Today we filmed our opening sequence. We tried to go by our script, but some shots were either to difficult to film due to the position of the camera, the 180 degree rule would not have been followed or we added extra shots to try to vary the viewing experience. We worked from 1.30 through till 5.00, resulting in three and half hours put into filming. We tried to film each shot at least twice, to make sure that when we come to edit our film, we have a variety of shots to work with.
We are all very excited on how our film will turn out when we edit it and if we need to film extra shots to keep up with continuity, we will meet again for an extra filming date.
Friday, 27 November 2009
First Day of Filming Complete :D
Filming Starts Soon!
As we have now finished our planning (e.g. storyboard, script) and we have paid our deposits on our cameras, we have decided to start filming this weekend.
On Friday 27th November our team shall make our way to my house at 1.30pm to commence filming, we chose this time as we all have free lessons last on friday and we cannot do it on Saturday 28th November as we have dedicated jobs to uphold, and our shifts clash leaving us with no filming time.
We plan to be finished filming by 5.00pm, due to the sunsetting at this time, it will be too dark to film after this time and our continuety will be ruined. If we run out of time and still have shots to film, we will rescedule another filiming day on Sunday 29th November.
Target Audience
I have been doing some research into a common thriller films target audience.
I have come to realise that the most successful and atmopsheric thriller films are rated 15 as there is availability to expand upon your ideas within your film. However, a fifteen will cut off our availability to a younger audience, so I believe that the opening sequence we have been creating should be certified as a 12A, as we can reach a wider audience, but there is a warning that children under twelve will need to be accompanied by a parent to watch the opening. Leaving us with a wider audience, without having any negative feedback from families.
Narrative Theory
Narrative theory studies the devices and conventions controlling the arrangement of a story into a sequence.
Altogether I researched three narrative theories:
TZVETAN TODOROV
Todorov suggested that stories begin with a steadiness where any potentially opposing forces are in balance. This is disrupted by some event, setting in chain a series of events. Problems are solved so that order can be restored to the world of the fiction.
Propp looked at hundreds of folk tales and identified 8 character roles and 31 narrative functions. The 8 character roles are
1. The villain(s)
2. The hero
3. The donor - who provides an object with some magic property.
4. The helper who aids the hero.
5. The princess (the sought for person) - reward for the hero and object of the villain's schemes.
6. Her father - who rewards the hero.
7. The dispatcher - who sends the hero on his way.
8. The false hero.
The character roles and the functions identified by Propp can be applied to all kinds of narrative, for example in TV news programmes we are often presented with 'heroes' and ‘villains'.
CLAUDE LEVI-STRAUSS
Levi-Strauss looked at narrative structure in terms of binary oppositions. Binary oppositions are sets of opposite values which reveal the structure of media texts.
An example would be GOOD and EVIL
- we understand the concept of GOOD as being the opposite of EVIL.
Levi -Strauss was not so interested in looking at the order in which events were arranged in the plot. He looked instead for deeper arrangements of themes. For example, if we look at Science Fiction films we can identify a series of binary oppositions which are created by the narrative:
Earth vs. Space,
Good vs. Evil
Humans vs. Aliens
Past vs. Present
Normal vs. Strange
Known vs. Unknown
Ms. Red Storyboard
After vast preparation and advice from my group, I have finally finished the group storyboard! I have taken photos of my storyboard due to the advice of my teacher, and I did not have access to a scanner. The pictures are not amazingly clear, but it gives you a good idea on what is going on. This is the third attempt of a storyboard due to complications with ideas, so this is our final storyboard that we will use for filming.
We may not use every single frame as we have been told our sequence is not to be more than two minutes long, but we shall definatly use it to great effect.
Conventions of a Thriller Film.
Before we started filming our opening sequence, I wanted to research the typical conventions of a thriller and see if they would help my group into making our film more successful.
After some in depth research, I have come to realize that the main conventions of a thriller are found in the sound, lighting and editing. The editing consists of varied camera angles and quick cuts, creating a mysterious atmosphere. The music is usually in a minor tone, creating an eerie feeling for the audience. The lighting is usually used to cast deep shadows and convey darkness.
I am considering how we can use these conventions in our sequence and I think that the quick cuts will help with the uneasy and mysterious atmosphere we which to create.
Thursday, 19 November 2009
Ms. Red Script
Scene One - Outside the House
1. Establishing shot - Facing the House.
2. Medium Shot - Looking in through the window at the girl and boy cuddling on the sofa watching television.
Scene Two - Inside the Lounge
1. Medium Shot - Inside the House, Boy and Girl cuddling on the sofa.
Boy: See you after.
Girl: Tra
*Boy and Girl Kiss*
Boy walks towards door, camera pans.
2. Medium Shot - Boy walking out of lounge door and towards front door, he closes the lounge door.
3. Medium Shot - Boy leaving through front door and closing it behind him, boy walks out of frame.
4. Long Shot - Panning the Boy walking down the drive and out of sight.
Scene Three - Doorway (Outside)
1. Medium Close-Up - Miss Red's legs and shoes shown, walking towards front door. (PAN)
2. Extreme Close-Up - Lady in Red opening the door slowly (WITH KEY), door creeks.
Scene Four - The Stairs & Hallway (Inside)
3. Medium Close-Up - Lady in Red's legs walking through the door and closing it behind her.
4. Medium Shot - Girl in Lounge watching television
5. Medium Shot - Lady in Red walking up the stairs. (PAN)
6. Closeup - Girl in Lounge
7. Closeup - Through the banister, Lady in Red walking up the stairs, walks out of frame.
8. Closeup - Girl in Lounge
9. Medium Closeup - Miss Red walking from the stairs down the hallway. (PAN)
10. Closeup - Girl in Lounge on phone.
11. OTS - Miss Red walking to bedroom door.
12. Medium Shot - Silhouette of Miss Red opening door.
Scene Five - Couples Bedroom
1. Extreme Closeup - Miss Red turning the bedroom light on.
2. Close Up - Girl in Lounge
3. Medium Shot - Miss Red walking to warbdrobe and opens doors.
4. OTS - Miss Red looking through the clothes, picks out a red top.
5. Close Up - Top thrown on the floor.
6. Medium Shot - Girl in Lounge
7. Medium Shot - Miss Red closes warbdrobe doors and makes her way over the the dressing table (PAN).
8. Closeup - Miss Red picking up Lipstick.
9. Extreme Close Up - Miss Red putting the lipstick on in reflection
10. Close Up - Girl in Lounge
11. Medium Shot - Miss Red walking over to bed (PAN).
12. Medium Close Up - Miss Red picking up picture of boy and girl.
13. Extreme Close Up - Miss Red putting her thumb over girl
14. Close Up - Miss Red slamming the picture face down.
FADE
Screen goes black, followed by a gun firing.
We will then have white Gothic font reading "Some People are Often Misread" but 'Misread' will be in Red. 'Misread' will then dissolve to read "Ms. Red"
- This is an outline of our script for our film "Ms. Red" - we have all came to a decision on our ideas, and each idea was an input by each member of the group equally. We may make minor changes whilst filming as ideas might spring to us during this time, but this is a basic idea on our opening sequence.
Character Ideas.
There will be two characters in our opening sequence. Our main character "The Lady in Red" is our glamorous, yet dangerous serial killer. We want to portray her in the following ways:
Glamorous, Mysterious, Elegant, Sexy, Pretty, Rich and Posh.
As we have almost no dialogue in our opening sequence - the only way we can portray this characters persona is by her appearance.
This is why her costume will consist of a silky black dress, a red coat and red heels, making her seem well-dressed and wealthy. We also wish to give our character either a large black hat, or a veiled hat so we can cover her facial features, to add a mysterious element to her identity. We will also give her long, curled hair and blood red lipstick.
Our Second Character will be the murder victim himself. He is a young male and we wish to portray him as being:
Vulnerable, Misled, Naive Innocent.
His costume will consist of a shirt or jumper with jeans and shoes.
This is why her costume will consist of a silky black dress, a red coat and red heels, making her seem well-dressed and wealthy. We also wish to give our character either a large black hat, or a veiled hat so we can cover her facial features, to add a mysterious element to her identity. We will also give her long, curled hair and blood red lipstick.
Our Second Character will be the murder victim himself. He is a young male and we wish to portray him as being:
Vulnerable, Misled, Naive Innocent.
His costume will consist of a shirt or jumper with jeans and shoes.
Opening Sequence Planning.
We have decided to go with our first idea out of our three final ideas shown in my previous post. We agreed as a group that we found this idea the most exciting, as we had many ideas and aspects for this opening sequence.
Opening Sequence Title: Ms. Red.
Plot Outline/Summary: Our Main Character 'the lady in red' is a serial killer who intises her vitims with her beauty and charm before brutally murdering them. She never gets caught, and enjoys that fact and continues to kill.
Opening sequence outline/summary: The Lady in Red enters a surburban house and has flash backs of the murder she has just commited. It ends with a phone call to 999 and her laughing on the phone. Showing her pure pleasure of her murders.
Characters: The Lady in Red, The Murder Victim and The Phone Operator
Mise en scene: Monochrome lighting, Suburbs, Interior of house, Close-up of specific items.
Settings: A surburban street, and the interior and exterior of the house in which the murder took place.
Locations: Rebecca Baker's Household.
Costumes: The Lady in Red: Long Red Coat, Slinky Black Dress and Red Accesories (hats, heels etc.) The Murder Victim: Shirt/Jumper and Jeans
Props: Knife, phone, fake blood.
Lighting: Sinister but not too dark to ruin effect and loose important actions. When editing our film we can retouch some sequences lighting to help with the atmosphere that we which to create.
Sunday, 1 November 2009
Title Sequence Analysis - Secret Window Opening.
The beginning of the film 'Secret Window' starts with the digetic sound of the windscreen wipers, this sound starts when the opening credits are still playing, before the opening sequence begins. This results in the digetic sound being left to the audiences imagination, and the audience assume this sound is a heartbeat. This sound continues into the first shot of the opening sequence; which is a close-up through the main characters car windscreen.
The Style of the opening credits is Gothic and Old, and the main title 'Secret Window' is in contrast to the other white credits as it is bold and red. This contrast to red in my opinion is a connotation to blood, death and maybe even murder. Techniques like this, give us clues to what might happen in the film, without giving too much information away.
A non-digetic voice over is used in this sequence to convey the thoughts of the main character as he sits in his car. The first words spoken in this voice over are “turn around”; suggesting that something suspicious and eerie is happening, or about to happen, involving the main character by something he has seen or done.
The colour during the opening sequence is monochrome throughout, which creates a cold and dark atmosphere, this atmosphere is enhanced by the characters dark, dull coloured and layered clothing and the white snow in the scene. This creates a contrast when the bold, blood-red motel sign enters the frame as the main character reverses the car.
When it becomes obvious that the character is trying to convince himself not to “go back there”, the audience is faced with questions; and where this place is that he is eager to leave but at the same time tempted to return to. The Character reverses back into the motel, drives back out and despite trying to convince himself, the man drives his car back to the motel and leaves the car to enter a motel room; he leaves the frame of the camera shot briefly, then reappears in front of the car. The camera appears to film this from inside the car, creating the impression that the man may be being watched. The Character seems indecisive, hense driving back and forth - this makes us believe the main character is shifty and very parinoid.
There is an OTS shot as the man finds a couple in bed within the room he enters. It is obvious here to the audience that the woman is ‘cheating on’ the main character; we are led to believe this by the way the main character reacts to them. He appears to be in great distress from the way he paces back and forth the room and buries his head in his hands.
Whilst this is happening, the wind from the poor weather is intensified, I believe the wind is a representation of the shock and agony going on in the main characters mind; it is not clwhe wind is used to represent the chaos and shock in the main character’s mind; it is not clear whether this sound is diegetic or non-diegetic, but we know that the sound is intensified.
When this scene ends, there is a dissolve edit to a lake which is a vibrant blue colour; this is in contrast to the monochromatic colours seen previously in the opening scene.
There is a continuous panning shot from the lake which enters a wooden cabin through a small window on the top floor. I believe this is significant as it in referance to the title of the film. This panning shot continues through the house, making good use of mise-en-scene by showing the items on the desk including papers and a laptop. Also clutter on the surfaces also add to the effect of the mise-en-scene which creates a realistic atmosphere. The same continuous panning shot then pans down to the ground floor of the house and through a mirror. The main character is visible lying on a sofa in the reflection in the mirror. I believe this camera technique of going through the mirror may have some underlying clue to what the film might be about.
The music which is audible from the cross-dissolve from the motel to the lake, the music is repetitive and atonal, this creates a very eerie atmosphere. The tune is played on a cello creating a deeper, darker and a harsher sound. Stringed instruments are regularly used in thriller films to create a haunted feeling.
A non-digetic voice over is used in this sequence to convey the thoughts of the main character as he sits in his car. The first words spoken in this voice over are “turn around”; suggesting that something suspicious and eerie is happening, or about to happen, involving the main character by something he has seen or done.
The colour during the opening sequence is monochrome throughout, which creates a cold and dark atmosphere, this atmosphere is enhanced by the characters dark, dull coloured and layered clothing and the white snow in the scene. This creates a contrast when the bold, blood-red motel sign enters the frame as the main character reverses the car.
When it becomes obvious that the character is trying to convince himself not to “go back there”, the audience is faced with questions; and where this place is that he is eager to leave but at the same time tempted to return to. The Character reverses back into the motel, drives back out and despite trying to convince himself, the man drives his car back to the motel and leaves the car to enter a motel room; he leaves the frame of the camera shot briefly, then reappears in front of the car. The camera appears to film this from inside the car, creating the impression that the man may be being watched. The Character seems indecisive, hense driving back and forth - this makes us believe the main character is shifty and very parinoid.
There is an OTS shot as the man finds a couple in bed within the room he enters. It is obvious here to the audience that the woman is ‘cheating on’ the main character; we are led to believe this by the way the main character reacts to them. He appears to be in great distress from the way he paces back and forth the room and buries his head in his hands.
Whilst this is happening, the wind from the poor weather is intensified, I believe the wind is a representation of the shock and agony going on in the main characters mind; it is not clwhe wind is used to represent the chaos and shock in the main character’s mind; it is not clear whether this sound is diegetic or non-diegetic, but we know that the sound is intensified.
When this scene ends, there is a dissolve edit to a lake which is a vibrant blue colour; this is in contrast to the monochromatic colours seen previously in the opening scene.
There is a continuous panning shot from the lake which enters a wooden cabin through a small window on the top floor. I believe this is significant as it in referance to the title of the film. This panning shot continues through the house, making good use of mise-en-scene by showing the items on the desk including papers and a laptop. Also clutter on the surfaces also add to the effect of the mise-en-scene which creates a realistic atmosphere. The same continuous panning shot then pans down to the ground floor of the house and through a mirror. The main character is visible lying on a sofa in the reflection in the mirror. I believe this camera technique of going through the mirror may have some underlying clue to what the film might be about.
The music which is audible from the cross-dissolve from the motel to the lake, the music is repetitive and atonal, this creates a very eerie atmosphere. The tune is played on a cello creating a deeper, darker and a harsher sound. Stringed instruments are regularly used in thriller films to create a haunted feeling.
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