26th March, Editing Scene One.
During today's lesson we began editing and putting together the shots we filmed on friday. I started to change around the colours used in the shots, as I added more black and blue to give them an eerie, mysterious effect. When we are happy with the colour, we will then be able to apply this to all of our thriller shots to produce a fantastic, fluent production piece that uses a consistant, unique colour scheme throughout. The first and second shots of the Close up of feet and the cut to Rose walking down the stairs from a simular angle did not flow well together when we uploaded them onto the Mac. We discussed this with our teacher and came to the conclusion that this was due to the 'Rule of Thirds' being broken. The first angle we shot the stairs from, was then slightly different to the second shot, producing an out of proportion and 'jaunty' transition, this was due to the lines of the stairs. We have decided that we are going to film the close up of the feet running all the way down the first set of stairs (instead of cutting to the mid/long shot) with the same inlinement so that the rule of thirds is not broken and it will then produce a more flowing piece of work. We were all very pleased with the tracking shot of the conversation between the two characters, and will keep this. However the over the shoulder shot didnt flow as well as we wanted, so we came to the conclusion that will need to film a small extra shot that will help to link the tracking and over the shoulder shot together, making them flow more successfully. The only problem that we have with reshooting is the fact that is was a very sunny day when we filmed this- plus we will need to make sure that our hair and outfit is the same so the shots fit together! Overall I feel that the filming was successful and allowed us to see that it took around 2 hours to film a very shot piece, therefore we will need to keep this in mind when filming the rest of the shots.
Lauren Taylor
This is Jordan Gale's, Lauren Taylor's and Anastazja Stanowska's media blog. We will be adding a selection of work that we have completed throughout this project to keep all our work updated online.
Monday, 26 March 2012
Editing scene one-26th March
Editing scene one-26th March
Today we uploaded and imported our clips making sure a
file was created for them. We imported them into bin on final cut express and
started producing our sub clips. When putting them all together we found the continuity
was shocking. We definitely could not use anything we had produced because even
though some shots looked continual and did flow others did not and a sunny day
was not in the forecast, so re shooting the whole of the scene again was going
to have to be done. We have planned to film the party scene in half term on the
11th of April and we should then be able to film the rest and commence
with the editing when we go back to school.
By Jordan Gale
Update on the media production process - 26th March
In today's double lesson we have started editing
out first scene that we filmed on Friday, which was fun to play around with all
the effects and see what are the best editing effects to use. However we had a
few problems with cutting our shots so they all flow well, so we had to work on
that for a while. Overall we have decided to film the scene one again, because
we now know what camera angles and shots work the best, so we can film it again
considering that we need to ensure we use the rule of thirds and 180 degree
rule. We're hoping to film this scene again on Thursday.
Anastazja Stanowska
Anastazja Stanowska
Friday, 23 March 2012
23rd March- Filming Scene One
23rd March, Filming Scene One.
Today we were successful and stuck to our Timeline and Plan for filming as we filmed scene one- which is situated by the fire escape and front of the school grounds.
The storyboard was very useful, yet as we filmed certain planned shots needed to be changed so the filming was more fluent. We decided to not film the section where Rose is washing her hands, as we will film this with the other inside section (Scene 2- Bedroom/Bathroom, after Maddie and Rose have walked home). We chose to dive straight into the action and not include an extablishing shot, instead we started with a close up of Rose's feet walking down the fire excape stairs- when we start to edit this, the 'bang' of the door opening will be echoed and increased in volume to immediatley start foreshadowing danger. The next shot consists of a long shot of Rose running down the stairs from a simular angle. We then moved the camera to a long shot, moving off from the stairs and shooting from the ground, facing the stairs to provide a clip of Rose angrily walking and holding onto the banister, before it then cuts to a close up of Roses hand sliding down the banister of the second set of stairs, before she meets Maddie at the bottom. We made sure that we kept the 180 Degree rule in mind, and chose our fourth wall which we would not see whilst filming. The next section to film was a consistant tracking shot from a slight angle and a long shot facing the characters Rose and Maddie while they had a conversation on the way out from school. This shot, again relates to the tracking shot used in 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels'. This conversation gives the audience information about both of the characters and what is happening in thier lives, without specifically stating it- for example we know that they are both having 'boy trouble' and they are both students at 6th form etc. We then thought that we could incorporate an over the shoulder shot from behind Maddie to see Roses' shocked face as Maddie steps out into the road while a car is approaching. Maddie then turns around and gets pulled back by Rose as the we can see a shot of the car driving past. This tracking shot was originally going to be a long shot, however we felt that the over the shoulder shot would allow the audience to become more involved with the action and want to continue watching. In our lesson on monday we are going to upload our shots onto Final Cut Express and start to play around with certain aspects of Editing before we then start to film scene 2 and 3.
Lauren Taylor.
Today we were successful and stuck to our Timeline and Plan for filming as we filmed scene one- which is situated by the fire escape and front of the school grounds.
The storyboard was very useful, yet as we filmed certain planned shots needed to be changed so the filming was more fluent. We decided to not film the section where Rose is washing her hands, as we will film this with the other inside section (Scene 2- Bedroom/Bathroom, after Maddie and Rose have walked home). We chose to dive straight into the action and not include an extablishing shot, instead we started with a close up of Rose's feet walking down the fire excape stairs- when we start to edit this, the 'bang' of the door opening will be echoed and increased in volume to immediatley start foreshadowing danger. The next shot consists of a long shot of Rose running down the stairs from a simular angle. We then moved the camera to a long shot, moving off from the stairs and shooting from the ground, facing the stairs to provide a clip of Rose angrily walking and holding onto the banister, before it then cuts to a close up of Roses hand sliding down the banister of the second set of stairs, before she meets Maddie at the bottom. We made sure that we kept the 180 Degree rule in mind, and chose our fourth wall which we would not see whilst filming. The next section to film was a consistant tracking shot from a slight angle and a long shot facing the characters Rose and Maddie while they had a conversation on the way out from school. This shot, again relates to the tracking shot used in 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels'. This conversation gives the audience information about both of the characters and what is happening in thier lives, without specifically stating it- for example we know that they are both having 'boy trouble' and they are both students at 6th form etc. We then thought that we could incorporate an over the shoulder shot from behind Maddie to see Roses' shocked face as Maddie steps out into the road while a car is approaching. Maddie then turns around and gets pulled back by Rose as the we can see a shot of the car driving past. This tracking shot was originally going to be a long shot, however we felt that the over the shoulder shot would allow the audience to become more involved with the action and want to continue watching. In our lesson on monday we are going to upload our shots onto Final Cut Express and start to play around with certain aspects of Editing before we then start to film scene 2 and 3.
Lauren Taylor.
Script, 16th March.
16th March- Script.
During todays lesson we finished typing up our script together that we will use for our thriller. We composed the script as a group so could make sure we were all pleased with it. Our thriller focuses on a ordinary situation that leads to the unsuspected death of Maddie, however we are going to include aspects of editing that foreshadow danger and let the audience know that something isn't right. We have included everyday conversation in the script to allow it to flow- I feel that this can be related to the opening scene of 'The Birds' by Alfred Hitchcock that we analysed, as it starts with an everyday situation with 'normal' conversation, playing on Hitchcocks famous quote 'Ordinary people in extraordinary situations'. Also comparing this to Alfred Hitchcock, we have decided that myself and Jordan with be playing the main characters (Rose and Maddie), as Hitchcock often stars in his own films. Anastazja will also be playing another friend in the movie (bedroom scene, getting ready for the party), as we will all then be able to take it in turns to film sections of our thriller.
Lauren Taylor.
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Filming scene 1-23rd March
Filming scene 1-23rd March
Today we filmed scene 1. It was ECM day at school so
we had the whole day free to film, the weather was hot and the sky was blue so
it was a perfect day for filming. Filming scene one where I walk out of school
and the small conversation me and Maddie have took longer to film than expected.
Certain factors such a people getting in the way ruined our shots, the tripod
was in the background at one point, we would mess our lines up occasionally or
laugh. But once we got shots we were satisfied with we stopped filming. The
script didn’t take to long to learn which took me by surprise. Myself and Lauren
read over it a couple of times together before filming and we had grasped the script
strongly, this was to our advantage as we could proceed to film. We will now import
these onto the mac next lesson creating an organised file so it doesn’t become muddled
and confusing to produce. We will then make our sub clips and begin to put our thriller
together.
By Jordan Gale
Storyboard
15th March.
After completing our preliminary work, we then moved onto creating our storyboards for the opening of our thriller.
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We managed to keep on target with our Timeline as we completed this storyboard by the 16th March. The opening scene of our thriller is also used at the end of our entire opening too, we all felt that this added a further sense of mystery which would keep the thriller enticing to watch. We decided to add a zoom into the eye of the main charcter (Rose) washing her hands- then fade to black as the film then flicks back to the past to 'recall' the story of how the character has ended up in the situation she is- washing blood off her hands in the sink. This relates to Barton Fink by the Coen Brothers as they also used this extreme zoom then fade to black, it is very effective and will look fantastic if we are able to complete this- we may have to practise quite a few different shots to be able to complete this. Another shot we have decided to use is the tracking shot that we took as insperation from Guy Ritchies Crime film, 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels'. We are using this to follow the two characters (Rose and Maddie) from 6th form, this allows the audience to grasp an understanding of the charcters lives as we follow a general everyday conversation that they have with each other. Yet we also wanted to include foreshadowing of danger and mystery by including aspects that imply the safety of Maddie, for example as she is talking to Rose she nearly walks into a car as she steps out into the road, Rose must pull her back- here we use a over the shoulder shot of Maddie to show Roses' expression of fear, then a reaction shot to the car driving past. Another example of this 'foreshadowing' would be when they are back at Maddies House and the other friends arrive, one of them appears in the mirror behind Rose, making her jump- a 2 second moment of silence will allows the audience to see how Rose is becoming quite jumpy and unsettled- giving away clues to later actions. The smash of a picture frame and a close up to show the crack on Maddies face, again suggests that something may happen to Maddie. This idea was taken from the 'Final Destination' Films as in the 5th film, to foreshadow danger of one of the characters, a picture of her and a friend smashes, leaving a crack on her face in the picture. Later on in the film she then dies by hitting her face on the cracked windscreen of a car. The hot tub scene and party uses a panning shot from a high angle to establish the setting, allowing the audience to familarise themselves with where they are. Previously a sound bridge will be used form the ipod in the bedroom (close up shot) to then following on to the party scene when the music is playing louder. We decided to include another tracking shot where Maddie becomes panicked as she cannot find Rose, she pushes through the 'blurred' (edited) crowd of the party to outside, we felt that this would show Maddies vunrable side, again forshadowing some sort of danger. The final scene we chose to use a p-o-v tracking hand held shot including blurred and distorted jump cuts and clips of the dark setting, as we wanted the audience to be puzzled and confused to who actually dies and what happens to the two characters after Maddies drags her drunk and high best friend form the party. The close-up blood stained hand than runs down the telephone box leaves the audience wondering if this is the character who was washing her hands at the start, or whether it was the other. As we start to film we may decide to change certain sections, transitions, edits and camerawork as we may find that what we have planned originally doesnt work as well as we thought, and other angles and camerawork suit the scene better and more fluently.
Update on the media production process - 23th March
Today we filmed our first part of the thriller which was the scene 1. We
think it went very successfully. It took us around 2 hours to film it. We didn’t
have many problems, and stuck to the story board that we’ve created, however we
changed a few of the shots that we didn’t plan to use, however I’ll explain
that in more detail in another note when to show it in more detail. The few problems
that occurred were to try getting the timing and script correct, also the
shots. We had to take several shots before we managed to get a decent shot that
we all really liked. We filmed the part where Rose (one of the main characters)
walks down the stairs but she’s not happy, then we meets her friend Molly (also
one of the main characters) then they have a conversation, which is how we
planned to do our opening sequence. We have shots of close ups of Rose walking
down the stairs but it’s unclear who it is in till she meets Molly. We also done
shots such as extreme close up on Rose’s hand, because we are trying to link
this to the genre of the film – we’re planning to add scary/mysterious sound at
this point of the scene. We also did shots such as tracking shot and over the
shoulder whilst the two main characters exchange dialog. Overall out first
session on filming has been very successful. We are planning to film next week
at Lauren’s house to do our scene two where the two main characters and other 3
friends are getting ready for a party.
Anastazja Stanowska
Anastazja Stanowska
Update of the media production process - 20th March
In today's double lesson all three of us went to the computer room
and typed up our script which took us a whole lesson, and then on the second
lesson we practiced our script, as we’ve decided that Lauren and Jordan will be
the main two characters in our thriller. We have also sorted out the dates of
when we’re planned to film, so we’ve also added that onto the timeline. We’ve
aiming to film our first part of the thriller this Friday in school; however
this will depend whether we’ll get the permission to film on school sites. We
have also arranged dates for one of our other main part of the scene which will
be in Lauren’s garden – hoping to film this part on the Wednesday 11th
April.
Anastazja Stanowska
Anastazja Stanowska
Update on the media production process - 16th March
On the 16th March we completed our
script which we were hoping to, as this is the date that we wrote for the
deadline on the timeline. We only had a single lesson today, so we practised
the script all together, because we’ve decided that all three of us will be
taking part in our production. The reason for this is because we really like
the way Alfred Hitchcock appears in
his films from time to time. However we’ve decided that Jordan and Lauren will
be the main two characters.
(Add script)
Anastazja Stanowska
(Add script)
Anastazja Stanowska
Update on the media production process - 15th March
In our lesson on the 15th March we
finished our story boarding, which was actually earlier than we have planned,
however we we’re very happy that we’ve finished it. We also finished our
timeline which allowed us to know that we will keep on track of all of the
tasks that we have to complete in this project. We also began to discuss
different ideas for the script and we began to write it out in the double
lesson. However this took some time, because we needed to make sure that our
scrip is correct and good.
Anastazja Stanowska
Anastazja Stanowska
Update on the media production process - Timeline and story boarding - 13th March
Timeline and Story boarding
In our double lesson today we all worked as a team to create the storyboarding and timeline. It's was important to create a storyboard for our five minute opening thriller as we need to ensure that we work out each shot and all the little details about it, such as what type of shot it is (high angle, mid angle, low angle, mid shot, close up), how long the shot will be e.g. 2 seconds, what soundtracks or sound will be played on that shot e.g. non diegetic or sound bridge, and any extra comments that needed to be added. We have drawn out little pictures of the scene/shot that we hope to film when we start to film the thriller, however some of these could possibly change depending on if the shots and angles that we’ve chosen would work.
We’ve also created a timeline, which is very important, because it allows us to plan and manage out time very well and keep up to date with every work. It’s helped us be more organized and understand how much time we have in till the deadline for this project, which is on the 12th of May. Me and two of the members in my group have written out a big timetable with all the important dates that we are hoping and need to achieve a certain aim or plan, for example, we have written down that we want our story boarding done by Friday 16th March, and all the filming done and put onto the computer before Tuesday 24th April.
By Anastazja Stanowska
Key techniques to use in production
Key techniques to use in production
These are a few of key techniques that we might use in our production;
- Focus pull; moves or shifts towards an object whilst the out ground goes into focus and the in ground goes out of pull.
- Depth of field; need to be sufficient to allow the zoom to take effect. When you start with either foreground or background in focus and you zoom in or out of shift focus to a secondary objective.
- Box office opener; it’s used to write a stars name at the beginning of the film to make the audience want to watch the movie.
- Willing suspension of disbelief;something that builds up and nothing happens.
- Transient characters; characters who appear on the screen for a short period of time
Anastazja Stanowska
These are a few of key techniques that we might use in our production;
- Focus pull; moves or shifts towards an object whilst the out ground goes into focus and the in ground goes out of pull.
- Depth of field; need to be sufficient to allow the zoom to take effect. When you start with either foreground or background in focus and you zoom in or out of shift focus to a secondary objective.
- Box office opener; it’s used to write a stars name at the beginning of the film to make the audience want to watch the movie.
- Willing suspension of disbelief;something that builds up and nothing happens.
- Transient characters; characters who appear on the screen for a short period of time
Anastazja Stanowska
Sunday, 18 March 2012
Filming preliminary twice
Filming preliminary twice
When filming our first preliminary we made sure we did
all that was asked of us in the brief but when showing the teacher they told us
we needed to base it on a director and use influence from our studies. So re
filmed one in the style for a Sci-fi action thriller, where I dramatically
enter a room, roll over the table and have a conversation with the victim,
within this we have captured all that is necessary by making sure we have shot reverse
shot and have experimented with different angles and tracking shots. I think we
have made our preliminary very successful, although editing it in final cut express
we found challenging. We have now found where most tools are so when we come to
edit our actual thriller it should be a lot quicker as we know our way around
the program.
By Jordan Gale
Preliminary
In our double lesson we have started to
create our preliminary, which we found very fun to do. We have started by
playing around and getting to know the equipment that we’re planning to film
our thriller production with. We used Nikon D3100 to record the clips, and we
borrowed the schools tripod. The main idea of a preliminary is to film
character/s walking through a door and having a conversation with another
person or people, and this can have been done in any theme, but we’ve decided
to link it and try focus on make it on a thriller, because that’s what we’ll be
making in our media production. In the double lesson we have filmed a character running into a
room with a gun in their hands, because they were trying to find another
person who has stolen something from them. Then the person rolled over the
table and jumped onto the floor - we used a low angle to shot this part. When
the main character found the person, she grabbed the other one by her throat
and asked her a question; however the thief acted like they couldn't speak
English, and at the end of the preliminary a person runs into the room
shouting. Throughout filming the preliminary, we used different types of shots
and rules, such as 180 degree rule, rule of thirds, low angle, mid shots, over
the shoulder, extreme close ups, close ups, long shots, two shots, and there
was a dialogue; conversation throughout all of the filming. We did consider the CLAMPS, however we didn't have the right props and costumes at the time when we filmed the prelimniary, however we definitely will in the real production. The preliminary has
helped our group understand how to use the equipment correctly, and what types
of shots would be best to use in our productions for the thriller. I've taken some screenshots to show the different types of camera angles and shot that we've used, which are shown below.
We started off by taking an action shot of the girl opening
the door and running into the room with a gun in her hands. We decided to open
the sequence like this, because this is what the preliminary brief requirements
are.
For the next shot we used a tracking shot to track the girl
running, which makes the audience intrigued in what’s going to happen as the camera
is following the character, which also makes it feel more realistic.
This shot was taken at a low angle, which has made the
character look bigger, because the camera is below the character. At this point
in the preliminary, the girl has just jumped off the table and she’s looking
around to decide where to go next.
This is one of favourite shots that we as a group all really
like, because it’s a long shot, as the whole body is seen in the shot, however
the girl is crawling so we’ve decided to use hand-free camera shot to make the
scene look more interesting and creepy when she walks, because we are aiming to
product this preliminary in a thriller style.
After the girl has crawled, she finds the thief that she’s
been looking for and jumps onto the table to attack the thief. When she approaches
the thief, she grabs her by the neck – this is he shot that’s shown above. It’s
been filmed in a high angle to show the action that is taking place.
As the conversation continues between the two characters, we
decided to take another over the shoulder shot to show what the other character
replies. This type of shot is very good to use when there are two characters
filmed, because it’s a close enough shot to show the characters emotions
carefully, but it also shows the other character that is in the scene.
Then we shot two characters together to show both of their
facial expressions. We felt that this was the most appropriate shot to use,
because it shows both of the characters and their facial expressions closely.
The last scene was shot in a long shot to get the audience
familiar with the place where this can be filmed. It also has created a more
dramatic effect, because as the girl runs into the room, it looks like she’s
very small in a big room, because the shot was filmed slightly in a high angle.
As
the girl runs into the room she shouts saying ‘Stop, we found them’.
Anastazja Stanowska
Preliminary
We used the opening to this film to help us with our Final Preliminary. |
The first Preliminary that we completed consisted of a wide variety of shots- for example high angle to show power, tracking, shot reverse shot of a conversation etc which also met the requirements of the brief- a character crossing a room and having a conversation with another character etc.. We used our own camera to film as we felt the quality would enhance and improve the quality of shots (Nikon D3100). Editing this on Final Cut Express on the Apple Macs proved a challenge for us as we have not had previous experience with these, however we completed our first prelimanary (this will be uploaded on our blog also), and discussed what we had done with out teachers we discovered that it would be more beneficial if we based our preliminary on certain Directors of a Thriller movie, to help us practise and re-inact shots they had used. After dicussing this as a group, we decided to choose 'Lock, Stock and Two smoking Barrels' (1998) Directed by Guy Ritchie as the basis for our secondary preliminary, which would be our Final Preliminary for this project.
We were all particulary fond of this sequence in the opening where it consists of two characters running down stairs, yet as the screenshots I have collected here show screenshot number 1 shows the character hitting into the side and running at 'normal speed', then screenshot number 2 shows how Guy Ritchie 'slows down' this part of the film where the other character hits into him and the suitcase of items fall out and fly into the air. I find this shot fasinating as it is prolonged to hold the audience in suspense, as well as adding more breaks and 'jump cut' almost into the film so we are reminded it is not 'real life' (a bout de souffle technique). This is an idea wanted to take forward into our preliminary, yet felt this would be a compelling sequence if we could add this into our actual opening to a thriller instead. The third screenshot, again shows the sequence at 'normal' speed as the characters run off. Another section we found interesting was the title - as it used a 'Typewriter' font on a black background, and it used the technique where the typewriter is 'typing' the title on screen while the audience is watching. I feel that this adds a mysterious and unsettling touch to the movie, also the stark black and white contrast immediatley suggests a conflict that is going to arise in this movie. On Final Cut Express we found a tool that enabled us to add this feature, yet we we unsuccessful at 'superimposing' this onto the start of our preliminary. Therefore we are going to complete research (i.e Youtube Tutorials) on how to add this to our actual thriller opening. Finally the MAIN source of insperation we used from Guy Ritchie's film, was SCREENSHOT 6. This consisted of a single tracking shot that followed the characters into the shop. Relating this to our preliminary, we used a single tracking shot following the 'evil' character as she crouched and travelled along the floor.
Screenshot 1- Normal Speed |
Screenshot 2- Slow Speed |
Screenshot 3- Normal Speed Again |
Screenshot 4 |
Screenshot 5 |
Screenshot 6 -Tracking Single Take |
Tracking shot, single take |
This screenshot has been taken from our preliminary as we used the tracking hand-held style camerawork to complete this section of the 'spy' crouching along the floor. We chose to use this low angle which put the audience on the same 'level', yet this, however, is quickly dismissed as it is followed by a very high angle shot- (taking insperation from The Autuer Thoery and Alfred Hitchcocks use of this shot), putting the audience below them, showing this characters dominance in this sequence. The over the shoulder shot we used in our preliminary (Screenshot 8) can also be compared to the opening sequence of this movie and Guy Ritchie includes a selection of over the shoulder shots when the dealer is trying to sell hie products on the street. Overall our preliminary helped us significantly with shots that we can use in our actual thriller, as well as making us familular with Final Cut Express and confident with using the tripod, camera and dialogue.
Screenshot 7- Over the Shoulder Shot |
Screenshot 8 Lauren Taylor. |
Saturday, 17 March 2012
The script –finished script 16th, finished storyboarding 15th
Producing the script, we sat down in our lesson and
all contributed to dialogue and stage actions. We had already come up with not
only our 5 minute clip but whole movie plan, so we had a foundation to start
and put into dialogue. We created two main characters Rose and Maddie who are
best friends, from this they have 3 other girls they hang around with, a love interest
for Rose and Maddie is added in as we are stylising our thriller on a teen
movie. Doug and Dan are the two love interests although Dan is not featured in
the thriller but both his and Doug’s part are of equal status. They are only
really there to set the ordinary scene (equilibrium) before things become
shaken. Extras for the party scene will also been included but as they have no
lines or very little lines they have not been mentioned on the script itself.
Once we had hand written our script we used another lesson to go up to the computer
room and type it up. We also named our thriller oracle whilst typing our script
up in the computer room. It means something hidden and throughout the movie the
real narrative is hidden from the audience as they are unaware of Maddie’s
death or the fact Rose killed her.
Since we first produced the script many changes have been made to script significantly.
Since we first produced the script many changes have been made to script significantly.
Tuesday, 13 March 2012
Batman analysis
Batman; The Dark Knight
We looked at the Batman; The Dark Knight to get some
inspiration, ideas and understanding of how it’s eye catching to start
thrillers. As this is an action thriller it meant that the beginning of the
film was all done very quickly and a lot happens in the first 5 minutes of the
film. I’ve attached a clip below to show the first five minutes that my group
watched to get an understanding of what type of shots, sound and lighting is
good to use.
The two scanned images below show the work that I've done to
analyse the thriller in my media lesson. I wrote down the main shot types that
they've used and which ones were mostly interesting, and spoke about CLAMPS a
little bit.
At the beginning of the film, the very first shot is an
establishing shot used which shows the city and where scene has been set which
makes it easy for the audience to understand that the scene is in a city where
there is a lot of people. Then as the camera zooms onto a window, it breaks
because a man shoots into it to break it. Then there is a high angle shown of
the two people loading their bags and guns. My whole group really liked this
type of shot, because it shows what the characters are doing but also what’s
happening in the background, so we’re hoping to use this type of angle in our
own work when we create the thriller.
High angle shot
We all really loved the idea how the murders and robbers
face’s aren’t show, which leaves the audiences thinking what has happen, and
from this section of the film we got some ideas for our thriller. Throughout the
whole five minutes there is dialogue about the joker and the robbery which
keeps the audiences interested. There is also tense music playing which creates
a tense atmosphere, making the audience think that something bad is going to
happen soon.
There is also a lot of tracking shots used which my whole group really likes, because we’ve seen many thrillers that use tracking shot and it looks very effective, so we’re hoping to use this type of shot at some point in our thriller too.
There is also a lot of tracking shots used which my whole group really likes, because we’ve seen many thrillers that use tracking shot and it looks very effective, so we’re hoping to use this type of shot at some point in our thriller too.
Tracking shot - Single shot
They have also used many close ups to point out the objects
which are important in the film such as the bag which is shown on the screen
print below. We found this shot very interesting, because it engages the audience
with the little details of the film. So we’re hoping to use some close up to
show particular parts in our thriller.
Overall I think after analysing this film, it really has
helped our group to realise what types of shots are good to use and what would
look most effective, also including the CLAMPS as all these elements are also
very important. We will continue to research other thrillers, to fully
understand what types of shots and sound is good to use in the first five
minutes of the thriller, especially in the opening sequence as that is quite crucial
to get the audience’s attention.
By Anastazja Stanowska
Sunday, 11 March 2012
Preliminary ideas sheet-11th March
Preliminary ideas sheet-11th March
Today we formed the basic idea of our thriller. Not
only did we come up with the first 5 minutes that we need to film we also
thought ahead and came up with the rest of the movie. Of course some ideas may
change as filming some parts may not work, but we can experiment with different
ideas when we come to filming. The thriller will start with the main charter
Rose washing her hands in the sink as they are covered in blood, the camera
will zoom in from behind and then shows her face through a mirror and zooms
into her eye and fades to black to show the time change into the next clip. The
school will be established as this meets the codes and conventions of a
thriller and shows the equilibrium where they are in an ordinary situation.
Rose will finish school and come running down the stairs to meet Maddie her
best friend. We will empathise her foot steps and hand sliding down the stairs
to create and a sinister and chilling effect. Rose will meet Maddie and they
will have a conversation walking home from school. We will have motifs
foreshadowing Maddie’s death and the first will start when Maddie walks to into
the road and nearly gets run over but Rose manages to save her. They continue
walking home but it will cut to later on in their journey and they start to get
ready for a party round Maddie’s house. A photo will fall on the floor and
there will be a rip by Maddie’s face, this also foreshadows events that will
later follow, then an iPod will be switched on in the room they are getting
ready and it will fade into the party scene creating a sound bridge. We intend
to have dub step music in the background that will be homemade so it is
copyright free. Drugs will be taken and screams will be heard, Rose kills
Maddie and a bloody hand will appear but the audience will be unaware that
Maddie is dead. It will then cut back to the morning where Rose is washing her
bloody hands in the sink. The audience may associate Maddie’s bloody hand for Roses
and will not be aware of the events that have taken place. This will be the end
of our thriller but to continue, Rose and her friends find out that Maddie is
missing. They try and figure out what has happened to get there friend back,
but someone in school has a video of Rose killing Maddie (which no one at this
point is aware of as Rose can’t remember the previous night) and blackmails
them by asking for drugs and money in exchange for a clue. In the end he asks
for sex which the girls refuse so in the school assembly the clip of Rose
killing Maddie is revealed in front of the whole year. This is our idea so far
and we will develop our first five minutes into different scenes. We aim to include
a focus pull at the party and hope to establish that rose and Maddie are best friends
within this whole film, so we need to represent their closeness. By creating a
script we will gain a clearer understanding of the different scenes that we
need to film. We will also make a story board of potential shots we may
include, but I am sure many things will be developed and changed in the process
of producing and directing our thriller. We aim to employ a cast of actors and
want to hold an audition.
Update- We created our script and storyboard and came up with a clearer storyline with more structured scenes as the conversation on the way home was devised and the getting ready at Maddie’s has been organised. The conversation at the beginning is about boys as we have based our thriller on a teen thriller movie and the party scene continues the boy drama situation as Rose bumps into her love interest that is discussed as they are walking home. Rose goes outside with him where they flirt and are offered weed. Maddie comes looking for them and tells Rose she is crossing the line. Rose breaks out into a drunken scene and Maddie pulls her away from the party outside, where they ran and scream and the camera goes blurry so the audience can’t see the killing as Rose kills Maddie in a drunken state but all the audience see is a bloody hand originally going to be filmed on a letter box in a layby but because of filming restrictions we ended up filming it outside my house on a tree trunk. The audience sees Rose washing her hands covered in blood at the beginning of the movie and end, they may associate Maddie’s hand when she dies with Roses, this ensures a twist at the end as we have misleads the audience. The storyboard was not kept to entirely as some shots could not be achieved, we added in a lot of framing that was not storyboarded and adapted to the location filming as this changed from our original plans (this has been talked about on the blog previously) We also decided to cast ourselves and friends as the actors as this was easiest considering that employing a cast would be difficult because they may have not been free on the dates we needed to film. There were also a lot of re shoots that needed to be filmed immediately and having ourselves as actors this was easy as we were always available. The costumes went to plan as we decided to wear casual smart clothes leaving school as we are in sixth form (and this is established from the establishing shot before hand of the sixth form centre sign) and party clothes for the party scene. I was originally wearing a dress in the script but wore a skirt so we adapted the script as we went along depending on little things we needed to change. For example we didn’t have vodka and coke so we changed it to Malibu and pineapple. It was small changes like these that were made in the script whilst filming. Overall I think we were very organised with our planning and adapted the things necessary as we went along. I think our thriller has been successful because of our organization.
Update- We created our script and storyboard and came up with a clearer storyline with more structured scenes as the conversation on the way home was devised and the getting ready at Maddie’s has been organised. The conversation at the beginning is about boys as we have based our thriller on a teen thriller movie and the party scene continues the boy drama situation as Rose bumps into her love interest that is discussed as they are walking home. Rose goes outside with him where they flirt and are offered weed. Maddie comes looking for them and tells Rose she is crossing the line. Rose breaks out into a drunken scene and Maddie pulls her away from the party outside, where they ran and scream and the camera goes blurry so the audience can’t see the killing as Rose kills Maddie in a drunken state but all the audience see is a bloody hand originally going to be filmed on a letter box in a layby but because of filming restrictions we ended up filming it outside my house on a tree trunk. The audience sees Rose washing her hands covered in blood at the beginning of the movie and end, they may associate Maddie’s hand when she dies with Roses, this ensures a twist at the end as we have misleads the audience. The storyboard was not kept to entirely as some shots could not be achieved, we added in a lot of framing that was not storyboarded and adapted to the location filming as this changed from our original plans (this has been talked about on the blog previously) We also decided to cast ourselves and friends as the actors as this was easiest considering that employing a cast would be difficult because they may have not been free on the dates we needed to film. There were also a lot of re shoots that needed to be filmed immediately and having ourselves as actors this was easy as we were always available. The costumes went to plan as we decided to wear casual smart clothes leaving school as we are in sixth form (and this is established from the establishing shot before hand of the sixth form centre sign) and party clothes for the party scene. I was originally wearing a dress in the script but wore a skirt so we adapted the script as we went along depending on little things we needed to change. For example we didn’t have vodka and coke so we changed it to Malibu and pineapple. It was small changes like these that were made in the script whilst filming. Overall I think we were very organised with our planning and adapted the things necessary as we went along. I think our thriller has been successful because of our organization.
By Jordan Gale
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