G321-research and planning
Friday 21st October
My brainstorm in mine and my groups initial idea of our opening:
what is the importance of a film opening?
One of the most important moments in film is the opening scene as this is the first impression that the audience see of the film itself. Ending scenes, plot twists and other elements all leave the lasting impression, but you only get one opportunity to hook an audience and keep them watching. If you don’t grab them with your opening scene, then you’ll be fighting a battle the rest of the way.
But it’s important to make sure that the opening is dynamic as well and actually relates to the storyline of the film that the producers are trying to portray. If this scene is only a hook, then the audience doesn’t become engaged with the characters or story and you’re starting from square one the instant the scene ends; meaning that if this happens your really only delaying the full atmosphere of the scene.
why is it important as secondary research?
The reason secondary data is so important in media is because it is less time consuming to both the viewers and researches. In fact it is usually more beneficial as it is the populations opinions meaning there is a higher chance of a bigger spread of what the researcher is trying to find.
Narrative
In todays lesson we looked over different specific narratives that we could portray in our opening and what specific traits we should used and why. Sir then showed us a powerpoint of each aspect that is successful and unsuccessful to the thriller genre. I realised the moist common trait is an antagonist that is shown in an evil and destructive way. Furthermore I also realised the protagonist is always a white Caucasian male that is shown in the way of being masculine, strong , brave and overall trustworthy.
(My own prezi on narrative and my opinion on how it is supposed to be seen )
Todorov
Monday 31st October
The basis of Todorov in a more simple context
1. Everything in the story is normal.
2, The event or action that ruins it.
3.Something is wrong and needs to be solved/corrected.
4.The characters in the story try to fix the problem.
5. The problem is solved and normality is restored.
For example:
The Todorov to this is that the character Dorothy lives in Kansas, Fed up of her life on the farm. From her running away a tornado sweeps her and her house away to a mystical land. She then meets up with the lion, the tin man ,the scarecrow who travel to the wizard to solve their problems. For example Dorothy wanting to go home. They then destroy the wicked witch in order to be granted what they want and finally Dorothy returns safely back home.
After discussing and watching the short clip ,we was then assigned to talk and interject whether or not we would use Todorovs narrative theory in our own opining thriller and more so whether it fits with our storyline that we want to show.
Today we also found websites that supported my definition and it linked with our film what a typical opening represents a beginning, middle and end within a short amount of time. This article that I found shows to viewers the importance of Todorov and the reason it all became so popular. Furthermore, this article represents the journey of the theory from start to end in detail showing to all different types of people the same theory but it can be shown in all different ways.
http://www.signosemio.com/todorov/semiotics.asp
My secondary data research:
Tuesday 1st November
Slide show of the different uses of narrative in detail(only up to page 11 as it start to become of topic)
In this lesson we was able to individually research our own further research on films of our choice. This helped me analyse the key conventions that different genres portray other than thriller. I also found that there was not a thriller film that was similar to our idea other than our location.
This secondary data that I found really help me understand that the narrative is possibly the most important part of a production as without it and the different techniques that it brings the film industry today would not have been successful in any way.
Three film openings that I have identified and analysed
JURRASIC WORLD
CINEMATOGRAPHY:
Establishing shot: This is portrayed in the very first
shot of the high tech boat. This supports the rare,
once in a lifetime experience environment.
Wide shot: This scene portrays the setting, it shows
instantly to the audience that it is an exotic island in
the middle of the sea. Which could either support the
setting being trapped, exotic or threatening.
SOUND:
Firstly through the whole of the opening scene the
original Jurassic Park theme song is played. Which
straight away pleases the audience as they would
easily recognise it and also it creates the effect of the past.
Secondly there is an over exaggerated sound effect of
the famous doors/gate to the park when they open. This
creates the effect of history and that it will be a re accruing
place.
MISE-EN-SCENE:
Costume: Through the almost opposite costume between the two
nephews and the aunty, This instantly shows their different types of
people and that the aunty has a higher class of wealth than the two boys
that are dressed in normal everyday clothes.
Prop: The prop of the phone shows to the audience that the film
supports the time period that the film is based in which is present day.
EDITING:
Reaction cut: This is shown when the older nephew realises
that the aunty isn't there to pick them up. This makes the audience
feel both empathy and sympathy for the character. Through his
facial expression of disappointment.
Action match: This technique is shown when the younger brother/
nephew is running to the balcony door, then him opening it in despair,
and through his tone of voice the audience can tell his excitement
towards the view of their hotel room.
THE PARENT TRAP
MISE-EN-SCENE:
Costume: The two main characters are wearing a white gown
and a black tuxedo which instantly portrays a typical American wedding.
Prop: There is a prop of a ring ,this in any case is the most important part
of a wedding ,this symbolises the realism of the scene.
CINEMATOGRAPHY:
Close up: There is a close up shown of the male character signing the
wedding papers first, quickly with no hesitation, which shows to
the audience that he could have something to hide.
Long shot: The is a long shot in the middle of the scene showing
a long fancy table being made by dressed butlers, this could make
the audience jealous as it symbolises their wealth.
EDITING:
Dissolve: This happens all throughout the first half of the opening
scene but mainly targeted and noticed when the couple are delicately
holding each others hands as it is slowed down and really captured
for more seconds than any other dissolve used.
Slow-motion: Of the guests dancing happily only showing their feet
supporting the fact that all the guests in the shot are strangely all
young, which could make the audience think that in fact the people
may not be their family but yet only other passengers of the ship.
SOUND:
Non diegetic- This is shown when the song (LOVE) is played
,not only does it support the theme of the scene, but just by
those first few seconds the audience can guess the genre
of the film itself.
Fireworks: This implies that it is a massive celebration
and they want people to know about their marriage and
don't want to keep it a secret.
HARRY POTTER
MISE-EN-SCENE:
Smoke/mist: Gives the audience an eerie feeling,
also giving the impression that it is cold and an
un-wanting place to be.
Prop: There is a prop of the street sign , this creates
a realistic setting as it shows that they are in a naturalistic
place.
CINEMATOGRAPHY:
Establishing shot: This is of the owl flying away as soon as
the scene begins , the audience could imply that something
bad is coming.
Low angle shot: There is a low angle shot of the old wizard
which instantly symbolises his power and high status over
every one else watching.
SOUND:
Flaps of the owls wings: This supports the atmosphere of the
silence of the street and almost firstly gives the impression that
it is deserted.
Flying bike: By the wizards non reaction to a flying bike ,it shows
that they find it normal, which would intrigue the audience to want
to find out more.
EDITING:
Cutaway: Of the wizard(professor Dumbledore) being distracted by the cat
shows that unusually after everything else un-normal he is bothered by
harmless animals(at least until the scene goes on).
Cross Cutting: This is shown from all different aspects when the street
lights light is being taken one by one by the wizard.
Films / TV series that have inspired my narrative for my short film opening
Firstly in our lesson today we finally found a similar storyline to our own, the main narrative that inspired us to come up with our narrative was taken from the TV series of American Horror Story the reason for this is that in season 3 there is a butler that likes to dress dead people up in clothes and have them as sort of toys to play with as he was abused and disowned as a child for having this obsession. The reason this links with our narrative is as I have said above in my brainstorm we have decided on having a killer/criminal that is watching the news of a young girl gone missing. The story unfolds and in fact you find out the criminal that our opening scene is based on has dressed her up in his attic dead but is using her as a dole to play with as he never got to play with toys as a child and he was always in asylums until one night he escaped and no one has ever seen him since. Below I have inserted a picture of the American Horror Story version that inspired u to come up with this freaked and almost abnormal idea that someone could be this crazy and hurt inside.
Fictional Films
In todays double lesson we learnt about fictional films and why and how they are so successful.
we then was asked to answer two short questions that i felt where really beneficial. The questions where...
What is fiction in three words to you ?
I answered simply "not actual fantasy".
In two sentences how do we define fiction?
I then answered to the question very confidently "The story/narrative is unrealistic and not based on true events that have already happened. Secondly the codes and conventions are always supernatural and sometimes not expected".
After doing the starter of the lesson we then moved on to the typical codes and conventions of a thriller and for 10 minutes was asked to research on our laptops about them and this is what I found.
Research on Thriller Films
I thought that overall the way that producers use the term of 'shadows' in so many different ways ,proved to me that any code and convention we choose we can pic from a wide base of different aspects it can be shown and not just one of them.
Overall after researching about all the different codes and conventions I found out that these were the most popular and most used in thriller films:
-Low key lighting
-Quick cuts
-Shadows
-Tension music
-Changes in the angle of shots
-Diegetic sounds of breathing
-Black and white shots
-Montage of shots
-Protagonist is in an emergency from the Antagonist
Luckily, we then had to share our ideas with our groups and as I thought nearly all of us had almost the exact same traits that a thriller portrays so next time if we ever have to do a task like this again ,before researching we decided that everyone would be assigned a specific task to do.
Audience Expectations
Friday 4th November
Thriller is a popular genre for film within mainly young adults aged 18-25. This is because people this age are usually drawn in by the intense storylines and graphic action, which is commonly seen within the thriller genre. Unravelling the narrative as it plays out in the film, and working it out whilst watching the films attracts older audiences them to this specific genre.Target audiences also expect to be thrilled and left on the edge of their seats by thriller films. A thriller film is deemed successful if it manages to achieve this.
Subgenres:
A sub-genre, are most likely to overlap with the overarching genre so that the film itself can have both traits of genre to make it different to other films that have already been created, so that it attracts to a wider audience.
I chose two subgenres that could intertwine with our narrative.
Firstly:
Legal Thriller This subgenre takes place in and around the courtroom. Usually the protagonist is a lawyer who has found their case threatening death for either them or their client.
Secondly:
Mystery Thriller This is a subgenre of both mysteries and thrillers. It differs from a regular mystery by being much more fast-paced, with the protagonist on the run and the threat of another crime serving as the “ticking clock.”
I feel the reason these two sub-genres would relate to our opening is because instantly the main character is dead and the whole opening is about the Antagonist. So instantly both legal and mystery thriller would fit into our storyline as it would make our opening even more interesting and could even possibly get the audience out of their eat in suspension.
By researching about subgenres it gave me a general outcome of how much film openings are significantly shown to audiences without viewers even realising the repetition of them being used.
http://www.mecfilms.com/critic1.htm
If you scroll down to the category of sub genres this article is a mesmerising detailed explanation of the extent of how far film companies take the seriousness of the sight of theses sub genres and the codes and conventions used for each specific one.
Famous Thriller Directors:
8th November
Once sir put this on the board we each had to randomly pick one and research about them and find out the techniques they used as a director and see whether or not we could successfully get ideas from the work the directors had previously done. I randomly chose one and the name Orson Welles sprung out to me for some reason , so I then researched about that specific director and found some fascinating facts and technigues that we could use in our opening.
Research on Orson Welles
Through the use of Sir showing us that list of directors I would have never known that he directed Citizen Kane which is one of the famous films of all time, still to this day. Also the talent that is portrayed in that film should not go unnoticed by me or anyone else that is studying media studies.
Furthermore sir then assigned us 3 questions to answer the end of the lesson:
Which film director did you select and why?
The reason I selected Orson Welles was because firstly I knew most of the other directors and I didn't want to take an easy pathway and secondly because the name was familiar to me and it was bugging me to whom he was and what he had directed.
What specific traits do they possess?
He is well-known for his very long tracking shots as he used them incredibly in many of his films. An example is in Citizen Kane, where the camera tracks down from a cityscape, through a cracked skylight, and into a nightclub, where a woman is being interviewed.
What codes and conventions will you be using in your opening?
I thought that by Orson's ideas of the long tracking shots we could use the technique in a specific time of the opening, which I thought could work best when the climax is building and even straight after the climax as it could give the audience more time to realise the true meaning of our opening.
I also researched another directer Alfred Hitchcock after lesson to further my research
Micro and Macro
November 2016
In todays lesson in the start we were asked to discuss with no idea of micro and macro what we thought it was and what was the point of using it. I had an idea that maybe they was the type of length of film and whether they were two different categories of time, however I got it wrong.
The Big Leboski opening
Genre: Comedy, Indie film, crime fiction
Codes and conventions: Blatant knowledge gaps, properties such as weapons, themes of violence, illegal deviant behaviour.
How does it engage the target audience: The setting of the old fashioned wild west and village.
Representation: The protagonist -dark voice , masculine, strong and the narration of him shows his power.
Rush :
Mise-en-scene: smoke from the cars-supports how fast and dangerous the car is.
The drivers costume- This instantly shows realism as it shows to the audience their position and job.
How dos it engage the target audience: This engages masculine males that are interested in race car driving and are jealous of having the job.
Editing: Non-diegetic sound- The narration describing to the audience that the opening scene is based in the past of the protagonists life.
Representation: The protagonist- He instantly is shown to the audience as being jealous and frustrated at the other driver wanting to beat him.
How do producers target their audience ?
What is audience profiling?
Audience profiling is set groups that separate people in the film industry. For example:
Age
Race
Gender
Religion
Sexuality
Education
Occupation
Annual income
Disposable income
Current/desired lifestyle
Media interests
Buying habits
Loyalty to brands
Demographics
Wednesday 9th November
This article shows how demographics can be used in all different ways to reassure they are targeting the right audiences. For example magazines, TV shows, films and newspaper.
Why do producers use demographics?
‘Audience’ is a key concept throughout media studies, because all media texts are produced with an audience in mind – that is to say a group of people who will receive the text and make some sort of sense out of it. The reason audience is so key is because without it nothing would be successful or known to the human eye.
Psychographics:
The article above is a really good article to justify psychographics in a way in which that helps me a lot as it describes the way producers do it in thriller movies and how they can be done successfully.
After looking at demographics and Psychographics for the last 15 minutes of the lesson Sir asked all of us to research other media A level blogs to see the right way to expose and create our own blogs in a much more mature and redefined way. I researched a girls blog in the year above named Monika and her blog really helped me rethink mine, this was because through her use of simplicity yet detail; and forcefully getting right to the point wanting the reader to read more, instantly made me want to have mine the same way as I realised through her its about the quality not the quantity.
Further research into thrillers for my targeted audience:
An example of a Thriller that my Targeted audience would be Taken, this is because my audience have similar taste and characteristics of the audience that has seen Taken. Takens storyline has a similar concept of our Thriller with the whole idea of ‘kidnaping’ in a sense, however ours is worse as it involves murder and differently our main character is the Antagonist.
Why is the opening so important ?
By this article describing in detail the true meaning and reasons why the opening of any passage is so important,the readers of my blog can be reassured that this article is reliable as gracefully the writers digest is probably one of the most famous websites in all of America.
Wednesday 11th of November
Primary Data
Firstly we was assigned to create questionnaires to record data about thriller films and whether or not we should change our genre or even subgenres as they may not work as well as others. I asked 4 people the same question and recorded a bar chart to their answers. We then after discussing the datails of primary data we moved on to the quantative and qualitative side of it and the common techniques that they are known and portrayed by. After our groups were told this information one of my peers pointed out that we should create a table of the pros and cons of the two and see whether we can identify which one is more reliable, however after creating the table it showed to us that both quantative and qualitative were equal in that they were both good and bad as each other and its just a question of choice of what the person prefers out of the two groups and actually the task they are using it for will define that.
In addition I created a survey monkey account so that I could have feedback on a questionnaire that I created and after leaving my survey on the website for one week I found that 9 people had anonymously answered my questions, these were my results.
I filmed these interviews as my group felt that I was the best person to do so from my experience. Moreover we then decided that we had to interview some our peers named Nikki and Joe as trey have recently studied media studies in A level and I thought we could have a reliable and accurate interview as they could easily know all of the complicated questions that we asked.We also asked our teacher Mr barham as hr is a media specialist and I thought it would be a great interview for a representation of reliable information.
Sunday 13th November
Qualitative data key words:
In depth , insight of generating
non- numerical
'Directional'
Common techniques:
Focus groups (8-12 people)
Mini groups ( 3-6 people)
Quantative data key words:
Numerical
Statistically reliable
Projectable to a broader population
Common techniques:
Surveys
Experiments
Mechanical observation
Simulation
Quantitative
PROS- Large amounts of data.
Many groups and representations.
Reliable big amounts of data.
Easer to get more results.
CONS- Not in depth-simple
Sometimes the data collected can be too much
and not necessary.
Qualitative
PROS- The data is very insightful
Variation of response.
CONS- Most of the time the data pinpoints
an exact answer.
The worst part is that it is very time consuming.
Monday 14th November
In this lesson in the very first 5 minutes of the lesson we was given a schedule calendar of Decembers month so that we could see how much time we had to get the openings finished and our evaluation done. This helped a lot as we are going to be filming on weekends as well as possibly in school and it gave us a time frame when to do so.
Monday 14th November
Scheduling
In this lesson in the very first 5 minutes of the lesson we was given a schedule calendar of Decembers month so that we could see how much time we had to get the openings finished and our evaluation done. This helped a lot as we are going to be filming on weekends as well as possibly in school and it gave us a time frame when to do so.
Character profiles
Monday 16th November
In the start of this lesson the whole class was asked the question that what types of traits/character types would you see in a thriller? however, we all had to answer individually in our books, these were my ideas that I came up with:
Antagonist:
Criminals
Police officers
Psychopaths
Sociopaths
Government military
Superiority
Resourceful
Undercover
Mysterious
Damsel in distress and sidekick:
Submissive
Supportive
Side-lined
Protagonists:
Venerable
Secretive
Determined
Dark history
Continuing on from the task before we was again given the instruction but to answer the question Who would be potential characters in our opening and what are the character roles? So I answered in key bullet points:
- Gender
- Ethnicity
- Age
- Stardom
- Characteristics
- Features( facial)
- What films have they been/not been in before
- stereotypes vs non typical
We then had to research three potential actors that have been casted in thrillers and make character profiles and how they are similar to our character ideas. For our three characters the psychopath, detective and murdered girl our ideas for each character was:
Denzel Washington - Detective
Christian Bale - Psychopath
Emma Roberts - Murdered Girl
The reason we chose these actors specifically is because they have played these characters successfully before and are best known for portraying the people we assigned them to.
For example Denzel Washington's character on 'Man On Fire'
Christian Bales character in 'American Psycho'
and finally Emma Roberts character in 'American Horror Story' (TV series)
Our main character: Psychopath
Name: Lester
White
Age: 36
Gender: Male
Nationality: American
Hometown: Long
Island
Current Residence: Kensington
Occupation: Neurosurgeon
Income: £395,000
Salary: £395,000
Parents :
Mum: He had never met
her.
Dad: A cold hearted
human that controlled him all of his life.
Siblings: He is the
only one.
Significant Others:
The only thing that he has ever loved is his dog as he feels "his the only
one that listens to him".
Relationship skills:
Educated, Formal, Responsible, Cold hearted and Overly positive
Educational
Background:
Bachelor degree in
pre medical study at Cambridge University
Doctor of
Medicine degree earned at Cambridge University
Finally worked at the
Royal Hospital in London , United Kingdom
In our film, the main character which is the psychopath will acquire a dark, tall appearance with a sense of confidence and intelligence within him. Due to our limitation of actors, Leo who is my peer will act as this character, even though he is 16 years old there will be no dialogue and he will appear older due to makeup and body language.
The Missing girl - Emily Mullally
Gender: Female
Age: 25-30
Ethnicity: White Caucasian
Stardom: Popular, co-stars are well-known too
Characteristics: Amiable, innocent, hopeless romantic, considerate, solicitous
Features: Brown hair, blue eyes, small, slim and fair skin.
Films they've been in: Nerve, Wild Child, Scream Queens, American Horror Story
After researching a lot of actresses, we came up with the general appearance that would be perfect for the girl to play in this film. I will be playing this character, as I do have these characteristics and i will also not be speaking therefore it will not be noticeable as I am not 25-30 years of age.
Timeline
Friday 18th November
We came up with a better story line of the whole entire opening as we thought that we wanted to create our opening individually and have a unique storyline instead of stealing and copying ideas off of other productions. Below I have added a picture to show our new and uprising storyline and timeline of how our opening begins and ends.
Wednesday 23rd November
Synopsis
After creating our character profiles we then moved onto the topic of synopsis and had to create two different types a one sentence synopsis and a paragraph synopsis.
One sentence synopsis:
"A man that hides in the shadows has a dark secret of the past that still isn't solved to this day, will the missing girls eyes ever seen the light of day again."
One paragraph Synopsis:
"This psychological thriller presents a man that hides in the shadows with a dark secret lingering in his past. With the obsession that started on the 5th August 2005 at 3:34am, his eyes were captivated with hers, but that night hers closed forever. Now with experience, he imprisoned the bodies of innocence girls within his in desolate home by luring them in with his kindness and dominance. Will Lester be punished for his murderous actions or will the girls souls forever be destroyed? Knock, knock. "
The lesson were we created the synopses was a double so whist me an Emily created them Anna and Leo created the treatment. Our treatment was one page long as I researched the best length for a film treatment to be as I wanted it to be the best of our ability.
Our film treatment:
24th November
Firstly because the others got stuck me and Emily helped with the first paragraph (highlighted blue) so that they could continue on with it whilst we finished the synopsis.
"Light filters through the blinds and the alarm clock strikes dead on 7; LESTER’S (36) hand abruptly interrupts the buzzing that lingers in the dark room. He stares fondly at the ceiling, breaking the silence with an overly enthusiastic song, which soundlessly leaves his lips.
LESTER bounce’s from his lying position, the floorboards beneath his feet creak on old wood, as he leaves the bed, a body beyond his lies still in a state of slumber. The music drowns the room and he dances along as he prepares for the day. Prancing out of the room, he happens upon the morning newspaper perched in the letterbox. As he swiftly yanks it out and begins to read the frontpage, his expression contorts into something undefinable; between anxiety, anger, shock and, though buried within his eyes, a sickening joy. The newspaper is clutched in his grasp, he hastily takes clumsy strides back to his room, calling a name between his haggard gasps of breath. As he reaches the bedside he presents the newspaper to the sleeping figure who takes no notice of it, unamused he strolls out of the bedroom into a side room. He fishes a key from around his neck, placing it in the keyhole with a halted breath, he turns it and cautiously pushes the door open. It’s small and dark, there is a single desk, the top of engulfed in papers and documents of the sorts. LESTER strolls into the room, closing the door behind himself. He stops at the far wall, then, tears the newspaper frontpage from the rest of its body; he hangs the torn off piece on the wall, picking up a red marker from the floor he slashes over the paper. He steps back, almost to admire his work: a billboard of the world map covered with torn and cut newspaper articles, images of landmarks, pictures of young women with red crosses marked over their faces holding up the pieces are various coloured pins and yarn intertwining with one another. He leaves the small conspiracists room, wandering back to the bedroom with a newfound enthusiasm. He reaches the bedside where the sleeping figure lays, he climbs over them, rolling onto the other side of the bed. As he rolls over, he holds the arm of the sleeping figure with the force of him falling on his back into the mattress the sleeping person repeats the action and falls on their back into the mattress below. As the side of their head rolls off the pillow, a grotesque peeling sound scrapes through the ongoing cheerful music, between the head and the pillow now lies a bridge of dried clumped blood, escaping the bullet wound from the side of their head. LESTER continues unphased to the sight beside him, inside his cruel enthusiastic, almost childlike eyes stare up at the bare ceiling, beside him the body emptily stares at the ceiling as well. LESTER stops miming the lyrics to the tune, instead he brings his lips to a tight line before bursting out into hysterical mad laughter, a knock far off brings his laughing to a stop. Though the smile on his face widens, showing an innocent set of teeth, he looks like an excited child."
I then after the lesson annotated the treatment as I thought it would break the treatment down into a more clear overview.
I also thought that it would be even more creative if I recorded myself reading the treatment so that audiences could listen to the story instead of only reading it. Moreover I did this after the lesson was finished as I wanted to spend a lot of time on getting my tone of voice perfect and not understandable.
26-27th of November.
Logistics:
Props: Props are required to make the scene more realistic and helps both the characters and the viewers imagination. Without the use of props actors would find it extremely difficult to get into their role and it will just make the scene look empty. However some cases props aren't needed and do take away the true point of the scene as they are hidden from the attraction of the props. Especially in thrillers there are specific props that are significant within these type of films, such as knifes, guns, money, which we could use in our film if we decided our opening to portray that specific atmosphere.
Here is a list of the props we are potentially going to use in our opening if we decide to stick with the storyline that we are working on.
- Alarm clock
- Newspaper
- Pills
- Documents
- Red marker
- String
- Pins
- Key
- Pictures in frames of the couple
- Strands of hair
Costumes
27th of November
For my costume idea and our final representations I researched similar costumes to what our characters portray in the opening and followed by annotating the reasons why we chose the specific costumes and what they actually represent.
DEAD GIRLFRIEND:
LESTER:
Locations
29th of November
After deciding that my house was the most convenient to film our opening I then had to decide what rooms to use. For the main bedroom where most of the opening is filmed I chose to use my own bedroom as it already had both a double bed and sofa meaning that it looked very realistic and traditional.I thought that it would relate perfectly to our film to as the walls, sheets and colours were all very plain and pure ;which could have a deeper layer of meaning of the female characters virgin like presentation towards the audience.
Secondly as one of my rooms had not been decorated in a few years I knew that it would be perfect for the psychotic room where the character Lester hides all of his secrets ,but unfortunately without me knowing my mother redecorated the room one day meaning that it did not match the psychotic idea as the wall paper was pink and it stopped the concept of eeriness instead would have made the scene not seem abnormal.
So I then had to come up with another plan that I would use a bigger room in my house however, cover up everything in white sheets to create a secretive and terrifying atmosphere between both the scene and the audience.I am also going to clear a wall before filming so we can attach all of our props such as the map of England, the pictures of the missing girls and finally the red string linking all of the deaths together.
Finally also in our opening their is a scene were he walks out of the room and this is where the audience first see the other door to the other room (mental room) , then him travelling down the stairs and arriving at the front door, where he is shown picking up a newspaper from the letter box. My house was also convenient for this idea as after I realised the final rooms that I chose were very close together meaning that our film flowed more smoothly and I actually think I was the only one that actually had a letter box actually based inside of my door, whereas everyone else had post boxes. Moreover after me realising all my areas of location, it worked out for the best that we could not use the first room as now we have specific areas that we can shoot the right scenes without breaking any rules for example 180 degree rule.
Script
Friday 3rd of December
We was given the terminology of what a script should include and the most successful time that you should add them in the script itself.After writing the script we was told it was too short so as Anna was increase of the development of the script and she highlighted the text in blue at the bits were she made them more longer and in detail, so that the script was the right length.
I also annotated the script so that I could further my opinion on the finalised piece.
Camera Equipment
Monday 5th of December
For our camera equipment we was going to use Leo's cameras which are the Nikon Cannon IOS700D however , we was going to use the schools cameras at first but we did not know they're was a policy that we could not take the cameras out of school hours, we then had to come up with another idea so we could still film the opening in my house as it would look the most realistic and have the most affect on the audience. I then realised I had a black cannon camera, but unfortunately this specific camera only shot photos and not videos which was very frustrating as we thought that , that sorted the problem we was having. Luckily Leo then suggested that he had a camera of his own that we could successfully use, but we needed to make sure that we could have permission to use it and we will not find our until Thursday the 8th of November.
Friday 7th December
Semiotics
In today's lesson, we learnt about semiotics which is the study of signs and their meaning in society with the use of film posters and key words. At the start I did get confused at all the different meanings however after understanding the concepts that each one portrays I no longer struggled to understand why producers use semiotics so frequently. Sir gave us 4 sheets that gave a meaning of each one and in our groups we all had to choose one and learn how it works and represent it back to the group, at random I chose signifier and signified which actually I found the most easiest to remember.
SINGNIFIER/ED
INDEX
SYMBOL
After looking at the 4 sheets and understanding the difference between index,icon,symbol and idenfier/ed.we then was given a sheet with two film posters and we had to identify all of the semiotics that where in the thriller posters. The hardest thing that I found about this task was trying to find more than just one identification of each semiotic as it was hard to not get confused in what category that the sign belonged in.
I realised that through semiotics and the appearance 98% of the time the audience can identify the genre of the film and the happenings within it.
Typical iconography in thrillers
10th of December
Blood
Cities
Forests
Prisonment
Shadows
nigh time
Knives
Weapons
I created this iconography collage to show all of the ones I personally think are important in thriller films .All of these themes and props are all the most successful in the film and media business. In my opinion I feel hat the reason fro this is because
Tuesday 12th of December
Freeze Frame
This freeze frame is shown in the series of Harry Potter at the very end of the film where Harry receives the newest broomstick and is trying it out for the first time. This freeze frame is an extreme pull focus close up as you can see his emotion very clearly and his face is very close to the camera, it also is a pull focus as his face is blurred by the paste he is travelling at. The surrounding around him represents that he is in the sky and is very dangerously high above the sky. This is also a very dramatic effect as before this freeze frame all of the other students in Hogwarts were looking up to Harry. His costume represents his age as he is wearing a school uniform making the freeze frame even more realistic. The lighting of the Freeze frame is grey and almost sets the atmosphere of having an eiree effect.
This freeze frame is shown in the very famous film Titanic, this is when the male character Jack is showing the female character Rose how free it feels to stand at the very front of the famous ship spreading her arms and letting her trust him into holding her up. This freeze frame is a medium/wide shot as the camera shows only half of their body but as well as that shows the setting of the scene around them (the ocean). The surrounding around them represents that they are in the middle of the ocean, only needing each other to be happy. This is also a very powerful and peaceful demonstration of love. Their costume represents their time period of the Titanic sailing the ocean making the freeze frame so much more powerful. Lastly the lighting is very bright but sutal making the lighting actually look like the sun looking down on them.
Tuesday 16th of December
BBFC Research
The BFFC is the British board of film classification is a non-government production that classifies films and all types of media into age ratings and categories in which they can watch them. This idea was initially made for children that was watching inappropriate and unethical content, this means that BBFC feels very responsible and ensures parents etc that they re trying to create a high level of protection for age restrictions. The people of BBFC work for a guideline and guarantee which includes drugs, nudity, discrimination, threats and violence should only be shown adequately to only specific target audiences.
I got all of this information from the BBFC website but for further information that you would like to know then go to the link below:
http://www.bbfc.co.uk
For our opening we are targeting 15 and older meaning that we have to guarantee the 5 steps of BBFCs guideline:
Drugs- In our opening we want to make sure that we do not promote or influence drugs in any way and if we was to use it , we would want to show how dangerous they are if we were even to show that type of reality.
Discrimination- For example the language we use will not be restricted as we don't see that it is necessary and we in fact are debating having our opening without any dialogue at all.
Nudity- We will be using tricked nudity in our film but it will not be explicit. The way we are doing this is by only showing the characters shoulders as if she is naked however underneath the sheets of the bed she will be clothed.
Violence- The use of violence is key in our opening however it is only ever implied , never actually shown and the violence shown will implied as dangerous and sexual.
Threats- They're may be a threat being represented but not initially face to face although not in an explicit sexual content towards the audience.
Monday 18th December
Cinematography
In todays lesson it was very un-organised as we was indecisive on how to finish the script and what to include so whilst Anna analysed the script and tried to lengthen it me, Leo and Emily all created the shot list of the vision that we had and the shots in order.
Subsequently, we started to talk about the scenes in order and break down each scene after another. We then started to write out a flow chart individually and gave us an insight on how much space and time we had. These shots were easy to picture through talking in a group and gave us ideas on our openings layout and how I will be directing it.
Cinematography List
CLOSE-UP= We can use this shot in many of the scenes of our opening as it could show Lester's true emotions and facial features to the audience, so that they can really get to intertwine with the main character and understand his side to the story.We could use this shot particularly in the scene where he picks up the paper and the mirror scene where the camera is acted as a mirror itself.
BIRDS EYE VIEW= As well as that we could also use a bird eye view shot in the last scene where he is shown looking up at the ceiling with the dead body looking at him and without the Ain character Lester blinking at any second.This shot alone can identify what the opening is about and how powerful he is represented as through out.
MEDIUM LONG SHOT= This shot will be used more than once in our opening as I fee it should be used when the audience need to see the location and surroundings around Lester making the storyline make sense. I think it will be used best in the scene were the main character Lester is shown dancing.
PANNING SHOT= This shot may be used throughout the whole opening as it can represent so many different deeper layers of meaning. For example when Lester is shown waking up the shot could pan from the alarm clock to Lester getting ready, it could also help the travelling that Lester walks between each scene. As well as that if we do use this shot it will help our flow of our opening go more smoothly and almost give us more time to shoot more important scenes within our time specified.
LOW ANGLE/TILT= This shot will may be used to create a higher importance on the main character as by looking up at him it will support his high amount of dominance and power. This could be shown where he is looking at the dead body in the bead and buy their difference in levels it could represent their different levels of authority.
WORMS EYE VIEW= We could possibly add this shot in our opening to show a different technique of representing his dark, cold blooded personality, by showing his reaction cut differently then how it is usually represented in thriller films.
PULL FOCUS= If this is to be used the only time it will in fact be used is in the mirror scene, this would be to blur the main characters face (Lester) to pull all of the attention of the audiences attraction on the body in the bed. This will be used to show the only time in the whole opening that the dead body when it is unidentified shows any importance.
Wednesday 30th December
Storyboarding
In todays double lesson we had 2 hours to understand the true meaning of storyboards and what they should include.We then had to decide individually how to show and represent our storyboard in a interesting way and not the simple traditional way.I had the idea of doing a slideshow on powerpoint, so I had to go out of the lesson with Emily and Leo and take pictures of the shots we had discussed on using in Mondays lesson.After it taking us an hour to take all of the pictures to our highest ability,I then started my slideshow. However, I did not finish my whole story board in the lesson as I wrote the description of the shot and how it would successfully relate to our opening; so then after the lesson had finished I then went home and finished my storyboard so that in the next lesson I could move onto another task towards finishing my opening.
1st January 2017
Schedule for our opening co-operation
In todays lesson we had a scheduled and detailed two hours, this is because for the first hour we chose and created our production logos.
Film company name ideas
Red flag- However it did not represent us as a group.
Black clothed production- This idea we thought was too stereotypical as it iconically represented the thriller genre.
FINAL
Our final idea we chose was becuase it related to both our group and our film, also the simplicity of our idea ;I thought portrayed a high embark to our audiences.
L = LEO
A= ANNA
T=TOMMY
E=EMILY
LATE PRODUCTIONS is going to be our production name
The reason we chose this mostly was because it was an acronym for our names and represents our peers as a group.
We researched that there were no other production companies
with this name, however they’re were similar productions called up-late, too-late
and out-late. As well as that we went with the similar idea instead.
Logo
Our logo for our production company is a analogue alarm
clock as we want to dissolve our logo into our first opening of our shot as it
is a close up of an alarm clock on a bed stand.
In our opening, we are going to use this by after shooting
the close up we are going to take a still shot so that Anna can trace the alarm
clock so that our dissolved sequence is accurate and clean.
3rd of January 2017
Font Analysis
In my own time I did my own primary research on fonts and the different kinds their can be to show different interpretations. The way I did this was by creating two brainstorms of films that were opposite from each other and were not similar in the slightest so that I could find similarities and differences between them. I also did this so that it would help me link them back to my opening and most importantly give me and my group ideas to how we are going to create and embark on the font we are going to make as a team. I find this very important to our opening as I think this is the first impression the audience will see and I don't want to loose there attention within seconds ; instead wanting them out of their seats wanting to know what happens next.
FIRST BRAINSTORM
5th January 2017
Finalising props for our opening
Today was very tricky as we hadn't in fact come up with our final ideas for our props ,however by the end of this lesson we did. Firstly we slowly went through our project to identify all of the most important props that will be appearing in our opening that stand out most to the audience. I am going to put my props in order to what the audience see them in:
Usually in other thriller films newspapers would not usually be important, however they are used twice in our opening. Firstly in the conspiracy room scene and secondly the stair and front door scene. The reason they are so important in our project is because if it was not for the newspaper in the front door the audience would not know that the figure in the bed has been missing for the psst 24 hours. As well as that by there being hundreds of newspapers covering the walls and windows I. the conspiracy room, the newspapers create a very dramatic and uncomfortably catastrophic affect on the audience from the weariness from where Lester walks into the room.
This prop is to show to the audience that where his location is and that in fact this is not the first time he has committed this crime, he has actually gone round the whole country and he is emerging them all into a puzzle. This is placed in the middle of the room of his conspiracy room. This is so it attracts the audience and shows the real reality of his twisted mind.
The use of these photos is to be placed around the map of England. The reason we are doing this is because I thought it would create a more realistic effect if the girls he has killed in the past are actually shown in our opening. I took the photos of the girl peers however before I took the pictures I asked politely if they could not look at the camera and show a more natural expression to represent that the character Lester took the pictures of them without them even knowing.
These props are all very simple but yet so important. What is shown in this picture is masking tape, red string and finally silver pins. All of these small props connect all of the other props in the conspiracy room. The red string especially; the way we are going to use it is by the string connecting all of the girls together around the country as if he is creating a sick and twisted project for his self enjoyment which symbolises our title which is 'necromantic'.
Furthermore I also had the idea of having locks of hair from the girls that he has killed in the past to put next to the pictures he took of them to create an even more dreading and diseased affect to the audience. I also thought of putting them into plats; the reason I had this idea was because plats on females show innocence and weakness in the film business as that specific hairstyle is usually used on weak, young, innocent females in any situation which could symbolise his enjoyment of high authority of power.
Lastly for the effect of naturalism when we film we are going to make our own blood for the dead figures gun wound. However I haven't actually tried to make the fake liquid yet, meaning that it could go wrong and lead to us having to buy fake blood. By adding the effect of naturalism I also created Emily's face to look abused and unloved.
Our Music
7th of January 2017
We used two different devised pieces one was created by Jimmy Fontana and one was created by Kevin Macledd. The reason we didn't use only one was to create a contrast between the tempo and a difference in atmosphere between weird and scary.Leo found the one by Jimmy and Emily around the other piece outside of lesson. The reason we decided finally on these two rhythms was that they were completely opposite but yet linked in the most sickening way possible. We realised the best way to show the music was buy confusing the audience convincing them at the start that it is nothing like a normal thriller.
Kevin Macledd
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3IVyXAKOMk
Jimmy Fontana
The music is no longer available as the source has corrupted.
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