Yesterday was our groups first day of filming for our final piece. Seeing as we had already decided we were going to film at Chilwell fields, that's where we met.
We needed the early morning due and feel for the scenes as our main character is supposed to be walking home from a party in the morning after the night before.
We got to the set at about six am to make sure everyone was there and see what it would look like to film at that time. It seemed that we didn't actually get round to filming until about 7am because when we turned the camera on earlier and got it into the position we wanted it, the lighting made it grainy and it still seemed a bit too dark.
So when we finally got to getting the right lighting, we started to film.
First of all though I needed to make sure that our main girl's costume was right and she needed a few minutes to get a little bit upset to allow her make-up to run that bit more and look a more authentic. By ripping different holes in her purple tights and doing a jacket and shoe swap, we finally got her to look just how we wanted.
Our first scene was of her walking across the bridge within the field, which went okay and didn't need re-taking. We then had another close-up shot of just her legs with her ripped tights. By then moving on we did quite well in getting a high-angle shot of her just walking around a corner, a low angle shot of her again walking and another close up shot of her face whilst she was walking.
I was watching over Rob as he did the camera work and Sarah made sure Ellie (our main actress) understood exactly what she was doing. I wanted to really make sure that all of our shots would be good enough to edit together and make good use of in joint with the flashback shots that we will soon film.
When we got off the field, Rob had the good idea of doing a close up shot of Ellie's high heels going through a puddle, giving the sequence a nice bit of effect, rather than just having the whole of her walking in each shot.
By then coming completely off the fields, I wanted a shot of Ellie walking across the road, hurrying. We did this shot but then Rob and Sarah came up with the idea of Rob standing in a bus shelter and Ellie running past him and him asking her if she was okay and her completely ignoring him. I really liked this idea too. After shooting that twice, we then needed a shot of Ellie on the pavement after the encounter looking more upset due to the fact that someone had just brought up how she was feeling.
After shooting all of that we then needed to get back to my house to shoot Ellie getting home and into her house. We all toyed with which shots would do the scene justice and decided in the end that we would have a long shot of her walking up the house's drive and then fumbling in her bag, which would then cut to a close up of her fumbling in her bag for her keys, then to a close up of the keys in the door being unlocked, then to someone coming up behind her and putting their hand on her shoulder and then finally to her turning round and seeing nothing.
The whole day was pretty successful, aside from the fact that I'm still not too sure if we got enough shots of every scene enough and might need to go back and see if we did it well enough to be able to put it together or not when we edit. Our next filming session (of the flashbacks) will be next Saturday when everyone can get together again.
Sunday 28 February 2010
Thursday 25 February 2010
Shots planning.
Sarah made sure that we were completely ready for Saturday by having a complete plan or which shots are going in which order. This will really help us keep to a rota and make sure we get absolutely ever shot in during our filming.
Field Shots
1. Across the bridge, long shot of girl walking towards bridge.
2. Close up of girls legs walking across the bridge.
3. Long low angle shot of girl walking (down path)
4. Side close up of girl crying, still walking down path, near gap leading to next field.
5. Close up on ripped tights straight on, girl walking to camera.
6. Low angle long side shot panning as girl walks, showing street.
7. Girl walks past camera to front door, camera pans.
8. Mid shot of girl at her door, side mid-shot.
9. Close up of girl fumbling in her bag.
10. Hand held camera walking up behind girl.
11. Close up of girls head and shoulder, hand comes up behind her.
12. Close up of her turning around.
13. Pan, eye level, empty street.
Flashback Shots
1. Girl with bottle, drinking. Mid-shot side.
2. Girl feet to right of frame, guys feet come in from left side.
3. Girl being pushed onto bed, Mid-shot from side.
4. Girl lying down, guys crawls up and heads out of shot, Mid-shot of bodies.
5. Close up of her leg, guy rips tights. Hand slides in from top of frame.
6. Long shot eyeline match of door closing.
Field Shots
1. Across the bridge, long shot of girl walking towards bridge.
2. Close up of girls legs walking across the bridge.
3. Long low angle shot of girl walking (down path)
4. Side close up of girl crying, still walking down path, near gap leading to next field.
5. Close up on ripped tights straight on, girl walking to camera.
6. Low angle long side shot panning as girl walks, showing street.
7. Girl walks past camera to front door, camera pans.
8. Mid shot of girl at her door, side mid-shot.
9. Close up of girl fumbling in her bag.
10. Hand held camera walking up behind girl.
11. Close up of girls head and shoulder, hand comes up behind her.
12. Close up of her turning around.
13. Pan, eye level, empty street.
Flashback Shots
1. Girl with bottle, drinking. Mid-shot side.
2. Girl feet to right of frame, guys feet come in from left side.
3. Girl being pushed onto bed, Mid-shot from side.
4. Girl lying down, guys crawls up and heads out of shot, Mid-shot of bodies.
5. Close up of her leg, guy rips tights. Hand slides in from top of frame.
6. Long shot eyeline match of door closing.
Tuesday 23 February 2010
First day of piece filming.
Today we realised that we actually had to start filming.
Because we hadn't actually got round to finding out whether or not our actors were able to do the film, or even made a plan of when we were going to film, it seemed we didn't have much to do.
In the end we decided that we would start filming on Saturday in the morning, as this was a time we could all do and the leading actress was up for it as well.
When we had all of that sorted we tried to figure out if there was any filming we could do without our actors. Yet, seeing as our main character is in 17 out of 19 shots, we had a bit of a set back.
After deliberating we all decided that we would go to Chilwell fields and take a few template shots of how the main girl would walk down the paths of the field and also had to make sure that the tripod would be set up properly with all the mud that surrounds the ground. It all worked out fine and we carried on walking down Chilwell fields and got to my house. Because we needed to have a shot of the front door, we decided that we would take some more template shots of me walking towards the door to see how it worked out. It went fine.
Aidan also took some pictures of my bedroom, as this was the place in which the raping would be. He also took pictures of the costume that I had chosen for the young girl. We didn't have the clothing of the rapist so will have to do that at another point.
Because we hadn't actually got round to finding out whether or not our actors were able to do the film, or even made a plan of when we were going to film, it seemed we didn't have much to do.
In the end we decided that we would start filming on Saturday in the morning, as this was a time we could all do and the leading actress was up for it as well.
When we had all of that sorted we tried to figure out if there was any filming we could do without our actors. Yet, seeing as our main character is in 17 out of 19 shots, we had a bit of a set back.
After deliberating we all decided that we would go to Chilwell fields and take a few template shots of how the main girl would walk down the paths of the field and also had to make sure that the tripod would be set up properly with all the mud that surrounds the ground. It all worked out fine and we carried on walking down Chilwell fields and got to my house. Because we needed to have a shot of the front door, we decided that we would take some more template shots of me walking towards the door to see how it worked out. It went fine.
Aidan also took some pictures of my bedroom, as this was the place in which the raping would be. He also took pictures of the costume that I had chosen for the young girl. We didn't have the clothing of the rapist so will have to do that at another point.
Questionnaire
Another part of our planning would be the questionnaire. Sarah asked 10 individual college students what they though would make a great thriller, and here are the answers:
1. Do you prefer fast pace or slow for a thriller?
Fast – 4
Slow –6
2. Would you prefer lots of dialogue or less
Lots of dialogue - 3
Not so much - 7
3. Would you prefer a loud soundtrack behind the film?
Yes – 6
No - 4
4. Male or Female lead?
Male – 2
Female – 8
5. Would you prefer a large or small cast?
Large –3
Small –7
6. Would you have a mostly dark or light environment?
Dark –9
Light – 1
7. Which font do you prefer for opening credits?
Century Gothic - 1
Monotype Corsiva - 8
Papyrus -
Segoe Script - 1
Trebuchet MS -
8. Do you prefer opening titles to be?
Bold - 2
Underlined - 1
Italic - 5
Mix - 2
9. Where would you prefer it to be set?
Forest - 2
House -
Town – 1
Field - 3
Abandoned places – 4
10. How long would you prefer each credit to be on?
3 Seconds - 6
5 Seconds - 3
5+ Seconds - 1
Using this information, our film ideally should look like this:
1. Do you prefer fast pace or slow for a thriller?
Fast – 4
Slow –6
2. Would you prefer lots of dialogue or less
Lots of dialogue - 3
Not so much - 7
3. Would you prefer a loud soundtrack behind the film?
Yes – 6
No - 4
4. Male or Female lead?
Male – 2
Female – 8
5. Would you prefer a large or small cast?
Large –3
Small –7
6. Would you have a mostly dark or light environment?
Dark –9
Light – 1
7. Which font do you prefer for opening credits?
Century Gothic - 1
Monotype Corsiva - 8
Papyrus -
Segoe Script - 1
Trebuchet MS -
8. Do you prefer opening titles to be?
Bold - 2
Underlined - 1
Italic - 5
Mix - 2
9. Where would you prefer it to be set?
Forest - 2
House -
Town – 1
Field - 3
Abandoned places – 4
10. How long would you prefer each credit to be on?
3 Seconds - 6
5 Seconds - 3
5+ Seconds - 1
Using this information, our film ideally should look like this:
Sunday 21 February 2010
More research
Characters
As our film is based around one woman being raped, it is more than likely that she does not have any control of what is going to happen throughout the film and is very vulnerable. There are many films around that portray the same thing we are trying to. For example: 'Last house on the left'
Last house on the left
The main girl in the story is completely vulnerable. There seems there is nothing she can do to get away from the thrilling mass murderer that seems to be after her. The people around her also pretty vulnerable (her friends) and cannot do anything to help her. This is exactly the same thing that we are trying to capture in our film and want to make sure that the girl is just as helpless as the one in this movie.
Also the killer in 'The last house on the left' seems to be pretty dark, dangerous and disturbed. This is also the exact same thing that we are looking for in our film as we want our rapist to be unknown yet to have make such an effect on the young girl that there is no going back for her. Just as there isn't for Mary (Monica Potter).
As our film is based around one woman being raped, it is more than likely that she does not have any control of what is going to happen throughout the film and is very vulnerable. There are many films around that portray the same thing we are trying to. For example: 'Last house on the left'
Last house on the left
The main girl in the story is completely vulnerable. There seems there is nothing she can do to get away from the thrilling mass murderer that seems to be after her. The people around her also pretty vulnerable (her friends) and cannot do anything to help her. This is exactly the same thing that we are trying to capture in our film and want to make sure that the girl is just as helpless as the one in this movie.
Also the killer in 'The last house on the left' seems to be pretty dark, dangerous and disturbed. This is also the exact same thing that we are looking for in our film as we want our rapist to be unknown yet to have make such an effect on the young girl that there is no going back for her. Just as there isn't for Mary (Monica Potter).
Saturday 20 February 2010
Costume, location, props and actors.
I have been assigned the role of choosing the costumes for our film.
Sarah has been put on props and Aidan and Rob have been assigned location.
Seeing as the film is supposed to be a thriller and quite dark and ominous, it seems as though we will need to put our characters in clothing that stand out as sad/disturbed.
Main character: Teenage (16/17) girl. Medium height, curvy.
- A short tight body con skirt.
- A tight blank vest top.
- Black fish net tights?
- Coloured high heels?
- White Handbag.
- Blue layered thin jacket.
- Make-up: Pale face with with smudged dark red lipstick, black mascara smudged around eyes and a few streams down the face with a slight hint of coloured eye shadow.
We wanted this costume and make-up to make sure that the young girl looks like she has just been to a party, yet at the same time looks as though she has had a rough night the night before. By having ripped tights it looks as though the young girl has been in some sort of trouble and by matching this with running make-up and a pale face, she will look upset and scared.
Elle Pemberton - 17.
Elle is a part of an acting group named Rama and therefore I thought she would be a good actress for our piece. She has been a friend of mine for a while and I knew I could trust and rely on her. Also, her experience was a great advantage for us.
Rapist: Older guy (19/20). Medium height, slight muscle.
- Dark skinny-ish jeans.
- Green t-shirt.
- Large Nike trainers.
- Longish dark hair.
Jake Frost - 17.
Jake is doing A level Drama at George Spencer College. Because he also has experience and is a good friend of mine, Rob's and Aidan's it was easy for us to be able to rely on him and also to be able to easily ask him to help us out.
Location
Aidan and Rob went out during the lesson last week and took pictures of Chilwell fields (where the main character will walk after she has been raped) to see which route would be best for us to film on.
Also in this lesson, Sarah put together a storyboard that Rob could put together a video with the shots in it:
Chilwell fields is the best place for us to film our actress walking home because it is murky and muddy and therefore matches the mood. The girl is supposed to have been messed about and feel terrible which is how the surroundings will look as they have little grass and look as though they haven't been tended to in a while.
Props
We also need just a few props for our film. There aren't very many because it isn't the props that actually explains how the film works out, it's more the answers.
Therefore we will only need:
- Keys: for when Ellie will open her front door to get home and feels a hand on her shoulder.
- Bottle: for when Ellie takes a swig in a flashback to show the audience that she had been drinking and could be quite drunk.
- Bag: for Ellie to search through to find her keys when she gets to her front door and also just generally because teenagers carry handbags.
- Tights: not just costume as it is a prop for one of the scenes in the piece when Ellie takes her tights off just after she has been raped.
Sarah has been put on props and Aidan and Rob have been assigned location.
Seeing as the film is supposed to be a thriller and quite dark and ominous, it seems as though we will need to put our characters in clothing that stand out as sad/disturbed.
Main character: Teenage (16/17) girl. Medium height, curvy.
- A short tight body con skirt.
- A tight blank vest top.
- Black fish net tights?
- Coloured high heels?
- White Handbag.
- Blue layered thin jacket.
- Make-up: Pale face with with smudged dark red lipstick, black mascara smudged around eyes and a few streams down the face with a slight hint of coloured eye shadow.
We wanted this costume and make-up to make sure that the young girl looks like she has just been to a party, yet at the same time looks as though she has had a rough night the night before. By having ripped tights it looks as though the young girl has been in some sort of trouble and by matching this with running make-up and a pale face, she will look upset and scared.
Elle Pemberton - 17.
Elle is a part of an acting group named Rama and therefore I thought she would be a good actress for our piece. She has been a friend of mine for a while and I knew I could trust and rely on her. Also, her experience was a great advantage for us.
Rapist: Older guy (19/20). Medium height, slight muscle.
- Dark skinny-ish jeans.
- Green t-shirt.
- Large Nike trainers.
- Longish dark hair.
Jake Frost - 17.
Jake is doing A level Drama at George Spencer College. Because he also has experience and is a good friend of mine, Rob's and Aidan's it was easy for us to be able to rely on him and also to be able to easily ask him to help us out.
Location
Aidan and Rob went out during the lesson last week and took pictures of Chilwell fields (where the main character will walk after she has been raped) to see which route would be best for us to film on.
Also in this lesson, Sarah put together a storyboard that Rob could put together a video with the shots in it:
Chilwell fields is the best place for us to film our actress walking home because it is murky and muddy and therefore matches the mood. The girl is supposed to have been messed about and feel terrible which is how the surroundings will look as they have little grass and look as though they haven't been tended to in a while.
Props
We also need just a few props for our film. There aren't very many because it isn't the props that actually explains how the film works out, it's more the answers.
Therefore we will only need:
- Keys: for when Ellie will open her front door to get home and feels a hand on her shoulder.
- Bottle: for when Ellie takes a swig in a flashback to show the audience that she had been drinking and could be quite drunk.
- Bag: for Ellie to search through to find her keys when she gets to her front door and also just generally because teenagers carry handbags.
- Tights: not just costume as it is a prop for one of the scenes in the piece when Ellie takes her tights off just after she has been raped.
Friday 12 February 2010
Analysing Opening Sequences
Panic Room Opening Sequence
Editing
The cuts from each title to the next give the audience a feel of how the film is going to be jumpy and sly from the start. By cutting slowly from one tiotle to another in a different place makes the audience understand that the film is going to carry a lot of suspense throughout.
Also the edits of different parts of NYC allow the audience to get different aspects of the city and show them exactly where the film is going to be based. These edits do not only include the buildings in the city but also the sidewalks and the traffic which allows the audience to really get the feel of the big busy city.
Also by editing the titles into big blocked fonts which stand out make it obvious to the audience that the film is not going to be a happy one and it is quite serious, catching the audience's attention.
Also the edit from the director's title to the trees in NYC make the audience want to read on as they have no idea where the camera and storyline is going.
Mise-en-scene
The only real location that can be scene throughout the opening sequence of panic room is New York and its buildings alongside its huge amount of traffic. This allows the audience to place in their mind where exactly the main location for the film will be. Which, in this case, is New York City.
We can also see when the camera is concentrated on the two women right at the end of the sequence that they are both wearing quite upper class clothing and their movement is quick and aggitated which allows the audience to realise that they must be in a rush and must also be quite well off. The coat one of the women is wearing has fur on it and therefore represents someone that could potentially have a lot of money or at least know someone else with a lot of money.
Camera
The camera pans on a few of the opening sequence titles creates quite a sly and eery atmosphere. By coming in from one side it makes the audience want to read the title even more as they can only see half of the words on the screen and therefore make them more interested.
Also when the opening titles are over, the camera goes straight into a shot of the trees which then tilts down to two women walking through the crowded streets of NYC. By tilting slowly downwards, it creates a tiny bit of suspense for the audience and grabs their attention as they want to see who is talking and what they are doing.
Sound
The sound is the biggest part in the opening sequence. Because the music is so slow and sinister, it seems like something is going to happen that will shock or surprise the audience. It also really keeps the audience's mind intact as it makes them want to know why the music is so slow and dark, what is going to happen that makes it that way?
Also after the last title sequence we hear a woman talking, yet the audience cannot see who she is or what she looks like. This then means the audience is inatct and wonders what they are talking about and what is going to happen next.
No Country for Old Men Opening Sequence
Editing
The only real editing that can be shown in the opening sequence of No Country for Old Men is from one scenic picture to another. The edits are fast after allowing the audience to look at the location for around 5 seconds. By doing so it allows the start of the film to grasp a slow yet twisted and slightly fast-paced feel.
The audience can also tell from the straight cut to the gas tank from the criminal that this must have something to do with the crime he has committed.
Mise-en-scene
As can be seen from the pictures of the location over and over again, the film is obviously going to be set in some sort of hot, desert country. This can be told by the balls of yarn and the yellow-ish sandy ground. The location also looks quite run down due to the barbwire fences and just one electricity source. Also when the road is seen and there is only one car (the police car) on the road, it allows the audience to see that there really is no people for miles around.
The costumes used in the first sequence also allows the audience to see that the man getting arrested is just a normal man, and leads us on to wonder why he is being arrested if he doesn't really look like a criminal.
The props used (being the gas tank) also confuses the audience into wanting to watch on as they want to know why that sort of prop would be being used and how it relates to the story.
Camera
Throughout the sequence the camera doesn't really move too much. It is obviously giving the audience a feel of a slow paced film in which the camera likes to concentrate on one thing at a time. From seeing the camera movements in the first sequence the audience can tell that the film is not going to be a fast-paced action film.
Yet, when the criminal is being placed into the car, a medium-shot is used so that the audience can tell the criminal is deemed to be a white male. This makes them wonder more why such an ordinary looking man would be in such trouble.
Also the close-up on the gas tank leans the audience more into wondering why the gas tank would be there and what it has to do with the rest of the storyline.
Sound
The only sound actually used throughout the sequence is the one of the male voice. Because the voice is so slow and deep it allows the audience to feel slightly vulnerable. The voice takes over the scenes and makes the audience feel much smaller as they cannot see who is actually talking and do not yet know the damage this voice could cause. By overlapping this voice with the scenic pictures, it makes the audience very confused to where exactly the film is going and why these two things are being merged together, hence making them want to watch on. Also the things the voice talks of are dark and misunderstood. Without having any background to why this person is saying these things, the audience want to know more about why, where and how.
Editing
The cuts from each title to the next give the audience a feel of how the film is going to be jumpy and sly from the start. By cutting slowly from one tiotle to another in a different place makes the audience understand that the film is going to carry a lot of suspense throughout.
Also the edits of different parts of NYC allow the audience to get different aspects of the city and show them exactly where the film is going to be based. These edits do not only include the buildings in the city but also the sidewalks and the traffic which allows the audience to really get the feel of the big busy city.
Also by editing the titles into big blocked fonts which stand out make it obvious to the audience that the film is not going to be a happy one and it is quite serious, catching the audience's attention.
Also the edit from the director's title to the trees in NYC make the audience want to read on as they have no idea where the camera and storyline is going.
Mise-en-scene
The only real location that can be scene throughout the opening sequence of panic room is New York and its buildings alongside its huge amount of traffic. This allows the audience to place in their mind where exactly the main location for the film will be. Which, in this case, is New York City.
We can also see when the camera is concentrated on the two women right at the end of the sequence that they are both wearing quite upper class clothing and their movement is quick and aggitated which allows the audience to realise that they must be in a rush and must also be quite well off. The coat one of the women is wearing has fur on it and therefore represents someone that could potentially have a lot of money or at least know someone else with a lot of money.
Camera
The camera pans on a few of the opening sequence titles creates quite a sly and eery atmosphere. By coming in from one side it makes the audience want to read the title even more as they can only see half of the words on the screen and therefore make them more interested.
Also when the opening titles are over, the camera goes straight into a shot of the trees which then tilts down to two women walking through the crowded streets of NYC. By tilting slowly downwards, it creates a tiny bit of suspense for the audience and grabs their attention as they want to see who is talking and what they are doing.
Sound
The sound is the biggest part in the opening sequence. Because the music is so slow and sinister, it seems like something is going to happen that will shock or surprise the audience. It also really keeps the audience's mind intact as it makes them want to know why the music is so slow and dark, what is going to happen that makes it that way?
Also after the last title sequence we hear a woman talking, yet the audience cannot see who she is or what she looks like. This then means the audience is inatct and wonders what they are talking about and what is going to happen next.
No Country for Old Men Opening Sequence
Editing
The only real editing that can be shown in the opening sequence of No Country for Old Men is from one scenic picture to another. The edits are fast after allowing the audience to look at the location for around 5 seconds. By doing so it allows the start of the film to grasp a slow yet twisted and slightly fast-paced feel.
The audience can also tell from the straight cut to the gas tank from the criminal that this must have something to do with the crime he has committed.
Mise-en-scene
As can be seen from the pictures of the location over and over again, the film is obviously going to be set in some sort of hot, desert country. This can be told by the balls of yarn and the yellow-ish sandy ground. The location also looks quite run down due to the barbwire fences and just one electricity source. Also when the road is seen and there is only one car (the police car) on the road, it allows the audience to see that there really is no people for miles around.
The costumes used in the first sequence also allows the audience to see that the man getting arrested is just a normal man, and leads us on to wonder why he is being arrested if he doesn't really look like a criminal.
The props used (being the gas tank) also confuses the audience into wanting to watch on as they want to know why that sort of prop would be being used and how it relates to the story.
Camera
Throughout the sequence the camera doesn't really move too much. It is obviously giving the audience a feel of a slow paced film in which the camera likes to concentrate on one thing at a time. From seeing the camera movements in the first sequence the audience can tell that the film is not going to be a fast-paced action film.
Yet, when the criminal is being placed into the car, a medium-shot is used so that the audience can tell the criminal is deemed to be a white male. This makes them wonder more why such an ordinary looking man would be in such trouble.
Also the close-up on the gas tank leans the audience more into wondering why the gas tank would be there and what it has to do with the rest of the storyline.
Sound
The only sound actually used throughout the sequence is the one of the male voice. Because the voice is so slow and deep it allows the audience to feel slightly vulnerable. The voice takes over the scenes and makes the audience feel much smaller as they cannot see who is actually talking and do not yet know the damage this voice could cause. By overlapping this voice with the scenic pictures, it makes the audience very confused to where exactly the film is going and why these two things are being merged together, hence making them want to watch on. Also the things the voice talks of are dark and misunderstood. Without having any background to why this person is saying these things, the audience want to know more about why, where and how.
Thursday 11 February 2010
Choosing groups - 9/2/10
Today's lesson involved us all choosing the groups we wanted to be in when filming and editing our first piece of real Media AS coursework.
I knew I had to chose well as Media is a course I really want to do well in.
Because Sarah and I had worked so closely and very well in our preliminary work, we decided that we were going to work together again. As well as Sarah I already knew when starting the course that I wanted to work with both Rob Mills and Aidan Foster as we are good friends anyway.
Once we had got into our groups and again discussed exactly what sort of mood and feelings that are involved with a thriller film, we needed to get on with storyboarding.
Sarah firstly had the idea of a young teenager in a house party drinking and having a good time with her friends then turning ugly. I did like this idea but couldn't really see how we were going to get around setting a party up and the idea of it all just sort of confused me. I still wanted the idea of a teenage thriller, and alcohol possibly being the base of the thrill in the film, but wasn't sure what.
I then thought about the idea of rape. We all agreed on this and started to think of ideas of how to add it into our thriller. After much deliberation we decided that we would have a girl walking in the night time down chilwell fields (near our college) looking tired with ripped tights and messed up hair, crying. She would then have flashbacks every few minutes to what had happened previously. Yet, because the flashbacks would be so short and snappy... the audience would only get a small realisation of what was really happening.
Our teacher then discussed our plans with us. It turned out that it wouldn't be the best idea for us to film in the night time as the outlines of the characters would not be as crisp as they would be in day light.
Rob then came up with the idea that we shot the night time scenes in the early morning (around 5am) to make it look as though the young girl was coming home from a party that she had been raped at. This sounded good to me and we all agreed.
We then started on the storyboard, yet hadn't actually drawn any pictures so realised we needed to start again in the next lesson.
I knew I had to chose well as Media is a course I really want to do well in.
Because Sarah and I had worked so closely and very well in our preliminary work, we decided that we were going to work together again. As well as Sarah I already knew when starting the course that I wanted to work with both Rob Mills and Aidan Foster as we are good friends anyway.
Once we had got into our groups and again discussed exactly what sort of mood and feelings that are involved with a thriller film, we needed to get on with storyboarding.
Sarah firstly had the idea of a young teenager in a house party drinking and having a good time with her friends then turning ugly. I did like this idea but couldn't really see how we were going to get around setting a party up and the idea of it all just sort of confused me. I still wanted the idea of a teenage thriller, and alcohol possibly being the base of the thrill in the film, but wasn't sure what.
I then thought about the idea of rape. We all agreed on this and started to think of ideas of how to add it into our thriller. After much deliberation we decided that we would have a girl walking in the night time down chilwell fields (near our college) looking tired with ripped tights and messed up hair, crying. She would then have flashbacks every few minutes to what had happened previously. Yet, because the flashbacks would be so short and snappy... the audience would only get a small realisation of what was really happening.
Our teacher then discussed our plans with us. It turned out that it wouldn't be the best idea for us to film in the night time as the outlines of the characters would not be as crisp as they would be in day light.
Rob then came up with the idea that we shot the night time scenes in the early morning (around 5am) to make it look as though the young girl was coming home from a party that she had been raped at. This sounded good to me and we all agreed.
We then started on the storyboard, yet hadn't actually drawn any pictures so realised we needed to start again in the next lesson.
First real coursework lesson - 4/2/10
This lesson was just basically based around what a Thriller really is.
We came up with a few ideas, like the fact that it involves tension and a storyline that will really grab the audience's attention with even maybe a few twists and turns throughout.
We watched a few opening sequences of thrillers which really allowed me to think about how I was going to try and capture the attention of the audience, because the first part of a film is where it is done.
We then watched the opening sequence of the film 'Usual Suspects' which really put across suspense and made me want to know exactly what it going on and allowed me to realise that was what I was going to try and do.
We came up with a few ideas, like the fact that it involves tension and a storyline that will really grab the audience's attention with even maybe a few twists and turns throughout.
We watched a few opening sequences of thrillers which really allowed me to think about how I was going to try and capture the attention of the audience, because the first part of a film is where it is done.
We then watched the opening sequence of the film 'Usual Suspects' which really put across suspense and made me want to know exactly what it going on and allowed me to realise that was what I was going to try and do.
First day of editing - 28/1/09
I was actually absent for our Thursday lesson and therefore was not able to join the group for our first session of Editing.
Yet, when I got back and attended the lesson on 2/2/10 it seemed Ashley and Sarah has put a lot of the editing together already. Ashley had decided it would be a good idea to put our piece in black and white to make it look more authentic and spooky, which I definitely agreed with and carried forward with the rest of our work.
Sarah had named all of our clips and deleted the ones she knew we weren't going to want to put in to make sure we didn't get confused. This definitely helped me when I got back as I knew which clip was which and where they were going to go. I then looked through Ashley's work as he had put the beginning scenes together and then looked through Sarah's as she had put the ending together. They both looked great but a few scene's were missing and a few were still in colour so we needed to balance it out and make sure all the scenes were put in the right places.
I didn't really know how to use the editing software as it was my first go with it, but after watching Sarah plow through, I got the hang of it.
We then copied and pasted Ashley's work into Sarah's work to fit them together and complete our piece. It took a while because it seemed that some of the scenes kept going missing and we didn't know why. Yet, after much fiddling around with getting the right scenes in the right places, we had a finished 46 second film.
I then realised I hadn't actually listened to the piece and needed to figure out if there was anything wrong with how it sounded. It turned out that there was. In a few of the scenes you could hear where Sarah was clicking the 'stop recording' button and it really irritated the scene. By editing out the sound from the scene we then had no sound which didn't matter too much to us because we weren't looking for the sound to make the film seem scary, we just wanted the scenes to do that. Some of the scenes, however, did have shuffling noises that made it seem slightly unprofessional, but we've learnt from that and know that we should probably put sound in it to cover that. Also there was a bit of Ashley speaking in one of the scenes so we had to edit that out by making the scene a bit shorter.
In the end we put our file onto AVI and saved it to our servers to make sure we didn't lose anything we had done. By doing this we then copied the URL from the video onto Sarah's Youtube account.
I am pretty proud of what we have done because I think we put in a bit more effort and attention to detail than we had to and actually went a bit further out than others. We probably could've put some sound over the film to make it a bit darker and to leave the ambient sound out, but it didn't matter too much.
We also forgot to change our settings to widescreen filming and therefore our Youtube video is a lot smaller on the screen than what we had planned. But we have learnt from all this and I hope to make it better in the real thing.
Yet, when I got back and attended the lesson on 2/2/10 it seemed Ashley and Sarah has put a lot of the editing together already. Ashley had decided it would be a good idea to put our piece in black and white to make it look more authentic and spooky, which I definitely agreed with and carried forward with the rest of our work.
Sarah had named all of our clips and deleted the ones she knew we weren't going to want to put in to make sure we didn't get confused. This definitely helped me when I got back as I knew which clip was which and where they were going to go. I then looked through Ashley's work as he had put the beginning scenes together and then looked through Sarah's as she had put the ending together. They both looked great but a few scene's were missing and a few were still in colour so we needed to balance it out and make sure all the scenes were put in the right places.
I didn't really know how to use the editing software as it was my first go with it, but after watching Sarah plow through, I got the hang of it.
We then copied and pasted Ashley's work into Sarah's work to fit them together and complete our piece. It took a while because it seemed that some of the scenes kept going missing and we didn't know why. Yet, after much fiddling around with getting the right scenes in the right places, we had a finished 46 second film.
I then realised I hadn't actually listened to the piece and needed to figure out if there was anything wrong with how it sounded. It turned out that there was. In a few of the scenes you could hear where Sarah was clicking the 'stop recording' button and it really irritated the scene. By editing out the sound from the scene we then had no sound which didn't matter too much to us because we weren't looking for the sound to make the film seem scary, we just wanted the scenes to do that. Some of the scenes, however, did have shuffling noises that made it seem slightly unprofessional, but we've learnt from that and know that we should probably put sound in it to cover that. Also there was a bit of Ashley speaking in one of the scenes so we had to edit that out by making the scene a bit shorter.
In the end we put our file onto AVI and saved it to our servers to make sure we didn't lose anything we had done. By doing this we then copied the URL from the video onto Sarah's Youtube account.
I am pretty proud of what we have done because I think we put in a bit more effort and attention to detail than we had to and actually went a bit further out than others. We probably could've put some sound over the film to make it a bit darker and to leave the ambient sound out, but it didn't matter too much.
We also forgot to change our settings to widescreen filming and therefore our Youtube video is a lot smaller on the screen than what we had planned. But we have learnt from all this and I hope to make it better in the real thing.
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