland area. I will film just before it starts getting dark, so about 3-4pm because I am basing my film at night and I don’t want it too dark incase the camera can’t pick up anything.

My story is based on pirates verses ninjas. The pirates steal a very valuable stone from the ninja’s in their hide out whilst they are off guard, the ninja’s then realize the stone is missing and run off chasing the pirates off in the distance into the woods. There is then a suspense chase with one on one chase (so there will be one ninja after one pirate) and weapons will be pulled out just as the two minutes ends. I want to finish it off at an intense moment to make the audience want more.

Ideas for the main task

I have thought of a few things for my main task, I've been thinking that I could base it on something I'm really into or something that I really like.

I've been watching a lot of Azumanga Daioh, a Japanese comedy anime created by Kiyohiko Azuma, and I think it would be a great idea to base it on a group of school children from this anime because I find them hilarious and addictive.

Another idea that has been occurring in my mind a lot is making a film based on pirates and ninjas fighting. Recently me and my friends have been having funny arguments on who's better, pirates or ninjas. It would be great if my 2 minute intro to a film had a fight between them, but you never find out who wins, this could lead the audience into becoming an active audience and making the end up themselves.

Case Study 5.1 – Hollyoaks

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ULgi3r76q3E&feature=related

Hollyoaks – Niall Start’s To Loose Control – Day 3
Time of scenes: 3:16 – 4:26

I will be breaking down the episode of Hollyoaks “Niall Start’s To Lose Control”. I will be looking at two scenes and comparing the contrast of them.

Michaela sticks up for this man she fancies and show’s off a bit: “Oh yeah you better run”, the camera has stayed in long shot for you to see the man getting a drink spilt on him by some teenagers and you see her coming along from down the street. The camera pans and follows them sitting down and starts talking, he asks “What are you doing anyway?” and the camera angle changes to a shot of her face smiling in a sweet innocent way and you can also see the side of his face, then it changes to a more serious way to try and show she’s there for a reason and asks if she could have a word, when he says he’s busy she suddenly says it’s something about Amy. The camera angle changes so you can see the back of Michaela head and his face, you can she he is concerned about what’s wrong with Amy and he asks “What has she done now?” and then the camera angle changes back to Michaela and she says that it can wait; It seems like she made this up just so she could talk to him. After he says that she can go to his after he’s finished work and she changes from looking at the ground from sitting p looking at him in excitement and then as he gets up she grows a big grin on her face and says “Ok, yeah I will!” in a really cheery way. Then they say goodbye and the camera angle changes to him walking off saying thank you, then back to her still with a big smile on her face as she says goodbye and whispers “yes” under her breath.

The scene suddenly changes to a camera close up shot of Niall’s hand unlocking a door and then the camera changes to inside the room and you see a shot of him barging in, pushing the door onto Mandy as she was just about to leave; He asks where Steph is as he walks towards the camera, after she says that Mandy’s gone and the camera angle changes to a close up of his angry face; “Gone where?” he asks quickly, then the camera angle changes to an over shoulder shot where you can see Mandy above his shoulder and she says that she can‘t tell him. It then changes back to a shot of Niall and a small zoom in to a close up of his face, he get’s even more angry. Then the camera changes to a shot of his shoulder from behind as he’s walking up to Mandy and you can see a nervous look on her face; Mandy then explains that Steph doesn’t want to be around him, then shot changes again to a close up of his furious face.
The contrasts of these two scenes are different; in the first scene with Michaela is sweet and heart warming to the audience, you understand that she likes this man. But the next scene with Niall threatening Mandy is hard hitting and makes the audience feel vulnerable. The camera angles are similar, they both have close up on faces to project the character emotions so the audience can understand more of what’s happening. There isn’t any background music but if there was I expect that in the first scene the music may be relaxing or a little romantic; but for the second scene I expect that the music may be tense or dramatic.

Place Your Bets!

Here it is! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctILTC9CReU

Finished Editing!

I finally finished editing today, it did get up to almost 5 minutes once I had put all the clips in but I managed to cut bits and clips and I got it down it 3 minutes and 54 seconds. I am very please with how this has resulted, the music has improved the short film by hightening the emotions that the characters have.

Editing

I've spent the last few days editing my preliminary task, I have a bad feeling that this will be too long. It's just over four minutes at the moment and I still need to edit a few more clips into it. I'm afraid I'm going to find it hard to cut it down. So far it is great, you can see that they are having several games of poker and who is winning. The lighting and colour changes a lot but I hope it isn't too noticeable.

Final Idea

My final idea is to have a small group of young men (teenagers) who have got together to play poker. One will be very good and cheats ocasionally and another will be very bad at playng.

In poker you usually have a group of middle aged men smoking cigars and betting big money with the occasional valueble. I am going to change this because the actors I will be using do look young so I am going to have them sucking lollies rather than smoking cigars to show their immaturity.

More Ideas

I really love the short film made by Pixar, 'Geri's Game' where this od man is playing chess with himself. It consists of short close up shots of his hand and his face and I'd really like to create something similar.

I would like to have a group of people, rather than just one person. I would also like to have it be a silent movie with just music, but I have to have dialogue in it. They would have to play a term based a game and no console games like Nintendo Wii or Xbox because that would consist of filming a screen.

Here's a list of games I could film:
Cards: Poker, Black Jack
Board Games: DND (dungeons and dragons), Risk, Monopoly, Battle Ships

Preliminary task brief

For the Preliminary task we have been asked to start it with a person travelling down a corridor, open a door, close the door, walk across the room and have a conversation with someone. The task is based on continuity and I will be focusing on this whilst planning and filming. I would really like to do something that is creative yet relatable to people

Welcome

Hello, this is my blog for AS Media Studies. In the past I have had bad experiance working in a group, so this year I am testing myself to see how I would get on working alone. Here I will be uploading work throughout the year such as essays, videos and photos. Next I will be working on my preliminary task and later on in the year I will be working on the main task.