Becky Baker's Foundation Portfolio; Video Production

Audience Responces

2010-05-13T09:02:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday afternoon this week, we took part in a Media Showcase broadcasting our films to a wide audience, including pupils and teachers. Here our some quotes we heard about our films,
"professional" "talented" and "enjoyable"
We also reviewed our film as a class.
The general feedback we received back was good, we got informed that our shots were impressive and varied, but we were advised to maybe go back to our first choice of music, and maybe remove the transition we added on the staircase as it was mentioned that it "was unrealistic and ruined the flow of the film". Some people also said that the girlfriend in the lounge could've done more rather than just watched the television.
Overall we had good feedback, but did obtain some points we can improve on.

Media Evaluation

2010-04-02T07:14:00.000-07:00

Our brief was to construct the opening sequence of a thriller film, including titles and a wide range of camera shots. This opening sequence was to be aimed at audiences of 15 or 18 certificates.

Firstly, I analysed different existing films within our set genre, including Psycho, The eyes of Laura Mars, Basic Instinct and Fatal Attraction and from these examples, I was able to analyse the codes and conventions of a thriller film which we could exercise in our own project. The codes and conventions of thriller films were evident. The purpose of the genre is to create anticipation, and to keep the audience guessing throughout the film. The purpose of an opening sequence is to leave subtle hints to what the film may include, creating an air of mystery or enigma code, leaving the audience questioning the outcome of the plot; the answers to which are revealed at the films ending. Music, lighting, camera shots and mise-en-scène are used effectively to show the protagonist and the antagonist of the piece, as the openings of thriller films is basically the establishment of the main character.
Todorov’s theory of steadiness where any potentially opposing forces are balanced and Levi-Strauss’s narrative structure in terms of binary oppositions are vital roles in thriller movies. In our film, we believed that Levi-Strauss’s theory played an important role as we wanted the opposite values of normal and strange within the antagonist and protagonist characters. Although these theories apply to the whole film, not just the opening sequence. The opening never shows the solution and restoration of the equilibrium, as seen in Todorov’s theory, as the audience needs to keep speculating the outcome of the events shown.
I ascertained that in most openings, there are few obvious features shown, just a sufficient amount to discover the protagonist of the piece and the antagonist, and to state the clear difference between the both. This is not necessarily revealed exclusively through dialogue, but also through more effective factors such as body language, lighting, music, camera work, costume. I have found that most opening sequences contain little to no dialogue, because this keeps the audience debating the state of mind and emotions of the characters displayed, this lets the audience feel a part of the film.
Low-key lighting is often used, to create an eerie atmosphere, due to the heavy shadowing it creates. Jump cuts are not always essential to create atmosphere, simple cut edits create a focus to the speech and body language of the characters and doesn’t distract the audience to impressive transitions and perplexed editing.
Orchestral music is commonly used in thriller films, which speeds up or increases in pitch to create drama and tension as the sequence develops. Woodwind and strings are usually used in thriller soundtracks and the music is typically in a minor key. The titles reflect this classical aspect, as the credits are simple, brief and of an archaic font. They are usually in monochrome colours, to reflect the darkness and eeriness of the production.
When we started planning our film, one of the factors we discussed was locations. We wanted a definite vagueness to the events of our thriller, so we decided to film it in a suburban house. We decided that my household would be perfect for this, It was away from any town noise and congestion, and was situated by a quiet road, vaguely used. The location was perfect, as we did not have set times to work by, and it was simple to organise filming as my team lived a mere couple of minutes away. This would also help the audience relate it to their own lives, and their own homes. We decided to not show any actual crime in our opening sequence, but we use a lot of subtle suggestion, as usually perceived in most opening sequences.

In our opening sequence, we wished to utilize techniques from the examples we had researched. So we decided to use simple shots, with no dialogue, so the audience could concentrate on the in-depth narrative and the complex character’s personas and attitudes. We wanted to use a low-key light to give a sense of creepiness. Our protagonist character was the idea that did not change throughout planning. We named this character “Miss Red”, a connotation of the verb ‘misread’, which means to misinterpret someone or something. We decided the character would also focus around the colour red, her costume consisting of a black dress, red coat and red shoes. We decided that this obvious presentation of red, which is stereotypical in thriller films, is an association with blood and death, giving our character an underlying darker persona which causes the audience to question how this will develop throughout the film. We used the theme of red throughout the film, using in costumes and props. The couple’s bed sheets were red, as was the top that Miss Red picked out and the lipstick that she put on in the mirror. We also had a clear idea of what we wanted Miss Red to be like, so we left her hair curly and natural, and left her legs bare, extended by the heels to create a persona of sexiness and dominance. This protagonist character is not a general convention of thriller films, as usually there is a dominant male as this character and a helpless female as the antagonist. We decided to go against this general theme, because our film was influenced through so many other films, we wanted to create uniqueness in our film.
We also made a brave decision to not film our protagonists face, as we thought this would add mystery and suspense within our audience. It would also make her seem like a perpetrator, the audience cannot connect with her as they cannot see her face or any important features. In contrast, the shots of the antagonist character are all close-ups of her face, making her seem open and vulnerable. We also used close-ups of “Miss Red’s” actions such as her hands and feet, adding to the anonymity created by this character.

When our film was nearing completion, I started to undertake research into what production company I would like to produce our film. If we had the opportunity and the connections, an American production company such as ‘Twisted Pictures’ would be an obvious choice. ‘Twisted Pictures’ is known for producing mainly horror and thriller films, so we would obtain the correct audience interested in our genre. Also due to ‘Twisted Pictures’ reputation and availability to high budgets for filming and advertisement, would increase the professionalism of our piece and its popularity, creating a higher profit and an increase in audience reviews. There could be a risk of losing control with larger companies like this though, a bigger budget means there is more people working on the film, resulting in a possible overruling of the original film makers ideas and opinions.
Small independent film companies would be more likely to produce our film. A company I would be interested in producing our film is “Film 4” as they welcome amateur ideas and films to adapt and produce for television and cinema. ‘Film 4’ is known for producing films of many different genres, giving us an extremely large audience who would view our film on.
‘Film 4’ is a production agency from the UK, and the UK, unlike America is known for the encouragement of young and amateur screenwriters to improve and adapt their own screenplays, unlike the American companies who are known for buying the ideas and employing a professional to tweak and change the story to increase its effectiveness. Due to this, by using an America company, we would not even have our name against the film we have created or any rights to it, but by using an Independent company we would have more rights to our film.
When choosing a location for our film to be played, a small, eerie building such as an art house would be effective. As the dark and dismal atmosphere of the place, would reflect and enhance the atmosphere and emotion in the film that we wish to convey.
There is an old, abandoned cinema located on Brewery Lane in Bridgend, it has not been used in almost ten years, and was first opened back in 1939. This building would be an effective place to show our film if it was safe to use and still in moderate condition, but unfortunately it is not useable. It would be effective to use a suburban house, decorated maturely to show our film, as it would fit into the plot of the film, making the audience think that they are actually apart of the film.

The target audience of our film was aimed at a 15 certificate, an audience who generally enjoys thriller films. We also chose this certificate as we believed that this is the lowest age group who could really understand the complex narrative. Our location also says a lot for our target audience, a suburban area relates to ordinary people in modern day society, which is our target audience. We chose this as they would be able to relate their own lives to the story. The natural title for our film was “Miss Red” as we wanted to centralise the importance of this character. In every single one of our storyboards, the murderess did not change, so she was obviously a very important idea to the group. I believe that this characters appearance would relate to our target audience as they might be able to imagine her motives in their own personal lives. Also with the connotation to the verb “Misread” it gives you the idea that you should not misinterpret the force and darkness of the main character, even though she is perceived as beautiful and sophisticated, we wanted to show that there is a darker side to even the best. This persona and atmosphere can help the audience relate it in some way to their own relationships that may have ended badly. We also made up a production name “JABD productions”. It is the first initials of everyone in the group involved, we used this as it had a nice ring to it and we wanted to have our names put against our project because we were very proud of the outcome. We didn’t want to waste too much time on the production title also as there were better and harder things to work on. Due to the production name being simple and basic, it helps the audience remember our production and aspect of the film. This could eventually create a larger audience and popularity.

Our first storyboard was completely different to our final one. The first storyboard we created consisted of a murderess killing her boyfriend then going back to a house, in which the event took place. We decided to use flashbacks to show how the murder happened and we wanted her mock his death. We filmed this idea, but we made a lot of errors, including wobbly camera shots, inefficient lighting and too many ideas being put into a small amount of time. After reviewing these film clips within the group and others, we decided that this idea was not going to work as it was too complicated and over thought. The people that reviewed our first idea, such as our media studies teacher and friends, said that the idea was of good quality, but we needed a lot more time and more technology to fulfil it.
Our second storyboard, contained a new character, a current girlfriend of the male, we wanted to perceive the murderess as a crazed ex-girlfriend, coming to hunt the current girlfriend. We had the murderess threaten the girlfriend with a gun and then fading to black with a gunshot. We decided this idea was much better than our last, as it was simple and effective, but when reviewing it with our media studies tutor, she explained there was no after story, the film was not able to develop as we had put all the action in the opening sequence. We agreed with this opinion, and once again brainstormed a new storyboard.
Our third, and final storyboard, consisted of the boyfriend leaving the girlfriend alone in the house. The murderess then enters the house, with a key; too create history between the boyfriend and the murderess. She then enters the house and moves upstairs, searching through the girlfriends bedroom, going through her clothes and possessions before moving to a photo of the happy couple and slamming it down, creating an impression of hate and jealousy. Throughout this, shots of the girlfriend are shown, who is oblivious of what is going on in the house, showing a sense of vulnerability, so the girlfriend is seen as the antagonist of the piece. When displaying our ideas to our media studies tutor, we received back excellent feedback.
When creating titles for our film, we researched other openings to see what names and titles were mentioned. We decided to only include the actor’s names, the production company and the directors, as we did not want any more distraction from the film itself. This way we could achieve a larger audience as they are more interested in the film rather than the named actors in it or the production company. We used classic, archaic writing, commonly used in thriller films, to show our knowledge of the thriller genre. The actual title of the film was of a different font. We gained this from dafont.com, a website specialising in different fonts. The font we used was called “biro script” which is a distorted handwriting, creating a personal but dark touch to the protagonist character. We used this right at the end of the opening sequence, where the screen fades to black and in white the text reads “some people are often misread” then “Miss Red” appears, in white and red. We used white and red as a contrast of white being pure and innocent and red being the colour of blood and death. This connects with the characters persona, a sweet, beautiful appearance, but a dark inner mind, overwhelmed with a sense of jealous insanity and a thirst for revenge. When our film was completed, I designed a DVD cover and poster to advertise our film, using the same font we used in the film. This archaic font may draw people to watch the film, as it’s interesting, and leaves a lot to the audience’s imagination.
During a Year 12 open evening, we broadcasted our final piece of work to the pupils in year eleven debating whether to return for sixth form. We received back brilliants reviews of our film that were recorded by one of my team members. Our film was deemed “impressive” and the majority of the audience wanted to know the outcome of the story.
Throughout our film, we made mistakes, often the camera would not be straight, or the shot would not work against the last due to continuity differences, and we were obliged to go back and film again. Overall, we spent four days filming, but it was all worth it. I believe as a team we were strong and very independent. We met our deadlines, and worked to the best of our abilities. During the whole of this project, we did have disagreements and petty arguments, as everyone in the A/S level class found the project stressful, but we got through this professionally. I believe I have learnt a lot throughout this experience, and am incredibly proud of our finished result. I believe that we have all worked to the best of our ability with the resources available.
Miss Red has a sense of realism within its plot. The film shows, that gender is not an important role when displaying murderers. In the real world, it is proved that there are more male murderers than female, but I believe this film shows how a woman can be as domineering and as vicious as a male, and it proves that you do not need a male to indicate power and strength within a character. Although, on the other hand, any visual text needs to grab the audience’s attention straight away, so some actions and storylines need to be exaggerated in thriller films to create the cliff-hanger effect necessary in the first couple of minutes within the film. Opening sequences need to contain a lot of mystery and they need to leave availability for questions to be asked, this is why realism needs to be extended, to keep the audience guessing.
When creating titles for our film, we researched other openings to see what names and titles were mentioned. We decided to only include the actor’s names, the production company and the directors, as we did not want any more distraction from the film itself. We used classic, archaic writing, commonly used in thriller films, to show our knowledge of the thriller genre. The actual title of the film was of a different font. We gained this from dafont.com, a website specialising in different fonts. The font we used was called “biro script” which is a distorted handwriting, creating a personal but dark touch to the protagonist character. We used this right at the end of the opening sequence, where the screen fades to black and in white the text reads “some people are often misread” then “Miss Red” appears, in white and red. We used white and red as a contrast of white being pure and innocent and red being the colour of blood and death. This connects with the characters persona, a sweet, beautiful appearance, but a dark inner mind, overwhelmed with a sense of jealous insanity and a thirst for revenge.

Our film is distinctive as the protagonist character is of the opposite gender usually found in thriller films, and we have no dialogue throughout the whole piece, leaving the audience to focus on the body language and movements of the main character. We used various camera shots, including a reflection of Miss Red putting on lipstick in a mirror. This was a very professional shot, as we had to make sure the camera was not caught in the reflection, or any of the crew, as we did not want anything to ruin the atmosphere. We also used very good establishing shots. We created one long shot of the suburban house, then another from outside of the living room window, in which the boyfriend and girlfriend were sitting, and finally a medium shot inside the living room, where the activity starts.
We decided to use artificial light when filming outdoors, as we chose to film at night, not to ruin the continuity whilst the film got put together. We used low key lighting, to create shadows and dullness. Low-key lighting is generally used to create a mysterious devious atmosphere, which is exactly what we wanted to distinguish in our film.
When we completed our film and started to edit it, we used Imovie, a movie editing application found on Apple Macs. This technology was extremely impressive and we were able to run our film smoothly and easily with tools such as precision cutting and cropping, so any small mistakes that were obtained, could be easily fixed or cut, without the need to film again. We didn’t want any impressive transitions after every shot, as we wanted simple cuts throughout our film so the audience focussed on our content rather than our effects. We slowed down the last clip of Miss Red slamming the photo of the happy couple down, to increase the tension and the jealous aspect we wished to present, and also echoed the noise of the picture slamming. We used a cross blur whilst Miss Red was walking down the hallway, as we felt the clip went on for too long, so we cut the clip and added a transition. We chose this transition as it caused the clip to go out of focus; this may confuse the audience about Miss Red’s prerogative, creating more mystery for the audience.
Whilst editing, we muted our film due to noises from around the house that ruined the continuity, we always planned on having a soundtrack so this factor did not affect us. Our original soundtrack was going to be Rihanna’s “Russian Roulette”, we were aware we could not use the actual song due to copyright, but we were planning on using the songs instrumental, slightly changing it on “Garage Band” or “Windows Movie Maker” but instead went a different direction and used a track from the Thriller Soundtrack CD located in the Media Studies department. This track consists of a main piano theme and strings, which is commonly heard in thriller films as it leaves a sense of sorrow and ambiguity, so we believed it would show a good understanding of the research we did. We finally decided on this piece because as our film ends, the soundtrack ends with slow pulsating beats, almost similar to a heartbeat which intrigued the group. Before finishing our film, we decided to put “hard light” on some of the clips in the house. This effect darkened the shadows already created and accentuated the colours in the shot, effectively bringing out the reds in the bedroom and on the character.

When we first started video production, we were instructed to make a continuity exercise to help us learn the basic rules of what to do when filming. Although this process is a much basic exercise than making a thriller opening, but it gave us a lot of practise and a good introduction to the technology we would be using. The sequence had to be simple, with no transitions or music, consisted of only cut edits, and had to last a maximum of 45 seconds, a mediocre task compared to our thriller sequence which had a time limit of roughly two minutes. Looking back onto the task, it helped me realize the lengthy process of filming for a clip that may only last a short amount of time, and the patience and determination you need when things go wrong, at the start of the process I underestimated how much effort and work has to be put into the project and I didn’t take into consideration how much pre-production research had to be carried out. The exercise also helped me realise that you cannot just start filming immediately, you have to stop and brainstorm your ideas before even picking up the camera and you need to have a firm idea on what is going to happen exactly in every different shot. You also need to research objectives such as target audiences, to know exactly the attitude and story you need. This task improved my knowledge of filming and helped me gain the vital information that I lacked when beginning media studies. I found researching other influencing openings in the same genre helpful also, as it helped me realise the stereotypical codes and conventions of a film opening that my group and I could use in our own. My group tended to over think everything, as we are very determined people who wished to create the film to the best of our abilities and due to this, I think we were very obnoxious and arrogant of our abilities. I believe that the preliminary exercise was an impressive learning exercise which not only helped me realise the solid effort needed to produce a simple film, but helped me learn about the world of media and the technology used which I could adapt to my own work.

Miss Red

2010-04-01T09:41:00.000-07:00

This is our finished film - We hope you enjoy it :D!

Miss Red

This is our Continuity Sequence - This is the first time we had ever filmed anything in Media Studies and it helped us learn how to work the camera and how to make the clips flow in a sequence
together.

Research into film companies that could produce our film.

2010-03-31T09:54:00.000-07:00

Now we have completed our film, I have decided to look into different film companies that we would want to produce our film. Obviously, this is an amateur film with little to no budget, so we would need a company specialising in independent films to produce it. It would also be efficient to use a company intrested in films of a thriller genre, to achieve a larger audience.

Big budget film company that I would want to produce our film:

In an ideal world, we would like to have a well-known impressive film company intrested in our genre to produce our film. I'm sure companies like 'Twisted Pictures' would be intrested in our film. 'Twisted Pictures' is a production company, mainly creating films of the horror genre and thriller genre. This company would be benificial for us as they have access to big budgets (Saw V had a budget of $10,800,000) and the success from movies such as 'Saw' could attract a larger audience due to the production companies popularity. There could be a risk of loosing control and say with larger companies like this though, a bigger budget means there is more people working on the film, resulting in a possible undermindment of the original film makers ideas and opinions.

Small independant film company that I would want to produce our film:

Whilst researching, I came across a company called 'Coffee Films' which are renowned for producing films by amateurs. It is an award winning company and has been named "one of Europe's best young production companies." 'Coffee Films' produces a vast collection of genres and themes, including documentaries, this gives us a greater audience if this company were to produce our film. 'Coffee Films' is a production agency from the UK, and the UK is known for the encouragement of young and amateur screenwriters to improve and adapt their own screenplays, unlike the American companies who are known for buying the ideas and employing a professional to tweak and change the story to increase it's effectiveness.

Location Ideas:

When choosing a location for our film to be played, a small, eerie building such as an art house would be effective. As the dark and dismal atmosphere of the place, would reflect and enhance the atmosphere and emotion in the film that we wish to convey.

There is an old, abandoned cinema located on Brewery Lane in Bridgend, it has not been used in almost ten years, and was first opened back in 1939. This building would be an effective place to show our film if it was safe to use and still in moderate condition.

Location Shots.

2010-03-24T13:31:00.000-07:00

This is the house where our Thriller film is based.

This is the lounge area, where the couple are first seen cuddling watching television.

This is the door which the male exits and Miss Red enters.

These are the stairs that Miss Red walks up in the piece. Stairs and long hallways are stereotypical in Thriller films.

This is the landing, where Miss Red walks down to find the couples bedroom.

This is the couples bedroom, shown in the opening sequence. The cream bed cover and the desk chair was removed along with some other miscellaneous objects, to keep the realness of the story flowing.

This is the wardrobe which Miss Red looks through when she enters the bedroom of the couple.

Advertisment for our Film

2010-02-17T07:28:00.000-08:00

DVD COVER - Click on the image for a larger preview. Poster - Click on the image for a larger preview.

As a class, we have decided it would be a good opportunity to showcase our film in front of other pupils to gain necessary feedback on our piece from an audience of many different age groups. In doing this, there is an opportunity to raise some money for the media department, or even for a local charity and this planning and preperation would work towards our welsh baccalaureate, which are currently making progress on in year twelve. Here is a mock-up of a poster we could use to advertise our own film and a DVD cover we could use to market our film. It is basic and simplistic, to give our audience a sense of curiosity and mystery, hopefully intising our audience to come to the showcase or too buy the film
We could also hand out questionaires, so we have firm proof of audience reaction and opinions.

Editing

2010-02-10T11:33:00.000-08:00

On Friday 5th February, Jamie, Danielle and myself filmed the last few missing scenes for our film - which included:
- The Boyfriend (Jamie) leaving the house through the front door
- Miss Red (Danielle) emerging from the shadows and making her way to the door
- Miss Red opening the door with a key
- Miss Red stepping into the house.
We needed to re-film these final shots as we had previously saved these extra shots on the schools backup memory source "The Lacey" but due to complications, we never retrieved our work from this source. We received help from another pupil from the class - Richard Parrish, who acted as a very efficient runner for the team.
The shots filmed were completed successfully and on Monday 8th February we uploaded the extra clips onto our Apple Mac. After the end of our lesson, Jamie and Abbie stayed up and slotted our new clips where needed, as Danielle and myself attended another lesson.

Our film is now nearing completion and we are all very proud of all the work put in. Next lesson we are planning on burning our film onto a DVD so it can be displayed in option evening, where pupil's thinking of returning to sixth form can see what they can expect from media studies A/S.
- Becky Baker(:

Target Audience

2010-02-08T10:15:00.000-08:00

After researching similar film genres and plot lines to our own opening sequence including, 'Fatal Attraction', 'Basic Instinct' and 'The Eyes of Laura Mars', I have evidently become aware of audience research. I believe our Thriller film should be targeted at a 15 certificate. A 15 certificate leaves an opportunity for a wider audience. Also, as our film may be classed as a Psychological thriller, I believe that an audience not intended for children would be precise, as I don't believe anyone younger than 15 would understand the plot as it is quite intelligent. Although, we have discussed having our opening sequence as a 12A or PG certificate, to reach a larger audience than a 15 certificate would.

Research and Planning

2010-02-08T10:07:00.001-08:00

"Eyes of Laura Mars" is a thriller film released in 1978. Laura Mars is a very successful high-end fashion and advertising photographer. Detective John Neville notes striking similarities between her art photos and those of actual crime scenes. Although suspicious of her, he soon realizes that she hasn't been involved in any of the crimes but can see what is happening through the eyes of the killer. After his friends and some of her models are killed she joins forces with Neville to identify the killer before she too becomes a victim
This is similar to our opening sequence as the mysterious intelligence of the main characters are the same, and the mysterious atmosphere created.

Research and Planning

2010-02-08T10:00:00.000-08:00

"Basic Instinct" is an American erotic thriller released in 1992.
The film centers around police detective Nick Curran (Douglas), who is investigating the brutal murder of a wealthy former rock star. Beautiful, seductive and wealthy crime writer Catherine Tramell (Stone) could be involved; over the course of the investigation, Detective Curran becomes involved in a torrid and intense relationship with the mysterious woman — who turns out to be very dangerous. This is again similar to our film as the women based in both films have similar persona's.

Research and Planning

2010-02-04T08:39:00.000-08:00

To improve my own idea on our film, I've been studying other films that have a similar plot like to our film. My favourite out of the number I researched was "Fatal Attraction" a popular thriller film which was released in 1987.
"Fatal Attraction" is about a married man who has a weekend affair with a woman who refused to allow it to end, resulting in her obsession with him.
This is a similar plot to ours, as they both relate to the topics of desperation, obsession and a sense of insanity.

Problemo!

2010-01-24T13:53:00.001-08:00

As a group, after evaluating our film together and discussions with our media teachers, we have decided to change the plot slightly to our opening sequence. It was found to be too obvious as of what was going to happen, so we decided to change it so our serial killer sneaks upstairs, not to the girlfriends attention and starts to go through the girlfriends stuff, to make it seem more of a interlectual thriller rather than a commercial thriller.
We all decided this was a better idea because it was different to all the usual plotlines within the thriller genre, we have new storyboards, shot lists and photos of the location to be uploaded and our film is the middle of being edited, we are all very excited. As they say - THIRD TIME LUCKY!

- Becky Baker (:

Why are opening sequences so important to the film industry?

2009-12-02T09:38:00.000-08:00

"Making a main-title was like making a poster, you're condensing the event into this one concept, this one metaphor a back-story that needs to be told or a character that needs to be introduced".
- SAUL BASS

Within the film industry, the opening title sequence of a film is considered to be the most important aspect in a film. Apart from the marketing elements, the title sequences are the very first images the audience sees. The quick clips lasts about two to three minutes long, which sets up the expectations of the audience. Most films last about 120 minutes, so the first two or three minutes are crucial to make or break a film.

Title sequences tell the audience who created the film and then based on their past work, the audience get an idea on what to expect from this film they are about to watch. If someone thinks the title sequence is poor; their first impression would be that the film will not be good. So I believe that the opening title sequence of a film the most important and attention grabbing section.

First Day of Filming Complete :D

2009-11-27T13:54:00.000-08:00

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.

Filming Starts Soon!

2009-11-27T13:52:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-27T13:42:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-27T13:35:00.001-08:00

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.

VLADIMIR PROPP
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

2009-11-27T12:50:00.000-08:00

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.

2009-11-27T10:09:00.000-08:00

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.

Ms. Red Script

2009-11-19T14:12:00.001-08:00

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.

2009-11-19T13:55:00.000-08:00

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.

Opening Sequence Planning.

2009-11-19T13:19:00.000-08:00

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.

Title Sequence Analysis - Secret Window Opening.

2009-11-01T07:24:00.000-08:00

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.

2009-10-11T09:09:00.000-07:00

On Friday Morning, we got into our groups of four and started to discuss some narrative ideas. My group members are Abbie Jones, Danielle Evans and Jamie Hyett. After some major discussion, we have decided to make a short title sequence, of a woman dressed entirely in red, the camera will only show her lips which will be coloured a deep red to keep to the colour scheme and to add mystery. The sequence will start with the woman in red smoking a cigerette with flash backs of a vicious murder and a washing of a bloody knife, this idea of course we have gained from watching the shower scene of pyscho. We decided all of these flashbacks will be in black and white tone, to again add a somewhat feeling of mystery to our opening, with music playing over the top of these clips, maybe using chromatic notes and all in a minor chord. Once the woman has put out her cigerette, she will then make her way down the hall, step over the body and dial on an old style telephone "999", the operator will repeat "hello? can you hear me" until the woman in red whispers "i just killed my boyfriend" and then hangs up the phone, leaving the screen black, with the sound of the dial tone and the woman giggling softly.

We believe this would be a very spooky and intresting title sequence to film and we are very excited to start filming our project.
from beckyy(: x

Media Workshop

2009-10-03T13:47:00.000-07:00

As our Media Workshop was cancelled last week (due to fire alarm interuptions) we had our re-arranged Media Workshop on Friday 2nd October.
We worked on our continuity exercise, where we had to have two characters, one walking through a door and then communicating with other person while trying to include as many different camera shots as possible without making it looking unrealistic.
I was in a team with Jamie Hyett and Richard Parrish, I feel we worked well as a group as we worked to our strengths and helped others with their weaknesses, and took onboard all advice and information given by Mrs Slater, and the helpers who ran the workshop.
Our group, unfortunatly, had accidentally taped over our establishing shop by pressing record accidentally in class. Jamie, Richard and I were very dissapointed as we felt we had a really good range of shots and had edited most of our clips already. We did this editing using the software 'imovie' on the Apple Macs which helped us cut out parts of our film that we didn't need and shorten clips that were too long to keep our audience intrested.
Due to our accident loosing our establishing shot, our team will be spending some free time, re-filming our work to make sure we have efficient clips and a wide range of camera shots to assure we get reviews and feedback for our work.
from becky(: xx

Storyboards Information

2009-09-30T02:27:00.000-07:00

Once an idea for script is written for a film or animation, the next step is to make a storyboard. A storyboard visually tells the story of an animation or film panel by panel, like in a comic book.

A Storyboard convays:-
- What characters are in the frame, how are they moving?
- What are they saying/doing?
- How much time has passed from each frame.
- Where the "camera" is in the scene. Close or faraway? Is the camera moving?

Creating a storyboard helps a filmmaker plan their project out shot by shot. You can make changes to your storyboard before you start animating or filming, instead of changing your mind later. You will also be able to talk about your animation or film with others and gain feedback on your ideas.

Here is some storyboard language I learnt while studying Storyboards:-

Close-up Shot: A close range of distance between the camera and the subject.

Dissolve: A transition between two shots, where one shot fades away and simultaneously another shot fades in.

Fade: A transition from a shot to black where the image gradually becomes darker is a Fade Out; or from black where the image gradually becomes brighter is a Fade In.

High Camera Angle: A camera angle which looks down on its subject making it look small, weak or unimportant.

Jump Cut: A rapid, jerky transition from one frame to the next, either disrupting the flow of time or movement within a scene or making an abrupt transition from one scene to another.

Level Camera Angle: A camera angle which is even with the subject; it may be used as a neutral shot.

Long Shot: A long range of distance between the camera and the subject, often providing a broader range of the setting.

Low Camera Angle: A camera angle which looks up at its subject; it makes the subject seem important and powerful.

PAN: A steady, sweeping movement from on point in a scene to another

POV: A shot which is understood to be seen from the POV of a character within the scene

Reaction Shot: A shot of someone looking off screen

Tilt: Using a camera on a tripod, the camera moves up or down to follow the action.

Zoom: Use of the camera lens to move closely towards the subject.

Film Stills

2009-09-21T12:18:00.000-07:00

Saul Bass

2009-09-19T09:09:00.000-07:00

This week, we were told to research the work of Saul Bass.
We were informed that some of his work is found at the start of some of Albert Hitchcock's films, such as Psycho and Vertigo. We then watched the openings to both films in our media lessons, and made notes about what we found interesting about his work. I found both openings very interesting and very creative.

Analysis of Vertigo

Vertigo starts off with a close-up on a woman's face, first at her lips and then the camera travels to her eyes. Her eyes twitch from side to side and seem to be watering, which i believe creates an image of fear from the woman, which gets us thinking immediately why she feels this way. The Camera seems to loose itself in the woman's eyes, the use of close-ups as well, shows off the woman's beauty immediately. These close-ups remain under a dark light, creating a negative and sinister feeling. The woman's eyes suddenly strech wider, as the screen turns red, this paints a very negative image as red is the colour of blood and death. The title comes out from the woman's eyes, I believe Saul Bass wanted to exaggerate the inner emotion behind a person's eyes that cannot be expressed into words, as the graphics that follow, also come out of the eye and are kaleidoscopic shapes in many colours, that represent the eye's shape. The credits also appear slowly beside these kaleidoscopic shapes, i believe to create atmosphere and anticipation. Also the music used in the title sequence is intresting, he has used slow, dramatic music which contains a lot of crecendos and repetative trills, this again helps to portray the sinister mood put across from the graphics and imagery.

Analysis of Psycho
The opening to Psycho contains no imagery or use of camera as Saul Bass has just decided to use horizontal and vertical lines to accompany the title sequence. These horizontal and vertical lines appear in time with the music which is much more disharmonious compared to Vertigos soundtrack, the music also contains an ostinati of staccato notes, to create a tense atmosphere. The font throughtout the title sequence does not change, and there is no colour also. The vertical and horizontal lines used, join together to create the title "Psycho" and to show the other credits, I believe this is a very good technique because an idea so simple, has made a very clear and negative atmopshere.

I felt like I have learnt alot from these title sequences and it has given me a few ideas to discuss with my group about how we will start our own short film opening. Saul Bass' work again, has made me learn that is not all about the immediate effect of the imagery, and that the most simple ideas can be the most effective.
from becky xoxox

My First Week of Media Studies :D!

2009-09-16T02:48:00.000-07:00

I've found this first week of Media Studies amazingly interesting!

I've never studied Media Studies before, and the five hours of Media Studies I have had have been been informative! We spent our lessons watching other short films made by other students studying Media Studies, we made note of some of the camera techniques and effects that we saw and here are the three camera techniques I learnt in my lessons:

Match on Action:-

To use this technique in editing, cut from one shot to another view that matches the action and pace of the first shot. This creates an impression of continuity, despite the fact that you may have filmed the shots weeks apart.

Shot-reverse shot:-

This effect is so common it is impossible to imagine film or TV without it. Nevertheless, it takes some practice to master. When two characters are in conversation, film one character looking off screen to where the other character is imagined to be, and vise versa. Ensure that one character faces left and the other faces right, so you can edit between a character talking and a character listening.

180 degree:-

When filming the brief sequence of action in the room, you need to storyboard the scene so that an imaginary line is drawn across the room. cutting it in half.

When using a variety of shots for point of view and switching between the characters it is essential that all shots are filmed from the same side of the line. If you cross the line when filming, the characters will appear to exchange places and continuity will be lost. The character who faces right will appear to face left, and it will seem as if both characters are facing in the same direction when they are supposed to be talking to each other!

By learning these three techniques I can now better my own coursework while filming.

from becky xoxo

Welcome to my first ever blog!

2009-09-15T13:03:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!!
welcome to my blog :)!

I've never even thought about creating a blog before in my life, but this looks like it's going to be a very exciting process! I feel as if i'm going to learn alot throughout this experience and it's going to be easier to keep track of what I did and what I learnt within my media studies classes.
Today was the birth of my blog, after I learnt how to work the apple mac computer of course, but now I feel confident and keen to crack on!
So, In conclusion, I hope you enjoy my Blogs and I don't bore you too much!
from Becky! xoxo