Film Music

FIlM MUSIC

    Film music is a very important part of any film, it can add a lot to any scene, whether it is suspense, action, or fear. Some of the best films feature extraordinary artists and producers responsible for the film's score.

    A good example of an amazing film score is Batman Dark Knight, which we have been taking a ton of inspiration from. This film's music was composed by Hans Zimmer, who is known to be amazing at producing film scores. Hanz Zimmer's composition in this film allowed for much more intense and intimidating scenes, as well as bringing the action up to another level. For me, the music in this film transcended filmmaking and opened my eyes up to just how much work is put into these movies. Each track is purely unique, and fit for the scene it was placed in, which shows the dedication some people put into these films. Without this tremendous film score, The Dark Knight would not be as critically acclaimed as it is.

    

    For our film, obviously, we cant compose entire pieces fit for each scene, but from what we learned in our last film project, we don't have to. Just simply finding audio on the internet that is royalty-free is just enough to enhance the suspense in our film. After seeing what a good score did to our last project, we will be sure to take our time in finding good music to fit the suspense of our movie.

Film Timeline

 Thursday, February 24th, 8:30am

• My group sat down and began deciding on filming/editing dates as well as film locations. We planned out the order in which we would film what scenes.

Saturday, February 26th, 6:30pm

• We arrive at our first location which is one of our members homes. We will film all of the mobster scenes as they all require that location, we expect to be finished by 9:30pm.

Sunday, February 27th, 7:00pm

• We will meet up at our second location which will be         . We will film all of our detective scenes, where we should finish at around 8:30pm. Afterwards we will review all of our footage from both days ensuring we have gotten everything we need.

Sunday, February 27th, 9:00pm

• We will all make our way to a sidewalk of our choosing to film the final detective scenes. We should finish at around 9:30pm, which will conclude our filming process.

Friday, March 5th, 4:30pm

• We will all meet up at a designated location and begin the editing process. This should take up to 3 hours, hopefully finishing at around 7:30pm. We will finish the entire editing process today to ensure we don't forget.

An issue we encountered in the planning process was what props and costumes we would use. We as a group couldn't decide on what the vigilante should wear, as well as the detectives. While the mobsters should be easy to dress as they are almost completely covered in darkness, the detectives will be fully visible every time they are on screen. We didn't have much time to plan the costumes out which is why it is so difficult.

Film Sounds

Film Sounds

    When it came to sounds, we already had a pretty basic idea of what we would do to further improve our film. Sound is a much more important feature than many think, especially when it comes to our action/adventure film, where sounds can make or break a scene. For our film, we want to further express the mystery and action as much as possible, and try to use sound to make the antagonist much more intimidating. We will do this by adding in background ambiance to fit a dark and dim setting, maybe creaking floorboards, heavy breathing, or slight gusts of wind could add a little intimidation factor to our scenes. While the ambiance may be important, these will only be subtle additions, as we don't want them to distract the viewer, and only want to add to their viewing experience.

    For a much more noticeable and important effect, we will add weather to the background, like rain and thunder. Much of our scenes will be indoors, which can be great for weather sounds, like rain hitting the sides of a window, thunder rumbling the skies, or lightning crackling down. There will be no visuals for these sounds, so we can pretty much add any extreme weather effects that we feel will fit the scenes. Again, we don't want to distract the viewer from the actual scenes, but adding these subtle effects of rain and thunder can help tremendously in achieving a much more mysterious undertone.

     For voice audio, we plan on using the microphone on our cameras/phones, as we don't see a need for an upgrade. While this is just an assumption, it won't be necessary to upgrade equipment, as most scenes will be very close shots of the speaker, where we should be able to hear them very easily. Just in case of emergency, we do have backup microphones and spare equipment on standby, but in the meantime, there is just no need to use them.

 

Lighting Research

    Lighting will be an extremely important aspect of our film as it will enhance the feelings we are trying to portray, as well as give the viewer the feel we are looking for. Using some clever lighting tricks, we can turn our antagonist into the scary mob boss into someone to fear.

    

    We wanted our film to be very heavily based on old school mobster/gangster films. To enhance the noir type experience, we want to have a very villainous mob boss as the antagonist. To make the antagonist more intimidating and mysterious, we want to shroud them in darkness. Not revealing their true identity by covering them in darkness is a very clever way we can make them more intimidating.

    For the protagonist of our film, we want them to be in a much brighter setting, showing the contrast between the two. This would be easier, as we would just have him in a bright setting with many lights. We plan to provide lighting from above the character, like a street light shrouding the charcter in a dimmed yellow.

    Despite the fact that we wanted the protagonist to be lit up, we still wanted to maintain the noir feeling of the film opening. Due to this, we found it best for the film to still take place at night, further illuminating where the protagonist is, and further contrasting the light from the dark.

 

Production Company Name

    It came time for the group to decide what the production company name should be for the film project. We looked to some famous production companies and how they got their names.

    We were specifically interested in the Warner Bros design, and how they got their name; it was pretty simple really. The company's name originated from the founders of the company: the Warner brothers. So we got the idea to combine our names of Ryan Huber and Aidan Tajalli to form a company name.

    After careful consideration and a thorough process, we came up with the genius studio name:

Taber Studios

    It was a clever combination of our two last names.    

 

Actors/Casting Call

    At this point, it's time for our group to decide on our cast and actors. This was a relatively easy process for the team to go through, as we already had ideas on who would fit into what role. 

    There were only really two main characters in the film opening that needed roles to fill, the rest were more of extras. The two characters to fill were the mob boss (the main antagonist) and the vigilante / detective (the main protagonist).

    First up was filling the role of the mob boss. In our last film project, Ryan Huber had the opportunity to play the hero in the form of the heroic cowboy. It was time to pass the torch to someone far more worthy, so Huber graciously stepped down and filled the antagonist's role. Huber's deep, booming voice fits how a dangerous mobster should sound. Also, we won't be seeing much of him, as his character will be shrouded in darkness. The point is to not give the villain a face at first, in order to cloud him in mystery and terror.

    Next up was deciding who the vigilante / detective would be. Aidan Tajalli played the role of a dangerous outlaw in our last film. We decided Aidan best fit the role of the vigilante, as his bright/ happy personality and boyish angelic voice fit the role so well. While Aidan fits the role of a protagonist so well, he can also flip the switch, and be a mysterious under cover detective as well. 

    At this point we ran stumbled into a barricaded bridge. There were still three extra roles to be filled: the two mobsters and the other detective working with the vigilante. And unfortunately a couple weeks ago our lackluster group members switched out of our class, meaning it was just Huber and Aidan. We knew we could rely on our good friend Ryan Ugalde to fill a role; he fit the mobster's role very well. He had the voice and look for it.

    As for the other two roles, we are not sure as to who will fill them yet. We are considering asking our former group members to help us, as they have experience in the film field from being in this class. However, as was stated before, they are lazy and oftentimes give a lackluster performance, so perhaps a secondary route must be taken.

 

Film Shot List

1. Establishing shots of police station room and private meeting room of mobsters

2. Medium shots of detectives and mob members

3. Close up of mob boss and mobsters

4. Full shots of both scenes

5. Wide shots of both scenes

6. Full shot of detective in apartment

7. Medium close shot of detective in closet grabbing suit

Film Storyboard

 

OUR STORYBOARD

PART 1: Introduced to Mafia Boss / main villain, currently in a meeting with two mobsters discussing a problem.

Part 2: Another shot introducing the mobsters, they are informing the main villain of the threat of the vigilante (the hero of the story)

Part 3: The mobsters are seen to be very scared as the boss is getting more and more angry as they tell him more about the vigilante.

Part 4: Cut to another scene in different setting; two detectives talking and sharing new information about the mob boss.

Part 5: Cuts back to mobsters, mob boss screaming at mobsters and banging on desk, yelling at them to catch the vigilante and bring him to him alive.

Part 6: Cuts to shot of one of the detectives, we realize he is the vigilante. walks into closet and stares at costume, then unracks it and walks out of frame.

Film script

Introduction Script

FADE IN 

The film begins with a wide shot of a dimly lit room, behind the throne of the mob boss. There are multiple mobsters sitting on the ends of the table, as they are speaking to the mob boss. 

INT. MEETING ROOM TABLE - 11:30PM

Mobster 1

"Nice to see you sir, why'd you call us in"

Camera gets closer to mobster 1, showing an expression of fear and worry.

Mob Boss

Camera switches behind throne of mob boss.

"You know why i called you here"

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INT. POLICE STATION - 11:32PM

Detective 2

Camera shows medium shot of detectives walking, following them while they drink their coffee.

"We have some new information on the pattern of crimes that have been plaguing this city."

Detective 1

"Do we have any leads we can link to them?"

Detective 2

"Yeah.... we have one."

Camera pans in closer to detectives, getting closer to their faces.

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INT.MEETING ROOM TABLE - 11:35PM

Camera close up of mobster 2 face

Mobster 2

"This guy's been runnin amuck on our operations, and we aint even seen his face!"

Camera close up of mobster 1 face

Mobster 1

"He's cost us millions boss, and word is he's working with the police now!"

Camera switches to behind throne of mob boss

Mob boss slams violently on table

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INT. POLICE STATION - 11:40PM

Camera follows behind detectives

Detective 2

"Each of these locations hit from the past two weeks trace back to him"

Close up of locations on paper

Detective 2

"We gotta catch this guy now, or it will only get worse"

Medium shot of detective 1 face

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INT.MEETING ROOM TABLE - 11:40PM

Camera at end of table, mob boss shrouded by darkness

Mob Boss

"You better find this guy, and bring him to me. I want him alive."

Boss leans in, a little more of his face is revealed

"You know what'll happen if you disappoint me again."

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EXT. OUTSIDE OF POLICE STATION - 11:50PM

Far shot as they walk together on sidewalk

Detective 2

"If we don't get this guy soon.... I dunno what will happen to this city"

Detective 1

"Don't worry. We will."

Detective 2

"Is your friend on the case?"

Detective 1

"...Maybe."

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INT.MEETING ROOM TABLE - 11:50PM

Mob Boss

"On second thought ... this guy's gettin too dangerous. I'm gonna have to handle this myself."

Mobster 1

"But boss, what if you're no match for this guy?"

Mob boss glares at mobster, mobster falls silent

Boss slowly pulls out gun

Mobster 1

"No, boss please!"

Mob boss shoots mobster, mobster dies off camera.

Mob boss

"Let everyone else know. I'm gonna kill this guy."

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INT.DETECTIVE 1's APARTMENT CLOSET

Detective 1 walks into small walk in closet.

Lights flicker on and we can see a dark suit hanging on a clothesline, we realize the detective is the vigilante.

Detective grabs the suit and walks out of frame, epic music playing in the background.