Audience Feedback

We received comments such as:

– ‘great! :)’
– ‘I love this video!’
– ‘I love your actress choice’

– 'Like these tracking shots. There almost wasn't any word but I know what this film about. Really good!'
– ‘Wow what cool work guys, I’m fascinated!

Furthermore, lots of my friends who watched our video and compared it with others from Hurtwood channel noticed that our opening was almost the only one which didn’t have any blood, corpses and very common ideas. However, they enjoy it and said that they really would watch such film if we are going to make it one day.

Finally, one my friend, when he watched our video, showed me one amazing website showing how powerful might be Adobe After Effects in terms of using it to create different special effects.

Here is a link to the website called Video Co-Pilot - http://www.videocopilot.net/

And one of free tutorials of how, for example, create a really great-looking lighting strike - http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorial/lightning_strike/

Such feedback shows that our opening appeals to our target (and even not target) audience and 'Monroe' film has a really big chance to be successful.

Task 7. What do you feel you have learnt in the progression?

In comparison with an October 2009 preliminary task, we progressed massively forward on working with ‘Monroe's’ opening.

Preliminary task

To match all new and more developed stuff which we did it’s worth to remind ourselves what we did on our preliminary task. Our media teacher Guy presented us a storyboard according to which we should film small pieces of video from different angles and frames such as close-up, middle shots or wide shots.
Then, we were faced Final Cut Pro application at the first time and started to cut the necessary pieces of video to create a small film after with different angles and frames. That was our preliminary task. Comparing with production of ‘Monroe's’ film it was much easier and now the whole process of planning, shooting and editing become more complex and sophisticated.

Development

The first difference was that we started the making of the film with the only Gabby’s bare idea about conspiracy theory film. From the very beginning, we started our planning and developing all necessary aspects which we would need for shooting such as looking for a necessary sound background, props and costumes for actors and the whole idea how we should film it. We managed to make our own storyboard and some set sketch drafts with key frames and angles and techniques such as pan move to have a visual representation how our film should look like. After finishing the whole planning process which took about a month of preparations we went to shoot. All props, decorations and other sustainable parts were right on their places and also with help of the shooting script which we had written during our planning, we managed to film all necessary parts quickly.

Camera techniques and Editing

Our camera techniques became much more sophisticated because we moved from easy wide-medium-close frames to an elegant sequence with a visual narrative which is remarkable especially in the first scene where we told all Marilyn story with help of mis-en-scene elements and camera move.

After that we went to editing room and there is a place where we can notice an enormous difference between our preliminary task and creating the full product.
Fist of all we were already familiar with Final Cut Pro, so we managed to do all the basics such as creating the log bins and choosing the right pieces for editing pretty fast. Then, we put all pieces of video into the timeline in order to create a film sequence.

Sound

One of the biggest differences between our film opening and the preliminary task was a presence of the sound background and the titles. Our preliminary task had only a small piece a dialogue; however in the main product we need to have much more different sounds which have their special role in creating narrative part of the film.
Our group found lots of Marilyn Monroe songs and also an old-fashioned American broadcaster voice, so we put them into the first scene and thanks to them, we told a story about Marilyn Monroe’ glory and her mysterious death without any word from character, just the sound and mis-en-scene part of the scene filled by posters, newspapers and a suspect board. Furthermore, all mis-en-scene part was much more sophisticated compare to the preliminary task because our group managed to get formal suits for actors and pink dress and elbow-length gloves for actress who played Marilyn to make our film really look like a professional product.

Titles

The title part of the film was absolutely new to us and, that is why, we met some difficulties at the beginning, but soon we solved them and succeed in creating all titles from distributor name, actors and filming crew to the final title of the film name. The titles gave our film a perception that this piece of video is a real opening for a future Fox Searchlight product.

Software

Finally, the last part which differ our main product from the preliminary task was the usage of other applications such as SoundTrack Pro to create an exact sound of TV or of the large room and also Adobe After Effects thanks to which we succeeded in creating a real old 1950’s colour for the second part of the film so Marilyn's live performance in it was much more convincing.

In conclusion, I can say that during all our planning, shooting and editing processes we managed to get more skills in producing much more complex and sophisticated product in comparison with our October preliminary task, and we used more skills, more applications and their features and, what is remarkable, consumed much more time to create a product which now you can see on Youtube.

Task 6. What have you learnt about technologies?

We used the annotation tool as you can see in YouTube version of the Monroe film.
Regarding the technologies we used three software applications to create our opening: Final Cut Pro, SoundTrack Pro and Adobe After Effects.
Back to October 2009 and our preliminary task we started to use much more tools in Final Cut Pro with a purpose to control the sound, cut different pieces of video to match them to the whole sequence and then paste of the titles. So in comparison with our first preliminary task the work on ‘Monroe’ opening become more complex and spectacular as well. Furthermore, the SoundTrack Pro application carried on with a sound part of the film and thanks to it we managed to fix a bit our sound effects as a bell and a crowd noise to create a perception of busy film studio with a chaotic move of the filming crew members.
Finally, After Effects was a final tool to create a 50’s scene looked more like an old-fashioned to suit its time and make a contrast between filming in modern days and during Marilyn Monroe live performance.

Regarding the techniques which we used with a camera itself, there was a pan technique which was used as a narrative part in Office scene, so we told all Marilyn stories up to her death without any words of characters, just posters and photos of her as an idol of American pop-music and with a following sound background filled by her songs and very American broadcaster’ voice. We can refer this technique to classic of high-concept movie. ‘Back to the Future’ where with help of pan technique the beginning story was told for few minutes without any words.

Finally, the pan technique was used again in 1950’s scene from the shadow of an old-fashioned camera to Director’s face and providing a ‘time-travel’ from the modern days to the twentieth century immediately.

In conclusion, I can say that our group learnt much more tools and methods in terms of filming and using a pan technique in practice. In addition to this it was not just a pan but because of the fact the camera was attached to dolly, we managed to create an effect of the smooth move throughout all Monroe’s life and her career. And regarding the post production part our work required more complex and sophisticated attitude which we did, and now you can see it on YouTube.

Task 5. How did you attract/address your audience?

\\Ace\Students\11\Oleg Naumenko\My Documents\Media Studies\Monroe\Task 5 Presentation

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Task 4. Who would be the audience for our media product?

‘Monroe's’ film is based on a conspiracy theory about Marilyn Monroe’s death and her relations with John Kennedy. This is a core aspect of our film so that is why our target audience will be a layer of well-educated people primarily graduated from a university. They also have a large outlook about the American history and actual events in 1950’s. So conspiracy theory feature will sell to middle-aged people because they were witnesses of Monroe's star career and its fall.

The typical viewer of ‘Monroe's’ film is a person who has a quite large life experience, and he turned his attention from the banal and boring high-concept films about aliens and explosions to more sophisticated and complex films with a rich storyline and variety of underwater stones and surprises. However, our viewer still wants to watch a pretty high-budgeted film because he has an attitude towards all cinematography as entertaining time.

So one of the target viewers of the ‘Monroe’ film would be middle-aged or young educated person interested in American history, conspiracy theories sort of Da Vince Code or Angels and Demons and with a reasonable income as well. The income factor is quite important because if a person has low income, they want to watch a high-concept film with a very simple storyline to relax and being satisfied by spectacle part more than narrative. On the other hand, our viewer really interested in narrative part of the film and our product is going to be a rare mixture of the spectacle almost high-concept part rich with sophisticated special effects and really deep arthouse dialogues, which reveals a complicated story of 50’s America and relations of two most influential people of this time.

Our viewer is listening to 50’s to 70’s music and Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra and Louis Armstrong most of all.

He reads books about American history, the cold war and rather prefers to listen for some jazz, smoke a cigarette or sigar and relax by reading some US or UK modern classics' authors such as Anthony Burgess or Jerome Salinger.

Task 3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Our group assumes the fact that this film is about one of the most famous American superstars so a distributor and a partner to advertise such film is more likely to be situated in US and ideally such partner have to have its own international distribution network to provide a simultaneous premier of the film in all countries. Our group would hand in an application form to Hollywood and try to attract attention one of the major Hollywood distributor companies such as 20th century Fox Searchlight, United International Pictures, Sony Pictures (Tri-Star pictures) which departments are working with small and average budget films and this might be interesting for them because they already have an experience of distributing thriller with a conspiracy background and exciting atmosphere but there is still not so many films about Americas conspiracy things because they used to see secrets of the nation only in a good light so this movie might be a scandal because it almost accusing John Kennedy in Monroe's death.

So following an experience of such film as ‘Da Vince Code’ which made people to have doubts about Christian religion, another film, which says not very pleasant things about government might have success not only in America but in Europe and even some Asian countries as well.

Our unique selling point is a conspiracy theory. First of all, it's going to be a two hour puzzle until Detective solve it and second point is a musical part filled with a variety of Marilyn songs and her fantastic performances.

A conspiracy theory is an unbeatable genre which will be interesting for majority of people worldwide. We can assume it because of the fact how popular different criminal dramas are on TV and any of Hollywood conspiracy films as National Treasure. Furthermore, the story about one of the most popular people as sex-symbol of 1950’s in the USA and a President is going to be an explosion in all conspiracy theory genres as it could be a film about Kennedy’s assassination.

Another USP will be a musical part rich with spectacular special and sound effects, which could be afforded with Fox Searchlight financial support. The musical part also would be very important part both to an institution and to the viewer if the distributor attracts very famous soundtrack composer as Hans Zimmer so lots of music film geeks will go to watch it only in order to the fact that Zimmer wrote a music for it and Fox Searchlight will guarantee additional profits for itself.

In conclusion, I’d like to mention that Fox Searchlight has a reputation of well-respected distributor who produced such films as ‘Choke’ or ‘500 days of summer’ so ‘Monroe's’ film can become another one successful project.

Task 2. How does your product represent particular social groups?

Our product mainly represents an adult middle-aged and grown-up audience at the same time for several reasons.

Firstly, a great narrative and musical part of the ‘Monroe’ will represent an age class which can vary from 60-70 who had seen Marilyn's live performances and to 30-40-year people who listened to her songs and heard lots of stories about 50’s pop-idol and icon of American music.

So this audience will be represented by a massive sound background of the film and a new point of view about Marilyn's life and her death in which both Kennedy brothers were involved.

Regarding a mis-en-scene part the special attributes such as costumes, suits and 50’s environment represented the class of people who used to live in 1950’s so our picture is rich in formal suits, ties, and hats.

A bright example which supports our vision of the post-war period is ‘Aviator’ movie with Leonardo DiCaprio in a main role. Although Aviator is a high concept film the representation of people of this time is mainly the same. Moreover, it is a biopic film as well about one of the most influential person of this time but in addition to Monroe’s popularity the new twist appears as a conspiracy theory with highest people in American society.

Furthermore, there are no black people or any ethnic minorities of this time because the attitudes towards minorities were pretty strict that is why all actors and staff members are white. Because of stricter authority priorities at 1950’s all posts are hold by men. From the two main men on a film stage (Luke and Jason as Director and Cinematographer) to even a secondary role of assistants are men jobs and actually the only one woman in the whole opening was Marilyn Monroe herself. All this represents a basic attitude of American society of these years.

Then, because of the fact it is a biopic film so it’s based on a true life story of the star and half-true half-fictional conspiracy theory, which can cause an even more way? Questions and puzzles from viewers and this is the moment which will attract not only adults but historians and teenage audience as well. Historians are interested in a new possible version of her death even though it’s a movie and teenagers just enjoy films with not an exactly clear storyline filled by secrets but rich with special effects at the same time.

However, apart from a generation of elderly people our film pay more attention to different sides of the genre such as Detective story, conspiracy, musical and biopic but there is no clear representation of the particular social group apart from people who lived at 1950’s.

Task 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Our titles do not challenge forms and conventions of real media. However, our group put a great effort into how to portray them. Because of the fact, our film is rich in mis-en-scene part especially at the first scene we decided to make them stylish but not flashy in case they could draw the focus away from a mis-en-scene in the video.

For example, this title provides us a link between the main actress and who is she playing thanks to iconic picture of Marilyn Monroe and her famous wig.

As you can see then we underlined the main role of Joanne by introducing herself as Marilyn Monroe and all other actors were put just in A-B-C-D order. So this part of our title decision can challenge with other films, which are starring vehicles and focusing on one character who wasn't famous before.

A decision to put the name of Director exactly there was dictated by metaphorical reason of the role of Director and TV so when we can see the screen we know who directed the film and who was actually responsible for the whole visual part of it.

We were going to put the title of the film ‘Monroe’ in the sixties camera as we thought it would be a smooth link of modern days with the past and a nice moment to show the main title. However, it didn’t work well with our video and disrupted the whole flow of it.

Finally, this frame with a distribuation name which appeared at first shows us who financed the whole production process and, as you can see, it’s ‘Fox Searchlight Pictures.’

Post-production process. Part 2

After few days of work in Final Cut Pro application we managed to put all pieces of video sequence in a right order and started to work mostly with sound background which caused some problems. First of all our whole film was overloaded by Marilyn songs, sound effects and some pieces of sound borrowed from YouTube. However we decided to concentrate only on Marilyn songs later so it made our film brilliant in sound part and because of the fact that Monroe’ songs are recognisable in any part of the world and it will give a viewer a massive clue what will be this film about without any words in the office scene.

After we dealt with all songs we added some sound effects as 50’s bell ring and
crowd murmuring when filming crew started to move around in the frame. Then, we tried to transform our sound into two different ways: first one would be a sort of TV noise and then the sound becomes followed by an echo to give a perception that this sound is playing in a large room of film studio. That was a place where some problems appeared because the sound started to be either too loud or quite or absolutely unsuitable for our film so we tried to work in Soundtrack Pro application and with basic Final Cut audio filters. Finally, we managed to get a right sound by using HiPass Filter to create a TV noise during all sound background in the office scene as well as Reverberation effect to create a ‘large-hall’ sound. At the final part of the sound work we fixed all volume levels of the whole sound background to make it more stable and smooth. Then, the next part of our post production went to titles. First of all we decided to move the main ‘Monroe’ title up to the end because no matter how hard we tried our title still slightly moved in a frame which was unacceptable so we put it to the end of the whole film and now it was more look like a real opening of the future film. After this fixing we put all titles at the beginning. Firstly, there was a distributor name ­– Fox Searchlight presents. Then, the name of production company – A Seventh Sky Production and after we placed just created names of filming crew, actors and editor and then our own names with our special roles such as producer role of Heather, mine original score of the film, Tatjana’s mis-en-scene part and Gabby as a director who was placed the last.

Just couple of words to explain why we put all these titles:

According to cinematography rules the name of distributor is appearinf at first because they are the company (or a person) which actually gave money to create this film. Moreover a distributor and a production company which follows as second title provides a promotion and premier of the film in cimemas.
Then, as introduction of the main actress which was unknown before we wrote 'Introducing Joanne de Boer as Marilyn Monroe' and underlining the fact that this film is a star vehicle for her. After the main character name we put other acors names just as A-B-C-D order without any addings and this will also show viewer that Joanne is the main character in the whole film.

Our roles were put in order to their importance as Tatjana came at fist as Director of Photography, then me as responsible for orginal score. Two final titles represented Producer as a main person who provided money for the film and is an actual face of Production company, The last name is the Film Director is the main person who made al this film.
We put them in the order in order to film rules where the less significant roles goes to the most one’s as Producer and Director right before the film itself and the final part which is still should be done is a pasting of the Fox Searchlight intro with their logo.

Finally, the last part of the post prodiction was a colour side of the 1950-60's scene. We used Adobe After Effects application to make a colour of the film more dingy and make it more contrast to the first modern days scene of Detective's Office and the scene of Monroe live performance. This was a real key point which made our opening much more sophisticated and elegant so after the final work with colour filters in After Effects we checked in and out our film to convert it in QuickTime film format.

After that our film was ready to be published in YouTube.
And there is a final result!

MONROE!

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=hurtwoodhousemedia&search_type=&aq=0

The start of post-production process

After our shooting day and filming all material which we needed for a 2 minutes opening film sequence, we went to editing room to continue our work now as editors. The main task was to create a whole sequence from the separate pieces.
Back to October 2009 we remembered some useful knowledge and refreshed basic skills of using Final Cut Server and Pro applications with help of Matt and got to work.
First of all we imported all pieces into Final Cut Pro application and put them in separate folders. In comparison with our October preliminary task our present film and technology of its creating is much more sophisticated and complex because we should have different log bins and much more tracks where were not only video but the sound tracks as well and different pieces of videos should be edited more accurately to fit the whole sequence and provide a smooth transition from one frame and one camera position to another.
So we started to choose every piece of sequence which would fit the best in a film.

After that, when we made our first film draft with all pieces of it we started to think about titles. That was a moment where some difficulties appeared. Fist of all Matt introduced all of us how we actually should do the titles. We had a bit special willing to make a heading title not just in a black screen with white letters on it but to integrate the heading title in the film itself. So the background should be a shadow of an old-fashioned 50’s video camera, ‘Monroe’ title appears and then camera slightly goes down to Director and Producer faces (Luke and Jason) and the title remains where it was. The problem was how to make this title not to follow the camera and remain in the centre of the shadow from the camera because every time we tried to put it where we want to, then it followed with a camera to Luke and Jason faces. After a time we realised how to make it not to follow the camera but we faced another problem. Now our title was floating on the whole frame because we set up different spots in every frame where this title should return.

After all at the last day of half-term our group succeeded in this task and, finally, the title stood still right where we wanted to.
Second part of our post production was a sound background of our film. I managed to find lots of Monroe songs in a good quality and some videos where was useful sound as well, like it was the voice of 50’s broadcaster who declared that Marilyn Monroe is dead so we could enlarge the excitement of potential viewer dramatically if the video frame of Monroes' dead photos would be followed by this very American voice. We experimented with all these things to match the best combination of video and sound. We tried to paste a song before the video and give a viewer a perception that Marilyn Monroe is going to be the main character of the film even before we will show something. We tried to put some creepy sounds in moments when we can see a suspect board and Monroe’s dead photos and provide a crossover between the golden age of Monroe pop-idol and its inglorious end with very mysterious circumstances.
But we refused this idea soon because our film started to be overload by different songs, sounds and effects. We considered to concentrate exactly on Marilyn most popular songs which could be recognised almost in any part of the world and attract attention of viewers in this way. However the real success what we did with a sound was a song 'Diamonds are girls best friend' which perfectly fitted to the video because it was a 50’s filming scene of the video clip for this song and how the sound and heading title matched to each other because ‘Monroe’ title appeared exactly at the time when fanfares started to play so we made the beginning of the film almost triumphal and very exciting
So we managed to paste necessary songs in our film but we still experimenting with sound background field and we still working to make a final version of the film sound.

The sound. Natural or Recorded?

Firstly, we decided to use natural sound during all shooting day so we tried to turn on monitors at time so they played different videos, however the sound was bad so we decided to use them separately in post-production and just paste all appropriate sounds and music background after. So the only one thing was recorded naturally was Luke as Director when he shouted ‘Cut!’ and his small conversation with Jason as Producer. But all other sounds we are planning to put after so we are going to have excellent picture and a perfect sound background so viewer will get maximum satisfaction from that film, and we will try to excite people only by Monroe songs and their contrast with next thrilling sounds because on the first scene sound plays role as main ruler of people emotions.

The Lighting

During all shooting day we had a well-prepared studio lighting set up. On a scene of Detective Office we had a semidarkness light which gave an additional mystery to this absolutely silent scene filled only by Marilyn songs, creepy music and this light. So this scene should really look as we are became an eyewitnesses of a try to solve one of the most confusing puzzles in American history. So this lighting also gave us the perception of thriller.
Regarding the next scene of 50’s stage the lighting was in opposite to previous scene very powerful and spotlights on the studio roof were covered by red plate to give a bit blurred red light on a scene as it was in a video clip. Then, after Director’s shout ‘Cut!’ plates removed and another spotlight behind the Director and Producer turned on to make a bright contrast between ‘shooting’ scene in 50’s with shadowed red light and very bright light after to show a viewer that the game is over and all actors and Marilyn are going to normal life by the time the filming crew collecting hearts, carry elements of studio interior and so on.

The role of props and costumes

First of all I’d like to tell about props and their meaning in our scene. The most important props in the first scene are photos, posters and newspapers about Marilyn Monroe which covered all wall of Detective’s office. These pictures actually gave us the understanding that that film about Monroe without any words. Just pictures and posters of her fame, then tracking to photos of Marilyn fall and her death. So we are telling the Marilyn story without any words. Moreover with help of another props item as Suspect Board we underline that this is office of person who investigating this case and trying to find out the links between public people who were familiar with Marilyn and some criminals of 50’s.
In addition to this we covered another wall with documents and reports in which Detective wanted to find any regularities.
A laptop was used as only thing which actually refers to our modern day to ensure the viewer that this office exists in our days. Finally, an ashtray with smoked cigarette used to represent a stereotype view on Detective profession who are always smoking.
Next scene. Scene of 50’s so all props were chose thoroughly to make, firstly, the exact copy of the stage like in Monroe clip ‘Diamonds are girls best friend’ and secondly – to make the filming backstage look like as we are really in 1950’s.
So we bring old-fashioned Director Chair and Producer chairs. With these chairs the problem appeared when we realised that we don’t have any Director’s chairs the day before shooting; however our Media teacher Guy managed to find them so they were put in a scene and were exactly as we hoped. Another 50’s props were made by our group as old-fashioned camera and red love hearts for dancers as they had in original clip and, of course, make-up for all dancers and Marilyn Monroe actress.

Then the costumes were chosen only for second scene because we didn’t have any people in Detective office scene. Gaby and Heather managed to find a necessary costumes in Theatre department so all dancers wore black suits and the filming crew team had different colours suits because we the filming crew in 50’s wore suits but to differ them from dancers we have them not black one’s.
Monre’s costume caused lots of difficulties because we tried to find exactly the same costume as she had in the clip so for entire week we phoned to different agencies and shops to find them and, finally, Gaby found it – Marilyn pink dress, elbow length gloves, necklace and rings and one of the main parts – curly haired wig so at the beginning of shooting itself we had a stage which looked like from the ‘Diamonds are girls best friend’, 5 guys who had been in black suits and Monroe with all her make-up and dressing and then all filming crew who were exactly as they should be in 50’s.

Preparation and Shooting days. My role

During the preparation work our group managed to generate few key features of our film and I tried to do my best so I generated some ideas mostly linked with a sound background of the film and I managed to make a shooting script of the film and write few posts as what our target audience or which kind of institution is going to distribute our film.
In the process of development of ‘Monroe’ film concept I got a role of a sound director, however we didn’t have much scenes where my direct role would necessary in the shooting day so my main work is still wait for me when we will start to edit our project and there I should work with a background of our film and fill it by Marilyn songs, broadcaster voice, thrilling music, etc.
However I’m participated directly in a shooting day as well because I tried myself as a cameraman in the first scene where we needed to track the camera on a tripod moved through tracked to provide a smooth move. So I tried several times to film this scene with all aspects of the mis-en-scene to give a full picture to our viewer where we are and slightly release Marilyn pictures, newspapers, suspect board and TV monitors with a laptop one after another and it seems to be that I succeeded in it a little bit so in editing room there will be a need to place necessary sounds only.

The team-work of our group on my opinion was very effective and our group consist of two sub-groups: Gaby and Heather who were leaders during all time of the shooting day and had most clear picture in their mind how our project should looked like. And me and Tatiana were mostly supportive characters who helped with decorating studio for appropriate scenes and made some support work.
So I think our team was great balanced and everyone knew what exactly that should do so there weren’t any conflicts or any misunderstandings and we succeeded in filming our project on 100% I think. Now we are ready to cut our film and edit it and fill with appropriate sound background to make a really good opening of the film

Casting choices

We managed to find necessary number of actors who performed roles of dancers and 50’s film crew quite fast so we had a list of potential actors who might play in ‘Monroe’. After few days lots of actors changed their mind or other problems appeared so they refused to take part in this film but we still had plenty of AS students who agreed to be part of our media project.
The biggest problem was to find a girl who would be play Marilyn because we had several candidates for this role but most of them refused to play and only one gave her agree before 2 days of actual shooting day but the day after she refused so we started to look for new actress desperately and succeeded in it, so new Marilyn was an AS student Joan de Boer and she fit her role perfectly in a pink dress, elbow length gloves and curly hair wig, she was right as a real Marilyn Monroe.
All dancers wore formal black suits which Gaby and Heather managed to find in Theatre department with other different coloured suits in which other actors were dressed who performed roles of filming crew members.
They looked exactly we wanted to, as 50’s gentlemen and of course Marilyn who was fantastic in her dress and surrounded by different aspects of the mis-en-scene.

Shooting day. Part 2. Location.

As I mentioned in part 1 in describing the practical part of our group we had two different made-up locations in a studio. Fist one was Detective’s office where walls were covered by posters, posters of Marilyn Monroe and newspapers about her. On Detective’s desk was a laptop which actually was the only one item which remind a viewer that this modern days with an investigation of 50 year age. One of the key items which shows us that we are in Detective office but not in a room one of fans of Marilyn was a Suspect board with lots of links of famous public people as John Kennedy and his brother Robert with 50’s unknown gangsters pictures who might kill a famous superstar.
The second scene in which we transformed Hurtwood studio was a 50’s studio with appropriate equipment as old-fashioned fake video camera, filming crew chairs and the scene itself which was a miniature copy of the same stage in the clip ‘Diamonds are a girls best friend’ so we made a real identical copy of 50’s environment in the studio. In addition we owned such items as speaking trumpet, small old-fashioned camera for producer, red hearts for every dancer in a scene and lots of secondary items which were handed by member of 50’s filming crew in the film.
So the only one location in our film was the Hurtwood studio, however we managed to transform it in two different environments (one of present days and one of 50’s film studio) so we made exactly what we wanted to show to potential viewer.

Finally, here is a comparison between our drafts of the two scenes and how we managed to recreate them in real studio.

Detective Office

50's Film Set

Detective office with loads of Monroe' photos and film posters with her. Old monitors, a laptop and lots of newspapers represent an extreme interest of such sort of person in Marilyn Monroe and a suspect board which we placed later give us a perception that this accomodation belongs either to crazy fan of 1950's pop-star or to Detective.

This is a final scene of our opening sequence where Joanne as Monroe was surrounded by gentlemen and an old-fashioned camera give us a clue that, firstly, all this is filming of video clip and that it takes place in sixties because of the hugу size of this camera.

The role of lightining and elements of mis-en-scene are very important here. The lightning was coloured by red thanks to studio facilities and the key light was a bit darkened in order to create a bit intimate and mysterious atmosphere. Props and costumes were picked very carefully as well. We managed to get the exact copy of Monroe dress and some black suits for actors. Finally, studio was coloured red and there were some stairs in order to create the same backstage as it was in 60's video clip so our viewer would be convinced that he is watching a real film but not a rough student work.

'Monroe' costume list

Show Scene

Marilyn Monroe:
· Marilyn Monroe Pink Dress
· Pink elbow length gloves
· Diamond necklace, earrings and bracelets
· Blonde short curly haired wig

Dancers:
· 9 black suits
· 9 pink sashes
· 9 white bowties

Crew:
· 5 Trilby Hats
· 16 Coloured suits (not black)

We chose exactly this set of costumes to be closer to the original clip of Monroe song where she was in a pink dress and elbow length gloves surrounded by gentlemen who wore exactly the same smart black suits. So we managed to find same black suits for dances. Finally, becuase we need to have a 50's look filming crew, we weared them in a different colours suits to differ them from dancers but they still should br in suits becuase it was common in 50's.

'Monroe' Prop list

Office Set:
• Posters of Marilyn
• Pictures of Marilyn
• Documents
• Ash tray
• Desk light
• 4 television monitors
• Laptop
• Bin
• Lots of paper (crunched up bits as well)
• Pencil pot with pencils and pens
• Old newspapers

Show Set:
• Black round tables
• Directors chairs
• Sound boom mic
• Loudspeaker
• 9 love hearts 30 cm high (provided by students)
• Black fan
• Clipboards
• Mugs
• Make-up
• 50’s camera
• Clapper board

The work on ‘Monroe’ opening sequence. Start of the shooting day. Preparation.

The shooting day began from the preparation of studio territory because we need to transform this place in Detectives office so we covered the walls by Monroe posters, photos and pictures. Then we prepared all monitors to show particular videos, for example one of three monitors played an iconic Monroe performance ‘Happy Birthday, Mr. President’, then the laptop on Detective’s desk played ‘Some like it’s hot’ to show one of the bright examples of Monroe’s career and the final monitor played ‘Diamonds are a girls best friend’ in which we zoom in after and transport directly to 50’s.

Then the area of the studio expanded according to the next scene, office fake walls were removed and transformed studio into one big stage with a special territory with red walls and stairs and Monroe and dancers actors on it to make the exact copy of performance that we saw moments before.
The surrounding environment was exactly what we need from office to 50’s dance scene. We met several difficulties when decorated office walls because the office territory was too big so we changed the position of posters few times to fill the space which camera is going to film by more pictures and less blank spaces in a wall. Regarding a Ball scene, a studio crew made red stairs and painted to the red the floor.

Our film sequence was concentrated more on pan and tracking techniques and less on frames which were shot from different angles. However we used a zoom at once to show the viewer his immediate journey from present day to 50’s and TV monitor which was zoomed had a role of streak between these two times. Tracking was used mostly in Office scene with a similar idea as ‘Sahara’ movie had just by showing pictures and photos in a room to tell a viewer what kind of room it is, what person can live there and what he is doing. So we panned the camera from box full of film magazines of past century to the wall, firstly, with Monroe photos where she is a small girl and photos which show her way to fame, then camera moves further to the iconic image of Monroe in white dress, to the posters of films where Marilyn Monroe starred in a main role, pan continues showing then Monroe’s worst days to suspect board of gangsters who had links with JFK, RFK and lots of public people who might willing to kill Marilyn by someone’s hands. Such shots as a TV monitor in a centre of the frame with Marilyn ‘Happy Birthday’ were very important to show the 50’s superstar not only on pictures but on videos as well. The frame with Monroe ‘Diamonds are a girls best friends’ was a key frame in office scene as middleware link between two sets of the sequence.

What kind of institution would produce our film?

Our group assumes the fact that this film is about one of the most famous American superstars so distributor and a partner to advertise such film is more likely to be situated in US and ideally such partner have to have its own international distribution network to provide a simultaneous premier of the film in all countries. So our group would hand in an application form to Hollywood and try to attract attention one of the major Hollywood distributor companies such as 20th century Fox Searchlight, United International Pictures, Sony Pictures (Tri-Star pictures) which departments are working with small and average budget films and this might be interesting for them because they already have an experience of distributing thriller with conspiracy background and exciting atmosphere but there is still not so many films about Americas conspiracy things because they used to see secrets of nation only in a good light so this movie might be a scandal because it almost accusing John Kennedy in Monroe death. So following an experience of such film as ‘Da Vince Code’ which made people to have doubts about Christian religion, another film which say not very pleasant things about government might have success not only in America but in Europe and even some Asian countries as well.
Our unique selling point is a conspiracy theory first of all is going to be a two hour puzzle until Detective solve it and second point is a musical part filled with a variety of Marilyn songs and her fantastic performances.

Finally, we stopped our choice on Fox Serchlight distribution because it is very well-known distribution company which works with low and average budget films and has a reputation of an organisation which distributes films of the really good quality. The bright examples of Fox Searchlight films are: "(500) days of summer", the screening of Chuk Palahniuk novel "Choke" and well-known film "Wrestler" thanks to Mickey Rourke and Darren Aronofsky who is famous for directing films with a deep and unusual plot. Our film has a deep plot as well based on conspiracy theory, American history and one of the most beautiful woman in the world. So we think that such distributor is likely to be interested in promotion and screening of our film.

Storyboard draft.

Set sketch. Detective's office draft.

The target audience of 'Monroe' film

Marilyn Monroe was an American superstar of 50’s so the most profitable place are going to be USA and Canada because she was American. The age class of potential viewers can vary from 60-70 years people who remember Monroe’s live performances and to 30-40 year people who hear lots of times her songs and for such people she was an idol and even an icon of American pop music. This film can be interesting even for our peers mostly not because this is a film about Marilyn Monroe but because it’s about conspiracy theory where 50’s superstar and the highest people in the country were involved including the symbol of new hope and democracy – John F Kennedy so this film would be interesting to watch and guess what were real relations of public and very famous people. The film will be interesting to men and women as well. For men, mostly, because of incredible Monroe appearance and a big conspiracy puzzle which they might solve and for women just because of Monroe and her attitude to lots of men who fell in love with her.
In addition to this we might try to interest young generation by the specific style and manners of 50’s and to encourage them to act like them or even to give a new tendency in fashion which refers to these times.
Then for people who are from Europe this film would be interesting by looking at the Marilyn personality by another angle and they could remember from old TV-shows or stories of their relatives her fantastic performances.
And for Eastern European and Russian viewers the main target audience would be the young generation of people who are well-educated in Western history and know who was Marilyn Monroe and after a huge success of such films as ‘Da Vince Code’ and ‘Angels and Demons’ and ‘National treasure’ such film as ‘Monroe’ which combines conspiracy theory and famous public people, will definitely have its own market. In addition to this for Russian and post-Soviet countries people will be interested to watch this film about Marilyn Monroe after the very popular film ‘Some like it hot’ where was Marilyn as well.
So with help of this film and our future marketing campaign we are planning to attract viewers and interest them by two main ideas: Luxurious life and death of Marilyn Monroe and conspiracy theory around her death. And we are going to attract a range of ages to watch it, the lion share is planned to earn in USA and advertisement will be used mostly in Eastern Europe and Asian countries.

The General Shooting Script of 'Monroe' opening sequence

General Shooting Script
Of ‘Monroe’ opening sequence
Team: Gabby, Heather, Tatiana, Oleg

I Detective Office

Number of items we need on the first scene.
4 TV monitors (may be we need an extra one)
Lots of printed posters, newspapers and Monroe photos which are look like old one and saved from the 50’s.
One ashtray and the cigarette
1 laptop
One light desk
A pencil case and lots of pens, pencils, highlighters
A lamp bulb which is going to be a key lighting.
A window in office to provide a little of natural lighting.
A bin full of crumpled paper
Video with Monroe performances, her funerals, Marilyn songs and a special sound effects to create an exciting atmosphere

1) The camera is placed right behind the desk and can film office interior. Camera is standing on a tripod to give us a stable picture and the only thing moving is smoke of the cigarette in ashtray. Then we have a slight move to second shot.
2) Camera on a tripod moves to one of TV monitors with her video birthday congratulation to JFK. Sound will be placed separately with a bit effect of oldness like it was played from vinyl. Then, slight move to third frame to the room wall.
3) Slight pan to the posters and photos of Monroe. We move camera on a pan slightly to allow viewers to see all photos of 50’s superstar. After second poster/photo happy music changes to a bit exciting and thrilling to give a perception that there is something wrong and make viewer to worry. Then, slight pan to the next frame
4) After a few seconds we can see another TV monitor with Monroe’s funeral process and American broadcaster voice on the background which will tell about death of the star. Another pan to the fifth frame.
5) On this frame we can see detective’s office again and lots of newspapers and photos of Monroe death investigation and her photos of dead. Thrilling music is still in tact and continues until camera starts to move to the next frame.
6) We see Monroe’s photos and newspapers about her again where she was on a peak of her fame. Music changes to the good-mood and we can guess a first tunes of the song ‘Diamonds are a girls best friends’. Slight pan to the next frame.
7) We see the final TV monitor with Monroe performance in ‘Diamonds are a girls best friends’. We continue to move camera and zoom to exactly establish the TV monitor in the centre of the frame.
8) Wee can see the TV monitor with performance and start to zoom in to the monitor to move from the office to the 50’s real scene.



II 50’s Ball scene
During all Ball scene we need:
Red wall
Red stairs
Pink hearts
Lots of sources of light behind the scene.

1) Camera on a tripod. First frame starts with a low angle and it will underline the main role of Monroe who stands surrounded by fallen men bodies. So such aspects of mis-en-scene as, first of all, Monroe’s pink dress, men are wearing the same black suits and hold big red hearts that they will present to Marilyn. The lighting must to be very bright from behind to light all stage and accentuate all attention on Marilyn actress and her bright pink dress.
2) Dancing scene which performs in a stable frame because of 50’s so we can just pan a frame and zoom it. During this scene titles which shows Director’s, producer, sound director, costume designer appears. And after a dance scene we move to the final part of the opening sequence by zooming out and when we can see that all Ball scene was performed in a studio and we can see Director in his chair and cameraman we hear Director shouts: Cut!



III Filming crew
For scene with filming crew we need:
Old-fashioned camera
Director’s chair
Clapper board
Key lighting.

1) First frame shows us Director and cameraman who look at his viewfinder. The music is slightly fading out and we follow the small conversation between Director and cameraman. (OR if we would not find an old-fashioned camera, a cameraman will be replaced by film assisstant).
2) Second frame jumps to filming crew and their assistants who started to run around and collect red hearts. On the background we can hear Director’s voice who tells ‘Well done, buddies! This was a perfect scene’ Also, we can hear buzz of lots of voices.
3) Camera is slightly zooming out and we can hear Director again ‘Ok, print it. Let’s go to the next scene’. Clapping board claks and screen turns to black. Marilyn song starts to play and the film title ‘Monroe’ appears.

Our group research work

Film idea: Gaby
Film title: Monroe



We started our research work from finding the pictures and photos of Marilyn Monroe, newspapers which described her career and then death, we found a different videos as Monroe's funeral and the video which represents the whole concept of the sequence is "Diamonds are girls best friends" so according to this we started our research regarding furniture which we will need such as: black suits for a dancers and all filming crew because it was 50's so all crew should be dressed in a fashion of 50's. According to the following time majority of people in a frame must be always a men so we chose lots of AS students for participation in this sequence and just a few girls who will play assistants and the main role of Marilyn Monroe. Next aspect of mis-en-scene is a pink dress of Marilyn and then an environment of the stage which should have a red wall, red stairway with a five steps and red hearts which every dancer will hold. And the last part of environment are typical things which were common in 1950's (old-fashioned camera, etc.)

Regarding the sound we decided to fill the film sequence by Monroe's songs and some creepy sound effects to create the atmosphere of excitement where it's necessary to make a viewer to worry about the following event.

The sequence will start not from the picture but from the sound so at start we will see just a black frame and a Marilyn song 'I wanna be loved by you' and only in a middle of the song with help of slight fade in we start to see first stage of the office where a key lighting plays a role of the main source of light and a slight blue natural light from a window. To create the atmosphere of a mystery and a bit excitement the frame will be with a smoke and the song will be continued by broadcaster news report about Monroe's death and in the frame we can see close-ups of newspapers, photos and monitors where will be videos with Marilyn and her funeral ceremony which we gathered, mostly, from Google and videos were from YouTube.The main narrative idea is a move from the investigator’s office to monitor and through it to this real situation in 50's with a real Marilyn so we become a witnesses of this time and then Marilyn death so the unique point why actually viewers might enjoy this film is that we become a witnesses of conspiracy theory where were a superstar of 50's, scene of life at the middle of the 20th century and finally a Monroe's murderer whose puzzle still unsolved