The audeince of a film is perhaps the most important aspect to undertake when making a film. To create a successful thriller, i need to study my audience and research the qualities which will make a successful opening.
Through doing research, i need to ask who i will be aiming my opening at, and whether it will be for a popular dominant thriller audience or a niche product, targeting a select few e.g an age group.
The target audience for most psychological thrillers are 16-25years. This is because they include a lot of action and violence, making it abit disturbing for young children to watch. This is also because the main characters in thrillers are usually teenagers - Young aduults. This allows the viewers to relate to the main characters.
The gender isnt as specific as age as main characters in thrillers differ all the time. For our film, the gender we are targeting would be mostly males as being males ourself, we create a pathway into connecting with the male audience, introducing key factors which allow the male audience to relate.
A questionnaire was made to target the correct audience and see what thrillers they would like to see and prefer to watch.
Friday, 10 February 2012
Monday, 6 February 2012
Thriller Opening and Trailers
Me and Alex have chosen to make the opening to a psychological Thriller because we like the idea of our characters being involved in a mystery and are fascinated by the fact that it is highly focused on characters, using mental/pschological traits to uncover a mystery.
This sub-genre of thrillers appealed to us when researching the top thrillers trailers and openings. Here are some we found:
The Usual Suspects is a 1995 American neo-noir film written by Christopher McQuarrie and directed by Bryan Singer. It stars Stephen Baldwin, Gabriel Byrne, Benicio del Toro, Chazz Palminteri, Kevin Pollak, Kevin Spacey and Pete Postlethwaite.
The film follows the interrogation of Roger "Verbal" Kint, a small-time con man who is one of only two survivors of a massacre and fire on a ship docked at the Port of Los Angeles. He tells an interrogator a convoluted story about events that led him and four other criminals to the boat, and of a mysterious mob boss known as Keyser Söze who commissioned their work. Using flashback and narration, Kint's story becomes increasingly complex. The establishing shot is an Extreme close up of a book of matches struck alight, the fire already portraying danger to the audiennce. We are then introduced to the first character, who is smoking a cigarette. The audience are yet to learn his name, but from this shot we can see he is being held captive. The camera is focused on the character, with fire in the background out of focus. As the first character alights the strip, it makes the audience wonder that this fire is going to kill him and anyone else on the ship. The strip is then put out by another character, dressed dark and mysteriously with a black coat and something covering his face. this then makes the audience uncomfortable because they ask the question that is this the person keeping the hostage character captive. When the mysterious character is introduced, music is played to show that this charcter is dangerous. The camera is low, looking up at the villain character (portrayed as a villain because he is in shadow and cant make out any features) giving him a sense of power of the captive victim. The camera tracks the villain down the stairs and the music gets louder and faster, like it is building up to something big. The villain then speaks to the victim, with a low, croaky voice, almost taunting the victim.
'How you doing keith'
This is said by the victim to show that he is in control and has power over his victim. The camera is looking down on the victim, showing he is in trouble. A gun is then shown which makes the audience even more uncomfortable, with the music still loud in the background. Suspense is created when the gun is changed to his left hand, and two shots are fired. Just before these shots, the time is asked by keith who is told it is '12:30' when these shots are fired, the last words spoken are remembered to the audience as a time of death manipulating them.
The Butterfly Effect is a 2004 American sci-fi psychological thriller film that is written and directed by Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber and starring Ashton Kutcher and Amy Smart. The title refers to the metaphorical butterfly effect, a popular principle in chaos theory which states that in any dynamic system, small initial differences may, over time, lead to large unforeseen consequences.
Kutcher plays 20-year-old student Evan Treborn, with Smart as his childhood sweetheart Kayleigh Miller. He finds he has the ability to travel back in time to inhabit his former self and change the present. Having been the victim of several childhood traumas aggravated by stress-induced memory losses, he attempts to set things right for himself and his friends, but there are unintended consequences for all. The film draws heavily on flashbacks of the cast's lives at ages 7 and 13, and presents several alternate present-day outcomes as Evan attempts to change the past, before settling
on a final outcome.
The film begins with sound effect leading straight to mystery. The frist shot is a man walking behind some blinds, very quickly, making you curious to know who he is. The screechy faded sounds portray tension for the audience and clash with the notes that creates an irritant sound. As soon as the necessary titles have been shown on top of this scene behind the blinds, the music breaks out into a louder, sudden noise while this main character breaks open the door in a rush and starts jumbling things around in a room which looks like it is in a hospital or public area – all because of his clothing which looks like a hospital gown, and the fact there is a public water machine with sofas and paperwork around. The audience is intrigued to watch more because its not clear what this man is trying to gain from jumbling objects and lying under a desk.
Shutter Island is a 2010 American psychological thriller film directed by Martin Scorsese. The film is based on Dennis Lehane's 2003 novel of the same name. Production started in March 2008. Leonardo DiCaprio stars as U.S. Marshal Edward "Teddy" Daniels, who is investigating a psychiatric facility located on the island named in the title. The film grossed over $128 million in its initial domestic theater release.
The Shutter Island trailer starts firstly with a ship approaching the camera through a dense mist, The boat appears through a thick dark mist and prevails as the light object, this perhaps suggesting that the boats occupants are the ‘good guys’, the camera then quickly jumps to a shot of the boats desitination, which is also overlaped by some dialogue which points out that the boats destination is a mental institution, a place which is percieved to be evil. The shots used in this first part of the trailer are all very jumpy and quick, tense music is also used. The music almost instantly goes from quite a nervy feeling to a very loud and screeching noise, these two things put together are very conventional of the horror/thriller genre.
The shot of the gates opening is an attempt to invite the audience into the film and to try and make them a part of the narrative, once the gates open and we enter, the music very quickly changes producing tension for the audience.
We then see a shot of the two men talking on the boat and then very quickly after we see a shot of a man inside the institute in a prison cell, this could be an example of, good vs evil, light vs dark, innocence vs violence and so on.
When the prison officer says “you are hereby required to surrender your firearms” it gives the marshal and the audience a great sense of unease as the weapon is the marshals last line of protection.
Inception is a 2010 science fiction action heist film which was written, co-produced, and directed by Christopher Nolan. The film features an international ensemble cast including Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Dileep Rao, Tom Berenger, and Michael Caine. DiCaprio plays Dom Cobb, a specialised corporate spy and thief whose work consists of secretly extracting valuable commercial information from the unconscious minds of his targets while they dream. Wanted for murder and unable to visit his children, Cobb is offered a chance to regain his old life as payment for a task considered to be impossible: "Inception", the implantation of an original idea into a target's subconscious.
The film the immediately cuts to the protagonist lying face down on the shore but before hand having a strong establishing shots of the rough and noisy sea. The first close up of the protagonists face is shown and is a canted angle shot. In the distance there are small children playing in the sand, this creates confusion for the viewer as the two things don’t go together, they are then shown running off in the distance. The Protagonist then blacks out and the scene then continues to show a random unknown character finding him on the beach. The Protagonist is shown in dull and trampy looking clothes in contrast to the high class soldier looking character. A low angle shot is evident to show to the viewers that the soldier has a higher status. The scene is then cut showing the protagonist being dragged into the room, this creates stress for the viewers as they still don’t actually know who or what the protagonist is trying to do or his aim. The location is also a mystery so this allows the viewers to ask questions and slowly feel further and further dragged into the storyline. The dramatic low level non diegetic bassy music is still being played while the close up of the protagonist eating supper. The character is hunched over the bowl as though he has not had food for awhile, which also leads to more unanswered questions. The room in which the protagonist and the new and another unknown character is released, is dull but beautiful at the same time. Low lighting with a huge table in the middle, this shows that who ever owns the house is a much higher class than the protagonist. There is then a close up of the spinning top, which builds tension as the viewers are waiting for the moment in which it topples over, but never does so. The next scene takes place, and it shows the protagonist in another scene but the same location. He is with two new completely different characters, and all the characters in this scene are wearing smart suits all showing they are they same status. The protagonist then starts to talk, and the cuts and speed of the cuts quicken. Over the shoulder and conversation shots are used effectively to make the viewers feel more comfortable which also makes it more natural to watch, A high angle shot is also used in this scene to show that the protagonist is more in control than any other character in the scene.
This sub-genre of thrillers appealed to us when researching the top thrillers trailers and openings. Here are some we found:
The Usual Suspects is a 1995 American neo-noir film written by Christopher McQuarrie and directed by Bryan Singer. It stars Stephen Baldwin, Gabriel Byrne, Benicio del Toro, Chazz Palminteri, Kevin Pollak, Kevin Spacey and Pete Postlethwaite.
The film follows the interrogation of Roger "Verbal" Kint, a small-time con man who is one of only two survivors of a massacre and fire on a ship docked at the Port of Los Angeles. He tells an interrogator a convoluted story about events that led him and four other criminals to the boat, and of a mysterious mob boss known as Keyser Söze who commissioned their work. Using flashback and narration, Kint's story becomes increasingly complex. The establishing shot is an Extreme close up of a book of matches struck alight, the fire already portraying danger to the audiennce. We are then introduced to the first character, who is smoking a cigarette. The audience are yet to learn his name, but from this shot we can see he is being held captive. The camera is focused on the character, with fire in the background out of focus. As the first character alights the strip, it makes the audience wonder that this fire is going to kill him and anyone else on the ship. The strip is then put out by another character, dressed dark and mysteriously with a black coat and something covering his face. this then makes the audience uncomfortable because they ask the question that is this the person keeping the hostage character captive. When the mysterious character is introduced, music is played to show that this charcter is dangerous. The camera is low, looking up at the villain character (portrayed as a villain because he is in shadow and cant make out any features) giving him a sense of power of the captive victim. The camera tracks the villain down the stairs and the music gets louder and faster, like it is building up to something big. The villain then speaks to the victim, with a low, croaky voice, almost taunting the victim.
'How you doing keith'
This is said by the victim to show that he is in control and has power over his victim. The camera is looking down on the victim, showing he is in trouble. A gun is then shown which makes the audience even more uncomfortable, with the music still loud in the background. Suspense is created when the gun is changed to his left hand, and two shots are fired. Just before these shots, the time is asked by keith who is told it is '12:30' when these shots are fired, the last words spoken are remembered to the audience as a time of death manipulating them.
The Butterfly Effect is a 2004 American sci-fi psychological thriller film that is written and directed by Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber and starring Ashton Kutcher and Amy Smart. The title refers to the metaphorical butterfly effect, a popular principle in chaos theory which states that in any dynamic system, small initial differences may, over time, lead to large unforeseen consequences.
Kutcher plays 20-year-old student Evan Treborn, with Smart as his childhood sweetheart Kayleigh Miller. He finds he has the ability to travel back in time to inhabit his former self and change the present. Having been the victim of several childhood traumas aggravated by stress-induced memory losses, he attempts to set things right for himself and his friends, but there are unintended consequences for all. The film draws heavily on flashbacks of the cast's lives at ages 7 and 13, and presents several alternate present-day outcomes as Evan attempts to change the past, before settling
on a final outcome.
The film begins with sound effect leading straight to mystery. The frist shot is a man walking behind some blinds, very quickly, making you curious to know who he is. The screechy faded sounds portray tension for the audience and clash with the notes that creates an irritant sound. As soon as the necessary titles have been shown on top of this scene behind the blinds, the music breaks out into a louder, sudden noise while this main character breaks open the door in a rush and starts jumbling things around in a room which looks like it is in a hospital or public area – all because of his clothing which looks like a hospital gown, and the fact there is a public water machine with sofas and paperwork around. The audience is intrigued to watch more because its not clear what this man is trying to gain from jumbling objects and lying under a desk.
Shutter Island is a 2010 American psychological thriller film directed by Martin Scorsese. The film is based on Dennis Lehane's 2003 novel of the same name. Production started in March 2008. Leonardo DiCaprio stars as U.S. Marshal Edward "Teddy" Daniels, who is investigating a psychiatric facility located on the island named in the title. The film grossed over $128 million in its initial domestic theater release.
The Shutter Island trailer starts firstly with a ship approaching the camera through a dense mist, The boat appears through a thick dark mist and prevails as the light object, this perhaps suggesting that the boats occupants are the ‘good guys’, the camera then quickly jumps to a shot of the boats desitination, which is also overlaped by some dialogue which points out that the boats destination is a mental institution, a place which is percieved to be evil. The shots used in this first part of the trailer are all very jumpy and quick, tense music is also used. The music almost instantly goes from quite a nervy feeling to a very loud and screeching noise, these two things put together are very conventional of the horror/thriller genre.
The shot of the gates opening is an attempt to invite the audience into the film and to try and make them a part of the narrative, once the gates open and we enter, the music very quickly changes producing tension for the audience.
We then see a shot of the two men talking on the boat and then very quickly after we see a shot of a man inside the institute in a prison cell, this could be an example of, good vs evil, light vs dark, innocence vs violence and so on.
When the prison officer says “you are hereby required to surrender your firearms” it gives the marshal and the audience a great sense of unease as the weapon is the marshals last line of protection.
Inception is a 2010 science fiction action heist film which was written, co-produced, and directed by Christopher Nolan. The film features an international ensemble cast including Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Dileep Rao, Tom Berenger, and Michael Caine. DiCaprio plays Dom Cobb, a specialised corporate spy and thief whose work consists of secretly extracting valuable commercial information from the unconscious minds of his targets while they dream. Wanted for murder and unable to visit his children, Cobb is offered a chance to regain his old life as payment for a task considered to be impossible: "Inception", the implantation of an original idea into a target's subconscious.
The film the immediately cuts to the protagonist lying face down on the shore but before hand having a strong establishing shots of the rough and noisy sea. The first close up of the protagonists face is shown and is a canted angle shot. In the distance there are small children playing in the sand, this creates confusion for the viewer as the two things don’t go together, they are then shown running off in the distance. The Protagonist then blacks out and the scene then continues to show a random unknown character finding him on the beach. The Protagonist is shown in dull and trampy looking clothes in contrast to the high class soldier looking character. A low angle shot is evident to show to the viewers that the soldier has a higher status. The scene is then cut showing the protagonist being dragged into the room, this creates stress for the viewers as they still don’t actually know who or what the protagonist is trying to do or his aim. The location is also a mystery so this allows the viewers to ask questions and slowly feel further and further dragged into the storyline. The dramatic low level non diegetic bassy music is still being played while the close up of the protagonist eating supper. The character is hunched over the bowl as though he has not had food for awhile, which also leads to more unanswered questions. The room in which the protagonist and the new and another unknown character is released, is dull but beautiful at the same time. Low lighting with a huge table in the middle, this shows that who ever owns the house is a much higher class than the protagonist. There is then a close up of the spinning top, which builds tension as the viewers are waiting for the moment in which it topples over, but never does so. The next scene takes place, and it shows the protagonist in another scene but the same location. He is with two new completely different characters, and all the characters in this scene are wearing smart suits all showing they are they same status. The protagonist then starts to talk, and the cuts and speed of the cuts quicken. Over the shoulder and conversation shots are used effectively to make the viewers feel more comfortable which also makes it more natural to watch, A high angle shot is also used in this scene to show that the protagonist is more in control than any other character in the scene.
Friday, 3 February 2012
Thriller Research
What is a thriller?
Thriller is a genre of literature, film, and television programming that uses suspense, tension and excitement as the main elements.
Thrillers heavily stimulate the viewer's moods giving them a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, surprise, anxiety and/or terror. Thriller films tend to be adrenaline-rushing, gritty, rousing and fast-paced. Literary devices such as red herrings, plot twists and cliffhangers are used extensively. A thriller is villain-driven plot, whereby he or she presents obstacles that the hero must overcome.
Thrillers provide a sudden rush of emotions which should create tension and excitement for the audience. Thrillers are a popular film genre which audiences are particularly interested in watching. It keeps the audience cliff-hanging at the "edge of their seats" as the plot builds towards a climax. Thrillers tend to be fast-moving, psychological and threatening, and they will have chase scenes, and at times involve larger-scale villainy such as espionage, terrorism and conspiracy, alongside action.
There are many different Sub Genres for thrillers:
Conspiracy Thriller - This involves the hero confronting a large powerful group of enemies who's true extent only he/she recognises. Films such as The Da Vinche Code, In the line of fire and JFK.
Crime Thriller - This particular genre is a hybrid type of both crime films and thrillers that offers a suspenseful account of a successful or failed crime or crimes. These films often focus on the criminal(s) rather than a policeman. Crime thrillers usually emphasise action over psychological aspects. Central topics of these films include serial killers/murders, robberies, chases, shootouts, heists and double-crosses. Films such as Se7en, No country for old men and Silence of the lambs.
Erotic thriller - A type of thriller that has an emphasis on eroticism and where a sexual relationship plays an important role in the plot. It has become popular since the 1980s and the rise of VCR market penetration. Films as Dressed to Kill, Eyes Wide Shut, and Single White Female.
Political thriller - In which the hero/heroine must ensure the stability of the government that employs him.. Examples include, Topaz, Notorious and The Man Who Knew Too Much.
Psychological thriller - In which (until the often violent resolution) the conflict between the main characters is mental and emotional, rather than physical.to o Characters, either by accident or their own curiousness, are dragged into a dangerous conflict or situation that they are not prepared to resolve. Characters are not reliant on physical strength overcome their brutish enemies, but rather are reliant on their mental resources, whether it be by battling wits with a formidable opponent or by battling for equilibrium in the character's own mind. At times, the characters attempt solving, or are involved in, a mystery. Films such as Misery, Cape Fear and The Collector.
Spy thriller: In which the hero is generally a government agent who must take violent action against agents of a rival government or (in recent years) terrorists. They often revolve spies who are involved in investigating various events, often on a global scale. The sub genre deals with the subject of fictional espionage, either in a realistic way (such as the adaptations of John Le Carré) or as a basis for fantasy (such as James Bond). It is aspa significant etc of British cinema, with leading British directors such as Alfred Hitchcock and Carol Reed making notable contributions and many films set in the British Secret Service. The sub genre showcases a combination of exciting escapism, technological thrills, and exotic locales. The spy film usually fuses the action and science fiction genres. Films of this genre include Casino Royale, Mission: Impossible franchise and Salt.
Supernatural thriller: In which the film brings in an otherworldly element mixed with tension, suspense and plot twists. Sometimes the hero and/or villain has some psychic ability. Examples include Lady in the Water, Fallen and Frequency.
Dominant Thriller Film directors:
- Alfred Hitchcock
- Steven Spielberg
- James Cameron
- Quentin Tarantino
- Martin Scorsese
Dominant Thriller Actors:
- Janet Leigh
- Grace Kelly
- Harrison Ford
- Leonardo DiCaprio
- Tom Cruise
Thriller is a genre of literature, film, and television programming that uses suspense, tension and excitement as the main elements.
Thrillers heavily stimulate the viewer's moods giving them a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, surprise, anxiety and/or terror. Thriller films tend to be adrenaline-rushing, gritty, rousing and fast-paced. Literary devices such as red herrings, plot twists and cliffhangers are used extensively. A thriller is villain-driven plot, whereby he or she presents obstacles that the hero must overcome.
Thrillers provide a sudden rush of emotions which should create tension and excitement for the audience. Thrillers are a popular film genre which audiences are particularly interested in watching. It keeps the audience cliff-hanging at the "edge of their seats" as the plot builds towards a climax. Thrillers tend to be fast-moving, psychological and threatening, and they will have chase scenes, and at times involve larger-scale villainy such as espionage, terrorism and conspiracy, alongside action.
There are many different Sub Genres for thrillers:
Conspiracy Thriller - This involves the hero confronting a large powerful group of enemies who's true extent only he/she recognises. Films such as The Da Vinche Code, In the line of fire and JFK.
Crime Thriller - This particular genre is a hybrid type of both crime films and thrillers that offers a suspenseful account of a successful or failed crime or crimes. These films often focus on the criminal(s) rather than a policeman. Crime thrillers usually emphasise action over psychological aspects. Central topics of these films include serial killers/murders, robberies, chases, shootouts, heists and double-crosses. Films such as Se7en, No country for old men and Silence of the lambs.
Erotic thriller - A type of thriller that has an emphasis on eroticism and where a sexual relationship plays an important role in the plot. It has become popular since the 1980s and the rise of VCR market penetration. Films as Dressed to Kill, Eyes Wide Shut, and Single White Female.
Political thriller - In which the hero/heroine must ensure the stability of the government that employs him.. Examples include, Topaz, Notorious and The Man Who Knew Too Much.
Psychological thriller - In which (until the often violent resolution) the conflict between the main characters is mental and emotional, rather than physical.to o Characters, either by accident or their own curiousness, are dragged into a dangerous conflict or situation that they are not prepared to resolve. Characters are not reliant on physical strength overcome their brutish enemies, but rather are reliant on their mental resources, whether it be by battling wits with a formidable opponent or by battling for equilibrium in the character's own mind. At times, the characters attempt solving, or are involved in, a mystery. Films such as Misery, Cape Fear and The Collector.
Spy thriller: In which the hero is generally a government agent who must take violent action against agents of a rival government or (in recent years) terrorists. They often revolve spies who are involved in investigating various events, often on a global scale. The sub genre deals with the subject of fictional espionage, either in a realistic way (such as the adaptations of John Le Carré) or as a basis for fantasy (such as James Bond). It is aspa significant etc of British cinema, with leading British directors such as Alfred Hitchcock and Carol Reed making notable contributions and many films set in the British Secret Service. The sub genre showcases a combination of exciting escapism, technological thrills, and exotic locales. The spy film usually fuses the action and science fiction genres. Films of this genre include Casino Royale, Mission: Impossible franchise and Salt.
Supernatural thriller: In which the film brings in an otherworldly element mixed with tension, suspense and plot twists. Sometimes the hero and/or villain has some psychic ability. Examples include Lady in the Water, Fallen and Frequency.
Dominant Thriller Film directors:
- Alfred Hitchcock
- Steven Spielberg
- James Cameron
- Quentin Tarantino
- Martin Scorsese
Dominant Thriller Actors:
- Janet Leigh
- Grace Kelly
- Harrison Ford
- Leonardo DiCaprio
- Tom Cruise
Props and Lighting
Props
Chainsaw
One prop we used was a chainsaw. We used this because in our research for thrillers we found it effective in the texas chainsaw massacre. this gave us great ideas and also helped with the editing of sound to put in a chainsaw engine sound. This is the characters signature weapon which creates tension for the audience and gives a real obvious outcome which can be guessed. A chainsaw was also easily to get hold of for the props and gave a good torture impression
Lab/Scientist Coat
The costumes for the characters were very basic. We used a lab/scientist coach for the costume of daniel as he was the torturer. After researching thrillers, we came to the conclusion that using this costume and combining it with a chainsaw would give us a unique but also thrilling character and could be very effective in the film. The audiences are used to seeing scientists as evil so they will easiley adapt and recognise to a evil scientist involved in torture which will generate our vision.
Mask
We also used a mask to create a secretive, mistertios character to torture. This creates tension and also allows the audeince to try and guess who the torturer is. we agreed from research that when we watch thrillers on torture, it is always better when the audience dont know who the killer is until the end of the movie. We used this and interpruted it into our film.
One prop we used was a chainsaw. We used this because in our research for thrillers we found it effective in the texas chainsaw massacre. this gave us great ideas and also helped with the editing of sound to put in a chainsaw engine sound. This is the characters signature weapon which creates tension for the audience and gives a real obvious outcome which can be guessed. A chainsaw was also easily to get hold of for the props and gave a good torture impression
The costumes for the characters were very basic. We used a lab/scientist coach for the costume of daniel as he was the torturer. After researching thrillers, we came to the conclusion that using this costume and combining it with a chainsaw would give us a unique but also thrilling character and could be very effective in the film. The audiences are used to seeing scientists as evil so they will easiley adapt and recognise to a evil scientist involved in torture which will generate our vision.
We also used a mask to create a secretive, mistertios character to torture. This creates tension and also allows the audeince to try and guess who the torturer is. we agreed from research that when we watch thrillers on torture, it is always better when the audience dont know who the killer is until the end of the movie. We used this and interpruted it into our film.
Filming the task
Filming
These are photos of the room which we filmed in. this is the drama room of our school which we booked out so we could definitely use this. We chose this room as it was dark and would create the effect that it was a thriller. our idea was a hostage/torture situation which gave it the effect that the actor which was filming was a dark, secretive character who was experienced in torture. This room helped with our idea and became a great benefit to us.
We also chose this room because it was full of lighting equipment which would make it easy for us to film with the correct lighting. We had several different lights, including a spotlight and background lights which changed colour. They had a variation of colours including red, blue and green which also helped with any effects which we wanted to create. We found it difficult to control and use the lights so we asked a teacher to help us with it. i then controlled the lights whilst Alex set up the camera for each shot.
We worked well as a team even if we didn't agree on everything. one thing we did agree on was the type of camera shots used. We used a variety of different camera shots including pans, close ups, extreme close ups and many more. Our knowledge from the previous lessons helped us make a more effective clip.
If there was anything i would do differently in the final task is that i would manage my time better. In this planning and filming i had been slacking and underestimated the amount of time and effort needed to be put into making a good film. One of the main reasons which we missed the deadline for our clip was me not doing my bit for the team. my partner was working hard throughout whilst i slacked off. I regret not putting in a lot of effort and have learnt my lesson. For the final task i will definitely be putting all my free time and effort into making a good film, planning, evaluating and hoping for a good grade.
These are photos of the room which we filmed in. this is the drama room of our school which we booked out so we could definitely use this. We chose this room as it was dark and would create the effect that it was a thriller. our idea was a hostage/torture situation which gave it the effect that the actor which was filming was a dark, secretive character who was experienced in torture. This room helped with our idea and became a great benefit to us.
We also chose this room because it was full of lighting equipment which would make it easy for us to film with the correct lighting. We had several different lights, including a spotlight and background lights which changed colour. They had a variation of colours including red, blue and green which also helped with any effects which we wanted to create. We found it difficult to control and use the lights so we asked a teacher to help us with it. i then controlled the lights whilst Alex set up the camera for each shot.
We worked well as a team even if we didn't agree on everything. one thing we did agree on was the type of camera shots used. We used a variety of different camera shots including pans, close ups, extreme close ups and many more. Our knowledge from the previous lessons helped us make a more effective clip.
If there was anything i would do differently in the final task is that i would manage my time better. In this planning and filming i had been slacking and underestimated the amount of time and effort needed to be put into making a good film. One of the main reasons which we missed the deadline for our clip was me not doing my bit for the team. my partner was working hard throughout whilst i slacked off. I regret not putting in a lot of effort and have learnt my lesson. For the final task i will definitely be putting all my free time and effort into making a good film, planning, evaluating and hoping for a good grade.
Very First Edit
First Edit
Our very first edit was quite poor. It took us a long time to get used to the program which we are using to edit our clip which a lot of time was wasted. After all the filming we were quite excited to make our production look a lot better than it is at the moment. to our surprise our filming wasn't as effective as we thought, and was quite a disappointment. To our dismay the first edit reached one minute which was two times as long as it should have been, ergo more editing needed to be done.
We started to take a look through each shot and cut off the parts we didn't need. this took a long time as we weren't used to the program and we weren't prepared for the amount of film which was cut off. Once all the filming was cut off we finally finished the full clip of 38 seconds.
Even though the clip is longer than 30 seconds, we spoke to our teacher and we agreed on 38 seconds for our finished clip. We agreed that if the clip was any longer, it wouldn't look right or make sense. so to get the full effect of the clip it would have to be this long.
We could not follow our storyboard exactly as the storyboard would have been too long. we had to cut off the final two shots which were the credits and a final shot of the victim. This was to add effect of the thriller/horror but we agreed without it, it would not make much difference.
Our very first edit was quite poor. It took us a long time to get used to the program which we are using to edit our clip which a lot of time was wasted. After all the filming we were quite excited to make our production look a lot better than it is at the moment. to our surprise our filming wasn't as effective as we thought, and was quite a disappointment. To our dismay the first edit reached one minute which was two times as long as it should have been, ergo more editing needed to be done.
We started to take a look through each shot and cut off the parts we didn't need. this took a long time as we weren't used to the program and we weren't prepared for the amount of film which was cut off. Once all the filming was cut off we finally finished the full clip of 38 seconds.
Even though the clip is longer than 30 seconds, we spoke to our teacher and we agreed on 38 seconds for our finished clip. We agreed that if the clip was any longer, it wouldn't look right or make sense. so to get the full effect of the clip it would have to be this long.
We could not follow our storyboard exactly as the storyboard would have been too long. we had to cut off the final two shots which were the credits and a final shot of the victim. This was to add effect of the thriller/horror but we agreed without it, it would not make much difference.
Thursday, 2 February 2012
Preliminary Task
Preliminary Task
When i first found out that my task was to create a short 30 second thriller which involved 4 lines of dialogue with two characters, i was quite excited. I imagined it to be a good experience, good practise and a chance to see whether my choices of groups would benefit my learning. I chose Alexander bailey as my partner and we got straight into creating. We first drew up our storyboard using ideas generated from both me and Alex. We then started to plan the mis en scene for the video, which was quite frustrating because we both had different visions but allowed us to elaborate on each others ideas and we also built a better, more stable partnership between us. Once we finished planning we then thought of actors which we could use to star in our short clip. We were motivated and got straight on with the filming.
Monday 16th January
Day 1: We looked at a few thrillers including 'Se7en' as our main influence. The research we did helped us think of ways to use lighting, editing and sound to really construct our film. We used a drama room in which we 'booked' out which had the proper lighting and props for us to use. We mainly used one spotlight which was on our characters to give a dark scary room effect. both our characters were very useful, but using only having two hours to complete our clip we had to rush. The costumes for characters were not as useful as expected, and we were let down a bit because of how we pictured the actors to look. However, in our first day we nearly finished filing apart from our final clip which we could finish the next day.
Friday 22nd January
Day 2: Our second day involved us being introduced to the editing system we would use to complete our clip. since we had not finished our filming we had to complete our last part to the clip. this only took half our lesson which gave us the rest of the time to get a start on editing. as we were new to the system we weren't very effective in editing and we were just trying to find out how to navigate and use the program.
Monday 27th January
Day 3: Our third day was mainly about the editing of the clip. As our clip is over a minute long, it needed cutting down to 40 seconds. it was meant to be 30 seconds, but being as it is it wouldn't make sense and wouldn't look realistic if it was any shorter.
The dialogue for the preliminary task was a necessary part of the criteria. As the start of the film begins, the victim is in a captured position tied to a chair. the lines of dialogue really make the scene seem real as he is crying for help. as the other character enters the room, the next line of dialogue allows the audience to know that the victim is scared creating tension. The names of the actors are 'Cameron' and 'Daniel' as we have no names for them in the clip.
Cameron: "Help, Help!"
(Daniel enters)
Cameron: "Hello, Who are you?"
Cameron: "Please Help me"
Daniel: "Groans and laughs"
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