Other videos that will be simular to our main video

To help my partner and I film a better video we looked online, mostly on youtube.com to see what other people had created, this lead us to the video above. This video has many of the same themes and props as our own video that we are going to create, some of these include:
1. The use of BB guns is prominant in this video as all of the characters have them. This is simular to our film as most of the characters have them with the execption of the lover of the main protagonist. The other difference is that in this video they use the BB guns to point at each other and kill one-another, in our film we do not do this as they are more for decrative purposes and to add to Mise-en-scene.

2. The use of Katana's is used in this video by a ninja type person to take out a guard in the first minute of the video. We will be using different types of fake swords in our film as well but they will have a more active role in the fight scene of our film as they will be the focus of the battle. Also the katana in their film has a white handle but a black sheeth, which is different to our fake katana due to it being completly white. This could give off conitations of their person with the katana having a darker side to him/her, but with our sword being totally white having conitations of having a good side and words for the forces of good.

3. The clothing in this video is very simular to that of our video, as it is based round military wear. This is shown by the main characters wearing apaeral that is usually worn by special opps units. In our film we have the protagonist wearing a old world war 2 army uniform. Also the bad guys in this film wear dark coloured clothing (mostly black) and is based round either a t-shirt and cargo trousers or with a black shirt with cargo trousers. Round  the middle of the video a ninja assasin takes out a armed guard, he is wearing again army clothing and also is wearing a balaclava with a  airsofting mask in black. In our video we are going to be using two black gas masks which will be covering the two bad guy's acomplaces faces. Also the eye holes for the gas masks are blacked out so the camera cannot see into them, which gives a ominous feel.

Is our video post modern

mix of genres ?

Practice takes of running scene

For a scene in our video my partner and I were uncertain on how to film a scene and make it seem profesional so we decided to practice on filming this scene beforehand to get the desired shots that we wanted. So we went to the forrest were we are filming for the actual video and took a couple of shots, which are in the videos below.

In these two videos we got our main Protagonist to drop his coat exposing a samuria sword. We did this from both the front and the back, and then in the editing stages of filming we would edit them together and get a smooth continueous movement of him taking his coat off from both the front and the back. In the main video we intend to do this but also for him to have a fake/toy gun on his back to add to the effect of the scene. This could be classed as a homage to the rambo films as he wears guns on his back.

The two swords for our main characters

For the main Protagonist and the Antagonist my partner and I have sourced and acquired two fake swords. The mise-en-scene for these swords was crucial so we took much time and effort searching and researching into the appropriate type and colour that would be best suited to each character.
In the end we found both swords from picture 1 and picture 2. These swords were perfect for both of the roles of our characters due to many charatistics that they had, these being:
That the Protagonists sword was a samurai sword or formally know as a Katana. This sword was used by 16th century Samurai and ceased to be used around the 1900's. The samurai that used them were seen as a force of good as they were the ones that protected the lands of Japan. The sword we have in bright white which gives off connotations of pureness.

Picture 1 Protagonists sword

Picture 2 Antagonists sword

The Antagonists sword is perfect for his role is due to it looking like a tribal weapon. This is because it has teeth stitched onto the sheeth for the sword this gives out conitations of evil, that along with the tribal looking paterns on the sheeth as well make it look more old and treasured. Also the handle is made out of deer antler which is pointed and makes it seem more dangerous.

Location Change

After much consideration my partner and I wish to change the location of the forest scene as we have found a more aesthetically pleasing area to film rather than that of the Oxshot area of forest and is more in keeping with our original idea of what the forest should look like. So instead we have decided to use a area of forest near the town of Headley. This forest is more suited to our desired mise-en-scene due to it being used as a local shooting ground for clay shooting. This means that the local area looks damaged due to a war or battle. This makes it more realistic and looks more like a real war has occured. This is due to the trees having chunks taken out of them due to pellit fire. Also we could sprinkle empty shotgun cartrages on the floor to add to the feel and realness.

Mood board for the Protagonist

Mood Board for our Antagonist

Locations for our main video

For our main  video I have selected a large variety of set locations which we can film in. These locations include:

The St Mary's church in Leatherhead
This is a perfect place to do multiple scences for our video due to there being church style chairs inside the church that we can use to film with and also that the main church itsself which we will use as the protagonist kneels before the ulter. Also the graveyard outside is the perfect place to film our Protagonist meets Antagonist scene, due to the headstones looking old and damaged. Also the chruch itsself was built in the 1100 AD so has a very gothic feel to the building so looks like a hive where evil can form or hide.

Forrests near Oxshot
These forrests are very dense birch tree areas which are very tall and are very close and packed together, this makes the protagonist as he runs through it seem more segmented and almost like stop motion picture footage.

filming in the church

For this scene My co-worker and I were filming in a medievil church.
This scene was interesting to film as some obstibles emerged. These inlcuded that we did not bring a steady cam to use wilst moving with the camera which resulted in some camera shake. To counter this I decided to use a old wheel chair that was not being used in the church. This acted as a form of steady cam and lead to a much steadier shot being taken. Also as a more inovative idea that we had wilst filming was that we could use a tripod to steady a low shot shot wilst the camera was upsidedown to get the low angle that we wanted and then turn the image round to normal in the editing. This church scene fits in well with my mise-en-scene for my film due to it meanting to be a more gothic styled film where the protagonist is of a slightly darker nature.

props used for the antagonist scene

for this scene I have used the props:

• Two Black gas masks which were worn by the two henchmen.
• Two alsullt riffles which again were carried by the henchmen.
• A flint lock pistle for the main antagonist.

filming behind the gallary Antagonist scene

For this scene we were filming the antagonist's main introduction which is a crucial point for the teaser trailer because it is then that you can contrast the two different characters and chose which one is the protagonist and which one is the antagonist.
This filming was done behind the gallery of a smithery, this was due to there being old containers which had started to rust. This gave the perfect old industrial feel to the footage which was perfect for the mise-en-scene for our antagonist who is meant to be seen as a post world war 2 bad guy.
The filming went very smoothly with only the minor problem of the tripod being slightly canted at one point which was solved very easily by changing the tripods legs length accordingly. I then recorded the scene where the antagonist looks evil.

filming in the forge Interigation scene

Clothing for the main Antaginist

For our main Antagonist we have thought about making him look as sinister and evil as we possibly can. This is because we want the audience to know and decide in a short amount of time that he is the bad guy of the video. For his costume we have decided that he should wear a full length black trench coat that would come down to his feet. This type of coat has been used massively in films and inspires a Gothic look. Some of the most famous examples being from the matrix for example the twins from the second film "matrix reloaded". The only difference being that they are in white rather than in black which could lead to some stereotypes being confused, e.g. that white represents purity and the forces of good. But they also have a alternate figure which turns them into demons which then eliminates any ideas that these two are the good guys. Also I would like for the antagonist to wear high platform boots which are seen as very Gothic and alternative. This will also boost his height which will also make him seem more intimidating. Also as you can see from picture 3 we are trying to make our antagonists look as evil as possible, so we have decided to give him a sword with teeth on it so it has an ornate feel to it to seem more aged. Also stereotypically most antagonists have a larger weapon than the protagonist so that when he loses it seems more heroic. He should also wear sunglasses that hide his eyes to give him a sence of mystery. These are modeled from "Mr Smith" from the Matrix trilogy.

Picture 1

Picture 2

picture 3

picture 4

Iron man trailer

For our media studies video we have taken inspiration from the film Iron Man for part of our teaser trailer. When Stark is

Clothing for the main Protagonist

Four our final video my partner and I have put much consideration into the costumes of our characters. These are some of the concepts of what we think they should wear.

Main Protagonist
For our main protagonist I think that he will need to be wearing something that will make him look patriotic due to our film being set in a 1930's to 1040's futuristic setting. In the picture below is a real 1940's uniform which will make him look like a solder from the army. This fits in with his personality profile for his character. Also the army jacket makes him look heroic and brave so this will automatically make the audience rely on their much used stereotypical views to see that this person is the good guy in this video. In Picture 2 there is a picture of a bullet belt which is seen in many different types of film and is usually carried by the main protagonist. Films that have the main character carrying a bullet belt include "The Mummy" film trilogy, "The A team" and the "Rambo" series. It could also be classed as homage to the classic western films that always had these sorts of armaments. Also the main protagonist will be carrying a samurai sword (katana) in the colour white which has the connotations of being of pure heart and mind who is fighting for the powers of good. This again could be paying homage to other samuria films such as "The Last Samuria" or could be following the mixing of different styles like Quentin Tarantino did for his film "Kill Bill 1 and 2" as the bride of the film wields a katana.

Picture 1

Picture 2

Picture 3

Actors for our video

For our video we have chosen to use a variety of different actors for the different roles of our characters and this means that we do not have to re-use actors for different roles which gives it a sense of professionalism.

The main Protagonist: Joe Saw
My partner and I decided to use Joe as our main protagonist due to him having a unique style with a Mohawk which makes him look epic. This and also that he has soft features which make him likable and kind. This allows the audience to relate to him and use their own stereotypical views to see him as the good guy.

The main Antagonist: Jack kent 

I decided that Jack was a perfect choice for our main antagonist due to him being intimidating in general and this is what is crucial for a truly good bad guy in a film. He is tall so will look good from low angle shots and has a very angular jaw  and facial features which makes him look more edgy and contrasts his face compared to that of Joe our main Protagonist who has very soft features. He is a trained actor so will be able to act very well when filming, which will make the video look more authentic and real.

The antagonists lackeys:

These would be two preferably male and equal in height but shorter than their evil master which automatically shows a chain of command. They will be wearing gas masks which will give them a sense of eeriness and scariness. This will show the audience that they are also on the antagonists side. (Harry kent and Harry Baggs)

Protagonists lover: Tanya Gibbs

I decided to use Joe's girlfriend as the female lover due to her being already a female actress and also that because she is Joe's girlfriend there would not be any awkwardness between them both as we film the love seen so it could seem as real and sincere as possible. Due to us not having any Hollywood standard actors, we want to make it look as natural as possible without it seeming either very staged or forced.

what stereotypes have been used in my film?

In my teaser trailer there are many different character with different clothing, makeup and props, this means that the audience will view each character in a different way. This means that the audience will stereotype each of the different characters to recognise them and what their role will be in the video.
Some of the more prominent stereotypes that were in my film could be:

The Antagonist. This is due to the antagonist being easily recognisable due to the clothing that he is wearing throughout the teaser trailer which would include a black coat with black trousers. He also is wearing excessive make-up which is black to give the appearance of someone who has not had sleep but also a person who can look very evil. His hair is also styled to look messy which shows the audience that he does not care about his appearance very much. This could show the audience that his stereotype could be a evil villain which who should be despised.

The Henchmen: The henchmen of my film are stereotypical because they all look similar to one another. This is due to the mise-en-scene for each of them being the same. For example I have made them all wear black clothing and the same sort of gas mask. They also are always near or next to the antagonist. This gives them a seem like clones of each other which then the audience then realise is due to the Antagonist controlling them. This allows them to make the connection to stereotype them as the underlings of the antagonist.

The Protagonist: The protagonist is a harder character to stereotype due to him breaking many of the usual conventions of a good character. This is due to him wearing black and carrying big weaponry. I have decided to use this type of mise-en-scene due to our film getting inspiration from the "Final fantasy" series of films which portrays the main protagonist with a slightly darker personality. I have gone with a similar approach with my protagonist due to his black clothing but I have given the audience the clues to his role in the film, by giving him a white sword which portrays the forces of good and that he is fighting against the obvious antagonist which should allow the audience to make the connection to realise that he is the protagonist.

filming in the forge welding scene

This scene is when an unknown person is making a sword inside a smithery.

This scene was relitively easy to shoot as the ground was level and even which made it easy to set the tripod up and start to film. When we started to film our friend fire welding we found some health and saftey problems as sparks of molten metal were flying across the room. This meant that My co-worker and I had to leave the room to film the shot of the fire welding. This meant that we could no longer move the camera wilst it was filming which meant that we could only have static shots, which limited the amount of camera shots we could perform for that scene.

New Prop for our Antagonist

Recently I have found a fake old looking flint lock pistol which would look great with our Antagonist and would add greatly to his mise-en-scene. This is due to the antagonist having a old traditional feel to him. This is shown by his old tribal looking sword and by his henchmen wearing old gas masks, which could look like they had just come out of world war I. This fake flint lock pistol adds again to this old traditional adding to his character to enable the audience to stereotype him more easily. The only issue with using this form of pistol is that it is not in keeping with some of the other props inside the teaser trailer as both of the antagonists henchmen and the protagonist have assault riffles which are far more advanced that that of his pistol, this could lead to the teaser trailers believability being deminshed due to clashes in different items timeframe, and where they have originated from.

The difficulties of filming in a public place

There were some social problems that I encured beucase of the set location for one of our scenes. This was due to my co-worker and I wanting to film in a graveyard for the antagonist scene. This idea was scrapted when we found out that it could beoth be disrespectful to bring toy guns and gas masks to that place and the reprecusions that could occure. so I have decided to change the location of the antagonist scene to somewhere where there will be less impact on the public and that way cause a public scare.