Monday 26 January 2009
First Filming Session 26.01.09
Today we had our first session of filming. After booking out our equipment we were ready to go and set off to do our first shot at Tower Bridge. We managed to get three long shots (establishing shots)where we panned across the Tower Bridge. We then went over to City hall where we got a better shot of the bridge. After failed attemmpts to film some of the buildings in the More London area because we never had any permission we then decided to set off home. Our first session of filming never went exactly as planned to the production schedule but we learned how to use out time better for our next session.
Pitch
Once a writer has developed an idea for a new film they will present it to film producers in the hope that they will be give the money to make the film. Last week we were given the task to create a pitch for our own individual film openings.
Our Pitch
Our thriller will be called Corrupt and is a political/ government corruption thriller. We wanted our thriller opening to be simple but effective. Male are usually over represented in government corruption/political thrillers. Because our group is female dominated we decided to stray away from this and add something different to this genre.
The general idea for the thriller opening is to have a woman (Stephanie) who is a government agent on a “mission”, this will be given away by her mise-en-scene. First we will begin with an establishing shot of the Tower Bridge.
We will slowly pan across the bridge to establish the location and setting. To link back to the genre we will have another establishing shot of government or political related buildings such as the MI5, House of Parliament, an Embassy or the Big Ben.
Our next shot will be a long shot of a busy street; slowly Stephanie will come into the shot and be the main focus. We will see Stephanie walking along this street until she gets a phone call and is given instructions from an omniscient character. At this point when editing we will add a voiceover. In the voiceover we will hear a man giving her instructions to collect a file; he will state the name of the building, the number of the floor, the office name, the name of the file and the time she must collect it by. Throughout the opening we will see shots of the places he has mentioned. This is to create tension so that the audience knows she is getting closer and closer to the end of her “mission”.
When the omniscient voice mentions the time we will then switch to a shot of the Big Ben to show the time, this will also add to creating suspense because the audience will know that she hasn’t got that much time left to complete the “mission” and will be curious as to how she will get the file without being caught.
Next we will track Stephanie walking and then have a shot of the building she will enter. We will then see Stephanie approaching the building and then going into the lift. Next we will have a medium close up of the floor number and then with the camera on the floor Stephanie will walk towards the camera. The camera will then pan up the door to focus on the name of the door. At this moment the audience will be on the edge of their seats with nervousness itching to find out what’s going on next.
We will then get a shot of the office and once again slowly pan across the office to establish the setting. Through a range of shots we will see Stephanie approaching the filing cabinet, searching through it and then finally holding the file. We will then have a shot of the computer and Stephanie on the computer. Suddenly there will be a loud bang of a door slamming and we will have a close-up of Stephanie’s face. However we will not see the person coming through the door because we want to leave the audience in suspense so they will be thrilling to continue watching. The close-up of the expression on her face will show that she has been caught.
Throughout the opening we will use natural light. A wide range of shots will be used but mainly close-ups and point of view shots to create suspense. Point of view shots create suspense because we are left in suspense also. Along with the voiceover we will also have subtle sinister music to create suspense. Our thriller film will be aimed at women aged 18-40 but also men. This is because they will love to see women in action, for example Lara Croft movies.
Our Pitch
Our thriller will be called Corrupt and is a political/ government corruption thriller. We wanted our thriller opening to be simple but effective. Male are usually over represented in government corruption/political thrillers. Because our group is female dominated we decided to stray away from this and add something different to this genre.
The general idea for the thriller opening is to have a woman (Stephanie) who is a government agent on a “mission”, this will be given away by her mise-en-scene. First we will begin with an establishing shot of the Tower Bridge.
We will slowly pan across the bridge to establish the location and setting. To link back to the genre we will have another establishing shot of government or political related buildings such as the MI5, House of Parliament, an Embassy or the Big Ben.
Our next shot will be a long shot of a busy street; slowly Stephanie will come into the shot and be the main focus. We will see Stephanie walking along this street until she gets a phone call and is given instructions from an omniscient character. At this point when editing we will add a voiceover. In the voiceover we will hear a man giving her instructions to collect a file; he will state the name of the building, the number of the floor, the office name, the name of the file and the time she must collect it by. Throughout the opening we will see shots of the places he has mentioned. This is to create tension so that the audience knows she is getting closer and closer to the end of her “mission”.
When the omniscient voice mentions the time we will then switch to a shot of the Big Ben to show the time, this will also add to creating suspense because the audience will know that she hasn’t got that much time left to complete the “mission” and will be curious as to how she will get the file without being caught.
Next we will track Stephanie walking and then have a shot of the building she will enter. We will then see Stephanie approaching the building and then going into the lift. Next we will have a medium close up of the floor number and then with the camera on the floor Stephanie will walk towards the camera. The camera will then pan up the door to focus on the name of the door. At this moment the audience will be on the edge of their seats with nervousness itching to find out what’s going on next.
We will then get a shot of the office and once again slowly pan across the office to establish the setting. Through a range of shots we will see Stephanie approaching the filing cabinet, searching through it and then finally holding the file. We will then have a shot of the computer and Stephanie on the computer. Suddenly there will be a loud bang of a door slamming and we will have a close-up of Stephanie’s face. However we will not see the person coming through the door because we want to leave the audience in suspense so they will be thrilling to continue watching. The close-up of the expression on her face will show that she has been caught.
Throughout the opening we will use natural light. A wide range of shots will be used but mainly close-ups and point of view shots to create suspense. Point of view shots create suspense because we are left in suspense also. Along with the voiceover we will also have subtle sinister music to create suspense. Our thriller film will be aimed at women aged 18-40 but also men. This is because they will love to see women in action, for example Lara Croft movies.
First filimg session for Thriller
Today we did our first filimg session for our actual thriller. Last lesson we made a production schedule so the first place we had to go to was Tower Bridge. We did a few establishing shots of london and Tower Bridge. We panned across the whole of the bridge so the audience can clearly see where we were. We were not allowed to film some of the buildings around City Hall but they gave us permission to film City Hall itself so we did and hot of Stephanie walking into the frame of the camera and we panned as she walked towards City Hall. We re-did this a couple of times and then got closer to the building and saw her get near the entrance. Because we are not allowed to film inside City Hall we will prbably have to cut from her just about to go through the doors, to a shot of her walking up some stairs to an office.
Monday 19 January 2009
19/01/2009 Stephanie Brand
This lesson was about our presentation to the class about our ideas of our opening sequences.
We all had time at the begining of the lesson to prepare our presentations and to finish off our storyboards, to wirte and to discuss all of our ideas.
Every group had ten minutes each to present our ideas to the class and a couple of our class mates had questions to ask and so did my teacher.
We had to briefly explain every point that we had written about for example what types of opening sequence we were going to use and why.
We all had time at the begining of the lesson to prepare our presentations and to finish off our storyboards, to wirte and to discuss all of our ideas.
Every group had ten minutes each to present our ideas to the class and a couple of our class mates had questions to ask and so did my teacher.
We had to briefly explain every point that we had written about for example what types of opening sequence we were going to use and why.
Making our Pitch
In today's lesson we had to make a pitch to our teacher about the thriller we want to film. To do this we had to give a brief introduction to the plot of the clip and then go into some more detailed points.
The main plot of our story is this: A women who works in Politics is walking down the street, only her in focus the crowd are blurred out so that the audience can establish who the main character is. We know she's in london because we are going to flash from her to iconic views of london such as The London Eye. We see her put on her I-pod earphones and we hear a voice over giving her instructions. These instructions will include, where to go, what floor to go onto and the room number. We will see her go into an office and search through filing cabinets and try and log onto the computer. We hear a bang and we see that she has been caught, and that she is a corrupt politician. We wanted to break the stereotype of men being politicians and in high status jobs.
Key images and Icons- We think that we should have an establishing shot of London, and then have specific iconic places such as Big Ben and The houses of parliament. This would establish a connection with the audience because they would recognise where we are and therefore feel more of a part in the film. The setting also connects to the Mise-en-scene of the clip. The costume that the character is going to be wearing connects with central london because she will be wearing a smart suit, high heels and carrying a brief case. The Key icons and images also covers the setting and location.
Music- The music we are going to use is being made by Oyin, it starts off slow and then builds with the tension of the clip. This will create suspence for the audience and add to the overall effect of the clip.
The age group that we are aiming the film at is between 18 and 30, this is because we feel that an understanding of politics and corruption is needed. It is also aimed at women more than men but we feel that men will be interested because of the sex symbolism of the women in power.
Lighting- We are going to be using natural lighting, this is because obviously we can't get proffesional lighting for our movie so natural light will be fine.
The main plot of our story is this: A women who works in Politics is walking down the street, only her in focus the crowd are blurred out so that the audience can establish who the main character is. We know she's in london because we are going to flash from her to iconic views of london such as The London Eye. We see her put on her I-pod earphones and we hear a voice over giving her instructions. These instructions will include, where to go, what floor to go onto and the room number. We will see her go into an office and search through filing cabinets and try and log onto the computer. We hear a bang and we see that she has been caught, and that she is a corrupt politician. We wanted to break the stereotype of men being politicians and in high status jobs.
Key images and Icons- We think that we should have an establishing shot of London, and then have specific iconic places such as Big Ben and The houses of parliament. This would establish a connection with the audience because they would recognise where we are and therefore feel more of a part in the film. The setting also connects to the Mise-en-scene of the clip. The costume that the character is going to be wearing connects with central london because she will be wearing a smart suit, high heels and carrying a brief case. The Key icons and images also covers the setting and location.
Music- The music we are going to use is being made by Oyin, it starts off slow and then builds with the tension of the clip. This will create suspence for the audience and add to the overall effect of the clip.
The age group that we are aiming the film at is between 18 and 30, this is because we feel that an understanding of politics and corruption is needed. It is also aimed at women more than men but we feel that men will be interested because of the sex symbolism of the women in power.
Lighting- We are going to be using natural lighting, this is because obviously we can't get proffesional lighting for our movie so natural light will be fine.
Sunday 18 January 2009
15/01/09 Lesson Summary
Last lesson was time to plan our opening sequence. We had to sit in our groups and talk about "Making A pitch", we had a big piece of sugar paper and we were asked to write down all our ideas down. We done it as a brainstorm, we had to write about the key images and the icons that we are planning to use for our opening sequence. We were asked to describe:
- Setting and Location
-Lighting
-camera work
-music
-audience
-storyboard
-production schedule
and then we also had to start drawing up our storyboard.
Tuesday 13 January 2009
Written - 12.01.09 (Oyin Balogun)
In yesterday’s lesson, we had our second filming task assigned to us. Our task was to film a person walking down the college corridors and into a classroom where another person would already be seated, then to start some dialogue. This proved easy because by now we were aware of how to use the video camera and we were used to using it and controlling it, which made our job a lot simpler. This time around we corrected all the mistakes that were in our last recording which made this one a lot better. We made sure that we used the ‘’3-2-1 ACTION’’ technique, and we made sure that we didn’t speak during recording, which made it easy for us to get our diagetic sound. We kept our work plain and simple, we didn’t have a lot of shots but our shots were lengthy. There’s nothing that challenges us to talk about representation concerning our clip because it wasn’t very obvious. I personally think that our clip lacked different shots e.g. shoulder shots, I feel that if we had done this, it would have shown that we take risks and it would have also shown our knowledge of shots. I think that a bit of background music could have helped a lot seeing as the only noise is the sound of the heels which at some points is useful to keep it realistic, but it would have proven beneficial to us if we had background music because it would have set the mood. All in all, I like my group and we work very well as a team and I think we done well.
Monday 12 January 2009
The Preliminary Film - Stephanie
Todays lesson was the second time had a go at making a practice film. We had to film one person walking down a corridor, to arrive at a door and to sit inside with someone else and have a couple words of dialogue. This time it was much easier to film our clip as we knew had to control the videa camera, how to shoot different types of shots and how to position the camera. Also because this was easier we could concentrate on trying out the new techniques that mickey had taught us. Between the first and the second practice, this time we learnt that it would be best not to talk while filiming because although the orginal sound can be cut out, its useful to keep the original sound, as we can see in the new film, we kept the orignal sound of the heels constantly making sound as i walk down the corridors, this made a bigger impact in the clip as it gave it a serious feeling to the clip. Also we had more experience in using the iMacs and arranging the shots in the right postions.
I dont think we challenged the norms and conventions of a real film, we took our assignment seriously but at the same time got down to the point, we kept the shots simple but at the same time tried to make it as interesting as we could. In a real film they have the right place to film, we had to make the most of the college's corridors and rooms.
No the clip doesnt give us a chance to make comments about the respresentation.
After playing the clip back i think that it could have had a couple of over the shoulder shots of when i sit down at the table opposite kirsty. Also my family had a look at the clip and they said that maybe some background music could have been added as all we can hear is the heels on the floor.
Overall i think as a group we worked really well together on this task, we were quick and snappy but still had a successful clip at the end of it.
I dont think we challenged the norms and conventions of a real film, we took our assignment seriously but at the same time got down to the point, we kept the shots simple but at the same time tried to make it as interesting as we could. In a real film they have the right place to film, we had to make the most of the college's corridors and rooms.
No the clip doesnt give us a chance to make comments about the respresentation.
After playing the clip back i think that it could have had a couple of over the shoulder shots of when i sit down at the table opposite kirsty. Also my family had a look at the clip and they said that maybe some background music could have been added as all we can hear is the heels on the floor.
Overall i think as a group we worked really well together on this task, we were quick and snappy but still had a successful clip at the end of it.
Last Lesson - Stephanie Brand
Last lesson, Mickey took over the class and he was explaining to us what the term " Match Cut" meant. He showed us a clip that he has personally made and then we were asked to see if we could figure out when "Match Cut" had been used. After we watched the clip a couple of times and mickey explained to us how and when the "match cuts" had been used. After that we were given a hand out with an excercise that we needed to complete, it was a match cut exercise so we needed to complete about " a man in london at 3pm chain smoking and working on the computer, he is seen putting private files onto a disc, packaging the disk and then posting the parcel." We had to write how we would make a clip of this man performing these tasks, we had to say whether it would be an exterior or interior clip, we had to say what shot type we would use, what type of camera action and the shot description.
Finally mickey gave us a brief of what we were going to film the following lesson. We also had to do the same exercise for the brief, write about the types of shots, interior, exterior, etc.
Finally mickey gave us a brief of what we were going to film the following lesson. We also had to do the same exercise for the brief, write about the types of shots, interior, exterior, etc.
Preliminary Film
In today's lesson we did our preliminary film to carry on from the planning that we did last lesson. We had to film someone walking into a room, sitting down with another person and sharing a few lines of dialogue. I think that our second film went really well, we used many different shot types, we used match cutting which we learnt in our last lesson.
Between the first and second practice film I have learnt that the footage doesn't always have to be perfect because you can edit it on the computer, and also it is better to have long rubbish clips that you can edit and cut down, than have a short perfedct clip because it is harder to edit.
Our preliminary film doesn't challenge the coventions of a real film because we used all different shot types and match cutting and they do that in real films as well. However a real film may not be filmed in the tight amount of space that we used, we used a small part of the corridor and then used the classroom that we were working in. Because we edited the film and the clips, you can't tell that the corridor we filmed in and the room we used were on two different floors, it was fluid. Our film do not allow us to make any comments about representation, as it is very short and simple.
If we had more time we would have used more shots such as an over the shoulder shot at the end to show the conversation from one character's point of view, and we would have made it a bit longer, but with the time and resources that we had I think we did very well.
Between the first and second practice film I have learnt that the footage doesn't always have to be perfect because you can edit it on the computer, and also it is better to have long rubbish clips that you can edit and cut down, than have a short perfedct clip because it is harder to edit.
Our preliminary film doesn't challenge the coventions of a real film because we used all different shot types and match cutting and they do that in real films as well. However a real film may not be filmed in the tight amount of space that we used, we used a small part of the corridor and then used the classroom that we were working in. Because we edited the film and the clips, you can't tell that the corridor we filmed in and the room we used were on two different floors, it was fluid. Our film do not allow us to make any comments about representation, as it is very short and simple.
If we had more time we would have used more shots such as an over the shoulder shot at the end to show the conversation from one character's point of view, and we would have made it a bit longer, but with the time and resources that we had I think we did very well.
Match Cut lesson
On our match cut lesson, we were given a tutorial on what match cutting is and shown clips that use match cuts, we then had to point out the match cuts in the said clip. Once we had done this, were given the following scenario: A man in london, 3 pm, chain smoking and working on the computer, he is seen putting private files onto a disc, packaging the disk and then posting the parcel. We had to then fill in a sheet describing each of the shots we would use if we were filming this scenario. Once we had done this, we were given another scenario, which we then went on to film in the next lesson, and we had to plan the shot types and do a story board of these. This scenerio was as follows: A person walks into a room, sits down and shares a few lines of dialogue with another person. We came up with 12 shots and planned them carefully to get the perfect film.
Sunday 11 January 2009
Oyin Balogun
I was absent on the first two lessons back to Media studies after the Christmas holidays, due to personal reasons, but i made sure that my teachers were aware of that.
This is the 28days Later analysis (Oyin Balogun).
I will be analysing 28days later.
Question: How do the lighting, editing, camera work, music and setting create suspense?
28days later was set in London, Central London to be precise. Central London is a busy place, people work, people are shopping or people are simply just out and about, but in this case, we were shown Central London in a different aspect. It was empty and deserted, not a soul in sight. This was strange for us, because we know that this is not how Central London normally is but for anyone who has never been to Central London, they’d probably think that it’s normal. But because we know that it’s never quiet, we were already expecting something to happen. Also in 28days later there’s a scene where this one man is in the hospital. It wasn’t an ordinary hospital, it was deserted and very untidy which is the complete opposite to what a hospital is supposed to look like. Everywhere was dismantled, phone chords hanging, vending machines broken, papers scattered and wheel-chairs tipped over. This already freaked us out because all we were left to do was wonder, wonder what happened to all these people and where they had gone.
The camera shots and angles really toyed with us. Through out the entire clip that was shown to us, the camera never stop following the man. As well as following him it also never stops portraying the man to be small and clueless to what exactly is taking place.
The whole clip went slow, which was emphasised by a slow pan following the man and his every movement. The use of zoom in and zoom outs also let us know that something has happened, e.g. in the hospital scene the camera took a zoom in to the hanging telephone chords to obviously inform us that people were trying to call for help, which lets us know that it must have been really bad because they were already in a hospital, so what more help could they have possibly needed.
There wasn’t that much music involved within the clips, surely but slowly a very slow paced music was bought in to emphasise the stillness and slowness of the scene which caused more suspense within the audience. Nothing spectacular really happened with the lighting, whatever the time of day it would show because that’s all it was, daylight.
Question: How do the lighting, editing, camera work, music and setting create suspense?
28days later was set in London, Central London to be precise. Central London is a busy place, people work, people are shopping or people are simply just out and about, but in this case, we were shown Central London in a different aspect. It was empty and deserted, not a soul in sight. This was strange for us, because we know that this is not how Central London normally is but for anyone who has never been to Central London, they’d probably think that it’s normal. But because we know that it’s never quiet, we were already expecting something to happen. Also in 28days later there’s a scene where this one man is in the hospital. It wasn’t an ordinary hospital, it was deserted and very untidy which is the complete opposite to what a hospital is supposed to look like. Everywhere was dismantled, phone chords hanging, vending machines broken, papers scattered and wheel-chairs tipped over. This already freaked us out because all we were left to do was wonder, wonder what happened to all these people and where they had gone.
The camera shots and angles really toyed with us. Through out the entire clip that was shown to us, the camera never stop following the man. As well as following him it also never stops portraying the man to be small and clueless to what exactly is taking place.
The whole clip went slow, which was emphasised by a slow pan following the man and his every movement. The use of zoom in and zoom outs also let us know that something has happened, e.g. in the hospital scene the camera took a zoom in to the hanging telephone chords to obviously inform us that people were trying to call for help, which lets us know that it must have been really bad because they were already in a hospital, so what more help could they have possibly needed.
There wasn’t that much music involved within the clips, surely but slowly a very slow paced music was bought in to emphasise the stillness and slowness of the scene which caused more suspense within the audience. Nothing spectacular really happened with the lighting, whatever the time of day it would show because that’s all it was, daylight.
I will be analysing 28days later.
Question: How do the lighting, editing, camera work, music and setting create suspense?
28days later was set in London, Central London to be precise. Central London is a busy place, people work, people are shopping or people are simply just out and about, but in this case, we were shown Central London in a different aspect. It was empty and deserted, not a soul in sight. This was strange for us, because we know that this is not how Central London normally is but for anyone who has never been to Central London, they’d probably think that it’s normal. But because we know that it’s never quiet, we were already expecting something to happen. Also in 28days later there’s a scene where this one man is in the hospital. It wasn’t an ordinary hospital, it was deserted and very untidy which is the complete opposite to what a hospital is supposed to look like. Everywhere was dismantled, phone chords hanging, vending machines broken, papers scattered and wheel-chairs tipped over. This already freaked us out because all we were left to do was wonder, wonder what happened to all these people and where they had gone.
The camera shots and angles really toyed with us. Through out the entire clip that was shown to us, the camera never stop following the man. As well as following him it also never stops portraying the man to be small and clueless to what exactly is taking place.
The whole clip went slow, which was emphasised by a slow pan following the man and his every movement. The use of zoom in and zoom outs also let us know that something has happened, e.g. in the hospital scene the camera took a zoom in to the hanging telephone chords to obviously inform us that people were trying to call for help, which lets us know that it must have been really bad because they were already in a hospital, so what more help could they have possibly needed.
There wasn’t that much music involved within the clips, surely but slowly a very slow paced music was bought in to emphasise the stillness and slowness of the scene which caused more suspense within the audience. Nothing spectacular really happened with the lighting, whatever the time of day it would show because that’s all it was, daylight.
Question: How do the lighting, editing, camera work, music and setting create suspense?
28days later was set in London, Central London to be precise. Central London is a busy place, people work, people are shopping or people are simply just out and about, but in this case, we were shown Central London in a different aspect. It was empty and deserted, not a soul in sight. This was strange for us, because we know that this is not how Central London normally is but for anyone who has never been to Central London, they’d probably think that it’s normal. But because we know that it’s never quiet, we were already expecting something to happen. Also in 28days later there’s a scene where this one man is in the hospital. It wasn’t an ordinary hospital, it was deserted and very untidy which is the complete opposite to what a hospital is supposed to look like. Everywhere was dismantled, phone chords hanging, vending machines broken, papers scattered and wheel-chairs tipped over. This already freaked us out because all we were left to do was wonder, wonder what happened to all these people and where they had gone.
The camera shots and angles really toyed with us. Through out the entire clip that was shown to us, the camera never stop following the man. As well as following him it also never stops portraying the man to be small and clueless to what exactly is taking place.
The whole clip went slow, which was emphasised by a slow pan following the man and his every movement. The use of zoom in and zoom outs also let us know that something has happened, e.g. in the hospital scene the camera took a zoom in to the hanging telephone chords to obviously inform us that people were trying to call for help, which lets us know that it must have been really bad because they were already in a hospital, so what more help could they have possibly needed.
There wasn’t that much music involved within the clips, surely but slowly a very slow paced music was bought in to emphasise the stillness and slowness of the scene which caused more suspense within the audience. Nothing spectacular really happened with the lighting, whatever the time of day it would show because that’s all it was, daylight.
This is for the 18th of December (Different Thrillers) Oyin Balogun.
On the last lesson of term (18.12.08), we started looking at different genres of within Thriller. It was interesting because I didn’t know that there was more to thriller. This gave us more insight as to what we’d actually want out thriller to resemble and to be like, and it also gave our class a wider range, which means that not all of our clips would be similar.
Here are some of the Thrillers that we looked at:
MURDEROUS PASSION
What lies beneath
SUPERNATURAL
Sixth Sense
ACTION
Bourn Trilogy
INNOCENT ON THE RUN
Enemy of the state
PSHYCOLIGICAL
The shining
Before the ending of our lesson we were given homework. Our home work was to take a clip that we watched in today’s lesson and analyse it and then blog it afterwards. We had to analyse how the lighting, props, music, editing, camera and location and setting created suspense.
This is for the 12th December ''Thrilling Read'' Oyin Balogun.
On the 12th of December we were given the task to create a thrilling story from reading a newspaper ‘’thrilling read’’. We were given a camera and we were split up into groups containing 4 candidates. My group consisted of Me, Kirsty, Michaela and Stephanie. We decided to stay within in the college when filming in order to avoid complications. We also wanted to add some humour in it so we decided to shoot it in the toilet/cubicle. After filming we then made our way to the editing room and used ‘’Final Cut Pro’’ to edit our clips and cut out the un-needed ones. We then added 3 different layers of music that we felt best suited out clip. At one point we used silence to add full tension to the bit being shown at that present time. At the very end we put an air plane sound in our clip to incorporate it into the text on the news paper so that it’ll make sense to whoever was watching it. Over all I think it went pretty well and I enjoyed filming.
Friday 9 January 2009
Film Openings Cntd. 5.01.09
The Untold
The opening to The Untold was very suspenseful. The suspense was created by the wide variety of shot distances and shot types alongside with the music. The most memorable shot was when the camera was on the floor under the bins and you could see the ladies feet as she walked past. The sequence of shots were very continuous, that it was possible to have an interchange of locations eventhough it remained the same building for the veiwer.
Timecode
This film opening was aimed at an older audience. When veiwing the film openings Timecode showed that it is very important to consider who your target audience is. As this helps in creating the thrilling aspect of the film opening. Unlike the other film openings Timecode was balck and white. The location was completely isolated and quiet. The music and actions was very slow, this helped in creating suspense but also was an indicator as to the audoence that the storyline was also going to be slow. Timecode begins with expanses of London, shown through a slow pan. The framing and establishing shots were very good. This film opening was very suspenseful because although it was not targeted at my audience age it still made me want to continue watching to answer questions. Timecode used a variety of shots but the closing shot with the camera at a low angle with the side of the actors shoe in the frame and the other actor in a distance was the most memorable and creative.
Days Are Numbered
Days Are Numbered was an example given from the exam board, and it differed from those made by students at City and Islington. The credits and titles were intergrated with the film. To begin the film opening faded in with the ripple of water. The slow, gentle paced music alongside the mise-en-scene added to the suspense. However the girl was seen as not sinister enough because of her age.
The Fragile
The Fragile was the only film opening we watched that did not have any characters at all, however it was still effective. Most of the film opening was from a point of veiw shot. The film opening began very slow but builds up to the sequence of images at the end. The music and editing is what helps the build up in suspense. The notion is a horrible barn with someone cycling past it. The shot of the barn is intertextual with Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Intertextuality is when you borrow iconic clips from other movies. For example the shower scene in Physco is used in almost every horror film.
Not Alone
Not alone uses alot of point of view shots so that you dont know whats around the corner. It also has intertextuality with Fatal Attraction. Not alone began with a classic opening. First of all it establihed the location and seting and then we go into the house. The frequent use of close-ups amkes the audience feel claustophobic. There is also several layers of sound, there is the tap running, the man talking on the radio, the non diegetic music and the general clatters on set.
watching past thriller film openings not only gave us ideas on our own thriller openings but also taught us what makes a thriller and how the characters we use and our target audience is important in creating suspense. This lead us into the Audience task.
Thriller Films and Audiences
This activity taught us when making our own Thriller Film we should consider:
The opening to The Untold was very suspenseful. The suspense was created by the wide variety of shot distances and shot types alongside with the music. The most memorable shot was when the camera was on the floor under the bins and you could see the ladies feet as she walked past. The sequence of shots were very continuous, that it was possible to have an interchange of locations eventhough it remained the same building for the veiwer.
Timecode
This film opening was aimed at an older audience. When veiwing the film openings Timecode showed that it is very important to consider who your target audience is. As this helps in creating the thrilling aspect of the film opening. Unlike the other film openings Timecode was balck and white. The location was completely isolated and quiet. The music and actions was very slow, this helped in creating suspense but also was an indicator as to the audoence that the storyline was also going to be slow. Timecode begins with expanses of London, shown through a slow pan. The framing and establishing shots were very good. This film opening was very suspenseful because although it was not targeted at my audience age it still made me want to continue watching to answer questions. Timecode used a variety of shots but the closing shot with the camera at a low angle with the side of the actors shoe in the frame and the other actor in a distance was the most memorable and creative.
Days Are Numbered
Days Are Numbered was an example given from the exam board, and it differed from those made by students at City and Islington. The credits and titles were intergrated with the film. To begin the film opening faded in with the ripple of water. The slow, gentle paced music alongside the mise-en-scene added to the suspense. However the girl was seen as not sinister enough because of her age.
The Fragile
The Fragile was the only film opening we watched that did not have any characters at all, however it was still effective. Most of the film opening was from a point of veiw shot. The film opening began very slow but builds up to the sequence of images at the end. The music and editing is what helps the build up in suspense. The notion is a horrible barn with someone cycling past it. The shot of the barn is intertextual with Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Intertextuality is when you borrow iconic clips from other movies. For example the shower scene in Physco is used in almost every horror film.
Not Alone
Not alone uses alot of point of view shots so that you dont know whats around the corner. It also has intertextuality with Fatal Attraction. Not alone began with a classic opening. First of all it establihed the location and seting and then we go into the house. The frequent use of close-ups amkes the audience feel claustophobic. There is also several layers of sound, there is the tap running, the man talking on the radio, the non diegetic music and the general clatters on set.
watching past thriller film openings not only gave us ideas on our own thriller openings but also taught us what makes a thriller and how the characters we use and our target audience is important in creating suspense. This lead us into the Audience task.
Thriller Films and Audiences
This activity taught us when making our own Thriller Film we should consider:
- The defining audience in terms of age, race and socail class as well as gender
- Movie classification: which could determine our audience
- Mainstream audience and
- Actors: the choice of actors may influence the audience who come to see the film.
Wednesday 7 January 2009
Film Openings 05.01.09
For our first lesson back we watched a BBC 2 documentary on film openings. This was very helpful with thinking of ideas for our own coursework. From the documentary I learnt that movies should grab your attention from the beginning. However, this could be a risk because if you start off too dramatic you always have to ask the question what to do next or where to go from there? This left me questioning, is it better to start of dramatic or go into a movie slowly and then build up to the drama? However this question was soon answered further down into the documentary.
The beginning of the movie establishes the main characters, notion of setting and location and should give you enough to keep you tantalized so that you don’t lose interest. The opening of a film must give you an insight to what is going on but not tell you to much, making you want to continue watching to understand.
The documentary also talked about a ‘Classic Opening’. A classic opening to a movie begins with an establishing long distance shot of a view. Usually a city or location people are familiar with. The camera then pans up a building, zooms through a window onto a desk. From such a short space of time we know where the film takes place and the occupation of the main character. A classic opening is a prime example of the opening of a film leading the audience into the film as smoothly as possible.
The documentary gave me an idea for our thriller such as Orson Wells A Touch of Evil. Orson Wells wanted to open the film with no credits, no title and no music, just the diegetic sound on set. However Universal Studios added music and flash titles and totally changed the mood.
A technique I particularly liked was ‘a favourite trick of film Noir’. This is when the movie starts at the end, this simply means the first scene is the last scene. This is similar to the new movie Seven Pounds with Will Smith. At the beginning of the film we see Will Smith on the phone to the emergency services for a suicide, when asked who he replies himself. At the end of the film this scene is repeated again.
We then went on to watch past students thriller film openings.
The first film opening we watched was called Blasphemy and it looked very professional. The slow shots, zooms and tracking slowly takes in the audience. There was a wide variation of shots, ranging from long shots at the beginning to close-ups in the end. This group borrowed their idea from the title sequence of the film Seven, which matched-cuts between credits and graphic images with gave the audience an insight to the characters mentality, although we never actually see the character. All the way through close-up shots and point of view shots were used.
In Blasphemy the film opening reveals the main theme of the movie which is secret religious cults. There is an religious iconography all the way through.
The second film opening we watched was Essex Road. The police officer falls asleep and faded into the sequence. Match cutting is used to flash to evidence after we see it on the table, from this we know that when we see the girl running she is running to her death. The beginning switches between images and the title sequence. The music is loud and dramatic. The mise-en-scene tells us he was a policeman. We are made to identify with police officer because he’s taking the case seriously. The opening makes us question was the policeman chasing her or was he putting the events together. This leaves us in suspense and makes the audience want to continue watching.
The beginning of the movie establishes the main characters, notion of setting and location and should give you enough to keep you tantalized so that you don’t lose interest. The opening of a film must give you an insight to what is going on but not tell you to much, making you want to continue watching to understand.
The documentary also talked about a ‘Classic Opening’. A classic opening to a movie begins with an establishing long distance shot of a view. Usually a city or location people are familiar with. The camera then pans up a building, zooms through a window onto a desk. From such a short space of time we know where the film takes place and the occupation of the main character. A classic opening is a prime example of the opening of a film leading the audience into the film as smoothly as possible.
The documentary gave me an idea for our thriller such as Orson Wells A Touch of Evil. Orson Wells wanted to open the film with no credits, no title and no music, just the diegetic sound on set. However Universal Studios added music and flash titles and totally changed the mood.
A technique I particularly liked was ‘a favourite trick of film Noir’. This is when the movie starts at the end, this simply means the first scene is the last scene. This is similar to the new movie Seven Pounds with Will Smith. At the beginning of the film we see Will Smith on the phone to the emergency services for a suicide, when asked who he replies himself. At the end of the film this scene is repeated again.
We then went on to watch past students thriller film openings.
The first film opening we watched was called Blasphemy and it looked very professional. The slow shots, zooms and tracking slowly takes in the audience. There was a wide variation of shots, ranging from long shots at the beginning to close-ups in the end. This group borrowed their idea from the title sequence of the film Seven, which matched-cuts between credits and graphic images with gave the audience an insight to the characters mentality, although we never actually see the character. All the way through close-up shots and point of view shots were used.
In Blasphemy the film opening reveals the main theme of the movie which is secret religious cults. There is an religious iconography all the way through.
The second film opening we watched was Essex Road. The police officer falls asleep and faded into the sequence. Match cutting is used to flash to evidence after we see it on the table, from this we know that when we see the girl running she is running to her death. The beginning switches between images and the title sequence. The music is loud and dramatic. The mise-en-scene tells us he was a policeman. We are made to identify with police officer because he’s taking the case seriously. The opening makes us question was the policeman chasing her or was he putting the events together. This leaves us in suspense and makes the audience want to continue watching.
"Watching" film openings - Stephanie Brand
Last lesson we got given a handout with questions from one to eight. We had to then watch a clip about film openings, and we listened and watched to what different types of directors thought made good film openings. Some directors said that it was better if the movie started off fast so that the audience could be attacthed to their seats from the begining, others said that it works best when the movie starts off slowly slowly because if this is done then you can gradually build up drama and the action. One director said that the begining of the movie lets thte audience adjust to what the movie is going to be like. If the audience don't know enough it means they have to carry on watching the movie to find out more. All the directors had different points of views towards how a movie should start, some gave me the impression that they like to discover new ways of starting a movie one director said "its a risk i wanted to take" so he really thought that putting new ideas to making a new way of starting a movie was a good idea.
After watching the clip of film openings, we watched 7 different movie starters that were made by other students from the college, this was for us to see what techniques the students used and to give us some ideas for the clip that we are going to film. The first clip we watched looked like it had lots of work put into it and it was very good but the only problem i found with it was that it was really long. It was also very religious iconography as we constantly saw crosses and a person crossing out words from the Bible. We then saw a couple more clips, clips that got A's and clips that got C's just so we could see the difference between the clips and so that we could keep in mind what to do and what not to do.
We also learn a new word "INTERTEXTUALITY" this is what some groups used for their clip making. Because intertextuality is when iconic clips are borrowed from another movie.
Near the end of the lesson we got given another handout with statistics of movie and audiences and in this handout there was the statistics between what movies womend men like to watch and how many people actually go to the cinema and spend their money to watch a film.
After watching the clip of film openings, we watched 7 different movie starters that were made by other students from the college, this was for us to see what techniques the students used and to give us some ideas for the clip that we are going to film. The first clip we watched looked like it had lots of work put into it and it was very good but the only problem i found with it was that it was really long. It was also very religious iconography as we constantly saw crosses and a person crossing out words from the Bible. We then saw a couple more clips, clips that got A's and clips that got C's just so we could see the difference between the clips and so that we could keep in mind what to do and what not to do.
We also learn a new word "INTERTEXTUALITY" this is what some groups used for their clip making. Because intertextuality is when iconic clips are borrowed from another movie.
Near the end of the lesson we got given another handout with statistics of movie and audiences and in this handout there was the statistics between what movies womend men like to watch and how many people actually go to the cinema and spend their money to watch a film.
Tuesday 6 January 2009
"Watching" Film Openings
The first thing we did in the last media lesson was we watched a documentary about film openings. We had to answer a number of questions, some of which were about the points of view of certain writer or directors such as Jean Jacques Beineix talking about "Instant Arousal" in films and the risks of this. The argument around this issue was that some people said that you need to start the film with the biggest impact so that the audience are gripped from the start. Others such as Jean Jaques Beineix said that this was wrong. He said that you should start the film slowly so that the audience don't feel deflated at the end of the film because the big event has happened at the beginning. There were any other questions aswell.
The next thing we did was we watched past students thriller films so that we could see what it is we are expected to do. The first one we watched was called Blasphemy. This had a very strong presence of religion, and it used the title sequence and credits so that we can see the obsession of the main character aswell as the credits. We spoke about what made each of the works we watched good and what we thought wasn't as good. This helped us understand what would be a good idea to do and what not to do.
We then looked at films and the audiences that they pull in. The most popular genre of film were comedy and action. The male percentage were higher than women for thrillers, action and spy movies. There are a few things that we have to think about when making out thriller film. The movie classification- for example 15 may suggest violence or sex.
Niche audiences- A film made for a very specific audience and lower budget
Mainstream Audiences-A general appeal to a range of people and ages.
Actors- Our choice of actors may influence the people who come and see the movie for example
if we say Johnny Depp is in the film then we will get Johnny Depp fans in to see the film.
The next thing we did was we watched past students thriller films so that we could see what it is we are expected to do. The first one we watched was called Blasphemy. This had a very strong presence of religion, and it used the title sequence and credits so that we can see the obsession of the main character aswell as the credits. We spoke about what made each of the works we watched good and what we thought wasn't as good. This helped us understand what would be a good idea to do and what not to do.
We then looked at films and the audiences that they pull in. The most popular genre of film were comedy and action. The male percentage were higher than women for thrillers, action and spy movies. There are a few things that we have to think about when making out thriller film. The movie classification- for example 15 may suggest violence or sex.
Niche audiences- A film made for a very specific audience and lower budget
Mainstream Audiences-A general appeal to a range of people and ages.
Actors- Our choice of actors may influence the people who come and see the movie for example
if we say Johnny Depp is in the film then we will get Johnny Depp fans in to see the film.
Sunday 4 January 2009
Analysing Thriller Clips - 28 Days Later
Analysing Thriller Clip
28 Days Later
In the clip of the thriller movie 28 Days Later lighting, camera work, music, editing, setting and location is used to create suspense.
28 Days Later is set in the heart of London. Central London, usually a busy city, bursting with life and movement is shown however in this clip as an empty, desolate, lonely place. Due to our familiarity and knowledge with London, when we are shown London as an empty place this can be quite suspenseful because we get the idea something has either happened or is going to happen.
Another reason why we get the idea something has happened is in the first couple shots when we are inside the hospital (usually seen as an ordered, tidy place), there is mess everywhere. Torn paper is scattered all over the floors and desks, phones are hanging on end and a vending machine has been torn open. This is also carried on when we see the male character on the hospital roof looking down over the ambulance yard and there is an ambulance van with its doors wide open and someone lying on the floor. The male character just walks around the streets of London and see’s a route master bus on its side and still there is not a person in sight.
Throughout the clip angle shots were used quite frequently to show the male character as small vulnerable, with no power and no that dominant. The camera is also canted quite often. While he is walking around the hospital discovering everything out of order, there is a close-up of the phones hanging. This emphasises the idea that something has happened. While he is on the hospital roof looking down on the ambulance yard he is shown very small in the frame, this is done using a low-angle shot. This once again emphasises his vulnerability. There is also a very slow pan.
At the beginning of the clip there is not any music and we just hear the deep echo of his voice. After that melancholy music is slowly introduced. The slow shots of the surroundings make us believe something is going to happen.
The clip is quite simple in action and movement but still a lot of suspense is created, mainly by the isolation and emptiness of the setting and location.
28 Days Later
In the clip of the thriller movie 28 Days Later lighting, camera work, music, editing, setting and location is used to create suspense.
28 Days Later is set in the heart of London. Central London, usually a busy city, bursting with life and movement is shown however in this clip as an empty, desolate, lonely place. Due to our familiarity and knowledge with London, when we are shown London as an empty place this can be quite suspenseful because we get the idea something has either happened or is going to happen.
Another reason why we get the idea something has happened is in the first couple shots when we are inside the hospital (usually seen as an ordered, tidy place), there is mess everywhere. Torn paper is scattered all over the floors and desks, phones are hanging on end and a vending machine has been torn open. This is also carried on when we see the male character on the hospital roof looking down over the ambulance yard and there is an ambulance van with its doors wide open and someone lying on the floor. The male character just walks around the streets of London and see’s a route master bus on its side and still there is not a person in sight.
Throughout the clip angle shots were used quite frequently to show the male character as small vulnerable, with no power and no that dominant. The camera is also canted quite often. While he is walking around the hospital discovering everything out of order, there is a close-up of the phones hanging. This emphasises the idea that something has happened. While he is on the hospital roof looking down on the ambulance yard he is shown very small in the frame, this is done using a low-angle shot. This once again emphasises his vulnerability. There is also a very slow pan.
At the beginning of the clip there is not any music and we just hear the deep echo of his voice. After that melancholy music is slowly introduced. The slow shots of the surroundings make us believe something is going to happen.
The clip is quite simple in action and movement but still a lot of suspense is created, mainly by the isolation and emptiness of the setting and location.
Different Types of Thrillers 18.12.08
In the last lesson; as a class, we began brainstorming on the different types of thriller genres. This gave us the chance to understand what a thriller movie really is and it also gave us an idea on what type of thriller we could use in our coursework.
There are several types of thrillers that come under the thriller genre:
Murderous passion
E.g. What Lies Beneath
Supernatural
E.g. Sixth Sense
Action
E.g. Bourne Trilogy
Innocent on the Run
E.g. Enemy of the State
Political/Government Corruption
Psychological
E.g. The Shining
Spy
Finally in the lesson we watched several clips from different types of thriller films, these included; 28 Days Later, The Shining, Collateral and What Lies Beneath. The task was to analyse the thriller clips on how lighting, camera, music, editing, setting and location is used to create suspense.
There are several types of thrillers that come under the thriller genre:
Murderous passion
E.g. What Lies Beneath
Supernatural
E.g. Sixth Sense
Action
E.g. Bourne Trilogy
Innocent on the Run
E.g. Enemy of the State
Political/Government Corruption
Psychological
E.g. The Shining
Spy
Finally in the lesson we watched several clips from different types of thriller films, these included; 28 Days Later, The Shining, Collateral and What Lies Beneath. The task was to analyse the thriller clips on how lighting, camera, music, editing, setting and location is used to create suspense.
Friday 2 January 2009
Alfred Hitchcock
Let ‘Em Play God – Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock defines suspense as letting the audience ‘play god’. He believes letting the audience know the characters; their personalities and secrets that other characters do not know they’ll work hard because they know what fate is facing the actors.
Alfred Hitchcock believes you have suspense when you let the audience play god not by puzzling the audience. If the audience knows everything from the start and the characters know nothing they will have the upper hand because they know whether to cheer or weep.
For the audience to do this it is necessary to have a series of plausible situations with people that are real. When characters are unbelievable you never get real suspense, only surprise. Suspense involves contrast.
Alfred Hitchcock defines suspense as letting the audience ‘play god’. He believes letting the audience know the characters; their personalities and secrets that other characters do not know they’ll work hard because they know what fate is facing the actors.
Alfred Hitchcock believes you have suspense when you let the audience play god not by puzzling the audience. If the audience knows everything from the start and the characters know nothing they will have the upper hand because they know whether to cheer or weep.
For the audience to do this it is necessary to have a series of plausible situations with people that are real. When characters are unbelievable you never get real suspense, only surprise. Suspense involves contrast.
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