Update 31/01/12

Last week we worked out a shot list and began sketching/outlining frames of our storyboard, we managed to finish this yesterday and began taking photographs of each frame so that we can create an animatic on Adobe Premiere Pro. So far, it has been going smoothly, although we have come up to a total of roughly 53 shots, which means an average of 2 seconds per shot.

Update 27/01/12

After our first pitch we received some feedback and suggestions. Here are some of the issues that was highlighted and some ideas of how to solve them.

• Opening sequence and film plot is too complicated. We need to cut unnecessary parts or change change the opening sequence/plot of the film to something more straightforward.
• Adding a gun shot would be unrealistic to the situation and complicates the process. We could simply take out the gun shot and have the agent simply knocking out and/or tying up the hacker.
• Lacking use of film theories. Could rethink some aspects of our current characters, settings and plot to fit more of theories such as Todorov's theory of equilibrium and disequilibrium, Propp's theory of character roles and Levi-Strauss' theory of binary opposites.
• Will the audience understand the hacking details? We could limit the detail the audience sees, but seeing as we plan to have the hacker speaking out loud, similar to the scene in The Social Network, we'll have to research basic hacking terms and other details, but being careful not to make it too complicated.

Update 24/01/12

Today I caught Anna up with the ideas and suggestions that had been going around during the meeting that she was ill for, then I finalised a post that Raef and I had been working on the day before. Here are some quick ideas that I've been having between then and now:

• I am happy to work with the latest idea since I feel as though we'll be able to cast more actors to play hackers, not just the stereotypical nerdy boy, but some females, adults, etc. Having a wide variety appeals to a larger audience, therefore generating more interest.
• However we still need to establish the plot for the rest of the film, this could incorporate Todorov's theory of equilibrium and disequilibrium.
• For the characters we can use Propp's theory of character roles, our protagonist is the hero, the princess is one of his friends who we may see in the opening sequence, the helper is the other friend who we may also see, etc.
• Perhaps we could construct the narrative using Levi-Strauss' theory of binary opposites and create a clear contrast between our rookie hacker and lead hacker.
• We'll need to plan the new film treatment and schedule a repitch.

Update 18/01/12

Just finished sketching and uploading "The Hacker"'s character design sketch on the group blog, I also uploaded some photos of my room as a suggestion for the set of the hacker's room last night.

I'm back.

I will now be working on our opening sequence and recording my personal progress here. Any other work will be posted on our group blog. So far we've had two meetings where we've developed our idea and assigned tasks.
Today I was given the task of sketching some character designs and doing a location recce for the hacker's room. The sketch for "The Agent" has been posted on the group blog.