Casting Choices

Cast Members & Crew:

Production Schedule

Shot List

Jack, Nikita, Pablo and I have planned exactly 43 shots split into 5 sections due to the complexity of the shots and the setting, which will be shot in 5 consecutive days. 

We will be visiting the desert setting a day before we shoot so as to set up props and equipment and get accustomed to the location.

Below are several screenshots of the shot list detailing the number of shots, how long each shot will last, the type of shots, a brief description of the events taking place in the shot, as well as the date the scene will be shot.

The specific duration of each shot has not been decided upon as of yet, therefore we set each shot to last exactly 4 seconds until further changes are made.

Production Company Design Logo

After much speculation on which logo to choose, this one has been selected. 

The following logo has been designed by Jack over the course of a few hours.

Below is a screenshot of the production company design logo as well as a video to display the animation effects utilised for it.

BBFC Ratings

After a group discussion with Jack, Pablo and Nikita, we have concluded that the film opening meets the BBFC criteria for "15 - Suitable only for 15 years over" based on the latest BBFC Classification Guidelines (2014).

This is based on 8 different components which I will elaborate on below:

• Discrimination: There will be no discriminatory language, themes or behaviour of any sorts explicitly or implicitly depicted or endorsed in our film opening. 

• Drugs: Our film opening will not encourage or promote drug misuse. There will be no displays of drugs aside from a character smoking a  cigar/cigarette.

• Imitable behaviour: There will be dangerous behaviour involved including jumping and the wielding of katanas but this will not be lingered on.

• Language: There will be very little to no strong language used in our film opening.

• Nudity: There will be no nudity displayed in our film opening. 

• Sex: There will be no sexual activity portrayed or referenced in our film opening.

• Threat: There will be no focus on sadistic, sexual or psychological threats of any sorts in our film opening.

• Violence: There will be strong violence displayed in our film opening including cuts, injuries and general infliction of pain but this will not be dwelled on. No strong gory images or sadistic violence will be depicted.

Here is a screenshot of the "15" rating criteria:

Costume/props planning

All props displayed below were made by Nikita. 

This will be used in our film opening as we put a heavy emphasis on the use of props, including weapons, costumes, the props shown below, and vehicles. 

This will help the audience clearly visualise the post-apocalyptic element of the film opening.

These props have been inspired by films such as Mad Max and the Star Wars series. We think using handmade props enhances the film's overall appeal and adds a realistic touch to the film opening. 

The props have all been made with the desert theme in mind.

Location Planning

Our group consisting of Jack, Nikita, Pablo and I will be filming our Media Studies project near Sealine Beach Resort, which is located in Mesaieed, Qatar. 

There are desert regions and sand dunes within and surrounding this entire area, which is practical for our film opening inspired by Mad Max: Fury Road (2015). 

Since our film is based off of a post-apocalytic movie that takes place in/has been entirely filmed in an open desert setting, the sandy area neighbouring the Sealine Beach Resort is the quintessential location in Qatar for our movie genre and plot. All shots will be filmed in this particular site.

*Rented quad bikes in Sealine Beach Resort

There are quad bikes and beach buggies available for rent within this location which is where we will obtain our most important prop(s); the vehicle(s). This element is also inspired by the aforementioned movie (Mad Max: Fury Road). 

*Mad Max: Fury Road prop

Above is an example of a vehicle used in the movie. Below are other images of our film opening's setting.

As shown in these images, there is a broad space ideal for the safe utilisation of quad bikes as movie props. There are a variety of vehicles available at the location which tackles the possible issue of our props being of a generic or unoriginal nature. 

The site itself is also very original since it is not a common setting for films in Qatar and is natural due to Qatar's geographical location. There are softer grains for driving and harder surfaces to allow suitable mounting of camera and filming equipment. We plan on filming shots of the rented vehicles drifting (with a professional driver for safety and legal purposes).

Mood Board

This mood board accurately reflects our intended aesthetic element of our film opening. 

Our intended aesthetic is of a worn-down, rusty, metallic, sandy, cracked, jagged nature, involving the use of highly saturated warm-toned colours to emphasise the tones of the desert setting.

 The Mad Max franchise is a hugely influential movie to take into account, especially the latest instalment in the series, Mad Max: Fury Road. Our film opening is also inspired by racing in general, specifically desert racing (beach buggy racing, quad bike racing, etc) due to the heavy use of props we intend to utilise. 

There will be explicit action scenes displaying violence which is accurately depicted in the mood board above, as well as a substantial amount of blood. These are all aspects often included in post-apocalyptic action films as briefly shown in the mood board.

Storyboard

This storyboard has been sketched and compressed into a video by Nikita. The shots themselves have been planned by Pablo.

The video is made up of frames of the storyboard captured by a camera to display the details more clearly than an image would.

As shown in the video, there will be a heavy utilisation of props such as weapons and vehicles to emphasise the survival theme and basic elements of the post-apocalyptic action genre.

We have planned roughly 42 shots in advance that we intend to shoot following the First Term Break (Dec. 14). This will be expanded upon in the Shot List post in the blog.

Focus Group Video

This focus group video has been filmed and edited by Pablo.

Two participants were asked to share general and specific opinions on film openings so as to improve our understanding of audience members' patterns of thinking and what they look for in a movie. This will subsequently aid us to create a more professional and universally appealing film opening for a wide range of viewers.

The answers provided in the focus group video will be taken into account along with the summary of responses in the audience questionnaire previously distributed in order to achieve this goal.