Friday 19 March 2010

Final Thriller Video

Evaluation draft deadline mon 22nd 9am, final deadline mon 29th 9am

Thriller Film Opening Sequence Evaluation - 1500-2000 words
PowerPoint uploaded to moodle

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge conventions of real media products?
What conventions of professional products have you used in your own film? (narrative conventions, character conventions, genre, camerawork, sound, editing, special effects, mise-en-scene? Use screen grabs of your own sequence to illustrate each example where you have followed conventions or gone against (challenged) conventions. Also use images from the films that have influenced you where relevant.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups? (gender, age, ethnicity etc.)
Compare a character in your sequence to a character in a professional film (use images). If you have included a villain/victim character, does the character follow conventions of characters in professional films. For example, is your villain male? Is your victim female? Therefore how are you representing gender?

3. What kind of media institution would distribute your media product?

Discuss similar professional films and their production companies (use images of the films and logos). Which production Company do you think would distribute your film? (if it was professional and if you had made the full film).

4. Who would be the audience for your media product? (BBFC and target audience) Use images from a similar product with a similar target audience. Remember that target audience is not the same as classification.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

Refer to Significant moments in your sequence where you have tried to generate a response from the spectator (a close up to encourage identification with a character, music that encourages the spectator to feel suspense, tense, visceral reaction etc.) What techniques have you used to encourage the spectator to want to see the rest of the film? (Clues about narrative, character, etc.) Use screen grabs of your own sequence.

6. What have you learnt about the technologies from the process of constructing your product?

(blog, camera equipment, editing software – Final Cut Express, istopmotion, Garageband etc.) Use screen grabs/photos of all these things. Be very specific about tools/effects/techniques learnt not just ‘I have learnt a lot about the software’

7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to your final product?
Discuss your second preliminary task that you did in a week before starting Thriller. Discuss what you have learnt since then about construction of micro elements in order to create meaning, how to use different techniques, practical skills etc. How have you built on your knowledge that you learnt from the prelim task? Use screen grabs of your prelim task and your sequence where relevant.

Friday 12 March 2010

Responce

1) what comments do we agree/ disagree with and why?
2)what can you do at this stage to respond to the feedback and make improvements?
3)why is it important to get feedback from your target audience when producing a film?

1/2)we agree with the comment that the music is repetitive, but we do not want to have the music upbeat but we can make it a bit more interesting .
we are in agreement that our scene needs to be longer, we will fill most of the transitions with names of actors and staff.

3)it is important to get feedback from the target audience when producing a thriller because

Rough Cut Feedback??

Please post what your feedback is on our production here please:


Group 54:

Editing is good although not very creative, think the credits need to be up for longer to read, the soundtrack is good but it gets repetitive it needs something with a faster beat or a shock point , it doesn't make you jump. We didn't understand why the boy was running it was a little vague just running and then someone just grabs him from behind.


Group s2-49:

We think that it is generally effective, with good shots, but we believe that you should include more shot variety. We also agree with the other group and think that the music is well done, but rather boring, and needs some more variety also, you could include some sound effects, for example. It does however build atmosphere well.

Group S2-50:
The sequence needs to be longer, it finishes early on 1:30 roughly, and should be 2 minutes. Throughout, the soundtrack is repetitive and we think you need to consider the juxtaposition of your shots. Your sequence needs to be more continous and the plot needs to be clearer.
You titles were really good though they fitted in with the sequence.

Group S2-51:
The soundtrack although does create a tense atmosphere, does get a bit repetitive. Although it is clearly obvious he is running from something, it is not obvious why. the shots could do with being a bit darker, so it adds a more intense atmosphere.

S2 52 feedback:
Personally the soundtrack should be more up beat instead of a sort of drowsy feeling this took away the suspense of it being a thriller. Also you don't really get much information of the story from what is seen and lastly it needs different shot types for it to be more varied.

Tuesday 9 March 2010

Thriller opening Draft cut



This is our group video for the thriller project. Please could you give us feedback on the quality of the editing, if a conventional "thriller" atmosphere had been achieved and if our soundtrack goes well with the atmosphere. thanks...

Monday 8 March 2010

Plan for Monday 8th

  1. Upload our rough cut video to our blog
  2. Work on improving soundtrack
  3. Edit our video to include our names and make it longer by adding blank spots to our video to give it more depth and atmosphere.

Monday 1 March 2010

Storyboard - note from teacher

This group has produced a storyboard. It included detailed sketches of the shots and detail underneath about framing and character movement. It perhaps did not include all of the shots required to meet the brief of 2 minutes. Ben Armitage in particular worked well on the storyboard. The storyboard has since gone missing so will not be appearing on the blog. It would be too late now to produce another storyboard as the group has to concentrate on filming in order to meet the deadline.

Tuesday 23 February 2010

Evaluation Questions

  • In what ways does your product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
  • How does your media product represent particular social groups?
  • What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
  • Who would be the audience for your media product?
  • How did you attract/ address your audience?
  • What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
  • Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the prgresson from it to the final product?

Mick . M

In what way does your product use , develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products??

-We haven't shot our film so i cannot comment.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

-We haven't shot our film so i cannot comment.

what kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?


-We haven't shot our film so i cannot comment.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

-Those between the ages of 17-29 ish i believe.

How did you attract/address your audience?

-We chose to attract our audience's through our various trailer's if we could have made them. We chose to do this because trailer's as we know are a good way to let people know about your movie, and to get people talking around school's and work.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

-I have learnt the technologies are far more advanced than they were a meagre 10 years ago. I
have also found the technology of today quite simple to use, whereas 5-10 years ago i would have had to take a whole course on learning to control the equipment.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt from it to the final product?

-We haven't shot our film so i cannot comment.

Monday 22 February 2010

Mick . M

Target Audience
After thinking for a while about our target audience i believe they should be between the ages of 17-29, and that this film should be mainly aimed at a male audience, but should also be available and suitable for female's. Also with our thriller project if it was to be made into a full feature-length movie, you would see all sort's of things that would scare children and some adults alike.

Certificate:
Overall i would either give our production a 15 or an 18. Because if our small film were to make it to the movies both of these age groups fill the ages i have set out, with not being such an infringement on children. Seeing as most thrillers are too scary for children, and i deem those aged at 15 old enough to decide whether or not our thriller will scare them or not. So if we were to make this into a full feature length movie we would also create a trailer for it as well to give the people aged 15+ and 18+ , an idea of how scary they may find our film.

Friday 12 February 2010

Mick . M

I think in our thriller we should make the whole scene black and white personally, it will give a much deeper and more overwhelming chilling effect.
I cant find the music i got the idea from but i will search once am at home, because at home i can make it onto facebook.
I think it would be a good idea to use only black and white , because it gives the audience more fear, as it will make the whole room dark,an it will scare them more when something jumps out at them .

Monday 8 February 2010

List - what we doing

  • Costumes : Charles
  • Props : Plastic knife - Ben
  • Lighting - effects + equipment
  • Make up/ hair: Mick Moore
  • List of equipment : " "
  • Times + Dates you want to film, including a back up plan : Team work!
  • Locations (maps and photos - suitability?) : " "
  • Actors (with images + suitability for character role) : Ben and a "friend"
  • Production roles - camera, actors, directors, producers, production co-ordination etc. (provide definitions and assign roles to group members - suitability?) : everyone
  • Test photos/ footage: Mick Moorez
  • Storyboard with shot list:ben

Friday 5 February 2010

Mick . M

Today i (Mick . M) and Ben decided to take a look around the area where we would film our complete scene. From doing this we could figure out good vantage points to take the shot from, and yet again evaluate upon our ideas for the filming of this intro. We have been set the task of filming a thriller, in our thriller we have chosen to include the quite popular military man and his mental illness, which in cases of thriller is particularly popular.

Tuesday 2 February 2010

Mick . M

Thriller Project Timings & Deadlines

11th Jan to 15th Jan: Thriller introduction.

18th Jan to 22nd Jan: Analysis of real and student examples/ Production logos.

25th Jan to 29th Jan: Planning and delivery of pitches.

1st Feb to 5th Feb: Storyboarding, shot lists and other planning.

Cameras are available from Friday 5th Feb at 4.10pm until shooting deadline of 9am Monday 8th March. Students can have 2 overnights or one weekend to film. There are three weekend slots available ( 6th & 7th Feb, 27th & 28th Feb and 6th & 7th March).

8th Feb to 12th Feb: Filming.

15th Feb to 19th Feb: HALF TERM. NO CAMERAS OUT.

22nd Feb to 26th Feb: Filming and editing.

1st March to 5th March: Filming and editing.

8th March to 12th March: 8th March Shooting deadline. 2nd lesson of this week is Rough Cut Deadline. Third lesson of week, rough cut feedback.

15th March to 19th March: End of second lesson of the week is Final Cut Deadline. Last lesson of the week, feedback on final cuts and re-introduction to Evaluation questions.

22nd March to 26th March: 9am 22nd March is Interim writing deadline. Lessons this week are for feedback on interim drafts and revisions/writing.

9am 29th March: Final writing deadline.

Mick . M

Our killer is a ex-military member, who has been discharged because of the severe amount of mental illness and suffering he has endured. His daughter died age 17, from a severe Cerebral edema. But what our main character chooses to believe is far from different to this situation. He is in the belief that she killed herself due to her male peer's having such a damaging state to her emotional well being, which tormented her into killing herself.
His mental and emotional flaw is the thought of his young daughter killed by such terror's to society.

Monday 1 February 2010

Planning for Film

  • Costumes
  • Props
  • Lighting - effects + equipment
  • Make up/ hair
  • List of equipment
  • Times + Dates you want to film, including a back up plan
  • Locations (maps and photos - suitability?)
  • Actors (with images + suitability for character role)
  • Production roles - camera, actors, directors, producers, production co-ordination etc. (provide definitions and assign roles to group members - suitability?)
  • Test photos/ footage
  • Storyboard with shot list

Friday 29 January 2010

Heat-
- Robert De Niro starts out by walking slowly down the hospital ward. The scene starts out in a train station which we personally like , but it would be very dangerous and we'd probably get put in jail if we tried to film a train coming at us =D. The scene then goes on to following Robert De Niro and his POV when looking into the hospital room's.
No Country For Old Men-
- Is set in a deserted area Set probably in Arizona, which i like (Mick.M) but we cant find an area around us that is that deserted.
Carlito's Way-
- I (Mick.M) like the POV shot in carlito's way, because it shows not only his POV but the POV of those treating him as he is lying down on the bed.

Tuesday 26 January 2010

Mick . M

I think it would be a good idea to involve a camera flash in our sequence
with the camera flash blinding the viewers for a few seconds, maybe with a flash-bang sound to cover it all

i would also like 2 include screaming sounds of pain.
We did our thriller pitch to the rest of our class:
- We were told to focus on content rather than the style, because we involved too much blood and gore in our film pitch.
- We were also told to refer to our narrative of our whole film.
- We also need to discuss the events that are going to happen later on in our film, and how and why we want to do these things.

Monday 25 January 2010

Mick . M

Our Thriller Opening -

CHARACTERS:
Unknown Killer - this character is shy about society but not about his work, he prefers to lure or stalk his victims into dark, secluded areas where he only lets his victims know they are being stalked right before he tortures, slowly and silently kills them.

Victim - confident, sure of his ability to survive, not very head strong

NARRATIVE:
His first victim is stuck down to a chair by rope or duct tape the killer starts by slowly cutting away at his victims arms, hands and legs. He then takes photo's of his victim in pain to show 2 himself every morning, which makes him feel better about his circumstances. A confident, efficient killer is on the rampage in 'The City' and Detective Hatchet and Constable Higginbottom are dispatched to the scene of a horrific murder. At the scence of the crime a young teenager has been brutally butchered and found in a trash bin, his head on the road, no finger prints or signs left.

Atmosphere:
The atmosphere of our film is quite tense, because the police officer's are trying to understand and stop the killer, before he harms anyone else.

Camera Work:
Changes from handheld style to some panning and a range of non shaky shots.

Mise-En-Scene:
Dark and scary for the viewer. The killer wears dark colourless clothes, he murders his victims slowly in a blood soaked room.

Monday 18 January 2010

Mick . M

I chose to watch and scrutinize a film called Surface by some fellow longRoadian's.
Here is the fIlm:
I personally would give this film a 52 out of 60 (52/60) as they have a good use of low key lighting. They also have a good use of sound effect's throughout the whole scene and costuming as it all fits together quite nicely. But they did not really think about their editing very much as the entrance of their names was very basic, and could have been done in a much better way, e.g make it drip in with the blood/Make it look like it's someone's personal handwriting.

Friday 15 January 2010

Cape Fear.



Cape fear - what does this sequence give you about the film?
The beginning of the film shows water, rippling this could connote that one of the characters has a fear of water. A eagle then fly's over and gives a reflection, an eagle is a predator so with it flying over the water it might mean that the killer drowns people.

The water has a rippling effect what dissort's the background so we cant tell what it is, a thriller normaly involves misterious and you don' see the death, this could mean that. they are also very dark and gloomy.
the ripples inculde the colour red, again for blood.
a eye then appears in the back ground, i think eyes are very innocent so it could be the main character thats trying to solve this.
a silluhate of a man also fades in, the man has no weapons but his hands are tensed, he could use his hands as weapons and not guns etc
the end of the trailer there are red eyes - whichs conntoes the man is dangerous , they then invert to blue which could mean his cold inside and has no emotions

Mick.M



Vertigo-

Vertigo starts off with a close-up of a woman's face, moving slowly from her mouth to he eyes. This symbolizes that this film will be quite an up-close and scary film, much like many thrillers. The film starts off in black and white to give the viewer an eerie feeling and to make the viewer unsure of what is going to happen. This is good as it keeps the viewer guessing what is going on, and keeps them interested and excited/scared. The scene then changes its colour to a dark red this shows us yet again that this is going to be a scary film and will have the viewer on the edge of their seat. The colour red symbolizes that the film is likely to be quite scary and connotes fear, blood and passion. which all of these things this film has. The film then changes its viewers look on the film, showing spinning circles among other shapes,protruding from the woman's eye. This is a good use of the technology around at that time as it shows what those who suffer from vertigo feel, dizzy and nauseous and that the whole room is spinning. The use of these shapes gives the viewer a feeling for those that suffer from vertigo, they also make the viewer dazed, and give the viewer a feeling of confusion and mystery.


Cape Fear-

This film starts off in the water giving the viewers the feeling that the main character is all alone and most if not all people feel vulnerable, isolatedand get a lot more cautious when they're alone. The scene quickly moves on to show an eagle reflection in the water,
this shows how much another character will dominate or follow the main character throughout the whole film , this has been shown by an eagle as it is a bird of prey. It then changes yet again to show a woman's eye,and her mouth an nosean also her torso later on, it uses a female to give their film an altenative look, because most people dont expect a female character to be scary. It also uses a female to give the audience a feeling that the main character will be female and to give them fear for the lead character. The scene also changes colours and feels a few times to give the viewer a feeling of insecurity and confusion. A red screen then flows down the whole screen with a water drop following it at the same time, this yet again shows the films whole use of water as being a scary item this is empathized with the start of the opening scene. By using the red with the water drop it helps to show what the director is planning to happen in this film, as red is a dangerous colour which gives conotations of blood and or danger or war. The whole scene then changes to a man's eyes to give those viewing the movie a feeling of being watched, which yet again gives the viewer the jitter's before the film has even started properly. The whole scene then yet again changes to an inverted view of the man & his eyes, this gives me the feeling that he has a cold personality, and doesent get very emotional even about death, and that he is very aloof. Also the use of having the water covering all these images the director is choosing to show us , keeps us with the original thought of being alone. Cape Fear also has very low lighting, which gives the viewers a feeling of insecurity and helps the viewer in their thinking that something will happen.

Vertigo.



Vertigo
- what clues sequence gives about the film.

The opening of vertigo includes a womans lips, the lips are very plump which could connote sex appeal what could get her into danger.
It then pans up to her eyes, they look scared when they are moving around - looking for someone? - and very teary, then a red overlay slides up , this connotes her death could be slow and gets more painful (as the red screen goes up), also red connotes death and blood, but also passion, maybe the killer has a passion killing.
From her hey a swirling 3D form appears, the form gets bigger and changes color during the credits, when it swirls the it could mean there's a twist in the film and very mysterios, behind the swirl is an image of a finger print what connotes the mistaken identity.
the shapes could also mean the 'vertigo' of looking down when you get dizzy,
The writing credits are also very police file type - has something to do with the law? also that the killer could be an ex-criminal
it then goes back into her eyes, her eyes look more confident at the end of the trailer which could connote that she has the upper hand at the end of the film.

Vertigo - How does it confirm to the conventions of a thriller.

The opening scene confirms to the conventions excellently, thrillers usualy involve suspencefull scenes and music, mystery and doesn't give much away. the opening scenes trailer is very mysterious with the music and the shapes they also give mystery and the woman doesnt give anything away about the film

Mick . M

We have been told we need to film a thriller, this can be from any of the popular cultures of thriller.

Tuesday 12 January 2010

paranormal Activity

Paranormaly activie had many endings

Mick .M


This is a film called The Shining
- As we can see from watching this video of The Shining it has very eerie music, having a mixture of low pitched sounds and constant droning which gives the viewer a strange creepy out feeling. The use of a string instrument throughout the opening gives the scene a dramatic feel and adds to the intimidating feel of the scene. By the composer using a echo it adds to the dramatization of the scene. The composer also uses some distorted sounds and some subjective noise to make the whole scene more grand and intimidating.

- The use of the lake at the start of the scene adds to the mystery of the scene, and provides the viewer with much discomfort and anguish, because it is an isolated lake, and people get the fear of death and drowning. By then cutting to the singular car on the long and bendy road, this yet again put's anxiety into the viewer's mind. By the use of a long and bendy road it symbolizes that everything is not straight and simple and there are likely to be "unexpected turns" throughout the film. The use of this road represents the narrative of the film also, showing that this film is not just going to be a simple and straight forward film




Orphan

Orphan trailer:


Orphan bases the thrills of a mothers nightmares of her children, the orphan (esta) who is a Crazy (SPOILER ALERT) 33 year old woman who acts has a child and gets fosters by a mother who lost her baby, she kills people violently with no consequences for her actions and threatens the children if they tell, she causes the parents to have arguments.



Here esta is killing the childrens dad because he wouldnt sleep with her, Esta is not shy about her actions and very experienced and she stabs him multiple times, shes dressed up in the jeans the mother gave her with is forshadowing past events in the film.


esta breaks her own arm to make it look like the mother broke it when she grabbed esta, this gets the father against the mother.
the scene is very nail biting and shows that people are willing to do anbything, this follows the codes and conventions because its shocking the audience, but has a horror fill to it because off the gore etc.



Here the music is typical of a death scene, very squely like violins and build up tension.
Again with the film the gore is alot with the sound goes higher when shes hit, also the sound effects of the hit ats a jumping feel.



Aagin the sound here, when the mother sees the flowers that represent her baby the music is showing her feelings, they are destressed and horrific.

Friday 8 January 2010

Preliminary Task 2

This is our preliminary task video. It is our second attempt at filming a preliminary task the shots we have in our task are: establishing shot, close up shot, match on action shot, reaction shot (note: even the dance is in the reaction shot, this shows that our continuity was not quite right.), shot, reverse shot, two shot. Enjoy!^^

Thrller Analysis

A thriller is a suspenseful adventure.

We have decided to analyse the thriller film: 'The Shining'