TASK 22: Remake Evaluation

We attempted to do a shot-by-shot remake of the opening sequence of Collateral. For the most part, we did fairly well. When it came to planning and doing storyboards, we had a fairly easy job to do for it. Most of the shots were easy to remake and copy, as the opening was fairly simplistic. As the original films opening takes place in a crowded airport/shopping mall-like area, we considered filming in the small shopping centre nearby, so we could possibly replicate the 'bustling and crowded area' look, but we decided against that due to time constraints as well possible problems of people walking in front of shots, or not wanting to be filmed. We instead settled with filming on the bottom floor of the college, as it would be much easier and there would be less people present to disrupt shots (though we still experienced enough of that). For filming, we used the standard HD camera's provided to us by the college, as well as a tripod and a fig rig (which we never used) that were also provided to us by the school.

For editing, we used Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2015. We were able to slow down shots (which looked kinda weird, but it worked out fairly decently), edit sound levels, and even add in the soundtrack from the original movie. Most of this was possible due to the incredibly helpful IT team at the college, who taught us about editing sound levels, and slowing down of speeding up shots. They also taught us about special effects, but we didn't have the time to incorporate any into our remake. We also tried to make the opening look more 'real' and 'authentic' by adding the Paramount Productions Logo to the start of the film, like in the original, but we overlooked the completely different aspect ratio between the Paramount Ident and the rest of the opening, resulting in an abrupt aspect ratio change. This is something 'we' (or 'I' because I was the one who decided to put it in, and therefore screw it up) could've edited if we had the time or if I was less careless and oblivious. As for the rest of the opening, we added some opening credits such as displaying the actors names and such. The opening of our remake is not exactly identical to the original film, as we changed some dialogue and we added a shot that wasn't present in the original film. I guess it was so we could give it our own personal spin on the opening. Aside from the previously mentioned shot, we tried to stay true to the original in terms of shots, though they aren't exact, as we didn't really have the appropriate space or skill to replicate some of the shots. Ours is a bit more 'boring' compared to the original, since our lighting is much more dimmer, since we filmed in a college hallway, rather than a bustling and brightly lit airport, and due to being in a college hallway, our setting is a bit boring in comparison, since there are no other people present in shots aside from the two stars, and there isn't much to care about or be interested in looking around a hallway.