Project 2 Brief – Impact

Impact
The current working title of the film is "Impact", which is the main subject and appeal of the film.

Audience
The intended audience for this film can be virtually anybody that has the natural human instinct and desire to see things to their completion; to witness the end result, or as some may call it, the reward. Also, since the final output of the film will be in slow motion, this will draw the viewer in not with speed and action, but with clarity and anticipation.

Message
To address the human desire to witness the moment of impact and the intrigue in the motions leading up to it.

Content Planning
Since the purpose of this film is a leader and thus counting down towards the start of the main subject, a sense of anticipation should be achieved, regardless of its actual relation to the main film content wise. This will be achieved by playing off the natural human desire to witness the dramatic structure applied to the subject of impact – that is, the rising action, the climax, and the falling action. The theme of impact was chosen because it is universally understandable, bypassing a need for the viewer to try to make sense of what is going on, which can be costly as there isa restriction of the duration of the leader, and the message needs to be immediately clear and concise on the first viewing. This film will focus on the part of the rising action, or the moments leading towards the point of impact, but never fully reaching that point within the duration. This will build anticipation towards the following main feature, without actually relating to it whatsoever. Rather than containing itself as a separate feature to the main film, the leader will be open-ended, and thus interacts with what follows. The use of slow motion will put more emphasis on clarity and suspense rather than generating 'excitement' with speed and action.

Visual/Conceptual References

HBO Boxing Super Slow Motion Camera
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zt0-6lN8PNo (Similar)
For every 'big' fight (fights that are of importance either due to the titles on the line, situation/relationship between the boxers, or the popularity of the fighters involved) that HBO covers, they use a special camera that is able to capture the action inside the ring in extreme detail, much like the video shown above, but clearer. Slow motion clips of crucial moments within the fight, such as a hard punch or one leading to a knockdown are shown between the rounds or after the fight. The viewer is shown the punch being thrown, the moment of impact, and the reverberations within the recipient of the blow. This camera has been used regularly for big fights since Jermaine Taylor vs. Kelly Pavlik I, on Sept 29, 2007.


Crash Test Dummies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3oQXXEEJtc
Much like the HBO Camera, the appeal of crash test dummies can be divided into 3 parts – the anticipation, or build up to impact, the moment of impact, and the aftermath. While the crash test dummy videos show the entire process, it lacks in the build up to the point of impact, as that is not the main purpose of the video – the main focus lies in the aftermath, where the viewer can see the effect the crash has on the simulated human body.


Movie Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZ2-xR54UDU (Sunshine)
Movie trailers for the most part, like the one for Danny Boyle's Sunshine (above), do a good job of building a sense of anticipation for the movie. The premise of the movie is introduced, and some tidbits of the drama and action are shown, but nothing is fully revealed or resolved, and thus the viewer is left wanting to see more. This is, of course, the main purpose of a movie trailer, and it is the same direction that will be taken with the leader – to build anticipation, or establish rising action, without giving away the climax.


Dramatic Structure
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dramatic_structure
The dramatic structure is effective in representing the beginning, middle and end that comes with almost anything in life, and puts it into an understandable and applicable context for the medium of film.