We decided to show our clip to who we feel would be our target audience, we showed the clip to 15 people, ages ranging from 16 - 22, all ages within our target audience. Our clip received mixed feedback from the viewers. Some said the clip was 'realistic and actually believable' and we kept to the conventions of a thriller. It appealed to them and they felt the suspension that we built up through the clip kept it interesting and exciting.
Whilst others commented on the fact the clip had no dialogue, and they found they got a bit confused. They also said the murdered victim didnt look as realistic as possible and gave the clip away a bit.
However, we felt the clip as a whole though was a success, out of the 15 people we showed it to, 12 said they would go and see that film in the cinema whilst 13 out of the 15 said they would more than likely purchase the film on DVD at a later date.
The audience said they liked our choice of actress for our murder victim, they said she played the part well and fitted the role of the vulnerable 'damsel in distress'. They commented on the murderers costume and added that it was very well chosen, they felt the black was very suitable and that it was very similar to other thrillers in that sense. Another thing our audience brought up was our variety of shots, they agreed that each shot had a different effect and they fitted in well with the genre.
We were also told that although the clip was good, it seemed fairly bright in the clip and this is unlike most other thrillers, this is true but we also had no choice and had to film on the bright days to get the filming done.
Our thriller and our Preliminary task is on a hard disc and will be available for moderation.
Maria Rostkowska
Monday 10 May 2010
Sunday 9 May 2010
Evaluation Activity 7
What have we learnt from our preliminary clip to our final product:
For our preliminary task, we had to demonstrate that we could use the 180 degree rule, shot/reverse shot, and a match on action shot and then edit the footage to create the final 30 second preliminary clip.
There were many aims and objectives we tried to achieve whilst doing the preliminary task. It was so we could get used to working with the cameras, undertanding how to use them and then edit our footage on the editing software, then to put the finished clip onto a disc, the preliminary task was also useful because it helped us discover techniques and ideas for our final thriller clip later on in the course.
After filming the preliminary, it was discovered that filming, holding the camera ourselves wasn't a good idea and found it was best to use the tripod for most shots, apart from one off shots, where the camera is hand held to give the effect you're seeing through the eyes of our character. We also discovered what shots gave what affect. We varied the shots used, as to keep the audience interested and engaged in the clip. We used high angle shots to establish power and importance of certain characters but we also used low angle shots to emphasise the vulnerability of other characters.
Considering we were limited to what shots we could take, due to the location where we filmed, we felt we used as many angles as we could and varied the shots where possible. We feel that we learned a lot from our preliminary about use of the camera. Different shots we could use, editing software that could help us add effects. Also we discovered how important it is to make sure the light setting matches the genre, filming in the day made it difficult to add suspense to some of our shots but by filming in a dark room, we were satisifed with the end clip.
Maria Rostkowska
For our preliminary task, we had to demonstrate that we could use the 180 degree rule, shot/reverse shot, and a match on action shot and then edit the footage to create the final 30 second preliminary clip.
There were many aims and objectives we tried to achieve whilst doing the preliminary task. It was so we could get used to working with the cameras, undertanding how to use them and then edit our footage on the editing software, then to put the finished clip onto a disc, the preliminary task was also useful because it helped us discover techniques and ideas for our final thriller clip later on in the course.
After filming the preliminary, it was discovered that filming, holding the camera ourselves wasn't a good idea and found it was best to use the tripod for most shots, apart from one off shots, where the camera is hand held to give the effect you're seeing through the eyes of our character. We also discovered what shots gave what affect. We varied the shots used, as to keep the audience interested and engaged in the clip. We used high angle shots to establish power and importance of certain characters but we also used low angle shots to emphasise the vulnerability of other characters.
Considering we were limited to what shots we could take, due to the location where we filmed, we felt we used as many angles as we could and varied the shots where possible. We feel that we learned a lot from our preliminary about use of the camera. Different shots we could use, editing software that could help us add effects. Also we discovered how important it is to make sure the light setting matches the genre, filming in the day made it difficult to add suspense to some of our shots but by filming in a dark room, we were satisifed with the end clip.
Maria Rostkowska
Evaluation Activity 6
http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/L3oa2Cz-kzc&hl=en_GB&fs=1&border=1'>"value="true"
We used the video camera to shoot all of our footage and store it on a tape to later upload to the computers. We could also it play back which allowed us to know whether we needed to re-film some parts on the day, rather than having to go back to the location at a later date. We also frequently used the charger to ensure that we would have enough battery to last throughout filming and uploading.The Tripod
During filming, the tripod enabled us to achieve straight angles using the video camera and we could also get steady movements such as panning and titing the camera. We could also adjust the height in order to gain our preffered shot.
During filming, the tripod enabled us to achieve straight angles using the video camera and we could also get steady movements such as panning and titing the camera. We could also adjust the height in order to gain our preffered shot.
Facebook
We used facebook to communicate with eachother and to discuss arrangements for filming and blogs that needed to be completed, we also used it to discuss ideas about our clips when we wern't in school, this made us bettter organised because instead of only making arrangements face to face we were able to plan ahead.
IPhone
We used Roberta's iphone to take pictures that we needed for our clip, we then uploaded them to the computer and printed them for use in our film, aswell as upoading them to blogger to illustrate certain blogs.
Georgia Day & Maria Rostkowska
Evaluation Activity 5
How did you attract/address your audience?
When thinking about how we would promote and advertise our movie to attract our target audience, we considered possibilities of ways we would advertise the movie.
Our target audience was 16-24 year olds. We found that it was usually teenagers and young adults who when visiting the cinema want to see films of the ‘thriller’ genre. So we mainly wanted our movie to appeal to them. We also wanted to advertise it well for when it comes out on ‘DVD’ because chances are it will be equally or even more popular.
We decided to use dark colours on our poster and have mist across the poster, this gives it the eerie affect and this will attract the audience into looking at the poster closer and getting their attention. For inspiration we used posters from films like ‘Twilight SAGA, New Moon’ and ‘Cape Fear’. Both posters used dark eerie scenery and had used low key lighting. All of these features were ways of attracting the right target audience. We wanted to attract the same type of audience that the ‘cape fear’ movie attracted because our movies were alike in certain ways. We also agreed we would put advertisements in magazines that young teenagers are commonly known to read like ‘OK’ magazine ‘Kerrang’ and ‘HEAT’.
We also considered the likeliness that we would advertise on television, we would use eerie music like the music used from the Alton Towers advertisement for the ride ’13’.
We kept the advertisements in keeping with the conventions of a thriller. We made the advertisements creepy and use dark images from our clip; this teases the audience and gets them intrigues in the film. We also discussed using slow motion to build up the tension. This all adds to the convention of a thriller and this would help us to attract our target audience.
Maria Rostkowska
When thinking about how we would promote and advertise our movie to attract our target audience, we considered possibilities of ways we would advertise the movie.
Our target audience was 16-24 year olds. We found that it was usually teenagers and young adults who when visiting the cinema want to see films of the ‘thriller’ genre. So we mainly wanted our movie to appeal to them. We also wanted to advertise it well for when it comes out on ‘DVD’ because chances are it will be equally or even more popular.
We decided to use dark colours on our poster and have mist across the poster, this gives it the eerie affect and this will attract the audience into looking at the poster closer and getting their attention. For inspiration we used posters from films like ‘Twilight SAGA, New Moon’ and ‘Cape Fear’. Both posters used dark eerie scenery and had used low key lighting. All of these features were ways of attracting the right target audience. We wanted to attract the same type of audience that the ‘cape fear’ movie attracted because our movies were alike in certain ways. We also agreed we would put advertisements in magazines that young teenagers are commonly known to read like ‘OK’ magazine ‘Kerrang’ and ‘HEAT’.
We also considered the likeliness that we would advertise on television, we would use eerie music like the music used from the Alton Towers advertisement for the ride ’13’.
We kept the advertisements in keeping with the conventions of a thriller. We made the advertisements creepy and use dark images from our clip; this teases the audience and gets them intrigues in the film. We also discussed using slow motion to build up the tension. This all adds to the convention of a thriller and this would help us to attract our target audience.
Maria Rostkowska
Evaluation Activity 4
Our target audience was 16-24 year olds. We found that it was usually teenagers and young adults who when visiting the cinema want to see films of the ‘thriller’ genre. So we mainly wanted our movie to appeal to them. We also wanted to advertise it well for when it comes out on ‘DVD’ because chances are it will be equally or even more popular.
Our target audience would be mostly students. They would be into the latest music and films. Shop and wear the latest fashions, all in high street as they are students they would not be able to afford the most expensive goods.
They would watch our film as it would be the newest film to hit cinemas they would want to fit in and be the first to see it so they didn’t miss out
Georgia Day
Our target audience would be mostly students. They would be into the latest music and films. Shop and wear the latest fashions, all in high street as they are students they would not be able to afford the most expensive goods.
They would watch our film as it would be the newest film to hit cinemas they would want to fit in and be the first to see it so they didn’t miss out
Georgia Day
Evaluation activity 3
A production company produces films and is responsible for the development and physical production. In earlier research we looked at various film institutions that could produce our film. We decided after our initial research that we would choose Universal pictures. Universal has produced many thriller films over the years including Psycho and cape fear.
In our title sequence we showcased the actor’s names in order of the way they appear on screen. We also showcased the name of the 'camera man' and director (Maria Rostkowska) but we showed her name after the actor's because it is traditionally the actor's who are more impotant to the viewers and therefore their names come up first, none the less, the 'camera man' and director are also important to the film, and are usually displayed when the ret of the credits appear. We also included the title of the film again before the cliff-hanger at the end, allowing the full production credits to roll in the main title sequence that would follow the cliff-hanger.Universal has shown a tendency in the past to release new stand alone films such as Cape Fear and Psycho. It is because of this that we chose Universal to produce and release our film as they have experience in dealing with new upcoming films, with the potential for sequels based on the success of the film.
When discussing where we would find the financial backing for a film such as ours, we looked at possible sponsers, people within the film/media industry that would want to invest in the project. However if we wanted to make the film a big success, we thought it would be much better finding a company like Universal Studios, then presenting our script to them and trying to get them to buy the script and produce the film with a decent budget.
Georgia Day and Maria Rostkowska
Evaluation activity 2
I decided to compare our main heroine to Drew Barrymore who plays Casey in the film ‘Scream’. I thought our characters were very similar they both challenged the ‘norm’ of thrillers and had a woman as the leading role. The characters also had the same type of costume both were wearing jackets with shirts buttoned all the way to the top making them appear more vulnerable and insecure, we however opted for a more girly look and choose purple colours where they chose to have ‘Casey’ in white to make her appear innocent.
The role in the film they played was both quite similar they both played damsels in distress however; ‘Casey’ was in fact trapped whereas our character was free but being followed. However they were both being stalked by their killers.
The role in the film they played was both quite similar they both played damsels in distress however; ‘Casey’ was in fact trapped whereas our character was free but being followed. However they were both being stalked by their killers.
Georgia Day
Friday 7 May 2010
Evaluation Activity 1
The title of the film:
The title of our film is displayed in the first frame. We used the font Orator STD to give the spaced out deranged look. The title of our film is ‘The Watching’. Our font is also just one colour, white, to make it stand out more and make it more eye-catching. This style of font is very common among the thriller genre. Such as the cape fear title
We used this title to influence our decision on the design of our title as cape fear also has the same spaced out typography and the bold one coloured scheme.
The title of our film is displayed in the first frame. We used the font Orator STD to give the spaced out deranged look. The title of our film is ‘The Watching’. Our font is also just one colour, white, to make it stand out more and make it more eye-catching. This style of font is very common among the thriller genre. Such as the cape fear title
We used this title to influence our decision on the design of our title as cape fear also has the same spaced out typography and the bold one coloured scheme.
We came up with the title of the film based on the setting of our thriller as it was about a girl being stalked we finally decided on the name 'The Watching'.
Special FX:
We did not use any special FX in our film apart from fading to black and our special FX on the poster. We made the colours sharper and brighter to make it give a disorientated feel.
We did not use any special FX in our film apart from fading to black and our special FX on the poster. We made the colours sharper and brighter to make it give a disorientated feel.
How characters are introduced:
Our characters are introduced one by one the first character to be introduced is Georgia who plays the girl this shot is seen in frame 3. You straight away see her dead with blood running down her face. This automatically gives the audience the impression they are watching a thriller. Roberta is the second character to be introduced she comes in from off shot and an over the shoulder shot this is because you never see her face as she is the murderer and we want to create an air of suspense.
Our characters are introduced one by one the first character to be introduced is Georgia who plays the girl this shot is seen in frame 3. You straight away see her dead with blood running down her face. This automatically gives the audience the impression they are watching a thriller. Roberta is the second character to be introduced she comes in from off shot and an over the shoulder shot this is because you never see her face as she is the murderer and we want to create an air of suspense.
Story and how the opening sets it up:
The story line of our thriller is a girl being followed then killed by her stalker. The opening to our thriller sets this up by first introducing the girl with a close up of her dead. There is then a shot of her killer looking at pictures he has collected of her showing his obsession with the girl.
The story line of our thriller is a girl being followed then killed by her stalker. The opening to our thriller sets this up by first introducing the girl with a close up of her dead. There is then a shot of her killer looking at pictures he has collected of her showing his obsession with the girl.
Genre and how the opening suggests it:
Our genre for our thriller is psychological thriller as we never know who the murderer is and this is shown in our opening as the murderer comes into shot from behind we do not see the killers face. It is also suggested from the shot of the girl dead we do not know how she died which starts to get the audience thinking.
Our genre for our thriller is psychological thriller as we never know who the murderer is and this is shown in our opening as the murderer comes into shot from behind we do not see the killers face. It is also suggested from the shot of the girl dead we do not know how she died which starts to get the audience thinking.
Settings and Location:
We decided to base our thriller in the forest outside shenfield high school. As a comon stereotypical trait of thrillers is that it is based in a deserted area. As the girl is getting ready the setting in her room is colour coded pink to make her seem more innocent and childlike.
Costumes and Props:
The only prop used was the knife to kill the girl with. We used a knife as our choosen weapon as it is seen widely in most thrillers. Our costume for the girl chosen was a purple shirt to make the character seem more girly and also the top button was done up to make her seem insecure and scared. The murderer was dressed all in black and with a hood to make him seem more mysterious.
Georgia Day
Wednesday 5 May 2010
Editing our Thriller
Once we had finished filming our thriller, we decided to start the editing straight , so there wasn’t a big rush at the end to finish and edit an opening thriller sequence. The main problem we had was how to create the scream affect at the beggining of our thriller we wanted a black screen and a sound of Georgia screaming over the top however after being told we could not do this on the editing programme pinnacle we decided to scrap the idea. We all decided to edit at one time to put our ideas together to get the best out of the thriller. Georgia was especially the best at editing, knew a lot about it and did most of it. The other problems that we confronted was that the editing suite was sometimes busy so we couldn’t always edit when it was suitable for us, so we would go at allocated times or book the omputer for our use. To start editing we put the camera on the dock, which was connected to the computer and uploaded the footage to the editing software. The software we used was Pinnacle. We filmed each scene a few times so we could choose the best shot for this, these either had to be ‘cut’ because they where too long or if it didnt fit to flow into the next shot. The ambient sound in the background as we were filming such as birds singing we didnt want so we had to edit that noise so you could hear our music. Before we even started to film we didn’t want to have any dialogue, only screaming was involved. We finally had to add the usic in we wanted as we could not use the choosen theme song we wanted from the film 13 as that would be copyright. In stead we had to find another pice of music to use. In the end we decided on pice that was creepy and bulided suspence until the end. Georgia then had to edit the music to make it louder towards the end when the suspence was building and quiter when our character was talking.
Georgia Day
Georgia Day
Tuesday 27 April 2010
Posters that have influenced our own planning
We were heavily influenced by this poster. We all liked the way the woods are in the background and the mist makes the poster look eerie. The way that the iconography is printed coming through the mist is creepy and extremely effective. The poster just introduces the film name and the date it will being coming out in cinemas. It is simple and effective. We all agreed that this set out with the location in the background, the outline of the victim and the stalker in the background.
Georgia Day
Thriller poster ideas
For our thriller we decided to create a poster to advertise our thriller we based our idea on our thriller posters. The cape fear poster has a picture of where the action takes place we decided to interpret this idea into our poster so we will have a picture of the woods in our poster. We also based our idea on a new moon poster we saw the poster and liked the effect they had used. They made the woods appear misty and more scary. We want to do this with our poster to make it appear scarier.
By Roberta Leary
By Roberta Leary
Friday 23 April 2010
Filming our footage
Once we had all of our storyboards and everything sorted, we shot our footage. Considering we only needed 2minutes worth of filming we filmed at least 5 minutes worth. But we also had to take into consideration that we wanted a varied amount of shots from different angles so when putting the final piece together we had a choice of what clips to use.
We felt we had very good continuity editing there is one scene where Georgia Day comes out of Roberta’s house in (..) and then we film her walking out of another house pathway round the back of the school near our main setting. We also used our own sound affects. Like when Georgia is walking down a footpath and the camera is being handheld, as if it is seeing though the eyes of the killer, the camera moves and we purposely snap a twig so it looks as if the killer is creeping. It adds to the misé-en-scene.
We encountered some problems when filming though. We had the problem of the weather, one day we would film and it would be a dull day with lots of clouds, this was very good for the ominous setting, but the next day of recording brought us bright sunshine and this was very noticeable when we tried to get some footage. To work our way round the problem we decided to use the time to take still camera shots in the woods for the end of the clip, where the trees blocked out most of the sunshine which helped a lot.
We also had to make sure when we were filming the scenes using the sharp meat knife, that there was nobody around as to not cause any panic from anybody misunderstanding that we’re in fact only pretending.
We used a lot of props to add detail to the clip. We used twigs to make sound affects; we used a real sharp kitchen knife to make it more believable. We also used a school bag to add to the ‘student’ image we was trying to create for Georgia.
The costumes we felt were in brilliant sync and fitted well with the characters. We used black clothing for the killer; this had the connotation of the dark, horrific nature of the character. We used a blazer and leggings for Georgia’s character, the ‘victim’. This was just a typical, day to day outfit that a student would wear. This made Georgia’s character more obvious to the audience.
When we discussed what types of shots to use, we decided on using the zoom but only for distinct shots where we are adding emphasis to a certain object or person. We decided to pan the camera around for most of the shots instead of hand holding the camera all the way throughout, this is because when we do have shots where the camera is handheld it is more effective and the audience will notice it. Also if we handheld the camera all the movement may make the audience dizzy.
By Maria Rostkowska
We felt we had very good continuity editing there is one scene where Georgia Day comes out of Roberta’s house in (..) and then we film her walking out of another house pathway round the back of the school near our main setting. We also used our own sound affects. Like when Georgia is walking down a footpath and the camera is being handheld, as if it is seeing though the eyes of the killer, the camera moves and we purposely snap a twig so it looks as if the killer is creeping. It adds to the misé-en-scene.
We encountered some problems when filming though. We had the problem of the weather, one day we would film and it would be a dull day with lots of clouds, this was very good for the ominous setting, but the next day of recording brought us bright sunshine and this was very noticeable when we tried to get some footage. To work our way round the problem we decided to use the time to take still camera shots in the woods for the end of the clip, where the trees blocked out most of the sunshine which helped a lot.
We also had to make sure when we were filming the scenes using the sharp meat knife, that there was nobody around as to not cause any panic from anybody misunderstanding that we’re in fact only pretending.
We used a lot of props to add detail to the clip. We used twigs to make sound affects; we used a real sharp kitchen knife to make it more believable. We also used a school bag to add to the ‘student’ image we was trying to create for Georgia.
The costumes we felt were in brilliant sync and fitted well with the characters. We used black clothing for the killer; this had the connotation of the dark, horrific nature of the character. We used a blazer and leggings for Georgia’s character, the ‘victim’. This was just a typical, day to day outfit that a student would wear. This made Georgia’s character more obvious to the audience.
When we discussed what types of shots to use, we decided on using the zoom but only for distinct shots where we are adding emphasis to a certain object or person. We decided to pan the camera around for most of the shots instead of hand holding the camera all the way throughout, this is because when we do have shots where the camera is handheld it is more effective and the audience will notice it. Also if we handheld the camera all the movement may make the audience dizzy.
By Maria Rostkowska
Tuesday 20 April 2010
Typography/ credits
We had to think about the way in which our typography/ credits would move into the screen. Our thriller starts with a blank screen and the shot opens with a sound bridge of a girl screaming, we thought that we could fade in the credits slowly throughout the filming. The film ends with a scream and the shot fades to black. This would be a prime opportunity to show the title of our film. The typography will fade into the screen. We have chosen a creepy and disturbing font and it will suit our thriller perfectly.
By Roberta Leary
By Roberta Leary
Title Design
These are our font ideas for our thriller we wanted something to stand out. We decided for our font to be in black on a white background so it contrasts directly and really stands out. We didn’t like the third font as we thought this suited a horror film better than a thriller, and the same for the first font this reminded us of a prison and our thriller has no link to a prison in any way so we decided against that font. In the end we decided to use the second font as the spaced out letters in the font make it seem creepy
and disturbing.
Georgia Day
and disturbing.Georgia Day
Choosing our film title
We had a group discussion during lesson time about choosing the name for our thriller. We all decided this would be a huge decision to make as the name of the film is extremely important and draws the audience in. You can find out alot about a film from it's name. For example the film 'Love Actually' immediately tells you that the film is a romance. With films such as 'SAW' and 'The Grudge' you know that they are horrors and will be scary from their titles.
We discussed using the title 'Slit'. As jaw dropping as the title is, we decided it would be highly associated with a horror film and decided to go with a different approach.
Finally we came up with the name 'The Watching'. It suggests that their is a victim and a chase. This is a strong name and grips our audience. 'The Watching' is suited to our film perfectly as the girl is being followed and watched throughout. The title is creepy and disturbing.
By Roberta Leary
We discussed using the title 'Slit'. As jaw dropping as the title is, we decided it would be highly associated with a horror film and decided to go with a different approach.
Finally we came up with the name 'The Watching'. It suggests that their is a victim and a chase. This is a strong name and grips our audience. 'The Watching' is suited to our film perfectly as the girl is being followed and watched throughout. The title is creepy and disturbing.
By Roberta Leary
Our Questionnaire focus group
A focus group is a form of qualitative research in which a group of people are asked about thier perceptions, opinions, beliefs and attitudes towards a product.
Advantages
- There are a variety of responses directly from your target audience.
- The type of research is a lot more in depth making it qualitative rather than quantative.
Disadvantages
If in the group you use friends that are being interviewed then their answer may be biased.
- In the group one person may dominate giving really only one opinion.
- You may not hear what you want.
- There could be too many people talking over each other which could make things unclear.
For our focus we group we used random sampling this consisted of students of all ages and each sex answering our questions this ensured us that we had a wide range of unbiased answers.
Georgia Day
Advantages
- There are a variety of responses directly from your target audience.
- The type of research is a lot more in depth making it qualitative rather than quantative.
Disadvantages
If in the group you use friends that are being interviewed then their answer may be biased.
- In the group one person may dominate giving really only one opinion.
- You may not hear what you want.
- There could be too many people talking over each other which could make things unclear.
For our focus we group we used random sampling this consisted of students of all ages and each sex answering our questions this ensured us that we had a wide range of unbiased answers.
Georgia Day
Props, make up and costume
To ensure that the audience would not get confused, we had to think hard about the continuity editing. Every day that we filmed, we had to remember to bring the same costume and accessories such as the bag and the blazer. We had to remember even the little things, like which arm the girl (Georgia) had the bag wrapped around and made sure that this didn’t change as we moved around for the next shot.
Before filming the final scene in the woods we went to the art department and applied make up and paint on Georgia’s face. I (Roberta) applied the make up whilst Maria took some photos to put up onto our Blog. We had to think about the weapon of our choice which was a knife and the injuries that would come from it. We decided on painting a slit across her throat and face with blood dripping down. We thought about the conventions of a thriller and blood fitted into these aspects. Blood is highly associated with horrors or thrillers. Our choice of weapon was a knife, we thought the best way of killing the victim would be to slit her throat, or stab her.
By Roberta Leary
Brief
The storyline for our 2minute film clip is that the camera opens with a shot of a dead girl, it’s a crime scene, as the clip goes on we start to see flashbacks of how the girl ended up dead. This is known as starting the film off at the disequilibrium. The problem has already occurred now the characters need to unfold what happened. This is a typical feature in a thriller movie. As inspiration we included some techniques and ideas from other films, this is called intertextuality. Some of our inspiration came from the ‘SAW’ movies. There is a particular scene, where we can see a wall of images from where ‘Jigsaw’ has stalked his victims, and has pictures of them from everyday life. We have interpreted this and adapted it to our context because the two situations are entirely different. There are also a lot of high angle shots looking down at the victims, this gives the perfect connotation that the girl in our clip is as vulnerable and is in as much danger. We also used a technique most commonly seen in the hit US TV series, ‘Crime Scene Investigation’ (‘CSI’), it’s where the camera focus’s in on a specific detail and then the frame freezes as if it is a picture that has just been taken. It is a good technique and fits in well with the context of the scene being a crime scene.
In our clip we are trying to use as many conventions that would be associated with thrillers. For one we have a mysterious death, and a police investigation. We also tried to keep the lighting low key so there was a more intense and mysterious atmosphere. When choosing a setting for our clip we picked the woods at the rear end of our school grounds. It has lots of leaves and twigs, this will add to the sound affects when we shoot the clip of the girl walking through the woods. It also has low key lighting because all the trees block out the sunlight so it creates an eerie atmosphere, this fits in with the ‘thriller’ genre.
We haven’t selected specific actors, we have starred in the clip ourselves, this is because we wouldn’t have to wait around for the other people to film, and also it’s possible to convey the characters in the way we want them to be seen by the audience. The ages of our actors range from 16-17. We’ve kept the actors young intentionally; this is because it fits in with the story line and context. Also the young man who murders our innocent victim is portrayed as a typical ‘hoodie teenager’, these are portrayed in the media to be a threat to society and they are considered dangerous and likely to commit crimes.
Our target audience is mainly young adults/adults. This is a thriller therefore not recommended for young children. We want our movie to appeal to teenagers aged 15 and over. We want it to appeal to the right audience so it will sell and will be recommended by friends to other friends.
To be continued…
Maria Rostkowska
We haven’t selected specific actors, we have starred in the clip ourselves, this is because we wouldn’t have to wait around for the other people to film, and also it’s possible to convey the characters in the way we want them to be seen by the audience. The ages of our actors range from 16-17. We’ve kept the actors young intentionally; this is because it fits in with the story line and context. Also the young man who murders our innocent victim is portrayed as a typical ‘hoodie teenager’, these are portrayed in the media to be a threat to society and they are considered dangerous and likely to commit crimes.
Our target audience is mainly young adults/adults. This is a thriller therefore not recommended for young children. We want our movie to appeal to teenagers aged 15 and over. We want it to appeal to the right audience so it will sell and will be recommended by friends to other friends.
To be continued…
Maria Rostkowska
Sunday 28 March 2010
The music choice
A new ride 'Thirteen' has just opened at Alton Towers this March. The advert has really appealed to us as it is creepy and jumpy. We had a good idea to use the same background music. It is a slow, droning, and eerie. The fact that the voice is one of a girls makes it more effective and almost scary. The lyrics are from the children's rhyme 'Teddybears Picnic'. The original rhyme is about going down to the woods for a picnic, but it is twisted for a terrifying effect. This would work especially as our location is in the woods.
Below is the clip of the advert.
By Roberta Leary
Below is the clip of the advert.
By Roberta Leary
Choosing a name for our film
We looked into other films from the same genre, their titles are very quick and captivating. Titles such as 'The Strangers' and 'The Ring'. 'Saw' is another very good example. The title does not mean anything until you watch the film. We needed a title that would draw in our particular audience.
Here are some of our ideas:
Slit
Left
The Woods
Alone
By Roberta Leary
Here are some of our ideas:
Slit
Left
The Woods
Alone
By Roberta Leary
Diary of both days filming
When filming on the first day we did not plan effectively and had to make a small change to some of the costume we had decided on before. This was a small blip that we adapted to instantly.
The next time we filmed went smoothly and we managed to get most of it done quickly. Part of our filming had to be filmed from across the road. The road was not a main road, and mainly quiet but when filming various times cars passed and blocked our view. This made it almost impossible to get the perfect shot, but we found it in the end after countless tries.
We had to use a weapon as a prop as our film is about a murder. We thought about using a fake gun or a baseball bat, but in the end we all decided on the stabbing of our victim and we had to use a knife. Our location was very quiet and we believed that no one would walk too far into the woods. A lady and her dog passed as we were filming and we hid the knife immediately and reassured the lady of what we were doing. After this we made sure we kept a look out for any other ‘passers by’ as this could of caused false panic if people were not aware of what we was doing and jumped to the wrong conclusion.
By Georgia Day
The next time we filmed went smoothly and we managed to get most of it done quickly. Part of our filming had to be filmed from across the road. The road was not a main road, and mainly quiet but when filming various times cars passed and blocked our view. This made it almost impossible to get the perfect shot, but we found it in the end after countless tries.
We had to use a weapon as a prop as our film is about a murder. We thought about using a fake gun or a baseball bat, but in the end we all decided on the stabbing of our victim and we had to use a knife. Our location was very quiet and we believed that no one would walk too far into the woods. A lady and her dog passed as we were filming and we hid the knife immediately and reassured the lady of what we were doing. After this we made sure we kept a look out for any other ‘passers by’ as this could of caused false panic if people were not aware of what we was doing and jumped to the wrong conclusion.
By Georgia Day
Shooting Schedule
DATE: 23/03/10
LOCATION: Public footpath entering the woods, running along Oliver Road.
TIME: We decided to film from 12.20pm right the way through lunchtime and continued through our two hour Media Studies lesson in periods four and five and finished filming around 3.45pm.
SCENE FILMED: The victim being followed by the stalker
SHOTS: ‘Over the shoulder’, we filmed from behind trees and jolted the camera. For this effect we did not use the tripod and instead handheld the camera. The point of this was to create the effect that someone was watching the girl as she walked on her way to school. We featured one scene when the girl was on her telephone talking to her mother; this helped us give added information without telling the story.
ACTOR: Georgia Day (as the victim)
CAMERA WORK: Maria Rostkowska and Roberta Leary
PROPS NEEDED: Smart dress and costume
DATE: 26/03/10
LOCATION: In the woods
TIME: From 9.00am until 11.30am
SCENE FILMED: The stalker continues to follow its victim, creeps up to her and stabs her. We also filmed the opening scene of the girl, dead on the woods floor.
SHOTS: Quick cuts, over the shoulder
ACTORS: Georgia Day and Roberta Leary
CAMERA WORK: Maria Rostkowska
PROPS: Make-up, paint (blood effect), black hoodie, knife, bin liners, costume
Other shots left to film:
The continuity editing- the girl is getting ready for school and her stalker is preparing to murder her. This will be filmed inside a house. We need to produce pictures of Georgia in different places and with her doing all different things. This will be an effort to make it look like the stalker has been taking these pictures and has put them all over the wall. We established this idea from the SAW films. All these films feature stalking material, and we based our ideas on this.
By Roberta Leary
LOCATION: Public footpath entering the woods, running along Oliver Road.
TIME: We decided to film from 12.20pm right the way through lunchtime and continued through our two hour Media Studies lesson in periods four and five and finished filming around 3.45pm.
SCENE FILMED: The victim being followed by the stalker
SHOTS: ‘Over the shoulder’, we filmed from behind trees and jolted the camera. For this effect we did not use the tripod and instead handheld the camera. The point of this was to create the effect that someone was watching the girl as she walked on her way to school. We featured one scene when the girl was on her telephone talking to her mother; this helped us give added information without telling the story.
ACTOR: Georgia Day (as the victim)
CAMERA WORK: Maria Rostkowska and Roberta Leary
PROPS NEEDED: Smart dress and costume
DATE: 26/03/10
LOCATION: In the woods
TIME: From 9.00am until 11.30am
SCENE FILMED: The stalker continues to follow its victim, creeps up to her and stabs her. We also filmed the opening scene of the girl, dead on the woods floor.
SHOTS: Quick cuts, over the shoulder
ACTORS: Georgia Day and Roberta Leary
CAMERA WORK: Maria Rostkowska
PROPS: Make-up, paint (blood effect), black hoodie, knife, bin liners, costume
Other shots left to film:
The continuity editing- the girl is getting ready for school and her stalker is preparing to murder her. This will be filmed inside a house. We need to produce pictures of Georgia in different places and with her doing all different things. This will be an effort to make it look like the stalker has been taking these pictures and has put them all over the wall. We established this idea from the SAW films. All these films feature stalking material, and we based our ideas on this.
By Roberta Leary
Thursday 25 March 2010
Research questionnaire
1. What genre of film do you usually watch or enjoy?
• Thriller
• Comedy
• Romance
• Horror
2. If a new exciting thriller was just released, would you take the time to see it in the cinema or would you wait until the DVD release?
• Cinema
• DVD
3. Which of the following sub-genres or hybrids would you enjoy watching?
• Psychological thriller
• Horror thriller
• Action thriller
• Crime thriller
• Drama thriller
4. What aspects do you expect when watching a thriller film?
• Jumpy scenes
• Car chases
• Murders
• Fast paced action
• Gore
5. When watching a thriller film, how does it make you feel?
• Anxious
• Jumpy
• Scared
• Excited
• ‘On the edge of your seat’
• Heart racing
6. When it comes to the end of the film, which ending do you prefer?
• Cliff-hanger
• Happy ending
• It was all a dream
• The main character dies
7. What conventions do you expect from a typical thriller movie?
• Eerie dark scenes
• Creepy music
• Scary plots
• Police chases
• Loud jumpy diegetic sounds
8. Which particular settings do you expect a thriller to take place?
• A city
• The countryside
• Suburbs
• Warehouses
• Woods
• Deserted houses
9. Characters in a thriller include…
• Detectives
• Police
• The murderer
• The murdered
• Criminals
• Stalkers
10. What is your favourite thriller film?
We will distribute the questionnaire to classmates, friends and family members. This will give us a vast age range, therefore a different range of answers.
By Roberta Leary
• Thriller
• Comedy
• Romance
• Horror
2. If a new exciting thriller was just released, would you take the time to see it in the cinema or would you wait until the DVD release?
• Cinema
• DVD
3. Which of the following sub-genres or hybrids would you enjoy watching?
• Psychological thriller
• Horror thriller
• Action thriller
• Crime thriller
• Drama thriller
4. What aspects do you expect when watching a thriller film?
• Jumpy scenes
• Car chases
• Murders
• Fast paced action
• Gore
5. When watching a thriller film, how does it make you feel?
• Anxious
• Jumpy
• Scared
• Excited
• ‘On the edge of your seat’
• Heart racing
6. When it comes to the end of the film, which ending do you prefer?
• Cliff-hanger
• Happy ending
• It was all a dream
• The main character dies
7. What conventions do you expect from a typical thriller movie?
• Eerie dark scenes
• Creepy music
• Scary plots
• Police chases
• Loud jumpy diegetic sounds
8. Which particular settings do you expect a thriller to take place?
• A city
• The countryside
• Suburbs
• Warehouses
• Woods
• Deserted houses
9. Characters in a thriller include…
• Detectives
• Police
• The murderer
• The murdered
• Criminals
• Stalkers
10. What is your favourite thriller film?
We will distribute the questionnaire to classmates, friends and family members. This will give us a vast age range, therefore a different range of answers.
By Roberta Leary
Friday 19 March 2010
Thursday 18 March 2010
Tuesday 16 March 2010
Target Audience
Demographics & Psychographics
When planning the opening to our thriller we had to think about the demographics that would affect the scenes. We had to think particularly about what kind of person we would aim the film at.
The age group would be the 16 to 24 year olds. Teenagers and young adults usually visit the cinemas and are interested in films of the thriller genre. Thrillers are often exciting and make you jump with a real adrenalin rush, this appeals to a younger audience of 16 to 24 year olds. Films of this genre are particularly popular in cinemas as the viewers want the full experience, but are just as popular or maybe even more so to be bought and viewed as a DVD to watch in the conformability of their own homes.
In terms of socio-economic classification our target would be mainly B and C1. This covers middle and lower middle class bands. The majority of cinema goers fall into these categories.
In terms of psychographics, we would expect our main audience to be either strivers or traditionalists. However this is not excluding groups of people from different categories.
Our film would mainly be aimed towards a female audience, they could relate back to the footage of feeling vulnerable and alone. The film would also be viewed by a vast male audience as figures show that more males watch and purchase thriller films.
The cinema release of our film will be rated as a fifteen. We would have to take out some of the more gory scenes and some violence and swearing. The DVD release of the film would be rated as an 18 and will include all of the filming. This way a broader age range of people can watch the film before it is released on DVD.
We had to study the psychographic variables and we came up with the idea that people from a working class background would go to see our film in the cinema or purchase it. People from a higher class background would be older and our film is aimed at a younger target audience group from a working class background or middle class.
By Roberta Leary & Maria Rostkowska
When planning the opening to our thriller we had to think about the demographics that would affect the scenes. We had to think particularly about what kind of person we would aim the film at.
The age group would be the 16 to 24 year olds. Teenagers and young adults usually visit the cinemas and are interested in films of the thriller genre. Thrillers are often exciting and make you jump with a real adrenalin rush, this appeals to a younger audience of 16 to 24 year olds. Films of this genre are particularly popular in cinemas as the viewers want the full experience, but are just as popular or maybe even more so to be bought and viewed as a DVD to watch in the conformability of their own homes.
In terms of socio-economic classification our target would be mainly B and C1. This covers middle and lower middle class bands. The majority of cinema goers fall into these categories.
In terms of psychographics, we would expect our main audience to be either strivers or traditionalists. However this is not excluding groups of people from different categories.
Our film would mainly be aimed towards a female audience, they could relate back to the footage of feeling vulnerable and alone. The film would also be viewed by a vast male audience as figures show that more males watch and purchase thriller films.
The cinema release of our film will be rated as a fifteen. We would have to take out some of the more gory scenes and some violence and swearing. The DVD release of the film would be rated as an 18 and will include all of the filming. This way a broader age range of people can watch the film before it is released on DVD.
We had to study the psychographic variables and we came up with the idea that people from a working class background would go to see our film in the cinema or purchase it. People from a higher class background would be older and our film is aimed at a younger target audience group from a working class background or middle class.
By Roberta Leary & Maria Rostkowska
Friday 26 February 2010
Thursday 25 February 2010
Film Rating System
The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) is a non-governmental organisation and is funded by the film industry. It is responsible for the national classification of films within the United Kingdom. It has a right to classify videos, DVDs and some video games under the Video Recordings Act 2010. Legally, the local authorities have the power to decide under what circumstances films are shown in cinemas, but they nearly always choose to follow the advice of the BBFC. The Video Recordings Act ordered that video releases not exempt (music, documentary, non-fiction, video-games, etc.) under the Act had to be classified, making it illegal to supply any recording that had not been certified. Certificates could restrict release to any age of 18.
Their ratings are as follows:
Uc- Suitable for all, but especially suitable for children from the age of 2 to 6 to watch on their own
U- Suitable for children
PG- Suitable for children under 12, but with Parental Guidance
12a- Suitable for children under the age of 12 with parental consent
12- Only suitable for children 12 or over the age of 12
15- Only for people 15 and over
18- Only people 18 and over
R18- Suitable for those aged 18 and over and only available at licensed cinemas and some sex shops
Their ratings are as follows:
Uc- Suitable for all, but especially suitable for children from the age of 2 to 6 to watch on their own
U- Suitable for children
PG- Suitable for children under 12, but with Parental Guidance
12a- Suitable for children under the age of 12 with parental consent
12- Only suitable for children 12 or over the age of 12
15- Only for people 15 and over
18- Only people 18 and over
R18- Suitable for those aged 18 and over and only available at licensed cinemas and some sex shops
By Roberta Leary
Wednesday 24 February 2010
Research into Thrillers
Thriller is a broad genre of literature, film and television that includes numerous and often overlapping sub-genres. Thrillers are characterized by fast pacing, frequent action, and resourceful heroes who must thwart the plans of more powerful and better equipped villains. Writer Vladimir Nabokov, in his lectures at Cornell University, said that "In an Anglo-Saxon thriller, the villain is generally punished, and the strong silent man generally wins the weak babbling girl, but there is no governmental law in Western countries to ban a story that does not comply with a fond tradition, so that we always hope that the wicked but romantic fellow will escape scot-free and the good but dull chap will be finally snubbed by the moody heroine."
Literary devices such as suspense, red herrings and cliffhangers are used extensively. "Homer's Odyssey is one of the oldest stories in the Western world and is regarded as an early prototype of the thriller." A thriller is villain driven plot, whereby he presents obstacles the hero must overcome. The genre is a fascinatingly flexible form that can undermine audience complacency through a dramatic rendering of psychological, social, familial and political tensions and encourages sheltered but sensation-hungry audiences, in Hitchcock's phrase, "to put their toe in the cold water of fear to see what it's like."
Research on chosen films
Taken is a 2008 French action thriller film starring Liam Neeson, Famke Janssen, and Maggie Grace. It is based on a script by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen and was directed by Pierre Morel. Neeson plays a former Central Intelligence Agency paramilitary operative who sets about tracking down his teenage daughter after she is kidnapped by slave traders while traveling in Europe.
Seven (styled as Se7en) is a 1995 American crime film directed by David Fincher and written by Andrew Kevin Walker. The story follows a retiring detective (Morgan Freeman) and his replacement (Brad Pitt), jointly investigating a series of ritualistic murders inspired by the seven deadly sins.
By Roberta Leary and Georgia Day
Literary devices such as suspense, red herrings and cliffhangers are used extensively. "Homer's Odyssey is one of the oldest stories in the Western world and is regarded as an early prototype of the thriller." A thriller is villain driven plot, whereby he presents obstacles the hero must overcome. The genre is a fascinatingly flexible form that can undermine audience complacency through a dramatic rendering of psychological, social, familial and political tensions and encourages sheltered but sensation-hungry audiences, in Hitchcock's phrase, "to put their toe in the cold water of fear to see what it's like."
Research on chosen films
Taken is a 2008 French action thriller film starring Liam Neeson, Famke Janssen, and Maggie Grace. It is based on a script by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen and was directed by Pierre Morel. Neeson plays a former Central Intelligence Agency paramilitary operative who sets about tracking down his teenage daughter after she is kidnapped by slave traders while traveling in Europe.
Seven (styled as Se7en) is a 1995 American crime film directed by David Fincher and written by Andrew Kevin Walker. The story follows a retiring detective (Morgan Freeman) and his replacement (Brad Pitt), jointly investigating a series of ritualistic murders inspired by the seven deadly sins.
By Roberta Leary and Georgia Day
Friday 12 February 2010
Year 13 help session
During one of our media lessons we received some help from the year 13 media students. They gave us a lot of helpful information towards our preliminary task. Some points given were:
- Camera work.
- Editing.
- Updating our Blogs.
- Uploading our shots.
- Keeping all parts of the camera safe, this would be crucial to our filming.
- Planning out our shots, checking lighting, sound and to be cautious of jump shots.
- Making sure we follow the 180 degree rule to ensure viewers are not confused.
- Make sure our group is well prepared for filming. It is important to remember equipment.
- Dealing with continuity editing- making sure costumes and props are exactly the same to avoid any misunderstanding.
- We need to ensure that the camera is re wound ready for uploading, so it does not delete any of our shots.
- Save time, if you plan ahead filming will take less time and will be completed more efficiently.
- Plan and think about the mise-en-scene of all shots.
- Keep background and ambient sounds to a minimum and make sure dialogue is clear and easy to understand as the camera is not very good at picking up the sounds.
By Roberta Leary and Georgia Day
- Camera work.
- Editing.
- Updating our Blogs.
- Uploading our shots.
- Keeping all parts of the camera safe, this would be crucial to our filming.
- Planning out our shots, checking lighting, sound and to be cautious of jump shots.
- Making sure we follow the 180 degree rule to ensure viewers are not confused.
- Make sure our group is well prepared for filming. It is important to remember equipment.
- Dealing with continuity editing- making sure costumes and props are exactly the same to avoid any misunderstanding.
- We need to ensure that the camera is re wound ready for uploading, so it does not delete any of our shots.
- Save time, if you plan ahead filming will take less time and will be completed more efficiently.
- Plan and think about the mise-en-scene of all shots.
- Keep background and ambient sounds to a minimum and make sure dialogue is clear and easy to understand as the camera is not very good at picking up the sounds.
By Roberta Leary and Georgia Day
Thursday 4 February 2010
Roberta Leary
Textual Analysis- Taken
The frame starts pitch black and typography (opening credits) slide into the shot. The font is in capitals and is out of focus which gives it an eerie sense. Each sentence moves in from a different side of the frame and is followed by another piece of text. This suggests that there is going to be some sort of a chase in the film. The shot is in dead silence which adds to the complete chill.
The scene cuts to a child’s birthday party. The effect given is that of an amateur home video from a while ago, we can tell this from the way they are dressed and the mise-en-scene of their surroundings. The vision is blurry and is not as clear as the new technology we have these days. There is non-diegetic orchestral, slow, spooky music playing in the background and a sound bridge of children laughing makes it appear disturbing. The children laughing sounds like an echo which could suggest a distant memory.
The footage of the child’s birthday party continues to play with all the props in the shot to give us that impression such as, party hats, the cake and the ‘5’ candle. The spooky typography continues to flicker on the screen beside the footage. We are very quickly lead to believe that the little girl is the main character and the focus of the film as most of the filming is focused just upon her. As the video plays, the piano non-diegetic music becomes increasingly louder to emphasise the fact that the scene will be changing and something new is going to happen. The music is slow and dreary and gives us a sense of sadness. As her cake is brought towards her, the camera flickers and stretches her face it makes her appear distorted. The video appears to be fast forwarded which is an example of continuity editing. The distortion makes the video appear to be a bad memory and the music continues to drone on.
As the girl blows out of her candles, the frame flashes to white and then fades open to a different scene of a newly awoken, middle aged man. This links the man to the footage of the child’s birthday party. It could either be a memory or what he had been dreaming. He appears to be confused and looks around as a precaution. It is dim lit with low key lighting. The mise-en-scene of the apartment is dull, spaced out, modern and lonely. There are two Chinese food cartons on the table that gives us an image of the man. He may live alone and orders fast food for himself. The piano music plays continuously throughout. It is droning on and gives a depressing feel, this impacts the fact he is alone. The man fell asleep clutching a picture of a teenage girl. This could be a link back to the home footage or part of a dream. The typography fades away. There is an extreme close up of some instructions that he is scanning. The close up insists that the object or person is of some importance to the film or scene.
The non-diegetic music stops with an echo for effect as he switches the lamp on to fill the room with high key lighting. As he stands up there is an over the shoulder shot of the picture in a frame in which the man was holding as he slept. The picture of a teenager is revealed and beside the shot is the word ‘Taken’ in the same font as the other typography, but slightly bigger and more spaced out. This is the name of the film and the effect of the typography next to the picture has a huge relevance to the main story line.
Tuesday 2 February 2010
Friday 29 January 2010
Cape Fear textual analysis
Cape Fear
Immediately we hear diegetic sound of running water, then calm water, the soundtrack is then played which is very dramatic and repetitive, this is contrapuntal as the water is calm. The colour of the water is green and brown which gives us the impression it is dirty. The typography is then displayed across the screen appearing in different places. The writing is in italics which gives us the impression something is not quite right. As Robert De Niro’s name appears an eagle is pictured coming towards the camera symbolising Robert’s character as a hunter. The bird of prey is hunting and foreshadows what may happen in the film, as the bird appears the music becomes lower making the bird appear more sinister and showing importance of the bird.
The title is then displayed across the centre of the screen, the music becomes louder and crescendos’ the water is related to the title. The water is Cape Fear.
An extreme close up of an eye is then shown, it appears be under the water making us believe that that person must be drowning. The pupil is also moving which makes it look like the person is scared and struggling. An extreme close up of a mouth is then pictured also beneath the water. This is showing us all the senses and giving the impression of someone being trapped or drowning.
A close up of a man’s face is then seen higher than the eye and mouth which makes it look like the man is looking into the water rather than below the water. The music in the background diminuendos but is still repetitive. As the music gets lower, the mans face disappears drawing importance to him.
A mid shot of someone’s upper body is then seen under the water. The water then from the top of the screen drips from a murky green brown colour to blood red. The colour coding of the red screen represents danger and blood.
The water is the split on screen and as it ripples it looks like a heart beat monitor and the water is red again this foreshadows that maybe someone’s going to get hurt in the water.
Above the water there is a shadow of a man the water is green again and green represents envy and jealously maybe he wants to get revenge on someone. The mans shadow then fades and in the background under the water a drop we don’t know what it is it could be a tear or blood. The screen then rips to red again making us think the drop was blood.
While the screen is still red an extreme close up of women’s eyes is shown her eyes are also red making it appear she’s a victim. Her eyes then go from red to a photo negative effect maybe what she is saying has already happened. Her dialogue “my reminiscence” backs up the idea that what she’s saying has already happened.
In the background it is raining heavily this relates back to the theme of the lake and water and also reflects the mood of the film it is scary and sad.
The camera slowly zooms out revealing the girl bit by bit this creates tension and also draws importance to her as the central character. Her white top makes us think she is innocent and young her buttons are done up all the way to make her feel secure.
The scene then cuts to a room and the camera slowly goes down revealing more of the room. The pictures on the wall are of evil dictators there is the main one of Stalin and others of superheroes around it. The man obviously idolises them and the power they had, which maybe he wants.
A close up to mid shot of a mans back shows him working out in front of the pictures which makes him look like he is bowing to them worshipping them. On his back he also has many tattoos the main one we see is the American scales of justice which makes us question if he is guilty this is then reinforced as the camera shows his books he has which are all law books. Which show us he is patriotic and searching for justice. The books are also old which show us he is intellectual.
As the camera retracts we finally see where this is set and he is in jail.
The man turns around we see more of his tattoos. He has six lightening bolts on his hips which relates back to the super hero idea and of power, and a broken heart maybe this relates back to the girl and the revenge he wants. As we see him completely turn around the music gets lower creating more suspense.
As he leaves his cell the camera follows him around and the take is a very long one building up even more suspense. He also leads the policeman around showing his position of power and also relating back to the idea of power from the pictures. He has also been in a cell on his own isolated, which again gives us an idea he is in a position of power.
He leaves the jail in old fashioned clothes again reinforcing the idea he has been imprisoned a long time. The thunder in the back ground is pathetic fallacy creating even more suspense and making him seem menacing. As he walks towards the camera the music becomes increasingly dramatic foreshadowing the idea of calm before the storm we know something bad is going to happen.
The close up of his face links back to the face we saw in the water at the beginning, we know now he has something to do with the water, we know something bad is going to happen involving him and the water.
Georgia Day
Monday 4 January 2010
Editing our Preliminary and choice of music
Georgia Day and Roberta Leary chose to allocate a lesson completely towards the editing of our preliminary task. The footage included lots of jump cuts and the shots did not flow. Georgia and Roberta had to cut some shots to ensure that the clip would not confuse our audience. Our music that we put into our clip is contrapuntal because the music is fairly fast paced, but the action taking place is slow paced. This could be seen as ironic and humorous. We decided this makes a contrast with the serious script and the happy and exciting music. We added the music at the opening scene and the music continues to play as the girl walks towards the room. The music cuts off as the door slams shut. After a few lines of dialogue the girl gets up to leave the room, as she reaches for the handle and opens the door the music starts to play again. This is an added sense of humour.By Roberta Leary and Georgia Day.
Sunday 3 January 2010
Preliminary Task
Aim: Film and edit a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple lines of dialogue. The task should demonstrate match on action, shot reverse shot and the 180 degree rule.
For our preliminary task we had to create a short film. In this film we had to prove that we could include continuity editing, match on action, 180 degree rule and dialogue. We started by creating a story board showing exactly what we would show, the camera angles, shot time and what would happen in that shot. We had to carefully plan out exactly what would be in the shot, the shot size and the lighting. Storyboards helped us carefully plan our shots and when it came to filming we looked back at our storyboard and we all knew exactly what to do, the props needed, lighting and mise-en-scene.
In one lesson our teacher allowed us to view and make comments about the previous year 13 preliminary tasks. We learnt a lot from watching them and took notes when watching. Our notes had good points and bad points. The good points include the humorous aspects and the almost perfect cuts and flowing film. Although some dragged out too long with jump shots and the continuity did not flow easily enough. We took some notes on points we have learnt from them and they included the editing of our filming. We need to ensure that our shots make sense and flow well enough.
We all put ideas forward for the storyboard and combined all our idea to come up with our final decision, which was to record a short film which consisted of Roberta Leary and Maria Rostkowska acting out a series of short scenes. Georgia Day and Maria Rostkowska recorded the scenes and decided on the final angles of the shots. We decided to shoot part of our preliminary task in the school corridor. We picked this area because the mise-en-scene was plain therefore all the attention was on our main characters. We only included a small amount of dialogue as we did not want our film to ‘drag out’ and we did not want to bore our viewers. We are very satisfied with what we have completed so far. However there is still a lot more to do such as editing.
The production of our preliminary was fairly quick. We adapted to the filming almost straight away as it was easy to use. However we did come across some problems. In one particular shot we panned the camera across the room to follow the person inside, but the camera was stiff and jolted which has made the quality of the shot almost too bad to use. If we had a chance we would have filmed the shot over, but unfortunately we ran out of our allotted time.
The preliminary task gave us an insight on the filming side of the task. We now know how to create an effective storyboard and how to deal with the time allowance. We can now overcome our mistakes and move forward in the production of our thriller task. The actual shooting of the task was quicker than we first expected, but if we had a second chance we would have taken more time to make each shot even better. By taking a longer amount of time we could have planned precisely where we would film the shots and the props. The storyboard contributed effectively to the planning.
During the editing process we encountered very few problems one of which was erasing jump cuts. When filming we did not think about how untidy they would make our short film look, this dragged out our editing production time.
Now we have had experience in the editing process when it comes to the main task the editing will take less time and we can improve due to this experience. Filming and editing the preliminary was a very useful process as this has given us enough experience to produce a good main task.
People have found our task easy to follow and understand and also that it flows well.
The preliminary task matches our story board exactly, this proves that our short film turned out precisely as we expected.
Our preliminary task was great experience and gave us an insight into the world of filming.
By Roberta Leary and Georgia Day and Maria Rostkowska
For our preliminary task we had to create a short film. In this film we had to prove that we could include continuity editing, match on action, 180 degree rule and dialogue. We started by creating a story board showing exactly what we would show, the camera angles, shot time and what would happen in that shot. We had to carefully plan out exactly what would be in the shot, the shot size and the lighting. Storyboards helped us carefully plan our shots and when it came to filming we looked back at our storyboard and we all knew exactly what to do, the props needed, lighting and mise-en-scene.
In one lesson our teacher allowed us to view and make comments about the previous year 13 preliminary tasks. We learnt a lot from watching them and took notes when watching. Our notes had good points and bad points. The good points include the humorous aspects and the almost perfect cuts and flowing film. Although some dragged out too long with jump shots and the continuity did not flow easily enough. We took some notes on points we have learnt from them and they included the editing of our filming. We need to ensure that our shots make sense and flow well enough.
We all put ideas forward for the storyboard and combined all our idea to come up with our final decision, which was to record a short film which consisted of Roberta Leary and Maria Rostkowska acting out a series of short scenes. Georgia Day and Maria Rostkowska recorded the scenes and decided on the final angles of the shots. We decided to shoot part of our preliminary task in the school corridor. We picked this area because the mise-en-scene was plain therefore all the attention was on our main characters. We only included a small amount of dialogue as we did not want our film to ‘drag out’ and we did not want to bore our viewers. We are very satisfied with what we have completed so far. However there is still a lot more to do such as editing.
The production of our preliminary was fairly quick. We adapted to the filming almost straight away as it was easy to use. However we did come across some problems. In one particular shot we panned the camera across the room to follow the person inside, but the camera was stiff and jolted which has made the quality of the shot almost too bad to use. If we had a chance we would have filmed the shot over, but unfortunately we ran out of our allotted time.
The preliminary task gave us an insight on the filming side of the task. We now know how to create an effective storyboard and how to deal with the time allowance. We can now overcome our mistakes and move forward in the production of our thriller task. The actual shooting of the task was quicker than we first expected, but if we had a second chance we would have taken more time to make each shot even better. By taking a longer amount of time we could have planned precisely where we would film the shots and the props. The storyboard contributed effectively to the planning.
During the editing process we encountered very few problems one of which was erasing jump cuts. When filming we did not think about how untidy they would make our short film look, this dragged out our editing production time.
Now we have had experience in the editing process when it comes to the main task the editing will take less time and we can improve due to this experience. Filming and editing the preliminary was a very useful process as this has given us enough experience to produce a good main task.
People have found our task easy to follow and understand and also that it flows well.
The preliminary task matches our story board exactly, this proves that our short film turned out precisely as we expected.
Our preliminary task was great experience and gave us an insight into the world of filming.
By Roberta Leary and Georgia Day and Maria Rostkowska
Saturday 2 January 2010
Friday 1 January 2010
Preliminary Task
For our preliminary task we had to create a short film. In this film we had to prove that we could include continuity editing, match on action, 180 degree rule and dialogue. We started by creating a story board showing exactly what we would show, the camera angles, shot time and what would happen in that shot. We had to carefully plan out exactly what would be in the shot, the shot size and the lighting. We all put ideas forward for the storyboard and combined all our idea to come up with our final decision, which was to record a short film which consisted of Roberta Leary and Maria Rostkowska acting out a series of short scenes. Georgia Day and Maria Rostkowska recorded the scenes and decided on the final angles of the shots.
We decided to shoot part of our preliminary task in the school corridor. We picked this area because the mise-en-scene was plain therefore all the attention was on our main characters. We only included a small amount of dialogue as we did not want our film to ‘drag out’ and we did not want to bore our viewers.
We are very satisfied with what we have completed so far. However there is still a lot more to do such as editing.
By Georgia Day and Maria Rostkowska
We decided to shoot part of our preliminary task in the school corridor. We picked this area because the mise-en-scene was plain therefore all the attention was on our main characters. We only included a small amount of dialogue as we did not want our film to ‘drag out’ and we did not want to bore our viewers.
We are very satisfied with what we have completed so far. However there is still a lot more to do such as editing.
By Georgia Day and Maria Rostkowska
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
