Major American Film Companies

1. Warner Bros
2. Paramount Pictures
3. Walt Disney
4. Columbia Pictures
5. Universal Studios
6. 20th Century Fox

These 6 own and make about 90% of films made in America.

Warner Brothers is owned by Time Warner.

Paramount Pictures is owned by Viacom.

Walt Disney is owned by itself (Walt Disney Company).

Columbia pictures is owned by Sony corporation.

Universal Studios is owned by Comcast/GE.

20th Century Fox is owned by News Corporation.


Having 6 main companies producing 90% of films has a lot of positives and negatives. The positives include that we get the best films possible due to the tremendous budgets that these companies have. They can afford the best in the industry when it comes to animators, writers and also the equipment they use. A negative may be that smaller companies will get overshadowed by these companies and these companies could also affect a lot of people when it comes to their views. If they show their views in a certain way, hundreds of millions of people could see that information and this could sway what people think about certain things. There are many other political issues that may arise surrounding the views and the control that these companies/studios have over what many people see.

News Show

Running Order -

Time
14:00 – 14:20	Studio Set-Up
14:20 – 14:30	Studio Preparation -  Check
14:30 – 14:40	Sound Check
14:40 – 14:41	Introduction
14:41 – 14:43	Fire in local Fish & Chips shop
14:43 – 14:46	Airport Flights
14:46 – 14:47	Advert (Break)
14:47 – 14:50	Southend United (VT)
14:50 – 14:53	Attempted Murder
14:53 – 14:56	Train Fares (VT)
14:56 – 14:59	Weather
14:59 – 15:00	Outro
15:00	Recording Finish
15:00 – 15:15	Clear Studio

Job Roles -

Director - Nathan Bull
Producer - Alice Berry
Writers - Nathan Bull, Alice Berry, Emily Tozer, Briana Santiago
Floor Manager - Briana Santiago
Lighting - David Semple, Charlie Johnson
Camera - Tom Davis, Sana Hufthy
Sound - Rislene Oukili, Harrison Atkins-Swallow
Vision Mixer - James Clarke
Runner - Emily Tozer, Becky Harvey
Cast - Sam Murray, Joe Mander, Nathan Bull (VT's)
Health and Safety - Dan Hewitt

Scripts -

Chip Shop Fire - 

INT. NEWS ROOM, DAY

Joe

Good Evening and welcome to Cloud News. We start this show with breaking news about a fire that has broken out in Southend. The fire broke out in a Southend chip shop. The Las Vegas Grill chip shop on Southend Seafront was set alight around 8:10pm on Monday 27th January and the fire was promptly put out by 8:36pm the same evening. The cause of the fire is still unclear but fire crews have mentioned that it could have been caused by a faulty tumble drier in a room just above the shop. The main part of the blaze was present in the rooms above the chip shop but the chip shop was affecte3d by water and smoke damage. A spokesman from the Fire Crew that attended the scene told reporters that the Crews were wearing breathing apparatus as they entered the shop and they also used a hose reel jet and one dry powder fire extinguisher. After the fire was put out, the Fire Crews at the scene used a positive pressure fan to ventilate the chip shop and the rooms above where the fire occured. More to come on this news story on tomorrow's show.

Airport - 

INT. NEWS ROOM, DAY.

JOE

The next news story affecting the local area is surrounding flights from Southend Airport. Earlier this week, Southend Airport bosses admitted that they had been discussing contracts with potential new partners. The arrival of this news means that flights could soon be available to Denmark, Romania and Turkey from Southend Airport. At the moment, you can fly to 15 European destinations from Southend. A spokesman for the Airport quoted "We are working closely with all our current partners - as well as speaking to potential new ones. We are doing this in order to offer an even wider variety of destinatinos for business and leisure travellers. As soon as we do have new routes confirmed then you will be the first to know." Southend Airport is growing very quickly and flew one million passengers to holiday in business destinations. The owners of the Airport, Stobart Group, bought the airport in 2008. They have since invested £120m, including the new £10m terminal extension. Other things that have been added recently to the Airport include a train station, an air traffic control tower, terminal building, runway extension, a 4 star Holiday Inn and radar. Website 'therouteshop.com' have said that the major reasons that it will serve Southend Airport is the fact that it is a new Airport and has links to Stratford and Liverpool Street via its new Train Station. Other reasons include have competetive charges and excellent slot availability. The key facts listed by the company include having a catchment area population of potential fliers ranging from 5.4 million people in an hour and potentially 19.3 million within 2 hours. The changes are welcomed by citizens and especially by Ian Burns, who owns Travel Smart in the Victoria Shopping Center in Southend. Mr Burns, who has been in the industry for 14 years said "The more destinations they get, the better." He carried on to mention that popular destinations such as Lanzarote would have as much popularity as Tenerife currently. Mr Burns also commented on the fact that Turkey and Bodrum would sell especially well and bring a lot of revenue to the Airport. Southend Airport currently travel to many popular destinations around the world including Amsterdam, Barcelona, Ibiza and Tenerife. They also offer transatlantic connections to Boston, Chicago, New York, Orlando, San Fransisco and Toronto. Southend Airport has been improving and improving since being taken over in 2008 and will continue to grow for years to come. Updates on the growth of Southend Airport will be broadcast in the very near future.

SOUTHEND UNITED - 

INT. NEWS ROOM, DAY

JOE

Our next news story is regarding Southend United. Last week we were at Boots and Laces, Southend United's Training ground discussing the season so far.

VT - Southend United's training ground

INTERVIEWER

So far this season, Southend United have had a lot of success and are near the automatic promotion spots. What do you think of their progress so far?

INTERVIEWEE

*Response with opinions*

INTERVIEWER

Do you think that they will make automatic promotion this season?

INTERVIEWEE

*Response with opinions*

INTERVIEWER

So far this season, Kevan Hurst has been our top goalscorer and is also one of the league's top scorers, how much do you think this has benefited the squad and our promotion chase?

INTERVIEWEE

*Response with opinions*

INTERVIEWER

If there was anything you could choose to change at the moment, what would that be?

Attempted Murder - 

JOE

Also on today news a 19 year old boy from Basildon was charged with attempted murder. This incident happened in Hertfordshire just before 9.30pm on Thursday the 31st October 2013. Also, on Sunday the 26th January, Quey Williams was arrested in Manor Royal in Sussex. Quey Williams was charged with attempted murder, However he was also charged with possession of a fire arm which he intended  to commit an indictable offence. Gunshots were fired by Quey Williams from a pick-up truck in Sainsbury's car park in Hertfordshire. Nobody was injured by the gunshots. He was also charged with dangerous driving at the scene. The boy is from Crays Hills where he is currently detained in police custody until  his appearance at Hatfield Remand Court in the near future. Also at this time two other people were arrested. These were a woman aged 46, and a young boy aged 14 who were both from Billericay. They were later released on police bail until February pending further inquires by Hertfordshiere Constabulary.

Train Fares - 

VT Insert - train fares

As of the 2nd January 2014, trains fares increased on average by 2.8%. Although it is the smallest rise in the last 4 years, i have still heard a lot of complaints from the public. So I'm here today to find out what the people really think about this

Nathan

Are you bothered by the recent increase in train fairs?

interviewee

Response

NATHAN

Does the increase effect you in anyway?

INTERVIEWEE

Response

NATHAN

Is this going to make you stop using trains so often now, or are you going to continue to use them the same as before?

INTERVIEWEE

Response

NATHAN

Do you think that the train fares should be taken back down to the original price, or should they just stay the same as they are now?

INTERVIEWEE

Response

Mood Boards -

Set Design -

Costume Design -

Host - The host for our news show will be wearing smart but casual clothing so that the show does not look too formal. Wearing smart clothes makes the show appealing for many audiences in a way that it makes them feel that they are watching something official and by also making the clothing casual, we appeal to younger audiences within our target audience.

Weather Reporter - Our weather reporter will also be wearing smart, casual clothing. This gives a professional sense to the report and it also makes this part of the show not too formal to appeal to the younger end of our target audience.

VT Main Person - The main reporter in our VT's will be wearing everyday clothing when reporting so that they fit comfortably in their surroundings.

Resource List -

For our news show we will need the following -

LIVE SHOW

- Table/Desk

- 1 Chair

- 2 Clip-on Microphones

- Whiteboard (Weather Report)

- Cameras

- Lighting

VT RECORDING

- Camera

- Boom Microphone

- Tape

- Script

- Anything needed for displaying information

Floor Plan -

Risk Assessment -

Call Sheet - 

Budget - Camera Equipment £0, Tape - £2.50, Costumes £0. All of the other equipment and resources that we need will be hired through the college. We will use the studio at college free of charge for our news show.

Lights - The lights that we will use for our news show include a few lights pointing towards the host and some pointing towards the weather man.

Intro/Outro - For our news show we will have an intro and outro both showing our logo at some point and there will also be music playing in the background.

Logo/Slogan - Our logo shows the name of our company (The Cloud News) and there will be clouds in the background to emphasise our name. The slogan for our news show is 'We will make the clouds clear for you'.

 This is our logo.

Background - For our background we will have the window that goes through to the control room as it looks professional and is similar to what we see in professional news shows such as BBC News and ITV News. Behind the weather man will be a blue screen. On this blue screen we will have some scenery that will be associated with the show in some way.

Our News Show - The theme of our news show is factual/entertainment.

Location - For our VT's we will be filming in and around Southend. For our train fares VT we will be filming interviews outside the train station so that we get a suitable scenic background. For our Southend United VT we have filmed inside interviews at my house and a friends house and the intro and outro for both VT's was filmed in the Radio room at South Essex College. The live section of our news show is shot inside the studio at South Essex College.

Shot List (Live) - For our live section, we will have a medium shot on Joe (Host) and a Medium-Long Shot for Sam (Weather). We have chosen these shots because they show enough of the person talking as we need and there is also room to show gestures and movement that may be needed at some point throughout the show.

Southend United VT Proposal - This VT will have the same target audience as our news show so we can include in depth views of situations that most parts of the target audience will understand. This VT is the entertainment side of our 2 VT's because it includes something that people can see as positive and not take seriously. In this VT we will include myself talking into camera to introduce the atmosphere and topic (Southend United's Form) and also the same for the ending of the VT. In between this we will have interviews from Southend United fans filmed by myself in mine and a friends house. For the edit we will have the question asked to one person, all the responses, the next question, the responses and so on.

Train Fares VT Proposal - Our train fares VT will once again be similar to our Southend United VT. I will be introducing the situation, then interviews will follow and then I will be talking at the end of the VT.

CONTINGENCY 

VT INSERT

PROBLEM		DETAILS	SOLUTION
Technical Aspect	Battery	The battery runs out of charge.	Make sure to get 1 or 2 extra battery from the technicians’ office when borrowing equipment.
	Tape	If the tape runs out.	Buy an extra tape.
	Camera	If the Camera does not work.	Use camera that is available at home. Or book another camera as soon as possible.
	Tripod	Tripod Breaks or if it doesn’t work well.	Book an extra tripod or try to imitate the style of the tripod using a handheld camera work
Actors	Illness	If one of the actors is unwell.	Use one the members in the crew. Film the next day if possible.
	Unavailable	If the actors are busy on the day of the filming.	Use one the members in the crew. Film the when free.
Weather	Unwanted Weather	If it’s raining or a bad weather occurs	Film another day or film indoors.
Location	Unavailable	If the location is unavailable.	Use a similar type of location or film another day.

LIVE SHOWS

PROBLEM		DETAILS	SOLUTION
Technical Aspect	Battery	The battery runs out of charge.	Make sure that the camera crew have an extra battery. While that camera is off change the frame to another camera.
	Blue Screen	If the blue screen doesn’t work well.	Change the background or just don’t use the blue screen.
	Camera	If the Camera does not work.	Use camera that is available in the studio. Or use the   camera left and just alternate between the presenters with one camera.
Actors	Illness	If one of the actors is unwell.	Use one the members in the crew. Film the next day if possible.
	Unavailable	If the actors are busy on the day of the filming.	Use one the members in the crew. Film the when free.
Crew	Illness	If one of the crew is unwell.	Change the roles of the crew. Or if one of the crew is   available (Runner) they can fill in the position.

 VT Research - For our group's VT's, we used information off the internet and also information that we already personally knew. For the Southend United VT, I knew information about the club and their form that I used to ask questions. Some of the things that I asked can be proven using information on the club's website such as the top goalscorer information (correct at the time of filming).

Our other VT was about the rise in train fares. The information used in this VT was off the internet from a reliable source. The figures were correct at the time of shooting. The other information used throughout the VT was opinions from people.

Targets for Lesson

Finish ALL the scripts - COMPLETE

Beat Sheet

This is how I will structure my story using the Blake Snyder beat sheet -

Project Title - The Catacombs are Alive
Genre - Superhero
Date - 10th February 2014

1. Opening Image (1) : The 2 main characters staring at a pile of bones on the floor underground in The Catacombs. The camera angle will show the emotions of both of the characters.

2. Theme Stated (5): Nigel wakes up and the opening image is seen as a dream in ways.

3. Set-up (1-10): We see that Nigel, the main character, lives alone and is widowed. His everyday life is shown to the audience and we get an insight into the main character and what he does everyday.

4. Catalyst (12): Nigel is at home and finds something strange in his garden. He goes outside to investigate and this thing (animal) jumps towards him and as he puts his hands out to save himself, a special power send the animal flying into the distance.

5. Debate (12-25): The days pass and Nigel wonders how to approach the situation and what to do about these special powers he has acquired. With no other choice, Nigel has to look online to see if there are any other stories that are similar to his. To his amazement, he finds a story from Scott. They meet up and discuss what is happening and sharing experience. They become great friends and discuss their mission.

6. Break into Two (25):

7. B Story (30): Throughout the weeks that followed, Nigel had some bad news. His son, in the army, had been killed in action and the mission has to be put on hold. Scott convinces him to keep himself busy by continuing with their mission.

8. Fun and Games (30-55): Nigel and Scott reveal their plan to the audience when they are discussing in private what they are going to do. During this period, Nigel and Scott take a couple of trips down to the Catacombs (underground private tunnels) to practice and experiments with their powers, only to discover that they had been doing damage that they had not realised. The trips to the Catacombs are interrupted a few times for Nigel and Scott to check on their plan and see how they are doing.

9. Midpoint (55): After one time down the Catacombs, Nigel and Scott go back to Nigel's house and finalise their plan, to bring the Catacombs to life.

10. Bad Guys Close In (55-75): On their next trip down to the Catacombs, they discover that their plan had already begun without them realising, the bones around the Catacombs had turned to skeletons and had come alive. The rest of this beat sees Nigel and Scott getting attacked and chased by the skeletons as the skeletons want to escape the Catacombs and the 2 main characters do everything in their power to stop them leaving.

11. All is Lost (75): Nigel (older character) is victim of the attack by the skeletons as Scott watches on helplessly from a few meters away. Nigel bleeds out after the skeletons are scared away by a noise from far away and Scott has a hard time dealing with his loss.

12. Dark night of the soul (75-85): Scott wants to avenge Nigel's death by ending the problem once and for all. He gets out of the Catacombs using powers and goes back to his house.

13. Break into Three (85): Whilst Scott is at his house, he decides on a plan to end the problem.

14. Finale (85-110): On his final trip to the Catacombs, Scott manages to use his powers to fight the Skeletons and blocks all entrances and exits to the area so that he can overpower the skeletons. Scott manages to break/kill all of the skeletons in the Catacombs and is left wandering around in the tunnels of bones.

15. Final Image (110): Younger of the 2 main characters walking past the same pile of bones as he did at the start, the camera will follow his movement until he passes the pile of bones and then zooms in on the pile as the character keeps walking away. The focus will move from the pile of bones to the character walking away in the background as the screen fades to black.

Music Video - Evaluation

Evaluation - 

For my music video, I used the song On My Way by Charlie Brown. I used a Sony Z5 camera to film my footage and I used Final Cut Pro to edit my final video. Throughout this project I feel that my skills using this particular camera progressed very well and I am now confident at using this camera.

For this project, I was asked to create a music video. I completed this project on my own, therefore I was responsible for all parts of the project including storyboarding, filming, editing and all pre-production work.

The idea behind the music video was to show a mixture of different tempo's and length cuts to fit in with the song. I feel that throughout this project I used the speed of the song and my clips to make give the video more of an impact on the audience. During the slow parts of the songs I used longer clips and during the quicker parts of the song I used shorter clips. I also used some clips with the person performing singing.

I feel that overall my project went well. At the start of the project, I planned out how and when I would complete each task using my production schedule. Throughout the project I felt that I followed the production schedule well and this helped when I needed to check if I had completed tasks on time.

For my editing I used Final Cut Pro. I felt that I knew a lot about how things worked on the program and this made it very easy for me to do my editing. The editing did not take me too long and I am happy with the way the final product turned out. 

Strengths - 

During my production I felt that I managed my time well and also had a clear idea of what I needed to do before doing things. The main parts of my music video that I think turned out well were the parts when the main person was singing into the camera. Another thing that I was happy with during editing was the tempo of my clips, the lengths and especially the way the clips fitted in with lyrics. I felt that the majority of my clips were steady and looked professional. I also feel that my editing went smoothly with not many problems. 

Areas for development - 

Although my project ran fairly smoothly, there were also some areas for development. The main issue that I could have improved on was the amount of filming. I feel that although I had a lot of clips, some of them were not usable and therefore I had to repeat some clips due to lack of footage. In the future I can resolve this by checking my clips thoroughly and filming more clips. There were also some issues that were out of my control such as the availability of the camera. Due to the times that I could hire the camera, I did not have much time for filming. In the future I can resolve this by hiring the camera more in advance. I also could have followed my storyboards more because they do not match well with the finished product.

In conclusion, my project ran smoothly. From this project I learnt more about the camera and especially how much footage you need before you start editing. For my next project I feel that I could improve a couple of things, one of them being my lighting. I could do this by making sure that all of the clips have similar lighting because some of my clips were darker than others. 

Louie Theroux Nazi Documentary

Today we watched a documentary that involved Louie Theroux going to America and exploring the life of Nazi's. Throughout the documentary we saw Louie travel around and see the everyday life of Nazi's and their beliefs. The documentary showed very racist views from people across the country. They have also shown skinhead rallies.

Diary Entries - Movie Idea

September 18th 1945 -

It is my 10th birthday. The World War has just ended and things could not be better. For the first time in years, I have woken up to all of my family waiting for me and the best thing was, my Dad was back from fighting in the war. Both my parents were home for the day and my brothers and sisters had nowhere to go, its like the day was all planned out for me and only me. It felt like there was nothing left to look forward to because I thought the war was never going to end and there would be nothing left to celebrate and enjoy, but today made me change my mind. I opened all my presents, I have sweets, new clothes and everything a 10 year old boy could ask for, I am feeling great and my life is finally starting to turn around. My dad, my biggest role model, was here and ready to celebrate. He has been fighting for his country and he has made everything ok for everybody, especially me and the rest of my family, its great to see him back. It is almost perfect, the only bad thing is having school tomorrow! oh well that can't be helped I guess! All that matters at the moment is that my family are all together to make today special for me, the war is over and I have all that I could ever ask for. I can't wait for the day I turn 16, join the army and be more like my dad, a hero.


October 18th 1987 -

Something today feels strange. Something big feels like it is happening in my life. I have served in the army for the past 36 years and I feel so happy to have helped everybody across the years and to help them have a more peaceful life but things feel like they need a change. I feel like I have served my time in the army and I need a rest, Im really considering retiring. I need to settle down with my wife and spend some quality time with my 10 year old son. I remember all them years ago how much it meant to me to have my father around, he was my biggest role model and it put a huge smile on my face whenever I saw him. I want to have this effect on my son. I have a strange ache in both of my hands, I don't know where it has come from but it started when I was serving in Chernobyl last year. This may be something small but it feels like I have some sort of power in my hands, not just strength, like something supernatural. It is probably just something tiny that I shouldn't worry about, the only thing I am worried about is seeing my family and most importantly, my son. I write this looking out the window of a helicopter flying over Germany on my way back to the UK, everything seems so perfect and I am so excited to see everybody, Im counting down the hours.



Peer Feedback - Dan Hewitt

I think that this is a really good piece of work, i like the way you have divided the entry between both father and son, it gives the the perspective of the characters and it seems a bit emotional too because of the feeling of being away and the feeling of loss, overall very good piece of work.

keep it up :)