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.
Thursday 31 March 2011
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.
- 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.
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.
Analysis of the opening sequence of Seven
I have watched the opening credits of the film Seven which was directed by David Fincher during 1995, this film was given the certificate of an 18.
The mise en scene in the opening to this film helps build up the suspense for the film. In the opening there is emphasis on props such as books, and photographs of hand sizes, this provides a element of suspicion for the viewer, as they wonder what is happening. There is also emphasis shown of using a razor to take the skin off the fingers, this suggests that someone wants to remove their fingerprints and hide their identity. There is also use of photographs and then the same photographs with faces crossed out, this suggests that there will be murder within this film. This is also done with crossing out certain words from a newspaper article; this also suggests that there is also crime within this film.
The use of sound within this film helps create an atmosphere and a mood for the film. The music for the opening is by Nine Inch Nails, this music is eerie, yet it has areas where the music goes creaky, and this suggests that there are elements of hiding or creeping within this film. The music is sharp and distinctive within this opening; it is also very edgy which helps build up the suspense for this film.
There are many camera angles used within this film. The opening shots in this film are close ups of props such as a book. There is also use of crane shot; this is of the hand shots. There is also up of high angled shots during the film, in areas such as when the writing is being crossed out and when the face is being crossed out of the photo, this suggests that the man has power over the people in the photographs. There is also a close up of shaving off the fingerprints; this suggests that the hiding of identity is a theme throughout this film.
There are many different editing techniques within this opening sequence. Firstly, there are many cuts and cross cutting during this sequence. There are many cuts into the opening credits section also, which adds to the ‘thriller’ genre, as it adds suspense to the atmosphere. There are also sections within the sequence where it fades into a scene or it fades to black. This also adds suspense to the atmosphere.
The mise en scene in the opening to this film helps build up the suspense for the film. In the opening there is emphasis on props such as books, and photographs of hand sizes, this provides a element of suspicion for the viewer, as they wonder what is happening. There is also emphasis shown of using a razor to take the skin off the fingers, this suggests that someone wants to remove their fingerprints and hide their identity. There is also use of photographs and then the same photographs with faces crossed out, this suggests that there will be murder within this film. This is also done with crossing out certain words from a newspaper article; this also suggests that there is also crime within this film.
The use of sound within this film helps create an atmosphere and a mood for the film. The music for the opening is by Nine Inch Nails, this music is eerie, yet it has areas where the music goes creaky, and this suggests that there are elements of hiding or creeping within this film. The music is sharp and distinctive within this opening; it is also very edgy which helps build up the suspense for this film.
There are many camera angles used within this film. The opening shots in this film are close ups of props such as a book. There is also use of crane shot; this is of the hand shots. There is also up of high angled shots during the film, in areas such as when the writing is being crossed out and when the face is being crossed out of the photo, this suggests that the man has power over the people in the photographs. There is also a close up of shaving off the fingerprints; this suggests that the hiding of identity is a theme throughout this film.
There are many different editing techniques within this opening sequence. Firstly, there are many cuts and cross cutting during this sequence. There are many cuts into the opening credits section also, which adds to the ‘thriller’ genre, as it adds suspense to the atmosphere. There are also sections within the sequence where it fades into a scene or it fades to black. This also adds suspense to the atmosphere.
Tuesday 22 March 2011
Preliminary Task
This is my preliminary Task, where in a group, I have used several shots and editing techniques to show my ability within filming.
Thursday 3 March 2011
Production schedule for the prodcution of my film
The following schedule is how my group has planned for the production of my film:
Monday 7th March- We will begin filming the shots of 1-4 in the storyboard, this will be filmed at Telford Town Park by all of the members in the group.
Tuesday 8th March-On this date , we will be filming at Telford Town Park but only if we need extra shots from the previous filming. If we have completed scenes 1-4, we will film in Wellington for scenes (13-16)
Tuesday 8th March evening- On the evening, Amie and I will be filming the scenes 7-12 at Amies home.
Thursday 10th March- On this date, we will be using garage band, to begin making our backing tracks for the film.
Monday 14th March- We will be filming in Wellington as a group for scenes 13-16, if extra shots are needed.
Tuesday 15th March- We will be filming the final shots of 18-19, this will take place at college.
Thursday 17th March- This date will be used to record any extra filming which is needed, or to refine our filming.
Monday 21st March- Editing of our film will begin on this date, two people will be editing the film whilst the other two people will be producing music on garage band.
Tuesday 22nd March-Two people will be editing the film whilst the other two people will be producing music on garage band.
Thursday 24th March-Two people will be editing the film whilst the other two people will be producing music on garage band.
Monday 28th March-Two people will be editing the film whilst the other two people will be producing music on garage band.
Tuesday 29th March-Two people will be editing the film whilst the other two people will be producing music on garage band.
Thursday 31st March- If all of the editing is complete, we will begin working on our evaluation.
Monday 4th April-We will be working on our evaluation.
Tuesday 5th April- We will continue working on our evaluations.
Thursday 7th April- We will have completed both our film and evaluations.
Monday 7th March- We will begin filming the shots of 1-4 in the storyboard, this will be filmed at Telford Town Park by all of the members in the group.
Tuesday 8th March-On this date , we will be filming at Telford Town Park but only if we need extra shots from the previous filming. If we have completed scenes 1-4, we will film in Wellington for scenes (13-16)
Tuesday 8th March evening- On the evening, Amie and I will be filming the scenes 7-12 at Amies home.
Thursday 10th March- On this date, we will be using garage band, to begin making our backing tracks for the film.
Monday 14th March- We will be filming in Wellington as a group for scenes 13-16, if extra shots are needed.
Tuesday 15th March- We will be filming the final shots of 18-19, this will take place at college.
Thursday 17th March- This date will be used to record any extra filming which is needed, or to refine our filming.
Monday 21st March- Editing of our film will begin on this date, two people will be editing the film whilst the other two people will be producing music on garage band.
Tuesday 22nd March-Two people will be editing the film whilst the other two people will be producing music on garage band.
Thursday 24th March-Two people will be editing the film whilst the other two people will be producing music on garage band.
Monday 28th March-Two people will be editing the film whilst the other two people will be producing music on garage band.
Tuesday 29th March-Two people will be editing the film whilst the other two people will be producing music on garage band.
Thursday 31st March- If all of the editing is complete, we will begin working on our evaluation.
Monday 4th April-We will be working on our evaluation.
Tuesday 5th April- We will continue working on our evaluations.
Thursday 7th April- We will have completed both our film and evaluations.
Storyboard for my film
The photos below are of my storyboard, which shows the shots in the correct order,which I will be using to structure my film.
Wednesday 2 March 2011
The certificate of our film
The certificate which I would give our film would be a fifteen. I think this because as it is a psychological thriller, there is no actual violence within the film. However there is use of threatening behaviour which is also portrayed in a menacing fashion. Although this type of behaviour suggests violence and injury, there is no actual violence displayed within the film. Overall, I think that our film would fall under the classification certificate of a fifteen.
Props
The props which we will need during the production of our film are the following:
- A computer- this is used in various scenes by the stalker. This prop is used to highlight how the internet can be used to stalk people. We will use a computer from Amie's house, as whilst we record there as this is a very expensive prop.
- Printed out photographs- The photographs are also used to emphasise the theme of the film, and are used by the stalker. These photographs will be of the group, and will highlight the theme of isolation. We will use a camera to take these and then will use a device to print them out, there will be a limited number of photographs as it will get quite expensive. The amount of the photographs will be divided equally between the group.
- A camera- Towards the end of the film, we are using a camera, we thought this was a good way to portray the idea of stalking, the camera will be provided by Stephanie.
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