Editing programme

Myself and ryan carman have decided that we will be using the film editing programme "Magix Movie edit Pro 12" instead of the default film editing programme on the Macs "Imovie". The reasons for this are that ryan carman, who is in charge of editing and technology, is more experienced with this programme and because the programme has a wider range of tools to use on the film.
Here is a link to ryan's posting about the editing software;
http://ryancarmana2.blogspot.com/2010/01/editing-software.html

Aspect Ratio

As Ryan Carman is in charge of the technical area of this project, I'm posting a link to a post on his blog in which he discusses the aspect ratio of our product.
http://ryancarmana2.blogspot.com/2010/01/aspect-ratio.html

The Opening scene of “Reservoir Dogs” analysis.

This is Ryan Cross, Ryan Carman and Joe Claxton deconstruction and analysis of the opening diner scene of the Quentin Tarantino film “Reservoir Dogs”. The reason we are looking into a Quentin Tarantino film is because he is a well known director in the crime genre who made a name for himself for his unique use of modern culture with film conventions and when considering his camera work, he uses significantly less cuts and edits because his shots last longer and are more in-depth. A perfect example of this is the first scene of his film Reservoir dogs in which he uses panning shots around the table of a diner where the main characters are sitting and talking.

The Panning shots are much longer then most films and this is unconventional for a crime film as they are fast paced and quick cut films, the reason they last longer as shots is to keep a slower pace to the film and to keep emphasis on the modern culture dialogue.
The panning shots go round the table last for two minutes, occasionally changing points around the table and most shots going round the same direction. After the panning shots, the camera goes to over shoulder shots. During the panning shots the camera rarely shows the person talking but rather shows other character’s reactions, this is different with the over shoulder shots which changes to explicitly showing the person who is talking only. This could be connected to the fact that the panning are shots are unconventional for a dialogue themed scene as is also the fact that the camera not showing who is talking, whereas the over-shoulder shots are more conventional and the camera showing the person talking is as well. This could be Tarantino’s way of comparing the conventional and unconventional methods.

Update

myself, ryan carman and joe claxton have just talked to the technician joe darlow about playing a role in our upcoming project as the man who opens the door for our main character "Jack", he also told us about how we can use the school for some of our filming and what times we can use it.

Differences

Having uploaded the screenplay, shot list and soon to upload the storyboards, it is apparent that there are differences between these three versions of the story, foe example the screenplay does not mention the character Jack looking in the mirror before he leaves. The reason for this is because of the new ideas during the making of these plans that are still not definitive meaning they are just rough guides to the final piece and we are still deciding what we shall put in a take out, considering the film has to be 5 minutes at most which will involve alot of deleted scenes.

Shot List

Shot List
· Over shoulder shot of jack looking into mirror
· Close up shots of Jack Opening door, leaving house ect
· Long shot of Jack walking down street followed by several other types of shot of walking
· Shots to show graffiti on walls, either over shoulder or P.O.V
· Mid-shot of building
· Mid-to-long-shots of Jack entering building
· Long shot of rough-looking man opening door
· Over-shoulder shot of rough looking man watching Jack enter the room.
· P.O.V/panning shot of other men at poker table.
· Close up of man’s hand playing with chips.
· Mid shot of jack sitting down
· Top view of table while dealing cards
· Close up over the shoulder looking at cards
· Top view close up of placing watch onto table
· Over the shoulder close up looking at cards
· “ “
· Close up of man pushing money into the middle
· Reaction shot close up of jacks face in reaction to “big money”
· Close up of each character places cards on the table
· Extreme close up of jacks eyes widening in shock
· Mid shot of man pulling out a knife
· Close up of knife being brought down to his hand
· Close up of jacks face in agony
· Long shot of jack being thrown out of the building
· Long shot of jack walking away and then collapses

Screenplay for "Rock Bottom"

A man (we’ll call him “Jack”) is walking down a dark, run-down road surrounded by graffiti, desolate buildings and rubbish. As he walks, we see that he is nervous and scared by what it is he is walking to. He remembers certain things that have happened to him as he walks, things including his wife leaving him, loosing his job and owing money to dangerous people. We see Jack nearing a building; he stops outside it and stares at the building, his fear taking over his body and anxiety riddled on his face. Eventually he takes the first step into the building and begins to enter.

The room he enters is pitch black, a door is opened by a rough looking man; Jack walks through to find three other men sitting at a poker table, all staring at him, all waiting for him to take a seat. Nervously he sits down; one of the men already at the table looks into his eyes and begins to deal the cards. Jack looks down at his wrist and pulls of an expensive watch, thinks of wife, and places it in front of him on the table.

As the cards are dealt and the flop, turn and river cards are showing, Jack sees’s he has a full house. Only one other man at the table is still in the game, sitting directly opposite him. Jack looks at his cards, smiles and shows what he has. As he goes for the pile of chips in the centre, the man opposite grabs his hand, Jack looks up to see the man has a four-of-a-kind winning hand. As all the men around the table stand up, the man opposite Jack pulls out a knife. Jacks face has turned from a smile to great fear as he watches the blade go down towards his hand, and pain runs through him faster than fear ever did.

Outside the men though Jack out onto the ground, he clutches his hand in pain and as tears run down his face he picks himself up and begins walking. A few steps later and Jack falls down again. He doesn’t get up.
Here is a link to the storyboards that Ryan Carman designed which should help explain to the screenplay
http://ryancarmana2.blogspot.com/2010/01/storyboards.html