Thursday 31 March 2011

Reflection of filming process so far

I think my group has pulled together and worked well during the process of producing so far. I found the organization of our group worked well, however it was hard initially to be able to find time where each member was free to film, especially for the scene where Amie and I recorded at her home.

I think the editing process has gone well also, there has been a group effort into how the film will run and look. Which I think is good as we have all had our inputs into the film.

The music is currently being produced, and is being shared by every member in the group, this is the area which I find more difficult, as there are different elements of mood and build up of suspense within out film, therefore getting music to match is extremely hard.

Overall, I am impressed with the production of our film, and think that it is coming along well.

Monday 28 March 2011

Script for my film

- Tara runs throught the woods- (In slow motion)- Tracking shot.

- Camera on the floor in a slanted position, following Taras feet (slow motion)

-Tara runs to a dead end- Long shot.

- Close up of Amies hand on Tara's shoulder, with Tara turning to look right into the camera.

-'9 Months Earlier' text appears on screen- text in Red and black background.

-Zoom in/Out shot of 'unknown' caller on the phone.

-Over the shoulder shot of Amie hiding behind a piller whilst taking photos of Tara,Steph and Jess walking.

-Close up of Amie holding the camera to her face, She takes a photo. - Extreme close up of the Flash, the flash goes off and the screen turns white.

-' The obessed screen appears- Red text with a Black background.

-Amie in her room looking through old photos of when they all used to be friends. Lay them out on the floor

- pick one up, zoom into her holding a photo of her and Tara, picks up another of Tara, Steph and jess, and scribbles Tara’s head out and rips it up.

- Writes a sign saying ‘what goes around comes around’

- sitting on facebook; sends a text to Tara saying ‘do you want to come around mine tonight?’ Then a close up of Amie scrolling down Tara’s facebook page – photos she’s just been looking at.

- looks at ‘past friendship’

- Gets a reply from Tara saying ‘Just leave me alone, I want nothing more to do with you

- Throws phone down

- Zoom into phone

- Extreme close up of Amie’s eyes closed; then open.

Answers The Question Sheet

1)- What is the purpose of the opening to a film?

Draws the attention of the audience and introducing the plot to make interested in finding out how it is resolved. It sets the scene and often includes the opening credits, theme music, and introduction to the main characters.

2)- What techniques can a director use to create suspense in a film?

Eerie music or sharp sound effects which make the audience expect the unexpected and extreme close up shots which only give a small insight to what the characters are doing implies secrecy and makes the audience intrigued to know what’s going to happen. Cliff-hangers and complex plots.

3)-How do you think a thriller film is defined?

Main elements are tension, suspense and excitement; and events in the film build up to a climax where the plot which has been building up throughout is revealed.

4)-What films can you think of that would fit into the thriller genre?

Seven (David Fincher, 1995); Salt (Phillip Noyce, 2010); The Bourne Identity (Doug Liman, 2002); The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980); Silence of the Lambs (Jonathan Demme, 1991); The Hills has Eyes (Alexandre Aja, 2006); Saw (James Wan, 2004); Inception (Christopher Nolan, 2010); Shutter Island (Martin Scorsese, 2010); One hour Photo (Mark Romanek, 2002); The Mothman Prophecies (Mark Pellington, 2002); Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979); I Am Legend (Francis Lawrence, 2007)

5)- The thriller film can be divided into sub-genres – what different types of thriller films do you think exist?
Murderous passions, political thrillers, change of identity thriller, psycho-traumatic thriller, moral confrontation, and innocent on the run.

6)- What are the characteristics or conventions of a thriller film? (Consider narrative, characters, mise-en-scene, and stars)

Impacts the audience to feel suspense, tension and excitement; and intrigue the audience to wonder what will happen next and draw them into the action. The audience usually feel sympathy for the victims, and include famous and familiar landmarks or use every day objects or activities to make the audience relate to the story. Also often include law enforcement officers, spies, superheroes/supervillians or pilots; and then generally ordinary citizens drawn into the situation by accident.

7)- What do you think is the audience pleasure of a thriller film?
to be entertained and to spend the film trying to figure out the plot, usually who commited the crime if its a detective thriller. To be able to relate to the characters personalities, but be intrigued by the fantasy world.

8)- What do you think are the differences between a horror and a thriller film?

A horror film is created to unsettle viewers to install disgust, horror and fear; whereas a thriller installs suspense, tension and excitement. These genres can overlap and based on good vs. evil, but thrillers often have a plot which is resolved in the end whereas a horror usually ends with the characters dying.

9)- Using the internet research the ‘top 50 thriller films’. Look at the top 20 – which ones have you watched? If it’s not that many, why do you think this is the case?
I have only seen one film out of the top 20 which is Inception (Christopher Nolan, 2010) , and this is probably because I don’t go to the cinema or watch films very often, but I have heard of most of them and even already know the plot of some.

Analysis of the opening sequence of Alien

Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979) which was directed by Ridley Scott in 1979 used very eerie sounds combined with squeaky noises which sound quite a strange mix which implies it would be a very fictional film. There is no sign of life until the end of the opening sequence, and even then we don’t know who these people are and don’t hear them speak, so it’s completely non-diagetic sounds. There was no establishing shot at the beginning and goes straight into a close-up of the spaceship travelling through space (which could be anywhere in the universe and full ship is never shown); and then a close up of all the equipment, and everything is very plain and metal with nothing personalised which creates an unease for the audience as everything seems very secretive, and as though whoever or whatever is on the spaceship doesn’t want anyone to know anything about them.

Analysis of the opening sequence of I Am Legend

In 2007, Francis Laurence directed I Am Legend (Francis Lawrence, 2007) which starts with a news read. This is of a woman who claims to have found the cure for cancer, then cuts to a heading saying ‘3 years later’; and an establishing shot of an empty New York. This shocks the audience as if someone in real life did find the cure to cancer then it would be seen as a miracle, but this obviously has actually had an extremely negative impact and has resulting in New York being completely abandoned which has been done by closing down sections of road whilst filming, and image editing. This makes the audience think about a lot of things about today’s society and the impact in which science has. The familiar setting of New York which we see so much of in films as being ‘the city which never sleeps’ is suddenly contradicted as it appears to be dead. The very famous aerial shot in this film is to show only one car travelling through the streets. An over the shoulder shot is also a Point of View shot of the driver who we see as the only person left in New York. This tells the audience that the story will be told by this character.