Dear Moderator, I hope you enjoy going through and
reading my blog. I have tried to make my blog as easy to get around as
possible, so everything is in the correct order. There are four pages and from the start you will find my pre-lim video and then the initial plans for my final project.
In our preliminary task we were simply instructed
to experiment with different camera angles we had just been taught. We used
various angles in the preliminary task such as close-up, extreme close ups,
match on action, mid shots and long shots but when compared to the quality of
our final project it looks very amateur. I believe this is because we didn’t
use any effects to enhance the shots in our pre-lim. Therefore in our pre-lim
there are some scenes where the lighting has been greatly affected causing a
yellow/green smudge blurring the subjects face. Whereas with our final project,
not only did we edit out these nuisances but we also planned appropriate filming
times to help reduce the light flares. I think we realized the importance of
organization and preparing with our final project and recognized that a good
quality scene takes time and practice. We focused on filming everything in the
course of an evening to ensure the continuity flowed perfectly so we could
prevent any mistakes suffered in the pre-lim. We also took advantage of all the
equipment on offer by the media department, such as tripods and spot lights
because we noticed that some of the scenes in our pre-lim were unsteady.
I learnt a lot in this project about
the technologies needed, as well as the similarities with the real media world.
I developed my skills on my laptop experimenting with publisher then realizing
it didn’t offer what we needed. I improved my ability to use Sony Vegas
Pro as this task enabled us to be more creative and free with
how we wanted to edit our piece. We experimented a lot in the earlier stages of
editing, such as trying out an effect called 'ghosting' which requires layering two shots on top of ach other and changing the opacity. This
is because we realized in one of the shots that I was visible sitting in the
car when the ‘hooded man’ reverses so adding another layer makes me less
visible whilst maintaining a natural look.
I am still slightly visible but the ghosting effect was very effective
We also use this same program to create a realistic gunshot and a spray of blood to follow. This took a considerable amount of time to perfect but we are happy with the results :
The internet also proved to be a very
useful research engine and also helped us to present our work. This is the
first time I have blogged but it didn’t seem difficult at all. Blogger was very
easy to use and helped us organize what we were doing whilst also being a
fantastic way of communicating with each other out of school regarding
progress. We of course uploaded our preliminary task along with our final
production onto YouTube so that it can be easily viewed by anyone, including
friends and family. YouTube is a fantastic site, as it is free yet has so much influence
over the media and offers useful feedback. Unfortunately we didn’t receive any
feedback through YouTube but then again it wasn’t one of our aims. We also went
on to the BBCF website to examine what age category our production would fall
into.
This experience has emphasized how
important technology is to create a good movie. When we first watched our RAW
clips after filming, they looked extremely amateur and poor. It was purely
because of the editing by adjusting Contrast, Brightness, Saturation etc. that the
use of camera angles and mise-en-scene came to life. I now realise how much
time and effort must go into a full movie as even a 10 second clip would take
us days to perfect.
The type of media institution
distributing your media product depends on the type of film we have created. Our
film is low budget and is an independent film therefore it is limited in where
you can show it due to budget and sometimes due to the content of the film
which is very specific to British culture. Cinemas such as Vue, Odeon or Cineworld
would be out of question but smaller art orientated exhibitions with private
cinemas are more likely to show these movies in order to encourage British
culture.
Forgetting the fact that this clip was filmed by students on a
very low budget, I believe we would appeal to the audiences of Lionsgate and
Warp films. This is because our thriller genre very much suits the reputation
that Lionsgate have developed. Warp films are also a prime choice as we have
some British signifiers resembling “chav” in our movie which very much relates
to the genres Warp works with such as ‘This is England’. However more
realistically I believe that YouTube would be a fantastic way in gaining
popularity and receiving useful feedback from viewers of all age groups
especially as it is available for everyone to see. Another institution would be
short film competitions such as “Virgin Shorts” which is fundamentally for
Young and aspiring directors with a piece under two minutes, similar to our
own.
However since my thriller is a small budget film Vertigo Films
would be the ideal company to distribute my thriller because they specialise in
similar films to mine for instance the film ‘Waz’ and ‘The Escapist’. Vertigo
specialise in distributing around the country, by keeping costs low Vertigo
wont distribute our movie to the cinemas, instead have it on DVD, they also
have experience with other media convergences such as Xbox Live to reach a
global audience as they did for the film Monsters. Vertigo isn’t internationally
well known, it was established in 2002 by producer Allan Niblo. Nonetheless Lionsgate
would from our perspective be the perfect match as they are internationally
recognised, experienced and we created our thriller based on some of their
previous productions. However I don’t believe they would distribute our film
because it appeals to only a niche market and it is also a small budget film,
since Lionsgate tend to work on films with a high budget alongside well-known
actors/actresses. To create publicity I think viral marketing is the way to go,
because it is cheap and effective (if it works). I would send links via
Facebook, MySpace and viral emails to create attention. I also believe it would
be worth spending money on advertising through major film websites such as Empire
to get people talking. Another idea which I thought was extremely cleverthat
was utilized by ‘Cloverfield’ is to create MySpace accounts for the main
characters in our production so the audience are able to feel connected to the
production and will enjoy investigating to find out clues, as to what the
motives of the hooded man may be. Furthermore it will possibly make the audience even more scared as it portrays the characters as normal people, implying these events could happen to them.
We made sure that we stuck to the conventions our audience would be
expecting. We used common themes
they would expect to see such as ‘death’ or iconography for example, an
innocent girl dressed in white, a dirty garage and dark clothing for the hooded
man. From our questionnaire feedback we know that people go to see a horror
film because they expect/want to be
scared, they expect to be confused and worried as to what will happen
next. We also do no let on what the motives of the murderers are, which again keeps the audience guessing. The radio
broadcast emphasized the poor mental state of this man, as this clearly was a
chain of events but no clues as to why were given.
We also appealed to them through our production and post-production. This is
because we used eye catching shots
like the extreme close ups of the tyre scraping to an immediate halt. This shot
not only looks effective but creates a sense of emergence and panic. Audiences
of thrillers/horrors will have chosen this film because it is a thriller and
doesn’t give everything away immediately, so by leaving things out and creating
enigmas, we are actually appealing directly to our audiences tastes.
I felt it was essential to make sure that our clip wouldn’t
qualify for a BBCF certificate 18 as it would hamper the popularity of the film.
Therefore we adjusted the intensity and lengths of the violent scenes because
to gain a certificate 15 the scenes “should not dwell on the infliction of pain
or injury”. Statistics show that about a quarter (26%) of girls compared to 20%
of boys between the ages of 15-18 believe there is too much violence in movies;
consequently our target audience are focused more towards males. Also Kidulthood
for example, had user ratings from males as 6.0; however females were only 4.3
which support our reasons for targeting the male audience as our production has
close links to Kidulthood. The age group of our core target audience is around
18-25 years and our secondary wider audience between 15-45.This is because we
want the audience to be able to engage and relate to our piece, as our main
characters are also young adults. Also this is around the same age group that
‘Disturbia’ and ‘The Shining’ targeted, which are films of a similar plot and
intensity as ours. We would meet the requirements for a BBCF certificate 15 as we
do not have any strong sadistic or sexualised violent scenes and all shots have
decent contextual justification. We decided to use a gun as the murder weapon
to help steer us away from the certificate 18 as a gunshot results in a clean and
quick death as oppose to a stabbing, which would entail in longer periods of violence
and more horrific detail. More importantly a knife is an easily accessible
product therefore a scene could be imitable. We didn’t want to dwell on detail
which could be copied and made sure we didn’t glamorise easily accessible
weapons.
We chose to stick to the character conventions in
horror/thrillers in that we had a strong athletic built man with his identity
concealed which made it impossible to mistake the character for anything but
the villain.
Our media piece represents the typical stereotype of a criminal in
England also known as hoodies.
typical dress of a hoody
Hoodies are characteristically in the age range
of 16-25 and tend to work in groups formed around a particular estate. However
crimes associated with these sorts of criminals are usually petty such as theft
or bad language but in our product the shooting scene comes as a great surprise.
Predominantly we decided to choose this theme of social group as we didn’t want
to reveal the face of the murderer at the opening scene. We carefully chose the
correct clothing for Jack as we wanted to fulfil the criteria and stereotype of
a hoody without overdoing it. Furthermore we tried to be as subtle as we could
with colours as it would be a ridiculous move for a criminal to be clothed in
striking apparel. In the scene where Jack reverses the car, we can see he drove
past two pedestrians which would likely be questioned as they were in the
vicinity at the time of the incident thus being unable to identify Jack would create
more suspense and tension throughout the series.
Our opening scene starts with the official Lionsgate horror
opening. This is because it makes our production look more realistic and
Lionsgate would be the suitable production company.
Our piece is obviously a thriller and we have aimed to use, develop
or challenge forms and conventions of the genre by experimenting with editing techniques, sound sand camera angles
We made sure that our camera shots would be long enough for the
audience to take in all that is necessary from a shot whilst allowing connotations
to puzzle their mind. This also leads to curiosity because we have very long
shots with the hooded man at the centre of the frame, yet it is difficult to
make anything out of it but it emphasized the importance and mysteriousness of
the character. We also took advantage of the costume to enhance the mysterious and
suspicious effect by using caps and hoodies, all of which were dark and neutral
colours. We
made sure that we would include relevant iconography to uphold the traditional conventions of a
thriller. These included the location; a dirty garage with low lighting in a
discreet location. We researched about Levi-Strauss’ theory of binary opposites, including good vs evil, in our case victim vs murderer.
We also followed this theme through to production by using high and low key lighting.
The girl’s death was the only part of the clip with low lighting.
The sound played an awfully important part in our production. It
was significant to make sure it was in sync with the shots, whether it is the timing
or mood. Throughout the clip we used non-diegetic music in the background
creating a sound-bridge which resulted in a disconcerting atmosphere. Also when the hooded man turned on the radio
to hear the news report (pre-recorded with my voice) it was an extremely vital
moment for the audience to listen so they could begin to understand the plot
and feel involved.
The horror/thriller crossover share
many common conventions such as a dark environment which we included with the
garage, also a main murderer and a main victim. Some of the well-known themes
of horror are death, victims, as well as the conventions of the production such
as unpromising music, and editing or creating a story which itself creates and
enigma for the audience: leaving them deducing. Two examples of this are ‘Disturbia’and
‘The Shining’
as well as many others. Both films holdback information until the
end so the audience are more intrigued and, ultimately, more scared. We
generally fit to these conventions of the horror thriller genre by having the
classic characters of a ‘victim girl’ and a ‘nasty murderer’, as well as using
enigmas, by not showing the murderers face.
Just before we uploaded our final production we noticed a small issue that needed tweaking. The blood splatter from the gun shot appeared too splodged. The video will be uploaded as soon as we find a way to create a more realistic effect.
We
have also spotted a small continuity error which can't be changed at this stage. We spent so much time focusing on editing
but managed to miss this error out. In one shot when the hooded man gets out
the car he doesn’t close the door but when we later took some shots from
another angle we failed to spot this important detail.
This is the opening title that will be used in our final movie. We have chosen lionsgate as it is a well established producer of Horror movies, similar to our own. This is the official opening that is shown before all horror films produced by Lionsgate. Then our own logo representing our made up production company will appear (POKA
JOTT).
Experimenting with the software which I found confusing at first but it soon made a 'little' more sense.
This program helped us to create fantastic effects. Jack Madden in particular spent a vast amount of time getting the gun shot just right. We used a plastic airsoft gun as a prop and were able to make it look genuine and realistic with the features of this program.
We are now back at school after a full day of organizing and filming. Fortunately we were very organized therefore everything went smoothly. Luckily Jack's sister was also available and was happy to take part. Now it is time to pick the shots we want to keep and then start the editing.
Below are three opening scenes I have studied and made concise notes on. I was particularly interested in the way shots,sound & editing were utilised in order to create a specific effect upon the audience. In our group we tried to pick different openings so we would end up with a bunch of interesting ideas we can use in our own opening. The results were great, hopefully you will be able to spot a few ideas in our final production.
Film title - Se7en
Use of close-ups/extreme close ups to create a sense of mystery,
confusion, isolation and gives off a feeling of claustrophobia – an enigma code
is created.
extreme close up
Titles appear as if scratched on the film – we see a range
of actors names, production credits, director etc. throughout the sequence.
Music is reflective of the images – industrial, heavy and
unsettling. We hear a scraping noise similar to scratching a tape which sounds
almost like a scream for help.The non-diegetic
sound of the thunder has many connotations, for example fear.
Mise-en-scene is dark and grimy – use of shadows.The whole atmosphere of the film is
established in the opening even though we see very little in terms of character
detail.
Production company titles play at the start of the clip.The titles are in a simple font and are not
played over the action but before it so as not to distract from important
elements.
Use of close ups and very specific light sources create
enigma code – this is conventional in thrillers.The audience’s attention needs to be grabbed.
Mid-shots are also used to help the audience get an idea of the mise-en-scene.
Point of view is used to allow us to see what the other
character is seeing.It puts us in their
shoes. From one of the POV shots, it is blurry. The blurry shot suggests impaired
vision possibly due to the length of time the character has been locked in the
dark.
blur
Editing – the takes are quite long to create a sense of
isolation and to develop the tension.
The sound is mostly diegetic but specific uses of music
emphasise certain elements – the discovery of the body for example. The sound
of the water gave an idea of the situation of a drowned body, creating further
tension for the audience.
Mise-en-scene is very dingy – a grotty bathroom, costumes
are grimy and sweaty.Particular props
are highlighted, the gun, tape recorder etc – these are important to what will
happen.
Film title - Cape Fear
Enigmatic montage of images – creates mystery
Use of extreme close up on girls face implied the importance
of the character and shot. This effect is utilised again once the male
character is released from prison. He walks confidently towards the camera in
the middle of the frame which comes across as intimidating.
Titles look fragmented to illustrate the potential themes
and atmosphere
Long take of the water – indicates it is important to the
story. The focus of the choppy waves creates an unnerving experience for the
audience, a sense of displacement.
Use of red – connotations of blood and danger.
Lighting makes use of shadows – conventional to the genre.
At one point we are able to make out the shape of a muscular tall man but only
one of his bare hands is revealed and the other is hidden. This suggests he may
be hiding something important, possibly a weapon.
This will be our first shot, with the car driving away at a
steady speed. The area will be slightly darker thus making the shot more mysterious. There shouldn't be any snow in our final product.
This time we will see the car travelling towards the camera
before it exits the frame. This is to give the audience a sense of speed and
distance travelled.
This is a close up shot of the centre console of the car. It
is vital that we emphasize the importance of the shot to prepare the audience
for the audio that follows in the form of a radio broadcast.
In this shot the vehicle will reverse and stop in front of
the garage abruptly causing the tyres to skid. If times properly the lighting
should be perfect and give a sense of time passing as the sun begins to set.
This will be just before the hooded man opens his door. The
shot will enable the audience to pick up on the mise-en-scene whilst also
showing the car blocking the only exit of the garage.
This shot shows the likely camera angle that will be used
when the hooded man reveals the girl in his boot before grabbing her.
This is a shot from the inside of the garage looking out.
The natural light will be blocked by the parked car once reversed.
Here is a shot of the garage where the girl will be shot. We
will most likely have her sat in the middle to reduce unnecessary lighting and
to create a more solitary atmosphere with the car taking up some space.
In this shot the vehicle will reverse and stop in front of
the garage abruptly causing the tyres to skid. If times properly the lighting
should be perfect and give a sense of time passing as the sun begins to set.
This will be just before the hooded man opens his door. The
shot will enable the audience to pick up on the mise-en-scene whilst also
showing the car blocking the only exit of the garage. 
Here is a shot of the garage where the girl will be shot. We
will most likely have her sat in the middle to reduce unnecessary lighting and
to create a more solitary atmosphere with the car taking up some space.