Film 1: Skyfall

Media Research, Film 1: 007: Skyfall
GENERAL STATISTICS
Director:
Sam Mendes
Film Studio:
Eon Productions
Box Office Figures:
 $1,108,561,013 - £677,377,338.51
Budget:
 $150–200 million
Distributor(s):
-Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
-Columbia Pictures
Age Rating:
12A- Contains moderate action violence and one use of strong language

International Trailer

Skyfall International Trailer [HQ] from Avinash Varma on Vimeo.

Before we analyse the film itself, I would like to look at the general statistics. As we can see the film has a hefty Box Office accumulation, In connection to this the Budget is set rather similarly to other films in the category such as 'White House Down' which has a budget of $150,000,000 or £91,664,700 and generally follows a similar plotline of an attack on the government, all be it the White House instead of MI5 yet still similar.

For the distributors, Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer does have a hefty filmography behind them, however strangely they do not in fact have large quantities of thrillers, more Action/Sci-fi and drama. However this can be forgiven as the other distributor has a lot of credited fame for a number of thrillers, most of which have been critically acclaimed such as 'Zero Dark Thirty' aswell as a number of critically acclaimed Crime films such as 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo'. Clearly this gives me an option for the distributor at the end of this project as it seems a rather strong choice. Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer seems something of a one off company, they may be fairly synonymous with the bond franchise yet I don't believe they have too great a claim to fame, given the lack of strong titles in their listing, as successful as they may be, I don't believe they have that much experience in the Crime/Thriller Genre and would therefore be less suitable as a choice.

In terms of the Films rating. The BBFC classified it to be a 12A with "moderate action violence and one use of strong language" which refers to Judi Dench's Character 'M' uttering the Phrase "Well I F***ed this up didn't I?". This is only minor and in fact something common in Thrillers, In Quantum of Solace the phrase
"I don't give a S*** about the CIA, Or their chopped up evidence!" was used yet it was used in scenes where the characters were conversing in a quiet situation, maybe voices were raised slightly but the use of swearing in these films comes across as... Comical, they rarely use swears in these films to show the characters frustration in the heat of battle, more during social situations to heighten the drama, the reason it comes across as comical is because it is actually kind of rare, this is most likely due to the fact that it helps to keep the films age rating down, therefore opening it up to large numbers of audiences. Many other Thrillers classify themselves as 12A; One of the main classifications for a 12A is the permission of swearing, so long as it is infrequent. Many other Thriller hold this rating including:
-'White House Down'
-'Escape Plan'
-'The Dark Knight Rises' (Despite the Controversy surrounding it)

 For this analysis I have had to find several clips to put in order to create the opening, yet it is quite clearly sufficient enough.


                                                                                                                                                                     
First things first, as you can clearly see, Skyfall decides to lead itself into a cinematic Car chase scene, one that involves plenty of destruction and carnage, yet before this we must look at the scene that the film directly fades into. In the scene Agent Ronson is found dying in a room where a Hard drive containing the listed names of all NATO Agents in the world.

The Silhouette of Bond remains ominous to the audience.

The first thing I picked up on was the use of depth of field in the scene,

Bond is slowly revealed to the Audience

The director has purposefully, started this scene of, by having Bond (Daniel Craig) be hidden in the background, thereby adding an air of mystery to him, even as he gets closer there is still that darkness with him that continues on, Even when he is brought into focus the lighting still works in his favour, giving him the near perfect cover in which to operate. What this as an example tells me is that one can create a mysterious character by utilising the environment around them with some clever skills. In the entirety of this opening however we never clearly understand who Bond is besides him being an agent of sorts, this tells me that perhaps one element of this style is to have the main character be slowly revealed, not straight away as this allows audiences to be pulled into the chase as it were, unaware of the characters skills and abilities beforehand, it keeps the audience guessing whether or not bond will be able to survive this endeavour or be injured in the process and as a result they wont immediately know what the ending will be, its essentially an interesting surprise for them.


Concerning the props we can clearly see that we have a character who is dressed rather smart, equipped with a stealthy weapon of sorts. Personally I would think that one of the things that sets Thrillers aside from Action films is that in action films, The audience is certain the main character will come out on top, be it Rambo's unstoppable rampage or otherwise. In a thriller things tend to be much more grounded in reality, Bonds character is never overly armed and his attire is suitable for the job, essentially he should be evenly matched for his foes. For reference, I do understand that Pierce Brosnans Bond escaped a Space Laser on an Ice runner but I believe times have changed from that.

An Aggressive action is chosen, regardless of stealth

Moving into the audiences view, Ready for a fight.

Moving on, as that scene unfolds into Bond uncovering the room, laden with dead Agents we see something of an immediate change, the scene turns immediately more lively, the score becomes one much more dramatic, with the occasional bang and clash. Even bonds attitude changes, he becomes much more physical, throwing down the laptop without care. By seeing this I would think that one of the aspects of a Thriller category is the strength of the tension breaker, Bond spends a fair few moments in silence leading up to this and at the first sign of action or violence the story catapults him into being much more mobile and physical. I find this to be one of the main strengths of the thriller category, many scenes start with a slow and very precise pace and then suddenly the audience is pulled into an all out fight scene or rather a chase scene. Interestingly enough, chase scenes are very prominent in this film as well as many Thrillers, From this chase scene, to the subway chase scene later on, all of which are some of the films key moments. I find that another standalone feature of a Thriller is its focus on Chase scenes as opposed to fight scenes, In action films the characters generally find themselves to be evenly matched and tend to fight out their troubles, in thrillers the characters generally chase each other, given that in a much more realistic manner, external factors alter the odds of fighting e.g. Injury or Transport form.

Bond is distracted and attempts to help Ronson

In this scene, Bond attempts to stabilise Agent Ronsons wound, regardless of how likely his survival is or how this potential waste of time could jeopardise the mission. From this I can interpret that the main character in this thriller at least is one who can be respected by the audience. While bond is well known to be a cocky individual, at the end of the day he is still a fairly moral individual.

Agent Moneypenny is seen to be a very competent driver

She is also just as effective with a firearm as Bond

Accompanying Bond on this mission is Agent Moneypenny, There isn't much to say about her except that she is definitely a very strong female character both in wits, humour and of course physical strength. What this would suggest to me is that in the Thriller genre, woman aren't used solely for the purpose of attraction, despite how crude that sounds, while Moneypenny is an attractive Agent she still keeps her appearance and attire in line with the mission, nothing is seen as over the top here and she is somewhat level with Bond in terms of capability. The main difference between the two is that Bond tends to get much closer to the antagonist here than she does, this in turn suggests that she is still a support character regardless of her skill, while phrased like that it seems sexist but for my piece I would like to keep in mind that a skilled female character would sit very well with the piece, both in balance but to also appeal to the female audience.

The Aim of the enemy is actually usually terrible

In terms of what is used to 'Thrill' the audience here we have a lot of shooting, car crashes and stunts. A rather simple formula but most scenes actually lead to gunfire, Bond crashes into the BMW which causes the antagonist to shoot, Which leads Bond to shoot. Moneypenny stops him on the bridge in which she may fire of a clip or two. Even after this clip, the conclusion is a sniper shot. Because of this, I think it may be crucial to look into having Firearms as possible weapons in my final piece. Fake of Course.

'M' is responsible for the commands given to Bond.

Wilson acts as bond Tracker in this Scene

In terms of additional characters we have 'M' and Agent Wilson. Both of which side with Bond, helping him on another level, seeing this an additional team may be more effective than having a standalone character when it comes to my piece as it gives the audience muliple reactions from different characters with different connections to Bond. Given that I have spoken about female characters, I would quickly like to adress, as a very strong female character, in terms of where the heirarchy stands, she holds herself above Bond and in fact most of the Protagonists.

In Conclusion, I would say that this piece has given me a lot of ideas about what to expect in the genre. Firstly, I can see that the main character should have the ability to act stealthy, yet also have an agressive side, he/she can also be one to work alongside others effectively. The main character can quite easily be moderately developed within the first few minutes including his ability, his general attitude and his morality. While Female leads can be very effective in the story, they are never the ones taking most of the action, that is something usually left to the men in this genre.

Choice of Genre and Movies to Research

I have recently sat down with my partner to discuss which genre we think we should pursue and for which reasons. The genre we have settled on has been Crime-Thriller for a number of reasons.

#6 Highest Grossing Thriller

#19 Highest Grossing Thriller

Firstly, the thriller aspect of the film would suit most audiences as films in the thriller category are among those that generate the most ticket sales, good examples of this genre include films like 'Skyfall' ($300 Million) and 'The Bourne Ultimatum' ($227 Million).

Secondly, Thrillers are something of a connective genre, in a lot of cases thrillers can be combined with other genres to make very successful outcomes such as the Sci-fi-Thriller category ('Hunger Games' $408 Million) or the Mystery-Thriller category ('The Da Vinci Code' $218 Million). On this subject I would like to draw attention to one key factor in this, most thrillers are tagged alongside the Sci-Fi genre, it seems to be the most common use for it with titles such as 'Transformers', 'Gravity' and 'X-Men'.



The Opening Scene to skyfall uses lighting
to intensify the suspense of the situation

Thirdly, The reason why we  have specifically chosen the Crime genre as the connection to the thriller is because it suits our limitations much better than any other genre, the crime category uses much more subtle effects for suspense, effects like lighting and sound design add an air to the scene that wouldn't work with CGI. The key point here is that Crime is a genre that is grounded in reality with situations that could relate to the viewer giving them a much more intense experience. Given that we have limited use of CGI in terms of skills we can focus more clearly on factors such as Lighting, Dialogue and Composition.

Given that I now know which genre to operate in, the 5 Films I will be researching and analysing the opening of, are as follows:

1. Skyfall- I have chosen Skyfall as one of the research focuses as I believe that it is an interesting film to see, the opening sequence is one many are familiar with and I think looking into the mass popularity of it would be very worthwhile.

2.Batman Begins- For many Christopher Nolan is seen as a genius in bringing the well beloved comic book hero to the big screen in his 2005 Blockbuster. I for one largely enjoyed the film and I think that given the movies focus of stopping crime it could give me a much more raw look at the whole Crime aspect of this genre.

3. Limitless- This spot was going to be between 'Limitless' or 'Now You See Me', The reason why I have Chosen Limitless is because I think it would be good to see how the story develops one particular chracter throughout the entire film, Now You See Me seemed to ride its popularity solely on its CGI which is something I'd rather avoid. It also gives me insight into the Mystery aspect of a thriller to more accurately see what still remains in the genre when you change its style, which key elements are crucial to a thriller that will remain no matter what genre focus you take.

4. Panic Room- For these last two research items I am going to keep them solidly focused on Crime-Thriller working hand in hand, for this reason I have chosen Panic Room, having seen this film many times before I can say that the suspense in some of the scenes is incredibly tense. Most notable are the moments where Jodie Fosters character (Meg Altman) is skulking through the house avoiding the criminals, the darkness of the scene also helps to increase this tension and the story from there on takes many twists and turns creating an interesting piece with something new around every corner. Being remembered as a classic this films lighting effects and pacing are superb and it would be useful to see what it does to keep the audience thrilled as it were.

5. Red Dragon- This classic Crime-Thriller is one that takes the Psychological nature of crime and ramps its up to new limits, among the intense moments with Hannibal Lecter the pacing is once again one of this films key feature, the tension and suspense is simply incredible and could be a key asset to my production.

Research Task Breakdown

For this new part of the course I will be required to research 5 Openings for films in the genre I will be using for my final project. The purpose of which is to allow me to see from a professional stand point how the genre is usually tackled and what special traits those who create them place in them.

In order to do this there are a number of things that I must do, Firstly, I am going to have to collaborate with my work partner on the genre of choice to make sure were both in agreement as to what road we want to take with this.

Secondly, I will need to come up with a list of films that have been successful in conveying the nature of the chosen genre.

Next, I will acquire the footage, either through YouTube or Vimeo, Failing that I will resort to screen shot breakdown but I think that it is highly likely the openings can be tracked down.

Having done this I can begin to look at these openings in detail, Picking out interesting features, Common connections in the dialogue, similar compositions and timings. Even outside the film itself, I can look at the company and its track record for this genre which will make my final projects evaluation slightly easier to create.

 To physically do this I will be creating a lengthy post on each one with an additional post at the end to allow contrast and similarity analysis as a whole. Where possible I will try to include alternate media outlets as they are much more interesting.

Video Review of This Years Continuity Project compared with Last Years Attempt

Since I now have both last years Continuity Project and this years, I will be able to see what skills I have improved upon or learnt. As a result I will be creating a video review comparing the two which will cover areas such as:

-Framing
-Quality
-Set Choice
-Music Choice
-The Continuity Aspects
-180° Rule and How closely it is followed
-Relation to the Screenplay

As well as anything else that may come up, I hope this exercise will help me to be more critical with my pieces in the Future.

Continuity Project Video

Here is my completed Continuity project video. In terms of what I think about it I do enjoy certain aspects about it, yet I still have a number of problems with its composition.


AS LEVEL CONTINUITY PROJECT - Clean Start from David Smith on Vimeo.

Firstly, I find that the music at the start makes it a little more interesting to watch by appealing to more than one factor. However, there is a noticeable change in the screenplay and exactly how we recorded this part. Originally the main character would walk down a hallway with different shots from a moving camera, we found this too hard to achieve and so we decided to shorten this sequence on the day to save time for editing. The original idea of having the character talk on the phone was also scrapped as it seemed very dull and lifeless when it was actually placed in the piece.

Secondly, the continuity portion of the piece is relatively well done except for one noticeable error I only noticed a short while later. Due to editing a particular editing problem involving clip timings, we see our main character start a piece of dialogue, sit down and then in the next shot he once again sits down, I would have removed this had I noticed it earlier but it slipped my mind. The rest of the features hold up moderately, such as the action matching with both the doors and with the money exchange regardless of the dialogue error of stating "Can I borrow a five" where upon the other character hands him a twenty pound note.

Compared with last years attempt however I find this to be a much stronger piece as we kept a straight forward approach instead of veering the focus halfway through production.

The Difficulties of using a moving pan to follow a character

At the start of my piece there is a rather annoying issue of getting the camera to turn smoothly to instigate a pan, the main problem comes from the issue of it being such a delicate process and the grip on the tripod itself is just a solid line of plastic, making it slippy at times. I think that in future I am actually going to use some gloves when operating the camera or having others operate the camera, even simply golfing gloves should provide a tight grip to allow smooth flow. The second problem I have with this is how increasing the height on the camera by extending the legs also makes the tripod a tad more… ‘Spindly’, it is a little bit more prone to knocks and shakes as you can clearly see in the piece. To counteract this, one should keep a tight hold and locked body position when turning, be very tight with the control and perhaps press one hand on the base when turning so no shake can ensue as the base is firmly pinned to the ground.

Corridor song music

There is a mild change, instead of Huey Lewis's Power of Love, I am instead going with Hip to be Square, simply because its much more punchier and a large degree more catchier.

Set Change

While the Corridor remains the same in the piece I have changed the room used for the conversation, simply because the light levels dont change as drastically over time as they do in the new one, the sound quality is also better in the new room.

Ending Title Music

For the Ending title music I have decided to go with something that is still light hearted yet also has something of a kick to it. The song that I have chosen is 'Itchycoo Park' by 'The Small Faces', I find it to be very interesting as an ending song.

Shooting Method

In order to make sure that I can get a clean edit, I am recording the scene from three seperate points of view, one after the other, what this allows me to do is eliminate the risk of seeing another camera in the shot and also it gives me more editing options to work with, with more footage I can make a more interesting piece with a cleaner shot reverse shot as opposed to one where the camera just keeps cutting at the end of a sentence.

Script given to the Cast

The Following is the basic script that I have given to the cast, Its simple and easy to follow so I cant see much issues arising from dialogue


The 1st Man in this Story will be played by David Smith while the 2nd man is played by James Appleby

 

*Blank Screen* 1^st Man- *Phone Rings**Pick up* “Hello, This is Charles Baker… Yes… Oh… Well, Thank you very much, Goodbye” *Click* “Aaaaaw Yeah”

*S*2^ND Man -“Well well well were awful cheery today” Says the man looking backwards and forth between him and his paper.

*T to S* 1^st Man – “Yep, as of today I am officially employed.” He states with a smug disposition.

*S*2^nd Man- “You don’t think you’re letting this got to your head, Just a little.”

*S to T* 1^st Man- “Not, Even, Slightly, If you'll excuse me, I need to go celebrate”

*S* 2^nd Man- "Honestly". "WAIT. His majesty couldn’t loan me a Five could he" Sarcasm

*T* 1^st Man- "I don’t see why not." * Gives him the Note*

*S* 2^nd Man -“Cheers Man”

 

*S* Sitting

*T* Standing

Set Breakdown

In terms of the set that I will b eusing for this particular piece I have simply decided to use Framwellgate School Sixth Form as it will simply allow me to both produce a atmosphere that does match the theme (People Going into employment from a young age ,'First Jobs') and also allows me to be nearby an editing area if I need it, Which I probably will. To help me explain the shoot I have taken some pictures of the areas that I will be filming in.
 




Simple Set up...

First Up is the area where the Two main characters talk, Its a pretty simple set up although I am probably going to change this table out for a couple of rectangular tables, as round tables can sometimes make it difficult to show characters being opposite each other in direct dialogue.





Long Walking shots to accompany title.

Second is the Long Hallway used for the opening scene, should the scene seem too short I can also use the corridor around the corner




 

 

Since the project requirement calls for a action matching between characters, I am going to use both the action of opening a door and also that of the money changeover written in the story later on.

Opportunity for door action match requirement



Slight Change In Screenplay

I have decided to make one small change to the screenplay. Nearer the beginning of the piece there is a scene where a character can be seen entering through a door and the camera then stays behind instead of following. Instead of this I have opted for a different style where the camera starts on one end of the door and then end up on the other to allow me to pan the camera to the left down the hallway while still following the Main Character.

Music Choice for the Opening of the film

The Music tht I have chosen for the opening of the film will be the well known classic song by Huey Lewis and the News. The Power of Love. While this may seem perculiar due to the dating of the song. I still think that the beat is perfectly sound and just upbeat enough to express the characters mood.

Appropriate music for the Opening section of the film and that of the End Titles

In the opening section of the film I would like to use something smooth yet punchy. I would also like it to be more of an instrumental focus than a vocal one. For the ending scenes I want it to be a little bit more powerful and solid in terms of the beat to give it a strong finish. As of now I cannot think of a good example but I will be sure to update my blog should I discover it.

Basic description of the concept for the Continuity project

The concept of the short film is a rather simple one, It simply follows one particular portion of an individuals life in a rather upbeat manner accompanied by rather upbeat music and ending with a nice smooth title.
In the story we follow one particular character to start with and this eventually evolves into a dialogue between two characters. The scene follows the following events:

Firstly, we open to a black screen with a voice over of someone being rung on a telephone, the tone is distinguishable and is clearly identified as a phone. It is then picked up and answered by the main protagonist of the story. From what can be interpreted from his line of the phone, he has recently been employed into a job that he very much hoped to get. for a brief second things go quiet and then we quickly cut into a scene of someone walking down a corridor from the level of their feet from the side, then from the back, finally ending on the right hand. Each of these are done to music with cuts at recurring intervals. After the hand shot the walking is timed to allow the protagonist to walk through a set of double doors into another hallway while the camera stays behind the double doors.

This starts a change of view as we cut to a shot of a man from over the shoulder while he is writing in a book. From the angle a door can be seen clearly and the first man from earlier walks into the room with a sense of "Swagger"

"Well Well Well, Were awful cheery today" Says the sitting man, From the point of view of the camera which is placed behind a seat that the first man sits in while still allowing an over the shoulder shot.

Just before he sits down the camera switches back to the point of view of the sitting man. Just in time to see him sitting down.

"Yep, as of today I am officially employed." He states rather smugly, all the while the camera remains in its position.

Cutting back to the second man. "You dont think you're letting this go to your head, just a little."

Just Before the sentence ends the camera switches back to allow the first man to say "Not, Even, Slightly, If you'll excuse me, I need to go celebrate" He begins to get up when this sentence begins and the camera pans slightly up with him.

The camera cuts back to the sitting man shaking his head saying "Honestly" In an amused tone. The camera shows the first man beginning to walk away but quickly he is verbally stopped by the sitting man.

Quickly the camera, now elevated to the First mans position shows the sitting man stating "His majesty could'nt loan me a Five could he"

Camera Cuts back, "I dont see why not." States the first man as he recieves his wallet from his pocket and pulls out a note.

The camera starts on the sitting man leaning up for the note, then cuts to first man letting go of the note. "Cheers man" says the sitting man, whom the camera rests on. The First man simply nods and walks off. As the first man walks away the camera is now placed at the other end of the room and follows him. The voice over states "Life is good", Music begins to rise into the scene and as soons as he adjusts his jacket, Him having walked closer to the camera, the scene ends and cuts to a title screen with the credits. On the title screen the music is made much more noticeable.

House M.D. Season 2 Episode 24 "No Reason". An interesting editing example.

Among my peers it is no secret that I am a monumental fan of the hit series House M.D. The show itself may follow its own sense of cliché now and again with the repeating theme of finding a problem, thinking they have fixed the problem, accidentally made it worse, finding out something interesting about the person, House will then have an idea come to him from something random (such as a Taiwanese disease seen from a woman’s thong), and they'll be cured. But it isn’t the repetitive story arc that I would like to talk about.

Editing is something that up to this point the show had been pretty straight forward with, a bit more rapid for tension and smoother for resolutions, but in the Season 2 Finale, there is a fun editing ploy used to tell the story.

Simply put, at the start of the episode Dr House finds himself in a predicament where he has been shot in the neck and the abdomen. He wakes up the next morning fine and dandy in a hospital bed, the only difference being that people won’t question what he says anymore, and he is always correct, House ends up confronting his boss Dr Cuddey to see what’s going on and why on his chart his surgery included the chemical Epinephrine, given its ability to put patients into comas for short periods. She says that it was to help with the pain and will also help to heal his thigh muscles according to a German study. House is adamant that this was a failure on the part of the surgeon. As the episode goes on weird occurrences begin to come into play, such as treating a patient, then talking to his wife, only to find he is in fact a widow, his wife died years ago. Eventually House begins walking around again, helping one particular patient who is literally exploding (Rather Gruesome). It is then that he comes across a great marvel, while talking to Dr Wilson, his conversation moves from his room to a stairwell. House has no recollection of moving to the stairs and it is simply context that causes him to move from place to place. *Spoiler* Because of this House determines that he is in fact in a coma and consequentially dissects a patient with a large machine designed for surgery.

By using the sharp cuts from scene to scene, coupled with the fact that House is literally being thrown scene to scene, we can understand his confusion greatly, His entire existence at this point is based on context and what his mind believes happens next in the "Story" regardless of House being aware of the situation.

*Ultimate Spoiler Warning* House is still in the coma after all. He asked for the Epinephrine but couldn’t remember.

Starting the Continuity Project

The new term has begun and with it is a new project, for this project I will be required to focus on the areas of:

 

· Shot/Reverse Shot
· Action Matching
· The 180° Rule

Hopefully this won’t be as much of a disaster as last years in which we took a comedic turn that didn't fit, wasn't funny and potentially ruined the piece. Here’s hoping that this year’s piece will be helped by my experiences in the past.

Key Points for this Piece include shooting the following scenes:

 

· Opening a door with action match
· Conversing with dialogue in a Shot/Reverse shot

 

Lack of posts for a week

While I thought that a trip to Cumbria would have been a relaxing getaway to work on a few blogs in the woods with a nice cup of tea. North West England's Broadband and Wi-fi Capabilities have much to be desired and I struggled even getting a phone signal in most areas let alone 3G. I have now set my clocks forward back 20 years in the North East and I can now easily work again. Apologies for the Inconvenience.

The effect of Different Areas when Shooting

I thought it could be interesting to write a short entry about the effects of different areas and when they work and don't.

To start with lets looks at outside areas. The three main areas that come to mind for me are: 1. The Street 2. The Woodland areas 3. Open Plains.

Starting with the street, I think that one of two things can be produced by shooting in the street. Should a character be walking alongside people and essentially blur into them, it shows some form of integration with society, in a visual and mental sense, the character has strong bonds and connections to the area and the people they stand with. Even if the audience couldn't see the main character, that would serve as the purpose, he would more likely be ground in as a more common everyday here. Kind of like the audience.

Yet there can be another way to shoot on the street, we can potentially isolate the character as well. One way of doing this would be to give them a strong feature, something that couldn't be ignored like a bright colour or a dark one by contrast. By doing this we can do the opposite of integration, we can show how a character doesn't fit into society. Because of some defining feature or reason he doesn't belong which can in turn give him or her a more interesting edge.

Moving onto the Woodlands. Woodland areas undoubtedly make for interesting shooting locations, In the daytime the bright greens and lush lands come through beautifully, in a lot of cases sunshine spots can come through the treeline and make for dramatic opening shots. Even in the winter, the lush green can be replaced with a pure white to give a pure sense. The lush greens with the sunlight can make for any number of happy situations, a father taking his son hiking or two lovers on a stroll. In the winter the pure white can be used to show the purity of a character and then change the weather to reflect how it is sullied. However, Beauty is but one half of a visual coin.










When day turns to night in the forest, the mood quickly turns grim. Many shadows are cast and the tops of trees overhang on the land, blocking moonlight wherever it can. The sharp pointed branches arch this way and swirl sinisterly. The trees themselves block the visual line of what we can see and so we can use this to trick the audience. "Are we really alone out here" Spouts one nerve wracked individual alone in the dark. "I have no i..." A character is quickly silenced. In the dark no one can see where he has gone, while the killer hides nearby skulking behind these silent barriers. Tense, yes?. I like to think this is why many horror films enjoy taking place in these areas, most also incorporate a POV shot to heighten the blindness in the dark and general turbulence of the characters being, both visual and physical.













Open Plains usually serve one purpose, or at least one that works superbly, Open fields can be seen at the start of many movies and most often in TV dramas. But for movies they serve as a method of smoothly starting the film on a high note with something calm, relaxing and visually beautiful. As if what is to follow serves only to intensify this beauty, it doesnt even need to show the characters, it really just has to be near to somewhere that is an important location for the main characters if not only one. The downside of Plains is that they dont make very good shooting areas for long time purposes, the lack of infrastructure removes the chance of an interesting encounter, rain can shift the land to a muddy mess in short moments and isolation reduces the social factors of character intereraction. Essentially the Open plain is like a good starter to a meal, on its own it can be wonderfull, any excess is pointless.