Tech Runner- Final Production

Changes

While filming we did change or remove some elements of our production-

The first thing we decided not to use was the Antagonist having powers. We had just finished filming the scene where the Victim was peering around a tree when we decided that giving the Antagonist powers could make the production look very unrealistic and in some ways corny which wasn't the look we were going for, so as a result we completely removed that element from the production which thankfully didn't affect anything else major within the storyline.

Another thing we changed was some of the dialogue. We didn't have much dialogue to begin with but as we filmed it into the production it just seemed unnecessary (e.g. Before the Antagonist and victim start the fight scene they are suppose to exchange some lines of dialogue about the 'device') . So as I edited the footage I did two different scenes, one with dialogue, one without and after comparing them I went with the one without the dialogue as the dialogue seemed out of place and when it wasn't there it looked better and didn't feel like anything was missing. Another time that we did this was when the Antagonist is about to shoot the victim and they say "you didn't have to die" we removed this because the Antagonist doesn't actually kill the victim until a few shots later and we felt it was a sort of 'Spoiler Alert' whereas, we wanted it to be more sudden instead of the audience definitely knowing the victim dies.

Also, while editing I changed a few things-

On our shot lists and storyboards it's written/drawn that when the Antagonist shoots the Victim the first time, you see the gun fire and then the Victim fall. Well, while editing that certain scene was on a part of the soundtrack where there was a sudden quite spot so instead of seeing the gun fire you see the gun get brought up into the certain of the frame and then the screen goes black and you hear a gunfire and then when the soundtrack builds back up you see the Victim fall.

Another changed I made was when the Antaognist and Victim were in the woodland area and the victim had just stop by a tree and the Antagonist shoots but hits the tree not the victim because when have you ever known it to be that easy in an action film? Well, when I edited in all the effects on the footage it just didn't look right and fake. So instead of having all the effects I changed it so that the audience see the Antagonist get out their gun and the soundtrack suddenly intensifies and then you see the victim begin to run again.

Done by Maddy Flaherty

Production Title Interview

Ronan and Maddy asked some people about what the name for our production should be. This is the footage-

(I had no part in this. This interview was only conducted by Maddy and Ronan)

Production Title

This is the final name we have chosen for our production. The answers from the audience shows that 'Tech Runner' is the most popular. We also thought that this name could closely relate to the plot of out production. This name also closely links with the film 'Maze Runner' which has the same genre as our production. Finally the team decided to make the font similar to Maze Runner because it looks very simple but also adds a feel of technology which also relates to our production.

(Maddy and Ronan created the name and font. I had no part in this)

Audience Feedback on Title

My team members Maddy and Ronan conducted sessions with different people talking about the potential names for our production. Here are the results-

Kate, aged 17, who isn't a media student says, "I think it's really good and i especially like the gunshot part where the sound stops and the screen goes black as the gun is fired." I personally really liked this part as i edited it and watched it back I thought it worked really well. She also said "the music through out the whole thing went really well and seemed to flow" I'm really happy with this comment as it did take me awhile to match the soundtrack up with the intense parts of the production and the less intense parts.
Abbie, aged 16, who is a peer but did GCSE Media said, "I really like it, definitely how it takes place in more then one location, i feel that it keeps mine and the audiences attention more then it would if it was in just one place for the whole time." I'm glad that Abbie felt this way as this was our aim and the reason we had more then one location.
Olaf, aged 18, who is also a AS Media student said, "The ending title sequence of the production name was brilliant because the entering and exiting of the text matched with the soundtrack which emphasised the importance of the title but not only linked to it being an action film but it look amazing! Also, it was good how you only had the production name and no fancy effects as that would of took some the attention away from the name itself, one thing i would suggest is maybe make the font slightly thicker but other then that, loved it! I also noticed that you used the same font for your credits at the beginning as you did for the production name at the end which i think was a good choice." I'm really pleased that the ending title sequence was commented on but to also have some criticism, this has been taken on board.
Abigail, aged 12, who isn't a media student said, "I think it looks really cool, the music in the background suited it and i like how there was some mystery in there like, what is that USB/device do? I also really liked the end part of "THE TECH RUNNER" I re-watched that part over again because I liked it a lot, and how there wasn't lots of talking because that can be really boring." Comparing our other responses to this one you can see how the Media students noticed more things but also that they all noticed different things as well, all the comments were positive which is amazing and they also let us know that the choices that were made in pre-production were good ones.
Done by Maddy Flaherty.
(These sessions/interviews were done by Maddy and Ronan- I had no part of this.)

Editing Process

My team member Maddy is in charge of editing the production. She used the font Pirulen for both out production title and the credits. My team members chose this font because we thought is suited are genre and are production. The font also looks quite technological which links in with the idea of the mysterious device.

28th January 2016

Over the past week me and my team have started filming.
This is a catch up of what we have been doing:
On the 17th of January we first started filming the beginning on this day however there was a lot of weather issues as it had snowed over that day. We were also delayed because we had to collect lighting equipment. After we had all the equipment it started to snow even more which would look strange in the production if we did different shot with different weather types. We then decided to finish for the day because we didn't want snow in the shots.
On the 24th of January my team went out again to start filming. There was no snow this time which was good but the ground was very muddy which could've caused a hazard. We also were on time because we didn't have to collect equipment. In the end we got about 2/3 of the filming completed but we sadly couldn't continue due to the battery running out.
The 27th was the final day of filming. We had all the necessary equipment and props to get everything done. We have now completed all of the filming and are now editing the final piece. The only problem with this day was that we filmed in winter so it got dark very quickly but this was avoided because we had good lighting.
28th- Now all that's left to do is get everything completed on my blog :)

Dialogue

Dialogue 1

 

Over Shoulder shot(EXT)- Busy town area. Victim bangs into Antagonist and then runs away.



 

Victim- 'Oh, sorry!'

 

Dialogue 2

 

Close up(EXT)- Focuses on lower half of Antagonist's face.(Just after Victim has bumped into them)

 

Antagonist- 'That was too easy...'

 

Dialogue 3

 

Medium shot(EXT)- Victim in a forest area about to kick up a branch to attack the Antagonist.

 

Antagonist- 'Give me the device!'

Victim- 'Sure... Here you go' (Sarcastic)(Victim then hits the Antagonist with the branch)

 

Dialogue 4

 

Long/Low angled shot(EXT)- Victim hunched over within a abandoned farm. Antagonist stands over them while a phone is in frame with someone talking.

 

Person on phone- 'Agent?'

 

Dialogue 5

 

Close up(EXT)- Antagonist answers person on the Victims phone.

 

Antagonist-'Sorry they're a little busy right now...'

 

Dialogue 6

 

Medium shot(EXT)- Antagonist follows Victim as they attempt to leave the abandoned farm.

 

 Antagonist- 'You didn't have to die' (Gunshot)

 

 

Production Name Ideas

 My team members Ronan and Maddy created some idea's for what the production names could be.  They came up with a list of 3 which they liked the most. These are- 'Tech Runner', 'Project Overdrive' and 'System Error'. They chose these because they felt like they suited the idea of the Antagonist taking the mysterious device from the Victim.
 They are planning to ask multiple people on their opinions of the names and which one is the best for our overall production. (Maddy and Ronan generated these ideas while I way away. I take no credit)

Text Message

One of my team members Maddy created a text message that will be shown during the start of the production on the Antagonist's phone. This is so the audience can pick up on the storyline and be more immersed in the scene. To do this she got a image of the IPhone message bubble and cropped it so that it had a transparent background then she got the specific text and wrote the message to be shown in the production.

Antagonist Voice Effects

My team decided that we should change the voice for the antagonist. This is to disguise the identity of the antagonist and make them appear more mysterious. We have not yet chosen which voice we will use in the final production but this is some exaples to choose out of.

Plot Blocking

Props

In our production we are going to be using various props to make our production more exciting and realistic. The first prop we will be using is a fake gun. This gun will be held by the antagonist throughout the opening and will play a big role within the production. We decided to go with the idea of a gun because we though that is was one of the main conventions within action films. From this by including the gun we could really relate our production to the action genre. This gun would mostly be used in the fighting scenes within the well known action films so we have taken this idea and decided to involve the gun within our chase/fighting scene.
The other props we will be using consists of fake blood and fake blood capsules. We will be using the fake blood on the victim so it makes the scene more realistic and shows that they are significantly hurt. The fake blood is very simple to apply and remove from the skin and acts as a great way to make our production better. We will also use blood capsules on the victim who will then spit this out in one of the scenes. This also creates a very realistic effect. However the capsules shouldn't be consumed.

Photo of the Victim

For our production we were thinking of taking a picture of the 'victim' and show this at the beginning of our opening on the antagonist's phone. From this the audience can know who the antagonist is searching for and their identity.
For our original idea for the picture we were going to have the victim walking around outside but we felt that the image wouldn't look very good in our production. We tried a lot of different locations and shots to try and create a photo which look suitable for our production.
In the end we chose this photo to be in our production. In this photo the victim is in front of a white wall which makes it look like a mug shot. We also chose to make the photo black and white to make the photo more intense because the normal coloured photo looked too informal and laid back.

Shot List

Focus Group

This is our focus group that we did with some of our classmates. The two people who joined us are Alice Barradale  and Alex Burton. We asked them questions about our genre (Action) and what they thought about our production idea.

Preliminary Task

This is our preliminary task involving two people having a conversation.  Honesty Bradshaw (Me) and Ronan Johnson were in the clip and Maddy Flaherty edited the footage.