Friday, 27 January 2012

Location Shots

The whole Thriller opening is filmed within a house location, in Plaistow. The following shots are of areas to be included in the Thriller. 




The hallway and mirror. The mirror will be written on, and the front door will be used to show the main characters daily routine. 


The kitchen will be used to show the main characters routine of eating breakfast etc.



The bedroom will be used to show the main character waking up.

The bathroom will be used to add to the main characters daily routine. The main character will wash himself and brush his teeth etc.

Final Details

Name of Film: Routine. 
Music: Oh Me Oh My - The 99's. 
Titles: 
 'A CCTF production'. 
'Starring Conor Wilkins and Laimonas Andriejauskas'. 
'Music by Tori Wheatley'.
'Casting by Conor Wilkins' 
'Edited by CCTF'
'Directed by CCTF'. 

Call Sheet 2.

Unfortunatly, we were unable to film on Sunday, meaning we had to reschedule for the following Sunday. 


Date: Sunday 29th January
Location : 20 Gad Close, Plaistow, London. 
Cast: Conor Wilkins and Laimonas Andriejauskas
Crew: Tori Wheatley, Chloe Bencini-Harding, Conor Wilkins and Frankie McFarlane. 
Props: Bed, Alarm clock, clippers, towel, knife, fake blood, shower, mirror, mask, cereal, toothbrush, toothpaste. 
Costumes: Main character has a suit, well dressed. Murderer is wearing all black and a mask. 

Wednesday, 25 January 2012

Audience Research.

This is a screenshot of a survey that our group made, to find out some information on the Thriller genre and what people thought about it. 

We also carried out a list of different things to give us an idea of what people look for in a Thriller. 
After the questionnaire over the internet, we also created a written questionnaire for people who had no access to the internet. 



Past Students work.

In class, we looked at examples of former students work, and we analyzed what they did wrong, and what they did right, and from this, we learned what we should and shouldn't do, when making our Thriller. 
From doing this exercise, i learned that, contituity editing is completely necessary, and that costume and makeup must be good and realistic, in order to add effect, and the plot and dialogue must be realistic and not too far fetched, due to the lack of technology we have, meaning we cannot make un-realistic things look realistic. 

Narrative

In almost all films, the narrative and plot between the characters are the most essential part of the film, and are necessary when making a good movie. If the dialogue is too scripted, and the plot is bad, the audience are led to believing that the film was badly directed and will lost interest in the film. There are specific techniques that directors can use, that make the film a lot more exciting. For example, you could use techniques to make the audience ask questions and wonder what is going on.

Chuck Jones' Rules.

When Chuck Jones began creating the characters and scenarios of The Roadrunner segment of Looney Tunes, he created a set of rules that the creator must abide by. For example, one of the rules was that the coyote may never harm the road runner and the road runner may never harm it, but only mock it by saying 'meep meep'. This is an example of rules in a production.

Monday, 23 January 2012

Sounds...continued.

Unfortunatly, we were unable to find a suitable piece of music for the opening of our thriller, however, we emailed a band called 'The 99's', whom we found from unsigned.com, and asked them to use a song of theirs called 'Oh me, Oh my'. 


Thankfully, they gave us permission to use it. 



To add tension to our thriller, we used a low frequency bass sound, to emphasise the fact that something is going to happen and to put the audience on edge. This noise happens when the villain walks past the mirror, and when the victim discovers the blood stained knife. This sound was edited onto a programme called 'Fruit Loops' created by using the sound of a 'kick drum', at a lowered pitch.
  This is the fruit loops logo.
   Here is an example of what the programmes interface looked like.

Friday, 20 January 2012

Sound

We are currently searching for music for our thriller, using mobygratis.com. We have become a member of the website, and are currently searching for music that would suitably fit our Thriller opening. 


























We have also signed up to unsigned.com, and have emailed a few artists, requesting their songs. 

Thursday, 19 January 2012

Risk Assessment

Whilst filming, we have to take precaution with risks, that can take place whilst filming.
One of the main risks when it comes to filming our thriller is, handling sharp objects such as the knife we intend to use, so we will have to take exceptional care in walking with the knife, and handling it.


We will also have to take care, when handling fake blood.... due to the fact that we will have to put blood on the floor, and film a fast paced, tense scene, so we will have to be careful when walking around, with fake blood on the floor.


We do not have to take precaution with the weather, due to the fact that everything will be filmed inside, the only precautions we will have to take, is when it comes to filming at the right parts of the day, so that the lighting is the same.


We had some issues issues when attempting to find a suitable day, in which we could all film, due to the fact that we all have different schedules, but we worked around this by organising a set day, every week,  in which none of us will make other plans.




Emergency Contact Numbers- 02089848505
Ambulance- 999
Police- 999

Call Sheet

Date: Sunday 22nd January
Location : My house, (2 Bull Lane, Dagenham, Essex). 
Cast:  Conor Wikins and Laimonas Andriejauskas. 
Crew: Frankie McFarlane, Conor Wilkins, Chloe Bencini-Harding, Tori Wheatley
Proper: Bed, alarm, clock, clippers, towel, knife, fake blood, shower, mirror, mask, cereal, toothbrush, toothpaste. 
Costumes: Main character has a suit, well dressed. Murderer is wearing all black and a mask.

Wednesday, 18 January 2012

Thriller Blog: Treatment Sheet

Name : Routine


Outline of ideas: - Guy has OCD, wakes up everyday to the same routine, when one day the routine changes and everything becomes messed up.
-ie... Alarm is on the other side of the bed. 
-Writing on his mirror and report on radio suggest that he has murdered someone.
-Finds a body on the floor and a bloody knife.
-Then we realise its someone else as they come behind him and strike him down. 
Last shot is the killers feet, from the victims perspective. 


What resources will you need? 
-Double bed/bedroom
-Alarm Clock
-Cereal/ Kitchen
-Tooth brush/ toothpaste/bathroom
-Street door
-Knife
-Fake Blood
-Killer Mask


Justification of ideas in relation to genre: - 'Who dunnit' style idea. 

Monday, 16 January 2012

Cliffhangers

Cliffhangers are usual conventions of a thriller, or a series of Thrillers. They often contain a main character in a difficult situation. This can entice the audience to keep watching, or to watch the next film/series, so that they see how the situation resolves. The most commonly used cliffhangers are those in soaps, such as Eastenders, also known as 'duff duffs'. At the end of each episode, the soap is drawn to a close, using a cliffhanger to make sure that the audience are enticed enough to want to continue watching.

Red Herrings.

The 'Red Herring' is a device which intends to divert the audience from the truth of an item of significance. It can work with other devices such as the enigma, which creates suspense. An example of this, is in the film, 'North by Northwest', by Alfred Hitchcock, 1958.

Enigmas

This refers to a puzzle, or problem in a Thriller. This is commonly something which the protagonist has to try to find out or solve before the narrative is resolved.

First Production Meeting.

Task 1) To create a spider-diagram of potential thriller ideas.
Task 2) Take a specific idea and develop it onto a more detailed diagram, in which we consider locations, props, camera work, cast, sound and dates.
Task 3) Write a 'proposal', to outline the idea i have for a Thriller opening and the locations etc.
Task 4) Storyboard it.

Children Of Men Analysis.

When watching 'Children Of Men', i noticed that instead of using the typical suspense aspect of the thrilller, the director used the idea of shock instead.
The clip consists of a serene like, opening, in which we start to question what is going on, when we find out that the youngest person in the world, (at the age of 18), has died. At this point, the audience start to wonder what is going on, and while the audience are so in depth whilst thinking about the plot of the film, the director cleverly adds a suprise explosion, with no warning, so shock the audience.

Modern Thrillerse; Zodiac.

The film Zodiac, also contains many typical thriller conventions. When watching this film, i began to notice that the film contains the typical 'dark setting'. This puts the audience on edge immediatly, due to the fact that darkness is related to death, pain, violence, and the unknown. In the car scene of the clip, the two characters are dimly lit, which automatically hints to us that something bad is going to happen... this also builds suspense and creates an 'edge of youre seat', kind of tension, due to the fact that the audience doesn't know exactly what is going to happen.

The fact that we never see the face of the murderer, gives the audience the oppertunity to use their imagination and wonder what he/she looks like themself, which also gives the film a touch of suspense, due to the fact that if the audience can tell who the murderer is, they would be able to predict when somebody is about to get killed, however, the audience have to guess and predict themselves who and when somebody is going to get killed.

Modern Thrillers; A History Of Violence.

The film, 'A History Of Violence', contains many of the typical Thriller cliche's that take place in most Thriller films. For example, the main character, and 'bad guy', is sharply dressed in a suit, with a serious expression.This immediatly shows contrast with the guy who he is with, who'se wearing shorts a t-shirt, and makes the main character stand out even more, due to the fact that they are in a desert.

There is hardly any dialogue or sound in the beginning of the clip, apart from the sound of crickets croaking, and the wind. The dialogue between both characters, was rather casual, and their calm, relaxed body language hints towards their 'bad guy' characteristics, due to the fact that it gives the audience the impression that they do not care.

The camera work in the movie consists or a farely simple range of close ups, over the shoulder shots, mid shots, and pans. The editing was slow paced, which built suspense and kept the audience wondering what is going on, and what is about to happen.

Sunday, 8 January 2012

Analysis Of Film Openings

MementoConventions :

The film contains tense music, blood, tension, mystery, smashed windows, guns and fighting. All of which are typical Thriller conventions.

Camera: Close- ups, Mid-shots, Black and White effects that give the idea of a flashback, CCTV shots.

Editing: Long clips that create tension, makes the audience wonder, slow paced editing suggests calmness, actions are reversed which makes the film seem like its going backwards, which also makes the reader question what is going on.


Sound: Tense Music, Clock, Voice Over.

Mise-En-Scene: Blood, dirty clothes, scratches, suggests violence, main character is in a suit, broken windows and dirty abandoned buildings.


Brick
Conventions: Dead bodies, mystery, gloomy scenery, tension, and flaskbacks.

Camera: Fading shots, cloe ups, changes in focus, mid-shots.

Editing: Jump shots, slow paced editing, (builds tension), edit at end foreshadows next scene.


Sound: No dialogue, non-diegetic sound, strange music.

Mise-En-Scene: Underpassing, stream, dirty, casual clothes, worried eyes.

Zodiac   
Conventions: 'innocent' young people get murdered, mystery, tension, gun, darkness, suspense.

Camera: camera positioned in car, close-ups.

Editing: Non-diegetic caption, slow paced editing, gets faster as scene gets tenser.

Sound: Diegetic music, not too much dialogue.

Mise-En-Scene: Casual clothes, dark area, young people. Set in the 70's.

AS Coursework Brief

  • The titles and opening of a new fiction film in the thriller genre to last a maximum of two minutes.
  • The coursework is worth 50% of the course.
  • The maximum group size is four.
  • As acting is not a skill that is assessed here, candidates are free to use actors who are not members of the group to appear in front of the camer for your productions.
  • The production itself is worth 60% of the marks.
  • The coursework also comprises a written component on a blog.
  • This is worth 40% of the marks.
  • Marks are awarded as follows: Planning and research -20 Marks.
                                                      Construction - 60 Marks.
                                                      Evaluation- 20 Marks.
  • Each candidate must submit their individal blog, even if they have worked in a group.
  • The only shared element allowed is the storyboard or animatic.
  • The blog should include : -the brief and research into similar media texts/targets audiences.
                                             -planning the production.
                                             -contructing the production- technical decisions and revisions.
                                             -evaluation of finished production.
  • Marks awarded for demonstrating excellence in the following criteria :
    -Holding a shot steady.      
    -Framing a shot.
    -Using a variety of shot distances.
    -Shooting material appropriate to the task set.
    -Editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer.
    -Using varied shot transitions, captions and other effects selectively and where appropriate for the task set.
    -Using sound with images.
  • Before you begin filming, you should go through the planning process.
    1) Organise yourselves into groups and complete the Group Sheet.
    2)You should then undertake some research into the genre and complete the Research Sheet.
    3) You should then prepare a treatment for the programme and complete the Treatment Sheet.
    4) The final stage is to produce a Storyboard and Animatic.

                                                                                                         

Tuesday, 3 January 2012

The Use of Colour in Jane Eyre.

Denotation- a literal description of an object or concept or idea.
Connotation- what is associated with an object, concept or idea.

RED.
The colour red suggests feelings and emotions of:

- Heat.
-Anger,
-Danger.
-Violence.
-The signal to stop.
-Love.
-Debt.
-Passion.
-Blood.

BLUE
The colour blue, suggests feeling and emotions of :
-Coldness.
-Water.
-Calmness.
-Depression.
-Cleanliness.
-Manliness.

GREEN
The colour green suggests feelings and emotions such as:
-Healthiness.
-Nature.
-Eco-friendliness.
-Envy.
-Jealousy.
-Recycling.
-Money.
-Sickness/Illness.

Charlotte Bronte uses the colour red effectively in the scene of the 'Red Room' in the novel, 'Jane Eyre'. She effectively uses the colour red to outline Janes feelings of anger, passion, and to emphasize the violence and danger in the scene.

Mise-en-scene analysis; Jane Eyre Still Image.

The action takes place in a school, dring the day, in the victorian times. This is shown, as the girls are all in uniform, there is daylight coming through the windows and the uniform and settings are old fashioned.

The key figure is the girl who has most focus on her. The light is shining mainly on her, the teacher is looking at her, and the other children are focusing on her.

The girls facial expressions are stern and serious, which adds tension to the atmosphere, and shows that the classroom isn't a nice place to be. The fact that they are all stood in a straight line, gives the scene an army- like feel, which also shows that the scene is a very stern, uncomfortable one.